sherriknits

This one is slllllooowww going, but tons of fun.

this is the toe to my new sock

I had a horrible time trying to get a good shot of it. It’s the new cast on we learned when we took a class with Cat Bordhi, i makes a star but I like the feel of this one more than I did when I tried a star toe years ago, the increases are fast and i like the toes of my socks kind of square.

I like the yarn, too, but it’s a little hard to work with, it really twists back on itself. I don’t have the label handy or I’d tell you what it is.

This all comes from Cat Bordhi’s new book, Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters. My own footprint is there in cardboard and I will write on it as I go along to put my personal information on it. I love this method more than any of the others I’ve tried.

“Insouciant …that cheerful feeling you have when nothing is bothering you, for example: as you are knitting a personal footprint sock!” -Cat Bordhi

Tags: my life

At the end of the last post, I said I couldn’t remember what I had wanted to talk about, it finally came to me.

I have a confession. I am a farmer. I am hooked on farming. However, I am a city girl and who knows how I’d do if I actually lived on a farm. I farm on Facebook and it’s been a fun way to unwind from the day and interact with friends, I have too many farmer friends, but I love it.

Ok. The other day I asked a friend to come harvest for me. She said she’d be there in a minute. When she showed up, she told me she was chatting with a friend and told her she needed to go because she needed to harvest for me. The lady laughed and said, “Oh, you farmers!”

What this did was raise instant panic in me. I said to my friend that in the past, I had a friend who totally berated me for the time I spend on my computer. In really judging the situation, I realize she didn’t really even know what I did and it was an instant judgement and probably was a bigger deal to me than her. The fact that my friend touched a button this time and caused a reaction in me really was interesting to me. When I said so to her, she said immediately….”Don’t use her ruler to measure your life!” It was so thought-provoking to me! She doesn’t live my life and I don’t live hers. What I use to relax doesn’t appeal to her, not a big deal.

Anyway, I am totally not into using negative examples about others to prove a point, but I want to remember this one and it really was helpful to me to realize it probably affected me more than it did her and even though I thought I was getting better at not being a people pleaser any more, I was worried about what she thought of me and same with this other lady.

A few days later, I had another experience with another friend. She would sometimes ask me if she could work on my farm as she used her mom’s account. She said she didn’t want to start her own because she gets addicted too easily. The next day, she is asking to be my neighbor and she has her own farm. I said something to the effect of…. oh great, now I have given you a new addiction. She immediately said, you are not responsible for my wasting of time and if I wasn’t doing this, I’d be wasting it some other way. Novel idea. I don’t have to take on the responsibility that was never mine in the first place!

I know this sounds corny, but it really was a wake-up call to me. I think we spend too much of our lives worrying about what others think about us. I have found a fun way to unwind and to visit with friends at the same time and while it may not appeal to many, it’s what works for me. I’m social and love relationship and this is one silly, silly way to visit and it also satisfies a little bit of the creative need in me.

Ahhh, I feel better.

We started therapy again today. Tyler did well and I had a great talk with the therapist about planning for training life skills. I am so grateful for my other kids and the creative things they come up with to do with him. I enjoyed the day with Rebecca, too, and we got a lot accomplished.

Tyler told me the other day when I asked him come do one of his jobs, “This isn’t my job, I work at the tv station” That he does. He empties garbage cans and lines them with new bags and does a great job with them. However, I turned to him and said, “Well, MY job is to work at the yarn store, but I still have to do the dishes!” He emptied the silverware and grumbled the whole time, but he did it! He’s really ticked that he has to do the recycling, too. Makes me laugh.

When we got back to town, I decided we should enjoy the day. We went to Dairy Queen and got ice cream and drove to the river.

Tyler sat on the bench and watched the river while he ate.

I just enjoyed all the pictures so you get to see them too.

Across the river are the closed mills, sitting in silence.

So sad. I used to love watching the chips come out of the shoot and fill the big ships.

