PS. Ok...I wasn't done.

Sorry...today I just seem to have a lot to say.

My brother and I bought Special K a tennis racket for Christmas. We've gone twice now and last night we took Surfer Girl with us. Now...Special K decided to dress in all black...not sure what he was thinking but it was funny. He also had on his blue headband which you can't really see in the picture...again from my cellphone. Hope you enjoy. :)
I also wanted to say Thank you to my book swap pal. It was really late but that's ok. Life happens. It's a great package though. I got three books and some chocolate covered pistachios, which Special K has eaten most of.
I also wanted to include some puppy pictures since I missed DOT last week. Here's sleepy Jackjack.
And Abigail chewing her bone on our tree skirt, her favorite place to hang out lately.
Ok...that's it for sure!! Happy New Year!!

New Domain, Grill, and Knitting

I think I caught up on all the posts that have been waiting around to get on my blog. I also finished organizing the office. Only took me about an hour and a half which isn't bad.

I just bought Barknknit.com. It's under construction but check it out. This little ole blog will eventually have a little web page of it's own.

Last week, Special K's coworker was out on his boat and he came across this in the water.
Yes that is a real tiger on a little boat. The woman is just sitting there like nothing. It's so crazy. I wouldn't think it was real but he sent the picture from his phone and he's not a guy to lie.

I also wanted to show you Special K's gift from his dad. Check out our new grill and smoker. It's so awesome and it's exactly what Special K wanted. It's charcoal too...boy do I love that smell. We grilled some Turkey burgers yesterday and I wish I had taken a picture. They were so tasty and yummy looking.

Finally some knitting!! I found this pattern (not ravelry link) on Ravelry...which everyone knows it the BEST site out there. I thought it was so great because it can get expensive to buy all those swiffer sheets and this is reusable and washable. I haven't used it yet but it's awesome.



I'm still working on my sister's hat...Yes, it's getting time where it just need to be done. I feel bad that I haven't sent it yet but it and I have a block. I'm still mad at it for being small. :) I'm such a baby sometimes.

Well. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year. My surprise and resolutions will be in the next post tomorrow.

Happy New YEAR!!

Catch up Post 2 - Donated yarn!!

Ok, this is a LONG TIME coming but THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all of you who donated yarn and needles for my After school Knitting group. The yarn and needles have been great. The kids haven't really made anything but a couple dishcloths they have been doing wonderful learning and enjoying the art of knitting. :) I am so proud of them. We have a long way to go but are doing great. Thank you all for those who sent yarn. Here is the roll..

Paula from Basset Knitter send some great Patons Classic Wool and some bamboo needles.

Kristy send a bunch of great learning yarn. :) (not sure what her blog is)

Nicole from Lapdog Creations sent a whole slew of great stuff, yarn and needles galore!!

And Devin, who I met through HSKS #3, of Evil Tuesday, send some great yarn and needles too.


Thank you again to all these women who donate yarn to my knitting group. The kids have appreciated it greatly and when they can will knit all of you something. I hope I didn't miss anyone. If I did please let me know. If you have a chance please go check out these wonderful women's blogs.

More catch up blogging before the New year!! Post 1- Concert

Ok...this is Post 1 of a couple catch up posts. I'm going to break up my catching up in a couple post on the 31st of December of 2007. I figured I should start the new year fresh and with no catching up to do. To Special K, yes....I should be organizing the office like I said I would while you were at work but I'm stuck blogging...I'm sure you will in no way understand but I'll get to the office. :) (I did spend 5 hrs cleaning and organizing the rest of the house the other day)

Ok....this first catch up post is about the concert I went to back in November. I mentioned it in this post.

My friend Carrie worked for the St. Pete Times Forum for a long time and her boyfriend still works there. She called me up and said that she had tickets to the Keith Urban concert. Now for those of you who don't know...I am a HUGE country fan. They used to call me the Latin Hick. I have boots and a cowboy hat too. So...she said she had good tickets but her boyfriend called and mentioned that floor seats had just opened and he'd put some in the box office. I have never had floor seats to any concert and I usually am not wanting them because sometimes you can't see that well. We decided to start there and check them out....we always could go back to the original ones. Well, we did not realize that these were second row floor seats right next to the center aisle. UMM...can you say AWESOME!!!! We were so close it was amazing. Gary Allen opened for them and he was good. We all got picks from him.

Then there was Keith, yes I can call him by his first name...we were that close. :)
I love his music and he's so cute. So...it was so much fun to watch his concert from so close. A couple of the girls I went with got to touch him. I'm not into touching famous people. I got a pick from him but a girl Kim who went with us got a drum stick. That was too cool.
All these pictures were taken with my cell phone. My friend Carrie had her camera and took a great picture of us but I never got a copy of it. I might amend it in when she ever gets around to emailing me it. :)

I hope you enjoyed my Concert post. Still more to come today...

