Frickin Errors

OK, I totally understand how a new knitting book could be published with glaring errors. I do. I understand. BUT I don't understand how there can be NO LIST of corrections out there. Dammit! I spent $21.95 on my Xmas giftcard at Barnes & Noble for Sexy Little Knits by Ashley Paige. I love the book. I even started the Blue Suede bikini (YES, A BIKINI DAMMIT) and was ripping and frogging and thinking and hurting my little head and getting quite pissy late into the night/morning. I thought to myself , "no worries love" (I must think with an English Accent when I get tired) "I'll just google it in the morning and get the corrections and be all shiny happy people again." WELL GUESS WHAT????? NO FREAKING list of corrections can be found. I'm running up against a bunch of corporate hoo hah trying to get an email or contact info for the designer or the publisher or anything. Any suggestions would be appreciated as I really want to make some of these designs, but am not sure enough of myself to see mistakes as I go.

See, my master plan was to:
A) Buy berroco suede on SALE at the Studio
B) Knit a bikini
C) Tell boyfriend about said bikini
which would then force myself into serious workout mode to get this bootie and thighs in beach mode (not normal people's idea of beach mode, just enough for myself that I don't embarass myself or get tossed back into the ocean by being mistaked for a beached whale, you know how it can be)

I'll probably bring the book along to beg for help from Teri and the other more talented knitters in the knit group and get suggestions from them.

Serious Yarn Sale

OK Kansas City area knitters, 25% off of ALL YARN IN STOCK at the Studio Sun 30th and Mon 31st of July. ALL YARN IN STOCK and they have some serious KOIGU and MALABRIGO and a buttload of the cotton blend yarns I'm gonna have to get for whatever dang sweater/tank thing I decide to knit next!

Get yourself there. Spend some dollars. Have some fun.

The Studio
1121 W 47th St
Kansas City, MO
(816) 531-4466

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS?????? OH I'm in love! Glampyre has outdone herself this time. UNBELIEVABLE! I've found my next obsession sweater!!! I'm not sure my pocketbook could survive the suggested silk yarns, I may have to do some serious substituting or some serious yarn dieting to get this stuff.

Editor's note added Sunday evening...
OK, So I went to the sale....and SAVED $65+. Do you know how much $$ you have to spend to save $65? Too much. I had entirely too much fun this afternoon. HOOOOO momma! Pictures later. I haven't even taken anything out of the big ol' bag. Big ol' crammed to the top bag. SO not only yarn is on sale, EVERYTHING they've got in the store is 25% off. EVERYFREAKINGTHING. needles, patterns, books, YARN, you name it, if it's there, it's on sale.

I need some inspiration

I'm searching for my next big project. I have the multitude of half-sies hanging around, they're all fine for sitting down and working on for an hour or so, but nothing that screams KNIT ME! You know the project, the one you're dreaming about while working, thinking about while driving, the consuming project, the one you can't wait to get the next two inches done on the current stitch so you can move to the next one, the one that makes you crazy...or is it just me? Ah well.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I want to make some form of a summer tank/shell/sweater thing that just makes you go "WOW!" I don't want too much, do I? I've considered Cleo from knitty, but how would that work on a bustless girl? Chicknits chicami the fitted version with thin straps at the end of the pattern, Chicknits Ribby Shell, Knitty's Knitty's honeymoon cami, and on and on. I think I'll probably do Wendy's Sizzle because I liked her last pattern so well, but I don't have any yarn that is working on this to gauge without being too see-through, so I'd have to go shopping. Did anyone ever knit the Knitty Ribbon X-back tank and actually be able to WEAR it? All I ever heard on the knitalongs was that it stretched too big or started out too big, etc. I think a trip to the Studio is in order to go roaming through all the Rebecca magazines and see if anything in there inspires me. For now, I guess it's back to my half-finished first jayhawker sock. If anyone has the perfect project for me please holler!

Dear Lord, I think I need to design my own.

I may never take it off

OK, so the neckline isn't actually tacked down yet and there are still about 5 ends to weave in, but I'm WEARING this thing and it is amazing!!!! This looks better than the pictures below. I need to either A) get off my lazy ass and FIND OUT HOW TO USE THE DAMN delay button thing, or B) find someone else to take my picture of completed items. Boyfriend is an amazing man. He can build almost anything and is quite the creative person, but does not take the best pics of me in stuff. SO I think I'll just start taking my stuff along to knitting meetings and have other knitters take my pics! GOOD IDEA and it takes less effort that way! WOO HOO!

