Molly Bee's Attic

I am so blessed to have the best bunch of fun friends ever in my life. Tonight, Rob and Joey invited me over to have some pizza and carve our pumpkins for All Hallow's Eve. It's their first Halloween in Madison and their furbaby , Bobo's , first Halloween ever! Rob carved the big pumpkin with the witch. Somehow I came away without a picture of Rob or of his lit pumpkin but it's awesome. You can see it there in the foreground The first one he's ever carved. He's a natural! And show-off Joey free handed the little cat pumpkin for Bobo since, with his lack of opposable thumbs, he was having problems doing in himself. If you look back in the first pic, you can see that he performed all of the necessary quality assurance tests before he pronounced it pumpkinrific ! I fiddled with mine until theirs were finished, then we had pizza and a visit, then I fiddled with it some more until I got the result I wanted. I've never been known for being the quickest knif...

Last week I had a pain in my belly, which developed into a lump, which was assumed to be a hernia. Over the weekend the lump tripled in size and became uber -painful convincing me that it was not a hernia but, in fact, one of those alien babies that bursts forth directly from your torso like in that movie that time. Frankly, I got kind of excited about it. I went to work on Monday morning and made the impending birth announcement via Facebook , 'cause I'm cutting edge that way (and cheap when it comes to postage). Friends rallied 'round with offers to loan me car seats and help me knit nine armed sweaters and craft clever, little tinfoil hats when the time came. I had a shopping cart all picked out over at WalMart to push it around in. But by 10:00 am, my excitement faded as nothing happened but the advent of more intense pain and the loss of my ability to stand up straight without saying words I wasn't even aware I knew . Stupid Alien Baby. Can't do anything right...

I took my first guitar lesson on Tuesday night. I've had a guitar, a gift from my parents, for years but have only fiddled with it, so when a guy at work started offering private lessons, I jumped at the chance. I was SO NERVOUS. When you're an adult, you lose that 'It's-OK-If-You-Make-Mistakes-When-You're-Learning' thing. Learning new things tends to be less about having fun and more about trying not to embarrass yourself. Once I got there, I made up my mind that I was just going to do my best and not expect to play Spanish guitar the first night out. Consequently, I had a ball! I made my teacher's eyes water a couple of times but he didn't fully burst out into a tears so I'm considering it a success. I left having learned how to form the A, G, E and D chords. I also left with no feeling in the pads of the fingers of my left hand, but I was happy. My teacher stressed only practicing for 10 minutes a day this week to build up tolerance; for both my ...

Yesterday I concluded my45th successful mission completely around the sun and I was truly overwhelmed by the embarrassment of riches, both physical and emotional, that cascaded my way! I lead a blessed life and am surrounded by the best family and friends. I kicked the successful mission celebration off by bringing a 4 layer pumpkin torte with caramel and candied pecans to work. I think my kids set a land speed eating record; I had the cleaned plate back in about 60 minutes! It got 15 sets of thumbs up! I was amazed at all of the online, mailed and spoken wishes through out the day and was touched by the gifts. Friends Rob and Joey remembered a story I told them about the wee Wade Wimsey hedgehog, that my grandmother got in a box of Red Rose Tea, and how I loved it when I was little and they gave me one of my very own! I cried. Don't tell them though. I went to Knit Night at The Ear and they were having their 10th anniversary bash so there were tons of people, and most importantl...

Just got back from this month's Knitting Guild meeting. What do all of these things have in common: uber -talented, artistic, intelligent, well-spoken, polite, down-to-earth, interesting, forward-thinking? They are all qualities that are wrapped up in the awesome, impossibly adorable little package that is Jared Flood, photographer, designer extraordinaire and author of Brooklyn Tweed , that's all! He was our guest speaker tonight and I was looking forward to seeing him. I've been impressed by his blog and his patterns. I've made his Koolhaus pattern a zillion times for chemo caps. It's an relatively easy but ingenious pattern and is soft and stretchy-perfect for sensitive skin. I also made his Noro Scarf pattern and loved the way the colors blended together. But after hearing him speak, I'm stunned at what a creative thinker he really is. His presentation tonight was about how he got started blogging and how it bloomed into a career in teaching and designin...

Took a break from my crazy work schedule and went to Mt. Horeb with friends Rob and Joey (above) on Saturday to their annual Fall festival. There was a little bit of everything, antiques, books, rope making, hay bale making, troll carving, carriage rides, crafts and good food. Here are some of the entries in the pumpkin decorating contest. See the four part Seadragon ? And I really liked this Artsy-Martha- Stewartesque Pumpkin. And this Mt Horeb Troll Eating Pumpkin Aside from work, I've been busy with my blogger celebrity status. They recently unveiled my new stamp Even the cast of Friends reunited to be there! But mostly I've just been hangin ' with my best bud! What have YOU been up to?