Lilacs in Bloom

I actually took these photos one month ago today. I meant to post this much sooner, but most of April was kind of a whirlwind of traveling for us. Anyway, the lilac bush in our back yard bloomed in late March, during our two weeks of what we're referring to as "early summer" (temps were in the 80s). Then it went back to being mostly cold, so I'm glad I got these photos when I did. The flower color is a little more pink-ish in the photos than in real life (guess it was the lighting); the flowers were the typical lilac purple.

(P.S.--Is it bad that I wasn't sure what this bush was for about a year? I kept referring to it as "the shrub that flowers" until I finally realized what it was one day. Duh!)

Easter Story à la Twitter

We saw this video today in church before the sermon. We thought it was pretty clever. It's the story of Christ's ministry, death, and resurrection told as if those present were using modern social media.

Knitted Washcloth #3

The next washcloth I completed from More Than a Dozen Dishcloths is from the pattern called Vanilla. I used Lily Sugar'n Cream white cotton yarn and US size 7 knitting needles. I had my first try at increasing and decreasing with this one. There was only one row that included increasing and one row that included decreasing, so I'm slowly working my way into those. It was pretty easy, though.

See the little loopy things? That's really the new technique I learned while making this one. The yarnover. Thanks again to http://www.knittinghelp.com/, I was able to decipher the pattern instructions and get the hang of it quickly.

From top to bottom: Vanilla, Strawberry, and Chocolate patterns

Now I have a nice little set of coordinating washcloths. Only 13 more to go!

Our 2011 Goals: How We Did

I just realized that I hadn't let you know how our Goals for 2011 turned out. Here's how we did, using the Win/Fail system.

1. Start a blog and actually use it…and let people read it. Win! (although, we don't always post stuff as regularly as we'd like to)
2. Sell our house in NC. Fail/Half-Win. Well, it didn't sell, but we did get a renter!
3. Get a new job in IL (Jennifer). Fail. Yeah, this is a lot harder to do around here, given the current job market in general. At least my employer doesn't seem to mind.
4. Send our tax forms in before April. Win! They actually went out in February (we're talking about last year; this year is a different story...).
5. Join a local church. Fail. We did find a church that we like and have become involved in it, but we just haven't actually done the whole joining thing yet. This will likely happen this year.
6. Save more money. Win! We were planning to save our mortgage payment after selling, but since the house didn't sell, we're saving what we're getting from our rent.
7. Exercise an average of at least 4 times a week. Colossal Win for me! I actually exercised nearly every week day (and occasionally got some exercise on the weekends) the entire year! Maybe I'll do a little post on how I did it. Ed also exercised pretty regularly, but it was easier for me, since I'm home most of the time. We also went on walks around the neighborhood, so sometimes we exercised together.
8. Do something fun together. Win! We didn't make it to the Wisconsin Dells, but we did take ballroom dance classes together. And we went sightseeing around Rockford, which we thought was fun. And we went on a cruise!
9. “Do” Chicago. Win! We went with Alexis when she came to visit. Still lots more to do and see, though.
10. Pressure-can something. Fail. We did make several jams and jellies, including some new recipes, though.

So, there it is. I'd call 6.5 wins success.

Knitted Washcloth #2

The next washcloth I knitted from More Than a Dozen Dishcloths (you can read about the first one here) is the pattern called Strawberry. There are alternating columns of knit and purl stitches, as you can see. I used Lily Sugar'n Cream Twists cotton yarn in Green Twists with US size 7 needles (every pattern in the book calls for size 7 needles). Here's how it turned out: