The stupid toilet is backing up. This happens once in awhile, just one of the joys of owning an old house. But, good Lord, this stuff always seems to happen at the worst times! I guess it could have been worse and happened the night of the fiesta. Yes, that would have been worse…

It’s amazing how the weather changes around here. Monday night I went out and picked all my tomatoes out of the garden, the first frost should be here any day. The kids enjoyed running around in the brisk weather and I let them continue to play while I kept an eye on them from the kitchen. Jim was having a bad day, so I made him some cupcakes and one of his favorite meals, enchilada casserole. Just as I was about to pull the cupcakes out of the oven, Honor came in yelling, “Shoe, Shoe!” and proceeded to walk all the way through the kitchen to me. He’d stepped in very fresh dog poop and tracked everywhere.

I wonder, how many times in my life will I clean up poop from places it doesn’t belong? Fun!

I’ve been making this really yummy and easy granola lately. Eden and Honor are addicted and are always asking for “Bamilla.” I thought I’d share the recipe.

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
1 cup raisins*

1. Preheat oven to 300º. In a small sauce pan, combine honey and oil and cook over medium heat just until honey melts and can be easily combined with the oil. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, coconut and almonds. Pour honey mixture over oat mixture and stir well, making sure to evenly coat the dry ingredients. Spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until granola is a golden brown color. Stir after 20 minutes of baking.
3. Remove from oven, stir in raisins and spread out on a parchment lined counter top. When granola is completely cool, break up and store in an airtight container.

Serve with milk or yogurt.

*You can use any combination of nuts and dried fruits.

Me: Honor you’re being naughty.

Honor: I not naughty, I just Honor.

Joelene tagged me for this knitting meme. So here ya go.

What is your all time favorite yarn to knit with?
Hmmm… Hard to choose. Yeah, really I can’t, but I’ll say, I’ve haven’t found a Rowan yarn I don’t like.

Your favorite needles?
Denise interchangeables. Hands down.

The worst thing you’ve ever knit?
The stupid poncho. It turned out great, but I spent hours and hours and HOURS on it and then decided that I most definitely didn’t like ponchos.

Your most favorite knit pattern? (maybe you don’t like wearing it…but it was the most fun to knit)
Well, I liked the One Skein Wonder, but I am sick to death of knitting it now. I really like my two hour hat pattern, it goes so fast!

Most valuable knitting technique?
Patience and determination.

Best knit book or magazine?
I like Last Minute Knitted Gifts a lot, but I’d probably say the book I’ve used the much and continue to use all the time is Stitch ‘n Bitch.

Your favorite knit-a-long?
I don’t really do ‘em. I really liked the scarf swap that we did in January though, we need to do another…

The knit item you wear the most? (how about a picture of it!)
hmm, I’ve hardly made myself much to wear but I really like one of the first scarves I ever made.

Tag time
I tag LeAnne and Brianne. Ha! that rhymed!

And something else very cool, we found out this week that my friend Brooke is PREGNANT!!!! She’s due in May, and this means… that I get to start knitting all sorts of baby stuff!! Because you know… it’s all about the knitting.

Congratulations Brooke and Brian!

See what I’m saying about the eyelashes?

Fuzzy Peach tagged me to write 20 random things about myself. So here you go:

*I’m 5’9″
*I’m scared to death of going on a cruise.
*Jim wants to go on one really bad.
*I try to avoid caffeine, but I LOVE a Dr. Pepper once in awhile.
*I avoid caffeine because I think it contributes to my migraines.
*I mostly get migraines when I eat cheese, I’m allergic. It’s sad.
*I spent all summer being annoyed at our neighbors for allowing trees to grow right next to their house (their foundation!), but now I’m enjoying them because they are beautiful gold colors and it blocks them from looking into our windows.
*I hate living next to renters. (Not that all renters are bad, just the ones that have lived next to us.)
*There is a good amount of cotton candy left over from the fiesta and I am guilty of eating WAY too much of it.
*I haven’t balanced my checkbook all year.
*I’m very thankful for online banking.
*I’ve always wanted a VW bug, old skool.
*I can probably never have one – not enough room for the kids.
*I must admit that a mini van is really convenient.
*But I really don’t want one.
*My favorite food to eat is…. I can’t choose. It’s all too good.
*But I know that I hate sloppy joes, mayo and meatloaf.
*Meatloaf kind of scares me. Ewww.
*If the kids wouldn’t catch me, I’d eat some cotton candy right now. It calls to me.
*I have always wanted and will never have Long Eyelashes. At least Honor has them right?

I finished these this weekend for the yarn store.

I like them quite a bit and they knit up really fast. The yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed. The amazing and talented Joelene wrote the pattern. Thanks Jo!

I also finished a plain knit scarf for the model for my beginning knitting classes, but forgot to take a photo. OH well…

Up on the needles are some leg warmers (from Last Minute Knitted Gifts) they’re taking WAY longer than 4 hours. I’m also working on a cabled purse and the Urban Outfitters Vest. If only I could knit all day long, what a life that would be!

The fiesta was a huge hit. There were 53 people in our house, including kids. I have to start by saying how thankful I am that it wasn’t too cold outside so all the kids could be out of the house. That was very fortunate for my house.

Here’s photographic proof that Elaine and Anya were there.

We ate some really, really yummy food. Tacos with all kinds of fillings, shredded beef, ground beef, shredded chicken, bell peppers and onions.. YUM! All the kids spend the evening terrorizing our back yard, while the adults kept watch on the back porch. Those without children enjoyed their evening in the house. As the night progressed, people slowly trickled out, the kids slowly trickled in and things started to wind down.

While I had such a great time, I have to say the best part of the night was when my friends Melissa and Sarah stayed to help me and Elaine clean up. I can’t say how much that meant to me!

View the slide show of the whole party.

I had so much fun with Elaine, she’s really, really great. And I thought that her blog is a really good extension of who she is. You know she’s taller in real life than she seems on the internet?

Here’s Jim with Baby Anya, she wasn’t a big Jim fan (but she liked me!) and this was the first time that he held her that she didn’t burst into tears.

Sunday, Eden and I took Elaine and Anya to Ouray. Ouray is one of the coolest little towns in Colorado and boasts a great little hot springs pool.

Eden and Anya were really excited to start swimming.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Overall it was a really great weekend. I’m so grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to meet an amazing person over the internet. I’m thankful for all of you, I can’t say all the ways these relationships I’ve developed have impacted my life.

And now I think I’m going to sleep for the next week straight.

I just dropped Elaine off at the airport. We had a fantastic time. I’ll write more later and post pics, for now I’m just going to rest. We had a crazy-busy weekend.