Knit One Quilt Too

Z is for...

Zydeco!  Not the music, but the restaurant.  This is our favorite place to go as a family in Bend.  It's not your typical family restaurant.  This is a nice place and definitely caters to adults, but the menu is kid friendly with sides that kids like and the staff is always happy to see us.  If you ever make it to Bend, you should check it out.  It's not in the typical place you might look for a nice restaurant because it's sandwiched between a car dealer and a Burger King!  However, you won't be sorry you looked for it.

We went there the other night and had a very nice dinner.  We also managed to draw all over the table.  We usually fill the paper with drawings and hangman games.  Here's a testament to the food.  I complelely forgot to take photos of the dishes because they are so good there were mostly gone by the time I remembered.  If you do go try the Almond Wet Cake!  Another reason to go is the homemade dog biscuits available for free.  See, the restaurant is named after the family dog.  Awww, how sweet is that!

Y is for...

Yuletide!  Christmas Eve at my parent's house.  May you have all the warmest wishes of the holiday season. 

X is for...

Xmas Corners!  Enjoy these photos of our favorite Christmas Corners of My Home.  Many of these items are handmade by me, my family or other handcrafters.  These, of course, are the most precious ones.  Merry Christmas!

W is for...

Winter Solstice!  We celebrated last night because that's what my calendar said.  We may have been a day off, but we had a lovely evening nonetheless.  We lit the candles that we got in the Winter Solstice light trade at dinner and ate by candlelight.  Then I read a book about the Winter Solstice to the kids.  After dinner we ate some Solstice cake that the kids decorated.  Ryan started the Solstice cake tradition a couple of years ago.  What a peaceful evening!

V is for...

Violets!  I've had African Violets for years and they are the best houseplant for me!  They don't require a whole lot of care and the blooms are profuse and last forever.  Of course, at this particular moment in time mine are almost all in a nonblooming stage.  I wish I had taken a photo a month or two ago.  It was particularly beautiful.  I had a couple of these for a long time, but when I was pregnant with Chloe I started a bunch of them from leaf cuttings.  They were given as gifts and I kept a few.  I now have 4 regular AV's and one mini that I got at an AV show.  The mini is my favorite. 

If you are interested in having a house plant, but think you don't have a green thumb, give an AV a try.  I recommend you buy a two part pot which you can find at a garden shop.  I've even made one at a paint your own pottery place.  This is a pot that the plant sits in, then you place that one in another pot which holds the water.  With this system they get just enough water and you only need to fill the pot every week or two.  I also recommend regular feedings with an AV fertilizer.  I put just a few drops in the water every time I fill it.  Mine sit in our kitchen window just behind my sink which means that I easily remember to fill the water pot.  I have found that this is the perfect amount of light for them.  You might need to move yours around to different spots until you find the perfect light situation.

U is for...

Unschooling!  I've talked about it before and now I have a blog about it.  It's a lifestyle choice for us that allows us to travel when we want, sleep in if needed and generally have tons of fun while learning a whole lot.  Last Wednesday we had a fantastic day of skiing and snowboarding that was possible only because we unschool.  Here are some photos of that day. 

Perfect conditions and an open road to Mt. Bachelor.

Chloe and Kristin take their first ski lesson.

Ryan the DUDE!  You should see him go!

Chloe and Kristin on the bunny hill.

Chloe's looking good!

Mark snowboarding too.

T is for...

Tea!  I just love a cup o' tea and this is my favorite tea cup with my very favorite tea.  If you haven't tried Harney teas, you're in for a treat.  They make all sorts and I've tried a bunch of them.  This apricot tea is my absolute favorite.  It's got a sort of smoky, almost nutty flavor.  My wonderful friend, Barb introduced me to Harney long ago, when the kids were little.  It's been a mainstay ever since.  I'm so glad it's tea season again!  What could be better than a cup o' tea and some knitting or quilting?

S is for...

Socktoberfest!  With days to spare I finished my second pair or Socktoberfest socks.  I love these with a passion.  The Mountain Colors Bearfoot was a delight to knit with.  The colorway is Red Tailed Hawk and the pattern is Chevron from Sensational Knitted Socks.  I love this pattern because it's a two row pattern and one of them is all knit.  Very easy!  Thank you, Lolly, for giving me a great reason to finish these beauties!

