A-ho-ho-ho Matey!

We have these neighbors that we almost never see. (Sometimes we call them the "Mole People") We've made overtures to them from time to time but still nothing. Part of it is their work schedules and that they have three very young children (all under the age of 5) so their social life is structured much like ours was ten years ago. That means that they really don't have one.

They have a flagpole at the end of their driveway, right next to one side of our circular driveway. Usually they have Old Glory flying there and sometimes a Chicago Bears flag as Mr. Mole works for the McCaskey organization. Back in October they put up this really cool skull and crossbones for Halloween. The problem is that it is still up now, the week before Christmas.

I took it upon myself to add a little (current) holiday style the other night. It is just some red fabric safety pinned in place and a white pom-pom made from white acrylic yarn.

I'm still waiting for someone else on the cul-de-sac to notice. If he stays up long enough, I have my Easter Bunny ears all planned out.

Lolcats: Mess Style

See what happens when you don't make your bed?

Etsy Shop Update: photo notecards

I have two different etsy shops; one for my fabric and fiber crafts and one for my photos and other paper crafts. The second one was started mainly for the Digital Mandalas I started making a couple years ago. I really love them but never did much to promote them other than have a few professionally printed, mounted, framed and hung in my own home.

Then this spring when I decided to start putting some of my other hand-crafts on etsy I revisited my somewhat defunk shop but had forgotten my password. Duh! So I made a new i.d. and moved on. BUT then I found another etsian with almost identical mandalas and I freaked out a little. After some digging and private conversations with her I realized that we just both happened to come up with a very similar idea at almost the same time. (But I was first.) That was when I figured it was probably in my best interest to resurrect my original shop if I ever needed to have proof of copyright.

So long story short, I have two etsy shops. And recently I've been updating the old one with photo notecards featuring photos taken on our trip to Scotland and a special series of mandalas made from images taken at Rosslin Chapel and Rosslyn Glen. For now I'm just featuring notecards, but would be happy to make enlargements of any image that "speaks" to you as a special order.

Etsy Buy Handmade betho319

It's Time for a Holiday Miracle

Back in July we got the news that our dear friend Di had a brain tumor. At that time she had surgery and radiation and things were looking good for them. Until last week. Today we received this email from Diane. They are past the point of casseroles and get-well cards. Now all they really need is our prayers. Please join me in praying that this year it is their turn for a Christmas Miracle.

Hello friends,

I sure do hate to give bad news this way, but it is quick and easy for me right now. Please forgive me. I had surgery for a recurrent brain tumor on Nov 3oth. I did well, but they also discovered a new tumor near the brain stem which was inoperable. I had the gamma knife procedure for that and I'm, looking into some type of clinical trial, help, etc.The problem is that the type of brain tumor I have, anaplastic meningioma, is not common and there is not a whole lot of research on it. I may have found a study at Duke University and I'm checking into that this week. Actually I feel better than last time and I'm moving around well, without much pain. I am asking you to keep me and my family in your prayers. If you know of any prayer circles, please put me on it. I will keep you posted. I really appreciate all your prayers, love and support. Love, Diane

Mr Mess and Jim, her husband, have been friends and co-workers for over a decade. They have seven children, five girls and two boys, in their late teens and twenties. One of their middle daughters just got engaged this summer with a wedding planned for next fall. They have just come through a very rough couple of years with their oldest son. Jim has been unemployed for almost a year. I don't know how much more a family should have to endure. But endure it they do and they seem to be managing with an amazing show of solidarity and strength. Their oldest daughter moved back to Illinois from Texas to be near her Mom and to help out with the rest of the siblings. Both Jim and Diane continue to be gracious and thankful for everything they have and all the help they've been receiving. They just don't deserve this.

I would also appreciate any advice to Steve and I on what to do and say and how to help. We're so broken up and in shock that we are at a total loss as to what to do. We've never been through anything like this before.

The Holly and the Ivy

Mr Mess asked me yesterday to make some kind of decoration for the front of the garage. He bought these iron sconces last summer and had thrown some not so attractive faux flowers into them and hung them up. I knew I could do better.

I foraged through the forest surrounding our house with my pruning shears and gathered a selection of various evergreens. We are fortunate to have a large variety to choose from including; blue spruce, norway spruce, cedar, white pine and boxwood. We do not have any holly but I do have ivy, I just forgot to go to that side of the house and cut any. Maybe I'll add some tomorrow if we don't get the ice storm I keep hearing about. The addition of a couple velvet poinsettias, and the halls garage was officially decked.