Until I have a decent pic, here's what I've got.

The yarn I used was from Knitpicks, the baby alpaca in some heathery purple and it DOES NOT ITCH, not at all. I've been wearing this around the house now for at least 2 hours and it is absolutely yummy. I'm also quite proud of myself for COMPLETING an item and HAVING IT FIT!!! I do like the low neckline (there is a tiny bit of cleavage, not visible in the pic since us flat girls have to have our arms held "just so" for the shadow to appear and holding my arm out at a strange angle to get the camera to take the pic doesn't do justice to this pretty sweater. Such is life.

Some cool things I found while wandering through everyone else's blogs.....
OH OH OH I found my next item to make...beer can purses and hats!!! I have pictures of my dad wearing one of these puppies, actually it was made into a crocheted orange and brown cowboy hat from budweiser cans. How stylish is that? Stitchy McYarnpants' beer can alley. It's a good thing.

Also, for the crocheters out there, Annie's Attic'sfree pattern of the day. You've got to print it out as they replace it each day.

I'm struggling for an idea of what to knit next. I can feel the startitis kicking in. Maybe clapotis for my friend Jill since I promised her a shawl/wrap forever ago. I think that plus a diet coke tote bag and a beer can hat for the lake could be the trick. Better get drinkin'!

And, I've got to say, go see the cake Vicki made for her boyfriend. OH Lordy Lordy, what happens when the boy turns forty?

It's in the 80's wooooooo hooooo!!!

SO, the big ol' nasty heat has broken for a few days. It's actually LOVELY outside. I went outdoors this am and ALMOST GOT A CHILL. unreal. I was feeling bad after complaining of being without air conditioning for a day and then watched the news and saw hundreds of thousands of people still without power or air in St. Louis after the heat and storms last week. I felt about this big *holding out fingers*. *sigh* good luck to them. I think I'll take the kids on a bike ride to the library this am before it gets hot and nasty this afternoon.

I did almost no knitting this weekend and it is driving me CRAZY!!!! We had a great family weekend, hanging around at the house, working on projects, doing laundry, bike riding, etc. My cousin took my children for the night, BLESS HER and her brave hubby!!! Sat. night Jeff & I went out for dinner at a very good and not expensive mexican restaurant called Mi Conchita on 95th St. just west of I-35 and had EXCELLENT food and hand-made GOOD margaritas and then went to Jerry's Bait shop (dive bar in Lenexa, KS) and had some beers and listened to some live music. It was a very nice night!

I'm only about 2 inches of ribbing on one sleeve away from FINISHING my somewhat cowl sweater and I can't stand it! I have to WORK and FEED CHILDREN and things like that which are REALLY cramping my knitting style and I'm gonna find a way to finish the damn thing TODAY!!!! Pictures promised and everything. Last night I was going to spend some time knitting, but we had Jeff's sister & hubby & little kids over for dinner and by the time I got everything cleaned up and kids put to bed it was almost 10pm. Jeff had to get up at 6:30am this am to go tour 2 plants he gets to choose from if he takes the JOB OFFER he was given. I was trying to be "supportive woman" and so I very sweetly turned off the lights and went to bed with my man at 10:15pm so we could get up early. OH OH OH my knitting was calling me last night!!!

What was that, a JOB OFFER?????!!!!!????? YES!!!! Actually he gets to choose between 2 locations to be a lab manager for one of 2 plants. It was a VERY good salary offered and a great company, good benefits, etc....... all is great......except the boy would have to go to work every day. every. day. and at 7am. and it's at least a 40 min drive to either plant. (I know the rest of the world works every day M-F or worse but my boy has been in SALES where you can work whenever you dang please and worked from home and actually didn't work but 25-30 hrs a week if that, so this is a major change for him). He still has one more job interview this Thurs. for a sales position but I'm really hoping he does the manager thing as it's SO much more stable than sales and it's such a good offer. Thanks for all the crossing of appendages people! It's been a long few months, finding a job is hard work around here!

