OH I Want to Vent

but I have not the time to do so. ***scream*** Seriously!!!? I'm ok, just annoyed at something stupid. Actually like 8 stupid things, but that's a venting that will have to wait.

I CAN report that I have finished the sweater and taken a very unflattering picture of myself in it, and hopefully it's the picture and not me - lol It's very warm and I love it and it's a GOLD medal for finishing it before the closing ceremonies. I will soonishly take a better picture and post it here.

My second project is in the wings, I've turned the upside down heels that I was so scared of, and it's actually sorta great. I didn't think I would like it, but I do.

Yes, both heels are turned and I'm making good progress up the ankle. The above pic was taken just after the heels were turned. So there's more progress than what is pictured. I have only two days left (not counting today since I have to RUN and clean my house for company) to finish them. Hope I can do it!

must mantra now....

Positive thoughts positive vibes and yes I can keep from going on a rant - I think I can I think I can - ARG!

On a Happier Note...

You guys are probably right, it's just those Winter knitter no sun yarn splittin blues. Most of the snow is gone, we still have patches and piles and the humiliated remains of snow men hither and thither.

I've been watching the Olympics quite a bit and it's pretty exciting with all the speed and snow and crashes and medals and stuff =) At the moment I'm watching curling and listening to the screaming Deutschlanders - those guys can really yell. I always wonder if the players of this particular sport ever stop and float out of their bodies and look at themselves and think, "This is a lot of stress over a bit of granite and some funny shaped brooms." Probably not, I always think about that, volley ball, basket ball, football, tennis, whatever it is, I look at it and think - "all these people are so serious about smacking a ball around" lol

Anyway, the real point of this post isn't the philosophical approach to games, but rather the fact that my long languishing sweater has a sleeve that is nearly complete. The Olympics are good for me! Here's the sleeve sharing the limelight with a very funny niece of mine.

The Knitting Olympics and Whining - Whinging

I am watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Vancouver and it's a very moving experience. I have been in that place where a person just needs to cry, anyway, and it helps to have something that provokes the tears, rather than trying to get up that momentum on my own.

Hopefully joining the Knitting Olympics will help me get out of my - well I was calling a knitting slump, but it has been more like an unintentional boycott.

It speaks to where my head is at the moment. A little down, frustrated and in a bit of a rut. Nothing too monumental or fear inspiring. No dangers of slipping off the face of sanity or any of those freaky places I've been. Just ... I don't know how to explain it. Maybe I'm just wallowing in my freakish not quite misery.

Probably I just need a new project of some sort. Stop thinking so much and try to learn French very quickly. haha Not that I have been SO down, it's just one of those states of being where a wash of sad goes over you every now and then. It sort of came to a head Wednesday when I had my therapy and talked about some things that have been bothering me and it all led back to my dad and some old junk and sorting through it is a chore.

What a bummer I am! lol somebody slap me!

Fiddle dee dee - tomorrow is another day =)

Side note, we got about 12 inches of snow yesterday! It was/is awesome and I love it and it did cheer me up that I got the exact amount I was hoping for =) The kids were out in it most of the day making forts and snow people and having epic snowball fights.

There's the torch! Better dig out that sweater and at least get my

needles in the right row.

Au revoir mes amis!

A Little Progress to Show

This is hardly any sooner than the last post, but at least this time I have a decent reason *read excuse* =) About 8 weeks ago I got a pretty bad migraine that never went away completely, and it was only last week that it finally went away. Needless to say, it was not easy to focus on much more than the every day stuff to get through it. Fortunately I have a super good friend with an array of diagnostic tools who fixed me up last Saturday, and I've been mostly back to normal since.

I'm not loving this picture so much, but it's the best I could do at the time. There was half of a sleeve, but it was looking very wonky - I'm not using a pattern really, just knitting by the seat of my pants as usual. So I ripped it out and looked up some online instructions for sleeve decreases.

I haven't restarted the sleeve yet, but maybe that's something I can get to fairly soon. I've been wanting to do color work and lace and socks, so I'm hoping to get out of being bogged down on this sweater and do something else.

At first I was thinking about doing bell sleeves, but as cute as they are, they aren't very practical. I'm still thinking about it though.

Anyway, hopefully there will be another post and real progress to report soon.

What a Neglected Blog this is!

