sherriknits

The eye doctor is very pleased with what he is seeing, I have been to visit him 5 times since last Saturday. I am trying not to be discouraged because the damage is right in my line of sight and I still am very blurry. I’ve been home all week and did go to work a little while yesterday so I could get some tax things done. It’s just very wearing to not be able to see properly.

I got my fun swap package this last week. It was a fun surprise.

I don’t know if you can see the little sheep head sticking out one end.

And on the other end, there is his little tail.

Here are all my fun goodies.

It was fun that it came when life was feeling out of kilter!

I also got another fun package in the mail.

I ordered a pattern kit from England. Little Miss Mayah received one of these as a baby gift and I was so enamored with it that I wanted to make one, too.

I’m sorry I didn’t take more time with the picture but I could barely see that day. The kit comes with the yarn, pattern, buttons and label. I can’t wait to make it for some future gift.

Other than this, I haven’t done much. I am knitting the same socks and did a short-row heel and tore it out. I just end up with these big holes on one side. I know I can do this but maybe now is not the time to be trying to do something new on size 0’s.

The weather is rainy and we woke up to iced over cars. It’s kind of a good day to just get to be home. We had a nice visit this morning with Rebecca and Chase and earlier in the morning I did a video chat with Rhianna and Mayah, who has RSV. I am missing that girl. I drove for the first time yesterday and would go visit but I don’t want to bring Tyler into their house. I’m sure he’d be fine but he was hospitalized with RSV when he was a baby and I’ve always been pretty vigilant at keeping him away from sickness.

And that’s it, my friends.

Tags: my life

I have been silent for a reason. On Saturday, my curling iron flipped out of my hand and in catching it, I poked my eye and burned my cornea. I’ve been to the eye doctor 3 times since Saturday! Today he said he finally feels hope that it will heal without any more intervention but he is not totally sure. Saturday the blisters were too big to see what the real damage was. Yesterday he could see the site and today he said there is remarkable improvement. So scary.

Yesterday, though, I did have a highlight. The little family returned home and I was able to hold my little missy. She is a big girl from when she left 2 weeks ago. Look at her!

Excuse the weird spot on the back of her head, I “enhanced” the dark picture and this is what I got. I felt half blind when I took it that’s all I got. She still topples over, but she can sit for a few seconds at a time.

She remembered her grammy!

Here she was showing off for me…rolling this way and that and talking to me. It was such a highlight to my boring day.

And before all this, I was knitting…

That’s take 2. I didn’t like the first pattern I was using and I am almost back to where I had been.

The end.

Tags: my life

I know I’ve been slacking on blogging quite a bit lately. So much going on. i usually rely on my camera to remind me what I’ve been up to but that has been neglected too. What is this world coming to?

Last August our knitting group started an afghan. 17 of us finished knitting it in about 14 days. We met a few weeks later to lay it out to be put together. We worked on it for a few weeks assembling it. We were still enthusiastic when we worked on picking a border. We even got a good start on that border. But then interest kind of waned.

We really did work hard for quite awhile on it. Some of us knit on the border, some started sewing it on. Then it got folded and put in the basket. Sometimes I would get it out and look at it. Sometimes people would drop in and work on it. But progress was slow. Finally Pallas and Fran got ambitious and finished it off.

Isn’t the border pretty?

The colors don’t show true, the edge is dark green. I have no idea what that block color on the right is because we didn’t have anything that color.

Pallas took it home and finished the edge and steamed it and now it is ready to go to it’s home. I’m sure going to miss it!

Next up…I did another swap. This one was to make a magic yarn ball and hide little trinkets in the ball of yarn. The idea is that when the recipient knits, the fun things will fall out and surprise her. Well, I don’t think I know of anyone who waits! Here is what mine looked like before I mailed it off.

It was fun to do.

Yesterday, Rebecca and I got to go have our fun day in Olympia. The fog never lifted downtown so we were freezing all day. Tomorrow I will take a picture of the scarf I bought. It will be a fun memory from the day.

We ate lunch at the Bread Peddler.

The sandwiches were really good, we split them. We laughed over how hard the bread was to eat but it was really good. I think I’d really like to go there for breakfast some day. The atmosphere was interesting…we ate at little metal folding tables and every table was full and the turnover of people was constant.

We spent hours going in every shop we felt like going in. It was fun.

Downtown Oly is full of fun little surprises!

Tags: my life

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Tags: my life

I had decided that yesterday was going to be the back to normal day. It was so busy. We went to Tyler’s therapy appointment. Kenny and I had gone through the same area on Sunday and it was amazing the difference in the flood waters going down.

On Sunday, this was completely underwater. That is a walking trail there and you couldn’t see it at all. Next to the road is not supposed to be water but this is still pretty deep.

Once again we had our favorite lunch. The last time we went to Red Robin, the hostess asked if we wanted a child’s menu. Rebecca made the mistake of saying yes. Tyler was FURIOUS. He sai, “Becca, I am not a child, I am a big boy!” He carries grudges for awhile, don’t let anyone fool you that these kids are always so forgiving. lol He was already mad at her because many days before, she beat him at a Wii game.

