Wonderful day at home

Today was a great day ..... the kids and I have spent the entire day at home - normally we would go to the library in the afternoon (after they finish Spanish).  However, today, after Spanish was finished, the kids geared up and headed out to the tobogganing hill that they have set up.  Tomorrow and Friday we are staying home, too - normally on Thursday I head into town for weaving, but with Don's car being broke down, I get to enjoy being at home.  ˚Ü˚

Yesterday evening, Don phoned me and asked me to come and pick him up from where he works.  He had stayed late to work on his car - he had got a new radiator for it.  When he started it up, there was white smoke coming from the exhaust as well as antifreeze ...... sooooooo, Charlotte went out and started the car while I changed from my work clothes.  Then, both of us (Josh decided to stay home) put on our winter gear (warm toques, warm mitts, etc.) and headed into the next town to pick him up.  As you can imagine - he was pretty bummed about his car being broke down .... not sure how much it will cost to get it fixed (if you could add this to your prayer list, we'd sure appreciate it).

In all honesty, right now, I'm okay with us (basically) being down to one vehicle ..... I'm not a huge fan of winter driving - I can do it .... just not a fan of it.  So, every year, I look forward to winter coming so that I can stop the driving here and there that we do so much of during Spring through Fall.  I can stay inside my house, work on my handcrafts, help the kids out with their schooling and just basically enjoy all that comes with staying home.  There will be a few times that I'll need to take Don to work so that I can use the car - those are for things that were booked last month for this month and some of next month - but, other than that ..... I get to stay home.  ˚Ü˚

Today, a friend came over with her two kids (I think the kids are 6 & 3) ..... anyway, she wanted to learn more about knitting - mainly how to make an easy pair of slippers (she is a beginner knitter).  I looked up the pattern for Aunt Maggie's Slippers on Ravelry, printed it off and gave it to her - if you want a very easy, knit, pair of slippers to make, these are the ones.  One of the great things about them is that they are knit flat, so you can use two separate balls of yarn and make both slippers at once.  ˚Ü˚

For supper tonight, I decided that we would have sweet and sour beef - Don bought a few steaks (it is cheaper for me to cube these than it is to buy actual stewing meat) for me to make up S&S beef.  After our company left today, I got it all ready and it is now in the slow cooker .... just have make rice and a veggie to go with it.  It's been a while since I've made this, so it'll be a real treat for Don and the kids (they all love when I make this particular dish).  ˚Ü˚

On the weaving front - I have started a new lapghan to donate to the PSM at our Church.  Many of the men in our congregation are not the 'shawl' type, so, at the suggestion of our Pastor, I started weaving lapghans for them.  The women get the shawls and the men get the lapghans ..... this will be the second one that I've made and donated (although I have enough warp on my loom to make two of them, which is what the plan is):

And here is a close up of the weaving:

The second lapghan that I'll be making will have the cream coloured warp but I'll use a different colour of fuzzy yarn for the weft - I love how soft these turn out.  ˚Ü˚