I have not been spending my time wisely, and it shows. My knitting is sitting next to me languishing away instead of wrapping itself around me to keep me warm during the first real Winter we have had in Texas for 20 years or so. Hopefully, when I put down my computer (the real cause of all my wasted knitting time) I'll take said knitting, a flattering sweater to be, if I'm not punished for taking so long to finish it by the powers that be in knitting lore.

Stacks of clean laundry also taunt me from their temporary residence, my broken and holey papasan. One of these days fairly soon, I am going to have to invest in new, less easily breakable furniture. That particular piece was given to us 11 or 12 years ago, and I bought another one around the same time. For such cheap things, they did last quite awhile, but they just couldn't stand up to the sort of abuse that comes with being in the constant company of children. My sisters were little when they were newish, and they delighted in running and jumping into them. Then my own children had the same inclinations once they came along. I guess a papasan just has that look that says, "Please come and jump into me, I'm so very fluffy and comfy. =) We also have what is called an "everything that touches your body is leather" sectional sofa. Leather is good, but this sort of furniture has many drawbacks. The vinyl that isn't supposed to touch you, absolutely does touch you, especially once it gets is gets cracked and sharp it leaves microscratches on your legs and arms. One of the cushions is also coming apart at the seams, and though I've stitched it back up, is coming apart again. I guess I need twine to do that and tide us over till we get to the point that we make said investment a reality.

Why am I regaling anyone with the life and times of my furniture? Probably because that's what is in front of me, along with carpet that needs a vacuum's attention. Oh well, at least MOST of the laundry is done, even if it's not quite made it upstairs.

Back to this actual Winter we are having. We have had snow four times, if memory serves. One of those snow storms even lasted all day and stayed on the ground in drifts and patches for nearly a whole week. That is very rare, here. Usually, it's 70 degrees F today, 30 tomorrow with snow flurries and then back to 75 the next day. It's been nice actually having Winter for me, since I am really a Northerner by birth. Heat really takes it out of me.

Speaking of cold, I seriously need to get to making more wool socks! Cotton just doesn't cut it when it's cold. So this means, I am rededicating myself to knitting and shall put down the computer (for a few minutes at least) and get to it.

I think I could finish this sweater in a day or two, if I just did that - get TO it already. I am just finishing up the bottom, then I have the sleeves, and they should progress very quickly. I think I'll go to FB and ask for knitting encouragement! Until next time, here are some snowy pics to tide you over till I have proof of knitting =)

3 Weekends and a Monkey

Ok, there's no monkey, but monkeys always cheer me up. It's been a series of tiring weekends, though.

1st weekend I drove 3 hours North East to move my brother to a new town, job and situation. It's a good move for him and I'm happy for him. Of course the kiddos were sad and they cried for 30 minutes on the way home. On that Saturday, I learned that one of my favorite people was in the hospital and not doing well. The town he and his wife live in is probably 2 1/2 hours South of where I was and then another 3 hours home. So I decided to make the trip the next weekend.

