sherriknits

I was really looking forward to a 4-day weekend, but it ended up to be kind of a bust.

Hubby got a bad cold and coughed his head off for days.  I had a sleepless night and was worth nothing for a whole day.  We were just kind of bummed out that we didn’t do anything fun…but then, I guess there wasn’t much we could do about it.

We did have a fun 4th….the little imp for the first time in his life actually enjoyed the fireworks.  We went over to big sis’s house and played Wii for awhile.  They actually got me to drive race cars with them.  I used to be really good at video games but no more.  I came in last every time, but I had fun.

He’s actually pretty good!  He plays against the good competition and holds his own. 

They’ve been getting the baby room ready, I just love it.

And look what I saw on the changing table.

We actually could see the neighborhood fireworks better than the city ones because a hill is in the way, but we didn’t feel like going closer and getting caught in traffic, especially if the little imp can’t stand it, been there, done that.

The parents-to-be have a great deack overlooking everything so  we stood outside watching the whole city go nuts.

This picture cracks me up.  He’s talking to his brother-in-law….he drags his name waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy out when he talks to him and I caught him in the middle of it.

Even though he did better with the fireworks than he’s ever done, there came a point where he was DONE…so his BIL got him some headphones.

Have I said lately how great my son-in-law is?

I did get knitting done during the day of doing nothing but sitting on a chair after watching the sun come up once again.  I think I better not have any more of those Starbucks doubleshots even in late afternoon! 

Anyway, this is not for me.  I was going to make it all one color until I decided to do it for a gift. 

Today the new bride, the imp and I decided to go to the beach.  I wanted to play tourist like a friend of mine did.  I forgot to take any pictures but we had fun.  The little imp hates shopping but I got him a little present so he was a little happier.  I could just choke sometimes, though.  He showed me the “claw” and I told him if he’d be good, we could get it.  Well, he suddenly turned and ran away.  I chased after him and asked him where he was going because the deal was to stick with us.  “My phone, Mom!” he answers.  He’d left it laying on the display.  ugh.

We had ice cream before we drove home and then made a quick trip down onto the beach.

I’m not sure if they were feeding these seagulls or what, but they were flying in place when we drove by

I was excited when I got home that the flowers on my new rosebush had finally started to open, there are LOTS of them to come

it is exactly what I hoped it would be!

And now we know it is summer because the ice cream truck was driving around our neighborhood today!  Amazingly, it was not that obnoxious music it has been in years past.

Back to watching the Mariner’s, we’re actually on the board in the 2nd inning!  Things seem to be turning around for us.  I’m watching the game until hubby gets home and fixes the computer for me.  I had to bring my work computer home (from my real job) because our home computer quit…and now this one must not be hooked up right.  I discovered today that I must have overwritten some files and I am missing a week’s worth of bookkeeping.  Tonight I get to do it all over before I get the data to our programmer.  bummer.

I got my little girlie football helmet hat done last night.  I want to re-do the football, but it came out cute.  Papa-to-be seemed to like both the pink and the blue.  Of course I forgot to take his picture with them.

I know that Father’s Day, like Mother’s Day, has it’s challenges for many people.  I am one of them.  It is a painful time for me in many ways, but the part that gets to me is the fact that I am so grateful to be married to a man who loves his kids and has been there for them.  We’re in a new era with 3 of our 4 kids and it’s really different for us.  Even though they have become adults and our childraising years are finished with them, we don’t quit being their parents.  We are so blessed and we know it.  They are great kids and to say we are proud is an understatement.

We have gone to one service at church for the summer and I think it is a good thing.  We had a great service today, but I think both the fellow who did the sermon (father of 2 young girls) and my hubby. who sang a song, were grateful they only had to do it once.

One daddy is still in the early years with his adorable little girls.  He is one who takes the job seriously and he had some great things to share today.  He asked hubby to sing a song, as I said yesterday.  I want to post the words to the song.

Cinderella 

by Steven Curtis Chapman 

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays,
Without a care in the world.
And I’m sittin’ here wearin’ the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It’s been a long day and there’s still work to do,
She’s pulling at me saying “Dad I need you!
There’s a ball at the castle and I’ve been invited and I need to practice my dancin’”
“Oh please, daddy, please!” 

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone

She says he’s a nice guy and I’d be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says “Dad, the prom is just one week away,
And I need to practice my dancin’”
“Oh please, daddy, please!”