Our Hawaiian vacation is finally becoming real. (My son was awarded a wish from the Children's Wish Foundation and we're going to Maui for a week) We leave in about 30 days!!! I'm thinking my silk lace shawl may NOT be done in time since it's still the 4 inches long it's been for the last 2 weeks, so now I'm on track to exercise and find the perfect portable project to take along on the trip... What a great excuse to go shopping, no?

the Knitting Virgin is much happier now

When momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. It's amazing how much prettier the flowers look when you get to stay INSIDE in the COOL AIR to look out at them. I'm sitting in 79 degree cool again, thank the stars above. Jeff was amazed that the big ice storm where we were without power for 14 days in the cold was no big deal for me (other than the thawing hornet/wasp invasion incident) and one night without air conditioning almost sent me over the edge. (I truly was millimeters from passing into total-psycho mode) I told him that's because when you're cold, you can always put on more blankets, sleeping bags, etc. and START A FREAKING FIRE, but when you're hot and miserable you can only get so nekkid and you're still freaking HOT. Above 90 degrees, my brain starts melting. Anyway, we're all much better now. The sad little air conditioner is limping along and we hope to make it through the rest of the summer with it. Last night I drove home from babysitting in a truck with AIR CONDITIONING to a house with AIR CONDITIONING and saw the outdoor temperature was 95 at 11:45pm.

I'm in the final stretch on the somewhat cowl. Last night I finished one sleeve and the neckline, so I'm one sleeve and a bunch of ends needing weaving in from completion. TOO excited! OH how I love my baby alpaca yarn, it's so unbelievably soft and glides through my fingers.

Jeff may have a job offer, CROSS YOUR FINGERS PEOPLE, but it's a job where he'd have to go to work every day. EVERY DAY. I know, I know, but he's gotten used to the whole office from home and work when you feel like it sales jobs so this one would be a tough adjustment. Some other guy at the company called to see if HR had contacted him yet, so it sounds like the offer's on its way. Jeff's got one more interview next week for a big ol' sales traveling job, so we'll have to see what happens. The steady every day job is a really good company, so I'm hoping the offer is a good one. MAN it's hard work getting a job! Again, thanks for all the good wishes and hope, it's been a long few months and the offers are getting slimmer and farther away. If he'd only move to the north, south, east or west of here, he could take his pick of jobs, but I'm thankful he's wanting to stick it out here in kc.

the good, the bad and the ugly

The good...
WE HAVE AIR CONDITIONING ONCE AGAIN and it's only 1:50pm!!!!!! WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sweet mother of mercy. ANDDDDD we didn't have to replace the whole unit, only part of the compressor so it only cost us about $260.
I spoke too soon.....we have a new capaciter but only moderately cool air is coming out of the vents. It's just craptastic around here. It's gone down ONE DEGREE in the house in the 2 1/2 hours we've had the supposedly fixed air conditioner. I know it's hot, but seriously, something's still freakin' wrong. Called air conditioner man, he said to see what happens when the sun goes down and it cools down outside, see if our house cools off any then and call him tomorrow. WTF? I'm thinking that would be mother nature, not our freaking air conditioner. cripes. May have one more night spent on the office floor, but we'll call it "camping out". Kids'll love it.

The bad...
The blazer's air conditioner is NOT the part that would have cost us $287 including labor, nope. They're very very very sorry but it's the part that with labor will cost us $680. I don't care anymore, I just want to be able to drive my truck without getting out of it with wet pants. Do you know how embarrasing it is to be stuck to BLACK fake leather seats and then have sweat spots across your hind end? not pretty.

The ugly...
All this has been very hard on my hair. When I have a bad hair day (and I've now had TWO in a row), it's not a good thing.

welcome to summer in kansas city

So, you know how I said the blower on my air conditioner in my truck went out last week? No real biggie, got it to the dealership yesterday, drove Jeff's truck when I needed to. Though it was 102 in the shade and humid as a motherbugger, I could just stay in my nice slightly cool house. (boyfriend was born on the sun and it's our compromise to keep the house between 79 and 80 degrees or he freezes and any higher and I get REALLY REALLY crabby. R.E.A.L.L.Y. crabby. it's not pretty) No biggie, right? just stay in our house. Yeah. That's the ticket.

So, for some unknown reason, I decide yesterday is the day to get back on the ol' exercise track (fall trip to Hawaii is one month closer and I'm only 3 pounds lighter) so I go work out, create more sweat than is humanly possible. Then I figure, wtf, why not load up the pickup truck at mom & dad's with more crap of the kids to load over to our house. why the heck not? More sweat. I lug it all in myself since Jeff's outside working in the ungodly heat laying carpet in our screened-in porch (I told you he was born on the sun). I somehow can't seem to get cool. I'm getting a bit crappy, even a bit bitchy though that is hard to imagine. So, by about 10pm I'm getting downright nasty. I finally take a cold shower and am STILL hot about 10 minutes after getting out. I stand directly on top of the floor air vent in the kitchen and realize the air blowing out is not cold. my heart almost stopped.

