HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!!




Today is our 16th wedding anniversary. Wow, I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS......from my family to yours.


Here are the leg warmers that I made for my mother-in-law. Finally, I have a finished object to share on this knitting blog.
My family Christmas went really well on Saturday. We all had a good time. We were expecting a winter storm, so most everyone was gone by 4:00. The snow didn't start until 8:00 or so, but I'm glad everyone got home okay. I'm looking forward to some quiet time with my own family tonight and tomorrow. It will be very low key and wonderful.

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. Happy knitting!!

Ready or not......

Tomorrow my family is coming down to celebrate Christmas. I baked 8 dozen cookies and will be participating in a cookie exchange this morning with my Bible Study friends. This afternoon I plan on cleaning and then getting the egg bakes ready to put in the fridge. The tables will get set and then hopefully I can enjoy tomorrow. I've finished wrapping the gifts (which by the way, my boys have unwrapped a few of their own presents and re-wrapped them again!!), cards have been sent, and decorating is done. Why do I do this to myself? I'm trying to have a magical time for my family, but the stress is killing me. Christmas comes no matter if I get all this accomplished or not, so why do I feel the need to do this every year?

Tom's mom would love to be preparing for Christmas, so I need to be thankful that I am able to do all of these things for my family. Tom and I brought a small tree to her and decorated it. It really does look nice in her room and brings some holiday cheer for her. She is getting stronger and we are hoping that she continues to build her strength so she can get out of bed for longer periods of time. She is an amazing woman whom I love dearly.

Okay I'm off to get ready for my cookie exchange. Hopefully I can blog again before Christmas and show you all a finished project!! Happy knitting!

Tom wanted me to post a different "elf" because he was a girl in the last one. So here it is

I am done decorating for Christmas. Yeah!! My cards will be ready to send out by Friday and next week will be for baking and getting ready for my family on Dec. 22.

Tom's mom will be going to the nursing home tomorrow. She is walking with a walker now and is feeling better. We are thankful for each day we have with her. The doctor doesn't know how much longer we have with her, but we are hopeful that it is a few more months. I actually started a baby sweater over the weekend. It is for my great-nephew, Bruce, and I was hoping to give it to him for Christmas, but I'm not going to stress over getting it done by then. I will probably have more time during the kids Christmas break to get some knitting done.

We may not have all of Tom's family here for Christmas Eve after all. Some of us got together last Saturday night at a niece's house, so we may just go to church and have dinner with just the five of us. That sounds nice right now. Okay, I'm off to get some much needed sleep. Happy knitting!!

Funny thing to share.....
enjoy!

LIFE HAPPENS



Well, again I have no knitting news. Where do I begin to explain the craziness of the past few weeks? My mother-in-law has been in the hospital since Tuesday, Nov. 13. We didn't think she would live past the weekend. Well, she is doing better and will have to go to a nursing home. Her cancer that she has been fighting for the past 5 years is back and there is nothing they can do at this time. She has a nasty sore and infection that won't heal. Her kidneys were starting to shut down and she was bleeding into her bladder. They have stablized her and she may be able to go to the nursing home sometime this week.


We were going to go to Madison for Thanksgiving, but Tom's brother and his wife and son came up here instead. I found out Monday that I was hosting Thanksgiving dinner for possibly 13-17 people. We managed to get the house in order, an aero bed purchased and put together with a nice feather bed on top, grocery's bought and dinner made, and I survived to write about it. :) My sister-in-law has a drinking problem, and was drunk for the three days they were here. I confronted her Saturday morning when she woke up and told her she wasn't welcome in my house until she sobers up. I grew up with an alcoholic father and I don't have to put up with that in my house. She is going to kill herself if she doesn't stop drinking. She was on a liver transplant list two years ago, but stopped drinking for a while and her liver recovered a bit. She went into treatment for two weeks in May, but started drinking shortly after that. I told Tom's brother that I was going to confront her and he said that I should. He has tried to help her, and is now just taking care of himself and their son. I feel so bad for him. I let him know that he and their son are welcome here anytime, but she isn't. He said that he will be back in two weeks to see his mom and that he'll leave her at home.

I think that was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but I just had had enough. My daughter knew something was wrong and so I explained everything to her. The boys spent most of the time playing video games in the basement, so I don't think they even noticed. I found two coffee mugs hidden around my kitchen full of gin on Friday night. That was when I decided that she needed to be confronted. She had fallen down my stairs before we went out to dinner Friday night, and told me she meant to do that. I'm not stupid and I knew she was drunk, but I didn't see her actually getting the gin out of the cabinet. When I found the mugs full of gin, I told my brother-in-law and we had a long talk. He is so sad and loves her so much. He told me that he knows he should kick her out and get her an apartment, but he said that he can't live with the guilt if she drinks herself to death alone. It is a sad situation.
I hope she goes into a thirty day treatment center and then works to stay sober. I know that she has a disease, but only she can make the decision to get sober.

I will be hosting Christmas with my family on Dec. 22 and then Tom's family will be here for Christmas Eve. I will be taking more time away from my blog and knitting. I plan on being back here after Christmas. I don't know if I have any readers left, but I want you to know that I am still reading blogs (when I can) and hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season.

Happy knitting!!

Mini Vacation....

I went to Geneva, Illinois on Friday and got back last night. I went to visit my friend, Becky, who moved from Eau Claire to Geneva in August of 2006. It was great to see her and spend some time away from the kids. It was just what I needed. We shopped for accessories for my house and I came home with some great stuff. I stayed within my budget, and boy was that hard! I want to go back in the spring, so I knew that I needed to be good this time. She has three boys the same ages as my kids. They were so good while I was there.

Geneva is a beautiful city. The shops were unique and it was such a joy to get to shop in a different area. I hate to admit this, but we saw three yarn shops and I didn't go into any of them. I know, what a shock! I really have a lot of yarn, and this trip was meant to get stuff for my house.

I haven't knit at all in over a week. I'm not a very good knit blogger these days. Life just happens sometimes. The kids have had big projects to work on and that adds to my stress. The projects are now complete and maybe I can take a breath. We are having the hardwood floor in the dining room refininshed and filled in. The previous owners who built the house just put hardwood around the perimeter of the room and had carpet in the middle. We have decided to just finish the room and not have carpet in there. My dining room table is in the study, the hutch and piano are in my kitchen. The plan is to start the floor on Wednesday or Thursday. I am so glad we are able to get this done before Christmas.

Okay, I have rambled on enough. Sorry that I've been away for a month. I'll try to post at least once a week.

And the winner is.....

Sarah of knit7together. Send me your address and I'll get your yarn in the mail asap. Thanks to the people who commented. I can't believe I've been blogging for a year already. How fast the time flies.

