Knitting On Call

Forced time off

2011-02-16T14:27:00.002-07:00

I work an insane schedule. No surprise there. For almost a year, I've basically given up my day off each week to help out at another clinic. Yes, the extra money has been nice, but it's catching up to me in a big way. I'm on my second go round of strep throat in 4 months. So I'm spending today and tomorrow at home until the antibiotics can kick in and I'm no longer contagious. Damn, my throat is sore. I alternate between hot tea and ice cream or popsicles. Haven't decided which one works better to help with the discomfort.

Prior to these two episodes, I'd taken one sick day in 5 years. Not counting pregnancy related issues, which I'm considering a whole different ball of wax. Though maybe less stress and more down time would have warded off preeclampsia as well. Last Saturday was my first day off in 3 weeks. I guess I'm having a bit of personal crisis here. Is this really how I want my life to be? I'm killing myself for a job that is frustrating more often than not. I would love to cut back at work, but don't really have the financial wiggle room to do so right now. We're getting there, but it'll be a year or two before I can really comfortably cut back my hours.

There's no easy solution, just wanted to try and work this out. Every few months, I go through this. Still haven't come up with a fix. Which is annoying. I'm apparently one of those people who complain and never do anything to change. The kind of person that drives me insane. I feel stuck. I know I'd work hard as a physician. It's not the working hard part that bothers me. It's the lack of personal time, that there's nothing else besides the hard work. At least I get a couple days at home to knit, read, and sleep with this little bug. A blessing in disguise?

2011-01-02T10:32:00.003-07:00

In honor of the new year, I feel the need to post on the blog. Happens every year, then drops off. I don't know why I bother, but I guess this is a good place to at least keep track of my New Year's resolutions. I reviewed the list from last year. I did okay. Lost 20 lbs instead of 40. Better than gaining, though, right? We did grow and preserve more food. We're composting again, complete with a worm bin. We did pay down some debt. Overall, not a bad showing, I think.

And so, in honor of 2011, here we go...

1. Continue with the weight loss. I'll shoot for 40 again, but may miss the mark. I'm getting closer to my goal though.
2. Keep de-cluttering.
3. Eat more veggies.
4. Try a new recipe a week.
5. Keep up with paperwork at the office better. This includes dictations. The bane of my existence.
6. Renew some old friendships. We just get busy and forget to keep in touch. Amy, Mark and Ann, Erica...that's you I'm talking to.
7. Knit a pair of socks a month.
8. Knit myself a sweater this year. Complete with steeks.
9. Make the family finances more of a shared responsibility and work to set up and follow a reasonable budget together.
10. Read more classics. Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and Thoreau are what I have planned so far.
11. Expand the garden.
12. Finally get my craft room organized and set up so it's a comfortable place to be.
13. Bake bread each week.
14. Be kinder, more patient, and more understanding.
15. Start selling my fiber/wool.
16. Get up 30 minutes earlier each day for some "me" time. Meditate, yoga, knit, spin.
17. Keep up the blog. Not for anyone else but me. Just to use it as a journal of sorts, more than anything.
18. Spend less time on Facebook. And online in general. Which sounds counter-intuitive given the above resolution, but I can just surf for hours. Which is time I could be actually LIVING life instead of reading about it.
19. Actually put away the laundry after it's folded.
20. Keep the car cleaned out.
21. Read to the kids more. I get tired and busy and say "tomorrow". Is that really the message I want to send them?
22. Continue the journey towards a simpler life. It's the goal I'll forever be reaching for.

So with those lofty goals, Happy 2011!

He's a handful.

2010-02-07T18:40:00.005-07:00

I've posted this on Facebook, but I thouht I'd share it here too. We've been struggling with bedtimes with Jack lately. He'll play until 11 or 12 if he can lately. Thursday night he was in our room. Asleep by 10:00. Or so I thought. About 10:30, I heard him calling me. I tried to get in the bedroom, but he had locked the door. I got the door unlocked, and then found him. Needless to say, he hadn't been sleeping. He had found an old dictation tape that he pulled all the tape out. The tape was everywhere. He also found a brand new Costco sized bottle of conditioner. Apparently his hair needed a little conditioning. Like a quarter of the bottle.

He was so proud of himself. I was laughing so hard I was crying. Daddy didn't find it so amusing. But it was so cute I couldn't be mad. I sure do love this boy!

Updates on the New Years' Resolutions

2010-01-07T22:51:00.003-07:00

I'm trying to hold myself accountable for "the list" I made last week. So, with that, an update on how I've been doing this past week.

I've been to yoga twice so far. The first class kicked up butt. I've flossed every night except last night (but in my defense, I was on call and didn't get home until this morning). I've resisted the urge to join the Blue Moon sock club again (this one is killing me). I started a scarf from a unfinished shawl that I frogged. I had started the shawl when Catie was a baby. It wasn't looking good for the shawl, so I'm putting the yarn to better use. I have 2 bags of stuff to take to the thrift store in the back of my car. I've hauled one load to recycling so far. Not a bad week, I'd say.

I just need to keep this up. One other thing I should have resolved...quit spending so much time online. I blew about 3 hours today just surfing. I need to spend less time looking and more time actually doing.

And with that, I'm off to bed...nighty night all.

2010-01-01T14:30:00.003-07:00

Bring on 2010. As usual, with the hope of new beginnings, I feel the need to set some goals for the next year. So, here goes. My New Years Resolutions. There's quite a few of them. Some of them are works already in progress. Some of them are ones that I won't officially start until later this year (gardening, etc). So, for your viewing pleasure:

1. Continue to lose weight. 40 # down so far...another 60 to go. I think another 40 this year is a reasonable goal.
2. Declutter room by room
3. Pay down debt--specifically pay off the 4 wheeler and pay off at least one credit card.
4. Knit exclusively from the stash.
5. No new yarn. None. Zippo. Not even when we go on vacations.
6. Read 85 books this year. I read 75 in 2009. I think I can do it.
7. Get back into yoga. It helps with my aches and pains, as well as great for stress relief.
8. Be more patient, especially with George and the kids.
9. Floss...every night.
10.Stick to the budget.
11. Finish Catie's quilt that I started months ago.
12. Set aside at least 3 nights a month for family game nights.
13. Don't let paperwork stack up at the office.
14. Keep up on filing at home.
15. Recycle more. Since moving out to Homedale, we've been terrible about this. We will have to haul stuff to Caldwell, but it's not like I don't go there most every day for work.
16. Grow even more food this year (plant and animal).
17. Can and preserve more food.
18. Begin to set up a formal food storage system. I'd like to start by having a couple of weeks worth of food on hand, with the goal of a 3-6 month supply.
19. Compost---vermicomposting and regular. Again, we had a compost pile in Caldwell, but haven't started one here yet. And I've wanted a worm bin for a couple of years. I finally have G talked into it!
20. Start holiday and other gift knitting sooner, so I'm not in such a rush.
21. Spin more.
22. Strive to live a more simple and authentic life.

So, with that...my basic goals for the year. Really, my overall life goals. Something to strive for, at the very least. Happy new year, all!

Happy 4 year blogiversary.

2009-12-31T22:30:00.003-07:00

I started this blog on New Years's Eve 4 years ago. I post sporadically, to say the least. Life gets in the way, as I'm sure you all know. It's not like I don't want to or mean to post. I just can't seem to get it done. Ravelry and Facebook take up my time, and probably a lot of yours as well. I do want to make an effort to try to keep this updated a bit more. More for my use than anyone else's. Probably a useless goal, but what the hell. It's the new year, right?

When I started this blog, Catie was 6 months old. Now she's in pre-school and starting to read. Jack has come along, and is the most hilarious character I've ever encountered. We've bought 25 acres with plans to build a house. The house plans fell through, and we ended up buying an existing home just down the road from the property. My knitting skills have improved tremendously. I've started spinning (though not enough). I've started sewing and gardening. I've gotten in touch with my inner housewife (and homebody). I've been trying to become more frugal. I've fallen in love with the local library system and read 75 books this past year. Now I'm on this preparedness kick. I want to get better at food storage. It's like I want to be a Mormon...without actually being one, if that makes any sense. Really, what I've become is...an old lady. I've turned into my grandmother(s). And I love it.

So tonight we're spending the night at home. We had an utterly exciting dinner of tuna casserole and green beans. Then played a couple of rousing games of Candyland. I'm about to finish a book...about food and the evolution of coooking/kitchens over the past 100 years. Yup. That's what I said. Wool socks. Flannel nightgown. So cool in its un-coolness.

So Happy New Year to all 3 of you who might read this!! 2009 was a good year for us here at the Skinner-Decker household. Hopefully 2010 will be just as wonderful, for us and for you.

Tomorrow...the obligatory list of resolutions.

I promised myself I wouldn't cry...

2009-09-09T09:05:00.004-06:00

but I did.

Today was Miss Catie's first day of preschool. Now, I know it's "only preschool", but to me, good gosh, it's a pretty big day. I didn't get home last night until late, but George said it was easy to get her to bed (highly unusual for her). This morning she came in about 6:30 or 6:45, wanting to get up and get ready. We got ready and headed out the door at 7:30 to start a new family tradition. One of my patients had told me she takes her son out to breakfast every year on the first day of school. I thought that sounded like a pretty cool idea. So we set out for the local Moxie Java for a cinnamon roll and hot chocolate. Here she is as we head out the door. She looks so excited.

After breakfast we headed to the preschool. She practically ran up the sidewalk to the door without us. We did finally get her to stop and turn around briefly for the pic.

Once inside she headed directly for the toys. We hung out for a bit. Some of the other kids were hanging close to their moms and dads. But her, nope. Didn't even care if I was there or not. She did somehow find the time to blow me a kiss. On the way out, I couldn't help the tears. I thought I wasn't going to be "one of those" moms. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just didn't think I'd cry. But boy did I.

Jack misses his sister, but at the same time, is loving having us to himself this morning. (I took the morning off today). He's running all over the place and doesn't have to fight over toys. I'm excited for Catie, but I can't wait to pick her up later this morning and hear all about it.

Not dead yet

2009-08-21T22:32:00.002-06:00

Nope. Believe it or not, I'm still here. Been almost 5 months, but still alive and kicking. It's been an exciting few weeks/months. To recap briefly: gave up plans on building a house, bought a house instead, getting settled into said new house, turned 35, went to Sock Summit, and a whole bunch of other minute things that seemed important at the time, but I can't remember them now. I'd post pictures, but I have no idea where the camera is yet.

We've been in the new house 2 weeks. We're still nowhere near settled. Despite 5 or 6 trips to the Idaho Youth Ranch thrift store and 4 dumpster loads of garbage, I still find myself with way too much stuff. There's still numerous boxes to unpack and go through. I really thought I'd pared down. Now I know how much further we have to go.

This weekend I'm home alone. Tomorrow I'm going to get a massage. Maybe if I get my act together, I'll unpack more stuff and paint a room or two. But maybe I'll just read trashy magazines and novels. Hmmm...

2009-03-31T15:36:00.003-06:00

Today is one of my days off this week. The beginning of the month, I changed my work schedule. I now usually work 3 to 3 1/2 days a week, but 12 hour days. This lets me be home a bit more with the kids. It's amazing how much this has helped my mommy guilt. I still wish I could be home more, but this is a start.

The puppy is settling in nicely. Settling into our bed, that is. I think the second night here, I couldn't stand the whining and crying coming from her crate, so she now has found a perfect spot snuggled up between G and I. If I can't listen to a puppy cry, is it any wonder that our kids still sleep with us most nights? I'm sure it's quite the picture. Mom, Dad, Catie, Jack, Annie, sometimes one of the other dogs, and maybe a cat all in bed in the mornings. Good thing we bought that king sized bed last fall! And I learned something new about dogs last week. Apparently, they can pass out after shots. Yup. G took her to get her immunizations, and after her shots, she was out cold. I shouldn't get such a kick out of that, but I do.

And in knitting news, I've been doing a fair amount. I think I've finally mastered continental knitting. It's becoming much faster and efficient for me. I still struggle some with tension, especially when purling, but it is now my preferred method. Knitting stockinette in the round is my absolute favorite thing to do! Sad, but true. I get all excited about just knitting around and around, holding the yarn in my left hand.

Here's a couple of hats I've finished lately. The first is from a kit I bought at the Nestucca Bay Yarn retreat last fall.

The second is a hat I made for George. It was one of my first full continental projects. The brown is some of the first yarn I spun. If you look close, you can see some giant slubs, as well as some parts that are way overspun. The beige is some Peace Fleece I've had sitting around. It's quite a "rustic" hat. But I love it.

Head over to Ravelry for stats on both.

There's been a bit more knitting as well. And some crocheting. I hope to get pics up later this week. Have a great day.

Newest Family Member

2009-03-21T20:23:00.004-06:00

Sometimes things take you by surprise. Thursday night a couple of our friends said they had gotten some puppies that were too much for them. Of course I'm a sucker for puppies. Herding dogs no less. So now we have a new puppy, as do my mom and dad. Here's Annie. She's an Australian Shepherd.

It's been awhile since I've had a puppy. Way fun. But, boy does she like to chew on stuff. I'd forgotten about that part.

Historical Day

2009-01-17T23:28:00.005-07:00

I set the alarm on my pager today for 10:00 Mountain Time. I had read that would be the approximate time Barack Obama would be sworn in as our next president. In the middle of seeing a patient, the alarm went off, and I couldn't help but smile. I just watched his speech online tonight, and was inspired yet again. When Obama was in Boise last year, I went, and was amazed. I am thrilled today is here and wish him the best. He certainly is facing some challenges, but I'm confident in his ability to meet them head on.

The images of the National Monument Mall were amazing. I can't imagine the energy and electricity that must have been in that crowd. I would have loved to have been there to experience it firsthand. Even watching the video gave me chills. Today is a good day to be an American.

Amazing 48 hours

2009-01-08T17:12:00.003-07:00

Shhh....I'm blogging from my desk at work. In my defense, though, it is 5:12 pm, and I'm done seeing patients. Only the paperwork looms. I just had to share the utter awesome-ness (is that really a word?) of the last couple days.

1. Met with a builder.
2. Loved the builder.
3. Found out we'll need a lot less down on the construction loan that we had planned, so we'll be able to break ground sooner.
4. Work is ready for me to trial a flexible schedule...basically working fewer days, but somewhat longer hours when I am at work. The end result, though, will be more time/days at home with the kids.
5. Learned that I'll be able to buy a share in my office building, an incredible investment.
6. Got a good night's sleep for the first time in days.
7. Catie stayed in her bed all night, hence #6.
8. Finished the I-cord border on Catie's Tulip sweater.
9. Heard Jack put a two words together for the first time!
10. Tonight we're eating G's version of the Zuppa Toscana soup from Olive Garden. Yum.