Yes, we have no airconditioning left. We test breakers, we pour cold water on top of the unbelievably HOT outdoor air unit. It starts chugging, but still no cold air. THANK GOD Jeff spoiled me and gave me a tiny window air unit for the office on the top floor (since he was tired of me being cranky and bitchy all the time when I worked up here.) He is a good good man. I lugged the kids upstairs and the three of us slept on the floor with that little air conditioner chugging its heart out all night long. Kids slept well, I'm working on about 2 hours sleep.

I sat on our bed with Jeff trying to relax and watch some tv. not only could he not touch me since the heat was unbearable, I couldn't even touch me. If my arm rested against my leg, it was HOT.... It was so hot I couldn't even bear to knit. THAT's hot. Now, I'm sure some of this truly was in my head at this point, as the house was only 84, but mental or not, I was miserable.

I lugged myself up to sleep on the floor between the two kids and curled between our two big desks and just laid there most of the night.

Jeff's already got a guy ready to come over and used the whole "house full of children" thing to get them over hopefully today. He is a good man. He also slept like a baby for the first time in months since we turned on the air. I think his body temperature is 102, not 98.6 like the rest of us. cripes almighty.

One neat thing, my daughter woke up early and I heard her turning pages. I looked up and she's going through about 4 of my knitting books. She picked out the one tank top out of the Hollywood Knits that was the reason I bought the book and said "Mom, I wanna make THIS!" How cool is that?

GOD I hate humidity. How did I ever survive childhood without air conditioning? I think that's why I'm occasionally scatterbrained. My good sense part of my brain cooked itself. Everyone cross your fingers that the air-conditioning man can do something soon!

****added note**** Thanks for all the offers of air conditioning! So far we're doing ok, with that little baby window unit cranking away and the kids are playing in the basement where it's still about 78. We're just avoiding the entire middle of the house for now. If it gets rough, we've got mom & dad's old basement apartment that I vacated to move here, so we should be ok. THANKS ladies!!

Lake-in'

Much knitting was accomplished (almost done with the somewhat-cowl neck deal, I tried, I really tried to count and make it even, had enough of it and said WTF a few beers into it and half-assed it. I'm NOT going to count now, I'm NOT going to measure, I'm just going to hope. hope is always good.), much beer was drank, much catching-up was caught up, fish were pulled out of the lake, too much food was ate, and good times were had by all. I even did a few cannonballs, where I realized that I am not quite built for that as I got enough lake water up my nose so far I think it went directly into my brain. It was so hot and humid that even my eyelids were sweating. I spent most of the weekend floating around in the water, just loving every minute of it. I am so lucky that I LOVE my family! We have a great time for any occasion. Here's a few highlights...

off to the lake again

Well, we're off again to the Lake of the Ozarks, or as Jeff calls it, "the O.Z." so trendy, that boy. The great "Schieferecke Splashdown" is being hosted by my folks and about a 1/3 of the immediate family is coming out, should be about 30-40 people crammed into mom & dad's lakehouse. We're staying the nights at Jeff's folk's place to help make room. (it was that or camp in a tent in the 100+ heat and ungodly humidity and up on the hill with the TICS--not me, nope)

I get to knit for 2 1/2 hours down and 2 1/2 hours back and I'm bringing my sweater that's almost ready to be cast off at the waist and then I get to pick up stitches and do the cool half-cowl neckline and sleeves and I may bring along the lace shawl just in case. I haven't done one stitch on it in over 2 weeks.

Have a great weekend everyone!

My sweater's back!

Picture time! I had left my somewhat cowl over at Jeff's cousin's house on the other side of town and I have been without it for about 2 weeks now, just when it was getting good. I'm cranking away. Isn't it funny how at the beginning of a sweater, it seems to take FOREVER and then all of a sudden it goes into lightning speed? Anyway, here's proof that I do ACTUALLY sometimes put the stitches onto waste yarn and try the damn thing on. The only thing I hate more than taking stitches off the needles onto waste thread is a sweater that doesn't fit. I have finally learned my lesson. The picture is a small cut as I had a REALLY bad hair & face day yesterday as the fan went out on my air conditioner and it was in the upper 90's with about 90% humidity. Not good. Isn't that just the prettiest little seam? I'm still always amazed how that turns out. Yes, the neckline is looking a TAD BIT low, but it's supposed to be as the sorta-cowl thing on the neck pulls it all in. No worries. It's in the yummiest softest baby alpaca from knitpicks. LOVE that stuff!