I'm so sad the Packer's lost last night!! It was like they just forgot to play the other half of the game!!! Oh well, they have a lot more games to play and hopefully win. Tom and Patrick had fun going over to Green Bay with our neighbors, Tom and Gus. It was the first time for them to be at Lambeau Field and also Gus' first pro football game. They are Bears fans, but we still like them. :)

I went scrapbooking Friday night and all day on Saturday. I was able to catch up on my Christmas book and start one for Todd. Now my plan is to get pictures and stuff organized for Grant's book. I will be going on a retreat November 9-11, and that will enable me to get a lot done in his book. Maybe I'll even get "caught" up. If I just did a few pages a day it wouldn't be such a task, but I don't have any place to keep all the supplies out. I must get my old sewing room cleaned out and put together for a scrapbooking room.

I woke up yesterday with my left eye swollen almost shut. It was the weirdest thing. It's not red or yucky, so I don't think I have pink-eye, but I went to the doctor just in case. She wasn't sure, but is treating me for pink-eye. I have drops to put in 4 times a day. She also wanted me to take Claritin for a week to see if that helps. This is so strange. My puffy lower eye is touching my glasses!! Okay, I'm off to turn the heel on a sock. Happy knitting!!

How's this for distraction?......Cute puppy and a contest!


I have to apologize for the lack of knitting content on this "knitting" blog. I'm not sure what happened to my knitting mojo, but it is just not present at the time. I'm still working on the felted slippers and that's it. I may start a sock today since it is October and time for Socktoberfest. Here is a picture of my cute/naughty puppy! I just love this dog. He will be one on October 26 which also happens to be my husband's birthday too. He loves to find Patrick's shoes!! Now, if the shoes were put in their correct spot this would be a difficult task, but since they are usually just left by the back door, it's not too much of a problem. Just as long as someone catches him before the shoes get eaten!!

On Thursday, Oct. 4 it will be my one year blogiversary!! So I am having a contest. All you have to do is comment and tell me a cute pet story. Pretty simple. As you can tell, I love my pets a lot and have many funny stories I can tell about them. Please share some with me. I will give one commenter a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy yarn in the Nightwatch colorway. I can't seem to locate my camera ( think a child "borrowed" it), but I'll put one up asap. Comments will be taken until Sunday, Oct. 7. I'll just put the numbers in a hat and have a kid pick a number. Thanks!!

Just a quick post..

I really don't have much to say today, but since it has been a week since my last post I thought I'd add a little one today. School is going well for the kids so far. Maggie is having fun playing volleyball for South Middle School. Grant had a good time at the Homecoming dance last week. Patrick is having fun seeing his friends everyday at school, the learning part of his day is not his priority, but he is doing fine. I got one of Tom's felted clog slippers done and am working on the second. Patrick saw the first one and said, "Mom, I think that is a bit big for dad!" After I explained the felting process, it made more sense to him. Okay, that's all. Sorry, this hasn't been the most exciting blog lately, but that's my life right now. Happy knitting!

MHS Homecoming.....

I just dropped Grant off at his first high school dance. Doesn't he look handsome? Okay, I know I'm his mom, but still....I think he looks great. This was weird for me! The first of many new and exciting experiences with a high school child. I hope he has a good time. He asked a girl to go, but she already had a date. Some of his friends are going with dates, and others are just meeting him there.

I had a nasty cold earlier this week, so I was in bed for two days. I'm feeling a lot better now. I purchased some yummy yarn this week...ready...it is qiviut. It is red and so very soft. I'm going to make a lacy scarf for myself. It was just the right thing after the crazy few weeks I've had.

Today I started some felted clog slippers for Tom. He went to the UW Badger game in Madison with some friends and then they are going to the Packer game in Green Bay tomorrow. I hope to finish them before he gets home tomorrow night. I went to the apple orchard today and I'm going to make apple bars with some of the apples I got. The weather today was just beautiful. I love fall. Also, Desperate Housewives begins tomorrow!! I'm so excited for all my shows to start up again. I'll be watching Grey's on Thursday night.

I forgot to mention that I got my Ravelry invite. I'm having fun exploring. It is a lot to take in. I'm Packerfan in there, so come find me sometime. Well, I'm going to go watch a movie and work on the slippers. Happy knitting!!

Back to the doctor......

This time with the boys. They both have strep throat!!! Ugh! It's only the second week of school!! Help me!! They were complaining last night of sore throats and I told them to see how they felt this morning before deciding if they should go to school or not. Well, they both woke up and said that their throats hurt quite a bit. I kept them home from school and we went to the doctor this afternoon and now they are both on Amoxicillin. Patrick seems to be doing better than Grant. Grant has been whining all day long. I'm sorry he is sick, but oh my goodness. I don't need to hear the whining for hours and hours. It's not like he is two or three years old!! Yikes!

I have no knitting news at all:( I'm not quite sure where this week has gone, but I haven't done much knitting at all. Hopefully tomorrow the boys will be better and won't need quite so much attention and I can get some knitting time in. I will not be going back to school now or in the future. Tom really doesn't want me to. My job is taking care of the family and that's just the way it is. The time from now and when Patrick graduates from High school will just fly by. I will have to see how I feel in eight years, whether I want to pursue a new career or not.

I hope the sun shines tomorrow, I really don't like cloudy days. I'm going to get into bed and snuggle with the dogs. Happy knitting!

Interesting news......

One of Maggie's friends is in the hospital with cryptosporidium. She has lost 10 pounds and is very dehydrated. She is in the same hospital that we first went to last Monday. The hospital called us tonight to tell us about this friend and also to say they knew Maggie had some of the same symptoms. Well, let me tell you, I was not very nice and told the woman who called that we were sent home with instructions to take Advil and Imodium. She told me that she wanted us to get a stool culture done. I then told her that we went to Luther Hospital and had better care and the first thing they did was to order the culture. Maggie's tests came back negative, but I called my doctor right after I got off the phone with Sacred Heart, and she told me that sometimes you can get false negatives. It would explain all of Maggie's symptoms and she felt that if they would have listened to me and taken the stool sample right away it may have been positive and, we may have saved a lot of time and money without doing the stupid ultrasound. The doctor can't say for sure that Maggie has/had cryptosporidium or not, but it seems likely. The girls were at the same pool party a week ago on Wednesday. Maggie did a great job of trying to drink a lot of water and Gatorade. That's what saved her from becoming severely dehydrated. So far Maggie hasn't had any diarrhea for 24 hours, so we may be on the up side of all of this. Maggie ate some cereal tonight, so we'll see how that goes. She has lost 5 pounds in the last week. She looks much better today and is happier. I hope she continues to be able to eat more foods and get stronger. She is anxious to get back to school and a normal routine.

One word of advice, if you choose to take it, if you aren't satisfied with a doctor or hospital, don't feel bad about seeking another opinion. I know that people are human and make mistakes, but when it comes to the health of my kids, I have learned to question things. Okay, I'll get off my soap box.

Tom and Grant had fun at the Packer game, but they left before the end of it!! I couldn't believe it when they called me and asked me to DVR the end of the game. Tom's brother wanted to leave so they did. Crazy! I wouldn't have left and Tom said he won't do to that again! I love it when my team wins. I have to admit, it was a boring game though. I wore my socks and they kept my feet nice and warm. I love this crisp fall weather. Well, I'm off to spend some time with my Chevron scarf and watch football with Tom. Happy knitting!!