The 2nd weekend came around, and we (the kids and I again) drove the 3 hours East to go see this favorite person of mine, who is by this time, in hospice. Yeah, totally not good. So we, my best friend and I go see my person. It was really sad, because he hardly resembled himself, but I talked to him and joked with him for a while. His mind and humor were completely intact, in spite of how tired he was. His room was full of family, some I knew and some I didn't. I'm not related to him but one of his daughters was married to someone I've known since I was a kid, who later became part of my step-family. (but that's a side point) The way he became one of my favorite people is a sweet story, though. When I was about 20/21 or so, my other best friend and I were looking for a place to rent together. We had always planned to be room-mates. Well, somehow we heard that someone in our congregation had a little trailer on their place and they might consider renting it out. I say little, but really it was pretty roomy for two girls with hardly any stuff. 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 bath. It was the wife, who was in our congregation, and her husband wasn't so we didn't know him. In spite of that, we did all our dealing with him and I don't really know what it was about him that both of us fell in love with (not in a gross way, b/c he is older than both of our dads) but he had this mischievous twinkle in his eyes and such a cute funny smile. Anyway, after talking to him a while and looking at how much work we would have to do to the place, he gave us the price he thought fair. To be totally honest, we thought it was fair, too, but we still needed to think about it and talk about before we'd give him a certain 'yes' or 'no' answer. I think we were about to get in the car to go, and he chased us down and said he'd forgotten about some certain little detail and said he would rent it to us for THIS amount instead of the one we had talked about just a few minutes ago. We didn't quite understand how his calculations came down after he remembered that, because it would actually have added to the cost, but come down it did, and we totally jumped on it, in case he might come to his senses and change his mind. I think though, that he fell in love with us, too, and that he just wanted to rent it to us. It was such a sweet deal, I'm almost embarrassed, thinking back, at how cheap it really was. We fixed up that trailer like mad, we painted it all kinds of crazy colors and loved it with all our hearts. He took really good care of us, if anything was the slightest bit broken, he noticed it and fixed it before we ever knew about it. We really loved living there and getting to know him and we had such fun teasing him and joking around with him. He even named a cow for each of us! LOL - that was a privilege reserved for his grandkids, and nieces and nephews, and it was a very serious business in their family, because if anyone got left out, well, they were VERY upset over it. At that time (and I know this paragraph is waxing on past the realms of grammar's rules, but bear with me, it's a weekend theme) my best friend and I were both full time ministers, basically like domestic missionaries - which means we tried to spend 90 hours a month going out knocking on doors trying to encourage people and doing bible studies with those who wanted them. I already mentioned, he wasn't in the habit of coming to our congregation, but his wife had been a member a long time. Well, my best friend and I had parts in the meetings sometimes, and we'd beg him to come see. And of course he'd fit spit (figuratively) and be cantankerous and give us trouble. However, we eventually softened him up and got him to come here and there. Then we'd have parts at bigger Assemblies and then we'd really lay on the sugar and spice and everything nice to get him to come to see those parts, because they really are few and far between. And he came and listened. Well, longer story a little less long. We both at different times found ourselves called away from there, but he kept on going to the meetings and assemblies and eventually he came on into the congregation. I'm not saying it was because of us, but I know we helped him along part of the way. So all in all, he's a really special guy for us - for me, and I really love him and his family. --- So back to the present. I saw him Saturday for about an hour and a half or so, and he was really needing some rest. His family, all but two, had been filtering out during that time, and were coming back in the morning. So at the end of our visit it was me, my other best friend, and him, his wife and one of his daughters (and a tiny little dog she takes with her everywhere, cute cute thing) Well, I thought he needed some sleep, so I kissed him on the head and told him goodbye. Somewhere between 11 and 12:30 that night, he passed away, so I had just gotten there in the nick of time. It was really really sad, but I was very VERY glad to have seen him and spoken to him one last time.

The 3rd weekend rolls around and we drive back, to attend his memorial service, which was Friday. It was really a nice service, and I spoke some more with his wife and daughters and spent the weekend just unwinding with my best friend. (not the one from the story above, my other one) I didn't mention in the 2nd weekend's story, though, that this best friend and her family are moving to another state VERY soon, so I'm sad and happy about that, as well. Sad for me, and happy for them. They really need a change, too, and I'm glad they are able to make one happen.

So that's the last three weekends, summed up, there's a little more, to the 3rd weekend than what's written that's I'm leaving out - suffice it to say when it rains it pours and I cry

Cleverness Escapes Me

It's been a whole month since I posted anything, mainly because nothing has really been going on. I've been reading lots. I decided to read the collective works of the Brontë sisters. I think the only book I don't have yet (not sure) is the book of poetry that they collaborated to write under their pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Well, they used those names for all their books. So far I have really enjoyed the reading. The only problem is having a very limited knowledge of French, since Charlotte interjects entire conversations in French quite without warning throughout all of her novels. This is only an issue when I'm reading away from the Internet and my awesome find of an online translator.

In addition to collecting all the Brontë novels, I also grabbed up all the L M Montgomery and Laura Ingalls Wilder works as well. A person needs a little light reading between Brontës. These last two collections are for my daughter's library - eventually. The plan is that we read them together, a chapter or two before bedtime a couple times a week.

It's cold this week, so my fancy may be turning towards knitting soon, hopefully. I guess I shouldn't let it bother me when I'm not in the mood to knit - I only hit a serious lull every couple of years. I haven't done this much reading in a long time, so.... it's a trade off. We all go through lulls, ebbs and waves of activity and moods. Dips and swells of life and changes. We easily get caught up in the processing part of the changes which can be counterproductive. Our feelings aren't always a result of what we think, but of what we do. Actions really do speak louder than words. I'm not really heading towards any profound point, just something I wanted to tell myself, I guess. =)

If this all sounds a little odd, it's because I'm trying to think and type through a thinly veiled migraine. Anyway, the idea is in there, it just isn't being communicated so clearly. I think I'll just eat my pot pie, now - mmmmmm

Who is your favorite author?