As we sat there, the first teacher he ever had walked by and was going to just politely say hello as she passed and then we recognized each other. She stood there visiting with us for quite awhile. Tyler doesn’t remember her coming to our home every week and sitting on a blanket with him. I can’t even remember what we did. Sad.

After a bit, Kenny called so it was time to head home.

First we have to stretch.

Fun day!

Tags: my life

Do you ever dream of those perfect Sunday afternoons where the weather is beautiful and you are able to go for a drive and enjoy it? Today was one of those days for us. Sundays for us usually mean coming home from church and kicking back and sleeping most of the afternoon away. The weather was beautiful today and who knows how long it is going to last. We decided to head to the beach.

I’ve lived here most of my life and I have never seen the lake at the beach. We were talking about it yesterday while we were sitting outside knitting during the downtown Art Walk. (totally forgot to take pictures).

Wow, construction is just awful driving in to Ocean Shores. I feel for my friend who has to drive it every day! We drove up and down all the winding roads around the lake and really enjoyed ourselves. Then instead of driving through the construction we drove on the beach instead.

We saw lots of people riding horses. You can rent them right at the beach approach.

Then we headed up the highway and found Seabrook, a whole community built in 2004. Oh my gosh, I want to live there for awhile.

This is the cute little cafe right at the entrance.

Right outside the little market was this bike resting there. I saw a place that rented them and they were all such great colors.

We had to stop and get some ice cream.

I forgot to take pictures deeper in the community. The houses are so cute and have such cute names. I’d love to look into renting one. I’d like to go with my family and I’d like to go with Kenny and I’d like to go with my knitting friends. We had considered doing a knitting retreat last year and found some pretty reasonable places when you split the price. Loved it all!

Last week, we were given tickets to the Crosby Stills and Nash concert at the Puyallup fair. Kenny and I were able to go and spend the day together, it was so much fun.

The only time I remembered to get out my camera was when the concert was starting.

It was outdoors and the weather was so nice. Most of the people there were in our age group and it was just plain fun. I tend to not really enjoy concerts when they get too loud and I don’t love dredging up memories from the harder part of our past, but this was a good memory. (did I ever mention here that Kenny used to be in a rock band and we used to travel with the band when we first got married???)

I had just as much fun watching the people around us as the concert itself. The guy behind us was singing, the fellow next to us told him to shut up, he got mad. Kenny said it was so loud he could barely hear the band. Funny how it depends on where you sit because I barely heard him. Then the girl in front of him danced in her seat the whole time so he saw the concert through her flailing arms….lol In front of me was a fellow who spent most of his time on his cell phone. The girl he was with did not seem thrilled, she had one ear plugged. Keep in mind, the tickets were $46…I didn’t quite get it, kind of an expensive phone call or three.

(no, we didn’t spend that much, the tickets belonged to someone else who could not go and we got them through a friend as a gift). Amazing.

I have been knitting but I forgot to take a picture of my new venture, hopefully tomorrow or soon. I got Cat Bordhi’s new book, “Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters”…. love it, love it, love it. Once again, she shows herself to be a genius! I took the class in July but anyone who had a class was asked to keep it under wraps until the book came out. Look into it, it’s worth it!

Tomorrow we start therapy again, we’ve had break since July. As we get into more of a routine again, I’m hoping I get better at blogging again. Today I was really thinking about something I wanted to blog about and now I can’t even remember where I was when I was thinking it and can’t remember what I was thinking about.

Be back soon!

Tags: my life

nothing bad, it’s just a time of adjustment and I haven’t really felt like doing much on here.

It’s going to take a little bit of time to get used to life as it now is. Most days, we’re fine…seriously. Some days there are bumps in the road. I suppose most of us can say that. Kenny and I have been talking a lot about how to keep ourselves from burning out. My way of dealing with stress is to find a quiet place and do nothing. Kenny needs to do something. I think I have an easier time of knowing what I need to do and doing it. We realize at the end of the vacation, Kenny had needed to get away a little bit on his own, go for a drive..alone, without a boy who idolizes him. That way he can enjoy those times when that same boy is with him and constantly asking what he’s doing.

