sherriknits

Well, today we finally made the trip to try on the tux for real.  It is on it’s way for alteration and to get the ivory shirt we had ordered.  Big brother went along and the little imp really loves to imitate.

He loves his new ’suit’

He worked hard at cooperating. 

Let’s see, what else is going on today.  I did lots of forward-backward-forward knitting on the sock.  I am ready to be doing something else, but I did start the heel flap tonight.

And the weather today?  I hope it changes by next weekend or we’re having an indoor wedding!

I came home from work and found this in the refrigerator.

It was just so colorful, I had to take a picture.

And now for the sad news.  Right now, I am on the new computer we got yesterday for my work.  That in itself is exciting but I had to find all my disks to get any photo editing software on here.  I also found the kids had not put any anti-virus on here so I did that, too.

But why am I on this one?  I left tonight for a short time to take the little imp to buy a Father’s Day card and when I came home, my laptop was DEAD!  Nothing I do will make it start.  It did this same thing when it was a few months old and they sent someone to fix it.  Now it is in the extended warrantee and I bet I get to send it to them now.  I did all kinds of bookkeeping today and I did not back up my work and to be honest, I can’t remember the last time I did.  Shame on me, I know.  I am so bummed out.  Do you realize how much stuff is locked inside your computer?  Not to mention I had to figure out how to get into my domain stuff since they give me a bizarre user name consisting of very random letters.  I can’t figure out how to get into my shop’s email so I’ll have to call them on that one.

And to add to it, I am really mad about my iPod.  They are in no rush to get my mailing label e-mailed to me so I can return the defective iPod they sent me.  I have been without it for over a week and whenever they decide to send me the label, I am looking at a week’s wait.  So much for the quick turnaround they told me about when I bought the extended warrantee on that one.  I use my iPod to fall asleep to, I have pretty big sleep problems and have found listening to books is the ticket for me.  I finally had to resort to the Ambien the doctor gave me months ago.  I do not like taking sleeping pills at all and was so happy with the solution I had found.

I am just a bit melancholy tonight, but I need to step back and count my blessings.  I know I have a lot to be thankful for and I need to choose to look at those things instead. 

At least I started knitting on the sock instead of playing with my laptop!  (although if the truth were to be known, I am pretty good at doing both at the same time!)   lol

Hope you’re having a great weekend!

Tags: aargh..., computers, event, iPod, kids, knitting, sky, socks, wedding!, whatever

We had #2 daughter’s graduation party yesterday.  Gosh, I am so tired!  We had a good time, though.  We did nachos and the obligatory cake.  The turnout was great and I was ever so proud of her for taking time to talk to everyone there.

Her brother and his girlfriend made the board and it was sooo cool.  They really managed to capture some of the funny, unique things of her growing up years.

That’s him with the camera around his neck.  The groom-to-be is on the left side of the futon facing.

I totally forgot to take pictures when the biggest crowds were there, but I’m sure those pictures would be boring on here anyway.  The ones I do have, I’m sure I’d be in trouble with someone if I tried to put them on here because you know how it is on those candid shots…someone is always doing something funny.  I’m often that one.

One of my friends gave her this beautiful little tea set.

When everything was over, look what I found.

Her boyfriend…doing the dishes!  He’s a keeper, but I already knew that.

What was she doing?

I think she deserved it.  Her cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

And the other kids?

One of her gifts was a Dr. Seuss book, to remind her to keep life simple.  The friends who gave it to her are always so clever, she also got oreos and one of those tree fresheners for the car.  Why?  So when she smells it, she will remember that they are praying for her.    Anyway, the little guy read all 62 pages to big sis.

I can’t leave without showing what he was up to Saturday night.

And the poor dog had to get into it, too…

Sock progress:

I was almost ready to close the toe on the sock today until I noticed I had done extra decreases on one side and was off 4 stitches after I started the next decrease.  I decided to do it right and tink back to the mistake and so far I have gone back at least 3 rows and the mistake is still there.  I have to be close because I remember counting previously and being on.  No big deal, I’ll finish it tomorrow when I’m not so tired.

Tags: event, friends, kids, knitting, socks, wip

It was kind of a hectic day for me.  Work was fun but really busy.  I had to leave early to go finish tweaking the flower order for the wedding.  gulp. 