The spirit of socktoberfest continues with my new Socks that Rock kit that came just yesterday.  I signed up for next year's club and I'm really looking forward to the Club Camp next April.  I'm going to see if I can fit two knitting retreats and an unschooling conference into one month.  Should be interesting!

Have a very Happy Halloween!

R is for...

Ryan!  Ryan is 12 today! Ryan loves science, machines, dinosaurs, electricity, trains, monster trucks and anything else that runs by a motor.  He also loves to cook, ride bikes, swim and hike.  He loves to travel and go camping.

Ryan was born 12 years ago under less than ideal circumstances.  The day after moving into a new house I had another bleeding episode.  It was 2 weeks before his due date and I had been diagnosed with placenta previa several months before.  It was scary, but we went to the hospital for a routine check.  They started talking emergency C-section and I was feeling really good about it even though Ryan was supposed to be my home birth (Chloe was born in a free standing birth center with just a midwife). 

Anyway, Ryan had an apgar of 2 and was revived and given oxygen for 12 hours.  It was a difficult time because the hospital pediatrician gave him antiobiotics without our permission and immunizations we didn't approve of.  When I was ready to come home they said he couldn't because he needed IV injections of this antiobiotic.  Mark was our savior during this time, being the advocate for both of us.  He insisted that Ryan should be able to come home and we could get a visiting nurse to handle the injections.  We worked that out, then after the 4th day, when the injections were done, we were told he needed to have his hearing checked because the antiobiotic, gentamycin, can cause hearing loss.  We were incensed!!!  I couldn't not believe how many things were bungled and how much we were not informed of.  Well, he had an infant hearing test which was fine and had several more hearing tests over the years for his speech delay.  His hearing has always been fine- even hyperacute which caused some behavioral issues along the way.  On top of all that, my mom, who had come to help developed pneumonia while she was visiting and Mark ended up having to take care of me during my recovery from a c-section, an infant, a 19 month old toddler and his mother-in-law with pneumonia.  What a difficult month that first one was!

Ryan was diagnosed with strabismus at the age of 6 months and had surgery at 8 months in both eyes.  The effect of the surgery was immediate and dramatic.  We brought him home and almost instantly he was looking at us and smiling from across the room, something he hadn't done before.  Over time we discovered his development was delayed in almost all ways, but he was always a smiling and happy boy.  He was diagnosed at age 6 with autism, then re-evaluated this year and told he doesn't have autism.  We've been told he has cognitive delay and will most likely not live independently. 

It's been a roller coaster raising this boy, who is not so little anymore.  His strengths are his sense of humor, his unabashed love for his family and his determination to do what he wants to do.  He is the most persistent kid I know.  Ryan is a great kid and we just love him!  Happy Birthday, sweetie!

Q is for...

To distract you from the fact that there is no knitting content I can show you*, I thought I'd better get to Q.  I bet you thought it would be Quilt, but it's not.

Q is for Quest.  We've done a lot of quests lately in the form of geocaches and letterboxing.  Today was the latest and we got some nice photos of Old Town Albuquerque, so you will get to see travel photos afterall.

First off, we went looking for The Lady of the Tree, a little known secret in Old Town.  We found it very quickly.

Then we went looking for a geocache called Old Town Ghost Tour.  This is a multi-step cache with 11 stops.  Along the way we found some really cool areas of Old Town we hadn't seen before. 

This old mansion is said to be haunted by at least four ghosts. 

The Servant's Quarters:  They say the spirit of a young boy lingers there and he moves things around and night and helps himself to the candy bowl.

At least four ghosts are said to haunt this building as well.  It's also the porch with the open air jewelry market.

Chloe and I bought beautiful silver and turquoise earrings from this artisan.

Here's where the cache is located, though we couldn't find it.  It's always disappointing to not find a cache!  Chloe and I looked around for a long time, so I'm not sure if it's still there, though it was found only a few days ago.

This chapel has a couple of surprises inside.

The cache is supposed to be near the circular window, but we didn't find it.  Now we have to plan on coming back to Albuquerque some time, just to finish this!  We had a wonderful time in Old Town over the past week.  It's definitely worth a visit if you ever come to Albuquerque.

* I've been knitting, but it's my super-secret project that I just can't show.  Be patient because it will make an appearance sooner or later.