Any resmeblence this picture may show to the Huck Shawl in the Merino Farms book is just a coincidence. I would not have started yet another shawl. No, that would not have made any sense whatsoever. Isn't it pretty yarn though? It's laceweight merino hand-dyed by a lady in our sunflower kntiters' guild.

And because heaven knows this is never a strictly knitting-only blog, here's some gratuitous family shots.



The welcome sign was waiting for us back at home, courtesy of Jeff and his two boys. Very sweet!

We got our Elizabeth back!

Well, the five weeks seemed to last forever! My daughter goes with her dad for the summer and it sure gets quiet around here with just Joey. We went to Salina, KS for a cousin's wedding and partied down at the Salina country club and the Holidome. Much swimming, drinking, dancing, ping-ponging, poker playing and eating was had by all. Good times, those family weddings. I am so lucky that I LOVE my family and all its parts!

Jim brought Elizabeth back Friday night to the holiday inn and we were VERY HAPPY! Then he opened his trunk and this stench of rotting fishparts hit us like a mack truck. I am NOT exaggerating here when I say ACTUAL BUGS flew out of the trunk. I don't know if I mentioned that the ex took my daughter and a new woman "friend" to Corpus Christi and South Padre Island about two weeks ago. Well, they picked up a huge ziplock bag of shells there. two weeks ago. Some of those shells still had critters living in them. two weeks ago. The "washed them off" aka rinsed once in gulf water. two weeks ago. Well, apparently those critters died and were rotting for two weeks in this same freaking bag. TWO WEEKS. I'm telling you, it was this HORRIBLE stench that you couldn't even be within 6 feet of this bag. THANK GAWD I brought my daughter an extra dress for the wedding and a change of clothes as I had to throw out the tote bag she brought her clothes back in as it reeked. I got a few trash bags and put everything inside to be washed and disinfected at home. cripes almighty.

I tried, I really REALLY tried to get those shells cleaned up. I went out and bought a cheapo foam cooler and a buncha bleach and had them soaking for two days and they STILL smelled horrendous. "We" decided to take a picture of the shells and throw them down the drain. OH it was bad. Funny part was it was a NEW CAR he stuck this stuff into.

My daughter and I wore our matching koigu foulard shawls at the wedding, it was absolutely cute. I probably won't get away with stuff like that much longer as she's so PRETEEN now. I'll make sure to upload a few pics in the next day or so.

I got a lot done on yet another shawl, (startitis strikes again) this one is EASY and I am using up some stash hand-dyed yarn, so it's not as bad as buying new yarn and then starting another shawl. really. it's not. I didn't bring my silk complicated lace shawl along as I knew I wouldn't get any untinterupted time to knit on it and I'd just end up frogging and getting all pissy.

I got my somewhat cowl back from Jeff's cousin's house where it's been stranded for TWO WEEKS. I cranked along on the bottom waist ribbing and have 1 of the 3 inches needed done now. I'm feeling much more soothed working on it and think this may have been part of my insatiable startitis lately. We'll see. The thing still needs the neckline and sleeves done, it's yummy.

the clap strikes again

WELL, after about 6 different attempts to find the perfect shawl for my best friend, I FINALLY figured it out. What is the most amazing, my most favoritest thing that I've ever made that wraps me in lusciousness and just happens to be the exact shape and weight and design that my friend needs? YES it's the clapotis! Also one of my favorite things TO knit, it's the perfect shawl! Now I've got to find the yarn and I'm gonna get going! I'm entirely too excited by this discovery! I feel all misty like I'm visiting an old friend. Making an old friend for a new friend....damn I shouldn't be allowed to write anything before 8am. It's not a good thing.

ANOTHER thing that's got me all aflutter is EVERYONE'S got their new issues out NOW! KNITTY has its new Summer issue out and have you SEEN the cute little glovelets on the cover? OH baby I'm gonna be making them! Crochet Me has its summer issue out and have you seen the cute t-shirt on their cover? Very cool! I don't think I'll be jumping in yet on that crocheting string thing, but I am loving the idea of modifying a tshirt with crocheted edges like that. AND MagKnits has its July issue up as well. Go out and wander, inspire yourself!

