Do you Freecycle??

Have you joined Freecycle?!  It is pretty amazing.  The only problem is that you have to use a yahoo email address to contact anyone and if it isn't your primary address, you might miss out on some great deals.

Yesterday, I posted a message on Freecycle:


On 11/29/2011 11:10 AM, Lisa wrote:

My daughter scraped my knitting needles on the sidewalk and now they catch my yarn! But if you have any supplies you are getting rid of, please let me know. Thanks so much!!

And a little while later got the following message:

What size do you need?  I may have spares...

carolle

So I packed the kids up and headed over to her house just a few minutes away.  Turns out she lives on a small farm with 2 goats and about 10 chickens.  After the kids and I said hello and played with her 4 adorable dogs, she took us outside (so Leo could stop panicking about the 4 lb dogs eating him) and we chased the chickens and talked knitting for a little while.  She took the kids to the barn to show them where the chickens live and where they lay eggs.

In one of the boxes was an egg!  Leo was ecstatic.  She gave him the egg to hold onto and we walked around the farm a little more.


Just last night, we watched Turtle: The Incredible Journey on our brand-spanking new flat screen TV!  I tell you that because Leo held this little egg in his hands and kept asking if there was an animal inside.  I reassured him it was strictly for eating and that the egg pushed it out for lunch :)


In addition to being ridiculously nice to me and the kids, she didn't even care when Elena begged for her to carry her around...nor did she miss a beat when she announced Elena's diaper was leaking!

We went back to the barn and found a chicken in the laying boxes.  She was working extra hard and actually put out 2 eggs!  I don't know about you, but it made me feel a little wimpy getting so nervous about childbirth.  These chicken are pros!

She gave one to Leo and the other to Elena.  As we walked back to our car and said goodbye, she told us to enjoy our egg lunch and sent us on our way.

Longest.  Drive.  Ever....

An almost 2 year old and a 3.5 year old holding onto fresh eggs in their tiny little hands in the back seat as I California-Roll through stop signs and drive entirely too fast through neighborhoods.


Truth be told - the eggs made it home just fine...that is until I told Leo to give me his eggs so I could safely cradle them while he jumped out of the van.  Yup.  I dropped one!!!  But I saved it just long enough to get it inside and into a bowl!!!




I added a few more from our stash and Leo got to work!


Elena was placed about 2 feet away but still managed to get a few stirs in.  


October 2010



So, I met a new knitting friend, snagged lunch for the kids AND scored a lifetimes supply of knitting needles all in one visit.  Even though she said "I may have spares" - she meant, "I have every needle you could ever want or imagine a need for!!"


I have a couple big projects I'm working on now (to be revealed later) and the new needles means I can work on a couple at a time!

And the fresh eggs?  

DELICIOUS!!!!!!!

Leaf piles and prayers for our neighbor

This weekend was a bit of a sad one for our small neighborhood.  We are very close with half of the neighbors and were on our way to a birthday party for a 4 year old neighbor when three police cars arrived at our neighbor Maggie's house.  Her brother and sister-in-law were trying to get into the house to see if Maggie was okay.  Apparently, she hadn't shown up to work in a week and her boss called her brother to notify him.

When they finally broke into the house, they discovered that Maggie had passed away from a heart attack while watching TV in her living room.  Maggie was the sweetest and quietest woman.  She was 61 and single with a grown daughter and grandson living in Chicago.  She was young, healthy and vibrant but extremely private and reclusive.  All of us are still shocked over the news.  Her brother said heart attacks and heart conditions ran in the family, but she was so young and healthy!

Anyway, her family has been cleaning up the house, inside and out.  Her brother got outside the other day and raked all the leaves into a neat pile under the tree in front of our house.  Leo woke up and declared, "Our neighbor made a big pile of leaves for me to play in!"  Well, we stayed inside for a couple days to give the family privacy and some peace and quiet but the kids were itching to get out in the 60 degree November weather!  So, after confirming that my husband would clean up the mess, we jumped right in.




Check out the air Elena catches jumping in!  


It's a good thing she wears cloth diapers or that could have hurt!


Once Dad came out and saw the damage they were doing to the neighbors' pile, he made a new one for the kids to jump in.










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I would also like to add that Colleen DID come down to visit and we were all able to get together last Friday!  I met her for the first time last Thanksgiving and we each spend most of our time trying to convince the other to move closer to where we live :)

She blogged a little about their Thanksgiving week.  I'm going to warn you that it is equally as sad as this post regarding our neighbor Maggie.  But she put in some great photos of the kids playing and even one of the two of us!  And I got to snuggle baby Xander who smiled and coo'd ALL MORNING LONG!!!!

Here is one of Eamon, Maggie and Leo

And here is Elena and Andrew

Thanksgiving 2011 in Photos

Our Thanksgiving 2011 in Photos

As promised, the cousins worked hard on their pilgrim and indian hats :)

Elena was the snuggliest child you ever met all night.  She was doling out hugs, kisses and snuggles to everyone!




This is, quite possibly, the best photo of 2011.  It should be our Christmas card :)


Elena and my adooooooorable goddaughter/niece Audrey!



Elena has a habit of taking a nap before the Turkey feast.  She is just prepping herself for all the work she has to do later on the dessert table



Elena meeting Chester the puppy


Her favorite cousin ever





Chief  Over-watered White Horse explains how the white man stole his women and land




We just weren't sure there was enough food?!?!  I kid, I KID!


Leo knew that we were having a huge party and decided to sing happy birthday to Gavin.  He isn't used to parties in our family without SOMEONE celebrating a birthday!!



Elena found the comfiest spot in the house



Oh no wait - Paul did :)


The most impressive part of the evening was when Chief Over-Watered White Horse fell asleep but didn't even spill a tiny drop of his Rasputin beer :)



I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  I am going to take a nap after devouring leftovers :)

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