Thursday, May 29, 2008

Catch Up

I am trying to play catch up with all that was going on when I wasnt blogging due to the 'Great Gelato Incident'. At least my computer is working (knock on wood). Here is a picture from the Heel Options class I took at my LYS, Knitting Central, with Charlene Church.
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My husbands birthday was on Memorial Day so I decided to make him a cake. I was writing his name on the cake then realized that I wanted to write "Daddy" instead of his name. So it came out kind of funny with his name and "daddy" after it. We all had a laugh at his expense over it.
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Fooling around with my little Canon Elph camera getting some candid shots of my daughter.
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The Old Man & My Old Man
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Thats my oldest doxie Frank with my husband. I thought the title was funnier than saying that though. Funny story: I was at fancy gourmet chocolate store near my home and bought some chocolate covered malt balls along with some peanut butter carob dipped dog biscuits and when I went to pay for them I said, "My Old Man is going to love these!" The man ringing me up at the register politely said, "Miss, those biscuits are meant for dogs not for people". I laughed because when I said that I didnt realize that people dont know that I refer to my oldest doxie as 'my Old Man' as a term of endearment. I explained this to the guy and he couldnt stop laughing. I guess you had to be there but it was really funny. Speaking of my Old Man Frank, I found a very hard lump right near his hip bone and I am inclined to think that its not a good thing. He has so many lumps and bumps all over his body there is really nothing the vet can do at his age. He's to old to be put under anesthesia due to his mild Cushing's Disease and I dont want to do anything to stress him out if he's eating, drinking and happy. I do think he really misses his buddy, Ernie, because he hasnt been the same since he died. Remember, he was with him almost his entire life and I guess he doesnt know what its like to be without him. Having Duncan and Sampson, the puppy, makes it bearable for him but you can see he misses his friend. Frank will be turning 13 years old on June 25th which happens to be the anniversary of my husbands and my first date. I can still remember that evening we went out on my husbands boat and I didnt want to leave my puppy alone on his first birthday! He proceeded to pee on one of the cushions on the boat! My husband wasnt to happy about it but I guess he didnt want to yell at his girlfriends dog at the time for fear I would not want to date him! I thought it was cute and well deserved because my husband made a comment that small dogs were not "real" dogs. He doesnt think that anymore!

Sampson & Son
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How cute is this picture! I know there's some peanut butter in there (lick, lick). The puppy is now 7lbs and getting big at 5 months old. Soon it will be neutering time. I am sure he's counting down the days, NOT.

My new Namaste bag and gorgeous sock yarns from www.woolgirl.com
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There's various sock yarns from Zen Yarn Garden, Unique Sheep, Family Pendragon, Malabrigo lace (which is sooooo soft and yummy!), and my all time favorite Ms. Babs Yummy Sport Weight sock yarn in Van Gogh, Bluegrass and Cleopatra. I need to get busy and knit faster so I can make these socks! If anyone out there is awaiting the "Joe Cool Kit" that Jen over at Woolgirl is putting together keep an eye out for the stitch marker in there because I made them. I have a biased opinion of course but I think they are very Joe COOL! I hope you all like them!

I received my Rockin' Socks Club shippment for May and I LOVE the color! I am hoping that I can pull off the pattern though. Its absolutely beautiful but I am not sure if I will have problems with it. I am not going to sweat it. If I feel its not making me happy I will just use another pattern, no worries. I dont have a picture because my battery died and its being charged at the moment. I was taking pictures of this gopher like animal in my yard when the battery light went on and then died. My husband heard barking like sounds coming from a bush in the front yard and then this creature came out. I really dont know what it is but I am inclined to think its either a gopher or groundhog. I think they are basically the same animal from all the pictures that came up when I Googled them both. I'll ask my neighbor what he thinks because he knows about all those things especially if they like to eat stuff in his garden!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Better Late then Never

So I finally was able to get my pictures on the computer but my photo printer isnt working right. I tried to fix it and clean the nozzle on the heads and so on and nothing is working. I have to see if maybe the ink is bad. I bought a bunch of ink cartridges and had them in the closet for about 8 months, maybe a little more. What I didnt realize was the expiration dates on them. Who thought they had expiration dates? Not me. Well, I think I have to buy them when I need them and not ahead of time.