Life is good and we know it.

Over Labor Day weekend, we finally got a chance to go see the movie I have so wanted to see… “Julie and Julia”. It was a disaster. We decided to go to the matinee in Olympia, we had fun getting our popcorn and drinks. The theater was packed, but thankfully we managed to get seats on the aisle. About a third of the way into the movie, everything started falling apart.

Tyler started breathing really weird. One thing we deal with with him is that he will NOT tell you what’s wrong. I didn’t know if it was something weird or what. It’s crazy with him, he would react to something very minor the way he would if it was very serious. Anyway, I start telling Kenny something was wrong. He finally gets up, climbs over me and takes Tyler out. By this point, I am hoping Tyler doesn’t puke on the poor man in front of him. (because he would never tell you if that is going to happen). They are gone sooo long that I begin to get anxious and can’t follow the movie. I finally put our popcorn down on the floor and grab my purse and Tyler’s jacket and leave. I hate how cramped everything is, it just felt hard to get out. I couldn’t find them anywhere. I was at a point of asking someone to check the men’s room. I kept going in and out of the movie, standing in the little hallway trying to see it but there was a lady trying to watch there too. I have really worked hard at managing anxiety where Tyler is concerned. but on this day, it wasn’t working too well.

After what seemed like an eternity, my boys returned, and they were laughing. Kenny was quite surprised to see me in the hall. He had taken Tyler out to the car and decided he was ok. Sooo, we all attempt to make ti back to our seats. I decided to take Kenny’s seat farthest in, as I am trying to sit down, I knocked his large drink on the floor. As he tries to pick it up, he knocks mine on the floor. So much for trying to be discreet. I tried to get back in to the movie, but frankly, I was just anxious for it to get over. I liked what I’d seen, but by then I just felt stressed and embarrassed.

Tyler’s problem?  Either he didn’t like the movie or he didn’t like his lemonade.  ugh

I love the days of technology that we live in. We went to the music store and the boys went in while I sat in the car. I logged on to Facebook with my phone and changed my status to: “Note to self. Next time I really want to see a movie, get a babysitter.” Within minutes, I had recieved incredible encouragement. One was from a mom with an autistic son, she’s also a pastor’s wife and good friend. It’s just nice to know others understand. It really bumped me into a better place.

However, we went to Red Robin and while we were sitting there, I was kind of surprised that tears just started flowing. I knew I was ok. I could laugh at it all. But the reality of my life just happened to hit me right there. I think there are things that are a LOT worse. However, as I watch my friends become empty nesters, we have found ourselves in a place where we are having to find childcare and it’s a little overwhelming. I know I experience God’s grace every day and I am grateful for it and I see the tremendous blessing in our lives…at the same time, I would be lying to say it’s easy.

Enough of that. I just needed to write it out so I can come back later. This has become more about the journey of my life than anything and I need to see where I’ve been.

I have barely been knitting. This seems to happen to me when life feels a little overwhelming. However, I’m getting the bug to start some new things. I do have another grandchild on the way and I am just as excited about this new little sweet pea! Rhianna is feeling the baby kick now and it’s pretty exciting!

I haven’t been taking many pictures but I did put together a short, short little video of Tyler and Mayah. Tyler hasn’t been too into having a camera pointed at him, but he was really cute when we left the theater the other day. What I did was turn the camera on when I thought I was stopping it and recorded an hour in my pocket. lol

Anyway, enjoy! The girl is pretty close to walking most of the time. She totally loves her Uncle Tyler, she actually mauls him. It’s so funny because the rest of us would love it if she’d do it to us and he doesn’t really care. He does love her, though and is so good with her. I think she’s going to enjoy life with her Uncle Tyler.

Tags: my life