What a difference a good night's sleep makes. I'm feeling less overwhelmed today. I know that the doctor's will figure out what is wrong with Maggie and she will start to feel better soon.
This first picture is of the boy's clothes that were laid out in the bathroom the other night. They have been trying to get prepared the night before school, so the mornings go a bit smoother for us all. I saw the post-it note on Grant's clothes and it touched me so much I just had to take pictures.

This is what Patrick had written for his big brother....
I thought that was so sweet. They fight like cats and dogs, and then it find something like this. After I took the picture, I went upstairs to bed and they were sleeping in Grant's bed. Crazy! If I made them share a room they would hate it. I'm glad for the good moments, it helps get through the rough ones.
This picture was taken on Wednesday, Patrick's first day of school. I'm happy to report that Grant is feeling much better about high school and enjoys the freedom of going off campus for lunch. I'm sure that when the snow starts to fly and the temperature drops it won't be as much fun, but for now if this helps him get through his day, then I'm fine with it.
Finally, my Packer socks/anklets. They are done just in time for the first game tomorrow. Tom and Grant will be going to GB for the game. I will be home with the other two. Maggie was suppose to start her fall softball season tomorrow, but under the circumstances she won't be. I'm hoping that she will be able to go to school on Monday for at least part of the day.

I requested her homework yesterday, and when I stopped in after school, there wasn't any! How can that be? She has missed the first week of school. I know her friends have had work, because I've talked to some parents. I'm a bit upset about them not getting me her work. I don't want her to get farther behind than she already is. She wants to get caught up too. I just don't understand when you have a parent and student willing to try to keep up and contact the school, why the teacher's couldn't follow through. Please don't send me any comments on how hard teacher's work. I know that, I used to be a teacher. My only thing is, is that if they have assigned homework for the whole class, how hard would it be to let the counselor's office know what those assignments were?

Well, I'm going to relax today and knit. The weather is beautiful, so I may even sit outside. (If the mosquitoes don't get me) Have a great weekend! Happy knitting!

Well, Maggie went to school yesterday for a few hours then came home to rest. She had another CT scan today, and we haven't heard anything. They took lots of blood to test yesterday, and we have some results that were normal, but no answers to explain her pain or bowel distress. I'm frustrated and worried about her. Today after the CT scan I had her come home and try to eat something. She had an English muffin and so far she is doing okay. She took a long nap and the pain is better. The doctor may want us to go to Mayo Clinic in Rochester to see a pediatric GI specialist. I'm waiting to hear from the clinic. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

My Packer socks are finished, but I haven't taken the time to take a picture. I'm currently working on finishing up my crocheted sweater and have been working on a Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I may post again later tonight or tomorrow. I just need to go take a nap and recharge. Happy knitting.

Emergency Room Knitting....

Last night Maggie and I spent six hours in the ER. She has been having stomach issues since Saturday. After my post yesterday, she told me that her right side hurt more than anything in her life. We went to the ER where they proceeded to do an ultrasound to check for a cyst on her ovary. That was negative, so they had her drink this large glass of something so they could do a CAT scan. Her appendix looked okay, so they sent us home with instructions for taking Ibuprophin for pain. Well, this morning she woke up with the dry heaves and much more pain. I called another dr. who told us to go back to the ER. This time we chose another hospital in town, and I was very pleased. They gave her an IV with pain medication and something for her nausea. They ordered the tests from the other hospital, checked them out, and told us they did not think it was a burst cyst, but a nasty GI disorder. They are doing a culture for some parasites, and I would list them here, but my mind isn't working the best after only four hours of sleep. Maggie is taking Vicodin for the pain and some other thing for the nausea and seems to be resting comfortably now. It was awful seeing her in that much pain. She told me that she is going to adopt a child from Jamaica, because she can't imagine being in pain for many hours during labor. Isn't that cute? I bet she will change her mind in about 15 years.

My day of sipping tea and relaxing didn't happen. Oh well, that's life. I did get a lot of knitting done, but haven't taken pictures yet. Grant hated school today. He couldn't find the right bus after school, so walked to his dad's office. I didn't know he was going to do that, and freaked out when he didn't get off the bus. A friend called me to tell me she saw him walking down a street near the high school. I got in the car and drove around looking for him. I didn't see him, so I went to Tom's office and there he was. I was relieved and mad at the same time. He said to me,"I just remembered that I should have called you!" He was in tears tonight because he said that none of his friends from middle school are in his classes, and he doesn't know anyone. I tried to assure him that a lot of the freshman are feeling much the same way, but that didn't help. I agreed to pick him up tomorrow and figure out something about the bus situation in a few days. I know that he has a difficult time making friends, but I can't change his classes. He is in classes that are appropriate for his level, and that is just the way it is. We'll just have to take it one day at a time. Okay, I need to get some sleep. Hopefully I will have pictures tomorrow. Happy knitting.

Reflection.....


Most people reflect on the year at the beginning, in January. Well, I found myself doing this today. Last Labor Day I was in a lot of pain due to my back and I remember spending time reading knitting blogs. It was a wonderful way to spend my day. I was excited for the kids to start school, but was a bit sad because I knew I would miss them. Today, I read some blogs, worked on cleaning up my desk, did some paper crafting, listened to podcasts, knit, and did some laundry. I am not sad about the kids starting school. I really need a break from the fighting and constant mess in the kitchen. My back isn't really any better, I'm just getting used to the discomfort. I stopped working out regularly about a year ago because of my back issues, and now find myself heavier than I'd like to be. I love to eat and don't always want to make the best choices. Well, it is time to get serious again. I must start to write down everything I eat and exercise. With the start of a new school year I don't have the excuse of being home with the kids.

I find myself in awe that I have one of my kid's starting High School. I hope he has a good time during his years at Memorial. Can it really be 20+ years since I walked into my high school as a freshman? What a day that was. I know that I'll blink and the next four years will be history and he'll be going to college.

Maggie is excited about 8th grade(well the social part anyway). She will be playing fall softball as well as volleyball. I think that 8th grade was one of my favorites of all my years in school. She is growing up so fast and is becoming a beautiful young woman.

Patrick is entering his last year of elementary school. It seems like yesterday when I was taking him to kindergarten. I remember on the way to school him asking me, "Mom, who will you have tea with now?" It was so bittersweet. I find myself looking forward to a peaceful cup of tea on Wednesday morning when they are all in school.

The Packer socks are almost done, so I may have a picture on Wednesday. I forgot to mention in my post about the Fair, that Shelly gave me two skeins of her dyed yarn. They are beautiful! Thanks, Shelly. Well, I'm off to have dinner with my family and work on the socks. Happy knitting!

Minnesota State Fair
This is Shelly and me in the Miracle of Life Building. We actually were there moments after a ewe had given birth to triplets. Amazing.

It was wonderful getting to meet Shelly and her family in person. She is a very sweet and kind woman and I am so glad we were able to work out a time to connect. When we went to the building to see the knitting I was blown away by the blue ribbon winners. The fair isle sweater that I saw was beautiful. The crocheted baby sweater was beautiful as well. We have some very talented knitters in our midst.