I am going to tackle each topic thats been going on that I havent blogged about one at a time. First, what made me crazy in the first place was preparing for my daughters communion which was the same weekend as Mother's Day and the same day as our cousins First Communion. We celebrated on Saturday and Sunday and I think I slept for 24 hours straight after it was all over. Here are some pics of my daughter that day:
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This is my Dad the night of my cousin's Communion party taking pictures which he loves to do. The Mardi Gras mask makes the picture. We were all wearing them to surprise my Great Aunt who turned 90 that day.
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During the last few weeks we were having big time transmission trouble with our 2002 Honda Mini-Van. We had it in the shop a few times and found out that it would cost $3,000 to fix with no guarantees. We researched different options and weighed getting a smaller car but realized that with the two kids we cant get into a smaller car at the moment. We do get good mileage on the van so we wound up leasing a 2008 Honda Odyssey. I love the Odyssey and since its a 3 year lease everything is under warranty. If something goes wrong we dont have to worry about it. I also highly recommend Courtney Honda in Milford, CT. We were treated with kindness and respect by a salesman named Robert Martin. If you go there ask for him and tell him I sent you.

My husband finally had his tonsils out last week and he's home from work for a few weeks. He's in a lot of pain but doing much better. He had to stay overnight in the hospital because his oxygen level dropped from the high 90's to somewhere in the 70's. He was given so much pain meds that it made him stop breathing for longer than a few seconds which caused the drop in his O2 levels. During his surgery I went to get my haircut around the corner from the hospital where the salon I frequent is located. I needed a general shaping so he didnt take any length off. He wanted to chop the back so badly and I didnt let him. I was getting the angled cut for awhile but I want to grow it and be able to put it in a ponytail or a clip for the summer.

A few days after my husband came home from having his surgery we went to Circuit City and bought the Garmin Nuvi GPS which is so cool! I was sick of going on MapQuest and getting directions. I also purchased a smaller pocket Canon digital camera with an awesome zoom and very cool features. I have the big Canon Rebel XT which I love but there are times when I dont want to lug all the camera equipment along with me. Its heavy and can be cumbersome in certain situations. I bought this camera for a steal! My Mom couldnt even believe what I paid for it. I cant even believe what I paid for it! LOL.

Right after I bought the camera I spilled something on my laptop and it stopped working. I bought my husband gelato since his surgery wouldnt let him eat normal foods. I decided to eat the remaining gelato in bed while I was on my computer and fell asleep causing a spillage to occur. Its fixed now with a new keyboard and a good cleaning of the insides. The tech told me that the spillage might cause problems to occur in the future but right now I cant afford a new computer. Hopefully this one with continue to work well. In the time being I need to learn how to back up info which I dont know how to do. Yeah, I know, pretty irresponsible of me.

I finished my Mom's scarf for Mother's Day. Here she is modeling it:
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This past weekend I took a "Heel Options" class given by my LYS-Knitting Central and taught by the famous sock designer, Charlene Schurch. I learned a lot but it was an all day class and I was exhausted after it was over.

My son has been home sick since Tuesday with a killer viral/bacterial infection. We brought him to the Dr yesterday and got antibiotics. We started them yesterday after he spiked 105 fever. When my kids are sick they really dont fool around!

The puppy is still crazy and I will have some 'grown up' pics of him in the near future. He doesnt sit still enough to get a picture!

