The Never-Ending Collar

My prediction was pretty close to accurate. Not only am I into my THIRD ball of Cashmarino Chunky on the collar of this sweater, but I somehow misplaced my 10-1/2 Addi Turbo, and haven't been able to get to The Shop so I'm using straight needles. The sweater collar is formed with short-row shaping using wrapped stitches, so in order to keep some semblance of saknity, I'm transferring the non-current stitches back to the size 10 circular to reduce weight and sheer number of stitches on the needles. (The collar starts out with over 250 stitches, and you get down to 68 live stitches in the center before it all comes together again by picking up the stitches and their wee wrappies to prepare for cast-off.)

My goal is to get the shawl collar done tonight--TONIGHT, I tell you!!! I've been through NCIS, The Unit, The Dynasty Reunion (interesting, since I never watched Dynasty the first time around), and now to what's left of Leno.

Tom Cruise is on Letterman. There was a time when I would have looked forward to seeing that, but gone are the days.

If it gets really late, I may break out Season One of The Gilmore Girls.

Picture tomorrow.

The Traveller

That's me, this past few days.

I went to Blacksburg to see The Daughter. One of those Mom things-- had this aching to see my child, so drove 4-1/2 hours, did some of her laundry, had dinner with her, went to sleep, got up, had lunch with her and drove back. That was the best part.

The second best part was actually being able to visit the LYS down there-- Mosaic. It's not Knit Happens, but it's a very nice shop with a very respectable yarn line, and since it's 4-1/2 hours away, will serve to provide me with a source of fiber should I need to start something new while I'm down there.

I got back in time to spend a few minutes with Wendy in honor of her book. And then off to Prince William Park to spend the weekend being The Nurse for our local Girl Scout encampment.

I really enjoy camping, but as I "mature," I also really appreciate the opportunity to glean the benefits of the great outdoors without the responsibility for keeping groups of little girls in line. I was a troop leader for the entire time The Daughter was a girl in the program. Now I can go, lead songs, take care of cuts, scrapes and bruises, make sure the coffee's made for everyone in the morning, knit when I'm not otherwise occupied, and leave when I've done everything I need to do. This is the life.

I wanted to post a picture of me reading Wendy Knits in my sleeping bag, which I did, reading by flashlight. But another benefit is that I get to sleep by myself in the dining hall (no chatty little people). I had only a squirrel to join me-- but that's another story.

And he didn't know how to use the camera

Mini Progress Report

...for mini progress. The sweater pieces blocked nicely.

I was able to hit Late Night where Niki, Nikki Carolina, Holly and Aimee were holding down the fort.

I connected the shoulders to the back, and after a false start, spent the ENTIRE TIME picking up stitches around what will be the never-ending collar. Now mind you, having said that, my dearest wish is that it'll be done in no time, and I'll feel like a fool for even having trepidated about it. Ya think?

To paraphrase Wendy's words: Fat chance, cupcake.

It's Launching Day!!!

...For Wendy-From-The-Blog's long-awaited Wendy Knits. I was able to see an advance copy, and I gotta say it's all it's cracked up to be. The models, by the way, are absolutely gorgeous. If you want to know more, go here. (Or get yourself a copy. That's what I'm doing today.)

What else am I doing today? Well, this morning I did this:

The Blogger finally woke up, so I could load the pictures.

Blocking always amazes me (I'm easily amazed). I started out with these tubes of knitting. It was the curliest thing I've seen in the recent past. Then it turns into an amorphous blob of soggy cashmarino, then takes on a bit of character as the water is teased out, and then you can actually see what you've got. (Hey, Ann- the sleeves are both the same length. Hurrah!) The only thing that's more amazing to me is when I get that final end woven in.

I'm one of those people who knits a lot (not as much as SOME people we know) but I'm not that great at finishing. I'll have pieces of things all done and sitting around, but unless it needs to be somewhere, I just don't feel the pressure to do much with it. ADD. Priceless. And expensive.

And what else today??? Continuing the weed-out process in the closet, doing laundry and cleaning the bedroom. AmVets is coming May 1, and I'll have a boatload of stuff for them.

Then, this evening I hope that the sweater will be dry, so that I can pick up stitches for what I know will be the never-ending-collar. Maeve is "not" knitting this right now, since we all know she's studying, and I'm looking forward to her take on the collar. But she's a bit more prolific in the production arena than I, so she may not be viewing it with the same trepidation.

Tomorrow? Doin' my part for Truth, Justice, and the American Way. And if there's a lot of sitting-around-time, working on the never-ending-collar. (Nice attitude, huh? I haven't even started it yet.) Then, depending on the needs of the Justice System, I'll either go to The Shop and be Irregular, or if I'm released from duty early enough, head south to see The Daughter at The Place. If I don't get out early, I'll head down on Thursday, but she has more time available on Wednesday night.