Hubby picked me up from that and we went on our ‘mini-date’.  (yes, we actually have 2 date nights but this one isn’t quite as official as the Friday night for-real date).  I think we just needed a peaceful evening and we got it.  This is where we have gone for several years when life was so, so tough for us.  We have shed many tears here and shared many very special pleasant times, too.  You know what’s cool?  Those incredibly painful times did not ruin this place for us.  There are some things in life that the deep, painful feelings make it a place we don’t want to re-visit  when it’s over because all of the bad feelings are attached to that place.  (just ask anyone who knew me when the little imp was born…Skippers restaurant was the recipient of all of my frustration during those days….lol….I guess it was a safe place for me to aim it all and I couldn’t go there for years afterwards. {I did forgive them, though!} It all stemmed from one really bad dinner and everything that could go wrong did).

Anyway…here is where we have hurt and have spent healing time too:

One evening, here we sat in tears and the sweetest older lady was trimming the roses and since we had our windows down, she chatted with us and it was just so comforting. 

Can you just imagine how wonderful the smells are here?

Often there are kayaks galore out on the water, but tonight was cold and windy and probably early in the season anyway.  We can sit for hours and watch them, or sometimes we’ll walk on the little dock.

And, here is something I have always wanted to do:

Hey, that is not easy to do.  I guess I should have adjusted the setting on the camera because the sock is a little blurred.  I also felt a bit silly doing it, especially since the yarn was still in my purse in the car behind me and I had it stretched pretty tight to take the sock’s picture. 

What is the yarn, you might be asking?  It is the new limited edition Tofutsie yarn from the SWTC Sock Club!  I got it today and am starting on the exclusive sock pattern that comes with it.  I got the yarn in my little yarn shop today and of the 10, there are 4 left! 

I got a kick out of a friend of mine.  She knew the yarn was going to come in this morning and wanted to run to the shop on her lunch hour.  One of her co-workers just didn’t ‘get it’ even when she tried to explain…this is a limited edition and when it’s gone, it’s gone!  I get it, what’s wrong with that lady?  Well, tonight we were on our way out of town and I realized I didn’t bring my pattern with me, so I called her and asked her to read the ribbing to me…a 33 stitch repeat!  I laughed and said I bet her friend wouldn’t get that either!  lol

I have to close with an attempt to show my most favorite little sight every night.  It’s nearly impossible to get a normal look on that sweet face when the flash blinds him before the real flash goes off but it’s close.  He can be such a pill sometimes, but when he comes to tell me goodnight and smiles at me without his glasses on, I just love it!

Tags: date, friends, kids, knitting

I’m not sure where this week went, but it was busy! 

Since I did not have my camera with me yesterday, I didn’t get a picture of Saturday’s sky, but here is today’s

Don’t let that blue mislead you, it’s raining. 

Hubby and I had a retreat Friday and Saturday at the most beautiful camp…and I forgot my camera!  I was more than a little upset over that.  This was a working retreat, but we had a great time.  If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you know we’ve gone through a very difficult time.  This weekend brought much healing … lots of tears, lots of affirmation, it was good.  During part of it, we had someone leading us in an exercise in active listening.  It was pretty funny.  As couples, one of us was supposed to bring up a subject to talk about and the other was to practice the listening steps.  It was really cool because I was able to look around the room and see active participation and it was pretty interesting.  That’s not what the retreat was about really, just a little section of it and I think it was my favorite part.  I think we do pretty well in our relationship at listening and communicating but we learned a lot about dealing with others.  I love spending time with people I love and respect and who aren’t afraid to show that they care and to laugh and cry together.  That’s not really what it was all about either, but it was significant to me personally. 

When we arrived at camp, we had cards taped on the door to our rooms.  When we read ours, the tears just flowed.  They were thank you notes from the staff at our church.  We haven’t had difficulty with any of these people, but they all wrote what they have seen in our lives as a result of what we’ve been through and I was so touched.  It’s funny how you don’t see it yourself. 

I guess all I can really say is God is so good and so faithful and when I look back, I can see so much good coming out of adversity.  I’m so thankful we are moving on and relationships have been so strengthened.

And now, I DID get a chance to knit a little.  I needed something that was mindless so hubby was more than a little happy that the socks I started for him back when life felt so tough came back out of the bag they were stuffed in and I managed to add a few inches to the 2nd sock.  It was so relaxing riding and talking and knitting.  I love practicing knitting without looking (you never know when you might need to do that!).  I only got ‘off’ a few times.

When we got home, the dear boy had gotten a hair cut from big brother’s girlfriend.  I convinced him to hold the socks-in-progress for me on the wet deck because the light was a little better out there but he kept complaining that it was soooooo cold out there.  Not cold at all, a bit wet but I was only asking him to stand on a dry spot.  lol  The payback is that he loves seeing his picture on here. 

