101 degrees/90% humidity

Yes, it's hot. And humid. Kind of like trying to breath through a sponge. No sense doing your hair or putting on any type of make-up unless it is just some powder. You are going to sweat it off in 2.5 seconds anyway. Well, I will anyway. I've lived here for 22 years now and still have not adjusted to the humidity. I say this because there has got to be an adjustment factor or at the very least a genetic adaptation factor. See, Friday night, we went to the last play off game at the ball field to see who would win the championship. And buddy let me tell you what, it was miserable. But there sitting in front of me was this woman, oh, perhaps 50 years old. She was dressed in long black polyester pants, a 3/4 length sleeve button up cotton blouse and had waist length hair pulled back in a pony tail. Plus she was wearing knee high hose and open toe sandals. The woman was not breaking even ONE drop of sweat. Her face was bone dry like porcelain. Not even dewy. I don't get it. Angela and I were absolutely melting and this woman is still fresh and pristine as if she has some type of internal cooling system going on.

The game was great by the way, 16 to 13 in 8 innings. Those poor boys played their hearts out. Of all the days for it to be so hot. Up to now we have really not had it bad.

So now that ball season is over, Preston is going to be climbing the walls with boredom. His ADHD just won't let him sit still anyway and now that he won't be so exhausted he will have extra energy to drive everyone crazy. The last month before school begins is always more trying with him. He wanted me to take him fishing last night at 8:00 o'clock. I don't think so.

I don't understand kids these days anyway. It's like they always have to be entertained. When I was a kid, we entertained ourselves. We darn sure didn't have TV's and video games in our rooms to do it with either. Nor did we have access to computers. We played outside. Or we played inside. We definately didn't depend upon our parents to be the entertainment committee though. These two boys here always, ALWAYS want to go somewhere. Somewhere that usually involves spending money to pay for entertainment.......the movies, the video store, the arcade, the paintball place, blah blah blah. When did kids forget how to be kids? Where did a kids imagination go? What about creativity? I remember MAKING things to entertain myself. We used to make our own kites for instance. We made forts and had adventures. I guess that is too boring now days.

Till later........I'm going to go get some outside stuff done before it gets too bloody hot already!

I hope everyone is having a great 4th of July! We went up the hill to some friends house. Ate way to much bar-b-que and fried catfish and all the fixins to go with. Ummm Ummmmmm gooood eatin’!! Then some pudding pie to top it all off. From where we were sitting up there on top of the hill we can see all the way to Little Rock and beyond which is about 30-40 miles away and watch them shoot the BIG fireworks off over the River. Plus everything in between that everyone buys and all the smaller firework productions in between. It is the perfect place to be on the 4th . With all the food and drink we just rolled down the hill afterwards. I think the boys will sleep good tonight finally. They ran around and played and flirted with the girls like a couple of wild Indians for hours. Oh to have that much energy again!

I have located THE perfect knitting bag pattern. I LOVE it. I have to have it. No, I MUST have it. No, I WILL have it! Aside from those old timey knitting bags with the wooden handles, I haven’t found any of the knitting bags on the market to suit my fancy yet. However, I have always been quite fond of the old time carpetbags like they used to carry back in the day. Well, guess what? Someone finally came up with a knitted, felted pattern for a carpetbag!! WHOOT!!! Look>>>

Noni Carpetbag pattern

Is that not THE best??!!?? Oh I can’t wait to get this pattern.

On the needles is Tempting II

Tempting II

from Knitty. We are doing a KAL over at the Sexy Knitter’s group. I really like this top a lot. Looks like it won’t take long to make barring any hold ups. Of course I’m totally NOT making it out of the yarn they suggest. I have to go against the flow. Mainly because I am too cheap, but also because I had something in my stash that would work just as well. Maybe one day I’ll make it out of the yarn that is called for but it sure is expensive!




Here is a picture of the my grand daughters. That is Heather on the left and Malia with the Smurf mouth on the right. Malia is really getting into her blue snow cone at the ballgame! Miss Heather sure loves her little sissy! Aren’t they just adorable? Heather is going to be a knockout. She’s got naturally white blonde hair and ice blue eyes just like her mom. Malia, now on the other hand, she’s just going to knock them all out……literally! She is rough and rowdy and a firecracker! Red curly hair and an attitude to go with it! But she’s Mimi and Pa’s little squid and she know’s it. We love those two girls to the moon and back!

SUPER One Skein Secret Pal !!!! (can I say it any louder??)

Once upon a time, some people over at Interweave Press got this idea to kinda promote a new book that just so happens to be called "One Skein", to start a new secret pal exchange. The deal was that everyone was going to send someone ONE skein of yarn in June, and July and then in August send that person a knitted item from the book One Skein. Not a bad way to boost book sales eh? So, time rocks on and everyone is all paired up and today my June package arrived.