Anxiety Attack Avoided

I was able to be reunited with my computer yesterday evening and I am soooo happy I cant even put into words. I have a lot to write about including my daughters communion, Mother's Day, our new car, my husbands tonsillectomy, my latest haircut, my knitting class with Charlene Schurch, my newest camera (which I LOVE!), my son being sick as a dog and home from school the past 3 days and of course some finished knitting to show you. I was so lost without my laptop! I am sure many of you can totally relate. The tech that fixed it told me that I was extremely lucky with the spill that had occurred. They cleaned up what they could and then replaced my keyboard which at the time was totally F-ing up. The F keys wouldnt work and the numbers lock was glued shut. My husband said the gelato that spilled into the computer was the most expensive one we had ever had! LOL. He's to much. The tech didnt even know what gelato was when I told him what had spilled. He asked me what EXACTLY spilled and I had to be specific. He looked at me funny and in all seriousness said, " What the heck is Gelato??" Ugh, its a sherbert type of ice cream. So its like an Italian Ice but creamier. My computers favorite flavor is Limada ot Limade. It was spelled the Italian way so I cant remember what it was called exactly. I vowed never to eat or drink things that can harm the computer in the future. This was my first and last time I will do something so stupid. I wonder how common it is for this to happen to NORMAL people?

Hopefully I will be able to get some pics up within the next day or two. I have lots of stuff to do around the house and errands to run since my husband cant drive so please dont hold me to it. I will certainly try my best.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Computer Problems

I havent been able to blog due to an incident with my laptop that is totally due to my own stupidity. I fell asleep eating Gelato and it melted into my keyboard on my laptop. Oh boy! I am going to get it fixed as soon as possible but the guy at the computer repair place said it could take a while if the mother board needs to be replaced. They have to then mail it out to APPLE and get it done because they dont do that in the store. This can take a while according to what he said on the phone. Its amazing how dependant we have become on our computers. I am blogging now from our main computer which is not as fast as my laptop and of course not as easily accessible but I am glad none the less that we have another one. Its almost impossible to surf RAVELRY because its so slow loading the pages. Well, that leaves me more time to knit and make some jewelry! Until next time, whenever that may be.

Monday, May 05, 2008

The Whole World IS Crazy, It's Confirmed

I was going to make the title of this post, "Is the whole world crazy or is it just me?" BUT I had already had that as a title before and I cant have a repeat title! So the title is confirmed because I know that the whole world IS crazy and its not just me! Here is the story:

My daughter is receiving First Communion this weekend. My sister is her Godmother and we dont really speak or have a relationship but thats not the issue. The issue is my daughters Godfather, who happens to be that my Dad's Brother's Son (my Uncle's Son), is not going to be at the celebration for my daughter. Even though I told him at the beginning of the year that this is the year she receives communion and its very important that he be there because she only sees him 2 times a year, I reminded him at her birthday in January and in February when she received her First Reconciliation Sacrament we told him that it would be either the 10th or the 11th depending on which day her class chose to receive. He told my Mom that he would put it in his calendar and that was the end of that. I figured I told him more than 3 times, there is no way he can screw it up. I was wrong. He spends more time with his fiances sisters kids then his own God daughter. He JUST responded to the invite (the last day to RSVP was 5/3 and they were sent out 3 weeks ago & today by the calendar that I go by says that today is the 5th of May) that he cant come because he is going to a wedding out of state. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? So to sum it up: He knew about his Goddaughters Communion since December. Lets give him the benefit of the doubt and say he didn't know the day until February. February was 3 months ago. He got the wedding invite a couple of months ago so when he did shouldn't a light bulb have gone off in his head and said, Wait a minute, my Goddaughters communion is that same weekend! Then instead of calling me a while back when he received the communion invite he waits until 2 days after the RSVP is due and then calls. I wish I could play the message he left on my machine because you can tell he's lying through his teeth when he is telling me why he cant make it and that he thought he told us why. Yeah, right. Very responsible for a 34 year old man.