Life is good. Finally.

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T20:31:00.003-07:00

Remember when New Year's Eve was a REALLY big deal? Back then, I thought about New Year's Eve for weeks...what would I do, where would I go, would I kiss someone at midnight? Now, I'm totally and completely content to spend the night at home, curled up under a blanket, knitting and a good book as a companion. Maybe I'll be awake at midnight to give G a smooch. Maybe not. I've turned into an old lady. And I'm totally at peace with that. The past few days, I've been reflecting on the year, and looking forward to 2009. So now you all get to hear about it.

2008 was a mixed bag for me. Gesa's death has affected me more profoundly that I had anticipated. It was by far the defining event of this year. I've been thinking alot about her this week. I've had several friends and family members pass away, but this has been the one that has been the biggest struggle for me. I guess it's because she was such a large part of both my personal AND professional life. I know it won't go away anytime soon, but I'm hoping putting 2008 behind will help. Wishful thinking, I'm sure.

On a bigger and better note, 2008 had some high points as well. It was the year we paid off our credit cards (a substantial amount, unfortunately), and bought the farmland. It was the year of the Alaskan cruise. And in knitting, the year I learned to do Fair Isle (and fell in love with it). Family life was good as well. The kids are getting more and more fun with each passing day. More of their individual personalities are showing, and it's so fun and fulfilling to watch.

2009 is looking good so far. We're meeting with a couple of builders over the next couple of weeks to discuss our plans for the new house. It looks like I'll make it to Rhinebeck. More debts will be paid down, or even off. I still have a lot of improvements to make, but really, life is looking pretty damn good right now. But of course, there's the obligatory New Year's Resolutions.

So, here goes:
1. Lose weight (yup, make this one every year...but this year will be different.)
2. Exercise consistently
3. Grow more of our own food
4. Simplify our lives and our stuff
5. Read more...I joined a group on ravelry with the goal of 52 books in 52 weeks.
6. Get up earlier each morning (maybe I'll use that time to work on #2).
7. Work more towards becoming debt free
8. Recycle
9. Works towards living in the moment
10. Blog more

Thinking back, I probably made some of these last year as well. Further proof I have a ways to go. But we're all works in progress, right?

I hope you all have a wonderful and happy New Year. Kiss someone at midnight. Or get some good sleep. Here's to new beginnings.

6 random things

2008-12-14T23:01:00.002-07:00

I was tagged by Jess for 6 random things, so here goes:

Here's how it works:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six Random things about me:

1. I LOVE washing dishes by hand. Seriously, I LOVE it. To the point that sometimes I wish we didn't have a dishwasher. But George disagrees, so we still have one.

2. I am terrified of mice.

3. When I was little, I had an imaginary friend named Susabelle. Anytime anything bad happened, she was always to blame.

4. When I was in medical school in St. Louis and really homesick, the thing I missed most was the smell of sagebrush.

5. I think Diet Coke is the nectar of the gods.

6. Tonight I played CLUE for the first time in probably 20 years, and had a blast.

Next up...I'd like to tag

Kim
Erica
Carolyn
Angela
Lorette
Theresa

Have a great Monday.

Finally!

2008-12-07T20:50:00.004-07:00

Months and months ago we started negotiating to buy some farm land. After some re-nogiatating and lots and lots of paperwork, I'm thrilled to announce...IT'S OURS!

We now own 25 acres of land in Homedale. The top of the hill has views of both the Owyhee mountains as well as the Snake River. There's then a slope, and corrals on the bottom, with a spring that runs most of the year. We're hoping to start building a home a year or so from now, with the goal that it will be done by the time Catie starts kindergarten, so she can just start in Homedale and not have to switch schools.

Right now the top of the hill is pretty good pasture grass. The hill and low areas need quite a bit of work and re-seeding, plus we need to figure out irrigation. But we are beyond excited. I'm hoping to have an intensive grazing system for beef cattle and fiber critters (definitely more sheep and maybe a few more alpacas). Plus I'll finally get my chickens. I'd love to someday have a market garden, but that's far in the future from now. We've signed up for a course through the extension office called Living on the Land, and I think we'll get tons of great info from that.

Here's a view from the top of the hill. We'd like to put the house out from where this picture was taken...looking east over the river.

This is what I've been working toward for years, and am a little floored that it's finally happening. Now we need to come up with a name for our farm. Right now I'm leaning towards Riverview Farm and Fibers. Any other suggestions?

Thankful

2008-11-26T22:34:00.003-07:00

Last year, I posted about what I was most thankful for. I thought I'd continue the tradition. This year, I thought I'd make a little list.

The "Top 8 of 2008"

1. A great husband. Seriously...he went on a knitting cruise with me. How cool is that?
2. The sweetest daughter in the whole wide world. It makes my heart melt when she says, "Mommy, I love you more than anything."
3. And now she's potty trained.
4. A heck of a character for a son. He is just so much fun to watch. Mischievious and in to everything, but not in a bad way.
5. That he survived the penny incident unscathed. It could have been much worse.
6. That Aylin (Gesa's daughter) has done so well.
7. That I've learned to appreciate each moment even more, because of what happened to Gesa.
8. That this man is our next president.

It's been a rough year for me in many ways. But in the grand scheme of things, I'm quite fortunate. I'm lucky to be here and to have all the blessings that I do. Have a wonderful day.

2008-11-04T22:25:00.002-07:00

YES WE CAN!!

Amazing. Thanks, America.

Exhausted

2008-11-02T20:49:00.003-07:00

I was initially scheduled to work this weekend, but one of my partners needed to switch, so I ended up with the weekend off. So did I have a nice relaxing weekend? Heck no! Saturday one of my friends came over (who thinks it's FUN to organize things), and yet another friend and her kids came over on Sunday. We spent the majority of the weekend de-junking the back porch. I didn't think to take a "before" picture, but take my work for it...it was an utter disaster. A few years ago, I had put our old table out there, with hopes of it being a craft area. Well, it pretty much became a junk table. So 12 bags of junk later, it looks like this...
We organized some of the cupboards as well.

It was appalling how much stuff we had. Nothing important. Well, except Catie's immunization record that had been lost for months. Food that had been long expired (2003 even). Tons of old plastic grocery bags. Old bottles and paper that never made it to recycling. For all my thoughts that we've been scaling down, it was more than apparent than ever that we have a long way to go. Nowhere near where I'd like to be. I have this desire to get rid of almost everything and start over with the bare minimum. But we just need to be diligent on keeping thing clean and getting rid of things we don't use or need.

Next up...the kitchen...

2008-10-10T22:59:00.003-06:00

I've been back at work a week. It's always good to go away, but it's just as good (or better) to get home. We had a great time in Portland and at the coast. The first weekend was spent at OFFF, then we headed to the coast. The first few days we were there were beautiful. The last few days it rained, but still a great time. I got a fair amount of knitting done, and managed to teach my sister to crochet. I went to a knitting retreat last weekend in Lincoln City, hosted by Nestucca Bay Yarns. I not only learned to knit (fairly consistently) with my left hand, but actually cut a steek. I thought I'd be paralyzed by it, but it wasn't so bad. I'm fascinated with color work now, and am looking at Christmas stockings to knit for the kids.

In other news, Miss C has finally figured out the big girl potty thing. She was pretty stubborn for the longest time, but all the sudden, something clicked. We spent much of last week sitting on the potty, sometimes successful, sometimes not. But in the past 24 hours, it's like a switch has flipped, and she's ready. More than ready. Amazing. I'm so excited about it, I'm telling just about everyone. And now you all.

One of the motivations for potty training was dance lessons, which start tomorrow. She's awfully excited about the dance gear. Here she is all decked out, complete with cheesy grin. I can't believe how big she's getting.

And a couple more kid pictures from the beach...who knew kelp could be so exciting...and that a 19 month old could be so brilliant?

Top 10

2008-09-28T23:53:00.002-06:00

Top Ten Things I Learned at OFFF:

10. I can actually walk past STR and not buy anything. Not a single skein.
9. Sometimes, willpower isn't all it's cracked up to be. Now I'm regretting walking past that STR.
8. What a ratio is on my spinning wheel.
7. That I probably won't make much use of said ratios. I just sit down and spin. And that's what works for me. And that's usually okay.
6. How to really use my drumcarder for blending.
5. I'm a sucker for African baskets.
4. How to skirt a fleece.
3. How to spin for lace. Well, sort of...I need to practice this.
2. Navajo plying and me need to get to know each other better.
1. I love love LOVE spinning raw fleece. How did I not know about this sooner?

Great weekend. Unfortunately, I was too busy in my classes to take a single picture. From here we're headed to the Oregon coast. Then another knitting retreat next weekend. I don't know about the rest of my family, but this is pretty much my dream vacation...fiber, fiber, and more fiber.

Not something you really want to hear

2008-08-17T11:26:00.004-06:00

There's just some things that you can't prepare for when you have kids. Sundays are typically lazy mornings around our house. The kids got up and had toast. George went out to mow the lawn, but before he did, he gave them a snack of raisins and turned on Lady and the Tramp. I was checking my email and talking to my mom on the phone, when I hear "Owie, Mommy. Owie. There's a raisin in my nose." What the heck? Sure enough, there was a raisin in her nostril, about 2-3 cm up there. Of course, she wouldn't lay still for me to try and get it out. I tried to get her to blow her nose, but there was no cooperating at that point. G came in and tried to hold her, but still no success. She was freaking out and WANTED to go to the hospital.

So off Catie and I go. I'm giggling as we're driving in. And as we check in. The nurses were all very nice and understanding. Catie had finally calmed down on the trip to the ER, and so was more cooperative. Thank goodness she's comfortable in the hospital, not because she's ever been a patient, but because of coming to visit me. She settled down and started playing.

The ER doc had me try and blow in her mouth. SUCCESS! A big ol' raisin booger came flying out. She hung out at the hospital with the nurses while I checked on a newborn. Then she comes home and tells me she wants a granola bar with a raisin in it, so she can take the raisin out. What is she going to do with that little dessicated grape, pray tell?

Gauge Swatches LIE!

2008-08-09T22:44:00.005-06:00

So in a moment of utter insanity, I signed up for the Ravelympics. I've had the pattern and yarn for A Walk in the Woods since May, before we went on the cruise. I thought, "Hey, I can knit a cardigan...in 2 weeks." What in the heck was I thinking. I didn't get it started until Saturday. I had swatched earlier in the week, and re-swatched Friday night. The pattern called for size 6 needles. I made gauge with size 9. Then I merilly cast on. About 4 or 5 rows in the the pattern, it was quite obvious that the actual product and the gauge swatch were two entirely different beasts. A sweater whose back was supposed to measure 24.5 inches was more like 27 or 28 inches. So I went back down to size 7s. This is pretty close. The material is quite stretchy, so I'm hoping it will work. If not, at least I tried. Here's my progress thus far...about 3-4 inches of the back. The picture is dark and blurry, but at least it's something.

I have a 4 day weekend this weekend. Today is my birthday...#34. Just another day at this point. But yesterday was awesome. Catie, her friend (Gesa's daughter) and I had a "girls' day" out. We went to lunch, Build-A-Bear, the bookstore, for tea anc cookies, and to get a hair cut. I don't know about them, but I was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day. They seriously wore me out! Here we are leaving home:

The girls with their haircuts and "ponies"

And just so Jack didn't feel left out, here's one of him. Looks like HE's the one who really needed the haircut. He's quite scruffy.

I have tomorrow and Monday off. Knitting and more knitting are in my future. Monday night I'm taking a 2 socks at once class. I'm hoping that will speed up my sock knitting some. Other than that, things are pretty boring. I'm looking forward to a morning of sleeping in. Assuming the kids are agreeable to that. Please oh please oh please!

Is this like riding a bicycle?

2008-08-03T00:01:00.004-06:00

Once you get back on, it's like you've been doing it forever? Sure hope so, because, it's certainly been awhile. Boy do I suck at blogging. I thought about just officially stopping, but decided against it. Probably the Catholic guilt thing getting the best of me. Plus, I'm getting some serious grief from a couple of people about not staying up on this. I'm telling myself that work has slowed down some, so hopefully I'll have time to blog a bit more. I'm saying that as there are about 8 stacks of charts sitting in my office at work for me to deal with this weekend. But that's for Sunday...it's still Saturday night. So off we go, then.

I've been a bit of a fiber/craft slut lately and went on a little crochet binge for awhile. I made a bag and have started an afghan. But, alas, I missed my true love, knitting. How could I have strayed? I do have to admit, crochet is a fun mistress. But knitting...ahh...knitting...

Today I finished a pair of socks. The March Rockin' Sock club sock...Leafling.

They're from medium weight, and I'm more of a lightweight kinda girl, but sometimes it's good to broaden your horizons, right? I loved the pattern and colorway. Now to get cracking on May and July's socks. And just because that's not enough, I started a new baby sweater today. I have a couple of friends/co-workers that have had babies lately, and I'm a little behind on the gift knitting.

There's so much more to update y'all on. What would you like to hear about next?

Long Overdue

2008-05-28T21:05:00.003-06:00

Nothing since April 14? Time flies. Just about every day I tell myself I need to post. And every day, I don't. I tell myself I'll do it tomorrow. Apparently nearly 60 tomorrows have gone by, and no blog post. My sister in law called me on it tonight. So here goes...

It's been an busy and eventful couple of months. I'm still adjusting to life without Gesa, both personally and professionally. There's days that I wish she was here to bounce something off of, or just to vent to her about work or home or the size of my butt, or something. I've inherited many of her patients, and we're all getting to know each other.

We went on our cruise to Alaska last month. It was amazing. It was somewhat stormy and rough, and because of the storms, the scenery may not have been as amazing as it could have been, but still, it was a GREAT vacation. The kids had a great time at their aunt LaLa's, and we're still hearing about the zoo and the park. There was much knitting and much buying of yarn. The food was good, the company was good. The zip line in Ketchikan was good (though the rope bridge/tree limb climbing part...not so much!) The Hubbard glacier was AMAZING! Victoria, BC, was, as always, a lovely place that I'm incredibly sad to leave. Overall, it was a desperately needed and perfect vacation. G even managed to enjoy himself, despite the overabundance of knitting and fiber that week. So much, in fact, that we signed up for next year.

Since being back, I've done some knitting. Mostly working. We've done some gardening as well. Things are growing quite well. Catie is proud of her garden, and likes to check it on a near daily basis to see what's growing. She has a little red watering can that she uses to water stuff. Quite cute, I'd say. When Jack is outside, mostly I try to keep him from eating rocks. Or bugs. Or alpaca poop. Seriously. That boy is something else.