Catch up....it's about time!!

Wow...it's been 8 days since I last posted. I do believe this is the longest I've gone between posts. So you can only imagine I've been pretty busy and away from my computer. I am never very far from my computer and usually have time to play but with the holidays, my brother in town, and Special K off work(which is rare)...I have not had time to sit and blog. Don't get me wrong I missed it and thought about it but I just haven't sat down...until today. I'm sad I missed Wedding Wednesday and Dogs on Thursday this week.....I promise not to let this happen again...Oh and there will be another theme day starting next week....It's going to be a surprise!!!

A lot has been going on in the last week...we got off for Christmas break but I have been working "extra" care at school. This is always an interesting experience for me. I am not the biggest fan of watching a bunch of K-3rd graders, whose parents can barely handle but the kids always surprise me. I actually had 7 kids today drawing, which if you'd seen them 15 minutes before you would be surprised that I was able to accomplish this. They were enjoying themselves and seemed to not want to stop drawing for lunch. Score one point for gnat!!...but the kids sad to stay, still probably have 5 points. I'm much better with my middle schoolers than I am with the Kindergarteners. They love me but I am not as sensitive sometimes as I think I should be. I am working on this.

I do get time to knit while working so that's been good. Last Friday I spent probably the whole day working on a hat for my sister. :) She knows that I'm making it for her but not what it looks like so no pictures yet. It's part of her Christmas gift...I am her secret Santa. I knit her a couple things and bought her something small and she emailed me asking me to knit her a hat because she saw the one I'm knitting Surfer Girl, which by the way isn't done yet either. UGH!! Well...I spoiled the surprise and told her that I was her secret Santa and if she could handle the package being late I would knit her a hat. I picked an awesome pattern out and started knitting it last Friday. I got halfway done that day...my wrist hurt I was knitting so much. :) Then the weekend came and my brother...well, the holiday's didn't allow much knitting time for me...unfortunately.


So...I worked on it here and there but I was at the part of the pattern I need to give it a lot of attention. So...hence I finally finished it yesterday and lo and behold...it was TOO small. I about CRIED!! It would fit a 3rd grader but not my sister or my head. So...the final decision after some pouting and fussing was to rip it back and add more rounds. Holding back tears I ripped back about 20 rounds. I put it back on the needles and sat and stared at it. I need to pick it up and finish it today but it and I need space before I just take scissors to it. It will look great when I'm done though I will have to say that. :)


Between all the pouting and fussing over Cris' hat I did manage to knit myself a simple Ipod sock using some left over yarn from my Fawkes socks.



My dear Fiancee Special K, bought me a red Ipod Nano as one of my Christmas gifts. He spoiled me rotten this Christmas with the ipod, two gift certificates, two knitting books, two omelet pans, a knife, and his love. :) I did not knit him anything because he doesn't appreciate my hand knits like most people, but that's ok. I bought him a wallet and filled it with pictures of us and his family. I got him his favorite chocolate, a BBQ utensil set, a tee that says "morning people suck", and my brother went in with me on a tennis racket, tennis balls, and a headband. Special K just learned to play tennis so we figured he'd need some supplies. We actually have a date with my niece and nephew tonight to play. :)

Well...I could go on forever but I always feel I need more pictures if I'm going to ramble too long. :) Thank you for those who sent comments for sharimom. We missed her during the holidays but we did get an awesome package for Christmas from her. I need to take some pictures and I'll post when I can. Another holiday weekend is upon us so I doubt I will be by the computer much but I will try to take pictures and get a head start on some post to share.

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and plan on having a wonderful NEW YEAR!!

Happy Knitting!!!

Christmas Decorations, Dogs on Thursday, and Backyard Fun...

Please keep Sharimom, Special K's mother in your prayers. Her father's funeral was today and I know it's not an easy day for Special K's family. Also..Happy Birthday to Sharimom as well. Her birthday was yesterday.

I promised Sharimom pictures of our house a LONG time ago. So...finally here they are.

Our lights outside.

Our pretty Christmas Tree!! We got a fake tree this year from Special K's boss. I miss the pine scent but I love my tree. The crucifix that is hanging next to the tree was my grandmother's and has been in our family for a long time. She passed it down to my father and I asked him for it and thankfully he gave it to me. I've never been too fond of crucifixes but this one has a lot of meaning.