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone
She will be gone.

Well, she came home today
With a ring on her hand
Just glowin’ and tellin’ us all they had planned
She says “Dad, the wedding’s still six months away
but I need to practice my dancin’”
“Oh please, daddy please!”

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t wanna miss even one song,
(even one song)
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she’ll be gone

It is a beautiful song.  I sat next to mama-to-be.  She is not a terribly sentimental girl (unlike me) but the song had barely started and she leaned into me and when I turned, she was just sobbing.  Of course, I was, too and we had one heck of a time getting through it.  Hubby had assured me that if he sang it 100 times, he wouldn’t get emotional when he sang it.  He did well and I think he avoided looking at us as much as he could because he knew I would be crying.  I am not kidding, I was fighting loud sobs.  I wasn’t alone, I saw dads all over the room literally losing it, moms, too.  He has the perfect voice for ballads like this and those who know him well know it wasn’t just a song.  He did well until he got to the part about “she came home today with a ring on her hand…” and he choked.  He has been a professional musician and he was able to just speak the words until he could sing again but if anyone wasn’t crying yet, they sure were at that point.  Dan, the speaker, told anyone who didn’t know that we have married off 2 of our daughters in the past year and that song had fresh meaning.  My dear daughter cried for about half an hour and I could barely handle seeing her hugging her daddy after.  The newlyweds were on the worship team today and when they came down after the service was over, the bride was in tears, too.  They love their dad and they know he loves them.  Now, we aren’t forgetting our boys………they’re the best.

Ok, moving on.  We had a pie auction after church and how I’d love to post the little video I took today of our son’s girlfriend as auctioneer.  I don’t think she’d like me to share it but she was adorable.  She’s shorter than I am (I’m 5 ft) and she stood on a chair with the mic….and our son stood behind her and she was only a little taller than him.  Cute.  They’re going on a mission trip to Mexico and this was a fundraiser that we do every year for that.  I didn’t end up with any pies but I did help drive the price up so that has to count for something.

We had a great barbecue this afternoon…we’ve started buying Western Sizzler Steaks, they go far and they are cheaper at the meat market.  The meat market is attached to a fruit stand so we got some great salad and fruit from there.  Hubby barbecued and we sat outside as long as it took us to eat before we came inside because the wind was so cold.  BUT…the sun was out!  Our son and girlfriend and the parents-to-be were here for several hours.  They all left and the newlyweds showed up.  By then, I was fighting to stay awake, but we had a nice visit with them, too.

Tomorrow is my day off!  Since I went to therapy last week, I get to stay home tomorrow.  Hopefully it is a fruitful day.

After virtually no sleep, I am not sure how I am going to make it through the day.  It is supposed to be record-breaking heat.  We had no spring and now we go from cold to hot.  Today is supposed to be 88 degrees on the coast. Yowee.

Yesterday did end up being warm and everyone in town, at least those I talked to (yeah, I guess I don’t know *everyone*) was shocked because it didn’t start out that way. 

Our espresso machine at work broke so we got a new one.  When my sister went to get it, we all got Starbucks.  I was struggling to reconcile the checkbook and that was a welcome break.  We tried a new drink  that was a triple shot of espresso and silly me was still drinking it when I came home last night.  Since I have really cut back on the caffiene, it really affected me. 

If anyone was visiting my blog last night they would have gotten a show.  I was trying out new themes, some were not widget-ready and some didn’t have “pages”, which I miss.  Then I had to upgrade my wordpress which meant I had to switch to the default theme to do that (I learned that one the hard way!)  When I went to bed last night, I had yarn pictures but during the night I started thinking about my teapots and trays and linens so after I watched the sun come up (and hubby had left), you would have seen me on my porch taking pictures.  I hope to have #1 son take better pics but I like the colors and using my own things.  I often wonder if the neighbors see me in and out and in and out, their front door was open when I was busy taking pictures, probably to get some cool air in the house before the heat hits.

I also worked on my next 20 things about me but I think I will wait to post those.