Shawlitis part 2

SO, great 4th weekend was had by all! We spent part of the weekend with mom & dad & my brother Will & his wife Raegan from Florida and the other part with Jeff & his boys and just had a GREAT time! I continued in my shawl startitis addiction and knitted my ass off. Almost finished my 2nd foulard out of the blue koigu (the big one in the pic) until I ran out of yarn, have one half ball left here at home and should have it done within a few days! woo hoo! I decided the first one was too small for my best friend Jildo and she wanted more of a rectangular thing anyway, so I am going to have matching shawls for my daughter and I....all together now, AAAAWWWWWWWWW! sweet sweet sweet.

The blue & green & purple thing was supposed to be a lovely start on Jildo's shawl, the Wave & Shell shawl, but due to a not so great yarn choice (needs to be something lacier or ribbony or something) it now looks like part of one of my grandma's old afghans, not quite the look I was going for, so it'll be frogged soon. I had run out of knitting things, so I just kept on going fully knowing I'd be frogging it. How sad is that? It was actually quite pleasant to be knitting as we were bobbing along on the pontoon boat with Jeff & the boys all fishing and the cool breeze and sunset. Ah well.

Anyone notice the little TINY orange thing is a bit, um, SMALLER than the last time it was photographed? Anyone want to ask me how many times that damn shawl has been started, achieved at least 30+ rows and then frogged when it was too knotted up to be unknit stitch by stitch? Go ahead and ask me. GO AHEAD AND ASK ME!!!!! SIX TIMES. 1--2--3--4--5--SIX times. I think on the final time I finally learned something. This is NOT a pattern to do around children. or boyfriends. or neighbors. or FIREWORKS. I thought I really had it on the 5th time, and one got stuck in the metal rigged-up launching thing that Jeff created as a teenager and went BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM! In the middle of which I grabbed two small boys and my bag o' knitted lace and took off for the safety of the cabin. I didn't choose the bag over the 3rd boy, he'd already high-tailed down the hill and dove into the boat for cover. (I'm not THAT bad. I'm sure I would have grabbed him AND the knitting should I have needed to.) I did leave the boyfriend causing the ruckus to fend for himself. Anyway, I think this time I will make it. I need to only knit it when I'm totally by myself listening to bad tv or maybe a book on cd. Yeah, that'd be good. Then I can count out loud and not be interrupted.

Got to get back to work, I was supposed to be doing that HOURS ago...gotta run!

I think I'm turning into a shawlaholic

Seriously. I'm packing for the trip to the Lake for the 4th weekend and I'm bringing THREE shawls, none of which is any longer than about 4 inches. I think I've got a problem. I hope to have SOMETHING to take photos of afterwards.

Happy 4th, hope you all get to go spend time with family & friends watching fireworks in the sky and hope my damn boyfriend doesn't blow himself or my child up. (I really REALLY hate the ones you set off yourself. I prefer things blowing up at a big distance to myself and those I love.) We went to Fireworks World in south KC. OH MY HOLY HELL this was the redneck center of the universe. Seriously. Over 50% of the women were over 300 lbs and many of them were wearing tube tops. I do not exaggerate. It was a trip! It's had all these ads on tv & radio about ALL KIDS RIDES FREE!!! The kids actually did have a blast. There was a dunk tank you could throw softballs at and the kids could get up and be dunked. I'm thinking something creepy is probably growing in that dark water, so my kid didn't get up there, but there were 2 boys happily going under over and over again while their parents shopped. Joey had a good time going down this slide set up on top of a mountain of hay bales and riding sleds. There were little old cars set up on a merry go round that some poor kid had to push around and around. There was free water and lemonade as it was about 100 degrees, some blown up jumping things, and the best part (one which I took a shine to after trying) was the "beat 'em up cars". They had two old cars with windows & windshields & mirrors removed, you put on a pair of big ol' safety goggles, picked up a sledgehammer and beat the hell out of them. I think I see where those crazy girlfriends on COPS shows go all nuts beating their cheating man's car. After the first tap or two I got the hang out of it and beat some serious frustration out on the side and hood of those cars. We left with a modest bag of boomers. Jeff has agreed to only do "the pretty ones" while we're at his lake place and save the more dangerous and violent ones for when we're at mom & dad's lake house.

Got to run, Happy 4th people! Happy knitting!