A Bunch of Other Stuff I Should Have Blogged About in 2009

In May Sam was playing in an adult softball league. His position was outfield. While playing in the outfield he tried to be a hero for his team. He dove to catch a ball and in the process he broke his hand... and he didn't even catch the ball - but don't tell him that I told you that. :-)

In June Sam and I ran the Hospital Hill Half Marathon. Sam is a much better runner than I am - but he is very patient with me and will run slower to keep pace with me. Sometimes he will get a little bit ahead of me, but he will always jog in place and wait for me to catch up. That is exactly what happened during this race. Up until mile 11 he stayed by my side or jogged in place and waited for me to catch up. But at mile 11 he got a side cramp and had to stop. I probably should have been patient with him and waited with him since he was always so patient to wait for me. But he insisted that I run ahead. So I did. I finished the half marathon in 2:09. I beat my goal of 2:15!!!!! Sam finished shortly behind me in 2:11. I like to brag that I beat him - even though in all fairness he very well would have finished ahead of me.

(You know I must be proud of my accomplishment for posting such a heinous picture of myself.)

In January of 2008 Sam was rear-ended while driving his Ford Escort. The damage wasn't huge, but it was enough to consider the car totalled. We were given 2 options: Either we could accept an insurance buyout of $2900 and give our car to the insurance company, or we could take a check for $2750 and keep the car. That was a no brainer! We kept the car. We spent about $75 to fix the tail light and get the car up to code. So for the 20 months between January 2008 and September 2009, Sam drove around a car that looked like this:

In September 2009 Sam's was involved in yet another accident. A guy turned left and pulled out in front of Sam, leaving the front of Sam's precious Escort to look like this:

Obviously the Escort was no longer driveable. And Sam really wasn't too disappointed about it. He always said he couldn't feel like a man in that thing. I, however, was slightly sad to see it go. I will always remember watching Sam pull up driving that car the night that we met. My very first impression of Sam is that he was a super attractive guy who didn't need some big, masculine, expensive car to feel like a man. In a way, the Escort was a turn-on to me.

Anyways, we got yet another insurance payout for the Escort. Between the 2 car accidents, we got $5300 out of the Escort. That isn't a bad deal considering we probably couldn't have sold it for much more than $1000.

Sam upgraded from the not-so-manly Escort to the at-least-kind-of-manly Camry.

All in all, Sam has been a happy guy. Not only did he upgrade from a not-so-manly car to an at-least-kind-of-manly car, he also upgraded from a not-so-manly bedroom to an at-least-kind-of-manly bedroom.

Not-so-manly bedroom:


At-least-kind-of-manly bedroom:

We've also updated a few of our light fixtures in the house. Its not that our light fixtures were ugly, they just weren't compatible with my taste in decorating. This light fixture is my favorite!!!

And of course I've been busy knitting. Here are a few of my newest creations.

Isn't this bonnet so precious? The picture doesn't evn do it justice. (Thanks to adorable neice Aven for modeling!!)


The leggings were kind of an experiement, but I think they turned out so cute.



This is my girlier variation to the typical "Uggs".

This next set is one of my favorites. I searched high and low for a pattern for knit baby cowboy booties. I found crochet patterns, but no knit patterns. So I took it upon myself to make up a pattern. This was no small task. I had experiment for hours before I finally got the shaping right. But I think they look so cute. (Thanks to baby David for posing and looking so GQ in the cowboy boots!)

Finally, I had to do some knitting for myself. I can't claim to have completely created these two patterns, but I definitely mixed them up and added a little bit of Lacey flair. Is it bad to say that I am proud of myself?

There we go. Now I am all caught up on my blogging. For now anyways. :-)