Want to hear something wonderful?  One of our co-workers (our Saturday girl) popped in yesterday with a surprise.  Her daughter and son-in-law bought her a brand new Saturn for Mother’s Day!  It has leather seats that heat up, a sun roof, automatic start and all the bells and whistles that come with all of that.  She is one mom who has sacrificed for her girls and raised them alone.  She put one through college and babysits and does anything at the drop of a hat for her girls.  If anyone deserves that, it would be her.  We were all so happy for her.  Now they don’t have to worry about her on the road.  She said she hasn’t quit smiling since Sunday.

Last night hubby and I had a heart-to-heart talk.  Life really changed for us after the wedding…it has now become the 3 of us pretty much even though #1 son still lives at home and is definitely a help, he does work a lot and isn’t home in the evenings.  I am concerned for how we are going to work this out but hubby keeps telling me to just rest and wait it out a little before I do anything about it.  Our kids are all caregivers for the little imp but now he ends up with me at the shop a little more than he should be there…late afternoons at a yarn shop are not exactly his cup of tea.  When mama-to-be is out of school in a little more than a month, she will pick up a lot of the slack.  I was in tears with her on the phone and with hubby last night.  I think it might just be the adjustment.  There is no question that I love that boy, it is just a little overwhelming looking ahead…which is never a wise thing to do.

I had a very special time with #1 son, though.  The little imp and I had gone to Home Depot and bought a watering can and a strawberry pot…and an extension cord.  I sat on the porch with my laptop for a while and then when he came home he joined me.  It was so sweet.  He is so sensitive and caring and while I didn’t get emotional with him, we did talk about some of the things we have gone through in the past few years that have really affected our family, he asked me a lot of questions and we had such an adult conversation.  I told him how much I appreciate him….for the millionth time in the past few months.

It makes me want to post a picture of the card he gave me on Mother’s Day.  Please don’t think I’m bragging.  I know how hard the day can be for so many people…but on the other hand, I am needing the reminder of how great my kids are for me, I am feeling so emotional these days, in a good way at the same time being overwhelmed with change.  I want to be able to look back and see that I have a lot to be grateful for and that there was sweetness to these days, too.

How sweet is he! He’s always been such a joy to my heart.

Gosh, this is going to be an interesting day….heat, tired, emotional!

But you know what?  I am headed in to it with a smile and trusting that God has it all worked out even if I forget to realize that when I let myself get overwhelmed. 

I think I’ll watch some “I Love Lucy” until I have to get myself upright.

Have a great day.

The next few months will probably be what today was….wedding prep.  We didn’t accomplish too terribly much today but sometimes even if it’s just looking for something and finding out it isn’t carried is necessary.  Ever try to find a little boy’s brown suit?

The little imp, the bride, and I went to Oly for almost the whole day…but before we left, I got a text message on my phone and you know what it was?  An ultrasound picture of my grandbaby.  I have to say, I went nuts.  What a fun, fun thing.  Then if that wasn’t good enough, they were on their way home from their appointment as we headed out of town so we stopped partway and got to watch the movie of the ultrasound.  To see that little sweet pea moving all around was nothing short of thrilling.  Baby is due in late August and she is 11 weeks, 4 days into it.  Gosh, I’m dying to get knitting.

I want to thank everyone for their kind comments on the horrific bombing in Baghdad.  That boy, as ornery as he is, is a treasure and right now I am feeling pretty emotional about him.  I’m glad he lives in a safe place and is surrounded by people who love him.  On our way out of town, I got him a Happy Meal and told him he needed to eat the nuggets before he could have fries.  He is horrible about foods and we have been trying to get him to eat more meat…even in this form.  Well, he told me he had finished but I knew by the tone of his voice that he was being sneaky.  Sure enough, I found the nuggets all sans breading and under a book on the console.  Sooo, I told him to finish them again..and after he said they were done, we were stopping to wait for big sis and her video camera so I got out and looked and guess where they were this time…in the door handle. grrrrrrrrr   I did win the battle but man I get tired of that one.  But how I love him.

Here he is at his best at church yesterday.  We were doing bulletins and he was asked to help with the candy for visitors.

I’ve never had the nerve to take a flash picture but there’s enough commotion going on right at that moment that I just did.  Sadly, there was no one for him to give a bag to this time but he had his day in the sun and that’s all that matters.

And I did manage to get one of the cuffs done more to my liking…but not sure how this could happen, i lost the pink so didn’t get the 2nd one started.  How does that happen anyway?

