2009 KNITTING GOALS

KNITTING WISHES FOR 2009, BUT NOT PARTICULLARY IN ORDER
* SOCKS –Rhonda
* SOCKS –Erikah
* SOCKS –finish my corn socks (so close-just do it!)
* VEST –finish cream vest in Rowan Big Wool
* Thermal Sweater (knitty2007) –have the yarn, what am I waiting on?
* SWEATER -?? Maybe ½ dollar for February Lady sweater

Look to see what I want to knit for next Christmas.. start earlier..
I am hoping that by posting it, I will keep on track. I have
gotten off course doing extra knitting for needy nieces. I made my one and only nephew a hat. (I made all of the nieces fun fur scarves last year but they seem to have forgotten that Philip didn't get one of those!) Then they "needed" hats too. So being the loving aunt I am.. I have done two and have two started.. then I will only have one more to go.. Of course, I should mention that I have also made Hubby two hats with ear flaps per his request. And I made my friends baby a hat too. He's a year old and only weighs 13 pounds.

Merry Christmas
One of my favorite things.. my Mom reading the Christmas story. We still do it on Christmas Eve when we all get together.
Matthew 1:22-23 KJV
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. Now, I must go wrap presents, and do a bit of cooking/baking..

Why I've not been posting...

I searched for a picture to post. I've been busy, just not taking pictures..

My grandfather (89) has been in a nursing home since last January. My Grandmother (79)...fell taking him to the hospital for a test, breaking her leg in 2 places requiring surgery. She won't be able to put weight on that leg for 3 months.

My neighbor had open heart surgery last month. This morning I heard and ambulance go by (very unusal, we live out in the country).. She's back in the
hospital, doctors still are unsure of what the problem is. Please keep her in your prayers.

I was hoping to avoid the flu this season, but people at work just don't know when to stay at home. (I find this very annoying). I was off Friday, you don't
want to know the details, trust me, I didn't either.

I've been knitting. I need to take pictures. Slacker, that's me. My niece, Robin, came down this weekend.. brave girl considering I've been sick! I taught her to pearl, and she managed to finish one fingerless glove and start the second by the time I took her home on Sunday! I was SO VERY impressed!

Monica (another niece.. I have five), we were planning on baking Monday, but she has two small boys and the weatherman is calling for freezing rain, so we've
re-scheduled. I am trying to decide if I should just get up and go to work.. the verdict is still out on that, since I scheduled the day off.

And I still have Christmas knitting to finish... I will take pictures before I gift them!

First.. I am a Great Aunt.. again, meet Elijah Thomas, isn't he cute? My sister (baby hog) is holding him here. His big brother Tristan isn't sure what to think, but I think they will be great friends!

Between work and headaches I'm been having, I'm not getting very much accomplished!

Example, today, I have a list in my head but I've woke up with the "headache". I actually went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago for them. Nope, it isn't my high blood pressure (that was really good, yeah), my asthma (which is usually at it's worse in the fall.. isn't bothering me, my allergies are bothering me some, but I really cannot complain. So the doctor thinks they might be migraines. I am skeptical. But I do as she suggest and have been using my migraine meds. Sad part? it seems to be working. The doctor said if the meds work, then we'll look at something that can be taken daily. So I will be calling the doctor.. it does seem to be working. I haven't had headaches every day and that's a relief after six weeks!

So now that I've taken the med (and giving it a chance to work.. I'm going to get up and take pictures (so that I can post them!) and work on getting my house under control!, yeah!

I haven't been blogging. There is/has been much going on in my life. I can't even remember where I left off.
My MIL started her chemo. It's going okay. Nobody said it would be easy. As long as her attitude stays up (cheerful) we'll be fine.


The evening of June 6th, it started raining. By Saturday morning we had gotten 8.75" of rain. Our power went out on Saturday morning. I have taken pictures, I will post a few. We (our property) has mudslides. Lots. I have never seen mudslides in the 18 years I have lived here. The town 11 miles to our East had flash floods that destroyed many homes, roads and vehicles.
This town is close to a very large river, and if I ever thought that then town would be flooded.. I would have thought it would be by the river. We have two ways to go into town from our house. One was already flooded out by the river. And the second was by the flash flood from creeks. They closed down the highway because the river was across the road. We could still get to the town where we work.

Saturday afternoon, I received a call telling me that my cousin was missing. He had taken out his airboat to "test" before he left for vacation the next week. They were searching for him, but due to all this flooding, we couldn't get thru to help with the search.