This weekend, it's just me and the kids. G is in Las Vegas for a bit of a bachelor party for his friend Jason. We're having a good time so far. Probably not as good of a time as he's having, but well, I'll take snuggling with my kids in bed any day over loud and smoky casinos. It's the good life.

Back in the Saddle

2008-04-14T22:14:00.002-06:00

Thank you all for your thoughts and condolences. Things are somewhat getting back to normal. There are about a hundred times a day when I think about something and it makes me think of Gesa. Indian food. Quilting. Shopping at the Macy's clearance store. And so on and so forth. But life goes on, I suppose.

We've been back from DC for a week. G tried to take a picture of the president's helicopter and he swears some man in a black trenchcoat followed him everywhere around the monument mall taking his picture after that. It's unfortunate that we can't even be geeky Americans and take pictures of something like that without being thought of as a possible terrorist. Or maybe G is just paranoid.

I'd like to go back there sometime, under better circumstances. What an amazing place for history. Maybe after the kids are a little older, we'll head to the Smithsonian.

While we were there, I finished my sweater I've been working on. Well, except for the zipper. But the knitting is done. And in time for my cruise. Which is in only 3 weeks! I've sort of lost my knitting mojo since then. I haven't done much knitting on my latest pair of socks. I haven't bought yarn in about 5 months. I was thinking that a little retail therapy might be just what the doctor ordered. Any recommendations for a quick shawl that I could maybe get done before the cruise? I was thinking about the Clapotis shawl. It looks like it'd be a pretty quick knit. Any ideas?

Overwhelming sadness

2008-04-02T19:29:00.003-06:00

One week ago today, my friend Gesa was killed in a car crash. She was in Maryland visiting her family, which she does every year at Easter. Her daughter was in the car and survived, but with some fairly significant injuries. She was my partner at work. We shared a hallway of patient rooms, and saw each others patients. She was the one who taught me to quilt. And I taught her how to follow a dress pattern. She and I were pregnant the same time. We nursed our babies together. Her daughter and Catie are 7 months apart, and play together. We struggled through some tough times at work together. She was who I often went to when I needed advice, not only about patients and medicine, but about kids and husbands and difficult relationships with moms.

I haven't written about this, because I didn't know what to say. I still don't know what to say, but feel compelled to write something. Anything. I think to some degree, I've been in some stage of denial. But today it all hit me. To say that today has been difficult would be an understatement. I saw several patients of hers today, and think I cried seeing each one of them. I've been sitting at my desk crying for over an hour, trying to finish the day's paperwork, and can't bring myself to do it.

I met Gesa 5 years ago, when I was still a resident and she was my attending. She scared the crap out of me. She was incredibly intelligent. And she could curse. Good lord, could she curse. We really became friends when she found out I wanted to learn to quilt. She has been an enormous source of support for me over the past 5 years. I hope that I provided some for her. She was who saw Jack when he was sick with the penny episode a couple of weeks ago. I don't even know if I really properly thanked her for taking care of him. She left for Maryland the next day. And now I'll never have that chance.

Gesa always said we should go to Washington DC together sometime. Now I'm going, but for something entirely different. To say goodbye. Her funeral is this weekend. G is going with me, and the kids are staying here, part of the time with my parents and part with a couple of friends. I don't think I've ever hugged my kids and G as much as I have these past few days. I have this sense of urgency that I need to make sure they know I love them. A sense of urgency that I ought to have every day. We, or at least I, seem to take things for granted. There will be tomorrow, next week, next month, next year to do...whatever it may be. But today may be it. And I'm reminded we need to make the most of it. This has really become crystal clear this week. Not that this should be the way that it gets drilled into my head, though. Somehow I feel better getting this all written down, even if none of you make it to the end of this.

So long, Gesa. Thanks for everything. And I'll miss you like crazy.

A good Easter

2008-03-23T20:12:00.003-06:00

The week is over. Thank goodness. Now everytime I can't find something, I'm convinced that Jack has swallowed it. But he's back to his usual self. I think he's gained back what he lost and more. Today he tried chocolate pie for the first time. I think he enjoyed it...immensely!

That's my pile of fabric and yarn behind it. I haven't bought yarn for about 4 months. Fabric, though...that's a whole other story.

I have tomorrow off (sort of). I'm on call tonight, and have a bunch of errands to do tomorrow, as well as paperwork. Then it's 2 days in the office, and then I'm off to a women's health conference in Arizona. The town is Carefree, just north of Scottsdale. I'm going by myself. No husband and no kids. I've found a botanical garden there I'm going to go visit, but if any you out there have any tips for good places to go or eat, let me know.

Penny For Your Thoughts

2008-03-20T21:13:00.002-06:00

We honestly thought he had a virus. Or was teething. Saturday Jack threw up a couple of times, then had a little fever. He was a little puny for the next few days, with off and on fevers, and not eating great. But nothing alarming. Last night (Wednesday) was the worst. His fever was up to 102.5. His voice was a little hoarse. He only would eat cold things like ice cream and applesauce. He would drink and nurse, but just wasn't himself. I contemplated taking him to the ER, but hey, I'm a doctor, right? I'd be bringing my kid in for some virus that there was no cure for.

But still, 6 days of fever is a little concerning. I called my office this morning and had him worked in with one of my partners. The ears were good. The lungs were clear. No bad rash. His throat was a little red, but nothing horrible. He had lost 10 ounces since his check up last week, though. Since it'd been going on for so long, and he was dehydrated, we started with blood work, a urinalysis, a swab for influenza and RSV, and a chest x-ray. Just to "cover the bases".

The drawing blood was bad enough. The swabs sucked. The chest x-ray was even worse. They have this little chair they put the kid in, then strap him in with his arms above his head. But that was nothing compared to the overwhelming wave of nausea that hit me when this came out of the x-ray developing machine.

No, that's not a 70s disco gold medallion necklace. No, that's not something on the machine. That's a coin stuck in my son's esophagus. My little almost 13 month old son, that just a year ago, was just barely getting off the ventilator and out the the NICU. How crappy of a mom am I to first of all, let this happen, and second of all, to not even have a clue that it did?

So off we went to the ENT's office, who sent us to the hospital. We had to wait a couple of hours, because I had nursed him during his appointment at my office. So at 2:30, they took him back to the OR, put him to sleep, intubated him, stuck a scope down and pulled it out. His esophagus is a little irritated, but if certainly could have been worse. We were placing bets on what denomination of coin it was. I was voting for a nickel, but no...

A penny. A 1976 penny to be precise. I feel horrible. But Jack's none the worse for it. He is already much more back to his normal self. He chowed down on supper tonight. He's had his first soaking wet diaper in days. It could have been much worse, but someday we'll all laugh about it. We're already joking that we're going to have the penny and the x-ray framed or something.

The penny says, "In God we Trust". But in our house, it's in Dr. Lamers, Dr. Ward, and Dr. Snow that we trust.

Farms, Gardens, and Socks

2008-03-10T21:07:00.004-06:00

Well, we've pretty much decided to make an offer on some land. We're working on getting the finances finalized this week, then then it's down to the nitty gritty negotiations. Cross your fingers for us. We went out and walked around the land on Sunday afternoon...great pastures, and great views. Please oh please let this work.

I planted seeds tonight. To be correct Catie and I planted seeds. I did the planting, and she did the watering. Last year I bought her a little kids watering can, rake, etc. She didn't really use it last year, but tonight she thought it was the coolest thing ever. So hopefully our lettuce and spinach will actually come up this year. We'll do some more planting later on, but this is our start.

And in knitting news, I have finished a pair of socks.

The Serendipidity socks for the Rockin' Sock Club 2008. This was a great pattern. Love, love, love the socks. The only modification I made was to knit the cuff on size 2 needles to fit my fat legs. The heel and foot were in the size 1's the pattern called for. I'm a short-row heel convert. This heel fits me MUCH better than the heel flap/gusset that I usually do. Next I need to finish the sweater for myself. How is it possible that I both love and hate simple stockinette all at the same time? It's simple and easy, and yet at times it bores me to tears. I need another project to mix it up...Lace? Kid knitting? Another pair of socks?

Growing Challenge--Week 1

2008-03-04T20:53:00.002-07:00

Last week I blogged about joining the Growing Challenge . One of the goals is to grow something you haven't grown before. So tonight I ordered potatoes. I ordered from Seeds of Change. I'm fascinated by blue potatoes, and so ordered these along with some Yukon Gold potatoes.

Along our fence in the back, we had some old roses that were crazy out of control and going wild. G dug them out this past week, and I think that spot will make a great area for potatoes...it's already somewhat of a raised bed, and I think I might try to grow some of them with the no-dig method I read about in one of my books.

Also we're getting closer to hopefully purchasing some land. We're trying to get our financing all lined up, and hopefully will actually make an offer in the next couple of weeks. Cross your fingers for us. I lay in bed at night and dream up ideas for our farm...a little orchard, a big veggie garden, intensive grazing for sheep and cattle, maybe a milk cow, a red barn, a big white farmhouse with clothes flapping on a clothesline. Utopia, I tell you.

Happy Birthday Jack

2008-03-02T23:07:00.004-07:00

Thursday was Jack's 1st birthday. In typical Jocele fashion, I'm late posting about it. We had cupcakes at work on Thursday (he comes to lunch every day so I can nurse him). Then that night, we went to my parents' house for dinner and cake. Today we had people over here for a party and to knit and play cards. I love pinochle. At any rate, he's had a good few days. Lots of cake. Lots of presents. Lots of playing with toys and crawling around.

Here he is with his new dump truck from Kim

And eating red velvet cake and Grammy's on Thursday.

And all this birthday party stuff is tiring...

Happy Birthday to my best boy!

The Gardening Bug

2008-02-26T20:55:00.002-07:00

Well, as I wrote briefly on Sunday, in spring time the gardening bug bites be hard. In honor of that, I've joined

The premise is to grow something new this year that you haven't grown before. In our case, it's to have a more successful garden...we failed miserably last year, and I'm trying again. In the past 2 or 3 years, I've changed the way I think about food drastically. Maybe it's because I have kids. Maybe it's all those books I've been reading that have influenced me. Maybe something else. Actually, probably a combination of all of them. At any rate, the desire to eat more local is getting stronger and stronger. So strong that part of our lawn is now set aside for food growing, not grass growing.

So, ideally, once a week, I'll post something garden/food related. This is the year things will survive!

Oh look, another Sunday night post.

2008-02-24T22:42:00.004-07:00

Another week (and weekend) gone. It was a fairly busy week at work. 2 deliveries. 1 night of call where I was up a fair portion of the night. And now here it is, Sunday night. Time to get ready to head back to the ol' grind. Blech.

On Saturday, Catie and I went to Tea for Tutus. It was a fund raiser for Ballet Idaho. Catie wore the dress I made her. It was impossible to get her to stand still to take a decent picture of it, so here's the best we could get.

The dress wasn't nearly as dressy as all the other girls there. But that's okay. She still looked darn cute. It was a nice afternoon, and we went with some women from work with their kids. We hit the bookstore afterwards. We had dinner at my parents' house, then home to bed. After no nap, Catie was exhausted. Jack had spent the day getting spoiled by Grammy and Boppa.

I did manage to get some knitting done Saturday night after everyone was in bed. That seems to be my most productive time. Unfortunately, it makes it difficult to get up in the morning if I'm up until midnight or 1:00 in the morning knitting. I've been working on a sweater for myself. A Knitting Pure and Simple pattern...the zippered jacket. I've just finished with dividing for the sleeves, and am starting to work on the body. Miles and miles of stockinette to go. I want to have this done before our cruise in May, so I need to get cranking on it. I'm not an especially fast knitter. Or maybe just not a consistent knitter...there are days that go by when I can't get any knitting done.

I also finished the first sock from the January Socks that Rock club (well, except for weaving in the ends).
I LOVE this heel. I tend to do a top down sock with a heel flap, mostly because that's how I learned to knit socks. But this short row heel fits my foot so much better. I was terrified of the whole wrap and turn thing, but just like my fear of cables, it was unfounded. I think I'll end up doing the majority of my heels this way. Now I need to master toe up socks. One technique at a time.

Today it was gorgeous outside. I did some yard work. It was nice to get out there and do something a little more physical. There's just something about working outside that is comforting and fulfilling for me. I have a feeling I'm going to be sore tomorrow though. Who knew raking pine needles could be such a workout? Every spring, I get this incredible urge to garden. I know that's not different from many of you out there. In my head, I'm quite the master gardener. Alas, reality doesn't necessarily match up to my dreams. I'm making all these plans about what to plant and where. Grand plans. And if it's anything like last year, the veggies won't grow. The flower beds gets taken over by weeds. But every spring, this one included, I tell myself, "This year will be different." Time will tell.

And to finish off the post, a couple of close up kid pics. Catie is enamored with pig tails and pony tails. She calls them her "ponies". So here she is...

And Jack has discovered how fun it is to play "So Big"... Speaking of that, he turns 1 in 4 days. Yikes!

Things that make my day

2008-02-17T21:49:00.002-07:00

We got a new camera. It takes great pics, but I don't know how to download them yet. So in lieu of that...10 things that make me happy. Several of them happened this weekend...which makes me feel especially blessed.

1) Hearing my kids giggle
2) Snuggling in bed with G and the kids on a Sunday morning
3) A quiet house
4) Hand washing dishes (strange, but I love the routine of it)
5) How my dog is so excited to see me whenever I walk in the house
6) Starting to look at land to buy, so that we can finally stop dreaming about our farm and start building one
7) Snuggling up with a good book
8) Really good Thai food, especially green curry
9) A long soak in a bathtub
10) The smell of sagebrush in the rain

Yup...life is good.

A tough one

2008-02-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

Heidi tagged me last week for a meme. It's actually the first time I've gotten tagged. But this one was a doozy. It took some time to sit down and figure all this out...time is not something that I'm big on around here. At any rate...here goes

Rules:Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written.Link 1 must be about family.Link 2 must be about friends.Link 3 must be about yourself.Link 4 must be about something you love.Link 5 can be anything you choose.Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better.(Readers - don’t forget to read the archive posts and leave comments.)

1) Family...Thankful for a healthy kid Jack being in the NICU was the absolute worst 10 days of my life...you wouldn't even know it now to look at him. Thank God for all that technology.

2) Friends...Kim. 2 years later, we still joke about out dyeing skills, or the lack thereof.

3) Myself...The announcement. I never did make that sweater

4)Something I love...Delivering babies The hours suck sometimes, but I LOVE delivering babies. Especially when the dads cry.

