sherriknits

how’s that for a title?  I had to do my quarter-end taxes for my business today.  Where did I get the idea I could do that and the bookwork from my real job and be done by noon?  At 3:30, I took my tax form and payment to city hall and my eyes were literally crossing.  I had worked since early this morning.  I guess I won’t be putting it off quite that long again.

Therefore, no knitting today.  I just didn’t feel like tinking back my shawl … even though it only needs to go back less than a row.  I didn’t have any relaxing knitting to do at home so I didn’t do anything.

Tonight I corralled oldest son because I don’t have any pictures of him.  He’s more of a photographer than I am and I must have taken his picture about 8-10 times to get one that resembles him.  He could not stop laughing.  I have to hold the camera as high as I can to get any kind of decent angle on him … he’s over 6 feet and I am 5 feet tall.  He told me his eyes will be dialated all night now. 

So, until I can get a better one, here’s a peek at my boy. 

His girlfriend is a knitter!  (guess who taught her?) 

 Here’s a little glimpse of yesterday’s events.  What a blessed mom I am!

Here’s my two girls….my heart is just bursting!  Little sis is maid-of-honor.

And then the bride-to-be and her really good friend and matron-of-honor.  When she prayed before we ate brunch, she choked up because they live across the street from each other and after the wedding our kids will be moving an hour and a half away so there won’t be any more late night run across the street to visit kind of times.  When she was done praying, everyone in the room was choked up. She and our other daughter were the hostesses of the shower and it was held at this dear girl’s mom’s house. 

Here’s the three girls after the shower…and they are still smiling!

And last but certainly not least…..Liz commented on the number of cars he has but this is not even close to a fraction of them.  He will sit for a long time running them down the back of a box.  At least he counts and does creative things with them.  I don’t know what he’d do without his little cars and his videotapes that he builds with!!!  Melissa, please take note of the french fry box.  lol   No skins on my fries, please!

Some funny things about the shower.  The girls worked so hard on planning it.  They had so much food that they put together themselves.  They had a wonderful brunch and then they bought this beautiful bakery cake that they FORGOT to serve!!!!!  They also had a guessing game of guess how many peanut butter cups are in the jar that they totally forgot about.  When everyone was gone, they realized they had also forgotten to have everyone fill out their thank-you card envelopes.  We just had to collapse laughing over it.

Next weekend we have our family shower, will be much smaller and more intimate.  Then we have a family shower for the groom’s side of the family.  This shower yesterday was mostly our church family.  It was so wonderful to have so many people show up. 

I have started to become an emotional basket case.  As I was driving to the shower, I realized it’s really happening and I had a little cry and then was totally pulled together when I got there.  :s  

oh…ps   We got the invitations done after the shower and Daddy got some pictures printed and all is well on that front!

Here I sit at 11:12 pm and wonder if I ever had a minute to think all day!

Hubby woke me up at 6:30 when he left for Bible study.  Don’t laugh, but he always has to tell me the day of the week and where he is going because I am almost always no where near the surface of consciousness when he leaves.   I needed to be up and moving and ready to leave the house by 8.  About 15 minutes after he left, I flew out of bed and was downstairs before I even knew I was awake.  I hate those kinds of starts!  (he told me tonight he almost called to see if I’d gotten up)

Anyway, oldest daughter and I made a run through Starbucks and then picked up my sister and headed to the bridal shop for my appointment.  I tried on about 8 dresses and actually found a few that I liked but picked one finally.  It’s so weird to try on dresses in every size and use clips to make them work…then you pick the color and they order it to be made in China…and if you are like me, you get to pay extra to have it flown from there rather than take the slow boat overseas because if I did it the regular way, I’d have it a month after the wedding.  Since I am short, there is never that dress in stock.  I hope I’m happy with it when I get it because I am stuck with it and suffering from sticker shock right now.  The dress actually has some bling bling to it but is otherwise subtly nice.  I did have lots of fun with my sister and my daughter!

We had to get back to town for her to go talk to the baker about her cake.  She literally dumped me off at my shop to get there on time.  Meanwhile, I got picked right up to go to the little “surprise” birthday party.  My dear friend picked up all of my part (little cakes, strawberries, flowers, etc.) because of my change in plans at the last minute to go dress shopping.  The party was fun and the birthday girl was very appreciative!

The party took place behind her counter at her shop…but it is still always festive.