What’s funny is, he orders off the child’s menu and if he didn’t, his favorite lunch of pizza would not even be available to him.

I love spending time with Rebecca and we are going to find a time very soon to spend a whole day walking around downtown Olympia. I am amazed at the fun shops there. We went in one yesterday and I had to bring home a new little friend.

Excuse my purse which was laying in my lap. He’s going to be my new travel companion.

Therapy was oh so fun. Tyler got mad because the therapist was pushing him a bit beyond his comfort zone (sorry to tell you this, Tyler,but this is the goal) lol

He did have fun, too.

I’m not so sure Rebecca did.

He always does better when things are modeled to him. Isn’t he funny watching her to make sure she does it right?

Tonight was knit night and it was a lot of fun….so many people came and it’s just a fun, relaxing time. I love seeing all ages of women hanging out together, everyone is working on their own thing and everyone is interested in what others are doing. We had several new people and they all seemed to have a good time.

One of my friends brought the most incredible dolls she is making. I’ve been hearing about them from others and I asked if she’d bring them. All I can say is I was blown away. She is so creative and her knitting is incredible. She knits the most incredible socks and she knits for babies in need.

Well, when I saw these dolls, I was flooded with childhood memories of my desire to have “little people”. I used to look for them everywhere and I’d love to imagine that they lived in my pocket and were there to entertain me when I was feeling like everything around me felt hard. I was intensely shy and they seemed safe to me. It was really such a fun memory and when I shared it with my friend, she asked me to pick one. Oh my gosh. I couldn’t bring myself to do it because they all had so much personality and I didn’t know how to do it. So I asked her to pick for me.

I definitely would have picked her! I know this isn’t the best background for her but it’s late and the only place to get good light is under my light in the kitchen.

Gosh, I am so blessed. Thank you so much, Julie.

I do hope I learn to make them soon, but this one will always be special.

Tags: my life

trying to get back on track. It’s really funny how having so much weather has really knocked all energy out of me. I am just appalled at the pictures I am seeing from so many friends. I have no clue why I didn’t really think of getting out my own camera. We were cut off from so many people we know. I had to run to my doctor’s office the other day to get a prescription and had to drive through some pretty deep water, this is scary to me that the way to the hospital was difficult to get through. On my way there, I wasn’t really thinking about the flooding and turned the way I usually go only to find myself surrounded all over the place by deep, deep water. I finally found a way out of it but then to find it at the bottom of “hospital hill”. Not fun. People we knew got stranded in weird places. I was happy that I didn’t know Ben had gone to rescue Brittany and her friend until it was all over. They closed the roads right after that.

Anyway…yesterday was Ben’s birthday and look what he got!

Bad picture, I took it with my phone…but beautiful bass!

Rhianna and Kyle missed their flight in Atlanta yesterday due to air traffic. Because it wasn’t the airlines’ fault, they didn’t get much help and had to get a room. There is only one flight a day to Lynchburg but they recommended the kids get a flight to Roanoke and drive to Lynchburg. They did this this morning at 3 a.m. our time (6 east coast time) and got their rental. When they arrived in Lynchburg, they were not thrilled to find out that their luggage was still in Atlanta! They spent the day with next to nothing in their possession. They had a little bit of extra stuff for Mayah and nothing for themselves. Packing for a baby takes up all the space you’d use for essentials. They managed, though.

Little missy needed some new hats because she is growing so fast.. I didn’t ever get good pictures of the first one I made because I just needed to get it to them and forgot. Rhianna sent me a picture today by text message, though.

It’s the same as the pink/brown one.

I am working on an earflap hat, too, and will mail it to them.

It will have pom poms on the ear flaps. The color is way off, it’s fuschia.

Today Ben was in a wedding. I am so happy the wedding even happened with all the flooding. The poor bride’s house was cut off from everything this week! I can’t even imagine. Here are some bad quality phone pics….

We sat upstairs. Kenny was running sound right next to us.

Yes, he’s way out there! He’s 3rd from the right.

And this was what I saw next to me….

I have to tell on Becca. I wanted to get a picture but didn’t get a chance. She couldn’t decide what dress to wear so she put on one, then put on another over the first one. When she came, I thought she looked just adorable with boots and a cute dress and sweater. On the way to the wedding, she was in the back finishing getting ready. (nightmare phone call…..I was at the shop and had a customer. I was teaching a fellow to purl and had another customer and 2 friends hanging out. Kenny calls to say that the wedding isn’t at 1:30 it’s at 1! This is at 12:15. I called Brittany who was getting dropped off for me to take her to the wedding and Rebecca who was meeting us there….neither were ready!) Anyway, as we drive, Rebecca asked if we thought she’d look better in the pink dress…because she could alter what she was wearing while riding in the car by pulling off the top dress! We laughed so hard. She is like that, always full of fun surprises. I said partway through the reception she should make a quick change. You would never guess by looking at her, by the way, that she had 2 dresses on!

