What a weekend! While doing lots of work around the house, I did have the Cubs game on and am I glad! The Cubs clinched the Central Division. The funny/ironic/annoying thing is that Bill and I had tickets to that game. We had sold them on Ebay because we had too much going on, but we could have been there… Ahh well. The most important thing is that they are the Central Division Champs!!

As for the house, we have been some much needed touching up, painting, minor repairs, etc. We have also been doing lots or purging. Not nearly enough, but it is getting there. It does feel good to “lighten the load”. It also makes it easier to get rid of stuff when you realize that someone could actually use it. Stuff that is just sitting around your house could be a treasure to someone else.

As good as it feels to be cleaning and fixing, I am looking forward to it being done. It is exhausting work. I am ready to just sit on my butt for a few weekends with a good book and/or some knitting. I could use some serious R&R. Soon…

So this mess became these little hats. I decided at the last minute (Wednesday) to knit baby hats for a baby shower I was attending on Saturday. Granted they are baby hats and knit up quickly, but I was creating my own design (simple though it may be) and that does add a little bit of time. Especially when you don’t like what you did and have to rip half of it out.

I have no concept of the size of a baby’s head. These look small to me. But I have no idea. They are about 13 inches around. Suffice it to say, I am very curious if they will fit. I did think that since they are twins, they might be on the smaller side but I don’t know. I did tell everyone that if they didn’t fit the babies they would look great on a stuffed animal or doll.

My favorite part of the hat is the top, with the little nubbin tied in a knot. They are simple hats, knit in the round in two colors. I used Blue Sky Organic cotton yarn which I love. It’s so soft and I am a big fan of the natural colors. I am happy with how the hats are the same yet still different.

What do you think?

I didn’t realize that Carlos had a no-hitter going until the bottom of the 9th inning. We had been doing stuff around the house and I had to watch the game on the internet (thanks, Steve!) because of the stupid ESPN blackout. And then I was glad I didn’t know it was happening because those last three outs had me so nervous!

ESPN slightly redeemed themselves by showing the least three outs. The other cool thing is that this was technically a home game for the Houston Astros that was played in Milwaukee (90 minutes from the Windy City). Almost 30,000 Cubs fans filled the park, in a game that was announced late the night before. Boy did those people get to see a game.

It was amazing to see the team and fan reaction. I think my favorite part was watching the guys run in from the bullpen.

It’s a good day to be a Cubs fan.

I hear a clock ticking, do you? It’s not an ominous 24 sounding clock. More of an insistent tick-tick-tick. I have to have two of these little guys done by Saturday…

Sleepy sleepy. It has been a long week and it is only Tuesday. It all started Friday night when Bill and I stayed up for a tv marathon. And now I can’t remember what we watched but we had only one episode left. Saturday was busy despite the fact that I wanted to spend my hurrican sitting on the couch knitting and watching movies. Though tired, we stayed up too late watching the Bourne Supremacy (maybe? the newest one). And on Sunday I had to stay up to celebrate a Bears victory over Mr. Manning and the Colts. Go Bears!!! Then on Monday Night, there was no real reason except we had to get some stuff done for today. And now, like this baby goatle, I am ready for some quality sleep. It has just started raining hard and I am finding the noise very soothing…

Things have been a little hectic in the Casa Napier. I am hoping that they settle down by the end of the month. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed which tends to make me shut down. But I read a quote over on the c jane blog which was “forget yourself and get to work”. Boy does that have some meaning for me. I was over on c jane run because I just heard about the horrible accident that her sister and brother-in-law were in in August. It’s a sad story but I am inspired (and awed) but how positively they are handling it.

Off to bed for me. And I won’t forget to say my prayers.

I just got back from an awesome vacation. Bill, Claudia and I went on vacation to Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks. It was awesome! We were gone for a total of 9 days. It was supposed to be 8 days but we missed our flight coming home and got “stuck” in Chicago. Poor us… Yeah, right! We were so excited to be delayed. I called my dad and he picked us up and took us to my favorite pizza place. Yay! It was a wonderful night. We got to spend a few hours with my dad, serendipity! And I got to have one of my favorite meals. Deliciousness!

As for vacation. It was amazing. There were two parts to it. Part I was Glacier where we spent 3 days. Then we had a travel day and drove to Yellowstone. Yellowstone and Grand Teton were Part II.

Here’s how we spent Part I:

Day 1: Travel

Day 2: Glacier (Logan Pass)

Highline Trail to Haystack Butte (6.8 mi)
Sheep sighting
Goat encounter

Day 3: Glacier (Avalanche Creek/St. Mary)

Bill almost hits a deer
Trail of the Cedars (0.7 mi)
St. Mary and Virginia Falls (3.6 mi)
Sunrift Gorge
Baring Falls (1.2 mi)
Sun Point (1.2 mi)
Pie at Park Cafe

Day 4: Glacier (Logan Pass)

Hidden Lake Overlook (3.0 mi)
Hidden Lake (3.0 mi)
Pie at Park Cafe

Everything was amazing. The park is huge. We only saw half of it, but the half that we saw we did a good job of exploring. We did day hikes, and they were beautiful. The weather was perfect! It would be cool in the mornings (low 40s) and would warm up to the upper 70s by the afternoon. Perfect for hiking! We found this great place to eat in St. Mary that had the best pie. We tried to find a way to get pie on our way to Yellowstone but it was too far out of the way. We saw lots of goats. I wanted to make them into sweaters. We were totally disconnected from the outside world. No cell phones, no internet, no tv, and no national newspapers. It was crazy, but in a good way. We’d read or knit in the evenings, but we didn’t have that much down time by the time we’d showered and changed. The one night we were done early (which was around 7), we hung out by the Lake MacDonald and knit and read and enjoyed the view.

I was surprised by how green and lush it was. We were told that they had a good snowy winter which helped. There were wildflowers everywhere! it was quite colorful. You could trace streams from a snow patch at the top of a mountain, all the way down the mountain. It was amazing.

I loved Glacier. We have to go back. There’s so much more to see and do.

More on Part II later.