sherriknits

Ok, I know I have already been here today, but I just finished watching the Mariners game (woo hoo…go Mariners!!!)…yep, we’re undefeated.  Haha I have to say that because you never know what these guys are gonna do, but I’m not a fair weather fan. 

I was thinking about Mary this afternoon because I knew she got to go to the Yankees game today….but boo hoo, they got rained out.  I was sad for Mary.

We didn’t get rained out, but we did get snow, rain, hail and then sunshine.  Crazy.  They closed the roof, though, so only the people in the bleacher section got snowed, rained, hailed on.

A few years ago, the little imp was asked to throw the first pitch at the Tacoma Rainier game.  They are the farm team for the Mariners.  It happened to be J.J. Putz day and when I saw him closing the game today, I thought about that day and wanted to share an imp story. J.J. was called up to the Mariners a few days after our big game.

The little imp got therapy at no charge in our home from the Elks Club for 11 1/2 years.  We loved our therapist, she was like one of the family (well, still is).  She asked us if we thought he would like to do it.  He actually has a pretty good throwing arm and we had a friend of ours “coach” him.  He called her Coach for a long time afterwards.  So, therapy days were all about baseball and so was almost every day for maybe 2 months. 

On the big day, some friends of ours offered to drive their RV and a bunch of us piled in it to go to Big Game.  We also had family come from all over…we had 32 people in the stands to root for him. 

Unfortunately, all of my very poor quality digital pictures are on floppy disks and I don’t even have a computer with a floppy drive here at home so I can’t get them off, but I did take a picture of the little one I have hanging on my wall.

A few days before the game, Coach and I drove up to Cheney Stadium to see about getting him a jersey to wear for the game.  The lady who ran the gift shop told us that they were trying to get kids jerseys made but were having trouble with them.  We decided to buy him a t-shirt on game day if they didn’t get the jerseys done.  She said he’d get a free cap and some other fun things the day of the game too.  Turned out they had all kinds of trouble with the jerseys and they *gave* him the prototype jersey for free!

You wouldn’t believe all the rules we were given before walking out onto the field.  The big one: DON’T STEP ON THE GRASS!  The grandpa of the other little girl from the Elks Therapy program did and wow, did he get told!

When they called us all out there, (and yes, we did walk on the grass to get out to homeplate…go figure), they explained about the program.  When they introduced the little imp….it sounded just like they do when the major league players.  His name rang through the stadium and our friends were cheering…and that little baseball star stepped forward with both hands raised in fists and turned this way and that.  His big moment!  It was the sweetest thing ever.

Then he threw that ball and yes, it actually made it to homeplate! (well, it rolled the last little bit of the way) All that practicing paid off in a big way. 

Of course, he actually thought he was pitching for the whole game and his therapist had to snare him up and run off the field with him. 

When we got back to our seats, I can’t tell you the tears flowing up there because everyone was so proud of him.   What a day and what an experience.

So, if you are a baseball fan and you see J.J. Putz closing for the Mariners , you think of our little imp.

Technorati Tags: Event, Imp

I am working hard at keeping focused and not getting overwhelmed.  There is so much going on and time feels like it is flying.  Today we are going to do a major craft project for the wedding and somehow I have to fit 2 weeks worth of bookkeeping in for my real job.

The last weekend was nuts and it didn’t help that we didn’t get our date.  It was for a good reason, but when life feels crushing we both feel we desperately need that down time away from everything else.

Friday night was a party for the happy couple held at his apartment (soon to be hers, too)

Then yesterday we had a big family reunion.  It started out to be rather simple…we have a cousin visiting from Minnesota and he wanted to meet up with those of us who live here.  From there it started growing and we actually had people fly in from California, too.  I didn’t get a count and I didn’t get too many pictures, never even thought to take pictures in the garage where all the food was and lots of people congregating there, too.  We have had snow this week and even though it didn’t stick it’s been cold and we were really concerned how my sister’s house was going to hold all of us.

The little imp cannot handle a lot of people crowded into a house so he spent as much time as he could outside between rain showers. 

And now I had better get busy.

Technorati Tags: Event

Jesus you are
My portion and   my   all
In this life and in the life still to come
I have hope in You alone
You’re my shelter from the   storm
Your faithfulness is like the air I breathe 

All that I live for and all I desire is in You
Though all of my treasures will fade You will always remain.  You never change 

When the mountains are shaken and fall to the sea
And morning refuses to rise in the East
Still my soul will praise, You will remain
Though the oceans may no longer carry their waves
Heaven and earth, they will both pass away,
Still my soul will praise, You will remain 

In Your mercy show us love
The faithful kindnesses of    God
Creator of all things, You give us life
To generations You are strong
We are blessed to call You our God 

From the corners of the earth Your praises rise 

Your faithfulness  is my shield,  in Your mercy  I am healed 

Words and music by Evan Earwicker



 

The little imp and I were headed to the car to go to the bride’s new home-to-be when we saw the box on the porch.  The new tuxedo!  We put the jacket on him and he wore it over there to show sis.  While modeling, he told us he looks like the President….and made sure we knew he meant “of the United States”!