I didn’t get to go to the reception and had a very busy afternoon. I am so excited….3 young girls have been hanging out with me in the afternoon knitting. Today 2 of them were there along with 2 other friends. We had a great time.

Busy, busy day tomorrow and Monday we begin therapy again. I’ll try to do better again. I won’t get to have any mac/blogging lessons, though, until Rhianna gets back. Either I will figure it out or just stumble along.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

Tags: my life

I downloaded ecto, finally, to my mac so I can start learning to do blog posts from here. It’s.not.that.hard….haha…but it is. I had it all set up and now I have to figure it all out again. I had quit using ecto for awhile so now it’s all foreign to me again.

We’ve been cut off from the world by flooding again and it’s been horrible. Rhianna and Kyle were flying out to Virginia this morning and had to leave last night while the going was good. Earlier in the day there was no way out of here. I-5 is still closed going south and word is it may be a few days. Last year that area was buried in water and I’m not sure if it’s as bad this year but it’s pretty bad. Brittany was on her way home from Olympia with her friend Callie and their car broke down so Ben had to go rescue them. Roads all closed shortly after they got through, I don’t even want to think about it.

Ben is 22 today! He’s on his way to buy a new bass guitar before he has to be at a wedding rehearsal. We had a nice birthday breakfast and sad to say I did not get pictures. It was just one of those days and my camera has not been out of my bag in days. What is this world coming to?

As soon as I get this computer hooked up to flickr and then figure out how to get my pictures to flickr from here, I’ll be back with real posts!

Tags: my life

The weather has been totally nuts.  I have not really figured out yet how to do a post on my macbook so this is brief.  However, look at what we got today!

This picture is here compliments of Rhianna’s help.

I could not understand what she was telling me so we shared our screens and she walked me through it!  Amazing.  She may be sorry she showed me that feature.

Anyway….Friday night and then again this afternoon, we got a blanket of snow.  Tonight’s little blanket was about 2 inches deep before it started raining and the wind was blowing hard.

I have other pictures but this was too much work so that is it for now.  I took the picture out Rhianna’s window with my cell phone so it’s bad but you get the idea.

Tomorrow starts real life again after the holidays and I have no idea if I am supposed to go for therapy tomorrow or next Monday.  Busy week ahead!

Tags: my life

We got home last night about 6 from Portland and spent a quiet evening at home. 

I regret not getting out my camera more while we were gone but not much I can do to change that. 

I had to take my first macbook back because of battery issues.  It’s rough driving in downtown Portland during the day.  While waiting at a stoplight, look what we saw.

That was the best shot I could get…but there were 2 city policemen trotting through the streets.

The exchange was quick and easy. 

I wish I could have captured the frenzy inside the Apple Store.  It is amazing.  When we bought the macbook originally, we never left the spotwhere the fellow in the red t-shirt is standing.  The sales guy did everything right there.  When we took it back, we had to go to the back of the store and it is so overwhelming!  It was pretty cool.  I had intended to buy a sleeve but there was so much activity, I thought I’d think about it over lunch and go back. 

I totally forgot.

That night we went to dinner at Olive Garden and then found the Barnes and Noble.  Wow!

It was a dream.  I spent my gift card and we hung out for awhile.  Next time we go to Portland, we will definitely hang out here longer. 

Yesterday before we came home, we spent time driving around our old haunts.  This is the street we lived on when Rhianna was born.

We lived way down at the end of the street but the house is gone.  It was a converted garage and we spent some great times there.  Life was much simpler in those days.

We drove by Roake’s Hot Dog stand.  That place never changes…I didn’t get a picture but it’s a little old building.  When you order, they’d give you a card from a deck of cards and that’s how they’d call you….Ace of Hearts, your order is ready.  I lived on those things. When I was pregnant with Rhianna, for a short period of time it was the only thing I could eat without making me sick.  I know, I know…not so healthy. 

It’s always fun to re-visit the past.  We have a lot of memories from this place.

Tyler was happy to have us home.  He reached his limit for doing something different and when Kyle had to ask him to not talk so loud (talking to the bathroom mirror to his favorite person~himself) because Mayah was sleeping, he got mad at Kyle.  I guess that makes Kyle officially a member of the family!  lol

We all made it past midnight and slept in today.  We had dutch babies for breakfast and we’re all still in our pj’s at 2 pm.  Just my kind of day. 

For all who asked about dutch babies….here’s how to make them.

Preheat oven to 400.  Put a pie plate with half a stick of butter in to heat.

Blend 3 eggs in a blender on high until frothy.  Alternate adding 3/4 cup flour and 3/4 cup milk while blending (a little at a time).  Turn to high speed and add a cap of vanilla.  Pour into the hot butter in the pie plate.  Sprinkle generously with cinnamon.  Bake 20-25 min.  Make sure the family is around when you take it out of the oven, they never look the same.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with syrup or jam. 

You can easily double the recipe and it comes out fine.

Enjoy!

Tags: my life