sherriknits

I’ve had so much baby stuff and wedding stuff that I wanted to show a little bit of knitting that is slowly happening.  Mostly I work on this at work, but sometimes I bring it in the car when we’re headed somewhere. 

I think I might have shown this before.

I haven’t knit with self-striping yarn for awhile so it’s kind of fun again, just a generic sock pattern that I always do.

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the last day to get yourself entered for the blogiversary drawing. I’ll take all comments that happen by Sunday night at midnight…and then have the little imp draw on Monday morning.

And I did win someone else’s drawing!  Susan was also having a blogiversary and her daughter drew my name so I get a cute little notebook from England!  Thanks, Susan!

Tomorrow I have another wedding shower so I need to get rested up, maybe I should go help hubby make dinner first!  Have a great weekend!

Technorati Tags: blogiversary, knitting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Technorati Tags: Blogiversary, Imp, Memories, Wedding

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

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

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

Technorati Tags: Wedding

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Technorati Tags: Imp, Knitting, BSJ, Wedding

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is how they remedy the sleeve being too long.

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

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

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

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

I smiled for the rest of the day.

Technorati Tags: Imp, Knitting, Wedding

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

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

Just to prove he does smile these days…

blurry and dark but a smile nonetheless.

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

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

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

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

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

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

later….

Technorati Tags: Imp, iPod, Blogiversary, Wedding

The shrug is done and we like it.

And now I am hooked on knitting these.  (not with hooks…lol…I’m a needle girl and LOVE knitting lace!)

Technorati Tags: FO!, Knitting, Wedding

I have been having some pretty major sleep problems the last month or so.  It’s making me do some pretty careless things.

Saturday, I discovered my cell phone was missing.  Wouldn’t you know that the battery died so my usual calling it doesn’t work.  We have looked and looked.  I know it is somewhere close at hand, no one has been using it.  I finally called Verizon today and had to suspend service and then called the insurance and will have a new one tomorrow. I still have 7 days to find my old phone and could return the new one in that time.  It’s awful not having a phone.  I had to borrow the imp’s phone several times today (ewwwwwwwww……it is grossly sticky) and the bride had several calls for me while we were out of town. 

This afternoon, I discovered that my debit card is missing.  I know when I used it.  I bought lunch with it for several people on Saturday while at the shop rather than take all of their money and try to sort it out in the drive-thru.  Well, when I got back to the shop, I dumped a whole soda on the floor of my car and who knows where my card ended up during that time.  I am more than frustrated at myself.  I guess I will visit the bank tomorrow if I can’t unearth it tonight.

Ahhh, well…such is life.

Today was a rat race from the moment my feet hit the floor.  I had to call my voicemail to confirm what time our therapy appointment for the little imp was.  Me thinks she had it wrong because the same day we scheduled his next appointment, we went to the dressmaker and had a fitting and scheduled the second fitting around the therapy appointment but when the therapist called my missing cell phone to remind me, she had the same time as the dressmaker appointment so we got that changed.  She did call us on the bride’s phone during lunch and said we could come at either of the times.  We ate lunch early and headed to Target for a 20 minute timekiller and that did not go over well with one little imp.  When we realized we were going to be a few minutes late, sis dragged him through the store as he kept repeating….”bye, Target, I’ll be back!”

The therapy appointment was not one of the most fun.  We start with him making copies of the handwriting book.  She needs him to turn to page 36-37.  He is turning one page at a time and taking so long to read each page number so I suggest he turn several pages at once.  “What!?!???!” he says in the funniest voice?  It only slowed him down.  From that point on, he was totally contrary.  Thankfully, the therapist just ‘gets it’ and says we’ll just work with what we’ve got today.  There is really no sense in fighting it, not for a 1 hour therapy session.  He did have fun on the swing using the claw to pick things up so we ended on a decent note. 