The dog of course wandered by right then but what are you going to do…can’t ask that boy to freeze out there when it’s soooo cold!  lol

We got a text message when we were on our way home that sis and her boyfriend were taking the boy to see Pirates of the Caribbean because he was pretty upset at missing the midnight showing Thursday night.  lol  as if we’d have let him go.  I cannot even believe we let him ever see that movie, but I guess with older brothers and sisters, it was just inevitable when they buy the dvds and watch them at home.  I absolutely hate those kinds of movies, but that’s me, I guess.  But…bad news.  They were sold out, so they took him to see Shrek.  I guess they had an interesting time…our daughter is tiny and it’s hard when someone big sits in front of her.  Right before the movie started, you guessed it…a whole family of very tall people came in and sat down.  That wasn’t all, but it would be unkind to tell the rest of it so I’ll stop there.  However, the little boy commented the entire movie that big brother and girlfriend would take him to see Pirates today….the whole time! That was what he went to see and he let everyone know.

He got to do that this afternoon.  I am so thankful my older kids love taking him along whenever there is a new movie coming out.  Since he’s been home, he is talking about 3 dvds coming out so he can watch it at home.  (is it really going to be 3?) Once he’s seen it, he knows the next step is the dvds and as far as he’s concerned, they can do that now.

We found out something amazing that he’s figured out how to do.  He is incredibly smart when it comes to anything electronic.  He can find any trailer on internet when a new movie is coming out and will tell you constantly what date it is premiering.  (case in point:  High School Musical 2….coming soon to a theater near you!  He’s been telling us this for months and now apparently he knows the date but I can’t remember!)  Well, here is his new thing.  He figured out how to set reminders on the tv for one of his favorite shows and every time it comes on (at least three times today), it starts showing a reminder 2 minutes before and then it automatically switches to it!!!!!!!  Now how did he ever figure that one out!  He is also famous for putting the closed captioning on, he just loves that, and sometimes he changes the language on it.  I can never figure out how to get it off, and if he feels like being nice, he will do it for me.

Ok, I guess I have rambled enough.  I think I’ll consider knitting a bit for awhile.  Hope everyone is having a safe holiday weekend.

Tags: friends, kids, knitting, sky, whatever

haha…where did that song come from?

I’m glad the week is over.  First of all, yesterday morning brought this cutie to the table:

That’s his favorite breakfast…french toast.  We heard him in the other room jabbering away.  He does his best talking to himself and we listen to get a clue what’s on his mind.  It used to really bother me, but his therapist told me this is fairly common and if we try to stop it, he will be very frustrated because it’s a way for him to express himself.  It will sometimes go like this, “Hi —–” “Oh, hi!” “How are you?”  “Fine.” “I want french toast for my birthday breakfast” “oh, cool!”  So, I decided if he’s thinking about french toast, then his tummy must be better and french toast it is.  He excitedly stood by me while I made it, picked his plate…and then sat there smiling and never ate a bite.  By the way, he gave me the yellow plate and he apparently assumes it is his.  (and it’s not his birthday yet, but that’s no reason to not have french toast if he wants it!)  I knew he was better though, because soon I saw him like this…

And the smile just did it all. 

I am on the heel of the sock, but I left it at work.  Here is something else on the needles though.

It might become a sweater.

I love seeing pictures posted on Saturdays for Saturday sky, so here are mine.

We woke up to cloudy, had rain here and there and I stood on the wet deck to take this at about 8:15 tonight.  We’re watching the Mariner’s and they had to close the roof tonight.

Have a great weekend!  We have the last bridal shower tomorrow afternoon.

OHHHHH…………….

I had one of the funniest emails I have had in ages the other day.  Since she didn’t leave it in my comments but emailed me insted, I have to share it here because I still haven’t stopped laughing:

“BTW, I hate to be the one to point it out but I think you have a serious
problem. If you’re knitting so much that your boy’s getting yarn-boogers, I
think you need professional help! Try this: http://www.knittersanonymous.com
” 

Tags: kids, knitting, sky, whatever

I did but I ended up getting sick.  We went to the coast and I froze most of the way there.  I felt so yucky that we were barely there for any time and just came back home.  The family had fun and told me they enjoyed spending the time anyway.  We rode down with the big boy with us, the others in the Jeep. Then the girls rode home with me while the boys were all in the Jeep.  Dad had to sit in the back seat because the boy has claimed the passenger seat, no matter who is driving.  I didn’t think to get a picture because I felt rotten, but it was cute. 

The big boy helped me do this:

Next time I will pay attention to the background…there were a lot of other places I could have had him stand!  lol  And, notice the dogs?  There are 5 yipping dogs who live next door who bark like this, often at 1 a.m.!  They are the reason I invested in an iPod, I fall asleep listening to a book and they don’t bother me as much.