Variations on a Theme

These will look familiar to longtime readers. I made 30 pair of these last year for customers at a craft show I did in November. I swore to never knit this pattern again. Alas, I stand corrected. One of my customers from last year called a couple weeks ago asking if I'd make 5 more for her because they were such a hit last year. She wanted them all in the same colors; red, black and white, but made no specifications beyond that. So I took the liberty to keep myself awake while knitting these and varied the combinations of the colors. Plus these are going to two sets of sisters so this way they can tell their pairs apart.

Now on to crafting for me. I'm starting with finishing my Millennium Vest. Stay tuned.

Oh Tannenbaum

Today we did one of my favorite family activities. We hunted down the best balsam fir on the entire farm, cut it, tied it to Velma the Volvo, and brought it home to begin our Advent/Yule festivities. To make it even better, it began to snow just as we were pulling into the farm. By the time we got out to the field, it was snowing horizontally and quite blustery. That made for some quick picking!

Little E declares that decorating the tree is her favorite activity of the entire year. She has become a very able lighting assistant. I like a thick mixture of small white lights strung toward the inside of the tree with the big multicolored ones clipped to the outer branches. After a number of years of me telling Mr. Mess that he wasn't doing it right, it is now my job to string the lights. While I'm putting on the lights he's selecting an array of holiday CDs and mixing amazing martinis. It makes for a very festive occasion.

We have a very eclectic selection of tree ornaments. (Did you expect anything else from me?) Every year the girls select a new ornament each while we are out doing our holiday shopping. Some years we've gotten them at a store during the local "Christmas Walk" or from the shop at the tree farm. Other years we'll just see some at a craft fair or store that they like and pick one up. For a while they had themes they worked on. Mini-me had blown glass angels for many years and then icicle shaped snowmen. Before the girls were born I bought every ornament I saw that had a grey tiger cat (like my old girl Penelope) or a black lab. I also have a few Bernese Mountain Dog ornaments (not so easy to find) and other cats of different colors. I do need to start looking for white cat ornaments for the Milk Brothers. We also try to buy an ornament from wherever we may go for a family vacation throughout the year. In addition to these the girls have collections of Hallmark Keepsake ornaments that they've received from my sister Brenda. Each time a new niece or nephew joined the family she'd select a new series that year and start them on their own collection. Mini-me has the series of Disney Princesses; Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Little E has the Madame Alexander doll series and the Madame Alexander angels. They cherish all these special ornaments and recall memories of when and where each one was received.

We also have small collection of the truly weird and frankly, ugly, ornaments. Most of these have come from the family ornament exchange at Mr. Mess' family's Christmas get together. It started out as a nice friendly ornament exchange that has devolved into a competition to see who can bring the weirdest and wackiest ornament, and who gets stuck with it at the end of the night. For the most part I've been quite lucky in what I've been stuck with able to add to our collection. This is how I acquired my German Pickle and my Funky Santa and Christmas Peppermint Fairy. But I also added the ugliest frog and the cherry pie on a plate via this venerable family tradition. Nothing made me let out a bigger sigh of relief than when I could safely pass on the Jar Jar Binks ornament a few years ago.

Of course my most cherished of all ornaments on my tree are the truly one of a kind. The ones that every mother loves the most. These are the glitter and tissue paper wad creations that your young children grace you with every year. Some are the result of a creative Sunday School teacher, school art class or teacher gift. Others are just sprung fresh from their fertile little minds with whatever found objects that they can find. And some are the result of a few dollars squirreled away here and there and an opportunity to shop at their discretion. All are special and were given with that true unadulterated love of giving that we all tend to forget about at this time of year. They really help us to remember the importance and meaning of a gift truly given. I hope your tree is covered in such gifts this season.

Black Friday Etsy Update!

It isn't all there yet but I did get the six purses I was working on posted to my etsy shop.




These are made from Mr. Mess' old sport-coats. Each one has a flap-welt pocket from the front of the jacket on the outside of the purse. They are all fully lined and have magnetic snap closure. The buttons decorating on the pocket flap are from my personal button jar full of antique, vintage, old and new buttons I have gathered over the years.

They were really fun to design and make. Eventually I will write up a tutorial on how to turn an old jacket into TWO cute purses.

