I've been forgetting to keep my camera out these days. Or maybe I'm just too busy, and forget.. In any case, I'm trying to get back in the habit this week.

With that said, look what Cassidy and I made this weekend..

We finally made sushi. As Richard called them, since they were California rolls lacking crab, they are 'fornia rolls. I also used some furiake that I purchased at Wegmans, but I think we'll skip that next time. It was a bit too "fishy". Next time, sesame seeds only. Oh, and I need to work on not overcooking the sushi rice. But.. Cassidy loved it.. making them and eating them. She even ate the leftover roll for dinner that night.

Gretel is done, and Cassidy loves it. I liked knitting it enough, that I will likely do another in the other styles. This is the "regular" style, but the pattern also offers the "fitted" or "slouch" versions. She did ask for a pompom to be added to the top, but I refused. Pompoms are fine for other hats, but not this one. Sorry Girly.

In other news.. its an exciting week here at Chez Martin. On Thursday we'll be driving down to Norwich to meet with Kelly, Corey and their children Morgan and Alex since they'll be visiting the area to attend a wedding. Why is this so exciting? Well Kelly and I have known each other for a very long time, but have never met! We "met" 10 years ago on a pregnancy list for babies due in September 1998.. and here we are, a decade later with 9 year old girls, Cassidy and Morgan.

Also.. Rhinebeck Baybeeeeee! I'm going!

I'll be riding shotgun with Diana down to NY Sheep and Wool.. the fiber mecca. Where I'll spend, hopefully not too much money, and attend the bloggers meet up. My plan.. because everyone keeps asking me, "what are you looking for? what do you plan on buying?" Honestly, I don't have a plan, though I'd like to test drive some other spinning wheels since I'm hoping to trade in my Baynes for a bit more serious of a wheel this year.

Wee! I'm uber excited. Talk about fibergasm!

and I'll likely take the weekend off from blogging unless I end up with something fun to share. But before unplugging, I offer another list of really cool sites..

Loren, my good friend and frequent commenter here, has started a new blog called The Other Side Of New York, where she'll talk about all sorts of fun things to do upstate. Give her a visit and be sure to subscribe or bookmark!

This cupcake hat at Chile Con Yarne. Too cute for words. Be sure not to miss the viking hat and pineapple hat either!

CNY Menus. I use this site way too often, but its a great resource.

A knitted donkey pattern. Doesn't this just scream out to be knit by me? Well, it will be.. I bought it. And I'm tempted to buy the panda, lamb, and kangaroo too.

Sheri posted this recipe for Italian shredded beef on her blog, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. So easy, and damn tasty. I was skeptical.. how could something so easy be that good? But I'm a believer.. and so is the rest of the family. Alex took one bite, had a look of food euphoria and immediately asked that we make it again. We served it on uber soft kaiser rolls and had a green salad on the side. YUM!

Have a great weekend y'all!

Blogging mojo. Where did mine go, and how do I find it again?

Between feeling pretty ill lately, adjusting to Connor's speech and occupational therapy schedule, and implementing something called the Wilbarger protocol, (which is time consuming while we get used to it,) I've sort of fallen off the blogging wagon - at least in an organized fashion. I've also found myself without things to talk about (or unwilling to write about.) Even my crafty side has taken a hit. But that may be because what is taking up most of my time right now, are projects I can't really show off and blog about, like the contract project, and my spinning guild holiday gift. But my mind spins with baby gifts that need to be finished - the urge to knit another cotton bathmat - finishing those socks - you know, activity which requires more time than I have, and less sleep than my body requires.

I still want need to paint the kitchen (I hoped to get this done over the summer.. warm months came and went)

I still need to swap out summer clothes for winter (I hate doing this)

I still need to hang a large storage shelf in the laundry room (ok, thats not just me.. we, meaning Richard and I need to tackle this one)

I still need to develop the winterizing plan for this year, and buy supplies (man am I running late!)

