Molly Bee's Attic

I've been pretty blog-prolific this week so I'll try and keep this short.... ♥I went to the Alpaca Festival and was talking to one of the owners who said that one of her alpacas wouldn't hang with the rest of the herd. She only wanted to hang with an old horse that the lady also owned and oddly enough a duck. Lesson: Sometimes who you love and how your family is constructed isn't 'conventional', but it's still love and it's still family. Family is who you make it. ♥Sweet Willie Browne (age 1)and his folks came down from the Twin Cities last weekend. They came over for supper on Monday night. I couldn't have been more excited to see Aaron and Terri and my honorary nephew. Within 3 minutes of entering my house (and on my watch I might add) he fell and whacked his head on my spinning wheel giving him a goose egg on the forehead, a cut on the cheek and a bloody nose. He recovered in minutes. I still haven't. Twofer! Lessons: 1. Again, Family is who...

♥Sticks and strings make tangled mess♥ ♥Lay it out. Better I guess.♥ ♥Stuff each part with love and care.♥ ♥Sew the ears on; 'right 'bout there.♥ ♥Add some spots, mane, tail and horns.♥ ♥ And TA DA, Jorge is born! ♥ ♥A knitted friend for a wee, sweet boy.♥ ♥ Auntie Min's pride and joy!♥

I went to Alpaca Fest on Saturday. Every year I learn more and more amazing facts about these incredible animals. They are ' nesters '. Here a mama alpaca prepares a nest in which to lay her large cache of eggs. Sometimes they have to be re-inflated. Here's a couple that have really l ost their oomph.... Each pen has huge fans attached to the side. You just position the saggy alpaca just so in front of it and p resto ! Here are some that are about halfway through the re-inflation process. It doesn't take long. Here is one of the oomphless alpaca in the first photo, re-inflated and back to his perky self. Magic! Some alpacas earn their keep testing mascara for Maybelline . We're hoping to score this one a contract with Crest White Strips too. Even the smartest of alpacas will fall for the 'dare you stick your tongue on the frozen fence' gag every time . ('Cause, quite frankly, much as I love 'em, even the smartest alpaca isn't all that smar...

We are supposed to have a rainy gray weekend here in The Flat Lands. Everyone is kind of grumpy about it since we've been horribly spoiled by the spring we've had so far. Rain or no rain, my weekend will be bright and shiny. Tomorrow is Alpaca Fest people! Literally hundreds of alpacas and creas to snog and snuggle! This year I vow (as I have every other year) that I will not snuggle alpacas and then touch my eyes. This year I will fail (as I have every other year). So if you see some chick with red, runny eyes trying to smuggle creas out of the Dane County Coliseum, it's me. Be sure and say hi and be prepared to aid and abet if called upon. Look nonchalant. Hopefully I will recover by the time Last Saturday Knitting comes around in the afternoon. I always look forward to knitting with the girls and sipping a Victor Allen's icy coffee concoction. I just finished a big project, so maybe I'll take my entrelac scarf and finish that off. Or my top down sock. Once I f...

♥ Last Friday, Friend-Terri found her 11 month old son, William, slumped over his highchair tray- unresponsive and blue. She managed to revive him and call 911. He recovered quickly but spent the next 24 hours in the hospital with his worried parents trying to figure out if he chocked or had a seizure. Twofer! Lesson: #1. Hold the ones you love tight and tell them how much you love them. Things can literally change in a heartbeat! #2. EVERYONE should know Infant First Aid and CPR! ♥ I was behind a Mo-ped type scooter on the way home from work yesterday. The driver was decked out, helmet to boots, in Harley Davidson gear and his scooter handlebars had fringe. Twofer ! Lessons: #1. Work with what you have. #2. Don't let anyone else define you! ♥ On Sunday, our friends went to a local casino for the day. They lost $300, suffered through a horrible meal and came home bickering with each other. I, on the other hand, got up early, went to the filling station and purchased a Sunday ...

