Through the Eyes of a 6 year old

I've been somewhat busy lately, but not too busy to post, so I'm not sure what my excuse is... this time. :-}
For the past week, I've spent time with a class of 6 and 7 year old students. Before starting this assignment, I was informed there were a few handfuls among the cute bambinos, and there were, but they were manageable... probably the reason I came home exhausted on Friday, but I love it.
Looking at the world through the eyes of a 6 year old is pretty darn fascinating.
The school is located in a neighborhood with a few questionable areas and on several occasions students have shared stories with me about burglaries and violence.
The other day, for one of their writing assignments, the students had to write about, and share, what they want to be when they grow up. Most of the students wanted to be teachers. We also had a doctor in the house, a soldier, we even had the future President of the USA (he wants to make the rules... can't say I blame him), and not surprisingly, there were quite a few police officers among them.
I thought I would share a paper written by one of San Diego's finest and future Police Officers, Officer Alex... in the year 2024, of course.
His paper is a little hard to read (click on pic), but he basically wrote that he wanted to be a police officer so he could have a gun and a telephone. The telephone part made me laugh, but...
Later that day, he shared with me a story about a break-in at his house. He told me they stole his Wii and dvds. I felt horrible for him and his family. No one should ever have to come home and find out their safe place had been invaded by a stranger, especially a child. But, it wasn't until later that I made the connection as to why he wanted to become a police officer. He talked about it and he wrote about it. I call that self-therapy.
The next day he came to school in good spirits and informed me his parents were going to buy him a new Wii. :-)
Though this story was a bit of a downer in the beginning, it has a happy ending with a bit of humor. When I looked at his drawing a little closer, I couldn't help but notice the police officer he drew was catching a thief at the neighborhood donut shop! Yumi donuts!
You gotta love this kid.

Have a safe and happy week. :-)

Happy National Coffee Day!

photo courtesy of Starbucks.com

Need I say more?

Have a great Java Day!

Summer Has Arrived!

Wouldn't you know it, summer weather arrives just in time to welcome the fall season.
And...what better way to commemorate a new season with off weather, than by going to a baseball game, which I happened to be invited to by some dear friends on a Saturday afternoon.
It was a perfect day in perfect company.

You can see our local Little League Champions in the banner displayed at Petco Park's entrance.

We arrived early to grab a some lunch. The ballpark was tranquil, but within the hour the seats were filled with baseball fans.

I spy a diehard Padre fan!

I have to say, I love the design of our ballpark. No matter where you happen to be standing in the ballpark, you can feel a pleasant breeze coming from the bay.

We made our way upstairs to the PCL b&g and had some appetizers. Delish.

Nostalgia displayed throughout PETCO brings back memories to the fans who have been attending the games for decades. I wasn't around when this picture was taken (my mother was only 4yo), but it's great to see history in photos.

After our snacks we made our way to our seats. People watching is one of my favorite "sports".

Boy, it was hotter than a tuna melt in a frying pan on Saturday.
I spied some fans watching the game from the rooftop of the building directly behind the park... probably enjoying fruity drinks with tiny umbrellas. :-)

At this point in the game, Cincinnati was winning, but don't worry we came from behind and scored a few runs, then they scored and it was a tie score, 3-3. On Sunday they slaughtered our team. Oh well.

After a couple of hours sitting in direct sunlight, the thermometer popped out of my brain letting me know I was done, we decided to take a stroll to the Padres store and have a look around.

I spy bobbleheads!

I really need to make myself a scarf just like this one. At $20, it wasn't outrageously priced, but why buy it when I can make it. Right?

Baseball figurine. One of my favorite players is Tony Gwynn...this happens to be his son TG Jr.

As the sun was setting and cast welcomed shadows in the ballpark -cooling the afternoon temperatures - we won the game in the ninth inning.

Many people left early to avoid the crowds or because it wasn't looking good. They should have stayed until the end because we scored. VICTORY!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

A Blanket and a Beret

The Baby Boy Blue blanket is ready for gifting. I thoroughly enjoyed knitting this project, especially since it's going to a cute little fella who turned 5 months last week.
In continuation from the last blanket post and the one before...
The squares were knitted and arranged...