I still need to get Halloween costumes squared away - (2 of 4 still have no idea what they want to be)

Lastly, address the hot spot also known as the sun room, where many items which need carting to the attic and basement currently reside. Never mind the yard tools currently without a real home to call their own. We thought we'd get a small shed this year, think small steel buildings variety. But we also thought we'd get the deck on the front of the house too. So much for that.

Oh, and the list goes on.. I'm whining - I'll stop.

And if it is, why is it like 90 outside? Doesn't Mother Nature know that October starts next week?

Why why why?

The leaves are changing, and its 90 frickin' degrees.

Something aint right. This is New York.

Nevermind. I just realized this may be a good thing since I haven't had to turn my heat on yet this year. But really, if I liked the heat year round, I'd be looking at Phoenix real estate.

Regular blogging will return tomorrow, barring catastrophic events. I don't have an excuse, other than I've had nothing important to say.

I love 5 Minutes For Mom, for a whole lot of reasons, but one of them has to be their incredible giveaways. If your familiar with them, then you know.

Today they posted their most recent giveaway.. a pink Dyson.

Dyson is helping to find a cure for Breast Cancer.

They have created a limited edition, oh-so-fashionable Pink vacuum and they are donating $40 from each sale to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

The pink beauties are exclusively available at Target… but you need to hurry because they are already 50% sold out! And since these Pink All Floor vacuums are a limited edition, once they’re gone… well you know the end of that sentence.

Head on over and enter before October 1st!

The Memory Walk was done.. in the rain. However only 2 of us made it.

Friday night everyone started to get sick, so when we woke up to rain on Saturday morning, an executive decision was made and only myself and Cassidy attended. (Pictures later.. I still haven't downloaded them to the PC from the camera)

Then there was the mandatory fridge shopping (it arrives later this morning.) And what a delight (not!) that was. The Kenmore I wanted was no longer available (unless I wanted to rent a truck and move it myself! (Um, NO!) Then there was the Frigidaire, I was almost sold on, but it wasn't rated very high by Consumer Reports (who knew Frigidaire made crappy compressors?) The GE that I would have really liked, because it would match my GE stove, was like 600.00 more than I budgeted. Lastly, the Maytag french door, ooh la la that I really wanted but was twice what I budgeted. So I went with a Whirlpool. I'm not as thrilled as I would be with that gorgeous french door Maytag, but I'm still doing the happy refrigerator dance. No more leaky fridge. No more 50.00 a month in electric costs. No more frozen milk and melting ice cream.

*sigh* Fridge shopping is worse than car shopping, and I hate car shopping a lot.

Then the playing nurse to one big sick baby (Richard.) And cuddling, wiping noses, doling out meds to the rest of the tribe. And now its finally raining down on me *cough cough - sniffle sniffle*, while trying to pull "Goldie" (our 20 year old, groaning, GE almond side by side) out to clean behind and under, in prep for the new fridge (holy crap, where does all that dust come from?) And now I need to empty it (goodness, why do we have 4 bottles of Italian dressing, 6 jars of pickles, and 3 bottles of mustard?)

So while I hope to get pictures up from the Memory Walk later today, I'm not promising anything. I have a very full inbox to deal with (this happens when you don't check your mail for three days!) , and I think by the time Lowes brings me my fridge.. and I get everything put back where it belongs.. I'll likely just curl up on the couch with the also coughing, sniffling, feverish Connor.

Names entered into random.org, then mixed up and assigned a number, using the list randomizer..

42 total entries. So using the custom random number generator at mathgoodies.com, entering a low number of 1 and a high number of 42.

Watch video for the whole process, and find out who the winner is!

Thank you, THANK YOU, to everyone who entered, and especially those who donated to Team Martin. I'll have pictures from the walk tomorrow morning posted sometime this weekend.
Now off to email the lucky winner!

..Until I draw a winning name!

We're 125.00 from our goal!

Haven't entered yet? See details on the contest page.

Off to start getting entries organized and assigned numbers for the drawing..