Shelly and I had some yummy fair food and that's all I will say about that. :) It would be fun if this could be an annual event. I'm thankful that her hubby was able to leave work a bit earlier than usual and was willing to care for Julie and Sophie for the evening. By the way, the girls are so darn cute. If you read Shelly's blog, then you have seen their pictures. Believe me they are even cuter in person. Thanks, Shelly, for the wonderful time.

Tonight we are going to one of the neighbor's houses for cocktails to jump start the holiday weekend. I don't think we have anything else planned, so I am looking forward to getting some quality knitting time in. Hopefully Tom will take the boys to do something fun for the afternoon tomorrow or Sunday. They have been a challenge this week. In my opinion, summer has been two weeks too long. I see no reason why they can't start school before Labor day. When I taught in Albuquerque, we started around the second week of August and were done the end of May. It seemed to work out just fine. Okay, rant over.

I hope you all have a great long weekend and happy knitting!

Where has the time gone? It has been awhile since my last post. I didn't finish my sweater in time for the class reunion, but that's okay. I just have the sleeves to do. I got a bit mixed up and couldn't figure out how to finish the sleeves and didn't have time to run down to YDK
to get help. Cindi is on vacation this week, so I'll catch up with her next week and finish it.

I get to meet Shelly aka The Heathen Housewife.
I am going to the Minnesota State Fair with her on Wednesday. I can't wait to see her in person. We talked on the phone tonight and she is wonderful. It will be nice to check out the wonderful knitted items that have been entered at the Fair. We plan on eating our way through the evening. I will get to meet her beautiful girls too. I can't wait.

The class reunion was so much fun. I got to see many of my old friends and we had a blast recalling the crazy things we all did together in high school. I think that in these past five years, some of the guys changed the most. There were some there that I had to ask if they were spouses or classmates. It was weird. I saw one of my dearest guy friends whom I hadn't seen in 10 years. I got all teary eyed when I hugged him. We had some great times during high school as well as college. I'm glad I went. I was hesitant to go because I wanted to be thinner, but it didn't matter once I got there and saw everyone. We all have changed, it is to be expected after 25 years right?

Maggie and I went to the Nanny Diaries tonight. It was pretty good. I have decided that when a book is turned into a movie, I shouldn't expect too much. I really liked the book better, but we still enjoyed it. Okay, so off to bed for me. I'll post pictures tomorrow of the Packer sock and my class reunion. Happy knitting.

I survived!!

The birthday party is over. The rain just kept going all day but the girls did end up going swimming and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. Thank goodness for heated pools. Some of them decided to have a food fight in the basement. I was not happy at all about that. Maggie and two of her friend's picked it up and all is okay now. I didn't expect that from 13 year old girls. The tie-dyeing went very well and my kitchen survived.(we couldn't go outside because of the rain.) It is a lot to do with 23 kids but it was fun and they were all happy when they went home. Maggie decided it is easier to go to parties than host them. I'm glad, so I'm off the hook for anymore parties. Next year a few friends and that's it.

I'm exhausted so I am going to bed.

PANIC

Okay, so I am in panic mode right now. What was I thinking? Physics and Chemistry?! I am really starting to doubt my brain power. I need to take a deep breath and calm down. I think it is the fear of failing and looking bad in my kids eyes. For all these years I've been helping them with their school work and encouraging them, telling them they can do anything they put their minds to. Now I guess I need to "practice what I preach." I'm a scatter brain....there I put it out there. I am doubting my ability to retain information and then put it into practice. Heck, I go to the grocery store with a list and it still seems like I forget a key ingredient for a recipe. I just need to calm down and take each day as it comes. I'm sure everything will be fine.

It is currently 60 degress outside and raining! What a day for a pool party. It figures. Oh well, we can still have pizza and watch movies. Tye-dyeing the shirts may have to wait for another time. I'm off to get the munchies and pop. Have a good day.

I'm a student....

Well, what does a stressed out mother of three do to relieve stress? She registers for two classes!! Yesterday I registered for Physics and Chemistry. For those of you who haven't known me for very long, this is a strange and scary thing for me to do. I wasn't very fond of science and math in high school. Well, since I want to go into the Ultrasound program, I need these two classes to get started. I figure if I can't handle these classes, then maybe I shouldn't waste anymore time and money to continue with the program. I am confident that I can do this and I really need to for my self-esteem. Being a stay-at-home mom for the past 14 1/2 years has been wonderful but very trying at times. I am not a therapist or doctor and I just can't fix the issues that Grant has. It has been hard to admit that but it is true. He has a developmental disorder and nothing I can do will change that. I'm currently looking for another therapist for him and have to hope that someone will be able to get through to him.

The boys are off to Milwaukee today for a Brewer's game. Maggie is having her birthday party tomorrow night. We are expecting 20 girls:) The plans are for swimming, pizza, and tye-dying shirts. It will be a lot of fun. Maggie has really nice friends and it am actually looking forward to spending time with these girls. Tonight she is going to watch High School Musical 2 with some friends. I will have the house to myself for a few hours. I plan on working on my sweater and cuddling with the pets.

Have a good weekend and happy knitting!

Well, Patrick is doing better. I had to change the bandages and clean the burn last night. Notice the pink wrap. Maggie had this for her knee injury, so it was what we used. Thank goodness for 3/4 length sleeves. :) It was harder for me than him. As I was washing the area with soap and gauze, I kept asking him if I was hurting him. He was so good and told me, "I'm fine, Mom." We got it all cleaned up and put new bandages on. I am so thankful that most of the water landed on the counter top and not on him. This is so difficult to deal with. My own child doing this horrible thing to his own brother. I need to comfort the one and want to strangle the other!! I woke up yesterday and couldn't turn my head at all to the right. Went to see my chiropractor and got some eletric stim on the area and a nice adjustment. I go back today and tomorrow for more of the same. I can move my head now without too much pain. It is amazing how stress affects your body. I couldn't even knit yesterday. I am going to go now and try to work on a sock. Happy knitting.

Sadness.....

I just found out that one of our pastor's is leaving to go to another church. Pastor Mary is more than a pastor, she is a friend. I am going to miss her so much. She taught knitting classes at our church and was instrumental in forming our Purly Gates knitting group at church. She will be a wonderful addition to her new church.

In other news, my oldest threw boiling water at my youngest and we had to take him to the ER. He has 2nd degree burns on his right upper arm. Patrick didn't do anything to provoke Grant to do this, I just don't know what to do with that kid!

I'm exhausted and going to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Warning....Picture Heavy Post....
Here is a picture of Maggie holding Bruce, last Monday at the hospital. Hopefully we will get up to New Richmond sometime this week to see him again.

This is a picture of the sweater I am crocheting. I hope to have it done in time for my 25th class reunion on August 25.

Here is a picture of my Packer sock in progress from the yarn that Shelly dyed for me.

This picture is of the yarn that I got from Scout. I really love the skein she dyed for me to match Gracie. She is calling the colorway, Kitty. The other skein is for more Packer socks. I know, I am a bit obsessed with my football team, but I can't help it. I love 'em!