Not much can convince me to miss Late Night, but I haven't seen The Daughter for a long while, and I won't have a chance again until the end of May.

After The Bermuda Cruise!!!

Progress Report

Second sleeve redone. May block tonight, energy permitting. Then to the collar thing.

That is all.

...And I forgot My Camera

...on Wednesday, when Kay and Ann came to Knit Happens to tout their most wonderful book Mason-Dixon Knitting (with a subtitle that I can't possibly recapture without looking at it.)

But some of my Irregular buddies had theirs, so go visit Wendy orMaeve to see pictures. There was quite a nice crowd there. Kristine had her buddy Jacinta from England. We'd heard about her, and were thrilled to be able to finally meet her. (If you see Kristine, ask her how the Jirbil is doing.)

Erin, Ann, Niki, Jasmine, Aimee,of course Holly and Carolina were there-- and my brain is a bit too fried to remember everyone else.

I proceeded with the second sleeve of the bolero sweater, and was thrilled when I reached the end-- In my mind, finishing a second sleeve basically equates to a FO, except for the rather massive job of doing the pick-up collar. And then I noticed. It didn't match the other sleeve. It was about 6 rows off. I knew that I counted this one properly, so I must have goofed on the other one, but this was the one that was closest in my memory, so with Ann's encouragement, I ripped back to the decreases. And it wasn't as painful as it could have been. I'm still not finished with it (again), but maybe tonight. (there's a lot of stuff on the DVR). Now THIS is the reason that I usually knit both sleeves at the same time.

Live and re-Learn.

What a Beautiful Day!

And as it turns out, I was SUPPOSED to be spending it sitting in jury duty. Why, you might ask, am I not there? Because my number wasn't listed on the website when I dutifully checked last evening, as I was directed to do by the official summons I received. This is cut and pasted from the website:
This information was last updated on: 4/10/2006
Groups to Report: 200-202 AND 221-228
Summons Color: Yellow
Date to Report: Tuesday, April 11th
Date to Check Back (after 5:00 p.m.):
Service Status: Completed after Tuesday, April 11th

I was group 220. Do you see group 220 included above? Neither do I.

So I was sitting here, minding my own business, and trying to gather the info to finalize our taxes, when the phone rang.
"Are you aware that you were scheduled for jury duty today?" the voice at the other end said.
"I checked the website, and my group number wasn't listed."
"It was a mistake," she said. "The phone line had the correct information."
"I was supposed to check BOTH?"
"No, but you have to reschedule."

Great. I cleared today so I'd be available, and now I've got another messed-up day. Oh well. I'll look at this as a gift. Maybe it'll rain on my rescheduled day.

It really is beautiful out. See?


I might just take my knitting and sit on the porch.

Another Busy Week

.. and a rather boring blog.

I was summoned to Jury Duty, and my group was not called on Tuesday, for which I was a bit grateful. I did loads and loads of laundry, and made a minor bit of progress on the house.

I went to Norfolk for a speaking engagement on Wednesday and Thursday, and then did a full shift on Friday. Today was taken up by the Girl Scout Annual Meeting. One of my dear friends was given a really terrific award, and it was great. The bonus was that I got over half of the second sleeve completed on the Debbie Bliss Bolero sweater. The end of the tunnel might be in sight.

I am really tuckered out, though. I work 12-hr shifts tomorrow and Monday, and then am in the jury pool again this week. It's going to be another sturdy week for The Nurse.

But we're going to Winchester for Easter. We'll probably take in the Saturday Easter Vigil and big Easter service on Sunday, because The Son will be singing with the choir out there. The Daughter can't get away, and we'll miss her, but it'll be a nice break.

Home Again (There), Home Again (Here)...

But it's never easy. Not easy to leave The Parents, whose love and total acceptance have sustained me for my whole life through ups and downs, and decisions that at times I'm sure they thought were not so great.
And it was not easy getting home here, out of the airport! We left Chicago early, and made it to the nation's capital in record time. Great, I thought. I'll be home before 10:15, and be in bed by 11. Nice thought... until someone's hanging bag got caught in the belt on the baggage carousel. What a mess!!!

Hangars and clothes inextricably tangled and wedged in the little spaces. And the baggage from our flight was all staged under that carousel. So they had to move it to the other one. The Husband was doing laps around the airport-- as were the friends and relations of all the other people on the flight-- while it took AN HOUR for us to get our luggage. Did I mention that for short trips I only take a roll-aboard or small duffel and don't usually "do" luggage? Well this time my parents lent us 2 large suitcases to use for an upcoming big trip, so I brought them back with me. Wouldn'tcha know???

