Once again I am joining with Ginny and others for the weekly Yarn Along.  Books and Knitting.  Two things I love!  This week I am definitely not getting much reading done, but I am getting some in some knitting time.

Last week I put aside the Radiating Star Blanket I've been making to make an Aviatrix for Corrine's little friend Connor.
On Sunday I loaded up the car...I had two bags of goodies for the food swap I was attending that night, the birthday present for the party we were headed to, Corrine's diaper bag, and Corrine.  I remember having Connor's hat in the kitchen.  And that was the last I saw of it.  I'm not sure if I dropped it getting in or out of the car but it was REALLY windy that day so if I did the hat probably blew to Kansas.  After tearing apart the car and the house and even checking the backyard to see if the dogs were using it as a new toy I went to the yarn store and bought more of the same yarn and started over.

This past week I finished reading Catching Fire and started on Mockingjay which is the third book in the Hunger Games series.  The movie comes out March 23rd.  And I can't wait to see it.  Unfortunately I am working that morning so I'll wait a week or so to see it so it won't be as crowded.  I am also listening to Body Work by Sara Paretsky in the car on my way to work.

I took the recycling out to the bin this morning and to my surprise, saw some tulips pushing through the ground!  It has been unseasonably warm here, but typical of Colorado it changes from day to day.  Last week it was warm enough to finish melting the snow that we got the first part of February.  Yesterday it was 65 degrees and windy.  I wanted to hang my laundry on the line, but was afraid my wash would end up in Kansas!  Today it is sunny, but only 32 degrees.
We still have to get through March.  It is the snowiest month here.  Luckily it doesn't get and stay really cold.  And the snow is usually a wet, heavy snow.  Otherwise I would worry about my tulips coming up this early.  But it sure is a nice sign that Spring is just around the corner!

Lately I have been obsessing a bit over three things... cleanliness, my veggies garden, and school for Corrine.  Today I'm going to rant on my new cleanliness obsession.  (I'll save my other obsessions for another day).

OK...where to start?  Before Corrine I was always an obsessive vacuumer.  We have two shedding black dogs, and two cats.  If I skip a day the dust bunnies rival the cats in size.  But now with Corrine crawling, she puts all the fur balls she finds in her mouth.  Ick.  So I vacuum every morning.  A group of our friends got together and bought us a Dyson Animal Ball Vacuum for a baby present.  BEST.  BABY. PRESENT. EVER!  I had wanted on, but wasn't willing to pay $500 for a vacuum.  Even if I was to use it every day.  However, now that I have one, I would gladly pay that.  There is nothing more zen than clean floors.

Other than vacuuming, my housecleaning was rather haphazard.  I didn't clean anything regularly.  If I thought it was looking dirty I cleaned it.  Except the kitchen, that it cleaned daily as I used it.  But  now I am looking at cleanliness and dirtiness from a whole new perspective.  I am home more and can clean on a regular basis.

I'm not a germaphobe, I just want things to be fresh!  So I sat down and made a chart to give myself a rough idea of what needed to be done.  Things like vacuum and mop, clean the bathroom, dust, clean the walls, etc.  I don't want it to be a rigid cleaning schedule, just a guideline of what needs to be done daily and what can be done once or twice a week.  I can't go crazy over it...not with dogs who track in dirt and baby who makes a mess.  I'm not sure how long this will last, but even ranting about it now makes me feel better.

This week I am joining Ginny at Small Things for the weekly Yarn Along.  Books and knitting.  Two of my favorite things, but don't get a chance to do much of either with a one year old.  

Our boys are blood donors.  Nope, not kids.  Our dogs.  Yep.  That's right.  They donate blood at the vets office.  To qualify they must-
*weigh over 55 pounds-  Henley is a Newfoundland so he definitely weighs over 55 pounds.  Buffett is our small dog, he's a Newf/Border Collie mix (we think) and he weighs in at 55 pounds.
*be between one and six years old
*be friendly
*in good health.