Dogs on Thursday post is a BIG thank you to my DOT Ornament Swap Pal, Vivian. She did a great job on my package. She sent Jack and Abby toys and treats. This picture was great but notice they won't even look at the treats because they were told to leave it. :) I'm actually pretty proud of both of them for not stealing it early.
I was really proud of these pictures too. They sat there until I was done taking the pictures and then when I said "ok." They looked at me like are you sure and then both separated and chowed down.

Again Thank you so much Vivian....from Jackjack and Abigail.

Last but not least our weekend outdoor fun... our sod....And yes, we laid sod in December....only in Florida can you do that. :) Special K's dad, Coach Dad, promised it should turn green in a week if we water it every day. I've been diligently watering and hoping to come home to green where our sand pit used to be.

Also we have this shed in our backyard that holds our washer and dryer and it must be the oldest shed that was not put together well. The door has been driving Special K and I crazy for months. This weekend Special K, as I was laying the sod, decided to rehang the door and replace the latch so it will stay closed. Kind of a bad picture but the latch totally works and is great!!! GO Special K and his handy work!!!

Well, I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Today was technically my last day at work but since I'm saving up to pay for the rest of my dress I decided to work extra-care at school for the break so I can make some extra money. That means I'll be back here really early tomorrow to take care of the elementary school kids...and a couple times over the break. I don't mind extra-care on most day so we'll see. I'm going to bring my knitting so I can finish up on my Christmas knits.

Happy Knitting/Dogs on Thursday!!!

PS....Our St. Pete Stitch n Bitch is going great. We had so much fun last night. I organized a small holiday gift exchange and it went well. I'm so glad I started this group and have met such great people!!!

Wedding Wednesday

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I'm swamped with work stuff and Christmas knitting. I just picked up another project I need to finish ASAP!! Well...for this weeks Wedding Wednesday I'm going to keep it short and simple. Pictures!!!

My engagement ring...

Off to Wed SnB....Happy Knitting

Knitting...actual knitting!!

Ok. Yes, I do realize that this happens to be a knitting blog...hence the knit in Bark n Knit. :) So, I figured I'd have a post with actual knitting in it. Wow...what a concept. :) I have been using knitting needles and creating stuff. First off here's the first project I'm working on. Which is a Christmas present for Surfer Girl. I've had a bit of trouble with this hat. NOT because of the pattern but first off I took it to Wed SnB and had to rip back a couple rows...I was not paying attention. Then for some reason Jack and Abby have discovered my ziploc bags which contain yarn and knitting and have decided to open them up with their teeth and find out what's inside. I spend quite a bit of time yesterday untangling the yarn. Ye.s, they are still alive. :) The pattern is Utopia Hat from Smariek Knits. It's been an easy knit and for my second cable project a fun one.

To update those of you not following along on my ravelry projects. :) Here is the finished Fawkes Sock number 1. I've cast on for the the second one but slow progress.



I also wanted to share with you a Thank you gift from my Dishcloth swap pal Heathir. What's horrible is that I guess I never even noticed that she posted on her blog about my package. I had been checked when I sent it but totally missed it. You have to admit November was a strange month but I'm slacking. Well..if you want to check out the package I sent her, which I'm so glad she liked, go check out her blog. She is also the first person in a swap who sent a Thank you gift. Which by the way is a great idea that I need to think of doing and her gift was even greater. She sent me a needle roll and an awesome keychain sock blocker sock. :) AWESOME!!!

There's some knitting....finally. I have a couple of catch up post to come too.

This weekend we spent a lot of time working on the house and our yard, very little knitting got done. Today Special K's dad showed up with a ton of sod and we laid it in the backyard where all the sand is now. We also went to Home Depot, one of my favorite stores, and bought a new hose, sprinkler, hose nozzle(I LOVE IT) and some fertilizer. I never knew how fun spreading fertilizer with a spreader was either. :) FUN!!!

So...I'm sleepy now and I'm planning on curling up in bed and watching the Iron Chef America's Holiday Dessert battle. OH What fun it is to watch people cook!! If only the TV could let us taste the food too. :)

Have a great night and hope everyone had a good weekend.

Wedding Wednesday and THE video!!!!

First off I'd like to say that my blog hasn't been on the top of my list this past week. I've been pretty busy with work, wedding, Special K, Christmas plans and knitting. I did sneak in a concert on Sunday night but I'll post the pictures later this week. :)

Ok...Wedding Plans. A lot has happened in a week. Friday night was my work Christmas party and Special K and I were speaking to a 4th grade teacher who also happens to work at a local sports bar. Special K, his father, step-mother, and I used to play trivia at this sports bar every Monday night. We still go but it's very rare and infrequent. It was also were Special K and I had our first real conversation. At the Christmas party, we were talking about wedding plans and how we are looking for a reception site. She mentioned how people have had their wedding ceremony and reception at the sports bar. It's a pretty big sports bar and she said the downstairs area would fit up to 300. That's way more that our guest list. I haven't gone by yet and look at the place in the perspective of having my wedding reception there but I plan to soon. The final decision won't be made until the new year though.