I also have some knitting to list as well. I'm just waiting for my resident hand-model to get out of bed today so I can have some "action" shots of the fingerless mitts.

A Vest for the Millennium

The main knitting is done. Now it is time for seaming and finishing. It will probably have to wait until next week. I'm still busy trying to get some small items completed for an etsy shop update for the big shopping weekend.


Aren't those colors perfect? Couldn't have done it without you ;)

Before her time

This is a detail photo of my sister's wedding dress, circa 1987.

Friday night Pam hostessed a book signing for Susan Strawn's new book, Knitting America. In addition to an opportunity to meet the author, get your book signed and sit and knit a little, Pam put together a compendium of her own history of knitting.

Unknown to me, I was the inspiration for Pam to learn to knit back in 1967! The story is that when Mom was pregnant for me, Pam asked to be taught to knit with a set of big green needles and some green and white yarn our brother gave her for Christmas, 1966. She wanted to knit her new baby sister something. She thought that knitting stitch after stitch would magically turn itself into a pair of booties or a bonnet. (Don't we all wish that were the case?) When the "rectangle" she was diligently working on turned into something vaguely resembling Idaho, the magic spell was broken, but her determination to become a world class knitter was just further fueled.

She no longer has that misshapen green and white ode to the Potato State, but miraculously she does have quite a few of her early projects (and the original patterns!) AND the original circa 1966 green plastic "speed stix" that were a gift from Big Bro Scott!

If that weren't enough, she modeled a dress she knit at age 17 for the evening. This was one of the first projects she knit completely from her own original design. It was a 4H project and eventually went on to the Michigan State Fair and one a Blue Ribbon there too.


It goes without saying that Pam has been an inspiration and mentor for me my entire life. Just looking at all the projects she completed over the years is very impressive in itself. But to realize that many of these projects were done without patterns is beyond impressive. Then look at the variety of techniques and materials.

Pam was knitting beaded lace before it became an internet rage.

She ripped up cotton fabric and knit with that back in the early 80s.

She even knit her own "disco/Flashdance" inspired sweater, complete with sequins knit into the lace pattern.

Add in the cables, colorwork and fitting details and you have a master class in original knitting.

She also credits the fact that when Mom "taught" her to knit that Mom admitted that she really didn't know how to knit, she could only get her started and show her how to make a knit stitch. Anything beyond that was up to Pam to figure out. Because she never really had a teacher to "fix" her mistakes or to tell her she wasn't doing something the "right" way, she just had to learn by trial and error. Combine that with Pam's inherent perfectionist tendencies and you have a recipe for ultimate knitting success. She (we) eventually did have an incredible knitting mentor in one, Nella Taylor. She was our long-time 4H knitting leader. She had up to a dozen or more girls from ages 8 to 18 gather in her small living room every week after school (on Tuesdays?) to knit and learn. She also believed in the "learn from your mistakes" school of knitting and she would tell us what our error was and how to fix it but rarely would take the knitting from our hands and do it for us.

Of course Pam's magnum opus was her beaded lace wedding dress. Twenty years later, it is still a classic design. Again it was knit totally from her original design.

(For the record, she wore a strapless silk sheath under the dress!)




I do intend to do a full review of Susan's incredible book. I may even get my act together enough to do it via podcast. In the mean time, save yourself time and grief and put it on your holiday Wish List right now.

Book Signing and Knit-In

My sister, Pamela Penney, has a studio in Oak Park, Illinois. This coming weekend is the Harrison Street Holiday Kick Off weekend.

41 Harrison Street
Oak Park, IL 60304
708-785-7782
www.pamelapenney.com

Friday November 16th, 6-10pm: Local author, Susan Strawn, will be discussing and signing copies of her recently published book Knitting America.

A recent review in the Yarn Market News states…
“This meticulously researched look at knitting America, from Colonial times to the present, earns an honored place on the bookshelf next to A History of Hand Knitting and No Idle hands. Thing is, it’s so visually interesting, you’re going to want to leave it out on the coffee table instead. The illustrations tell the story as vividly as the text…..It’s a must-have for fiber historians.”

Refreshments will be served, bring your knitting, come to relax and spend a fun evening with other knitting enthusiasts! Signed copies of the book will be available all weekend long.


Saturday November 17th, 12 noon-8pm: Bring your kids in to learn to “finger knit”. Kids will learn to create something that could be given as a holiday gift! (Santa is also available for pictures just down the street!)