It was so wonderful to be with The Parents. Mom's doing well, and is in remarkable spirits. Dad is such a host all the time... "More coffee??? Can I get you anything???" He thrives on it.

I gave Mom the hats-- here's the Celtic Cap being blocked.


The bad part of the visit was that I came down with probable food poisoning on Saturday (most likely from some turkey I'd bought the day before and put in a salad). It was pretty awful. And I was afraid at first that I had some kind of virus, and that I'd exposed Mom. I was especially distressed, because we'd ordered Famous Dave's and a bunch of my brothers and sisters and their kids were coming over. I didn't leave the bed except for some rather violent activity. My ribs are still sore. (#1 brother was so sweet. He knocked on the door and brought me a 7-Up mid-hurl). On Sunday, after we analyzed the symptoms and my rather rapid response to pepto, we decided that food was the most likely culprit. Everyone came back for brunch, so I got to see them, although we didn't do any embracing, "just in case."

I was able to get some knitting done, and have made some respectable progress on this. I didn't bring enough yarn along, so had to stop short of the end of the first sleeve.

And Mom gave me these:

Aren't they cute? Hats ranging from teeny to small for the babies at our hospital. Mom loves to knit, and she whips these out like crazy.

On Monday The Parents and I took a walk along the river in our town, and it brought back so many memories... And one thing that I hadn't seen before was a memorial to a man from our town who was killed in the attack on the Pentagon. It brought back all the emotion and memory... but I didn't cry, which surprised me. I wonder if there are callouses on my soul-- or if I'm finally doing a better job of coping.

And now I'm back home (here), to The Loving Husband, and my friends The Irregulars, and-- tomorrow-- to work.

Quick Update

Nothing profound or fancy today, and no time for pictures. Newsboy hat is blocked and dry; Celtic cap is done (and quite lovely, I do believe). I'll give it a bath tomorrow at Mom & Dad's. I'm going home for a few days to spend some time with them.

I went to Late Night for some emotional regeneration and was thrilled to see Phyllis, Aimee, Erin,Holly, Niki, Liz, Carol, Ann, Maeve (You say "Hello" and I say "Goodbye')-- a pretty hefty percentage of Irregulars. After a bit of deliberation, I decided to cast on the right front side of the Debbie Bliss bolero shrug and proceeded to ADD myself into a frogging situation. So I'll probably rip out and start over tomorrow morning while waiting for my plane.

I've been very tied up with work, and haven't had time to center on the things that are most important to me. So I'm looking forward to a few days of focusing on The Parents. Mom's having a minor procedure while I'm home, so I'm glad I'll be able to be there for hand-holding purposes.

Catch y'all next week.

No Knitting Now

At least not for another couple of days. I had a huge burst leading up to the last blog, and the Celtic Cap is exactly the same today as it was then. I somehow misplaced the 3 pages I actually use of the 12 in the (did I mention wonderfully and flexibly written) pattern. So I had to print it out again. And now I'll need to find my place. It shouldn't be too hard, but I won't get to it today or tomorrow.

The Daughter's Spring Break ended for us on Saturday when she returned to Blacksburg. I was able to schedule work so that I could be off for several days while she was home, and we had fun. We had lunch out, did some shopping, and we both needed haircuts. Mine's back to where it belongs, and hers is, I think, the shortest it's been in her 20 years of life. It is darling-- about chin length, and it will be easy for her during the summer. We made a quick stop by the shop to chat with The Irregulars on Wednesday.

We covered a chair-- and it looks really great. I should have taken pictures. It was one of those bare white armchairs from IKEA that needs to either be covered or get a slipcover. We did it in a cocoa-colored microsuede fabric. I watched the people in Changing Rooms and Trading Spaces when they sort of held up fabric and pinned it, then cut it and sewed. Hey-- it works!!! I'd say it took about 4-5 hours to do from start to finish. The actual sewing part was only about an hour, and most of that was trying to figure out which direction to go and try to avoid poking myself with the pins.

If you decide to try this at home, make sure you have enough pins. You'll need dozens if not hundreds. I got poked plenty, and the tips of my fingers are still sore from inserting and removing pins through the heavy fabric. I probably should have used a leather thimble or something.

The bottom of the seat isn't sewn. If I'd had more time, or more energy, I probably would have finished that part. As it is, the fabric that comes in from the back, the arms, and the bottom of the front are tucked under the seat cushion. Since the fabric is microsuede, and the cushion fits tightly, it seems like it will "hold". We'll find out, and I can always tidy it up later. The cover is stapled to the chair frame around the bottom.