I am going to be glad to be done with these colors.  My mom likes them, though, so that’s all that matters.  I didn’t notice until I saw the picture that I left off a row! oh wellllllllll…………

We have a busy few weeks coming up.  We were going to therapy today but the therapist got sick so we go in 2 weeks.  We have a dress fitting next Monday.  Then we will be heading off for a fundraiser at Grandma and Grandpa’s in Oregon.  We probably won’t really stay, too much to do.  Then the next week we have therapy again (uh oh, I just this second realized no we won’t, that’s the 3 day weekend and I bet the OT didn’t even think of that!) and then we have a fitting for orthotics for the little imp.  I dread it.  Just being honest.

We did something we never, never do.  We went to a matinee this afternoon, too.  We saw 27 Dresses.  I wish they’d leave out the bad language, it added nothing to the movie but thankfully there wasn’t much of it.  What a cute movie otherwise! 

And now, off to bed.  Thanks again for your kind words.  Tonight I just needed to ramble on and it’s just because that pain is running through my mind and I just needed to get myself out of hiding.  I’m not sure how this works that friends out in the cyber world can make such a difference in my life but I’m thankful it happens.  Blessings to all and thanks for being there.

Technorati Tags: Baby, Event, FO!, Imp, Knitting, Wedding

I pray you had a wonderful day filled with all you hoped it would be.

This Christmas, we were filled with a sense of gratitude for people and for God’s goodness in our lives.   It’s been a very interesting season leading up to today.  Even Sunday at church people were commenting on how difficult it was to get into the commercial side of things because of the storm.  We drove to Olympia after church and I haven’t really seen that highway in the daylight since the storm and I felt emotionally whipped after the trip.  It is just so shocking.  We’re not really stuck in the whole thing to the point that we can’t enjoy each other but as we continue to marvel…we really did go through something!  (and came out whole for the most part!)

It was an interesting week since I last posted.  The theater work was really affecting business in a huge way.  They had our street blocked off for several weeks and the last week especially, it was nearly impossible to find parking but we know in the long run, it will be a good thing.  Last Friday, they made good on their promise….

See the marquis reader board?  It’s still giving trouble, but they did get it running.  It will have the time and temperature along with whatever message they want running.

About an hour later, we were treated to this:

What was so cool was that there were quite a few people on the street clapping and whistling as it came to life.  It was pretty cool!  For our little town, this is a pretty exciting thing.  It is going to be fun to see the interior and I hear there is to be a little coffee shop opening soon in one of the front little shop areas.  We’ll get to have some big-name concerts here, evidently it’s something that can be done when bands come to the casino an hour away.  I don’t know how many I’ll go to, but I’ll get to watch the loading and unloading.

Moving along….

Our family always gets together with the extended family and the store crew (including some employees who retired 15 years ago) for a big breakfast.  The cafe we go to is closed on Christmas Eve, but they open to serve us and we get to order anything we want.  We put in our order a week ahead and we get seating with place cards and grouped by families.  I forgot to get my camera out, but we did have fun.

We had a crazy day at the shop.  I am closed on Mondays so my shop was not hopping although I did have several people pop in for last minute gifts.  For the most part, I gift wrapped in my family’s business and had a great time.  By 3 when we closed, I was really tired, but it was so much fun laughing and being silly when we were all getting pretty ready to be done.

We then go to my sister’s house for our big extended family gathering.  Poor number 1 son had a breakdown with his van on the way there so dinner was delayed while his girlfriend’s dad came to get them and take them home to our jeep.  We were only 10 miles away at my sister’s but her daddy was close enough to come help.  (we did get the van home today and it wasn’t as bad as we thought although the thing is on it’s last legs)

We got to come home and relax for about 2 hours before we headed to church.  Candlelight service is something we all look forward to every year.  We sing carols and have a brief message that is very low-key and personal.  Hubby only had had to schedule the music but actually got to sit with the family.  I was late getting to my seat because I went to find my friend who works in the office and we had a very special time of talking with each other.  The church has gone through some tough times that has divided family members and her family was especially affected, but we have definitely deepened our friendship over the past year and a half and we had a very positive time of talking and laughing together until we realized the service had started and my family was wondering where in the world I had disappeared to!

We have one little imp who evidently enjoys putting on his tux at least once a week so one big sis decided he needed to wear the jacket with his jeans to church on Christmas eve. 