We have Patrick's party tonight for his All-Star team. Pizza and pop at the ball field. How fun is that? I don't have to cook so it is a wonderful night for me. Today has been a crazy day running errands so I am looking forward to the party and some down time. I am planning on trying to clean out the basement and organize my scrapbooking supplies and get my yarn stash photographed. I am hoping that my invitation to Ravelry
will be arriving sometime in the next week or two. Okay, I'm off to change some laundry around and get some crocheting done.

I will try and post pictures tomorrow. Where does the time go? Okay, I now have two new family members. My niece had her baby boy, Bruce, last Sunday morning. Tom's nephew and his wife had their baby boy, Brecken, on Thursday morning. Both babies and mom's are doing great. I love newborns!! They are so sweet and smell so good. I haven't seen Brecken in person yet, but hope to this week. He looks adorable in the pictures though. The kids and I went to see Bruce on Monday. He is adorable too.

I am plugging away at my crocheted sweater. I have started a Packer sock and am almost ready for the heel.

I am going to bed now. I am frustrated with my boys and I just need to get a good nights sleep. Why can't they follow our rules? I am going to have to hire a babysitter for my 14 1/2 year old!!! We went to a surprise party for Tom's sister and they left the house without permission. We have told them they are to stay in the house when we are gone, but they don't seem to listen. The bikes will be hung up in the garage for the time being. After an unfortunate text message to our nephew's neighbor last week, we've taken away Grant's cell phone. His behavior is terrible so the t.v. and computer are gone and now the bike. Do you think he'll figure out that we are the parent's and our rules matter? Time will tell.

FRIENDS AND FIBER

This is the birthday girl, Chris. Isn't she beautiful? I'd say she is 50 and fabulous!

Here are the girls from Yellow Dog Knitting with us at dinner. Left to right: Jaci, Sonya, Chris, Cindi, and Dixie. We all had a good time eating and laughing.

Now for the fiber goodness of the post. Shelly
dyed this Packer yarn for me. I also have some coming from Scout.
I have a lot of fans that could use a nice pair of socks this fall. Knowing myself, I'll want to keep them all for me. I think the skein on the right matches my crocs perfectly. I have a sweater that the skein on the left matches with. Aren't they wonderful? I know if you are a Minnesota fan or a Chicago fan, these are not so wonderful, but for me it is pure bliss to look at them!


















My heart goes out to all those involved in the horrible bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I have a lot of friends and family who frequently cross that bridge on a daily basis. What a terrible thing to have happen. It just makes me wonder why things like this happen.

Patrick has a ball tournament this weekend and I go pick up Maggie from camp tomorrow morning. I can't wait to see her. It's been a long week for me, but with the weekend coming up, Tom will be around more to help with the boys.

I'm working away at the crocheted sweater and enjoying it. Packer socks are coming along, so hope to have some good pictures to share in a few days. Happy Knitting!

Happy Birthday, Chris!!

Today is my best friend's 50th birthday!! I wish I could spend the whole day with her, but it's not in the cards. The boys have been a handful this week. I don't intend for this blog to be a place to whine about my kids, but man this has probably been one of the hardest weeks of parenting for me. I know we have spoiled the boys, so we are going to step back and re-evaluate things. For now they will not have tv's in their rooms any more. I know it was a mistake to begin with, and now we are taking care of that. I will not be buying anymore junk food, no matter how much they bug me. It just makes the behavior worse. Okay, ranting done.

I am taking them with me down to YDK
to help Chris pick out some yarn to make a sweater. They can just sit and be quite while I do this. How is that for punishment for three boys, ages 14, 11, and 10?

Pictures will follow later today. The girls from the Yellow Dog and I took Chris out for dinner on Tuesday to celebrate. It was very fun and we had a lot of laughter.

Crochet

The crocheting is coming along pretty well. I am enjoy the process and I like how the sweater will look.

I'm trying to distract myself because hubby let the boys go out to star gaze and I am a bit nervous. We live in a nicely wooded area with a meadow near by, but it gets very dark at night. I like having everyone in the house by this time of night. Our nephew is staying with us for a week, and I'm not sure how his mom would feel about him being out this late. They have another 19 minutes to be out there. I'm sure they are fine, I'm just a worry wart.

I took Miss Maggie to camp this afternoon. She was so excited. She is in a cabin with a lot of her friends, and some more friends are in a cabin about 20 steps away. I was remembering back to when she went to camp 5 years ago and how I cried so much when I dropped her off. It was the fear of the unknown for me. I hadn't ever been to this camp and she was so little. It was strange dropping her off in the care of two counselors that I hadn't met before. She had a great time and has kept going back. I remember that I slept in her room two of the nights she was gone!! I missed her so much that it hurt. I will still miss her this week while she is gone, but I won't sleep in her room and it doesn't hurt that much anymore. I guess this is all in the process of letting my child grow up and away. She informed me that when she is 16 she wants to be a counselor at this camp. Wow, she would be gone all summer. That will be hard, but a good learning experience for me. She will go to college someday and be gone for a lot longer. Why is it so painful to let your kids grow up?

Finished Baby Sweater



.....made from Blue Sky Cotton, Blue Sky Alpacas. Pattern is from the book Oneskein by Leigh Radford. This knit up very fast, just the seaming took me awhile. The baby is due two weeks, so any day now we could get a picture of him in his sweater.

I may have another picture to show you tomorrow. I am going to try to crochet a sweater. I'm going down to YDK
to have Cindi help me. Happy knitting!!

Jon Bon Jovi
Richie Sambora
Mr. Bon Jovi again!
A few pictures for you...enjoy. Off to take Maggie to VBS and Gracie to the cities. Happy Knitting!!

just got home from the U of MN with Gracie. The fluid is building up in her lungs again, despite being on medication. We probably have two weeks with her. I'm very sad.

P.S. the vet just called with her blood work results. Her kidneys look great. She told us to up the dose of her Furosemide and that will hopefully get the fluid to go away. Keep your fingers crossed, Gracie isn't ready to go yet. She is still fighting...maybe we can get a few more months.

I'M DONE!!

With the last Harry Potter book. I won't put anything on here to spoil it for anyone. Just read it!
I stayed up too late this morning (2:45) trying to finish it. I fell asleep and had to finish it later this morning.

I haven't knit for almost a week. That's what happens when you go to Country Jam for three days, a baseball tournament, and read a new book. I have to clean the house before Tom's brother and nephew get here on Saturday for a family wedding. Tomorrow I take Gracie back to the U of MN for a check up. I think they will do x-rays and another echo. She seems to be doing fine, so hopefully the tests will confirm that for me. I am too tired today to knit, so I guess some of the cleaning will get done. Have I told you all that I hate to clean? Yeah, I thought so. Oh well, that's part of the job. Have a good day. Happy knitting!

COUNTRY JAM!!

Wow, Maggie and I had a great time!! Lots of good music and fun. I can't believe I actually saw Jon Bon Jovi!!!! It was simply AMAZING! I know it is like screaming when you capitalize all the letters in a word, but I don't care! That was my intent. Reba was wonderful and she had Kelly Clarkson with her. Montgomery Gentry fantastic as well as our favorite, Trace Atkins. I bid on a signed guitar from him and we got it. It now has a new home in Maggie's room. I told her that if I find that on the floor in a messy room, it will become mine. We'll see how long the room stays clean. I'm guessing a few days.