A little later, they came to see me at the shop because they wanted my sister to take a look at it so she could decide if she wanted to do the altering.  He popped in to show me the full deal.

Note the pose! He goes into another mode when he’s got a role to play.  He did comment that he needed to get to the White House!

We woke up this morning to a dusting of snow.  I know most of the country has been buried in snow all winter, but it’s rare here.

And so weird the end of March.  We are supposed to get accumulation tonight.

Right after I took this picture I saw the sun pop out for a minute with the ominous dark clouds headed our way.

Isn’t that a beautiful view out my front window?

I’ve actually been knitting.  I have misplaced the sock I was working on last week, (it’s not lost, I just don’t know where I put it down) so I started another.

I just love these colors.

My blogiversary date is April 6 and I’ll be having a contest, stay tuned for details.

Technorati Tags: Blogiversary, Imp, Knitting, Snow

I did not take any pictures Easter day, I was just way too lazy but that’s ok, sometimes you miss out on what’s going on when you’re too busy taking pictures.  We did have good food and good family fun.

We did color eggs Saturday night.  I am touched all the time by #1 son.  He is the traditionalist in our family.  If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have “birthday breakfast” or half the other things we do.  He is the one who notices that we do something  and it becomes “What We Do”.  He asked me every day this week when we’d color eggs.  I, personally, just couldn’t get it together enough to tell him when.  Well, Saturday evening, he came in with his girlfriend and was *ready*!  He’s fun and I appreciate that side of him.  The girls always love that he’s like that because they aren’t.  So here’s Mr. Dunder Mifflin and a little imp. 

We didn’t do anything exciting and the dye this year wasn’t very cooperative, but it was fun hanging out at the table.  One little imp got tricked into dying a white egg, he never got it that there was no dye in the water.  lol  

Church Sunday was great.  We all came home with miniature Etch-a-sketches because we had a play about “God’s Eraser” and how He washes our sins completely away.  They work, too!

And of course, hubby did a great job on the worship team!  He taught us all a great new song and there was a very sweet spirit in the room.  Only one troubling event.  Partway through the service, an usher came to tell us they had spotted a little imp wandering in the hall.  Our church building is big and it’s been a problem in the past when he played escapee.  He hasn’t done it for a long time and I’ve been trying to let him become more independent.  Turns out, some of the kids wanted to come see the play and he got up to leave with them.  When questioned as to whether he was sure that’s what he wanted to do, he said yes.  By then, I’m sure the other kids were gone and he really didn’t know what he was doing so he was just walking around, probably without a care in the world.  We have a great usher team, though, and they’re on to him.  The thing that alarmed us, though, was that the other kids had crossed the parking lot by then to go for some Easter games and we thought he’d taken a wrong turn and how in the world does someone not notice that?  Won’t happen again, the director felt worse than we did.  He also learned that the imp will answer yes to anything you ask him so you can’t ask yes or no questions. 

Yesterday was a day and a half.  I was on the phone all morning between insurance and the doctor’s office regarding the orthotics.  Insurance won’t pay for it, but we have to jump through all of their hoops so they can deny us.  If we don’t, then it never gets to the medical coupon that picks up whatever our insurance doesn’t.  Our state has a Department of Developmental Disabilities that I never thought I’d ever have to use.  That didn’t last for long, these kids have all kinds of things go on that insurance doesn’t see as necessary to cover.

Then we raced off to therapy, got a call on the way that we would meet up with the other therapist to get the orthotics and we’d have to make an appointment with a store to get special shoes for them to fit in.  Right now this is feeling a bit much to me.  (not to mention expensive!)

We did all kinds of wedding errands that didn’t really feel productive.  We ended up our time by meeting the other therapist who fit the padding into the orthotics in the parking lot of a Starbucks!  I was really mad that I forgot my camera…quite a sight and it was so cold and the poor fellow had bare feet.  Nutty.

The lines are where I am supposed to cut off the excess.

By the way, you are looking at orthotics that cost: $622, fitting: $297, insurance coverage: 0,  having a medical coupon as backup: priceless. 

On the way home, we left sun and dry and hit pouring, pouring snow/rain, saw a car off the road with slush on the road all of a sudden for about a mile, then rain rain rain…..to dry and clear.  It was weird. We woke up to a dusting of snow yesterday morning, too. 