I called his mother and told her that I was disappointed in his decision and that if it was such a hard decision to make between the wedding and the communion then why is he calling 5 days before the communion and not sooner to explain this to me? I would have had more respect for him if he did that. I was so upset that I told her that it's what he signed up for when he became her Godfather. He is SUPPOSED to be there. If a Godfather cant come to a God Childs communion then when can he be around? A communion comes once in a lifetime and as it is my sister is not an active presence in my daughters life so who else does she have? I feel bad for her because its not fair and he has done things like this in the past and I havent said a thing but I cant keep quiet now, I just cant. I have been upset all day and you wont even believe what this b*tch and a half said to me as I was telling her that he should be there. She had the balls to say, "How active are you in your faith, how often do you go to church?" I was taken aback by this and was astounded because that has nothing to do with doing the right thing and keeping the family together. I didnt bring up the fact that my daughters Godfather is marrying outside his religion because I dont think it matters (it doesn't matter to me and I don't want my readers to think I am prejudiced in any way. I am just making a point) but if she wants to play hardball then maybe I should have said something like that. I didnt. I always do the right thing. My parents taught me that family always comes first but they (his family) dont seem to think so. The three times my Dad has tried to get together with them when they come into town they have blown him off. My father is a bit upset over this. His own brother has lost his sense of what family means and they are the ones that preach it all the time!! They always choose their friends over the family and its something that my Dad is also fed up with not just me. After she said that to me I hung up on her because I was crying. I don't broadcast to anyone when or how often I go to church because I am not like that. They are the ones that always preach and send me religious crap and stuff. I dont brag about how I went to church on Sunday and heard what the priest said and so on. I hate those type of people. Practice what you preach and he without sin should cast the first stone. Also he who lives in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. They follow the rules that only apply to them and then conveniently use them against others when it suits them. Thats whats called a HYPOCRITE. A picture of my Uncle, Aunt and their son are all next to that picture in the dictionary. The other 2 brothers live far away and one is actually coming with his girlfriend and I am very happy about that.

After all I have been through in my life I have more appreciation for life than anyone I know. I have had so many surgeries (in the double digits), been through cancer and treatment, had numerous deaths in my family and so on and you never hear me preach or yet bitch about it. So I called my Dad and Mom and they calmed me down and told me what to do. My Aunt called me back right after I hung up with my Dad and I was calm. She made it out like I was attacking her when I was the calm one all along until she came at me with a vengeance and said that nasty things about my religious practices. I told her that she knew what the right thing to do was and that I was going to call her son and give him a piece of my mind in a nice way of course. If the Godfather cant be present for the communion when the hell can he be?? Its funny because he is always babysitting his fiances sisters kids and he never asks to babysit mine. He always talks about how cute they are and what they did together and so on whenever he is around me and my family which is not that often so you can see why I get mad. I am so stressed now and its not healthy for me because I am breaking out in hives all over my hands and arms. My husband who has a temper is livid and wants to explode. Who can blame him but he's not being rational when he's like this so I have to be the one to do the talking. He will talk from anger and thats not how to get someone to listen to you. I am going to be calm and collected and just say what my Dad told me to. If he wants to make that choice and not be with my daughter on her special day then maybe I have to rethink how important he is to my family and if I should even go to his wedding (which he asked me to do a reading at). We will see.

Well, I called my cousin and told him the same thing I told his Mom. I said that I was extremely disappointed that he is not coming and that the choice he made wasn't the right one. He got all defensive and started saying that I wasn't being fair asking him to choose between his wife's family (he ain't married yet, I reminded him) and me. I said the choice is not between me and his fiances family its between whats the right thing to do and whats the wrong thing to do. I then went on to remind him that he spends all his time with her family and his fiances sisters kids who he is not God Father to mind you. His priorities are screwed up. Its a common sense decision to be made and anyone can see it. He then says to me that when you are in a marriage you have to compromise and be able to give and take in certain situations. OK, this guy who is as immature as an 18 year old and not even married is telling me, who is married 10 years with 2 children and a lot more life experience under my belt than this schmuck. I told him that he better not ever try to tell me what married life is like because he is not even married yet! That takes balls. Several other nasty things were said including a statement about the reason he spends more time with his fiances sisters kids is because they are 1/2 hour away from him on the train. I reminded him that we are only an hour away from him on the train and we are only 20 minutes away from his place of work. So there. I hate excused and I hate stupid excuses even more. Then he says that maybe we need to spend more time together and that maybe I should invite him here more because I don't do so according to him. I can tell you that thats a load of crap because I invite him all the time and he's the one that always has other plans. For my daughters birthday party he rather attend a Super Bowl Party one year then go to his God Daughters birthday. This happened two years in a row. My Mom always invites him to special occasion dinners and Sunday family gatherings. My Dad happens to be his God Father and has even taken him on a trip to Las Vegas as a gift. I don't remember what it was for but I guess my cousin forgets these things. My father is the one that gives him all the advice he needs on investing and stocks. If it wasn't for my Dad he would not have made the great stock trades he has over the past few years. This kid must be smoking crack to say these things to me.