5) Random...Shearing the girls. Oh, the wool!

And now...who to tag?

1) Kat with a K
2) Lorette
3) Theresa
4) Margene
5) Ann

Decluttering.

2008-01-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

We have too much junk. When I bought this house (single and hadn't even met G yet), I thought that 1200 square feet was way more than I'd ever need. I had lived in a studio-type carriage house my last 2 years of med school...basically a single living room/bedroom, and tiny kitchen and bathroom. The fact that the house I was buying had a separate living room and 2 whole bedrooms was almost more than I could comprehend. Flash forward 6 years...married and 2 kids in a 2 bedroom house. Now with a wicked fiber addiction to go along with the book addiction that was already well established back then. It's getting a little crowded, to say the least. But really, I think it's more a matter of too much stuff and not enough storage. Oh, okay. Maybe just too much stuff.

On Sunday, the kids went to my mom and dad's. Without that distraction, G and I tackled the kids' room. Well, mostly Catie's room, as Jack is still in our room. But eventually, they'll share it. We hauled out 4 garbage bags of kids clothes to take to a resale store. Plus there's 2 boxes of stuff we're keeping...you know...the stuff they wore home from the hospital, special outfits, etc. We got rid of a bag of toys. I still have a couple of boxes of papers to go through. The room looks great. It needs a rug, but it's so clean and uncluttered. I LOVE IT! I haven't taken any pictures, and can't now, because Catie's already in bed, but it's wonderful. I'd like to do this with each room in the house.

Clutter is my downfall. I certainly know we won't have the "perfect" house. It will always look lived in. I'm okay with that. And I know it's a matter of doing a little bit every day to stay on top of it. I just can't figure out how to do that and get everything else done that I want or need to do.

This post really has no purpose, I suppose. Just me rambling. We're trying to simplify things here, and this is one of the steps on the way.

In other news, it's been snowing like crazy all day. I'm nostalgic for the good ol' days in school, when we could very likely have a snow day tomorrow. None of that now, though. That, and I'm knitting myself a sweater. I've always made them for other people. Now it's all about me!

Vacation update

2008-01-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

We've been back for just over a week, and I haven't blogged yet. Vacation was wonderful. The coast was stormy, which I don't mind at all. We walked on the beach every day, and Catie chased seagulls. There was much knitting and reading. Also a fair amount of sleeping. And we did 2 different thousand piece jigsaw puzzles. We had clam chowder every day. and unlimited, dedicated time with the kids. I want to be on permanent vacation. Seriously. Or maybe just retire now?

Here's one of the projects that dominated my knitting time. I finished the Tulip Sweater. I started back in October or November, but it got set aside for one reason or another. Well, I pulled it out, and worked on it. I finally finished it yesterday, and am pleased as punch at how it turned out.It was an easy knit, and the colors make me happy to look at. This is the smallest size, and is a gift. Though last night, as I was weaving in the ends, Catie said, "You make big one and I wear it?" How can I turn that down?

Vacation knitting

2008-01-08T19:29:00.001-07:00

We're on vacation. The first official, real, week-long vacation since I was on maternity leave. I've had a couple of long weekends, but this is the first time I've had a whole week off. More like 10 days actually. We're in Seaside, Oregon. There's been lots of knitting. So far I've finished one project that's been lingering for months. Tonight I'm going to finish a sock I've had on the needles since the fall. Tomorrow...the Tulip sweater. And I brought the spining wheel...so when I get home, I'll have all sorts of pictures to show you. Enjoy your week.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T22:52:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year to all! Remember back when you were young (21 or 22) and New Year's Eve was a big event? If only I could have seen my future...I was in bed by about 11. Ahhh, blissful slumber.

I thought that today was my blogiversary, but after looking back through the archives, it was actually yesterday. So, happy late day to me as well. 2 years ago, I sat up late on New Year's Eve, and started a blog. After reading so many knitting blogs online, I wanted to jump into the fray. I've not been the most consistent blogger by any means, but I have enjoyed it, and enjoyed getting to know you all.

One of the many resolutions I've made this year is to be a better blogger. I'd like to get a couple of posts in each week. It's probably a little over-ambitious, but I'll try.

I actually went to 43 things and made up a long list of resolutions. Feel free to go check them out. This will be a process that will take more than a year, but I really want to get my life in line with my values. I feel sometimes like I do stuff because it's the way I've always done it or because it's convenient, not necessarily because it's the right way.

One of the biggest things that is going on this year is that we've decided, as a household, to not buy anything made in China. All year long. The safety issues, as well as the fact that jobs are being taken away from here in the US, all in search of the glorious dollar and increased profit margins, has prompted us to do this. I think (and hope) it will cause us to research and plan ahead, and really buy only what we need. Out little political statement about the economy and the shifting of production overseas isn't going to change anything, but we'll feel better about it. I'm sure I'll have updates with the struggles we have regarding this from time to time.

One of my resolutions was to go to bed earlier and get up earlier...I better head that way.

Well, there went 6 weeks

2007-12-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

No post since Thanksgiving. I started one a week or so afterward, but never finished it and never posted it, obviously. So, yeah, wow...those weeks just flew by.

We had a good Christmas. Santa was good to me. I got a new one of these. I've been having fun finding podcasts to download onto it. The kids were great fun on Christmas. Catie finally figured out this whole Christmas deal...Santa, presents, opening them, etc. Jack, well, he ate wrapping paper.

So here comes the new year, and with it, resolutions. I always tell myself I won't make any, but it's so ingrained in me that I started making a list a couple of days ago. I have tons of little things, but mostly they boil down to simplifying our lives, and becoming more healthy (financially and physically), and just overall living a better life. They're not all things I'll necessarily start on right away, but just goals for how I want to live my life over the coming months. I'll probably further expand on this in the days to come.

And, just in case you were worried there wouldn't be any pictures...I give you the 2 cutest kids on the planet.

Catie saying "cheese"

And Jack enjoying a little splash time in the tub

Thankful

2007-11-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

Turkey day. The day we stuff ourselves into misery. Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite days...mostly because of dedicated family time and the relative absence of the utter consumerism that is Christmas.

This has been somewhat of a stressful year for us. There was the bathroom remodel that took 3 times as long as originally thought. The whole pregnancy complication/bed rest/baby in the NICU thing. Work has been rough at times.

But overall, we're blessed with each other, a cozy house, and more food and clothing than we'll ever need. We have great friends and family. We have happy and healthy kids. Along those lines. the thing that I'm most thankful for is that we went from this:to this:

One down, one to go

2007-11-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

I didn't get quite as much done today as planned. I ended up not having quite enough fabric to make 2 pillowcases because of the way I laid it out. But I had a blast making this, and it was quick...only about 45 minutes to do the whole thing.

Here's a full shot of the pillowcase:and then a close up of the ribbon I added...grainy picture though.

I had so much fun making this. It's not perfect, but hey, it's a pillowcase. It's just going to get drooled on anyway. Not by me though...it's a birthday present.

Yay! I have to go get a little more fabric and I'll get the second one done this week. Then what shall I work on? I'm thinking about fabric napkins in a nice fall print for Thanksgiving. Sewing rocks!

Early morning and the house is quiet!

2007-11-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

It's 5:45 on a Sunday morning. And I'm awake. Damn. Jack woke up about 4:30 to eat, and I haven't been able to go back to sleep. So instead of laying in bed, I thought I might as well get up and start my day. It just has to be a quiet start to the day, as everyone else is sleeping. Like they should be at this time on a Sunday morning. We have a small and creaky old house, so I'm pretty limited at what I can do. So I'll blog, then knit. Mostly I've been working on a pair of socks lately. It's the garter rib socks from Simply Sensational Socks. I'm not at all a good photographer, so you can't get much detail from the picture. Something about these colors reminds me of a stained glass window, so I've been calling them the "stained socks". Last night I finished the cuff of #2, so now it's on to the heel.

In the crafty world, I so badly want to become an accomplished seamstress. So far, I've made one whopping apron. But I've bought fabric for several other projects. I recently found a new website, The Sewing Garden. I want to make every single pattern they have. If the force is with me I might try and make a pair of pillowcases today, just using existing pillowcases as a template.

And one more thing that I've been incredibly negligent about. A couple of months ago, Kim tagged me as a Rockin' Blogger. I never passed along the next tag. So, 2 months late, but better late than never, right? My pick is Heidi. This girl is amazing. A crafty cloth diapering momma with her own little farm, Etsy shop and amazing handmade soap. Heidi, I want to be you.

Warning...Cute kiddos below

2007-11-02T22:56:00.000-06:00

Happy November to you all. We're recovering from the chocolate coma caused by leftover Halloween candy here at out house. As always, I bought gobs of candy, because I'm afraid we'll run out. But we never do, so, well, I mean, that candy can't just go to waste (waist?)

Here we have the Decker kids all dressed in their finery...a fairy and a "Jack"-o-lantern

This was the first Halloween we took Catie trick or treating. There was a "Trunk or Treat" at the hospital, where groups handed out candy from their trunks to the bazillions of kids that lined up. The theory is that it's a safer environment, and all the people handing out candy were local business or health care groups. Fun, but the line was waay too long. I'm not sure we'll do it next year. Then we went to my parents' house...I think Catie had more fun opening the door for trick or treaters at their house than she did actually trick or treating herself.

And on the knitting front...when I was in St. Louis a month ago, I stopped at
Knitorious. This place is literally 2 blocks away from where I used to live. In some ways, it's good I hadn't caught the knitting bug back then, because I would have literally gone broke or starved had I lived that close to that store. Great place. At any rate, they had
Dream in Color yarn. And if you bought enough skeins, you'd get a free pattern. Well, needless to say, I bought more than enough. So I started on this

Yup, the Tulip Baby Sweater. It's so fun to make. There'll be some ends to weave in, but this is a blast. And it's going fast, which is always a bonus. This one is for a friend's baby, but I should have enough to make one for Catie. As well as the Rocketry cardigan for Jack.

I've been looking forward to this weekend and some uninterrupted (I hope) knitting time. I'm hoping to have the border and sleeves done by tomorrow. Cross your needles for me.

A great autumn day

2007-10-28T21:56:00.000-06:00

Today we had the best day. We got up early (well, relatively speaking for a Sunday morning), picked up my dad, and headed north to Horseshoe Bend to the Thunder Mountain Line for a trip to the pumpkin patch. There was a little nip in the air as we got on the train. We made our way through the dining and snack bar cars, and found our seat. It was a short ride, maybe 20 or 30 minutes one way. But it was pretty neat. We followed the Payette river to the pumpkin patch in Montour, ID. Here's C and her Boppa checking out the scenery.

Once we got there, C got to pick out her pumpkin. She picked out Jack's too, because, well, he didn't really have much of a preference. Here she is with the winner.

Here I am with the 2 best kids in the whole world. Seriously. Don't even try and dispute this fact, folks.
And then we got back on and headed back to the station. Jack has just started to suck his thumb in earnest. But the whole hand seemed like a good idea this time. However, he might be in for a bit of a surprise if he chomps down too hard...his first tooth broke through today!!

Later this week...knitting. Yes, knitting. Hard to believe, given this blog's name is "Knitting on Call". It feels like there's been a lot more "call" than "knitting" in my life lately, but I hope to rectify that soon.

25 days already?

2007-10-28T00:04:00.000-06:00

Yup...it's been awhile. I've been reading all your posts out there, but can't seem to ever find the time to sit down and actually WRITE something. So it's midnight. Everyone's asleep but me. I have nothing to keep me from this. Well, the camera is out in the car, and I'm not going to go out to get it, so no pics tonight. Let's see...in the past 25 days since my last post, I've made 2 trips to St. Louis and had a stint where I worked a grueling 11 days straight. There's been some, though very little, knitting. This is the first weekend that I've been home and not working since the end of September. I had high hopes of sleeping late, but my body seems to wake up at 6:00 these days, regardless. I did manage to fall back to sleep for a bit, but it wasn't what I had planned.

This morning we went to the farmers' market in Nampa. Earlier in the year, I made it almost every Saturday morning. Somehow, we slacked off over the past 2 months, which is too bad. I enjoy going, and at least looking at all the booths, if not actually purchasing anything. I imagine myself someday having a booth at a farmers' market, silly dream that it is. Today was the last day, and there weren't many vendors there. It was a little windy and blustery, but still pleasant. We did manage to score some great potatoes and homemade bread and jam. Plus a couple of little artichokes. They're on the menu for tomorrow night.

After we were done at the market, we headed to the Flying M for breakfast. I had apple cider and a pecan roll. There is nothing better than hot apple cider on a cold fall day, if you ask me. On the way back to the car, we stopped at the LYS, which is now expanding and including fabric as well. OH MY GOD...that is one beautiful space! It just further cements my goals of becoming a master seamstress as well as spinner/knitter.

Tomorrow should be a fun day. G, my dad, the kids, and I are headed up to Horseshoe Bend to catch the Thunder Mountain Line to the pumpkin patch. Catie is so incredibly obsessed with trains right now, that I'm anticipating she might explode with glee over this. Jack...well, he's getting more and more fun by the minute. He's getting more of a personality and sense of humor every day. He's definitely more of a clown than his sister every was. Sometimes my heart feels like it's going to explode, I love these kids so much.

Finally, the OFF haul.

2007-10-02T21:08:00.000-06:00

So it's been a good 9 days since we've been home. OFFF was great. Unfortunately, I was there before I realized my camera's batteries had died, and I wasn't about to leave to go buy new ones. So at this point, I have no pictures from the actual event. I did take some pictures with my mom and sister's cameras, but I don't have those yet. Needless to say, the critters were cute. Seriously. Now I want Shetland sheep. There was lots of great stuff to buy, as evidenced below:

First stop...the Blue Moon booth. Where I snatched up 5 skeins of STR in various colorways. That and a few patterns. From there I bought a couple of shawl patterns from another booth.

We headed into the next building, where I bought a couple of books

And a rug hooking kit from Little House Rugs. I've tried this rug hooking thing over the past couple of days. I'm no good at it yet.

And speaking of a learning curve, I bought this
from Woodland Woolworks. I've been trying to master the spindle thing. As long as the yarn doesn't break, I do okay. But as soon as I have to join in new wool, I'm in serious trouble. But it's fun. And somewhat more portable that the wheel.

We also hit the zoo while in Portland, as well as the obligatory stop at Powell's bookstore. I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm in love with that store. It's probably good that its 400 miles away. Otherwise the checkbook would be in even more trouble than it already is.

But hey, we bought a scratch off lottery ticket tonight. And we won...$1. SWEET!