Sunday November 18th, 12 noon-5pm: All day “knit-in”. Bring your project, relax and join the knitting circle. Free help will be available

If you are a Chicagoland knitter this is a great opportunity to get some one-of-a-kind gifts, inspiration, and pre-holiday relaxation all in one. Currently I'm planning to attend Friday evening but if my schedule changes I may end up there on Sunday. If any of you local readers would like to join me or carpool, leave me a comment, email or phone me and we can get organized.

Drive by cuting...

Pattern Pending

I forgot that I also made these fingerless mitts last week.
Pattern:My own. I'll try to write it out soon and post it in the Free Pattern section.
Yarn: Terra by The Fibre Company in Henna
Needles:US6 bamboo dpns. (Crystal Palace I think)
Other/Notes: The pattern is pretty straight forward. I wanted something plain because I love the *rustic* nature of this yarn and originally had intentions of embroidering them like my Knucks I started with a ribbed cuff and changed my mind part way through. I decided instead to go with a loose "gauntlet" cuff and then decreased at the wrist. I also chose the rolled edge because I like the raw, unfinished look it gave them. Again, the simple design helps showcase the texture and color of the yarn.

I haven't decided the final destination for these. They may end up being a gift for some unnamed person on my Christmas list. Or they may end up for sale in my etsy shop. Or if all else fails, they will keep my hands warm while I drive or type (not at the same time!) this winter.

I have enough yarn left for a Calorimetry to match.

That's better.

Last week was a touch over the line into the area known as, "crazy busy." But it is over and I survived. I survived quite well actually and I'd have to put the week down in the "good" category.

Friday and Saturday were the performances of Mini-Me's school play, in which she had a minor role. (There are no small roles, only small actors.) This meant that every night last week she had rehearsals from 5pm-9pm. She normally gets off the bus at around 4:15pm so this meant in order to give her any time for dinner and a sanity break from school I needed to pick her up from school and take her back at 5:00 and then return to pick her up at 9:00. Mixed in there were a few after-school activities for her sister and a few things I needed to attend to as well. But other than the miles added to my car, we aren't any worse for wear.

My parents also came out from Michigan to see the play and to visit. So that meant that I did have a little housekeeping to get done to prepare for houseguests again, but this time it wasn't stressful. I really enjoy it when my folks visit. I relax and enjoy our time together and get caught up on all the family and hometown news (read: gossip). My sister and her kids even came out Saturday night to see the play and have dinner with us. Even though we only live an hour away from each other, we don't get together often enough.

The kitten is growing like the wild man that he is and is getting cuter everyday. He stands his own against the Milk Brothers and the dogs. He is getting more and more adventurous and has figured out the stairs and the big litter box. He is also blissfully cuddly. He has a wonderful knack for finding my lap right as I'm getting ready to get up and go get something done or have to leave for somewhere.

In crafting news:
I'm about 75% done with the Millennium Argyle Vest. I've had to rip back a few times with the front because of operator error, but overall it is coming along very nicely. Last night I got passed the armhole shaping and started the neck shaping. It should only be a matter of one more knitting session to get the front finished. Then it is just a matter of blocking, seaming and finishing.

I also got my sewing machine back from the repair shop for the second time last week. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I see that there is a sample swatch under the presser foot so I guess that means he tried it out before sending it home with me. I have two blouses for Mini-me on the front of the pile to make next. Plus a knitting friend asked for a sock bag out of a cute print I had a little pouch made out of a few weeks ago. Then there are the appliquéd wool coin purses I started last month. (I intended to work these up as a pattern to put up before the holidays...time is ticking away on that one!)

Riddle me this Batman.

The standard of Halloween Trick or Treating etiquette has always been, "If the front light is on, the homeowner has candy to hand out." Am I right?

So now that villages and towns across the land have deemed that T&Ting should occur between the hours of 3pm and 7pm, how does this work? Currently in my neighborhood it is still very much daylight and won't be full on dark until almost 7pm. Especially since the switch to Daylight Savings Time has been moved back one weekend. I could turn my light on but I doubt anyone would notice.