After I calmed down and I could see that he wasn't going to change his mind I said, "Well, what goes around comes around." He got all offended at that and said that I was the one who was damaging our relationship. ME? I said, "You already succeeded in doing that. He also said that I put a good guilt trip on him. I replied that I didn't put it on him, he did. I said that if he made the right decision then he wouldn't be feeling guilty end of story. He has to live with himself and right now I am so mad at him I can't even express into words how I feel. I am leaving out some stuff that was said but it wont make that much of a difference. I mentioned all the important things that were said but I still am confused as to whose wedding this is because first my Aunt said it was the fiances family then she said in the second phone call that it was her family and then my cousin said it was the fiances family again. Talk about confusing! I'll let you all know what comes of all of this. I do know my daughter is going to have a beautiful communion and we are going to have a great time. My best friend who I have known since 3rd grade is coming and I am so happy that she is. My other best friend might also be coming to.

Today I went and found 2 awesome outfits at Lord & Taylor with my husbands help. He did a great job helping me out and telling me what looked good and bad on me. I also found the most beautiful silver shoes that go with both dresses! It has taken me so long to find something to wear to my daughters communion. Now I just have to decide which one to wear to my daughters party and which one to wear to my cousins little girls communion party. Choices, choices!

The best thing happened to me after all this stress of today. My husband came home from taking our daughter to communion practice and gave me this beautiful gift bag from the church. When I opened it I was so surprised that I started to cry. Not because I was upset but because there are good and caring people in this world. It was a Prayer Shawl made specifically for me. It was made and prayed over for me by the lovely ladies in the Prayer Shawl Ministry that my church has. Here are some pictures.

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Isn't it gorgeous!!! I love the colors and how they look like a rainbow. I have it wrapped around me right now. You know what, it works.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Its raining again. Who am I to complain though because we had a good run of nice weather without rain so this is our April showers a few days late, or I should say a month late. I cant believe its May already. Its true when they say time goes by faster as you get older.

I didn't post to much in April for reasons mentioned in the previous posts. I am hoping to post a little more this month but I feel I shouldn't post if I don't have anything to say or if I don't have any finished knitting or jewelry to show. My next jewelry party is in June so I am working now on some new stuff to sell. Its hard because I have to be in a creative mood to make jewelry so whenever the mood strikes I get busy. My daughter's communion is quickly approaching so I am not sure how much progress I am going to make on the knitting and jewelry fronts.

I did finally finish my gastroenterologists daughters sweater last night. It's the same as the one I did in the KERMIE colorway a few months ago. The only modification made was that I did the sleeves in the round as to avoid the seaming. The less seaming the better! It came out great (I think). I hope it fits her. She will be a year in September and its supposed to be sized for up to 12 months. The yarn has an elasticity to it so I think it will be fine. The yarn is Elaine by Schaefer in the LITTLE MERMAID colorway. These colorways are specifically made for kids and I love them.

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I am presently working on the Rockin' Sock Club's March kit, LEAFLING. Its a little bit of a challenge for me coming to the gusset increases. I think its the way the pattern is written up. I have made socks from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways book and this pattern is based on them. I cant find anything in the Rockin' Socks Blog about it and I know there has to be others who are confused. That blog is a bit of a pain in the butt to navigate even though it got a little bit easier when people started to just reply in the comments and not start a new topic. I even looked in the Ravelry forums for anyone with problems and I cant find my specific problem. Oh well, if I have to do some other type of heel then I will. I have both socks on one circular and I think I have to take them off and reposition them before doing the heel.

Oh, I almost forgot. To answer a question posed to me in the comments on what sock yarns I bought at WEBS.
~Flat Feet by Conjoined Creations
~Misti Alpaca Sock Yarn
~Shibui Sock Yarn

I didnt get to much because I was on a budget. Thank God there was a 25% off sale!

Off to take my daughter to a birthday party.