The picture is dark but the smile is real.  One of the pastors took this picture at the candlelight service.  Notice the raw nose, he’s really been struggling with a whopping cold … owee.  He’s not very happy to blow the nose these days, it hurts.

I think hubby and I got to bed around 1 a.m. after we got home from church.

This morning, we woke up to the closest thing we see to a white Christmas.  It was kind of a fun touch.   

It was a little harder getting everyone together this year and we have come to the realization that life as we know it is going to be different now.  With one daughter married, one to be married and a son who will be married sometime in the near future, they have other places to go and other people who have become more of their focus. 

Most of us were together this morning and the little imp got a huge surprise.

A cell phone! Big sis has been trying to talk me into this for 2 years and we finally decided it was something to try.  The main reason we got this is to teach him responsibility…keeping ahold of it, keeping it charged, learning to call people, interacting a little more with others….then on top of that, he is a wanderer and with his phone we hope we won’t panic so much if we lose sight of him for a minute.  We know it won’t be a babysitter, but I can’t tell you the stressful times he has put us through.  Adding him to our family plan was pretty cheap.  And yes, we have all had several calls from him today but he received one call from one of our pastors and as he walked by the doorway on the phone and daddy asked him who he was talking to, he took the phone away from his mouth and in a stage whisper said, “it’s Pastor Rick!!!!”  He was pretty tickled.  We had anything that could cost us a lot of money blocked (texting, downloads, etc) and they assured us he could not call overseas.  I had a long talk with his case manager from Dept. of Developmental Disabilities and both she and our former case mgr. said they’ve seen families do this for kids who are a lot more involved than he is but for the same reason.  I’ll let you know if we made the right choice.  lol

And now to the knitting part, after I show you one of my gifts:

I know the lighting isn’t good, but can you see the knitting needles and yarn?  This is from hubby.  Here’s the front of the mug:

Can you read that on the inside rim?

Here’s another hint:

Yep, a week ago Saturday, we found out we’re going to be grandparents!  This is my wild knitting over the past week when I didn’t really have time.  These are Saartje’s booties and I’ve wanted to make them for quite some time.  They take very little time, I think it takes almost as much time to weave in the ends.  I tried the in the round version but wasn’t wild about knitting a row, purling a row and opted to do the original version.  Quite fun!!!

Here’s the inside of the little basket hubby put together for me

The new mommy really wants lots of hats. 

Baby isn’t due until the end of August so there is lots of knitting time from here to there but it’s going to be quite the year for us…another wedding and entry into the grandparent club!

As I was finishing this post, we got a call from #2 daughter and her fiance.  We had told the kids we were cutting back this year.  Our immediate family is now 9 people when you add the extras…and since we are not the main focus of their lives any more, we need to do things a little differently.  We have a tradition of giving pjs to the kids to wear on Christmas day and anyone who is hanging out here has to wear jammies on Christmas day.  We gave them to the kids before breakfast yesterday.  Today they got house socks (no, I didn’t knit them ~sad to say) and little Starbucks or Blockbuster gift cards and some money as well as their Christmas stockings filled with candy.  We had hung the tree with little Christmas buckets and put the money in those so when they opened their little gifts, we also gave those to them.  Well, the fiance was having his time with his family when we did that and then when he arrived, #1 son threw the little pail to him, it hit the floor and the lid popped off so the little bride handed it to him and said there was nothing in it so he wouldn’t be embarrassed looking.  It wasn’t until this evening as they were driving to his house that he thought it would have made sense if there was candy in it and when he opened it, he saw $$$.  They were embarrassed but laughing when they called.  She said she was so grateful for everything she got and was just fine with it all but now they felt terrible for not noticing or acknowledging it. Isn’t it funny how you think back to the things you said assuming they would know what you meant?  (like pooling $$$ and giftcards for something)  We just figured they could put their money together and get something or use it themselves but at this age, they usually want something that they appreciate the help getting there.  We’re all laughing now and I called the other kids to see if they had noticed there was anything in the pail.  I can only imagine how strange those two thought that was to be handed a silly little thing like that.  lol

The kids will be here soon for the exchange between themselves and games.  We’ve had our naps and are gearing up for the final round.  I haven’t even figured out if I’ll open my shop tomorrow.  (the nice thing about having it located inside my family’s business is if I’m not there, they’ll help out and call me if they need help).

My most sincere wishes for a very meaningful Christmas for you all!