Then we raced to the dressmaker.  We have to go in a little room and I was thrilled to see that when she dressed, the little imp put his hood over his head on his own.  lol, he has learned well.  I was going to ask him to stand out in the hall, but wasn’t sure how the dressmaker would feel about it since he’d likely put his fingers on her walls and the bride definitely needs help getting into the dress. 

Here’s a funny pic of him through the mirror.

Something struck him funny as he sits surrounded by all that wedding fru-fru.

I am so tickled.  The bride is going to wear my pearls with her dress.  She wore them today so we could try them with the dress and they look beautiful.  My grandma gave me my pearls when I was a little older than the bride is now.  They have long been one of my best treasures and get more beautiful with age.  I need to check into seeing if they need to be restrung, but how special to have her wear them on her most special day. 

On the knitting front, I am making progress on LU.  What an easy pattern.  I have to lay it aside for a bit while I work on something for the bride, but am confident this will be finished before long.

It’s knit in the Turkish stitch which is repetitious and easy.

Every night lately we’ve been having the most beautiful sunsets.  Five minutes before this, the sky was gray…and 2 minutes after I took this, it was even brighter but I couldn’t get back outside in time to snap another picture.  Five minutes later, it was dark.

The soon-to-be married couple has vacated the premises tonight so it’s just hubby and the imp and I home.  I hope to be in bed early tonight because tomorrow is another busy day.

Technorati Tags: Event, Imp, Knitting, Wedding

I have dreaded this day but there wasn’t a need.

Four years ago, we got orthotics for the little imp.   You cannot even imagine the fun that was.  He hated them.  I started to get so apprehensive every morning when I had to force his feet into the shoes after I had strapped him into the orthotics.  It wasn’t long before he was hiding them and over time, we forgot about using them.

Well, the feet continued to get worse.  This is fairly common in our little friends with DS.  Our new therapist began to worry about those dear feet and we made an appointment to go to the foot clinic held every few months for these special little kids.  Well, the appointment was early December and when the time came, we were digging out of storm damage and Centralia where we had to go was under water the week before.  The clinic was bumped forward a week, but emotionally we just couldn’t do it….life was hard and I was up for jury duty as well as the fact that after all the fallen trees, I didn’t feel up to seeing floodwater damage there (some parts of town were literally under 10 feet of water!).  So, we asked to be re-scheduled for the next clinic…which fell to today. 

The morning was awful.  I got up not feeling well and then I couldn’t find his medical coupon since we know our insurance will reject the claim.  We finally just left without it.  What is that time warp that happens when you need to get out the door?  We ended up late and getting behind a sllllooooowww truck.  We did make it to the clinic right on the minute, but a bit stressed.

You know what?  The physical therapist who does this casting was beyond wonderful.  She is used to working with other little imps and said we just need to figure out something he will buy into so he will cooperate with us.  Obviously we are defeating a purpose if he won’t wear them.  I forgot my camera  but hubby snapped a few with his phone.  Sad to say we didn’t get the cast foot….

The good news is that the therapist will meet us at a shoe store that specializes in shoes just for this purpose but they *look* like regular shoes.  They will make him a customized insert that will not have toe straps.  She said it looked very possible to treat the foot in a way that shouldn’t cause him a lot of grief and his feet may feel better enough that he may ask for his shoes to be worn (although I feel skeptical about that at this point). 

I was so grateful.  We do not let this boy get away with all of his whims, but this one just got too much.  Many professionals only see their little area of expertise when looking at these kids and can’t understand why you fall apart, but she really *got it* when I said it wasnt’ the only thing we were trying to deal with, as his therapist at the time had to remind me of over and over.  He is one mess of things all rolled in to one sweet body. 

So, whew…that one is over and I came back to town and actually knit a bit this afternoon in total enjoyment with good friends.  (and the imp spent the afternoon with his favorite person in the world….Dad!)  And then I got Dad for a date tonight.  On our way out of town, we found out he does not have to go away for a conference next week and I am oh so happy. 

And now, my bed calls.

Technorati Tags: Event, Imp, Knitting

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