I was so, so shocked!  My family surprised me with a new set of dishes.  I had commented that I would love to have some of these some day (this is what the bride in the family is getting) because they are so fun.  I thought maybe in a few years after we are done with weddings, I’d start picking up a few place settings at a time.  Well, they got me a good start…service for 6! Not all shown here and forgive the sloppy picture, some were being used and I just plain don’t feel good enough to do it any other way.

We drove to the coast and I visited the yarn shop

Where I got this:

(When I feel better, I am going to re-wind it because I thought it was kind of a sloppy job the lady did.) 

I had to get a picture of the boy at the end of the Oregon Trail.

All in all, a great day.  I am so grateful for my kids…and hubby.  And now I am going to snuggle back under my blankie.

Tags: kids, no knitting

I’ve been plugging away on my shawl. 

It is almost becoming mindless knitting right now which is always nice, very enjoyable. 

I spent the morning on another little trinket for someone special.  I think it’s pretty funny how knitting the little ones is much more of a challenge than the real ones.  Not terrible, but trying to do decreases with 8 stitches on the 4 needles is a bit crazy. 

My friends Hoops and Yoyo had to hold it because by itself, every picture was blurry.  They needed a little time off my desk anyway, they are always happy to fill in when needed.

We get to go do something fun tomorrow after church and I’m excited.  It will be our last year with the family as it is since the wedding will change things.  We have to go in 2 cars to get anywhere, but the kids will probably follow us in our Jeep, unless we make them ride in the car. 

Have a great weekend!

I’ll leave you with a picture of what I came home from work to.

We’ve got Spiderman on in every possible way in our house.  A videogame was paused on the tv and he was nose-to-nose with his dvd player. 

Tags: kids, knitting

This morning while I was trying to get ready to go, dear boy was working on a surprise for me.  He downloaded it from disney.com

While his handwriting isn’t the best, it is better than this but he was writing on the soft couch.  He was drawing and drawing on the picture of me…flattering?  Not sure of the hair!

This morning, my friend Bunni left me a comment on yesterday’s post stating there isn’t any room under the counter for any more abandoned projects.  This might be what she meant:

This probably isn’t all of it, but we won’t talk about this any more.

I had fun hanging out with my good friend at my shop today and she was teaching me to use this new little toy.

Pay no attention to the ugly carpet…someday we’ll get to get rid of it!

I had just gotten a chance to sit down with my laptop and my feet up, and the high school marching band came by.  They are often in our neighborhood but this time they came right down our street.  The dear boy was out the door like a bullet. 

He’s the blue spot on the sidewalk.  I was desperately trying to find my camera as they went by so I didn’t get a close up shot.  He was marching up the street behind them.

I was running along behind barefoot and my feet still hurt from it!

After this, I tried to shoot some video but my camera ran out of memory.  He almost headed up the street with them after they turned on the corner and my yelling to come back was not doing much good … you could just see it in his eyes, a chance to march with the band?  Thankfully sis came along with shoes on and hauled him home. 

Next time mom will wear shoes and we can go a little farther.  It happens enough that he’ll get his chance.

On the knitting front, I won’t bore you with a picture of  2 more pattern repeats on the shawl, but it is coming along just fine…and the lifelines are in place.  It’s funny how pushing through made such a difference.  The pattern makes sense and I don’t have to look all that often to see what to do next.  It’s such an enjoyable knit. 

Tags: friends, kids, knitting

Today we had a family shower and it was really nice and cozy.  Here are some of the pictures…just click to move to the next one. 

The weekend was crazy.  We enjoyed our little bit of quiet time when we got left off at the motel.  We walked over to Ihop and ate breakfast for dinner, then had several hours to relax.  I was so dead tired that I didn’t touch my knitting, but I did read a knitting book, so maybe that counts! 

The graduation ceremony started at 10 a.m. and there were about 350 graduates.  I couldn’t believe it when we got out of there at 1:18!  The crush of people trying to leave was horrendous.  We all went to Applebee’s for lunch, then to see the University before we headed to the mall and home.  I have been playing the purchase/return/purchase game.  I have one more thing to take back.  Somehow I feel like I’m expanding my wardrobe anyway, but it has been so much work!  None of the stores I’ve purchased from are close to home so every time we get up that way, I have things to run into the mall when we’re flying by to some other event. 

I’m still trying to dig out my stuff from the mess the dear boy created.  I just haven’t had the heart or ambition (or time) to really attack it. 

We got home late last night.  We were bulletin servers at church this morning and then came home for a short time before we headed to the shower.  Now I am home with my feet kicked up and too lazy to go see if I can get a cute picture of a mischevious boy.

Hopefully knitting content to come!

Tags: kids, no knitting, wedding!

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?) 

Tags: kids, no knitting