The other bah-humbug (or should that be bat-humbug for Halloween? But then that makes it sound like a Jewish coming of age celebration for witches or something...) I have about today's festivities is the current trend to just take your kids to the closest mega-subdivision and let them have at it. I no longer get my neighbor's kids coming to my door. Instead they are two neighborhoods over swindling those poor suckers out of KitKats and Reese Cups. I also feel a little bad about the homeowners in those subdivisions but then I remember how annoyed I was when they all built their houses and started overcrowding our schools and clogging our roads with their SUVs.

So anyhow, here I sit with a half-full bag of candy, an invisible light on and every stupid ghost/paranormal show ever made in the past 10 years on my television.

Knitting my way out of a rut.

It may be the season change, loss of light or just a slump in biorhythms, but I've been in a rut of sorts lately. I think I'm slowly coming out of it. The tumbleweeds of animal hair that have gathered in the corners this week are starting to bother me. That's always a sign that I'm coming out of it. I've also begun a few projects. A clear sign that my knitting mojo is back and maybe my "life" mojo will soon follow.

Actually, I went through a big urge to sew a few weeks ago. Of course this occurred just days after taking my machine into the repair shop for a "quick" cleaning and tune up. When I dropped it off I was told that the tech wasn't backed up at all and it would only be "less than a week" until it was ready. That "few days" ended up being three weeks. (I could go on a big rant about how I had to call three times and it was never ready, I stopped by on the evening when they were supposed to be open late to find them closed, and how finally I just happened to be in the area last Thursday and checked to see if it was done. It was, but they had never called me. But I digress.) Of course Saturday was the Halloween Bash at E's school. So Friday night and Saturday morning I had to hurriedly sew up a khaki shirt for her costume. She was going as a "Wildlife Adventurer Attacked by Venomous Snakes" no reflection on any persons living or dead.

As I began to sew her shirt I noticed that the top thread tension was really loose. So I changed the needle and rethreaded it. Still off. I changed the bobbin. Still wonky. I tried other fabrics, interfacings, etc. etc. So no better. Finally I just manually adjusted the tension control (it is actually electronic so it was a matter of pushing some buttons on the touch-screen) until it was set to "super tight, should be breaking the thread". This seemed to work. Until I tried to make a button-hole. I forgot that when I changed stitches it returned to the preprogrammed tension. After practically taking the damn machine apart to extract the practice fabric that was melded in the feed dogs with a ball of thread the size of Cambodia, I again manually set the tension. I managed to execute five passable button holes and call it a shirt. Had I been making something that needed a higher caliber of workmanship than a Halloween costume I would've been very annoyed. As it was, I only wanted to stick a seam ripper in ONE eye instead of both.

To top it off, my serger also chose Saturday to take a partial crap. It works fine for three thread narrow overlocking but the left needle position completely refuses to cooperate with the other stitches and meet up with the hook correctly. So on Monday I packed both machines up and took them back to the repair shop/Bernina dealer. I told them how they had had the Bernina for three weeks for a cleaning and it came home with a stress disorder and how I just discovered that the Viking serger could only manage to rape and pillage with one needle.

This is when the nice lady proceeded to tell me that woman across the Fox Valley area had all tried to sew again for the first time in a year this past weekend in order to make pirates and mermaids out of regular children and had instead turned their sewing machines into WMDs and they all had been brought in to be defused. It would now be at least 4 weeks until my machines would be done. The Bernina *may* get looked at sooner seeing as it was returning for a repair to a repair but she wasn't sure because the tech wasn't in to ask. So I guess I won't be sewing again for a while.

BUT! I have been knitting.

The ladies at Friday Knitting last week helped me decide on seven colors for the Millenium Argyle Vest from the new Interweave Knits book. Most of it is the Jaeger extra-fine Merino DK weight. But we couldn't come up with a complete palette with what they had in stock (it is no longer available in the USA.) so we added some Karabella to round out the selections. I really like what we came up with and think it will be a gorgeous vest. The stripes are the back and the "elderberry" color will be the main color on the front with the other six colors; olive, lagoon, cypress, violet, teal and red, making up the six diamonds and diagonal lines on the front.

My shopping experience to select these seven colors illustrates why we need local yarn shops. I went in knowing that I wanted the Jaeger for this vest. I'd worked with it before and it is one of my favorite yarns. I also had a basic idea of what colors I *thought* I wanted to use as well. But after pulling my selections from the shelves and putting them on the table I saw that I needed to amend my original ideas. Between the other Friday Knitting participants and the owners, I had input, suggestions, opinions and many options presented until I had a more than satisfactory selection of yarn. At first we were unable to find enough balls of the elderberry color that I really wanted to use as my main color. The owners looked at the inventory on the computer and in the back room and finally after much searching, we found enough.