My cousin, Mark, 44, drowned. There are so many questions, that we'll never have answers for.
The one that hurts the most? Is WHY didn't he wear his life jacket. He always wore it and made anyone riding with me wear one. He had taken the boat out in this water hundreds of times. We figure that because of the large amount of rain, the water had extra force. Probably more than he was expecting. He is with God now. And he wouldn't want us to stay sad.

I'll write more later.

Pathology
We got the best news possible. All the margins of the lumpectomy was clean (no cancer). Next up will be the chemo. My MIL is doing very well. We were all greatly relieved.

Today
Hubby and I are making raised garden beds today. We have several house projects going also. We got lots of rain this week. So the yard needs mowed. But first we're going to look at mowers. And pick up the pavers to make the raised garden.

Gas
Our gas prices have climbed again this week. It would seem that our's is higher than the national average. Go figure. Ours is at $3.89, but hey that's down from $3.95 that it was earlier this week! Sad when $3.00 looks good. Hubby and I ride together for work, he drops me off at mine and goes to his. So we save gas. We rarely go into town on the weekend, this weekend is going to be an exception.

Happy Mother's Day!

It's pouring rain here. Not a very pretty day. But it will make the flowers grow. I'm doing raised bed gardening this year. Can seem to get started because of the rain. Oh well. Called my Mom to wish her Happy Mother's day. Had a very nice chat. Will call my sister after my phone charges!

To early to call MIL. MIL will get pathology report tomorrow. Her surgery was last Monday. She is doing well. Praying all is well with the results.

This is very random. Sorry. Feel dreary like the rain. Must go get on the treadmill. I've lost 14lbs since January.... keep working, eating smart.

Cancer

My MIL has breast cancer. Saddest part? When she went in for a mammogram last year (for a lump she found).. they miss diagonised it. I just am sorry that we didn't push her to get a second opionin, maybe that we because after our previous experince we didn't want it to be cancer.

So by this year it's grown, and since there is record of the fact that she was in there last year for it.. the doctors are pushing her thru all the first steps. Surgery is tomorrow. We don't know the extent of the surgery until after she gets out. Chemo will start in two weeks, then radiation.

Prayers are welcome. We've been doing a lot of that ourselves.

Again
Papaw fell, breaking his hip & femur bone. With his heart surgery is scary, but w/o the surgery his survival was 30%. He had surgery yesterday. His heart didn't stop. He was up this morning sitting in a chair eating his breakfast. Amazing.

More,
..the best laid plans.. yesterday was going to be my "get things done" day. But because of Papaw's fall, it didn't go as planned. So I rolled with it. At least got my groceries so that I could stay home today. I've done laundry and have been fighting a headache. I have lots of other things I'd like to do, but can't seem to get very motivated. I've about decided to take a nap. Yesterday was stressful. Maybe my headache would go away..

Updates
Papaw is holding his own. I've been trying to see him each weekend.

Baby Ryan, I haven't posted about this little guy, so here goes. My friend had a very troubled pregnancy. Lacking aneomic fluid, doctors at a Cincinnati Childrens hospital performed a procedured trying to enable the baby's kidneys to drain. It bought baby another month in Mommy, which put her at 34 weeks. Baby Ryan was born 6 weeks early with a collasped lung. Doctor's assured Mommy, that Baby Ryan would be fine. They put a tube in his lung and it began to work! At one week old he had surgery for a blocked kidney. Also they put a tube in him for dialysis. He is doing okay. So hard to watch a baby (born 6 weeks early) so thru so much. He is so cute. His older brother has bright coppery hair, but I believe that Ryan is going to have true auburn! His dialysis is helping. Hopefully soon he will get to be off the feeding tube and Mommy will be able to hold him to feed him. I've also been going to the hospital to see them. Mommy thinks they will likely be there most of February. They have to be trained to do the dialysis. And Ryan needs to start gaining weight. He is looking at a kidney transplant by age 3. But we know that God has taken us this far, and he is with us, we are not alone. Thank you God for the miracles that you perform everyday. Ryan's Mommy is working on setting up a website at Caring Bridge. I will attach it when it is ready. Any and all prayers are welcome.

Knitting, I complete one scarf.. I will post pictures today. Today is to get STUFF done! I've also been knitting on the baby sweater for my great-nephew! Maybe I'll get it DONE this weekend!
I'm not making lists today (probably should).. so I'm off to start some laundry, dishes need put away.. you get the idea.. :)

I was in the process of taking knitting pictures... and my batteries went dead.. so while they are charging. An update. Not much going on here. No snow (we're suppose to get flurries today), haven't seen one.

Went to visit my Grandfather yesterday. Spent a few hours with him. He's doing as well as can be expected. I can say he eat his lunch! I feed it to him. My Mom called this morning, he's back in the hospital. The are going to test him for kidney failure. It's hard to watch. But it's part of life.