Patrick's team took second in the baseball tournament. He did very well again.

I am so tired, so I am off to bed to read more of my new Harry Potter book and get a good night of sleep. Happy knitting!!

Okay, I was going to post pictures, but the kids used my camera and the battery needs charging! Ugh!

I am working on my June pattern from the Rockin' Sock Club.
Instead of using the yarn that came with it, I am using Crystal Palace Panda Cotton in the Caribean Blue color way. I love the yarn that came with my pattern, but the pattern is a bit busy and I wanted the work to show up. I will probably use the STR yarn for just a basic stockingnet stitch sock.

I am thinking of signing up for the Master's Knitter program. Anyone out there done it? Do you recommend doing it? Cindi at YDK has done it so I know she will be a help if I decide to go for it.

I won't be posting for a few days because Country Jam starts tomorrow. I will be going with Tom tomorrow and then Maggie and I will go on Friday and Saturday. Bon Jovi will be the headliners on Saturday night!! I can't wait. It is weird that my daughter loves this band as much as I do. I'll have lots of pictures on Monday.

Have a great weekend all and Happy Knitting!!

Okay, I just checked Shelly's blog and she is having a contest. Go on over and read the details and you may win some yarn and a book.

You have got to hear this. It made me cry!! Did you check it out? How amazing was that little girl?

My wrists, elbows, and shoulders are so sore from too much knitting. I forgot to take pictures of the baby pants I made to go with the sweater!! The shower was fun and the gift was appreciated. I hope to get some pictures of the new baby wearing the outfit. He is due on August 9. His name will be Brecken. Isn't that a neat name? Okay, I'm off to bed. Happy knitting!!

We went to see this at 12:01 a.m. on July 11. It was a good movie. We got home at 2:45a.m. I really liked the books better, but the movies are fun too.

I finished the baby sweater and I'll post a picture soon. Off to bed, I seem to be turning into a night owl. I'll have a rude awakening when school starts in Sept.!!! Happy knitting.

Oops, I forgot the picture!!

Monkey socks are finished!! Yipee!!!~ Yes, they are only ankle socks, but I was tired of working on them. I guess I just didn't feel the love that a lot of the knitters in the blogosphere did. I bound off too tight though, so I need to redo that. I am working on a baby sweater, so hopefully I can post a picture of that by Sunday. My great nephew is coming to stay with us tomorrow, so I'm not sure how much knitting I'll get done. He will be four at the end of this month, and we can't make it to his party because we have a wedding. I bought an ice cream cake from Culver's so we will have that tomorrow along with giving him his gift. He is so cute and funny!! I helped my niece when she was in labor and saw him being born. What an experience. I can't believe that was four years ago already. Have a good weekend and Happy knitting!!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY AMERICA!!!

I have no new knitting news to share. Maggie is finished with softball. Her game last night ended because of lightning and rain. They were playing a very good team, and were only behind by two runs. It was sad to end the season this way. We have two nights off from watching baseball and then Patrick has a tournament this weekend. One game Friday night, two on Saturday, and one on Sunday. I hope to get some knitting done while I watch the games.

Maggie had some friends over yesterday for swimming, so now today Grant wants to have some friends over to swim. I guess that is only fair, but I have so much housework to do. It is hard to get the inside work done when I am outside supervising the pool. I know, it sounds like I am complaining about sitting around the pool, I am fortunate that we have one in our backyard. It is just difficult to get all my other jobs done during the day when we are out in the pool. Maybe I need to chill a bit and get over it. It will get done sometime.

Well, thanks for reading. It wasn't a very exciting post today. Happy knitting!!

Thursday Maggie and I took a kool-aid dyeing class at The Yellow Dog.
This is Maggie with her yarn.
This is my best friend Chris. She took the class with her grandchildren, Andrew and Robert. She also brought her daughter, Kaitlinn. We had so much fun. We also made our own knitting needles. Cindi was very patient with all of us.
I think I will try and dye some yarn with Patrick. He would enjoy this. He was suppose to take the class with us, but his big brother gave him a hard time about it, so he didn't come with.
We had a baby shower at my sister's house yesterday and Maggie and I ended up staying overnight. I didn't sleep very well, so I am off to bed. Happy knitting!!

FINISHED SOCK AND REALITY CHECK

This is the first sock made from the yarn I got from Shelly.
Isn't it cool yarn? It was fun the see the stripes come alive. I bought some sock blockers from The Loopy Ewe .
I don't like how my legs and feet look in pictures, so I thought this would be a nice way to show my socks that I complete. I may have made the sock a bit too long, but it's okay with me. I'm just glad I finally have a completed object to share with you. Now to explain the reality check part of the title.

I heard from the technical school about starting the sonographers program. Guess how long the wait is to get into the program....Fall of 2010!! That is if you have the classes needed just to get on the waiting list. I probably would need a few classes first, so we are looking at getting into the program in 2011. Then two years for the program. Now, I am not a spring chick, and this is the first time I have really thought about being a middle aged woman. By the time I finished with all the schooling, I would be 49 years old. Not very likely to get a job, huh?! Even though my body feels middle aged sometimes, I guess I never really gave my age much thought. When I get together with my friends, I still feel like a kid. I graduated from college 20 years ago and will be going to my 25th high school reunion in August. After I got the phone call, I was pretty bummed. My kids will be in college in 2011 and 2012. Patrick will graduate in 2015. We didn't budget for me to go back to school, so I guess I won't be.

I am okay with not going to school, what I am not okay with is the reality of being a middle aged woman. I need to process this. How could I not have thought about my age before now? It's weird, but I never really did. Birthdays have come and gone and I just keep on going. Being out of the job market for 14 years never really came to mind until now. I guess the best thing I can do now is try to enjoy my choice of being a stay at home mom, with teenagers!! It is just another chapter in my parenting book. I'll have to let some of the crap that my son says to me just roll off my back and try to not let it hurt my feelings. I've decided that I can just take a time out for myself when he gets to me. I'll remove myself from the stress(if possible) and hopefully that will make the tense moments a bit easier to deal with.

Well, my hands are sore from the marathon knitting I did today to finish the sock. I'm going to take some A*v*l, and go to bed. Tomorrow Maggie, Patrick, and I are taking a class at
The Yellow Dog.
By friend Chris and her daughter and two grandsons are taking the class too. We will be making our own knitting needles and dyeing yarn with Kool-Aid. It will be fun!! Happy knitting!!

New Look

Do you like it? My neighbor, Patrick, helped me with this. He is wonderful with computers and didn't mind helping this old lady with her blog. We had fun trying to figure out how to make these changes and I can tell you that I learned quite a bit. We may do some tweaking in the future, but for now, this is what y'all get.