I've Been Chastised.

2007-09-18T23:32:00.001-06:00

Tonight I went to my spinning guild. I haven't been there for a couple of months. Okay, maybe 3 months. At any rate, Carrie was there, taking pics for her blog. I made the comment that I haven't posted in awhile. Since September 3rd, as I was informed. At least someone out there cares. I know there are a few of you out there who still check on me from time to time. Thanks for putting up with my sporadic posts. But as I pointed out a few weeks ago...no apologies anymore.

It's been a busy fiber month. Saturday the 8th, I went to the Wool Growers day in the foothills in Boise. Usually this was held at a local winery, and was a fiber festival of sorts. This year the focus was much more on education. I showed up with my wheel and was directed to the children's booth. I bet nearly 200 kids took my Rosie for a spin. I was too busy to even take a picture. Thank goodness Kim was there.

This past Saturday was our local Indian Creek Festival. The spinning guild set up at the local museum, and we spun the day away. It was a gorgeous day for spinning. Here's Pamela and Pauline showing off their talents:
I also recently finished my modular scarf. Well, mostly finished. I still need to weave in the ends and block it. But apparently C decided she needed to model it one day. This picture just cracks me up every time I look at it. It's like she's striking a pose or something.

This weekend we're headed to Portland for the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. Yup, it's a good fiber month. If only EVERY month could be this way. Every day, for that matter. Eventually....

A Productive Weekend

2007-09-03T21:17:00.000-06:00

I love 3 day weekends. Because, well, it's a 3 day weekend, folks. But then you go back to work and it's a short workweek too. Sort of a double bonus. Oh, the mind games I play to get through my week sometimes.

It was a great weekend. I finished a pair of socks on Friday night. Monkey socks in Glacier Teal from Mountain Colors.On Saturday, G took the kids for a couple of hours so I could work on trying to get the house organized and do laundry. So I started a load of clothes and tackled the dining room. In our house we have a little nook under a window where I keep my yarn and such. It's about 8 feet by 2 feet. Full of yarn and fiber and JUNK. I got pretty much all the yarn entered into Ravelry. I'm embarrassed at how much sock yarn I have. Probably enough for 20 pairs of socks. If not more. At any rate, it took 3 days, but finally, it's all organized. May I present to you "Wool Corner".

In the bottom bin is fiber. The second bin is generic yarn...worsted, lace, etc. The 3rd bin is all sock yarn. The top bin is notions, like needles, tape measures, and stitch markers. To complete the scene is Rosie and all her spinning paraphenalia.

The next project is to build a window seat for the nook. With more storage space. Because we don't have enough bookshelves.

I was on call on Sunday, but it was a pretty quiet night. Got some more laundry and such done. Monday my parents came over for dinner and we played a game of pinochle. Catie helped frost the cake.
Jack is about to start crawling. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Plus he army crawls. He's 6 freaking months old. But it makes him tired.
This is actually from last weekend, when we went to Yakima to see G's mom and stepdad. But I haven't had a chance to post it yet. Ain't he just the sweetest thing?

Enjoy the short work week!

No going back now.

2007-08-28T23:45:00.000-06:00

Well, after weeks of perseverating, I've done it. I've booked this. Just G and me. No kids. They're staying with Auntie Karlyn and Uncle James in Seattle. Holy Crap! Lots of knitting for me. Lots of Alaska for George. I'm so excited!! And it's only what, 9 months away?

In other news, I'm sure you've all heard the Larry Craig news. Eewww. Makes me a bit embarrassed to be an Idahoan. And in reality, being an Idahoan has nothing to do with it. Well, except that we've voted him back into office over the past 25 years. But the creep factor is unbelievable. I don't give a crap if you're gay. Or if you've every been gay. Just don't lie about it and make all sorts of blanket anti-gay statements. The whole bathroom stall, foot tapping, and worst of all, throwing your business card in the arresting officer's face and flaunting that you're a senator? That's beyond inexcusable, if you ask me. It's taking hypocrisy and the abuse of power to a whole new repulsive level. Resign already, Larry.

Real. Live. Knitting.

2007-08-19T21:57:00.000-06:00

Where does the weekend go? Before I know it, it's Sunday night and I'm doing laundry for Monday morning. Time flies. It was a pretty good weekend. Saturday morning Jack and I met Kim for coffee and knitting. Jack was fascinated with Kim's bright red toenails. And Kim gave me a really cute felted bag as a b-day present (thanks, Kim!!) From there, we headed to my parents' house to hang out. I got a fair bit done on my sock (Monkey). You girls are right...it IS a fun pattern.

Catie spent the night, so we headed back this am for breakfast and to pick her up. I used my mom's washer to felt this:

It's the Marsupial Tote from the Stitch N Bitch book.

Funny thing about both these projects--they're both Christmas presents. Unfortunately, they're not because I'm so far ahead for this year. Oh no. They're from 2005 for the socks and 2006 for the bag. Just a wee bit late. But at least I'm getting them done.

If only there were more hours in a day. Or I could live on less sleep. Like 4 hours. Then I could get everything done I wanted to and still have time to hug on my babies. I'm considering cutting back on my work hours in a few months, but until then, do you think I could get one of those time traveling things like Hermione had in one of the HP books? I think it was the 3rd one. Then I could be in 2 places at once. If only...

Why do I always apologize?

2007-08-15T21:38:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been a month since my last post. I always apologize and vow to do better. Then I post a bit more frequently for a week or two, then it's back to sporadic posts. I'm not going to apologize or feel badly. I've been busy. 2 kids. Working 70 hours a week (or more). A trip to North Idaho for a wedding. Time to drop that Catholic guilt thing. (If only I really could.)

But there has been knitting. Some spinning. And even a little sewing. I've been doing more reading too. I have a tendency to read non-fiction. I'm happy to report that in the past month, I've read 2 fiction books. And a couple of non-fiction. I've read the obligatory Harry Potter, but I read this too. A nice piece of fluff for a Saturday night.

Sunday G took the kids and I got to have an afternoon to myself. I think it's the first time since Jack was born that I haven't been at work or with one kid or the other for more than an hour. I met Kim, Margene, and Judy for coffee at the Flying M in Nampa. I started a new modular scarf, and tonight I started a new pair of socks.

The camera battery is dead, and we're out of AA batteries, so you'll have to make do with some kiddie pics that are already downloaded.

Here's Catie and her cousin Hannah at the wedding reception
And Jack sitting on daddy's lap just before the wedding. Hard to believe he's almost 6 months old.

2007-07-15T21:10:00.000-06:00

I finally got my Mystery Stole started on Friday night. Oh..the saga. I had Friday afternoon off. So I went to the craft store to get beads. I picked out some very pretty ivory beads. Then rushed anxiously home to get started. I busted out the crochet hook I bought last week, just for thi purpose. Unfortunately, the hook was 13 cm long...not size 13. It's a size 12. The hook wouldn't go through the beads. So I decided to go ahead without beads. I got a few rows into it, then fell asleep. We went to Joann's yersterday, but they didn't have a size 13 hook, so I'm resigned to the no bead look. If I waited until my next day off to get a smaller hook, who knows when I'd get any more done? Here we have a whopping 35 rows of the stole.

I'm definitely not one of those people who has the clue finished within a day or two of it coming out. But eventually...

And in food news, this is our local meal of the week.
Tortillas: local tortilla factory in town
Eggs: bought at the farmers market in Nampa from a farmer that lives here in Caldwell
Veggies and potatoes: from various booths at the market.

Thank god for the Nampa Farmers' Market. I go basically every single week, and we load up on goodies. We have this little routine...walk partway through, then stop and have a lemon/blueberry scone, then carry on. I tend to frequent and support the same few booths each week. I hope that the Caldwell Farmers' Market will eventually take off and become as successful as the one down the road, but it's on Wednesday nights from 4-7. Right now it's way too hot to be an especially pleasant experience.

And now, Jack's happy with daddy. Catie's in bed. I best be getting to knitting.

A Perfect Sunday/One Local Summer

2007-07-08T18:37:00.000-06:00

What a great day. I was on call last night, and busy until midnight. Then things settled down, and I got some sleep. This morning we got up and went out to breakfast, went for a drive in the new car, then went to Ste. Chapelle for their Jazz at the Winery. We got there early, so were able to get great seats in the shade. As we listened to some blues, I was able to knit my swatch for the Mystery Stole. Then I read a bit. After we got home, I was tickled to find my invite to Ravelry. I'll have to somehow find a way to keep from spending ALL NIGHT on this site. I have no clean clothes for work tomorrow, plus I need to work on a project for the residents. I need to find some self-discipline.

I also am desperately behind in my posts for O ne Local Summer. This is our meal from a few days ago.

Roasted red potatoes and onions, a salad and fixin's, all from the farmers market in Nampa. I must admit, the chicken isn't local. Unfortunately, the same day I signed up OLS, we discovered our freezer in the garage had lost power, and we lost all of our meat. This is some chicken we've had in the freezer in the house that we needed to use up. But the pesto on it is from our local Coop. It's a start. We need to find a source for local beef/chicken. I'll keep working on that.

And now...the dilemma...laundry or Ravelry. HMMMMM....

G's Lucky Day

2007-07-07T20:42:00.000-06:00

7-7-07. The day thousands of couples want to get married, as they'll have good luck and long and happy marriages. Well, today is the day G turns 38. So in honor of his birthday, we went to the yarn store. We walked out with $110 worth of yarn, none of it earmarked for him. See...isn't he lucky? His comment as he carried the bag out of the store was "YAY. Happy Birthday to Me!"

I felt guilty.

So I bought him this:

Just to qualify this...we've been contemplating buying a new car for a few months. And we'd done a fair bit of internet research and pretty much knew what we wanted. It's a Ford Edge. We bought it off the showroom floor. I've heard about this before, but never knew anyone to do it. Weird, huh? But this car is sweet...and now Catie and Jack's car seats won't be right next to each other. And we won't have to say things like, "Catie, get your finger out of your brother's mouth. Quit poking him in the eye." At least until they're older. Hopefully by then, he'll be big enough to fight back.

Back to the knitting, though. I have to admit to being a joiner. After I told myself I wasn't going to do any more knitalongs. I signed up for the Mystery Stole 3 after reading about it on Stephanie's blog. Me and about 2 billion other knitters. Including the girl at the counter at the yarn shop where I bought the yarn today. Misti Alpaca laceweight, in ivory. I'm on call tonight, but I'm hoping to get my swatch done in the next 24 hours. I'd like to use the beads as well, so I need to find a place to get those as well. But we'll start with the swatch and go from there.

But for now...we're loving that new car smell.

A New(ish) Look...Sans photos

2007-07-01T00:10:00.000-06:00

I decided it was time to clean up the blog. Get rid of some of the outdated links/buttons on the sidebar. Maybe change the template and color scheme. Well, I deleted a bunch of stuff. On purpose at first. Then some other stuff that wasn't on purpose. So now I've been trying to put some stuff back on. So please bear with me as I try to jazz this thing up a bit over the next few days/weeks.

I'm also late for my One Local Summer post from week 1. Along those deleting lines, we had a moment at our house Saturday night. I had started to post about our local meal, and couldn't find the pictures anywhere. Just before that, G had deleted a bunch of pics from the camera. Something about too full or too slow or something. But alas...no pictures of the meal. And even worse than that, no pictures of Catie's birthday party.

G: "I thought you saved them."
Me: "No, I thought YOU saved them".

I'm happy to report, that as of midnight last night, the pictures are back. The local meal. Catie's birthday. Old pics from months ago. All of them. We had to download some free software and buy a $20 card to read our camera's memory card. But it worked...we somehow recovered our accidentally deleted pictures. Best damn $20 we've spent in a long time. Thank goodness for Best Buy.

So, that's about all for now. I'm going to try and learn how to spice this site up a bit. Any tips?

2 years ago today...

2007-06-21T21:42:00.000-06:00

Here's what the first day of summer means at our house:

2005:
2006:

And now 2007:
We'll have a party on Saturday at Grammy and Boppa's house. But today's the big day...

Happy Birthday Catie!

Am I being fickle?

2007-06-18T18:58:00.000-06:00

I have a new love interest. Yes...I'm contemplating cheating on knitting and spinning with a few hobby. Here's a hint:
Lately I've been enamored with sewing. Or at least the idea of sewing. Granted, I haven't actually SEWN anything yet, but I went shopping today. I went to the local quilt shop here in Caldwell. Cindy's Quilt Shop. What beautiful fabric and colors. I was overwhelmed. Kind of like the first time I went into a yarn store. I walked around for probably 30 minutes before I decided on these 2 fabrics.

I bought a yard of each fabric, and think I'll start with a tote bag. Way back in the day, I took home-ec in 4-H, and I had a brief stint with quilting a few years ago, but it's been awhile since I've even taken the sewing machine out of the case. I am on this kick where I want to make the kids' clothes. Yeah. Right between my 12 hour days and 14 hour call nights.

Basically, what this is coming down to is I think I want a lifestyle change. I love my job most days, but I would love being home with my kids more. I want to be home to fix them lunch and dinner and bake cookies with them. There's no way I could quit working, but I would love to scale back and be a "homemaker/mom" type. 8 or 10 years ago, I would have died if I could hear myself saying this. And now my priorities have shifted more than I ever though possible. Mommy guilt? Reminiscing for the the "good ol' days" when I was a kid? I don't know. I just know that I wish things could be different right now. Any advice from working moms out there?

2007-06-11T21:29:00.000-06:00

Since I finished the socks last week, I didn't cast on anything for several days. I finally decided on one of the hand towels from Mason Dixon Knitting. It's in white Euroflax yarn. I'm a whopping 10 rows of so into it...not enough for a decent picture. It called for size 5 needles. I had some Addi Turbo Lace needles sitting around that I hadn't used yet. Dang, those things are sharp!! I definitely need to find a good lace project to put them to use.

I've been spinning more lately. I've been spinning up some Targhee wool that was dyed by Mountain Colors. I bought it last summer when we were in Montana. I've only had it on the wheel for 10 months. Sheesh. I'm horrible, aren't I?

And in kid news, Jack is now over 14 pounds. At 3 months old. He's 27 inches long. Well over the 100th percentile for length. The problem is that he's now over the recommended maximum length for our car seat. So we're gonna have to go fork out some bucks for a new convertible car seat. Check him out...doesn't he look so serious?

We went to a wedding Friday night. Here's the pair of them all dressed up and ready to go:

and here's Catie looking up the church steps. It's her movie star look, I think.

Doesn't it make you sick how crazy proud I am of my kids?