Henley has been donating since he was a puppy and Buffett has only been donating for a year.   They can donate six times a year and for each donation they get a credit.  When it comes time to their annual check up we can use those credits to help pay for their vet bill.  It's a win-win situation for all.

After their donation they get a nail trim and a treat.  And as a thank you they get a small to go bag of biscuits.  The last time they donated they each got a thank you card.  That's how we found out that Henley has saved 27 lives and Buffett has saved 10 lives!

This week I am joining Ginny at Small Things for the weekly Yarn Along.  Books and Knitting.  Two of my favorite things.  But two things I don't get much of with a one year old. 
This past week I started making a Radiating Star Blanket with yarn from my stash.  I joined the 2012 Stash Busting Challenge.  I have a huge tub of yarn that was given to me by the local chapter of the Linus Project to make blankets.  This is the year I clean out the tub!  I found several different blanket patterns on Ravelry which I think will use most of the yarn.  It is in all random shades of mostly (icky) acrylic yarn.  But some of the patterns will make some nice rainbow types of blankets.  


I am reading the Hunger Games.  Several of my good friends have read it and insist that I would enjoy it.  I do like it, but I wonder where the author got her idea for this book.  It's almost like Miss America meets the Gladiators meets Survivor.  It takes place in post apocalyptic United States.  There is a Capital and 12 outlying districts.  Once a year one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 are chosen from each district to play in the Hunger Games.  A game of survival.  It is a very dark book.  The movie comes out March 23rd.  

Today I made my favorite peanut butter bars.  A couple of years ago I was craving a peanut butter cookie, but didn't have time to drop them by teaspoonful on the cookie sheet.  So I created this recipe by combining three different recipes.


1/2 C butter
1/2 C peanut butter (I use crunchy)
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 C quick cooking oatmeal
1/2 C mini peanut butter cups

In a large bowl, beat the butter and peanut butter for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and brown sugar- beat until fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Add in flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix well.  Stir in oatmeal.  Spread 1/2 to 3/4 of mixture into an 8x8 pan.  Sprinkle with the mini peanut butter cups and top with remaining cookie mixture.  It will not cover all of the chocolate, but will spread to cover most.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Cool before cutting into squares (if you can wait that long).

I use the mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe's.  Whenever I'm in California (which isn't too often anymore) I stock up.  My good friend, Bob, flew out for Corrine's birthday and he was kind enough to bring me a couple of boxes.  I think Reese's make mini peanut butter cups too.

In September 2010, Bryan and I went to Munich for Oktoberfest.  While we were there we traveled to the Bavarian Alps and to Switzerland.  So many people spoke to us first in German and then when they realized that we were tourists they switched to flawless English.  Quite embarrassing for us.  Although I can say a few words in German it was by no means enough to get my point across.  I was 4 months pregnant (so much for participating in Oktoberfest!) and we decided while we were there, that as a family we would learn a second language.

I took five years of Spanish in high school and college.  But that was a long time ago.  As they say, use it or lose it.  Again I can say some phrases (mostly two beers and the bathroom please) and understand a little if spoken slowly enough.  So I think we should learn Spanish.  It really would be the most helpful language  here in Colorado and in the Southwestern part of the US.

Bryan wants us to learn French.  I'm not sure why.  We would have no call to use it here.  I've also thought of learning German.  But again there is really no use for it here.  Although it is our dream to have a chalet in Switzerland (ok a pipe dream).  I have also said, half seriously and half jokingly, that we should learn Chinese. (Unless the government balances our budget, China will totally own the US is my reasoning).

Corrine isn't talking yet.  She says mama and barely says dada.  I know we have some time to  make our decision.  In the  meantime I have loaded a couple of apps on my iphone that are for Spanish and German.  More of a refresher than a teaching tool at this point.  I'm just not sure what direction to go.