I attached them by crocheting contrasting colors; blue -> for the squares outlined in green and white -> for the green squares outlined in blue. In the end...

the blue color wasn't sitting well with me. I didn't like the break in the outline of the squares. The green squares were randomly placed to make an interesting artsy shape and I thought the blue would add a nice contrast, but the overall color combination and placement didn't give it a flow.

So I did what I do best, I took my scissors to it and cut the blue strips out. Since they were crochet, it was a very easy task of removing and restarting.

And, tada! The finished product.

The deets:
Pattern: Kris Knit Baby Cloths, the sailboat and letters are my own design/pattern. If you are interested, I am more than happy to send them to you.
Yarn: All Vanna's Choice Baby yarn in Sweet Pea, White, and Little Boy Blue.
Needle: US size 9 and crochet hook I
I'm really happy with the blanket. I had to retouch the picture since my surroundings lack appropriate lighting for a perfect photo. Thank goodness for Windows picture gallery.

You know the expression ~> one for you, one for me?
I had to make something for moi.
I made a simple beret with the intention of adding it to my hat collection, but since the start of this post, I've promised it to a friend. It will look nicer on her anyway. :-)

While watching the first episode of Rachel Zoe, I noticed she was wearing a cute multi-colored beret. I sent her several tweets asking where she got it and no answer. Fine. I tweeted Brad about the beret, no answer. Fine. Btw, last episode, she was horrible to Roger, her cute hubby. I kindly sent her yet another tweet informing her to pay attention to her cute hubby or someone who is more loving is going to snatch him up. I wonder if she read it? Doubt it.
Anywhooo, I went ahead and made my own cute beret.
The deets:
Pattern: I have many patterns for slouchy berets, but ultimately it was a trial-by-error project.
Yarn: Lion Brand Tweed Stripes in marble. Love this yarn. Bought it at Walmart on clearance.
Needles: US 10 cir and dpns.

Next up, something beautiful.

Have a great weekend!

9/11

...a day we will never forget.

Photo credit - John Gastaldo/Story credit - SignonSanDiego.com

"The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department unveiled an American flag during a ceremony Friday commemorating the 9/11 attacks. The flag is to travel through all 50 states and arrive in New York in time for next year's 10th anniversary." To read the story in its entirety click here.

The day's events were recorded in print. Headlines conveyed sentiments shared across the nation. I thought I would share the front pages of our local newspaper following 9/11.

September 12, 2001.

September 13, 2001

Peace.

Blogger Blahs

Yup, I have the blogger blahs.
I would say blogger blues, but blue is my favorite color and I don't want to attach such a stigma to it.:-)

I've been working on the baby blanket and I'm almost done. I'm contemplating a white crochet outline on the letter squares, but crocheting the seams might do me in and it's holding me back right now.

I want to share a gift I received from a dear teacher I occasional work with throughout the school year.
She was in no way obligated to give me this awesome bag, but she is such a kindhearted human being and noticed how much I loved it, she generously passed it on to me. Of course at first I couldn't and wouldn't accept it, but she insisted and it now lives happily with me and my mounds of yarn. I love it! It's very roomy, the colors are perfect for fall, but I especially love the words embroidered on the front patch, which at this stage in my life has significant meaning. If you would like to take a look at similar bags, etc. you can go to Natural life and check out their merchandise or click on the link. You'll find many cute things.

I added a couple of buttons to my sidebar; ravelry and etsy. This year, or what's left of it because Christmas is about 109 days away, I want to try to sell my fun hats on etsy. A goal I've had in mind forever, but hesitated till now. I'm trying to live by the words shown on my beautiful bag, Wish It, Dream It, Do it.

One more new thing I recently acquired... a new phone. I've finally caught up with modern technology. I've held back long enough and can I just tell you, this texting stuff is fun.
Apologies for the out of focus pic.

Hopefully everyone had a fun and safe Labor Day weekend.

Until next time,

ttfn. :-)