Belated yarn purchases

2007-06-04T20:17:00.000-06:00

I think I go through blogging spurts. Obviously this is a spurt, as there's an unprecedented 2 posts in 2 days. I never got around to posting pics from vacation...So 6 weeks ago, right before I went back to work, we went to Portland and the Oregon Coast. We spent several days in Depoe Bay, a little town between Lincoln City and Newport. One day, we went shopping in Lincoln City. G went to the kite and toy shop, and I went to
Nestucca Bay Yarns across the street. When I'm on vacation, I try to buy stuff I can't find at home. So I bought several skeins of 2 ply from I mperial Stock Ranch, in Kingfisher Blue.

My plan is to make the Neck Down Jacket from Knitting Pure and Simple. Yes, yet another pattern from them. I swear I'm going to branch out, but I keep coming back to their patterns. Simple and easy to follow directions.

The same day, we also visited Yarn for all Seasons in Newport. There, I picked up a couple of skeins of Socks that Rock in Downpour.

Vacation was wonderful, and I hated to come home. My sister and her little boy came from Portland to spend a few days at the beach with us. Here are Catie and Danny enjoying the weather and the beach.

Next trip, we're pondering it being a "grown-up only" trip, and leaving the kids at home to stay here. But which room to choose from??

2007-06-03T18:33:00.000-06:00

Time flies. I think it hasn't been too long since I posted, and I look back and it's been 3 weeks. I just finished a week from hell. We rotate a week at a time working in the hospital, and it was my week. My first since coming back from maternity leave. Lots and lots of patients and admissions every day. I'd come home and my mind would be racing for a couple of hours. So I'd try and knit (when the kids cooperated), just to try and settle down.

Goldfinger was sheared this week. Unfortunately, I was at work, and so couldn't get any pictures during the process. But since it's over 90 degrees, this week, I'm sure he appreciates the haircut. I'll get some pictures of him with his new haircut soon.

But I DO have pictures to show. I actually finished something. For real!! There hasn't been a lot of serious knitting time since Jack came along. But here we have it:

Vital stats:
Pattern: Bed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Socks that Rock in Red Rock Canyon (lightweight)
Needles: Size 2

It was a fun and easy pattern, once I looked up a better way to knit 3 together. Trying to actually knit 3 together was killing my hands, and I seriously thought about giving up on the pattern. I googled "knit 3 together". I can't find the link now, but basically you knit two together, slip it back to the left needle, lift the 2nd stitch on the left needle over the one you just slid back, then slip the stitch back onto your right needle.

And in other news, Jack is getting more and more fun. The smiling and giggling and cooing is just too damn cute for words. Well, except maybe these words:

I found this shirt on etsy and HAD to buy it. I actually bought 2 of them...one black and one white. Makes me smile every time I see it on him. Both because it's funny and because I'm proud of nursing him into one chunky healthy boy.

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-13T22:24:00.000-06:00

This is my second mother's day as a mom. Last year I got pearl earrings. This year, we loaded up the truck, rented a 2-horse trailer, and headed north to Yakima, WA. Catie thought she'd try and drive. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite reach the pedals, so G was forced to drive. And I was forced to knit. The horror.

Anyway, Yakima is where G's mom and step dad live. And their friend Diane, with her herd of...

ALPACAS!

Yes...we have entered the world of alpaca farmers. Diane made us an offer we couldn't refuse. We'd never get a deal like this again. So without further ado, meet the boys.

First we have "Handsome"
And then "Goldfinger"
And "Thunder Bear"
And last, but not least, "Imperial Gold"
Here they all are in the trailer before we took off.

We all survived the trip home in one piece. The alpacas are settling into the pasture nicely tonight. The sheep are a little freaked out, but they'll survive. I think G and I are more freaked, though. We've been thinking about doing this for a year or more, and now that we've gone and bought them, I'm nervous. Noy true buyers' remorse. Just nervous about the unknown. There'll be a steep learning curve, but it'll be worth it. Just think of all that lucsious fiber.

Happy Mother's Day (what's left of it) to all you moms out there.

Brief updates

2007-05-11T10:41:00.000-06:00

It's been about a month since I've posted. Sorry, but life intervenes.

I've been back to work for just over a week. Blech. It sure is hard leaving Catie and Jack every morning, but we're incredibly fortunate that G can stay home with them and be Mr. Mom. I think he probably has to do more adjusting than anyone. Work is going well, and he brings Jack every day at lunch so I can nurse him. So I still get to see the kids quite a bit.

We had a great time at the coast 3 weeks ago. We went to the Newport Aquarium, had fun on the beach, and bought some great yarn. I'll try and post some pics over the next week.

This weekend, I have this afternoon off. So we're headed to visit G's mom and stepdad in Yakima, WA. But that's not all we're doing. Check back on Sunday/Monday for the full update. Lets just say...the sheep will have some company in the pasture. Kim and Heidi know, but noone else does. Hmmm....

More kiddie pics

2007-04-13T00:24:00.000-06:00

I haven't been knitting much at all. But tomorrow we're headed out on vacation, first to G's mom and stepdad's in Yakima, WA, then to the Oregon coast and Portland. G drives and I knit. It's quite the arrangement we have worked out. So I wound up some new STR to start a new pair of socks on the road tomorrow. I've lined up a couple of stores to hit while we're at the coast. Plus we'll head to Powells (the best bookstore EVER...I swear). I'm really looking forward to this trip.

But in (sort of) knitting-related news, Catie has "learned" to knit. It basically consists of her sticking needles into the ball of yarn, but it was too damned cute to not take pictures.

And in Jack news, he's continuing to eat . And eat. We're now up to just over 11 pounds.

Doesn't look like he's missed too many meals, eh? If only he would figure out he ought to eat more during daylight hours, and use those night time hours to let mom and dad get some sleep. He's still a little backwards of the sleep schedule, but we're getting there. That's what I'm telling myself anyway.

Another fun-filled Saturday

2007-03-31T21:13:00.000-06:00

The Continental knitting is progressing. At least the knit stitch is, anyway. I'm getting much better at it, though am still having problems with tension and getting the yarn to slide through my left hand easily, but not with too much slack. The purl stitch, though, is a whole other story. I'm continuing to struggle with that one. When does it "click"...both with my fingers AND my brain?

Today G taught his Boot Camp for New Dads class and took Jack with him, so Catie and I had a "girls day". Well, a couple hours at least. We went to McDonald's for lunch. I know, I know...but I thought she could play on the playground, which I thought was indoors. It wasn't, and it was a little chilly. She proceeded to drink apple juice and suck the ketchup off her french fries. I don't think she took a single bite of food. From there, we headed to Barnes and Noble. Where we split a chocolate chip cookie. Well, I ate most of the cookie and she picked out the chocolate chips and would only eat those. Is this going to be a trend? Then we looked at books. I wanted to buy this, but they didn't have it in stock. The website LIED! So we headed home after a bit, and are spending yet another Saturday night knitting and reading. Exciting life we lead, eh?

Because I have no knitting pics for you, unless you want to look at my Continental knitting swatch, here's a couple of kiddie pics for you.

Catie in the bath: and Jack snoozing after a long night of nursing. NON-STOP. Exhausting. For both of us.

When did I grow so many thumbs?

2007-03-29T23:09:00.000-06:00

Tonight my mom and I took a Fair Isle knitting class at Drop A Stitch in Boise. I'm decidedly an English knitter. So for me, it was a lesson in Continental knitting as well as Fair Isle. And apparently I hold the yarn all weird in my right hand too. So tonight I'm trying to learn:

1) a new way of holding the needles and yarn that's in my right hand
2) to knit Continental
3) to work with 2 colors at once, all the while...
4) doing all this using both hands at the same time.

Good Lord! I haven't felt that uncoordinated in years. Hence the "thumb" title above.

After 2 hours, I had this

And a close up.I started out with a pattern, but couldn't even master the technique. So I simply proceeded to alternating back and forth between the two colors...every other stitch one row, every two stitches the next, etc.

I think I might like knitting Continental. I've decided to try and master that first, then move on to more than one strand. But it was fun. This is going to open up a whole new world of knitting for me!!!

Shearing Day

2007-03-25T15:19:00.000-06:00

We're all well at home. Jack is growing by leaps and bounds, and probably weighs close to 10 lbs. already. He's gaining a pound a week. Outfits that were way too big on him when he came home now fit almost perfectly. Catie is being a great big sister (most of the time anyway). I'm having a great time staying home with them. If only maternity leave could last forever...

On Friday, the sheep shearer came. I wasn't sure how it would go. We have a big open pasture, with no smaller pen to put them in. So we brought the sheep into the back yard. He simply walked up to a sheep, grabbed it, and got to work. This is Aran getting her haircut:and Lacey getting hers:

Oh..this feels so much better. Now I have 2 garbage bags full of wool, anxiously awaiting a date with the bath and carder. Time to get busy and start spinning all this up.

And finally, a couple of mother/daughter and father son pics...awwww

New bathroom pics

2007-03-12T21:56:00.000-06:00

We're settling in nicely at home. Jack is doing great. He had his check up today...he's gained an amazing 9 ounces in 3 days!! Further proof he's a little piggy, and I'm a cow. Just call me Bessie.

So our bathroom is 98% done. We're waiting for a part to extend the showerhead, so we can't use the shower yet, but everything else is pretty much done.

The pedestal sink, new lighting, and new medicine cabinet...

And the best part...the clawfoot tub (made in 1894, and salvaged from my grandparents' house in southern Oregon), and new tile floor. The contractors tried hard to talk us out of tile, but I've had my heart set on this type of tile since I bought the house 5 years ago. More costly, but it's what I wanted. Unfortunately, the subflooring was all rotten, so replacing that was a pretty extensive (i.e. expensive) project, but now, we have an incredibly stable new floor. And I can soak in the bathtub every night after work.

Now it's back to Jack...he's waking up. Eat. Sleep. Poop. Repeat. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Home at Last

2007-03-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

So I fully anticipated staying at the hospital until Saturday. This morning we got a great surprise when the doc said we could go home today instead. So G, Jack, and I loaded up and headed to my parents to pick up Catie. They didn't know Jack had been discharged, so were surprised, to say the least, when we showed up with the baby. Then after a little "adjustment" time between Catie and the new baby (alternating periods of her kissing the baby and then crying because she wanted to sit on someone's lap, but Jack was there), we headed home.

I haven't been home for about 5 weeks. So I got to come home to a nice clean house with a brand new bathroom and brand new baby. I got to take a nap in my own bed. I got to sit on my own couch and nurse Jack. Splendid!

So without further ado, let me introduce you to Jack Edward Decker.

After he was first born:Our first together shot before he was whisked off to the nursery:
I love this picture of G's and Jack's hands:
Holding Jack for the first time in 4 days...2 tubes out, 3 to go.

All snuggled up and ready to head home:

Catie meeting and kissing her brother for the first time:

Life is good.

It's a...BABY. Okay...a BOY!!

2007-03-04T23:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a rough past few weeks. As you may have read (though I don't have too many readers, I'm so sporadic at posting) the preeclampsia set in the beginning of February. So I spent one night in the hospital, and then got to go home on bedrest. The just after my last post, the blood pressure shot up again, so I spent a week in the hospital. Where I did manage to get a whole lot of knitting done.

Then it was back home for a week and a half. And through all this, we've been staying at my parents' house because the bathroom remodel wasn't done. I was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, Feb 28. But Tuesday night, I went into labor on my own. So I was up all night contracting. We went in to the hospital Wednesday morning, and I was 4 to 5 centimeters. My doc broke my water, and off I went.

Jack Edward Decker was born at 5:05 pm on Wednesday the 28th. He looks a lot like his daddy, and is so much darker complected than compared to Catie. He was 3 weeks and 2 days early. But still managed to come in at a hefty 7 lb 4oz. Had I gone all the way to his due date, he probably would have been 9 lb. Ouch. Unfortunately, he had some respiratory issues, which we hoped would resolve. But they didn't, so at about midnight, he was transferred to the NICU in Boise. He was intubated before they left our hospital, and stayed on the ventilator until Saturday morning.

So Saturday morning, they took out his breathing tube. Today they took out one of the IVs from his belly button. And this afternoon we got to hold him for the first time since the first couple of minutes he was born. I was quite teary. Hopefully I can actually start to nurse him tomorrow, and I'm crossing my fingers we can go home by Wednesday or Thursday depending on how he does.

The bathroom will be done tomorrow. I hear it looks great, but since I haven't been home in a month, I can't say. But boy does that clawfoot tub sound good right about now.

We're staying at the hospital, and I'm using the terminal in the waiting room to post this. I have no way to get pics on here, but will as soon as I get home. Take my word for it though, Jack is pretty damn cute.

Knitting and Pregnancy Updates

2007-02-10T20:34:00.000-07:00

Well, bed rest is still fairly yucky. The monitoring has all been good so far. BPs are up and down. My next non-stress test and ultrasound is Monday. But boy, I'm tired of daytime TV. Even HGTV and Law and Order are getting old. But the knitting is coming along nicely.

Catie's sweater came out great. I made a 24 month size. Other than being a little long, it fits her great.

And now, on the adorable model. Do you know how hard it was to get her to stand still to try and take a picture? I couldn't get a decent forward facing shot...she kept moving and/or trying to grab the camera.

My current project is the Birch shawl from Rowan. I started it last summer for The Amazing Lace, but obviously didn't get too far. Now I'm about 10 or 12 repeats done, and am quite proud of how it's turning out. Catie's block wanted to be in the picture too.

Other than that, not much else is up in my world. George is timing how long I've been on the computer...giving me dirty looks that it's time to get back on the couch or something. If this bedrest thing doesn't kill me first, it may kill him. Or maybe it'll just be me that kills him. Either way, isn't this pregnancy thing all his fault anyway???

Forced Knitting Time

2007-02-07T17:24:00.000-07:00

Just the other day I was thinking I'd like to start maternity leave. You know...spend some time sleeping in, knitting, getting ready for the baby. Well, be careful what you wish for.

Sunday morning, G checked his blood pressure (he's on BP meds). I thought I'd check mine just for the fun of it. Well, my 157/94 reading wasn't really what I was looking for. So I checked it a few more times over the next hour, and it stayed up. I called my doc and headed into L&D. Where it was still up. So I had some blood work and got sent home to collect a 24 hour urine. Ain't nothing like saving your pee for a whole day. Well, Sunday night I had two horribly high BPs. 196/102 and 173/112. And the results from my 24 hour urine came back with too much protein. So all this prompted a referral to the high risk doc in Boise. Where I then got admitted overnight for observation and steroids. "Just in case"...to help mature baby's lungs should he/she have to born early. So now I'm on bed rest. No work. Nothing but bed, recliner, or couch, with the occasional brief stint on the computer. When maternity leave is forced on you and you have no choice but to sit on your butt, it really sucks. I had pre-eclampsia when I was pregnant with Catie as well, so it wasn't entirely unexpected that this might happen. Though I kept telling myself it's more common in the first pregnancy, and then not as likely later on. But I'm living proof it can (and sometimes will) happen again. This time, though, I'm 33 weeks instead of 35. That makes a big difference.