Eek.  The holiday season is upon us and I feel anything but ready to do what needs to be done over the next month.  I’m quite certain I will get in the swing of it all soon, but not today.  I spent the day in the shop trying to get Christmas decorations up.  I can’t remember what I have but I know some of it is missing.  Hubby, kind soul that he is, came and took down my lights in the huge window that one section had burned out of and strung up new ones.  He also put a garland around my door.  That will help get me moving along, I’m sure.

The little imp is a little bugged.  He has this clock in him that says it is time for a tree…every year on Thanksgiving since he was about 5 he will start telling us on Thanksgiving day how the furniture needs to be arranged and where the tree goes…and it is TIME.  A few years ago, we changed where we put the tree and it took a few years to get over it.  He does not take well to change.  It’s life, buddy.  lol

Well, today, big brother asked him what he wanted for Christmas.  “Tree”, he said.  In other words, things must be done in order and he cannot move on until that tree is in place.  Thankfully he isn’t a greedy little fellow.  He usually wants one thing and is fine thinking about it.  This year it is High School Musical 2, available on DVD for the holidays.  That is exactly how he says it.  When an anticipated movie is coming out, we hear the commercial word for word. 

I happen to know that one new brother-in-law stood in the freezing cold for half an hour at Staples to get him something he knew he’d love.  I cannot stop telling all of my kids…my own and their chosen ones…how incredibly grateful I am.  I know that not all siblings are as patient and caring as mine are towards that one who had gotten much of the attention for many years, something that can’t always be helped.  But not only are we blessed with wonderful, caring children of our own, but they chose life partners who also love and value him.  It honestly makes me cry, good tears!

This year our extended family did something new.  We had a breakfast gathering at my sister’s.  Here’s a little glimpse.  I really just included my own family because I don’t know how the others would feel about being posted here.  (I couldn’t resist one picture of cousins and little baby, though)

The little imp had fun at therapy the other day.  I never could get a decent picture and even tried to take a little video but as soon as I started, he got distracted and it wasn’t worth trying to do anything with.  It was pretty funny.

Have I been knitting?  Yes.  i just haven’t gotten any pictures to post.  Nothing hugely exciting.  I was really wiped out on Thanksgiving day and instead of knitting, I vegged out instead.  After the breakfast, all of our kids went the other directions and it was just the little imp, hubby, my mom and I.  We had a nice dinner but after I cooked and cleaned the kitchen twice (while hubby undertook a huge project), I just did not much of anything when I was done until the kids arrived to play games.

Here’s our Saturday sky.

About an hour after I took this, I walked into the kitchen and commented on the moon….I tried to go out on the deck to take a picture of it but when I went out there, I couldn’t see it so hubby and #1 son both went out and started snapping pics.  Ahh, the joys of being tall.

I want to say thank you to all the friends I have made on here.  Tis the season to be thankful and I truly am.  It’s been a fun venture.  I was a little leery of putting myself out here like this, but have found it to be a huge blessing because of all the friends I have made.  I wish you all God’s best during this Christmas season.  Remember to stop and be thankful for the good things in your life.  Remember, too, that even the hard things work good things in us if we let them so there’s something to be thankful for there, also. 

I’m still around.  I’m still knitting.  However, it doesn’t seem too exciting to show you the next 2 inches on my afghan square.  It’s still 2 steps forward, 1 step back.  It’s an easy knit, I just keep gaining stitches.  I’m so ready to be done with it and move on to something else but am not hating knitting it.  Life has been more occupied with things like paperwork… the not so fun side of running a business.

For some odd reason, I lost Paint Shop Pro on my computer so it is installing right now.  I probably shouldn’t be doing this at the same time, but if it isn’t right, I’ll just start over.  Where do these things disappear to?   

Pretty exciting things at the shop…we got wireless installed this week.  I’m not dragging my laptop with me every day, but my family’s business (inside which my own little shop is located) was still on dial-up and they started having problems with their UPS program so we decided it was time to do something about it.  They are now able to share my dsl connection and the benefit is that my customers can bring in their laptops and play on Ravelry, our new past time. 