I've had a wicked case of One- itis lately. I'm devoting the rest of the month to finishing up and pairing off all of the lonely singles I have kicking around here; one Toe Up sock, one Toe Down sock and a Sulbu mitten. When I envisioned this post in my head, I saw it as a puppet show: [Top Down sock pops up over the back of the sofa]: "♫ Onnnnnneeee .... is the loneliest number that you'll ever do♫" [Toe Up Sock pops up next to him and joins in...] "♫ Twwwwooooo can be bad as one...♫" [ Sulbo mitten joins the odd pair...] "♫It's the loneliest number since the number one.♫" (Don't get excited, it's just the back of the same Selbu . He's quite a dancer!) And they all start rockin ' together Three Dog Night style!!! There's stage fog and lasers!!! The crowd goes wild!!!! Uh...Ahem. But then I thought, 'No that's just weird and you probably shouldn't even admit that you seriously entertained the thought...

It is I, Molly Bee, returned from the Wilde Prairies of the Mighty Midwest where I participated in the Madison Area Knitter's Guild sponsored 'Knitting Safari'. My fellow hunters were delightful, the prey was plentiful and I showed remarkable skill in falling my victims. I'd size them up from across the room, craftily corral them into the kill zone, whip out my razor sharp edged credit card and ZOT ! Tag 'em and Bag 'em! We arrived at Base Camp (Dutch Mill Park and Ride) and boarded our safari vehicle (a cushy Badger bus) at 8AM sharp. We arrived at Knitch in Delafield first where I quickly took down this furry beast: hand painted BFL roving from Happy Fuzzy Yarn Co . (It's posing here with his new friend a hand carved shawl pin from Argentina (Ithink).) and this sock yarn from Ewetopia Fiber Company . Yummy! Then it was off to the mean streets of Hartford where we went to The Main Street Knitting Shop . I stalked some patterns and finally trapped some...

♥There's an old lady that works at my grocery store. I avoid her line because she looks mean and scary. Seriously. Like that one that built that cookie house then tried to cook and eat those kids that time. Today I went to the store wicked early and she was the only one at the registers so I was forced go to her. Turns out, she is the sweetest old grandma type. We had a lovely chat and I will look for her line specifically from now on. Twofer! Lessons: Looks can be deceiving. Face your fears. ♥We had our departmental Wii Bowling Tournament Bowl Off yesterday. It was down to our team and one other. I was more than a little freaked out about bowling in front of everyone. AND the other team was ubergood . AND I didn't want to let my team down. AND you never know how I'm going to do. (It can go either way; 80 or 160. I average about 110-120.) Today I got 6 strikes in a row and bowled at 236! We won by 1/2 point. Lesson: Terror brings out an alternate personality who is appare...

Ben and I have been pretty much on the bench this weekend. My hip infection reared it's ugly head again on Friday and the Ben's vet thinks he tweaked his knee so we were both told to cool our jets and sit this weekend out. Kinda sucked since it was such a gorgeous weekend and we had plans to go to a farm, but we threw open the sliding glass door, made our own mischief and enjoyed it as best we could. Ben's entertainment was easy. Take a few of these treats (Sorry for the shaky pic... but it's dried liver and you can get it at The Sow's Ear. He's WILD about them!) And put it in this ball. And put it on the floor. It's that easy. The object is that the dog will roll it all around the floor and the treats will fall out the end. But as we all know, our Ben is a thinker (I know, just go with it). He's frantic because he wants the treat so much, but the ball is egg shaped and doesn't roll so that the treats come out easily, so he lays down with it firm...

An alarm that sounds like a truck backing up has been going on in my living room at one minute intervals for over 19 hours. The human spirit can adapt to anything . A boy I used to babysit back in The Before Times passed away today. Seems like just yesterday he was running around with his blankie and a purple, Popsicle face. He was only 30. Cherish every moment you have. Old age is not a guarantee. Knit Night got a little out of hand last Friday night. There were naked sheep and pole dancing. Just sayin'... Just when you think you've seen everything . Can't give more details because.. What happens at Knit Night stays at Knit Night . The other night a thunderstorm sat right on top of my house; Flash!Boom!Flash!Boom! I finally freaked out a little and called to Ben who crawled in under the covers right next to me for the rest of the night. Twofer! You're never too old to need snuggle reassurance. Sometime your best buddy has 4 legs, fur, and bad breath. I was kinda blue...

Norwegian Mitten pattern book from the library... Plus two skeins of purple yarn and #2 needles... Plus a 5 pack of orange peeps... Equals the PERFECT EASTER WEEKEND! Hope yours is perfect too! ♥Happy Easter!!!♥