sherriknits

Ok..2nd try.  My internet connection broke when I was trying to publish my post so here I go again!

Tonight was knit night and I finished my first Tofutsie Limited Edition sock!  They are short, but that’s what I like in a summer sock.  It was a fairly easy pattern, just enough to be interesting.  The chart was easy to follow, though.

I always enjoy visiting with friends and tonight was a smaller group.  I thought we got pretty philosophical.  My conclusion is that we are pretty complicated beings. 

When I got home, I was looking at some blogs and when I visited Mary’s blog, I got so intrigued with her strawberry trick.  I was wishing I’d have stopped at the strawberry stand when I drove by and thought about it.  Get this, about 10 minutes later, my daughter said, “Mom, did you know we have strawberries in the refrigerator?”  So, I found a straw and played with them myself!

How cute are these?

Mary ate hers with chocolate ice cream, but whoever was so kind to buy strawberries also bought chocolate dipping sauce!

I’m still loving my new dishes!

Other than that, I got my replacement iPod today and guess what?  I cannot get the computer to recognize it, it was on the charger all day and towards evening it went dead.  It had this sad little face on it and when I went to their website today, it said that is almost always an indication of a hardware problem.  I tried calling the help line and got all these options that did not apply.  Then the recording said, if none of these things apply, call this number.  I called that number and got almost the same options…and then it said, if none of these options apply, call this number…and it was the first number they gave me!  I emailed them today and have not heard back.  I am kind of not happy about this!

Every Friday night is date night, it’s a rare week it doesn’t happen.  Everyone who knows us knows not to ask us to do anything.  Once in awhile we will share our time with someone else, but mostly not.  What do we like to do?  Some people find this a bit humorous but our favorite thing is just to go to Barnes and Noble and drink coffee and read together.  It’s our “down time” … we love that quiet time together.

Tonight we got hamburgers and drove to the bay to eat them.

(that’s hubby’s sleeve)

I am going to have to practice setting up a shot, but you get the idea.

It was so warm!  We live an hour away and it was cool here all day!

I got my new copy of Simply Knitting.  I’m not sure if I keep buying this because I enjoy the magazine (which I do) or the fun little gifts you get with it.  This month it is a needle pouch.  I’m a sucker for a free gift.

Now here’s what’s nutty.  I printed out the pattern to my sock before I left work since I wasn’t sure where I’d put the first one.  I folded it up and went to get my GoKnit bag to stuff it in on top of hubby’s sock and then gathered my stuff and came home.  Do you think I could find that pattern anywhere when we were headed out of town? 

Before I left work, I had knit one lace pattern plus one row (a 4 row pattern).  I did not want to waste that knitting time because I love knitting in the car when it’s so beautiful out.  I decided that I was smart enough to figure it out and lo and behold!  Look what I managed to do!

In case you are wondering, that is my dying clover plant.

Anyway, that is about 40 minutes worth of knitting and the pattern is so simple that I could actually knit it from memory after going through it one time!  woo hoo!  I am still having to force myself to push on through the fuzziness that has been part of my mind for such a long time…and this was one major step ahead for me!  I am smarter than this, really I am.  Maybe I am going to start *finishing* WIPs sometime soon!

It is official, summer can begin.   It was a great day and I got a new camera!  We drove an hour and a half to pick it up and straight back home.  There was a little bit of a charge on it, so I held it over my head and got this shot, not bad, eh?

Then we have to have the road going by so we can check out the image stabilization

and then through the front dirty window

As you can see, it was a beautiful day.

But, you may be asking, why can we let summer officially begin?  Because I had the pleasure of having my first “porch knitting” with a good friend.  I had 30 minutes to vacuum the cushions before she came and it was great.  I actually think we missed all of last year, so this was an awesome way to start the season.  After my camera charged, I played with it a bit.  This is a favorite little table that used to be bright white.  I kind of think it shows a lot of character these days, but I may repaint if I get ambitious.  It used to be a phone stand I guess.

(and guess what!  I love my cups with my new Fiestaware!)  I love how clear the pictures are, too.

Here are the friend socks hanging out together.  The white one was pre-frogging.  The pattern made the cables look a little odd because of the direction they went.  The sock is now back to this size and she was right, it was the ‘right thing to do’.  She didn’t take my advice and I’m glad.

Before my friend showed up, I measured my sock against the first sock and had an inch to go.  I don’t know how long we sat and knit, at least an hour, and when I measured again, I had an inch to go.  What’s that all about?  I actually did get to the heel flap tonight.  (after twice measuring and having two rows to go, measure again, still two rows!  lol)

We came inside to eat barbecued hot dogs and watch “Benny and Joon”.  What an odd, humorous movie! 

i will leave you with two questions…..

do you think it’s amusing when some people show their childhood fear of jack-in-the-boxes?  lol  it seemed to be great cause for giggling in this house tonight by two certain people.

and would you refuse to be walked home by someone who looked like this?

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.

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
:-)” 

Here I sit at 11:12 pm and wonder if I ever had a minute to think all day!