But I did finish knitting Catie's sweater. I still have to sew up the hood and weave in the ends, but other than that it's done. Tonight, I'm planning on getting reacquainted with my old friend Birch. With how much time I'm now able to devote to the needles, it ought to be done within a few days as well. So I'll have a few pics to post coming up soon.

Weekend update

2007-02-03T07:35:00.000-07:00

Well, the bathroom remodel officially started yesterday. We have no shower, so we're showering at my parents' house. But YAY!!!! I'm so excited. I'll try and get pictures on here this weekend of the "Before".

Yesterday Catie got her first haircut. She was sitting on her little booster seat at the salon. She wasn't a big fan of the cape. But I got all sad as I was watching her get her hair trimmed. She didn't even get that much cut off...just trimmed. She had shaggy bangs and a mullet-type thing going on. More proof that she's growing up. Afterward, it was incredibly apparent she is DEFINITELY not a baby anymore, and has morphed into this little girl. Somehow we went from
THIS:

TO:

It's weird. I just looked at her yesterday and saw nothing resembling a baby. But I guess we're starting all over again in a few weeks.

And now I'm off to get ready for the pre-natal massage. MMMM.

Mostly Catie pictures

2007-01-29T21:27:00.000-07:00

I switched to the "new" Blogger...whatever the hell that means. Hopefully this post will come out as planned.

There's been some knitting going on here. I started one of the felted boxes from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book, but the gauge off...it's too tight and is hurting my hands to knit it. I initially figured, "Hey, I'm gonna felt it anyway," and thought I'd press on, but it's not even fun to knit. I guess I'll have to tear it out and start over. I finished the body of the tunic sweater. It's now onto the hood and sleeves. Then I figure I better start working on something for the new baby. We're on countdown to D-day (7 weeks to go--time flies). I think the skin on my belly might explode or split open or something by then.

Along those lines, we're trying to organize Catie's room. It's amazing. I bought this house right out of residency, when I was still single and right before I met G. I thought 1200 square feet and 2 bedrooms was HUGE. Now we're climbing all over each other. I finally got C's bookcase painted and put the books in it over the weekend. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. But now that she has her own "big girl bookcase", I'm surprised. I thought she'd have more books to fill it up.
We're starting the bathroom this week. We've bought new light fixtures and a new medicine cabinet. I can't wait for that clawfoot tub. So we'll be spending a few nights at my parents when we have no usable toilet or shower here. For 5 years, I've been wanting to get the bathroom done, and finally, we're actually doing it.

And now...just a couple of cute Catie pictures. She was very into the piano tonight and spent a good 20 minutes just banging away on it. Not so good for the headache, but cuter than heck.

And she's very into teeth right now...brushing them, saying "teeth". Pointing out mom and dad's teeth. So...for your viewing pleasure...here she is, showing them off to the world.

YAY!! We can take pictures again.

2007-01-14T21:38:00.000-07:00

So why is it that when you don't have a camera available, kids do really cute stuff that just asks for a picture to be taken? The dogs got new beds for X-mas. While our camera was broken, Catie discovered that they're pretty cool places to sit. So we got our new camera a couple of days ago. Luckily, Catie still likes to sit in the dog beds.

I'm a little freaked out by the fact that she doesn't look like a baby at all any more. She's a little girl. It's sad, and cool all at the same time. She still doesn't "get" the idea that there's going to be a new baby soon. I'm not quite sure how that's going to go. For that matter, I'm not sure G and I will manage this whole 2 kid thing, but I guess we'll all figure out a way.

In knitting news, here's a picture of the new sweater I'm working on for C. It's a V-neck sweater with a hood, knit in the round. I'm through the top part, and am to the point where I divide for the sleeves. So for a while, it's just plain ol' boring knitting in the round. I like the Knitting Pure and Simple patterns because they're just that--pure and simple, though sometimes a little boring. I guess it's time to branch out and try some more challenging patterns. But in the meantime...

A productive weekend...sans photos

2007-01-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a pretty good weekend. I started a new sweater for Catie on Thursday night. It's the baby tunic here. It's in a light blue, that's pretty close to the same blue as her eyes. I'd show you a picture of the WIP, but alas, George dropped the camera a couple of nights ago. Now, I've dropped the camera more than once, but apparently when it's dropped from a height of 5 feet, it's less detrimental that when dropped from the height of 6 feet. That extra foot did something bad...the ring around the lens broke, and the camera makes a very ugly sound when you try to turn it on. So, who knows? We may end up with a new camera out of the deal.

I worked some more on her bookcase as well. I've gotten 2 coats of paint on, and now am just waiting for that to dry so I can seal it. Then maybe we can get some of her bazillion books coralled. I try not to buy her tons of stuff, but that's where I'm weak...I figure an excess of reading material (and puzzles) is a whole lot better than an excess of other random toys. I hope that's not just bad justification on my part. Again, hopefully, if the camera is fixable, I'll have a couple pictures up in a few days.

What else happened this weekend? I delivered a baby. Had lunch with a couple of friends. Started putting info into Quicken (one of my New Year's Resolultions is to pay off credit card debt and be more organized--hopefully this will help). We ordered new tile for the bathroom floor. It's a 1 inch hexagon pattern...black and white. Very "old" looking. We're hoping to get started in a week or two on the actual remodeling. Yay!! Soon I will be soaking in a hundred year old claw foot tub after the end of a hard day!!!

Fiesta Bowl and a Stocking Cap

2007-01-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many of you out there are football fans, but dang, what an exciting Fiesta Bowl tonight. BSU 43-42 in overtime...and regulation play came right down to the wire as well. I'm not even a huge BSU fan, but I have to root for the home team. They done us proud tonight.

I finished G's hat today as well...Fleece Artist in Cashmere. I kept trying to convince him while I was knitting it to just let me have it, but no such luck. It's just a basic 2x2 rib cap. In addition to freakishly large feet, I unfortunately married a man who has a freakishly large head---26 inches to go with his size 15 feet. I should have thought about all that before I married him...the knitting consequences.But to disprove the fact that he's all bad, he was especially kind this year and got me this:

A Strauch drum carder. Please forgive the stash mess behind the table here. I'm very excited about the carder, and think I'll probably get more spinning done now. That whole hand card thing just wasn't working out for me.

And now, it's way late and I have to get up and head into the office early in the morning. So goodnight, and congrats to the Broncos.

HAPPY 2007!!

2007-01-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year Comment Graphics

Happy New Year to All. I started my blog a whole year ago, and have been posting sporadically. One of my goals is to be a bit more consistent in the whole posting thing.

Hopefully the holiday season has been good to you all. We're getting ready for Baby #2...the due date sure is creeping up quickly. Less than 3 months to go. We're trying to get Catie's room more organized...she's gotten a new bookshelf and toy box for Christmas, and I'm working on getting them painted. Hopefully I'll have a picture of at least the bookcase in a day or two. I'm working on a new stocking cap for G. It's the first time I've ever knitted with cashmere. OH MY GOD. That is one luxurious fiber.

New Years Eve was spent at home...or rather I should say in the bathroom. I picked up some nasty stomach bug, and it hit me with a vengeance yesterday afternoon. Truly an exciting way to spend the evening, isn't it? So today, the big plans are to lay low, hang out on the couch, watch a little (or a lot) football, and finish the cap, if the GI tract allows. Cross your fingers for me.

Stay tuned for pics of my new Christmas toy...a drum carder!!!

An eventful week

2006-11-26T18:07:00.000-07:00

2 posts in less than a week. Damn, I'm on a roll.

It's been a pretty good week. We've decided to remodel our bathroom. We live in an old (1910-ish house). It has a fair amount of character, but the bathroom sucks. So does the kitchen, but that's another story that will have to come later. The bathroom is pretty big, but has a ton of wasted space. There's a generic sink/cabinet, a toilet, and a shower. No storage and no bathtub. Miss Catie Grace isn't a fan of showers. AT ALL. And she's getting way to big for a bath in the kitchen sink. So we're biting the bullet and redoing the bathroom. I want to make it look more like it would fit into the era the house was built...clawfoot tub, pedastal sink, a cool tile floor, and hopefully a built in cabinet. I'll post pictures once we get going.

Thanksgiving was a good day. I made bread for the first time in years. The first batch burned on the bottom because the oven was too hot, but the second try...mmm, just right. I had this epiphany that I should start making bread from scratch. All that kneading is good for the soul. In reality, when I'd have time to do that, I'm not sure.

I took my 1 hour glucola earlier this week, and failed miserably with a sugar of 158 (should be less than 140). So this morning, I headed into the hospital lab for the 3 hour diagnostic test. I passed!! No gestational diabetes, but I'll probably keep an eye on my sugars anyway. The good thing about having to sit there for three hours while they poked me every hour was that I got some knitting done.

I was able to finish a pair of socks. They're the Calla Lily socks from Sundara Yarn.
I didn't take any other knitting with me, so then I just got to take a nap in between blood draws. Not an ideal way to spend a Sunday morning, but not horrible either, by any means.

The big news of the week is that after 17 months and 3 days, Catie started walking!! I was getting seriously freaked out and worried about her development. Friday night, she finally just decided to get going. She's still pretty unsteady, and doesn't take more than about 20 steps or so, but she's vertically mobile. Woohoo!! We have a cute video, but I can get it to load on here right. Take my word for it though, it's most fun to watch.

Knitting progress (and baby progress) update

2006-11-20T22:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I spent the weekend on call. But it wasn't a bad weekend at all. I got a fair amount of knitting done. Catie got X-mas pictures taken. When they're back I'll try and put them on here. Damn, I have a cute kid.

As far as the knitting goes, I signed up for the Petals Collection from Sundara Yarn way back in the summer time. I'm 2 sock patterns behind, but I've been working on the Calla Lily socks. The first one is done. The second one is progressing nicely. The heel is turned. The gusset is done, and now I'm onto the foot. The home stretch. The pic is dark, but here's the sock with my new "sock basket".I've decided not to cast on anything else for awhile. We'll see how long that bright idea lasts. I have 3 pairs of unfinished socks sitting in my basket. 2 of them are for me, so it's no big deal if they don't get done for awhile. But one is for G, and every so often he comments he'd like to have another pair. The one pair I did for him has developed a hole---now the question remains...to darn or not to darn? Part of me is tempted to just toss 'em, but them I remember his size 15 feet. It takes a LONG time to finish a pair of socks that are that big. Plus I have a shawl or two to finish, plus who knows what else I can't think of right now.

Pregnancy is progressing nicely. I'm huge. I'm 22 and a half weeks. And I'm bigger now that I was at probably 30 weeks last time. Granted, I weigh more. But I don't feel like the baby is any bigger. Maybe it's just that everything is all stretched out or something. Seriously though, excuse the little fat roll in the back, but check this thing out:

And last but not least, some ultrasound pics. We had our ultrasound a couple of weeks ago. I'm finally getting my butt into gear to post some of the pics. One the left we have a nice face shot. Quite an adorable little alien, wouldn't you say?

Below is a foot. AWWWW.

Voting, and a little quandry.

2006-11-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

Did you vote today? I went after work, anticipating a long wait, but it wasn't bad at all. I was in line all of about 3 minutes before I got to head to the booth to punch my card.

So, as most of you know, I live in Idaho. For the past several weeks, we've been hearing ads like, "Candidate X...too liberal for Idaho." The state where Republicans are calling other Republicans too liberal. It kind of makes me giggle. So I had to go and cast my vote, for what it's worth. I guess I'll know tomorrow. Go blue, that's all I have to say.

I did something last night that I haven't done in months. I actually broke out the spinning wheel and did me some spinning. Not tons to show for it, but at least I finally did something. I finished a sock the other night too, but it's a little small. I'm debating whether to make the 2nd one the same size and gift it to someone, or if I should frog it and reknit it. Any suggestions? I guess this is proof that, maybe, sometimes, I should check my guage.

While we were on vacation, we went to Beehive Woolshop in Victoria. I discovered Fleece Artist sock yarn. I bought 2 skeins, and G went back and bought me 2 more. For an anniversary present. How awesome is that. Yarn for an anniversary present. Seriously. Jackpot, baby. So now I have the dilemma...do I start a new pair of socks with the new goods, or finish one of the 6 WIPS I have. I know what I'd prefer to do, but.....

Victoria, the lovely lady.

2006-11-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

Hello. Yes, I still exist. I feel like I say that a lot here. We're back from vacation and unfortunately had to fall right back into the grind of work. I spent one day in the office, and then 5 days working in the hospital. Our anniversary dinner consisted of Taco Bell at 9:00 at night after I got home from work. Sad, but true. Now I'm on another 5 day stint in the office. I compared my workload to this time a year ago. I'm twice as busy as far as patient load goes. No wonder I feel like I can't keep up.

Vacation was wonderful. As is the case with most vacations, it's hard to come back to work. We went to Victoria, BC. I really think I could live there. We stayed in a time-share condoright along the water. This is what we were forced to look at every day

It was a tough job, I admit. But somehow we managed to survive. Rough, I tell you.

We ate lots of good food. Went to some really cool places. I got to spend lots of time with these two characters. I read a book. I knitted a baby sweater (but unfortunately forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to its intended recipient). I started a new hat for Catie. I bought some yarn (details another day). I slept in. I sat in the hot tub--sometimes 2 or 3 times in a 24 hour period. I had high tea. And there's more. But I'm probably boring you to tears. Needless to say, we had a most excellent time.

And then, life came crashing back down around me. 12 hour days. Stacks of charts. Sick patients. Can't I just be on permanent vacation? Maybe I could retire early? Is 32 too early?

Anybody out there remember me?

2006-10-13T23:14:00.000-06:00

Once again, further proof that I suck at this blogging thing right now. But I have had a crazy couple of weeks. My mom's been in the hospital. I've been slammed at work. I lost the last part of a sock pattern. Not to mention some jewelry. Whiney, I know.

But bright and early in the morning, we're headed to Victoria, BC for a 10 day vacation. It's where we went on our honeymoon, and we're going again. Yay!!! I'm very much in need of a break. Long work hours combined with pregnancy is kicking my butt.

So I'll see you all in about 10 days. Happy knitting.