Today I am asking myself why I blog.  When I first started, it was going to be a record of my knitting.  That was boring really fast.  It took me awhile to decide to bring my kiddos into it, but they are so much a part of my life.  Hubby and I are so blessed, 33 years and 4 beautiful children.  But today I was thinking about the journey this has been and I realized, I do it for me.  It’s been helpful to go back and look at how I was thinking before wedding #1 and here I am again, less than a year later planning wedding #2.  As most bloggers will probably tell you, they know all the under the surface stories and feelings that don’t get mentioned in print.  I think it’s been a help to me and as I’ve said before, brought many great new people into my life.  I’m all about relationship and caring about people.

I’m still planning to do some kind of blogiversary celebration but not sure what yet so stay tuned!

Technorati Tags: Blogiversary, Imp, Memories, Wedding

Ok, got the camera battery charged and I have to show you my new favorite sheep!

Can you tell?  It’s cauliflower with a mushroom face?  I LOVE it!  He joins a growing flock of sheep, but he’s the most unique!  Thanks, Pam and Sarah!

Today I got another Etsy purchase.  Look how cute the packaging is.

This is sitting on the envelope it came in…shiny purple!

This cute little box was made out of paper!

And … ta da!!

This is actually a cell phone charm, but I’m not thinking it would las all that long banging around in my purse so he may just hang out here and there.  Cute, eh?

No knitting today other than a few rows on the BSJ.  I’m trying to figure out how in the world this thing goes together as I figure out the striping.

And then I rushed to the shower.

It was very sweet…each person introduced themselves and told how they are related.  This shower was for the groom’s family.  It was touching to hear the words of welcome to the family.  Wonderful family.

Isn’t this table just beautiful?

And look how the mommy-to-be is looking these days!

And now, I am just trying to get the energy to get ready for Easter!

I do hope you all have a wonderful Resurrection Day full of fun, good food and fellowship with family and friends!

Technorati Tags: Event

My camera battery died today.  I had something really cute to show, too….so I’ll leave you in suspense on that one.

Tomorrow is shower #2 for the bride.  It’s all starting to heat up.  We got the new tux ordered today for the little imp, I left work early today to get some other wedding-related things done (and got some fun new shoes!).  From this point on, I think that’s the way it will be…wedding, wedding, wedding. 

I’ll try to pop back in tomorrow to show you my new fun little gift! 

Technorati Tags: Wedding

The invites are out and the the acceptances have started rolling in…I remember on wedding #1 how scary it felt when the invitations were on their way.  No stopping it now! (like we really could have before!)

The imp got his invitation yesterday and he went straight to the computer and rsvp’d!  It is so funny to me how many people cannot figure out how to do it and he did both this one and the one last year in minutes.  The groom was laughing just the other night at how he comes running in from the other room with his tablet and sits down at the computer to look up things on his list that interested him.  He makes notes to himself and then checks it out.  This is why the computer sits right in the middle of our living room so we know what he’s up to.

I got the most fun gift in the mail today!  I sent some yarn to a friend and with her check, she also sent me a “little” gift that she made (her words).  Well, how cute is this?

Pardon the poor pictures, it was horribly windy and rainy on the porch when I was trying to snap the pictures in the last of the daylight.  I just love it!  Like most knitters, I am obsessed with bags and I love these colors.  She does such beautiful work…knitting and sewing and probably everything else she does!  Thanks, Nancy!

And this has nothing to do with anything, but several of us were intrigued with the packages of Sprees that I had at the shop…

Ok, so it doesn’t take much to entertain us but most of the packages were just random colors.

On the knitting front, I’ve done about 7 rows on the Baby Surprise Jacket but I’m not doing it in the order the kits suggests so I’m thinking on it.  If you’ve never knit one of these, it’s pretty difficult to figure out exactly what you’re doing.  I purchased the dvd and have seen parts of it, it’s starting to make a little sense.  Someone on Ravelry explained how to twist it around so you can get an idea how it goes together.  EZ was a genius!

On the Baby Surprise Jacket group on Ravelry, most people say they will be knitting many of these because they are so much fun.  Any suggestions for striping?

Technorati Tags: Imp, Knitting, BSJ, Wedding

We really accomplished a LOT today.  We had planned to work in errands around the little imp’s therapy appointment but what we found out this morning is that the appointment is actually next week.  Good thing, we had time to get a lot done and since Dad was along, the imp was a little easier to handle in some of the stores.

The only knitting related content today is the fact that I took my Baby Surprise Jacket yarn along so I could get a good start on knitting that.  Yep.  I forgot it needed to be wound.  I decided to try something one of my friends showed me…using my thumb as a nostepinne.