WHOOT!! My oh my my my!!! It's manna from heaven! I have THE best One Skein pal on the planet!! She sent a nice pair on the new Daisy needles in my favorite size, and some beautiful, beautiful Southwest Trading Co. "Kareoke" which is 50%wool/50%soy silk and some of her own hand spun in co-ordinating colors. I am in love with the colors she sent. And that is not all....a book!! I've been wanting (lusting) to get the new book entitled "big girl knits". Well, my fantastic pal not only got me a copy of this hilariously funny knitting book with great patterns in it for gals like me who are not a size M...BUT --- she got me a PERSONALIZED and SIGNED BY THE AUTHORS proof copy!! Now tell me just how flipping COOL is that? And the authors put a cute little promo pin inside the book that says "KNIT BIG". I'm telling ya, I don't know who my secret pal person is, but whooo boy, I could just hug your neck!!

I'm on chapter 3 so far in this book and I have totally cracked up reading it. I laughed on the first page. So much so that I had to read a few bits of it outloud to my DH. These authors are not the least bit shy about telling it like it is when talking about the female body and how it is shaped and how knit garments should fit to flatter it best. Just for example......ya got your boobs, your belly and your butt. Nuff said.....

Thank you one skein secret pal.......you are definately putting a smile on my face today!!

Summer has arrived in the Southland

Whew, I'm 'bout have dead I think! We are absolutely road foundered from all the baseball games we have been going to of late. That is pretty much where I have been spending 80 percent of my time. I think I have cooked 2 meals in my kitchen in the last 2 weeks. Otherwise it has been take out or frozen whatever out of the freezer. It is tough when you have traveling games and you have to go out of town. That adds hours to your day for sure!! Last week was KILLER hot and this old gal just about had a melt down. Then, by the time we do the round of ball, our yard work is behind and it takes us 2 days to catch up and do all of that because we have to mow and weed-eat an acre front and back. Needless to say, that I'm pretty pooped and I spend a whole lot of my daytime hours napping and recovering under the a/c and a lot of my evening hours after we finally get home from the ballfield, playing catch up on laundry and hitting the high spots in the house the best I can.

Anyway, I have a bit of interesting news I would like to share. Today in the mail I got the greatest gift! Some weeks ago I was browsing around the net and somehow stumbled upon Kathy Ireland's website. Well, besides being a supermodel,clothing designer, home decorating designer and all that retail stuff, Ms. Ireland is also a woman's advocate. Did you know that Ms. Ireland is an inspirational woman's speaker and also promotes supporting fair trade with 3rd world developing countries, specifically with woman run businesses? Well I didn't either! So I wrote a short note to Ms. Ireland and I told her how much I appreciated her work and supported her cause and told her that I too supported fair trade and tried to buy fair trade product whenever I could in my soap making business when I buy supplies. Well, I was very surprised to get a reply back from Ms. Ireland. And today, in my mailbox I received a personally autographed (in felt tip marker so it isn't a stamp) book that Ms. Ireland wrote entitled "Powerful Inspirations - Eight Lessons That Will Change Your Life" inside she wrote, "To Lisa, Thank you for your kind words & encouragement. God Bless you. Kathy Ireland" Well you could have knocked my over with the proverbial feather. I have always thought that she was very beautiful and wellspoken, but that she took the time to send me a book with an inscription. Holy wow! On the first page I read, was a bible verse. It just so happens to be one of my very favorite verses Proverbs 3:5; Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. I used to have a picture with that inscription on it years ago. That particular verse really means alot to me and I was quite surprised to find it right off the bat in her book. Somehow I have a feeling that this book will be very meaningful for me. I don't like to write alot about religion or my faith, but right now I really think that God is working through and with me. Too much is guiding me right now for it now to be so.

AND-------
There is a new fiber magazine coming out on-line. The first issue is due out in July. The magazine is called Fiber Femmes.

Fiber Femmes

Anyway, the editor has asked ME, to write an article for her for the upcoming SEPT/OCT issue. AND if she and I are happy with the article, I may write articles for this magazine on a continuing basis IF I can continue to think of things to write about and contribute to the fiber world. I am very excited about this and very apprehensive at the same time. I have always had the dream of becoming a writer and being published. This could and is the very first step in that direction. Whoooo- go me!

Format Change

So, what do you think of the new page design? It literally took me HOURS to get everything transferred over. My DH thinks that I have lost my ever lovin' mind. He absolutely does NOT understand blogs. Even though I was *specifically* told by my therapist that I was to start journaling. Plus he knows good and well that my daughter reads my blog/journal here online. I'm not sure why she does, but she does. I guess it gives her an inside peek inside my oh so scary head lol. Oh the things she only wishes she knew.... Me, I really like the new look with the exception of the font size. If I can ever figure out what the key to enlarging it is I will be happy. So far I haven't figured out what that HTML code is yet. It is quite a bit different from the HTML coding of the other one.

I also moved my reading list to a whole other page of it's own. It was just getting too long and taking up too much room on the sidebar. So you can find a direct link to the book page. Now I can put a link up too for all my knitting books. I'm getting a pretty nice collection and I'll write a little book review of each of them for ya.