I made breakfast this morning. We've been getting tired of the "same" stuff. So I had seen a recipe and decided to try it.. You spray a muffin tin, 1/2 fill with hash browns, then bake (at 400) for 10 minutes. (if you're so inclined add salt/pepper here) then add diced onion, red or green peppers, shredded cheese, I used pre-cooked bacon for hubbys and put zuchinni in mine... then add egg/milk mixture (go easy on milk).. then put them back in the over for 20minutes. Yummy. Hubby really like them too.

I'm going to knit, still waiting on those batteries!

Merry Christmas!
We begin our exchanges tonight with my side of the family. My favorite part is watching the kids.! Tomorrow morning (very early) we go to hubby's sisters to watch the twins open their Christmas and exchange gifts. This has been our routine for several years.
I just want to say that I'm thankful this morning for family. And I pray for my grandfather whose health is failing. He had a triple bypass in 1985. He's had a couple of heart attachs since and made the decision 2 years ago not to do anymore procedures. He is 88. We are grateful for the time we have had with him. Hubby and I went to see him on Saturday. He was doing fairly well. Smiled for us, knew who we were! Hey, I say that good for an 88 year old that has 4 children, 11 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-granchildren!
Merry Christmas to all.....

It's finally Saturday. This seemed to be a very long week. I did manage to get some stuff done, but I am up doing housework and then I'm going to knit until we go to my parents house. My parents are taking us out to eat for hubby's birthday... which was last weekend, but we got ice last weekend so our outing was postponed.
I did manage to finish hubbys socks last weekend. I'm going to wash and block them today. Then I going to knit on my sweater. In amoungst doing laundry and stuff.

I have a short list and I seem to do better if I write it down.

• put away clean dishes - done


• load dishwasher & run - done


• start laundry (that's next)


• straighten living room, doesn't look that bad from where I'm sitting, but I'll still do it!


• fold towels and put them up


• sweep living room (have hubby, he likes to)


• "dust" kitchen floor


• bathrooms (they always seem to be on my list!)

I'm going to get busy now... And I'm thinking of taking a walk in the woods, it's 49.6F outside and it's December 22nd.

And today is John's birthday. We'll call today to check on the family. And this will be our third Christmas without my FIL. It just doesn't seem possible.

John Holle 12-22-1935 12-8-2007
We lost a dear friend last week. He was friend, husband, father, grandfather. He will be missed greatly by all. He was my late FIL best friend since they were 14 years old. Closer to my FIL than his own siblings.
My fondest memory. John and Wanda were playing euchre with my in-laws. Guys vs Gals.
They guy kept the girls talking and was passing the deal between them (both men!) and the girls were still winning! After I caught on to what they were doing, my FIL kept giving me the "shush" sign and John would wink at me and grin really big. Did I give the guys up? Heck no! If the ladies weren't paying any more attention than that and winning, imagine if they really paid attention!

Another Update...
MIL is on her way. As usual, the weathermen were wrong. It's hovering around 32F (freezing), but we didn't get the expected ice.
After talking to John's daughter and son last night, hubby and I will wait to go until next weekend. Otherwise there gets to many people waiting at the hospital. We will keep in touch by phone this weekend for updates.

Saturday
Today's list will not be like last weeks. Mostly because I way over did it. I hurt until Friday! So since I'm just beginning to feel better again... I'm going to take it easy.
I finished hubby's first sock last night. Just need to kitchner the toes! Look like I'm going to need more yarn so a trip to LYS is going to be necessary today. Meanwhile I've still got the baby sweater (it's not for Christmas so I can work on it as I like) and my sweater to knit on! But I really want to get his socks finished!

so this is today's list

• Have hubby sweep living room and bedroom
• take pictures of my knitting
• clean out refrigerator (yes, it still needs done!)
• bake spritzer cookies
• make christmas mints
• make poorman turtles
• make sugared pecans
• work on laundry as time permits
• knit on breaks or as time permits

that it, I'm taking it easy today.

Update
John made it thru the night. They have put him on breathing machine and drug coma. Tomorrow they will try to get him off the ventilator and see how much damage the stroke did. He is responsive and stable. I talked to his daughter tonight.
Since we're due ice tonight, MIL is waiting till tomorrow to go over. It's over a three hour drive. She is riding over with John's sister.
Prayers are appreciated.

Family Friend
We got a call today. Our family friend, John, he has had a massive stroke. Due to weather it took hours to get him to the hospital.
My prayer tonight is that he makes it thru the night. He was my father-in-laws' best friend. He was really there for us while we went thru the cancer. John and David had been friends since they were 14. John is 72.