No new knitting news, but I will post some pictures later of the socks I am working on with the yarn I bought from Shelly.
She has ventured into the world of yarn dyeing. Check out her stuff, it is really nice yarn. It is soft and fun to work with. I am making just basic toe-up socks. She sent me a pattern of hers in with my purchase. She wound the yarn into skeins too. What service!! Go buy some yarn from her.

I need to get to bed. Happy knitting!

I've made a decision to try and go back to school. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education, but I don't want to go back to teach. I tossed around the idea of Cosmetology, but after talking with my hubby and a neighbor, I have decided to look into being an Ultrasound Tech. I am going to go to our local technical college to see about enrolling. What has prompted this idea?
Well, it is hard being a stay at home mom sometimes. I don't like having to ask my husband all the time about purchasing stuff. I want a Hybrid car and hubby isn't too sure about that. If I have my own income then I could make the payments and not worry about it. Yes, we both agreed when we had our kids I would stay home, but I feel like a little kid asking my parent for money. I've heard many people say, "well it is your money" together, but really come on, he has the paying job and I don't. Yes, I work hard, but don't bring in one cent to this household. My kids are older now, and why not go to school while they are in school? My oldest child said a really nasty thing to me yesterday, and I have had it. This is what he said when I kicked him out of the pool for not following the rules, "Kiss my A...."! I was shocked! I have never, nor would I ever talk to my mom that way.

I'll just have to see if I can get into the program. Happy knitting!!

SUMMER VACATION

This was the first weekday of summer vacation. We all slept in and it was wonderful. The kids spent some time in the pool and I read. I didn't look at the calendar, and oops! Maggie had a game tonight. We arrived 10 minutes late, but at least we made it. They won and that was nice.

Gracie seems to being doing okay. She is walking normal and is eating and drinking enough. I have gotten creative when it comes to giving her the required medication. She seems to like vanilla yogurt the best. I am just going to keep hoping she will beat the odds and be with us for several months. We go back to the U of M on Wednesday afternoon.

I did work on my Monkey socks yesterday and I am almost finished. Work continues on my blanket too. Well, it is late and I need to get up early tomorrow to drive to Somerset for Maggie to get a manicure, pedicure, and hair cut. (all part of her birthday present) Miss Maggie turned 13 yesterday!! I have two teenagers now. What fun!???? Happy knitting!

Update on Gracie....she has congestive heart failure. We probably only have two months with her. We are giving her medication to try and get the fluid out of her lungs, so next week we'll see if it is working. For now I guess it is a waiting game. I am so sad, I just cannot believe we will be losing another pet so soon. We gave her a good life and I am glad we rescued her from the shelter. She is a sweet girl and everyone at the U of M just loved her. If you want, keep sending Gracie good vibes, she could use them. Thanks.

Secret Pal=Wonderful This was in my mailbox yesterday. Sock yarn, Knit Pick needles I was wanting to try, raffle tickets for a quilt in Alaska!!, salad mixers in the shape of claws also from Alaska, yummy candy, and a mug. Thanks Secret Pal. It was just what I needed because........

Gracie
Yesterday when I woke up I noticed that Gracie wasn't walking quite right. She looked awful. I called the vet and was able to get her in within a half hour. They took x-rays and blood work. The vet then sent us to St. Paul to the University of Minnesota Vet Hospital. Maggie and I made the trip over there in about 1 1/2 hours. They took Gracie from us to evaluate her. We didn't see the doctor for about another 1 1/2 hours. Gracie has a clot in her femoral artery which usually causes paralaysis immediately. They can't get a pulse or blood pressure reading in her back legs. They will be doing an EKG tomorrow because they think she has a heart condition as well. It was quite a traumatic day for me. I couldn't get Tom on his cell phone for about 6 hours, finally he called us back while we were waiting for the vet to come talk to us. I know I did the right thing by going over to the Uof M, but the cost is extremely high. Tom and I usually discuss things like this, but I had to make a decision and go with it.

There is a 40% chance she will recover, but of that 40% , 25% will get another clot. I guess we need to wait and see what the results of the EKG are. If you want, send some good vibes for Gracie. When the vet called this morning, he said she was a very affectionate cat. We agree!! I hope she comes out of this okay. We don't know a lot about her because we got her at the Humane Association 2 1/2 years ago. We think she is somewhere between 4-7 years old.

My weekend of doing whatever I wanted didn't turn out the way I was expecting. I did get a little knitting in on Friday night. I watched three movies!! I know, that is a lot, but they were movies I know Tom wouldn't want to see. Go check out the blog at the Yellow Dog.

I have such wonderful friends.

Here are pictures of my sock yarn scrap blanket. I am having a lot of fun making this.
If you want directions on how to make this blanket, check out Shelly's blog. Her blanket is just beautiful. She was kind enough to send me some left over yarn from her blanket. If anyone else has some scraps, please email me at jaciquigleyATcharterDOTnet and I will send you my snail mail address. I figured out it take approximately 8 yards to do a square.

I am working on socks and my sweater. I need to get most of it done by June 19. Wish me luck!! We want to take pictures of all of the class participants to send to Sally Melville. More baseball and softball games this week. Tom and the boys are off to Milwaukee on Friday for two more Brewer games. I am staying home with Maggie because she has a pool/slumber party for a friend that she doesn't want to miss. I was looking forward to going to Milwaukee to shop cuz my birthday is Sunday, but I understand that when you are 13, going to a pool party and slumber party is much more important than your mom's 43rd birthday. Maggie and I have a bridal shower to attend on Sunday as well. I will have the whole house to myself on Friday night. I can't remember the last time I had this whole house to myself for more than a few hours. What should I do? I will get to watch whatever I want on t.v. and knit into the wee hours of the night!!

Well, it is off to bed for me. Happy knitting!!

Tom and Maggie in Times Square, NYC, April 27.
New York City, April 27. Picture taken while waiting for the subway. Gil Rogers
from Guiding Light. He was so nice. He didn't mind having a picture taken with us at all.

I bought myself this wonderful ring last fall, but just got around to putting it up on the blog. I purchased it through Dixie, at The Yellow Dog.

I just love this ring, I never take it off. If you want one, contact Dixie, and she can order one for you. I believe the designer lives in California. We are having a surprise 80th birthday party for Tom's mom tonight and his brother and sister-in-law and son are staying with us tonight. I need to finish folding clothes and wiping down the kitchen cabinets. I love my husband because he is so helpful with the cleaning. He vacuumed the whole house and swept the hardwood floors. I did the bathrooms and kitchen. It goes so much faster when you have help. Mr. Patrick even pitched in this morning to help us. He is such a good boy.

Have a great weekend. I hope to post a picture of my scrap blankie by Monday. I am having fun with it. Go to Shelly's blog to see pictures of her blankie and the inspiration for mine.

(Maybe you have noticed that I have links on my posts now. I just figured out how to do them!! It really wasn't that hard, I just didn't understand the written instructions I had gotten!)

Happy knitting!!

FINALLY!!

I got a picture onto my blog!! This is the wonderful gift I got from my Secret Pal 10 in April!! Sorry it took me so long to post a picture!! I love everything so much!! Thanks Secret Pal!!

We are off to the chiropractor and flute lessons, so maybe tonight I can post some more pictures I have been waiting to share with all of you!! Happy knitting!!