I got one call from my shop and my cell phone went dead while I was trying to help.  I then dropped in to work for awhile….  I had a customer come in as I was getting a phone call from my bride daughter who was horribly upset because Walmart would not print the engagement picture she had because it was on a disk from the photographer that they had paid big bucks extra to have the rights to the pictures.  They won’t print without a release.  I do understand copyright but how do you explain that to a sobbing girl who is needing them for the invitation-making party tomorrow after the first big shower?  She couldn’t get ahold of the photographer to get the release.  Not sure on what we’ll do on that one yet but she did bring us a digital photo on a disk because I told her we’d take care of it for her when we went on our date tonight.  Get this…the computer at the store would not read the disk.  Dad will deal with this tomorrow while we are at the shower.

As I said, I worked when I had time today. I had two friends stop in and it was fun to sit a minute and visit. When the shop closed, we went back out of town for our date and had #2 daughter and boyfriend double-dating with us.  We spent time at Walmart, Target (getting the utensils that we are to bring w/our shower gifts tomorrow) and Barnes and Noble for coffee and a little quiet time. 

You know what’s cool?  The cafe manager at B&N made a rule that no decaf was to be made after a certain time in the evenings.  The employees said that certain nights, there are customers who only like drip decaf but they were told to make Americanos instead.  I do not really like Americanos.  The baristas started trying to wait as long as they could before they made that last pot so yours truly would get a fresh one.  Then there was a big changeover in staff.  Over the past month or so, they started telling hubby….”you know the drill.  No drip decaf.  Do you want an Americano or drip?”  He’d say “Drip, please” and they’d make it!  Tonight when we walked in, I heard one of the ladies say “Put on the decaf!”  I cannot tell you what a blessing that is to me!  Hubby drinks regular and I drink decaf.  Last week, the one girl who wouldn’t ever make the drip very often was working and I said I thought I’d have an iced latte instead.  She looked at me so surprised and asked if I didn’t want drip?  I said sure! and she made it.  The little things in life that make us feel special should never go unnoticed or unappreciated! 

A few weeks ago, we got to take little boy on our date because we had no sitter that night.  The one lady there in the cafe was pretty intrigued at this little glance into our lives.  I wondered if she’d think about it.  The next time we were there, she asked if we brought our chaperone.  We said no, my mom was back on duty.  She was a little curious and we told her laughingly that’s why we love this quiet time reading and drinking coffee together.  She said, “No wonder you guys come so regularly!”  LOL   She thought he was adorable and he was so well-behaved sitting with his stack of books.  (lest you think it’s always that way….please look the other way if you see me trying to haul him out of the dvd section at Walmart!  Quite another child then.)

When we got home tonight, that dear little boy was ready for bed and we found the usual line of cars on the table.  This isn’t the best representation of that and the boy was tired but as usual, ready to pose for a picture.

He has talked all week how big brother and girlfriend are taking him to see Spiderman 3 Friday.  He counts down the days and yesterday was saying “tomorrow”.  I finally remembered to ask and found out it’s next week…so now we start the count down again.  I’m glad big brother is willing to include him on the big premier because it is totally expected by this little boy! 

Tomorrow starts another day of craziness.  I think I better get used to it for awhile because wedding plans are now in full swing!

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.  I am going dress shopping (again) in the morning.  When I get back to town, I need to get together with a friend and bring our little surprise tea party to another friend who owns a little gift shop.  We had originally planned to invade her shop at 11, but then I had an airhead moment and scheduled an appointment to look at dresses at the same shop the daughter got her wedding dress from.  I had so many things going on today, too, and Saturday is our first bridal shower.  I will work for a few hours at my own shop, then head off to my sister’s to put together the invitations.  Just point me where I need to go and I will go.

I will try to remember to take a little picture of the cake I got today.  I got it at a bakery and she told me they bake them in tuna fish cans.  I used to do that for my kids, I had the cutest tupperware cake carrier that held one tiny cake.   The cake is just enough for our little party because we’ll bring some strawberries and other things, too.  I might even pick up some flowers. 

Anyway, I got the linen face cloth finished just in time.  The pattern was simple but I had so much going on I felt a little stressed trying to find the time to do it.  I called my co-conspirator and told her I didn’t think I could get it done, then I managed to get a few hours to knit like crazy.  We always put together something between the two of us as a gift.  This was my little part and I’ll buy the food tomorrow.  We got her some Sensaria face wash and some fun cosmetic bags.  I think I said here before…what do you buy for the person who has the best gift shop in town?  At least she doesn’t knit and really appreciates it when someone makes her something!

Here’s a peek at the cloth.  Wish me luck tomorrow when I try to find something to wear to this wedding!

yarn:  Euroflax Linen   pattern:  Little Tents from the Dishcloth Boutique

Warning:  heavy photo content, not much knitting today.