Out of the house!
Okay - I'm not counting the trip and three days in the hospital or the two trips to the doctors' office.

I was getting very tired of being at home. So my hubby took me up to my parents today. (I say it that way, because I'm still not allowed to drive!) It's about a 40 minute drive. We got to visit and eat lunch with my family. Sunday dinner at Mom's is like... let's see everyone was there. My brother, his kids, his grandson, my sister, her three girls, her hubby, and one of the niece's boyfriend, oh, and her friend. The only one missing was the married nieces hubby, she said he was sleeping when she left! It's quite a crew. It's the usual tradition for all or some of us to show up.

Then after dinner, an Aunt, Uncle, a cousin with her three girls and my Grandparents came over to pies, cake and ice cream..for a couple of birthdays. My grandfather will be 88 on Tuesday! And my Mother's birthday is Monday. October is our month of birthdays.

Back home now and I have to say it was a good fun time. But I am tired. So, now I will rest.

Saturday, June 2nd
I arrived at my parents at 7:30am for breakfast. I ordered bacon (my Dad's was the cook) he also fixed pancakes. Yummy. I love getting to "order" breakfast. My Mom had surgery on May 25th, quite unexpected, but her gall bladder need out, quickly. And the surgeon also found a hernia! A two for one surgery. She's doing great. She's ready to be able to do more (getting bored I think). I planted some flowers for her while I was waiting on my sister.

I went along with my sister's family to watch two of my nieces play ball. Erikah's (8 yrs) game started at 9 am. This is tourney time and her team won. I took pictures, but don't have them on my computer yet.
In between games, we went back to my sister's to eat lunch. We only had about twenty minutes until we had to leave for Llylah's (6 yrs) game, it started at noon. I have to say that Llylah stopped a ball (she was playing short stop), it rolled up and hit her eye. She played the ball to second. Then she cried. What a player! She wasn't hurt, we think the ball scared her. They also won their game.
I was amazed at how well these kids played. It was hot, humid and around 86 outside!
And because Erikah's team won their first game? We had another game that started at 2pm! The 7 & 8 yr old that played their first game at 9am! Played and won their second game that day! I had a really good time. Really enjoyed listening to the kids.
Just so you know, since both games were won, there were two games on Sunday (one each).
Erikah's team won their game and have another to play. Llylah's team lost , but only by one point to a team that was undefeated. Llylah's team had only lost two games.

Today,
I'm just getting anxious for my sock class that startes on Saturday! My knitting seems tame compared to the ballgames! But I am very excited!

Yesterday

My sister, me and our parents arrived at my brother's house at 8am. Well I got there at 7:30, but that's just me. I live the farthest away (45 minutes). My brother's girlfriend recently moved out. I could say more, like she NEVER cleaned, not ANYTHING. But that's as far as I'm going with the description okay? Believe me when I say.. I could go on and on and on..etc.

In my brother's defense, he ususally works 45-60 hours a week. He doesn't ever "relax". So we arrived yesterday day morning to declare "cleaning" day. He does stuff for all of us all the time. He's not real good at accepting help, but my sister and I had decided it was time he learned.

So we cleaned. The three full bathrooms (with rubber gloves). And I have to say that his 10 yrs son said "it's gross", but he helped us. So did his middle daughter that still lives at home. His oldest is married. Then we painted two of the bathrooms.

And we worked on packing up what the girlfriend didn't take with her (again a long story). She also had two kids and she didn't even take all their clothes. So we packed up one whole room and then swept, took off the border and got it ready to be painted. He is going to set this one up as a office/computer room. My Dad and my sister were going over today to help paint the office room and his bathroom (the third one).

My mom is going to take my neice and nephew to pick out shower curtains and towels for their bathrooms. Philip is using Sponge Bob (we painted his bathroom sunshine yellow. And Robin is using bubbles with orange and pink towels. My mom is using red and blue in the master bath (my brother didn't care what color).

Then after we get these rooms complete (moving furniture will come after the painting of the office room). Then we're going to tackle Philip's bedroom, he want's it painted blue, and my brother's room. It just needs cleaned and painted...

Then I think by June, we're going to paint his living room and kitchen. These rooms will take probably two or three days (he has cathedral ceilings and they are big rooms!)

After that? I'd like to see him be able to park in is two car garage. We built our houses the same year (12 years ago). I always park in my garage and love it, especially in the winter!

I have to say that my brother was getting excited about the clean up. And the fact that he had ideas helped. And we didn't feel like we were overwhelming him. He even thanked us. And so we know that he did apprecited all our hard work.

I was excused from the painting toay, because I have to work next weekend, therefore I have stuff at home that must get done!