Yes, I could've probably found a very suitable DK weight merino wool online somewhere for a lesser price. I also may have even been able to find a wider color selection of this particular yarn. But what I would not be able to find when online shopping was the ability to mix and match and stand back and look at and switch out again and again until I had the "just right" combination. Nor would I have had the opportunity to have 6 or more other knitters sitting with me and offering their insight, humor and company during the shopping process. And most importantly, I found my knitting mojo again that day. I think Neil added it to the bottom of the nice shopping bag he packaged my purchase into at the cash register. ;)

Attitude Adjustment

If you haven't watched this yet, take ten minutes RIGHT NOW and do it.

In Other News

In an effort to keep blog posts somewhat coherent and cohesive, I'm breaking my randomness up into separate posts today. Plus it makes me look even more productive!

Last Wednesday night I had my first of three Community College Continuing Education classes that I signed up for in preparation for venturing into the wild world of Small Business ownership. This class was entitled, "Doing Business on the Internet." It was informative and thought provoking. Much of it was stuff I already knew on one level or another but much of it was either a different perspective that I hadn't considered before or totally new and eye-opening.

For one thing, I learned something that I had suspected would be true. Starting an online retail business is as expensive and time consuming as starting a brick and mortar store. The idea of starting small online and using capital raised in that manner to fund the b&m endeavor is ridiculously naive. So that means a change of plans is in order.

As my true dream and passion is to have a real "place" to call my own and to work toward, I'm going to put my big online plans on hold for now. I need to focus my time and energy on getting the real thing started and running first. There is just so much to do logistically for either venture that if I divided my attentions, I would most likely fail at both. I also have to honestly evaluate my strengths and weaknesses and I know that I'm much more likely to put more work and effort into something more tangible than a "virtual" job.

I do feel that there will continue to be some online presence in connection to My Eclectic Mess LLC; be it this blog, an etsy shop, or other retail set-up. Time will tell.

All in the Family

I know I've done a bit of a blog-fade recently (don't even begin to mention the podcast!) I've really lost my motivation and inspiration. I seem to have totally lost my knitting mojo all together. I may be moving on to other craft areas soon, who knows. I'm drowning in a stagnant pool of ennui.

Such blah-ness really doesn't make for interesting reading so I've spared you all the agony.

Last weekend my in-laws were here for a visit. That meant that most of last week was spent preparing for their arrival. I'm a moderately good housekeeper. I'm not compulsive but I'm no slob either. I readily keep my family in clean clothes, hygienic and sanitary bathrooms and kitchen, and I'm almost compulsive about vacuuming dog hair and other detritus from the wood floors. I've decided to choose my battles carefully when it comes to the girls' rooms. If they want to live in chaos, so be it. I went through the trashed room phase too (sometimes still do on occasion) and eventually I learned the joy of organization and cleanliness. Plus all it will take will be a few embarrassing comments from their contemporaries to make them change their ways.

However, my husband and mother in law have different ideas about what is clean than I do. Over the years I've tried to accept this but depending on my mood (and if I'm taking mind altering medications or not) the acceptance comes harder at some times than others. If it were just a matter of cleaning and getting ready to entertain before their arrival it would be one thing. I enjoy hosting friends and family. What I have difficulty with is when my houseguests insist on "helping" me by cleaning and picking up after their arrival. It makes me feel like all the work I put in prior to their arrival wasn't good enough. It is always nice to have a houseguest that picks up after themself, but when they start picking up after me or doing deep cleaning that I chose to put off for a later time, (like when I don't have guests.) I get annoyed and just a little insulted.

Now in her defense, we were also hosting a dinner party on Saturday night for our church Dinner Club. We decided to hold the party the same weekend as their visit because my mother in law also loves to cook for guests and it would give her something to do while they were here. Plus in my defense, it also meant that I only had to get the house "guest/party ready" one weekend this month. I prepared for their arrival by prioritizing my preparations into two different areas. Before Thursday, I would be sure the basics were done and the guest bedroom/bathroom was pristine and welcoming. I know my house (kids and animals accounted for) would need more preparing before a dinner party but also knew we would have time Friday and Saturday morning to do those things and doing them any earlier would be counterproductive as the kids and dogs would undo half the work anyway.