Another exciting thing is I found my wedding dress. :) I know to me it even seems to early but I just fell in love with the gorgeous dress I tried on this weekend and had to go back and put a deposit on it. I went to a wedding dress warehouse with my friend Camille. She was getting measured for her bridesmaids dress and I figured why not go with her if she's driving to Tampa anyway. It was the first one I tried on of many and I just had this silly little grin on my face every time I even thought about the dress. It's everything I want in a dress and more. It's strapless and has an A line skirt with a beautiful train. It has just the right amount of beading added to the right places. The color is diamond white and my sister Fleas says the dress matches my ring. I went home after I tried it on with Camille and talked to Special K, my dad, and my sisters. I decided to go back on Sunday and try it on again with some family with me. I put it on and I just grinned. So...there we go...the dress is done. I'm picking it up in less than a month and then will need to get it altered in the fall of next year.

Ok...now for the video of Special K asking me. For those of you who haven't followed along, he asked in front of his whole family at his grandparent's house in Weirton, WV. I had no idea but everyone else knew. He had emailed my father in October to ask my hand in marriage. This was one of the most amazing moments of my life. :) When I think of it...I GRIN!!!

Edit: I realized when I listen to this again that the song is too loud and you can't really hear what Special K says. I fixed that it now. :)



Hope you enjoyed Wedding Wednesday! Stay tuned for some knitting posts. :) I promise.

Dogs on Thursday!!

After my Doggie spotlight last week, I think this weeks DOT post is going to be short and FILLED to the brim with Holiday spirit!! ;)

I present to you my family:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9540838787

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!!

Happy Dogs on Thursday!!

PS...You have to go check out this post on Courtney's blog about her dogs and cats...HILARIOUS and very true!!

(New) Wedding Wednesdays

Ok...here's what I've decided. The inevitable is that I will be posting about my wedding plans. I won't be able to help it....so...Wednesdays here at Barknknit are going to be Wedding Wednesdays. I even made a button to link to all the wedding posts on my blog if you want to catch up. ;) If you noticed I put this button on the side bar up on Monday!!

Well...As I mentioned, so far we have the Pastor, Church, theme/color, tentative date and wedding party. Things I'm working on are the budget and reception site, which will finalize the date. I have three appointments next week to check out Reception Locations. I'm not really sure any will work but I'm in the I want to see it all stage. :) I'm still searching to the right site which fits our budget, guest list, and style. (not an easy task)

I am having a little trouble already with the bridesmaids. I am the baby of 5 girls and then my step-sister. I have decided that I want my 5 sisters, 2 nieces, and Special K's sister to be my bridesmaids. Yes, that is a lot but it's important to me. I know that the 3 oldest sisters, who all have kids, really don't want to be a part of the bridal party. They think they are too old and would rather play the mom role. As nice as that sounds, it's important for me to include them in the bridal party. I know that in the next year this issue will be discussed over and over until I finally have them buy their dresses. I did already decided that I'm going to pick a designer and assign them alternating colors and let them choose what they want their dress to look like. I'm not sure if I'm just being difficult or why I really want this but it's just something that I've always wanted. (I'm not trying to torture them as they believe) I guess I'll just have to let them know that it's important to me.

Well...I might be trying on wedding dresses on Saturday too. I know a little early but my friend has to go to Tampa to get measured for a bridesmaid dress for her friends wedding so I figured might as well go with her. Should be fun. I've always had an idea of what I want mine to look like. :) Hopefully one that goes with the cute shawl I plan to knit. :)


Oh, by the way our theme is a Chicago Cubs theme, which makes our colors red and blue and a baseball theme. My sister over at byvikink.com is designing our invitations and save the dates. And I'd like to say a big thank you for those who have stopped by her etsy shop. The link is still up in the sidebar.

Blog Info...I'm sorry to those I haven't responded to your comments or those I've read your blog and not commented. I usually am much better about this but lately I've been busy and just haven't had time to comment or respond. I appreciate all the comments that are left though. I always love to leave comments on others blogs as well but lately I feel I don't even have time to even read my favorite blogs, let alone comment on all the ones I'd like. I've managed to read them anyway. I'm hoping to get back to commenting and responding soon.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season. :) I love Christmas time.

PS...remember it's also St. Pete Stitch n Bitch night!! ;)