Molly Bee's Attic

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, ...chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. -Melody Beattie

Mr. Bentley and I had a busy weekend. Friday night was Knit Night at the Sow's Ear and the gang and I stayed until the last gun was fired at 11:15 or so. I got a Christmas present finished and started on another one so it was productive as well as fun. (I'm working on several projects right now but at this time of year, you can't talk about any of them. It's the 'Santa Clause' in the knitted gifts contract I've never seen it so crowded at Knit Night before. At one point I had another lady practically in my lap. Good way to make 'close' friends I guess! Saturday morning Ben and I went to friends' to meet their new furbaby Murphy. It's really hard to take pics of an active puppy but at least you get the general idea of his amazing cuteness. He and Ben got along fine except for the part where Ben was trying his best to ignore Murphy so he could eat sticks and branches in peace, and Murphy nipped him in the butt to get his attention. Ben told h...

A lot of folks in my life are grumbling about the November drabs. The leaves have fallen. All the pretty is gone. I beg to differ. Exibit A: this morning's sunrise. Sometimes you just have to get up early to see the pretty!

I started taking guitar lessons about a month ago. I’ ve had a guitar that my folks gave me for my birthday one year when I still lived in Maine and it’s been artfully displayed in various apartments, duplexes and houses, but never actually played. I took it to a music store right after I got it and the man behind the counter made beautiful sounds come out of it. I kinda figured he must’ ve used all of the nice sounds up because once I took it home I never heard them again in all of these years. When a guy at work starting advertising 30 minute guitar lessons for $10 I thought, ‘That’s pretty cheap. Why not?’ and signed up, as I am wont to do, before I had a chance to consider all of the consequences: Dehydration -So far he’s only teared up a little. He’s very stoic. But as the weeks drag on and I don’t improve, it’s only a matter of time before my teacher throws himself on the floor, banging his head and sobbing uncontrollably ‘Make it stop…For the love of all that’s holy, just make...

Nothing like getting your Halloween post out a week late! I finally came down off the sugar buzz today and realized that I hadn't posted in a while. Shame on me because around these parts, we take Halloween very, VERY seriously. Here are just a few of my friends (dressed as their alter egos)... The Queen of Hearts Snow White The Situation and Snookie Rob, Joey and I got a jump on the holiday by carving our pumpkins earlier in the week. Then I spent Halloween day making finger food for my office party on Monday. We had a costume contest ... Witch, Emo Roker , Tommy Lee, Mad Scientist and yours truly dressed as a Tropical Depression (That's a bottle of Prozac I have in my hand). You know how brave ol ' Ben is; here's a picture of him and Sheldon watching the Trick Or Treaters from the safety of their own nest. But at least he's in costume. I recognize a 'Mr. Depressed Because All Of The Kids, Candy, Pats, and Fun Are On The Other Side Of The Sliding Glass Do...

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?

Faithful readers may have noticed that I name things; spinning wheels, slippers, chairs, dog toys. Everything has its name and it's place. It balances My Universe. Molly Bee Names aren't crafted over time, they are most often blurted out before I can stop them. I am as surprised as anyone at what pops out-sometimes more so . So there's this church down the road. The front lawn is a favorite of the local turkey tribe. 1 outta 3 times I drive by to get to town, there is a Tom and his bevy of beauties in the yard, doing their turkey thing-stuffing themselves on bugs I guess... stuffing themselves ....get it? Anyway, this to me is an unusual phenomenon, so of course, it's inevitable that said church will eventually get its own special 'Molly Bee Name'. It suddenly came up when someone was asking me yesterday where I live and I was trying to tell them, as I am wont to do, by landmarks rather than street names. I was confusing her more and more when I eventually menti...

I've been busy living life at 100mph lately so have been lax on the posting. I've accumulated pictures that don't really go with anything, not even each other. But it's a photo essay of my recent days so here goes. Beautiful sunrise outside the nest. Mr. Ben-Not a morning guy. Ben and his new buddy Sheldon Sheep. This is their normal perch when I work from home. Pretty yellow flowers in the prairie across the street I like that there's a fly in this picture. His name is Waldo. Can you find him? New Glarus Brewery I encourage you to tour the new site if you haven't already. The mums on my patio. I love the purpley -pink color. Told you none of it went together! In other news, I finished my self-designed-knit with-my-own- handspun -yarn mittens. As soon as I block them I'll post pictures. Judging by the weather forecast, I may need to wear them to Mt. Horeb Fall Fest on Saturday!