Today was rather interesting.  I had a very inebriated gentleman pop in and ask if I was hiring.  I was trying to help a lady with a knitting problem.  I told him no, I wasn’t..so he kindly asked me to sign his paper stating he had asked about work and that I had paid him nothing and he blessed us all and left.  My customer dropped her head to the counter laughing, my sister and another worker from the family business were eating their lunch there and said the looks on our faces were priceless.  He had just come from the skincare business next door, and before that had gone to a very exclusive gift shop.  Obviously, he does not really want to work as he visits  businesses that are not likely to need his help.  Kinda sad, I thought.

I have no knitting pictures but I did want to share my most favorite tree in the whole world.

I have lived across the street from this tree for over 20 years.  I think of the time I was sick for about 6 weeks or when I was pregnant on bed rest and I’d lay on the couch for hours watching the leaves.  It is the last tree in the neighborhood to get leaves and the last to lose them every fall.  it won’t be long before it will be bare again…we usually have a big windstorm that ends up blowing most of the leaves down the hill many blocks away.  Only one time did the wind blow at us and we had basketloads of leaves to clean up. 

Right after I took the picture above, the sun started shining through it … isn’t this just beautiful?  (my yard doesn’t look anything like this…but this is what I get to see every day!)

The oldest son just came home with a slight problem.  He had a package of superglue in his pocket that started leaking, he reached in to pull it out and it bonded to his finger.

Let me tell you how proud I am of my kids.  Our church takes part every year in Operation Christmas Child where we fill shoeboxes with gifts for children.  The year, all 3 of my older kids are choosing to do their own and they are taking great care in filling their boxes with nice things.  On the other hand, the little imp and I went the other day to fill ours and all he had to say when I asked him what we were doing was “the little boy.  I’m tired.”   lol  Oh well, one of these years.

Do you notice the silly shirt my big boy has on?  I don’t want to start a political discussion here, but the daughter just returned from a trip to DC and this is what she brought him.  Perfect for the clown he is. 

Her fiance and his family had opportunity to visit the President in the Oval Office.  The girl didn’t get to do that part, but she did get to see the Oval Office in a tour the night before.  They did lots and lots of sightseeing and visiting areas around DC also.  What an opportunity.  Last night, one of our friends commented that he’s been to DC many times but never has he been able to come close to seeing anything like the Oval Office. 

They originally planned to take a day trip to New York City but that got nixed by one of the sisters.  I wish she could have done that…Lord knows she’s heard me talk about it enough…but they had a great time and that may have been too much. 

How fun is this that they sent me pictures over the days they were there to show me what they were seeing.  Who’d have ever thought.  Every few hours my phone would beep and I’d get to see where they were.

Well…what a mishmash of info.  Knitting content to return soon.

Good morning.

It’s been a busy, busy week.  Good busy.  I forgot last week to show the beautiful moon we saw when we were headed out on our date.  Every night the sky has been just beautiful.

It’s not the best quality picture but I did have hubby stop the car so I could take it.  It seems I have started to see life differently these days and I often want to stop and enjoy.  A good thing, eh?  As soon as we started driving away, the moon moved away from the trees and kept getting prettier when we could actually see it.

The little daughter and her fiance flew across the country last night.  When I got up this morning, I had a beautiful text photo message of the wing of their airplane and the sunrise.  I’m glad she got to make the trip she’s making.  She’s with his family and they have taken her in as their own.  They had this incredible opportunity which I’ll tell you about later.  His mom bought some yarn and was going to have her help her with knitting since they were flying all night and she knew she wasn’t going to sleep.  I think that she didn’t actually end up knitting, though.  All I know is they are all exhausted and trying to rest at the moment.  Yea for text messaging!!!

I’m doing a little bit of play swatching in the eternal quest for making something to wear.

I swatched for the Minimalist Cardi awhile back and while it is something I really think I would like to make, I’m not sure it’s what I want to do now.   The color is really washed out, this is really a medium heathery chartruese-y green.  I’m not feeling any kind of stress or pressure to do this, just am wanting to do something different so I can have one more wip.  lol

It’s date night and I am looking forward to it.  Next week, everyone but the little imp and I are going to a worship conference for 3 days.  So, my date will be with one little imp.  I think we may do something fun like a trip out of town and a matinee at a new theater.  The next week, hubby and I have a meeting we have to go to (the nerve of people setting things on our date night!!!!) so I plan to enjoy tonight to the fullest. 