This morning little sis and I went tanning.  Confession:  I am terrified of laying in a tanning bed, but I will stick my legs in a leg tanner.  My brother owns the tanning salon and try as I may, I just cannot get in one of those beds!  At least I can get some reading done while I’m tanning and I’m finally starting to see some color after about 6 visits! 

When we got home, hubby and I took off for big sis’s wedding site so we could get the driving directions written down for the invitations.  When we got home from that, silly little boy got to get his toenails cut.  He HATES it and years ago, his therapist taught us this little trick:

Now this is what was shocking!  That little stinker started trying to pay Dad to stop!  Where in the world did he learn that one????

Then it was time to head off for the hour drive to therapy.  We’ve made it a habit now to go to lunch together then  do some (wedding) shopping before therapy.  Here is a day in the life of one silly little kiddo and his “deester”(sister):

This one is for Melissa.  Take note:  pepperoni, cheese, sauce…that’s all!  And of course, ice water!

We did stop at Target and thankfully Dad didn’t accept the bribe to stop cutting those toenails because he had money to purchase the dvd he has driven us crazy for for weeks and weeks.  He was pretty happy during the rest of the time in the store.  I felt bad because he had $17 in $1 bills and when we got to the register, he wanted to count them out one by one for the cashier, but there was a line and he is very slow and meticulous so I had to tell him we knew there were 17 there and please tell the lady here is $17.  Next time, I will let him count it out for me before we get in line, then coach him to hand it to her and tell her what amount is there.  Learning experience.

After many stops and many frustrations for a boy who just wanted to watch his new dvd, we arrived at his therapy appointment.  This year is the first time in all of his life that we have had to go somewhere for OT services.  We had always had in-home visits, but the one advantage to this is that there are lots of things there he has never gotten to experience.  Can you see the fun he had today?

He had fun in the spandex swing and when she would spin it, every time he came around, he’d yell, “hi, Mom!”  We had to take a pic to show him how funny he looked in there!

Big sis is a good sport and she rises to the occasion every time she is called in to action.

Sometimes I get a little concerned she won’t come along when she has to do things like this:

And then getting out with the help of her brother:

I did get a chance to get some knitting done today.  Sis drove up and back so I knit on my shawl and made good progress.  It is turning out to be an easy knit and I got several rows done.  When I got home, I remembered the linen face cloth I was supposed to be working on so I knit and re-knit until I found a pattern that works.  There isn’t enough progress to show yet, but it should go quickly now.

I spent the evening working on that, visiting with a friend who stopped by…and worked on adding addresses to the wedding invitation list so we can get started on those.  Yikes!!!

I am a little frustrated right now, my internet connection lasts about 3 minutes at a time tonight and I have lost this post 3 times.  I guess it’s time for bed!!!!

What do you think?

How cute is that? Finally!!!!  A finished project.  

I didn’t make a lot of progress on the shawl yesterday but it is so pretty outside I just wanted to take it’s picture.  I finally switched to knitting from the chart and it’s a lot easier.  I don’t know why in the beginning, I have a hard time figuring out the chart, but then it comes to a point that the chart knitting is a lot easier.  The one thing I don’t get about this pattern is that it says to knit across the chart once, then jump back over to the beginning edge and knit across again after you pass the center.  That leaves one extra stitch near the center on the 2nd side.  I made the executive decision to knit across the chart and then knit it in reverse on the second side.  That’s why this is mid-row~I was a little stuck on trying to decide if it was a wise decision.  I think in the long run, it will be a lot easier.

Hey…did any of you ever know this fun tip when knitting patterns that you need to keep track of what row you are on?

That is highlighter tape and it is like a post-it note but you can cut it to the length you need and then just move it along the rows as you go (you can find it at a school supply store).  If you turn one end of the tape under, it gives you a place to grab when moving it.  I learned this tip from Cat Bordhi when I took a class from her.  No more post-it notes!

I moved the tape so I wouldn’t be taking a picture of the chart itself and now I get to go figure out where I was actually knitting on the chart.  lol.  Go figure.

It was a difficult day bookkeeping-wise and I have taken my break and now must get back to it, but I knit for awhile on my shawl and I am liking it. 

I’m glad I changed colors and went up a needle size. 

I got stood up tonight for our “mini-date”…hubby got a chance to go to a Mariner’s game so oldest sis and muscleman and I had dinner tonight from our favorite pizza parlor.    Before I get back to my bookkeeping, here is a picture of the little fellow who is now determined to grow big and tall.