Weekend Roundup

2006-09-25T22:18:00.000-06:00

Well, we're back from the fiber festival in Canby, Oregon. We headed for Portland on Friday, spent the night with my aunt and uncle, then got up early for breakfast and a morning filled with wool and all things wooly.

My sister, G, and I (and the babies) headed off to the Canby fairgrounds. What a cute place! I think that my sister and George were quite apprehensive about the whole thing. A morning filled with yarn and sheep? Could it get any worse? Little did they know...

So we walk in to the fairgrounds and go in the first building. What meets us there but the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. Here's the sock display they had:Needless to say, I dropped a quick hundred bucks there without even trying. Stay tuned in the next few days for specifics.

There was lots more shopping to be had. I bought a book on dyeing, and some kids books for Catie, as well as some new knitting baskets. I managed to hold myself back from buying more fiber, seeing as I have bags and bags of it here. But oh, there were some pretty colors.

Then it was on to the critters. This was definitely the high point of Catie's day. Not to mention G. He almost bought 2 alpacas. Who would've thought I would be the voice of reason on that one. Here's Catie petting a sheep. Unfortunately we missed the photo op where she and the sheep were kissing.
I could go on and on with more pictures of critters, and maybe bore you to tears, but instead, a couple of cute babies for you. Catie is ready for more shopping, and Danny found the festival so overwhelming and exhausting he just collapsed with excitement. More weekend events to follow...

Holy Crap. I'm Still Alive.

2006-09-17T18:31:00.000-06:00

Catie: Hey mom, don't you think you ought to start blogging again? It's been forever.

Me: You're probably right. I hope I remember how to make all the links and pics work. It's been over a month since the last REAL post.

Why yes, folks. I have not dropped off the face of the earth. It's been a LONG time since I posted. I've had the blahs when it comes to all things knitting and spinning related. Thank you all who wrote with suggestions and encouragement. I don't know if it's pregnancy fatigue, too many hours at the office/hospital, or whatever, but I just haven't been into it. Although now the temperature is cooling off and my interest is starting to warm up. There's somthing about a little chill in the air to really get me thinking about warm knitted items.

Today was our local Wool Festival at Ste. Chapelle. It was a gorgeous day and lots of people out knitting and spinning. I would have to say, a good time was had by all.

Here's Judy, Pam, Pauline spinning away:
And Kim and Sharon at their booth:
I've started a new pair of socks, and this coming weekend we're going to Portland for the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. I feel yet more motivation coming on. Stay tuned...

The blog blues

2006-08-24T21:12:00.000-06:00

So I haven't posted for going on 2 weeks. I have nothing to say. I've knit very little, and haven't spun much either. My life is pretty much comsumed by work right now. So forgive my absence, but I think I'll take a little bit longer break. I'm just sort of bored with knitting. God forbid, but it's true. How do you all get your fiber groove back?

Finally, a new post...but no pics yet.

2006-08-12T11:05:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the long delay. Thank you for all the congrats. Things are going well on the pregnancy front. I'm not nearly as "puky" this time around. Hopefully it will continue this way.

We just got home from vacation late Thursday night. We went to eastern Montana for a wedding, and then spent a few days in Helena with G's dad and stepmom. We drove to Bozeman for the day, and visited the Museum of the Rockies. The coolest part of the whole thing is the living history homestead. More to come later. But after 6 days without a pager, I definitely feel much more relaxed.

Today is my dad's 80th birthday. We're having a big surprise party for him. Though I don't see how it can still be a surprise. Doesn't he think it's odd that his sister and brother in law from Portland just "happen" to be here to help move cows? Or that my brother-in-law's parents just "decided" to ride along with him when he drove over? Maybe he's just playing along. At any rate, hopefully the weather will cooperate and a good time will be had by all. I'll post pics tonight or tomorrow.

A couple of pending projects

2006-07-29T23:09:00.000-06:00

Announcing one of my next knitting projects:

Because here is my other project:

I'm sure that you were all dying to know what the inside of my uterus looks like. So there it is folks. 6 weeks, 1 day today. Due March 23. We're calling it "Itty Bitty". Catie calls it "Doggie".

Let the puking begin.

One Local Summer, sans photo

2006-07-23T22:37:00.000-06:00

Tonight we had our "eat local" meal of the week. In all honesty, we eat something local a few times a week, though usually not an entire meal. Tonight we had quite the feast, though unfortunately I wasn't thinking about a photo before I sat down and ate. So you'll just have to close your eyes and imagine:

Steak (homegrown)
Grilled zucchini (farmers market) and eggplant (not local, but organic from the Boise Coop--I had a serious hankering for eggplant and its not ready here yet. Sorry)
Oven roasted red and Yukon gold potatoes (farmers market)
Stir fried zuchinni, onions (farmers' market again) and mushrooms (local grower).

I'm on a zucchini kick right now, if you hadn't noticed. One of my favorite vegetables, hands down. I think the challenge is going to start getting a whole lot easier, as more and more fruits and veggies become available. This whole thing has definitely got me thinking a lot more about where my food comes from, which is the whole point, right?

On a non-food note, head over to The Amazing Lace and vote. My latest entry (Santa's beard) made the finals!!

Brief update below

2006-07-22T22:39:00.000-06:00

My laptop is on the fritz. I have no clue what I did to it. But it's quite ill. So posting has been limited. I've been knitting away the past few days. Birch (take 2) now has a whopping 3 pattern repeats done. God knows how many left to go. The Jaywalker sock is progressing along. The heel is turned, stitches picked up, and I'm working on the decreases. This is a seriously fun pattern. I'm well aware this is NOT news to the vast majority of you out there, as I think I'm the last person in the knitting world to have not yet knitted a pair. Always a step or two behind, that's me.

Not much else to write about for now. I'm trying to fight the urge to start a new project. Don't you think Catie would like cute in this? 2 weeks until vacation. We're going on a long roadtrip to Montana, so I'm envisioning LOTS of knitting time. Maybe by then I can start on the new sweater. Let the countdown begin.

Amazing Lace #4

2006-07-16T20:10:00.000-06:00

So the current Amazing Lace challenge is to show what our projects were to be if they were bound off right now. I just have to thank G for at least consenting to have his picture taken, though I don't think he looks too thrilled.

Oh lookie, Santa's beard!!

Eating Locally And More

2006-07-16T19:56:00.000-06:00

I've been a bad blogger of late. I guess the days are flying by, because here it is the 16th of July, and I haven't posted for 2 whole weeks. I thought it had been a week. Weird. So obviously there's a few things to catch you up on. I've been reading a few books for my summer reading challenges, which hopefully I'll catch up on THOSE posts tomorrow. I've been working on Birch and some Jaywalkers (I like that pattern so much more than the Chevron socks I had been trying to get into). I've been spinning some. I've been cooking more. Haven't been exercising much, but definitely have been eating more healthy.

So now, on to the pics. I didn't post a pic for the One Local Summer challenge last week (obviously, due to my lack of recent posts). But here's this week's meal:
Eggs, zucchini, and onions all bought at the farmers' market. Tortilla from a local tortilla factory. Only the salsa isn't local, but needs to be used up. Pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

One Local Summer

2006-07-02T21:14:00.000-06:00

Two posts in one day. I don't think that's ever happened before. And odds are, it'll be awhile before it does again. At any rate, Liz over at Pocket Farm has challenged people to eat one meal a week made from local foods. I've been stalking the Eat Local Challenge blog and links related to that. I've been trying to buy more food at farmers' markets and the local coop (see links along the side). So along came this challenge and I thought this'd be the way to get us eating more locally (and hopefully more healthy too).

So tonight was our first night.

Potatoes: Yukon Golds from the Nampa Farmers' Market

Greens: Mixed greens from the Nampa Farmers' Market

Meat: Can't get much more local than this. Home grown beef from our own back pasture.

Overall, the meal turned out well. The greens were a bit bitter for me, but the stir fry sauce was good. My only non-local contributions were the onions and garlic in the stir fry. I had both already in the fridge that needed to be used up. What to try for next week?

Amazing Lace Poem

2006-07-02T11:58:00.000-06:00

I've been trying to knit Birch for Amazing Lace this summer. We've hit a bit of a roadblock though. I know my poetry is simply the most incredible and moving thing you've all ever read, but try to hold back the tears.

Ode to Birch

A white could of silk and mohair
Who knew it could be such a bear?

Such delicate fine thread
But, oh, how it does shed

Worked on in fits and starts
It's breaking its knitter's heart

Lifelines are for sissies, she declared.
Alas, now she's running scared.

Thou shalt not knit lace and chat.
She seemed to forget that.

A whole pattern repeat gone bad.
Has made her very sad.

So last week, she tried to tink
But it nearly drove her to the brink.

So frog away she did.
While her shame, she hid.

So now dear Birch has been started anew
Just how much more trouble can she brew?

New goodies

2006-06-29T22:50:00.000-06:00

All I can say is "WOW". Yesterday I got my first installment of the Petals Collection from Sundara Yarn. The color is Calla Lily, with a pattern as well. Purples and greens. It came Priority Mail and was wrapped beautifully. The pattern is on cardstock and comes in this gorgeous green envelope. AND there's a postcard size picture of a Calla Lily. AND a little flower shaped sucker. On one hand, I can wait to get started on these socks. On the other hand, the package is just so pretty I just want to keep looking at it. The picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice.

An experience to dye for

2006-06-27T23:32:00.000-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, Kim and I got together to try a little dyeing. I hadn't dyed anything before, but I have all this wool sitting here just asking for a little color. Kim had done some dyeing before, and I felt like I needed a little hand holding. So off we went. I had visions in my head of hand painted yarn that was dyed in clumps of color, sort of like Socks That Rock is. You know...an distinct area of blue, another of green, etc? Well, here was our first try at that...I think a little Gaywool blue and Raspberry.

Not so much distinct blocks, but not bad. My next attempt at multicolored yarn produced a uniform shade of brick red. Very pretty, but again, just not what I was expecting.

We finally figured out that dark colors were pretty overpowering. Amazing how quickly we figured that out, eh? So I thought I'd try some lighter colors. This last batch is some yellow, green and blue dye. I tried the hot-pour method. Or at least our version of it. Here's the wool sitting in the dye

and now spun up.

I surprised myself with this one. I don't usually like green, especially something of this shade, but the more I look at it the more it's growing on me. I had been calling it "Split Pea", but I'm not a big fan of split pea soup, so the name has quite the negative connotation, at least for me. Maybe "Shrek" is a better name?

Happy Birthday Catie!

2006-06-23T22:12:00.000-06:00

Well, this is only 2 days late, but as of Wednesday, June 21, at 10:51 PM, Catie Grace turned 1 year old. I had this freakish desire to make her cake from scratch. Like somehow if I bought a cake, I was a bad mom. So I baked the cake (no Duncan Hines here, folks), made the frosting, and decorated it myself. Whew. Now I can rest easy that I'm not a bad mom. Never mind the fact I'm never home, but hey...something the little things are all we have. So here we have the cake:

Hmm...what have we got here?

And now...mmm...I like chocolate.

What a great year it's been. Though it's certainly gone by fast. It's been amazing to watch how she changes from day to day. I can't even really remember what life was like before her. Happy Birthday, Miss C!

A real cop-out

2006-06-20T23:51:00.000-06:00

Well, it's midnight on Tuesday. I've delivered 6 babies in 7 days (a lot for me). I've had 4 call nights in the same time frame. I need to be at the office at 7am, and I'm staying up late to finish frosting Catie's birthday cake. And I haven't posted in a couple of days. SO...courtesy of Kat with a K...

You scored as Elinor Dashwood. As Marianne's older sister, Elinor lives at the other end of the emotional spectrum. She rarely reveals her intense feelings and is more concerned with being honest and loyal than having what she deserves. Even though her intentions are pure, she sets herself up for loss by constantly placing other people before her own needs. Overall, Elinor is gentle and rational but is just as capable of radical emotions (despite her withholding them) as her sister.

>
Which Jane Austen Character are You? (For Females) Long Quiz!!!
created with QuizFarm.com

Enough bitching and moaning from me. Pictures of the one year b-day party coming soon to a computer near you.

Book Reviews

2006-06-17T20:30:00.000-06:00

2 books down. Many more to go. I've been reading a couple of chapters each night. It actually feels good to be back reading a lot again. I haven't done nearly as much lately as I used to do.

My first book that I've finished is The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant. 321 pages of goodness. What a great book. I'm certainly not the most religious person, so was not intimately familiar with the story of Jacob and his family. But this perspective is something I can get into. What an amazing story and women and their role in the world. I was fascinated by all the midwife stuff.

Book #2 is The Overspent American, by Juliet Schor. I actually read the hardcover version--253 pages, though the last 75 are bibliography, references, etc. This one's from the library. I'm rather disillusioned with my life and finances right now, and so am reading quite a bit about downshifting. Too much junk and too many bills. I can't say I really learned much from this book, but it's a good overview of our consumerist culture, of which I somewhat unhappily am a participant. It does have some recommendations at the end, but most of them are pretty common sense. I guess it can't hurt to get a little refresher course though.

Next up...a book about signing to young children and I need to finish Eragon. Plus there's been a "development" with my Birch shawl. I'm going to have to rip back a few rows. Dang.

Why Mary is the BEST!

2006-06-11T20:34:00.000-06:00

The title of my last post was "A Little Housekeeping". You know how you're supposed to do a little housekeeping every day so that, come the weekend, you're not overwhelmed? I'm not very good at that. When it comes to the house OR blogging. I always have so many things to write about, but don't get here every day for various reasons. So...every few days I feel like I have to catch you all up on things that have been going on (though in general my life is pretty lame). I'm going to try and restrain myself today, because my last post was a bit too much, I think.

So...today is going to focus on my last Secret Pal gift. Tuesday night I'm getting ready for bed, too late as usual, and George brings in a big manila envelope for me. It had come in the mail that day, and he set it up on top of the fridge to keep it away from the dogs (eye level for him, 2 feet above my head). He finally remembered it was there before he came to bed. Well, it was my final SP package, and what a good one. This was the "reveal" package. Mary in NYC, you are such a great secret pal. You always seem to know what will be perfect for me. Further proof--4 skeins of KPPM, Knitted sheep and doll patterns, the Kids Kids Kids book of patterns, Zephyr in blue (my fave), a book that I can't wait to read--Sylvia's Farm, about a woman who raises sheep. Especially pertinent considering our newest additions of Lacey and Aran, who by the way are getting tamer and more friendly every day. For your drooling pleasure:

Not much else going on tonight. The REAL housekeeping still awaits. Next up this week--some reading updates, my first adventure in dyeing, and more.