Post date:

Isn’t it fun when friends stop by to visit?  The last half hour of work today, 2 friends stopped in.  We ended up standing outside in the cold talking about how much we love Seattle’s Chocolate and I have to admit I got really hungry for some.  There is a drug store a block from my shop that sells it and I may have to go visit them tomorrow for a piece. (or 5)  Hubby and I often like to share a chocolate bar on our date night when we drink our Starbucks. 

Had a great date tonight.  I was so blessed when I got a table at B&N Cafe and the lady who works there smiled so big and said hi…she has started working days so we don’t get to see her as often any more.  She said “Oh!  I’d better get your coffee started!”  because I like decaf drip Starbucks.  It just made me feel so special, isn’t it great when you feel like someone went out of their way to please you?  They don’t make decaf at night any more but they’ll make it for me because I don’t like Americanos.  I am ever so grateful. 

Edited one hour after this was posted to add to the drama of the day.  It appears our bottom element in our oven burned out and hubby concocted a way to cook pizza for one small boy who was expecting it…we had a fire in the oven and we had quite the time to get the smoke alarm to turn off.  What do we do?  Go to bed and start again tomorrow?   lol 

We had therapy today and on the way up, we hit a deer.  Hours later, I am still nauseated.  The daughter was driving and her fiance was in the front. My head was buried in my afghan book when I heard him calling her name .  He saw it coming, she didn’t.  He was on the phone and thought she’d seen it.  I am so proud of her.  She hit the brakes hard but didn’t swerve at all.  When my head came up to see what was happening, the deer was directly in front of us but we came out of it with a small dent in the driver side front.  There were cars both beside us and behind us and how we didn’t end up in a big accident I have to say was God’s protection.  We pulled over and then I started to realize how close we came to tragedy and when I called hubby, I kind of fell apart.  I am so, so sad to say we don’t think the deer made it.  I am so sorry to have to report that but it just came out of nowhere as they do.  We called 911 to see what to do but they said there was nothing we could do. 

We did end up going for therapy and I’m glad.  Hubby called about half an hour later to see how we were and asked to talk to the little guy and I was so blessed to hear him calmly asking questions to make sure he was ok.  He seemed to understand what had happened.  The thing that really scared me was he got out of the car on the freeway side, he doesn’t understand to be careful, he just wanted to see what was going on.  I was so glad hubby thought to call and talk to him, though. 

Ok..I need to move on.  He had fun at therapy today.  We’re working on life skills.

He hates this part but was happy to show the fiance what he does.

And he got to show what he does outside, too.

When we got back into town, I ran into the shop and grabbed the new colors that came in for my afghan.  I’ll see if I can settle down enough to knit tonight, probably I’ll pick an easy square tonight.  I did start on one on the way up but am not sure it’s the one I want to work on right now.

We had therapy today and after we were done eating, I started digging in my purse and gosh….no wallet.  This is the girl speaking who lost her debit card last week.  Thankfully, the bride-to-be had her debit card in the car so she went to get it and refused to let me pay her back.  Kind of embarrassing.  They don’t take checks at Red Robin and the server did tell me I could just come back.

I did find my wallet in my yarn bag that I almost didn’t bring with me.  I always have some of my stuff in that bag, too…but rarely do I put something like that in there.  You know how you start desperately thinking about where you had it last.  Ahhh, well, lunch was good.

We did a bit of wedding idea shopping and that was fun.  Therapy is going to take a new direction.  We are going to continue working on what we’ve been doing (handwriting, gross motor skills) but we are going to work towards life skills, too.  In that arena, he helped take care of her plants today.

We stopped by Barnes and Noble on the way home and  he made himself comfortable.

(there is a High School Musical dvd game there and he is obsessed with looking at it.  He has a HSM cd game but he thinks he needs anything that has that name on it)

I snuck a picture of him yesterday at church before we left.  We stayed through the first part of 2nd service because yesterday was the day we had the engagement announced.  I wish I had had my camera out when they did the announcement because they asked the couple to stand up and he stood up with them.  It was adorable.  I was sitting against the wall so I got a cute perspective of it.

He was singing at the top of his lungs, it was so sweet.

And in the knitting world.  I got to ride today so I got a good bit of progress on the Lucky Lurker sock. 

I got new sock blockers!

(and I figured out why my pictures have been so foggy…the lens had some crud on it.  How in the world does that happen when it only comes out to snap a picture, then goes back into the camera?)