FO, HONEST!!

On the way to Milwaukee I knit Maggie a Calorimetry from Knitty. Can you believe I actually have a finished project?! I know that I am probably the only knit blogger who has just completed my first one, but I was waiting for the perfect yarn. Scout, hand-dyed some to match Maggie's ski jacket. It is perfect for her!! Of course I am still trying to get my picture to load onto photobucket so I can transfer them to this blog, but no luck. I am such a computer imcompetent. We had a nice time, even though the Brewer's lost both games!! They are currently winning, which is nice, but we are home!!!

I am going to work on my Monkey socks and hope to get them "off my back" this week! Then onto the socks from The Loopy Ewe sock club. Happy knitting!!

Again I have no knitting news, except I did wind three skeins of yarn into center pull balls today. That's it, I got nothin' else. How pathetic is this? Where do the days go?

I have decided that I am going to stop working on my sweater for now and concentrate on sock knitting. I have joined the Rockin' Sock Club from BMFA and also the sock club from The Loopy Ewe. I just can't get into my sweater now. I have a good reason, but it is pretty catty and I need to work it through. I know I shouldn't compare myself to other knitters, but this one in particular just takes the fun out of knitting this sweater. I will finish it someday, and I know I will love it.

We are going to Milwaukee again for two more Brewer games. I hope they win. We are staying at a hotel with an indoor water park so the kids are very excited. That is what we will be doing all day Saturday before the game and on Sunday morning. I hope to figure out my new camera and what I am doing wrong. I just can't get the pictures onto this blog!!

Have a good weekend and happy knitting.

No New Knitting...in other words, a bad blogger.

I haven't done much knitting lately. Where does the time go? Miss Maggie tore a ligament in her "good ankle" in phy.ed yesterday!!! Some other student tripped her and tackled her while they were playing "touch" football!!! This same student hurt two other kids before Maggie and was still allowed to continue to play!! I am pretty angry about the whole thing. She will be out of phy.ed as well as softball for another two weeks at least. She is now using crutches to walk. The left ankle that she sprained 10 days ago is better but getting sore using it to support her walking now. I think she needs to take a year off from sports to let herself continue to grow and not get hurt. The dr. thinks she is growing so fast that her muscles and tendons, etc. can't keep up with the bone growth and this makes her more likely to get hurt.

My Patrick turns 10 tomorrow!! I can't believe how fast these past 10 years have gone. All my babies are in double digits now!! Hard to take sometimes. I hope you all have a great Mother's Day (if you are moms). Happy knitting!!

PLAY BALL!!!

We are busy with softball and baseball games. I'm not sure how much posting I'll be doing, but I will try to post at least once a week. I love going to the kids games!! Miss Maggie sprained her ankle last night at practice, so she will be watching her team play for a week. She is so accident prone!! We have a very good relationship with our chiropractors and her orthopedic surgeon!! Every spring for the past 5 years she has had an injury!! Knees, shoulder, wrist, and now ankle!!

I am plugging away at my sweater back and some socks. I am loving the mitered squares for the blankie too!! I hope to post some pictures this weekend. For now, Happy knitting!!

NEW YORK CITY

We had such a good time in NYC! Boy the time just flew by. The seats we were able to get for both the shows were great. We were in the 5th row from the stage for The Lion King and the 4th row from the stage for Wicked. Our friend's son had a walk on role in Wicked and we all just had tears in our eyes while he was up on stage. He is 16 and I know this won't be the last time he is on a Broadway stage!! We all got to go back stage after the show. It was great.

Maggie just loved the city. I may lose her to a big city some day. She really had fun. We did a ton of walking!! We did some shopping as well as sight seeing. We went to ground zero on Saturday morning. We rode the subway on Friday night. While we were waiting for our train, I noticed a man that looked familiar. It was Gil Rogers from Guiding Light and All My Children!! After Tom and Maggie talked me into it, I went over to him and asked if he was on Guiding Light. He said yes, and I was so excited. I told him I have watched that show since I was 5 years old!! He was so nice and we even got pictures taken with him. I'll try and get it posted soon. I am still trying to figure out how to get the picture from my new camera onto the computer. Somehow I get them loaded on but when I try to upload them to photobucket, it doesn't work. My hubby and I went to Tiffany's!! He bought me a bracelet. I am so lucky!!

I wasn't able to check out any of the yarn shops I wanted to. Just too many things to fit into the short trip. We were with 7 other people, and it gets a bit hard to do everything that all of us wanted to do. We may go back next year and take all the kids. The boys were pretty mad that they didn't get to go, (even though they didn't want to when we made the reservations back in December!)

I need to get dinner started. Hopefully I'll have some fun pictures to post tomorrow. Happy Knitting!!

NEW YORK CITY!!!!

Tom, Maggie, and I are off to NYC tomorrow morning!! I can't believe how fast April has gone! The boys are staying home and my niece is staying with them. We will be seeing The Lion King and Wicked! So exciting. I'm taking some socks along to knit and hope to check out some yarn stores if I am lucky. With the hubby along, who knows!!

Have a good weekend and Happy Knitting!!

OFF FOR THE WEEKEND

We are going to Milwaukee for the weekend to take in two Brewer's games. The kids are very excited. I think we'll try and get to the Milwaukee Zoo tomorrow too. The weather is suppose to be beautiful!! Finally!

I am still plugging away at my sweater back, and hopefully will be finished in time for class on Tuesday. I have started a mitered square blanket too, and is that ever fun!! I made a Crayon Box Jacket a few years ago, and I get a ton of compliments when I wear it. These mitered squares are addicting.

If anyone out there in blogland has any sock yarn bits and pieces that they would like to donate to my blanket project, you can email me at jaciquigleyATcharterDOTnet and I will give you my snail mail address. I would appreciate it very much. Check out Shelly's blog to see the inspiration for this project. The link is at the right of my post. I am still trying to figure out how to make links in my posts, again, I am a bit of a computer incompetent. I think I have come a long way since I started blogging six months ago!!

Well, I'm off to finish up some laundry and get packed. Oh yeah, I forgot one other thing! Send good thoughts for my oldest son. He has been struggling with some issues and he isn't gaining weight but losing!! He has lost 12 pounds! At 5'8" he only weighs 95 lbs. We are taking him off one of his medications to see if that helps, seeing another doctor today before we leave, and just trying to get him to eat high calorie foods. Keep us in your thoughts, I would greatly appreciate it.

Have a good weekend and Happy knitting!!

This is the sweater I have been working on. I need to finish the back by April 24 which is when the next class meets. I like how it is turning out. I am also working on my Monkey socks. I'm glad that I started over. I am enjoying working on two socks at once. Scout's yarn is great for the Monkey pattern! Maybe I will be able to post a picture sometime this weekend.

Patrick has baseball practice tonight and Maggie has softball practice on Sunday, so I can get some knitting in while they are on the fields with their teams. The sun is shining and we got above 50 today!!! I hope we don't get anymore snow this spring!! I am so ready to open up the house and get the warm fresh air in here!! Happy knitting!