Hubby woke me up at 6:30 when he left for Bible study.  Don’t laugh, but he always has to tell me the day of the week and where he is going because I am almost always no where near the surface of consciousness when he leaves.   I needed to be up and moving and ready to leave the house by 8.  About 15 minutes after he left, I flew out of bed and was downstairs before I even knew I was awake.  I hate those kinds of starts!  (he told me tonight he almost called to see if I’d gotten up)

Anyway, oldest daughter and I made a run through Starbucks and then picked up my sister and headed to the bridal shop for my appointment.  I tried on about 8 dresses and actually found a few that I liked but picked one finally.  It’s so weird to try on dresses in every size and use clips to make them work…then you pick the color and they order it to be made in China…and if you are like me, you get to pay extra to have it flown from there rather than take the slow boat overseas because if I did it the regular way, I’d have it a month after the wedding.  Since I am short, there is never that dress in stock.  I hope I’m happy with it when I get it because I am stuck with it and suffering from sticker shock right now.  The dress actually has some bling bling to it but is otherwise subtly nice.  I did have lots of fun with my sister and my daughter!

We had to get back to town for her to go talk to the baker about her cake.  She literally dumped me off at my shop to get there on time.  Meanwhile, I got picked right up to go to the little “surprise” birthday party.  My dear friend picked up all of my part (little cakes, strawberries, flowers, etc.) because of my change in plans at the last minute to go dress shopping.  The party was fun and the birthday girl was very appreciative!

The party took place behind her counter at her shop…but it is still always festive.

I got one call from my shop and my cell phone went dead while I was trying to help.  I then dropped in to work for awhile….  I had a customer come in as I was getting a phone call from my bride daughter who was horribly upset because Walmart would not print the engagement picture she had because it was on a disk from the photographer that they had paid big bucks extra to have the rights to the pictures.  They won’t print without a release.  I do understand copyright but how do you explain that to a sobbing girl who is needing them for the invitation-making party tomorrow after the first big shower?  She couldn’t get ahold of the photographer to get the release.  Not sure on what we’ll do on that one yet but she did bring us a digital photo on a disk because I told her we’d take care of it for her when we went on our date tonight.  Get this…the computer at the store would not read the disk.  Dad will deal with this tomorrow while we are at the shower.

As I said, I worked when I had time today. I had two friends stop in and it was fun to sit a minute and visit. When the shop closed, we went back out of town for our date and had #2 daughter and boyfriend double-dating with us.  We spent time at Walmart, Target (getting the utensils that we are to bring w/our shower gifts tomorrow) and Barnes and Noble for coffee and a little quiet time. 

You know what’s cool?  The cafe manager at B&N made a rule that no decaf was to be made after a certain time in the evenings.  The employees said that certain nights, there are customers who only like drip decaf but they were told to make Americanos instead.  I do not really like Americanos.  The baristas started trying to wait as long as they could before they made that last pot so yours truly would get a fresh one.  Then there was a big changeover in staff.  Over the past month or so, they started telling hubby….”you know the drill.  No drip decaf.  Do you want an Americano or drip?”  He’d say “Drip, please” and they’d make it!  Tonight when we walked in, I heard one of the ladies say “Put on the decaf!”  I cannot tell you what a blessing that is to me!  Hubby drinks regular and I drink decaf.  Last week, the one girl who wouldn’t ever make the drip very often was working and I said I thought I’d have an iced latte instead.  She looked at me so surprised and asked if I didn’t want drip?  I said sure! and she made it.  The little things in life that make us feel special should never go unnoticed or unappreciated! 

A few weeks ago, we got to take little boy on our date because we had no sitter that night.  The one lady there in the cafe was pretty intrigued at this little glance into our lives.  I wondered if she’d think about it.  The next time we were there, she asked if we brought our chaperone.  We said no, my mom was back on duty.  She was a little curious and we told her laughingly that’s why we love this quiet time reading and drinking coffee together.  She said, “No wonder you guys come so regularly!”  LOL   She thought he was adorable and he was so well-behaved sitting with his stack of books.  (lest you think it’s always that way….please look the other way if you see me trying to haul him out of the dvd section at Walmart!  Quite another child then.)

When we got home tonight, that dear little boy was ready for bed and we found the usual line of cars on the table.  This isn’t the best representation of that and the boy was tired but as usual, ready to pose for a picture.

He has talked all week how big brother and girlfriend are taking him to see Spiderman 3 Friday.  He counts down the days and yesterday was saying “tomorrow”.  I finally remembered to ask and found out it’s next week…so now we start the count down again.  I’m glad big brother is willing to include him on the big premier because it is totally expected by this little boy! 

Tomorrow starts another day of craziness.  I think I better get used to it for awhile because wedding plans are now in full swing!

I haven’t been knitting much because I have been spending most of my time getting my very much neglected bookkeeping done.  To “relax”, I’ve been playing with this.  Before I go to bed tonight, I have to move mountains of paper off the floor…but I just needed to take a break and play a little.  Hopefully soon, I will get back to what’s important…knitting!!!

PS….previous blog entries are here