He is enjoying seeing himself posted on here…and when I show the pictures to him, he very seriously says “that’s myself”.  I am not sure I’ve ever heard him say that before … usually it’s “that’s ME!”  lol 

I am still fiddling around with starting some kind of project, in spite of the fact I have way too many already in progress.  I have been considering shawl patterns and had started the plum one and will probably continue it at some time…but remember I really didn’t want points?  I also have had this other yarn and realized I must be liking it because I have recently gotten two tops in this exact color..and it is more summery.  I wanted a semi-easy knit because I need relaxing right now. 

It is fun dreaming…and I know the started projects I have in my bag right now are not abandoned as some of my others may be destined to be.  I am still enjoying them all, but I do want something to wear that shows.  Everything in my bag is an easy knit and it’s nice to jump from one to another depending on what is going on at the moment. 

I want to add my condolences to the many, many I have seen in blogland for those who lost their lives or were injured or traumatized in any way yesterday Virginia Tech.  It brings back memories of watching in horror as Columbine was happening before our eyes.  My daughter’s very good friend was emailing constantly through that day with prayer requests for a good friend of hers who was missing … and then we found out  she was one of those killed.  It brought it closer to home for us to have an inside look that way.   May those affected yesterday find peace and comfort. 

On a much lighter note, the kids and I were all at my husband’s place of employment last week and I got the chance to get some pictures. This is 3 of the 4 plus a boyfriend. 

In the other room, big sis was playing keyboard and singing

and the wonder boy joins her (and yes…he is often two or three places at once!)

 

and he joined in with the singing

while Dad and I watched with tears in our eyes because he really plays with feeling…sis was singing a beautiful worship song and he played softly and sang along.  He does quite well although he has trouble pounding the foot pedal at the same time he is doing everything else just because of his size.  A musician he truly is at heart. 

Not much knitting progress this weekend for silly reasons.  I was working on the socks…but when I was at work, my friend and helper said she found a size 0 needle near the couch and would just stick it in a basket until someone claimed it.  Didn’t give it a thought.  Forgot to stick my shawl pattern in my bag…and had left my wash cloth pattern at home. 

Hubby and I are in the habit of having a date night every Friday night (and often on Wed. night) but this past week was full of fundraising where he works so we didn’t really see much of each other all week.  We decided to have our date Saturday night and he planned to walk to the shop so we could leave directly from there.  Our oldest daughter is getting married this June and her fiance just took a position in a church an hour and a half away as youth pastor so we decided to take the drive to check out the area.  It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and I was looking forward to knitting time.  Five minutes into the drive, I discovered I had no needle on one side of my sock… and no patterns for the other two projects.  I can almost do the washcloth from memory but had gotten a little confused at where I was so didn’t feel like sorting that out.  My fingers were a bit twitchy during the drive, but I just tried to enjoy the time visitng with hubby instead.  We really liked the little town they are moving to and the drive is nice.

Now part way in to the trip I discovered that something had spilled on my seat and when I got out, I was just soaked!  This was somewhat embarrassing when we stopped for dinner and of course we were seated as far in and winded as much as you could wind through all of the busy tables!  Hubby said it wasn’t really noticeable but it sure felt like it was!  After dinner, we decided to do what we love to do…go to Barnes and Noble and read a bit and drink a cup of coffee.  We stopped on the way and I bought new jeans…and amazingly I found some that I liked!

Today was just an emotional day for me.  I am still sorting through the situation we went through the last 6 months.  Life is so much better, but I am realizing the healing process is not quite as simple as it would seem to be.  I did a lot of crying this afternoon and hubby is soooo encouraging.  This was a situation that was so hard on us that for one of the few times in our marriage we were not able to help each other because we were both just trying to survive our emotional pain.  Thankfully we are back to being able to help when the other is down.  It makes me think how very thankful I am for my family and for those who have been such a help.  Because of all the emotion today, I just couldn’t settle enough to knit so I read blogs instead.

One I read, and I have no idea where was about “why I blog”, evidently there are many who are asking themselves that question.  I am like a lot of them, I really did just start for keeping a personal record of my knitting projects (or lack thereof these days)…not to journal about my life per se.  I have been able to see the part knitting has played in my life through two pretty intense times in my life now and I think it’s pretty amazing.  I am not sure I would have seen it if I wasn’t blogging.  I used to be a journaler but whenever life gets really intense, I tend to quit writing..which makes no sense to me at all but I guess that’s how it is.  haha

I am not really as melancholy as I sound today, it’s just been a thought-filled day but I really am at peace.  I guess today was just looking back at the journey we have travelled and seeing that there has been tremendous progress and growth from where we were 6 months ago. 

I think I’ll turn the light on now and get out my knitting and see what I can do.  It has gotten dark without me even noticing.  Everyone is doing whatever they do to relax today and it’s actually been a pleasant day even with the emotion. 

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