Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....!

It was quiet here today. They all were in school, every blessed one of them.

I am happy!

I love my kids and my husband, I really do. But by the time the end of August rolls around, I am ready for them to get out of here for a certain amount of time five days a week. I like solitude; I crave it. I like to listen to the radio and not watch television. I like to clean something and have it stay that way, for a while, anyway. I like to be able to post to my blogs without interruption while I let the words flow out of my fingers and onto the screen.

And it's hard while they are here to do that, because they are nosy and want to know what I am writing and I *hate* people reading what I am writing over my shoulder. Our computer is smack in the hub of activity all the time, as it should be. I don't really want to be shut away with it and when my kids are old enough to be online, they are definitely going to be out in the middle of everything while they are using it.

So it was with joy and thanksgiving to God that I delivered my children to their school. After I dropped them off, I turned on the radio and listened to a wonderful praise song which sang "Hallelujah!" and thought "YES!!!"

So, now that I finally have privacy to post my little projects, here is That Sock:


That Sock has been cavorting in the pediatrician's office, where it attracted attention. Funny that people always say, "And who are you making that for?" Like I would say, "My daughter." Hah! As if!

My daughters have perfected losing socks to an art form. My precious socks are not adorning the feet of these girls, since they will not love them as they ought. My daughters walk outside in their stocking feet! They push their socks off in bed, then the socks go over the side and are never seen again unless you move the bunk beds. And these are maple...they are HEAVY. So no way, no how am I knitting these socks for them. I always say, "For me!" For who else would love my socks they way they need to be loved?

The other day I went to get my hair cut, so I stopped at Old Village Yarn which is nearby and picked up my Helen's Laces, in the shade called "River".


You may recall this is for a shawl. I paused before putting it in the stash to admire it properly and wonder just when the knitting bug was going to hit again. Probably once the weather gets colder.

Since it's down in the 70's here today, my guess is that won't be long at all. Good. I like fall. It's my favorite time of year!

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Knit happens....

when you have to take your kid to the emergency room.

I have a daughter who is currently, shall we say, experiencing all the full glory of womanhood, but is not enjoying it very much.

So yesterday, when she went into hysterics about the abdominal pain she was having, was running a low-grade temp, and had had some other gastrointestinal issues that might point to a wonky appendix, yours truly had to make an ER run.

The hospital we prefer is a 30 to 40 minute drive from here, depending on traffic, so I grabbed my current mystery ("Five Bells and Bladebone" by Martha Grimes) and my little knitting bag that has what I have decided to call "That Sock" and off we went.

I have visited enough ERs to know you spend most of your time waiting for something to happen next. And knitting is necessary to wile away the time and to calm the nerves.

Of course, by the time we got up there, Missy Sahib was feeling better. If I had stayed home, she would have died, fer sure. And once we got in there she was feeling very little pain at all.

We should have turned around and gone home right then and there. But, you don't wanna take chances with your child's inner organs, so we stayed, had blood work, x-rays, the works. For nothing, because she was fine. Sigh.

I told her that every child gets one ER trip that turns out to be nothing every 5 years and that she had just used hers up for the next five years. Don't do that to me again until you are 16 or 17!

At least I got a few rows done on That Sock. It's happy. And I did get a nice comment on That Sock from one of the nurses. So That Sock not only got a few rows knit on it, it got to get complimented as well. Lucky sock.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Faint stirrings

Old Village Yarn Shop called me this past week. Remember that Lorna's Laces stuff I ordered to do that shawl? Well, it's been in for, um....quite some time. Was I coming to get it soon?

Yes, I said...I've just not gotten out to that part of the world lately, but I was planning on picking it up. Really.

In the meantime, I'm going great guns on stamping and having a lot of fun doing that, but I only get the urge to knit every now and then. Maybe I should go through my yarn bins again or maybe I should just decide to finish all the projects I have started with the idea that then I would get rid of all un-knit yarn and projects (but really trying to jump start the urge to knit again...that's what always ends up happening, anyway.)

In the meantime, I'm spending my life shuttling children to appointments, trying to fit in everything that needs to be done by August 29th, when school begins and my life can get back to normal.

I'm really tired of having a constant mess in this house...I can vacuum, but a few hours and it looks just the same. Same for the kitchen floor. With 5 people at home almost all the time, nothing stays done for more than 2 minutes unless I do it late at night before I go to bed. And then I don't really get to enjoy the cleanliness...as long as rats and roaches are not moving in and I'm keeping things sanitary if not absolutely neat, we will manage to live until school starts again.

This week we've got a dentist appointment for me plus pediatrician appointments for the kids. I have to take them to buy new shoes for school....I've already done uniforms in the very first days of the month and school supplies this past week. I really, really hate shopping for these things. Everyone is talking at once, throwing things in the cart, I'm standing there with the supply list saying, "Have we got one of these for Billy yet?" or "You only need 3 of those!" I tell them to make an inventory of what they already have so I don't have to spend money on stuff we bought last year and is still good. They all want stuff that is NEW, so I have to fight that, "NO, you don't need a new pencil case if last years still works. So what if it's a little dirty? Take a rag and clean it or throw it in the wash if it's washable!"

Uniforms were equally stressful to buy. How big should it be? How long do the skirts have to be again? Do you really need new shirts, or will last years do? Okay, if I buy these, I might as well buy 3 of them, since I will get $5 off if I do that...arghhhh!

In addition to this, my oldest child is getting braces. That was a big check to write, let me tell ya. If I hadn't carefully put aside some of our tax return, we would be making much larger payments on them than we will. We went and got the top braces this past week. And then the orthodontist says, "She needs to have two of these teeth out ASAP." Why didn't he tell me that in the spring, when I could have made an appointment in advance? Sure he said they would have to be removed, but for some stupid reason, I thought HE would do it. SO I call my kids' dentist and she's booked through October...so much for ASAP. We're on the cancellations list at the top...hopefully, she will get one this week and we can get these teeth out and be ready for the bottom braces appointment next week. If not, he is going to have to work around the fact that the teeth are still there.

So...anybody got cheese to go with this whine?

There have been *good* things going on this week. I'm trying to think of what they are...oh, yes: my kids went to vacation bible school every evening this past week. So my husband and I were able to go out for our anniversary on Tuesday evening...THAT was good. It was nice having a bit of a break from them every evening. But we're back to full time parenting this week.

And I got a lot of new stamps from the Holiday Mini to play with. So if you'll excuse me, I'll go play with them now....

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Blog guilt

Hi everybody!

Yes, life has been rather hectic lately. Filled with anything BUT knitting. After I ended up ripping back that sock shown in the last post and fixing it, I got kind of fed up with knitting and went into what I call "yarn hibernation". Almost always happens in the summer when the thought of warm fibers next to my already too-warm skin gives me the heebie jeebies.

And the approach of a mini catalog change-over for my business and stamping swaps, swaps, and more swaps and then convention! Yikes!

Can you believe I didn't even take knitting to convention this year? Just did not feel like packing my usual sock for plane knitting that I usually do.

And then there is this blog. Every day I have felt guilty for chattering on like a loon for months, then suddenly dropping off the face of the planet! Wondering what everyone must be thinking...where did she go?

I've been debating about starting a companion blog for my stamping/scrapbooking stuff and just linking the two together so that I will post on one of them at least and you can check out what I'm doing with either or both crafts.

In the meantime, yes, I am alive and well...just not knitting right now!