The bride thought it looked like an accident waiting to happen, especially since my coffee was in the center of the yarn wrapped around my knees.  However, in spite of the fact that it took me the entire trip to wind the yarn, no disaster happened.

No knitting, a slightly misshapen ball of yarn, but if there is ever a minute tonight, maybe I can get it cast on.  This is really my post-wedding knitting project.

We picked up one of the bridesmaid’s dresses and went to the warehouse store and the party store to purchase some of the reception goodies .  It really feels good to have that much done.

There was no room to buy anything else!  That is coffee syrups there, kinda scary the way they packed it!

The highlight of the day was getting measured for the tuxedos.  We are going to purchase the little boys’ tuxes but we asked if we could get the little imp measured.  Gosh, nothing is easy with this kid.  We had the nicest young gentleman helping us. 

Ok, after a few minutes….this quiet, kind fellow starts to get tickled.

We did tell them that we were going to purchase the tuxes elsewhere (rather than pay twice as much to rent one!) but they gave us such great service anyway.  It took 10 min. for hubby to be measured and we were in there an hour…the little imp got the rest of the time.

People with Down Syndrome have different body proportions and the older they get, the harder it is to fit them. 

Say what?, he says! We see this one isn’t going to work because they can’t really button it up. 

This is a man’s medium shirt!  They had to go that big because of the neck.  Obviously, he thought it was cool!

This is how they remedy the sleeve being too long.

But what do you do with those pants?   Lol   He doesn’t care, it’s all fun to him!

Hmmmm, might be a problem.  We’re going to purchase a shirt, so we may end up having to just cut it off if it doesn’t all stuff into the pants!

Well, he’s proud of himself and the bride had an enjoyable time.

When we left the shop, I said something to the fellow who spent all the time with him  about this probably isn’t his typical person to measure and he very quietly, with the slightest of smiles,  said, “Well, this just made my day.  Everyone else comes in, complaining of the weather, but not him.”  I actually was very touched.  He really took in a lot about life with the imp and saw the blessing wrapped up in the things that can be frustrating if people don’t step back and look for the other side.

I smiled for the rest of the day.

Technorati Tags: Imp, Knitting, Wedding

When I closed my post the other night, I commented that I’d search for an old picture of the little imp…and not 5 minutes after I published the post, he walked in the room looking like this:

Who knows what he was doing that made him think he needed to do this.  Note the dirty face.  lol

Just to prove he does smile these days…

blurry and dark but a smile nonetheless.

What a lazy day.  I am so tired today that after church, I came home and put my jammies back on and I have not done one thing that required any amount of energy.  When I got to bed last night (a little too late), my iPod was stuck in disk mode so I had to get up and restore it to factory settings and then reload it.  let me tell you, it is definitely pushing my buttons these days.  I watched a few hours of the old Andy Griffith show this afternoon and then listened to a Star Trek podcast that some friends of ours did last year.  I am NOT a trekkie, just thought it would be fun to listen to someone I knew.  Impressive.  I didn’t know the wife was a closet trekkie, though…which is probably why I listened to it. 

Hubby did the sermon this morning on “Here I am to Worship” and did a great job.  The little imp and I stayed through 2nd service, too.  He liked seeing Dad speaking so I didn’t send him back to Kids Church.  We wrote notes to each other through part of it…but yes, I did pay attention.

We’re working on addressing the wedding invites to go into the mail tomorrow.  I wrote until my hand is cramped last night and the bride is working on the last page today.  I’ll finish off her list as soon as she can’t write any more.  Then we bag them up and give them to the groom to mail, that’s his contribution.

Tomorrow we have our last therapy until after the wedding.  Hubby is going along, much to the delight of the little imp.  He doesn’t go very often and the imp loves to show off for his hero.  Then we’ll go get fitted for the tux, pick up a bridesmaid’s dress, go to Party City, Cash n Carry, and where ever else we think of tonight. 

My one year blogiversary is coming up in a few weeks and I am considering having a contest.  I’ve actually blogged for 2 years now, but my domain is almost a year old and I’d like to do something for that.   However….I am in wedding time so am asking myself how wise that might be.  Stay tuned ~ on the chance I don’t go off the deep end between now and then, I will come up with something and let you know.  It’s hard to explain to those who aren’t inclined to blog how fun it is getting to know people and what they bring to your life. 

Hubby very kindly went to Starbucks and bought coffees for us this afternoon and I got an iced latte…coffee-flavored ice is the best!  The family is heavily glued to the tv watching Borne Ulitmatum…I hate these movies with a passion so I’m going to stick my iPod back in my ears and listen to some knitting podcast.  Or, oh yeah….invitations.  lol

later….

Technorati Tags: Imp, iPod, Blogiversary, Wedding