My intention was that while they were cooking, I'd be cleaning and preparing the dining room for the party. But I also had not had any time with my children Thursday or Friday evening and Saturday morning chose to take a few hours to hang out with them and watch tv and talk. Mr. Mess and the parents golfed 9 holes Saturday morning and so the girls and I had the house to ourselves for a couple hours. We needed that "free time" to just relax and be ourselves. When the golfers returned, we felt like we needed to be "on" again.

In an attempt to be helpful my MIL started cleaning and straightening for the party immediately upon her return to our house. I was trying to get my apple pie made for dessert so I could be done and out of the way in the kitchen when they needed to start cooking the dinner food. She also volunteered to make Creme Brulee as an additional dessert and was doing that while I was making pie. Again, my insecurities were making me wonder why we really needed two desserts and to feel like yet another one of my contributions wasn't being appreciated.

It eventually turned out that I had very little to do to prepare for my own dinner party. I got the pie done and set aside and cleaned up that mess. Then at my insistence, I was allowed to set the table with my good china and set out all the proper serving pieces. Otherwise I spent Saturday afternoon reading a book and trying to stay out of the way in my own home and biting my tongue when the dishcloth was used to wipe cat hair off the dining room chair seats and to spot clean the kitchen floor that I had just told Mr Mess that I would mop as soon as they were done cooking.

I hate to sound so petty and bitchy. I know I'm probably projecting some of my own issues with passive-aggressive behavior onto her and her actions. But I can't help but feel that my own efforts were unappreciated and just not good enough.

I really do like my in-laws. We're very different personalities and I often feel like they just don't "get" me. I feel inferior and unworthy a lot of the time that I'm around them. I spent a lot of the weekend feeling like it was an, us and them kind of situation. With the girls and I being the "us" and Mr Mess and his parents being the "them."

All that said, it will probably be another year before they visit again. We're usually a stop on the way to or from their annual sojourn to Florida for the winter. However, I have volunteered to hostess my family for Christmas this year. Totally different issues there. I don't have feelings of insecurity over my housekeeping with them. The areas of insecurity are much deeper and personal. In addition to the judgmental attitudes I get from certain segments of the family for appearing to have "risen above my raisin'" so to speak I also get grief because it appears to them that Mr Mess does all the work around here and I'm a pampered, spoiled Queen. (Gee, maybe because it is easier to just let him do it instead of doing it myself and having him or his mother come along later and do it again anyway.) At least with them I'm used to them and they with me and we can just relax and let our respective freak flags fly.

Family; Can't live with them, don't have enough space to hide all the bodies...

Prince of Darkness

Our new baby. Currently his name is "Ozzie."
Cute doesn't even begin to describe this little guy.

A Touch of Blue

We have a clump of what I'm presuming to be "Nikko Blue" hydrangeas next to our driveway. They came with the house. Up until last fall they never blossomed. I did some research and decided that they just weren't suited for our climate zone. Every year they would grow up nice and tall but never quite reach the bud to blossom stage. Blame it on global warming or just dumb luck, but last fall they bloomed in a beautiful bounty of blue blossoms. I had a garage sale during their best weeks and I had customers asking me about them and offering to buy cuttings from the plants.

So far this year I only have one blossom. It however makes up for the lack of shrub-mates. It is the most perfect shade of blue with just a hint of purple. It is so striking against the green and ever increasing brown of the late summer garden it stops me in my tracks every time I drive in the yard.



There are signs that we may be blessed with more of its kind.







Less than 3 yards away I find this:



This type of hydrangea's blossoms are either pink or blue depending on the acidity of the soil they grow in. You can amend the soil to help determine what color blossoms you get. I don't do any amending or fertilizing. Oddly, within 10 feet of garden space I evidently have two very different types of soil. Pretty cool actually.

I have a thing for hydrangeas.



This little one is in a bed by my living room window. It is of the "Endless Summer" variety. I had to move this one last fall because it wasn't doing well under our big Hickory tree. I was worried it wouldn't make it but it finally perked up and mustered up one blossom this summer.


This one is over under a dining room window. I'm not sure of the variety. But its blossoms start out with a slight hint of pink and quickly fade to white.

I also have an Oak Leaf variety and the big Snowball type in the back yard.

But my favorite Hydrangea is this one:

Of the "Bernese Mountain Dog" variety.