During the construction of the chair cover we watched Almost Like Heaven and The Wedding Crashers. Both fun, feel-good movies. The Wedding Crashers wasn't as mindless as I thought it was going to be. It was good to see Owen Wilson as not a total idiot.

During cushion construction we watched The Constant Gardener. Definitely NOT a feel-good movie, but SO worth watching. It is truly a well-done, disturbing, well-acted film. I highly recommend it-- but make sure your head is in a good place.

I did have to go to work a couple of days, and on one of those, The Daughter came in and took some pictures for The Writing, since she knows my camera better than I do.

Of course, days away from work have not been days free from work, as I'm still working on The Chapter whose deadline is tomorrow. I've been doing a bit on it every day, and since the content is the same as The Article, only really pared down and in outline form, I'm not at all stressed. The pictures are taken, and now it's just a case of pulling it together, getting the references straightened out and emailing it to the publisher. (Tell me again WHY I thought this was a good idea?) I'd rather be knitting.

The Son is on break now--came home late Saturday night. I worked a bunch at the end of last week and over the weekend, and I haven't been able to spend as much time with him as I'd like, especially since he's mightily in to sleep while I'm conscious. I need to go in to work today for a couple of hours, so maybe we can do something this afternoon. He leaves tomorrow for a trek with frat buddies. Tonight will be corned-beef and cabbage (our second in 2 weeks, since The Daughter needed to have some last week.) Not only will The Son not be here on St. Patrick's Day, but it's also Friday during Lent, and, you know...

I need to put together a lecture to give next week, and it'll take a few hours, so Thursday is for that. But only part of Thursday is for that.

Some of it will be for knitting.

Nous Avons Les Chapeaux

... Or at least we're working on them.

The Newsboy Cap, as previously mentioned, is completed but not "finished". I'm waiting for The Husband and The Daughter to finish the jug of milk in the fridge so I can cut the brim stabilizer out of the side. And if I don't like the way it feels, I'll pick up some heavy buckram at the fabric store. The pattern recommends plastic mesh-- and I have some... who knows... I'll make a decision soon. And then to block:


And here's....

.........................The Celtic Cap .........................

So very much fun to knit. And may I say addictive? "Yes, I need to go to sleep-- but just one more round. Well, maybe just one more". Although Carol taught me to cable without a needle, I'll save that handy tip for simple 2x2 or 3x3's. I DEFINITELY need the cable needle on this one!!! The picture is a little blurry, but you can see the cables. I just love the way they come into form row by row. And I really envy those who can figure it out without looking at the pattern all the time. There are some areas that are intuitive, but then again... I've done a couple of Aran things earlier in my life, and I've been a slave to the chart if it gets at all complicated.

There have only been a couple of places I've had to rip, and luckily, have been able to stay within one cable panel for the fixin's. I've gotta get moving on a bunch of stuff today, so a better picture will show up when it's done.

And since I'm on a hat roll, I'm going to need to think seriously about a stocking cap for The Son who asked for one last year.

Hmmm... Has someone been neglected?

Progress, Progress

No pictures right now, but maybe this afternoon.

Mom's home from hospital and doing pretty well. I spoke with her yesterday, and she's been relatively pain-free and seems to be in excellent spirits. We are so blessed to still have both of our parents. Do not think for a second that any of us take it for granted. This is such a gift.

Talk amongst my sibs centers this week on 2 of The Brothers. #2 just got a job as director of operations for the Milwaukee Brewers. I can't tell you how excited The Nurse's family is about this. #2 Brother and his wonderful wife and really neat kids have been in Omaha for the past several years, which they like just fine. But now they'll be really close to the Chicago area, and back to running a baseball parks, which is what #2 really loves to do. (#3 runs Jacobs Field for the Indians.)

The other excitement is #4 Brother's upcoming wedding in June. Of course, any opportunity to get together is wonderful, but weddings are the best. The Beloved and her daughters have their dresses, and I'm privileged to be making the garter. I'll need to get to that soon. Carol has some good ideas for me-- I'll have to commit them to paper, as my brain was rather rattled when we were discussing it before.

In knitting progress, the coral Newsboy hat is completed but not "finished". I need to put the bill stabilizer in and block it. I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. Perhaps a picture this afternoon while being blocked?

I started, and am about halfway through the Celtic Cap that I came across on Kelly's blog a few days ago. It's also for my Mom.

I cast on at Friday's Late Night at The Happy Place, and just worked on it like crazy yesterday. I'm doing it in Debbie Bliss Cathay in a dark teal on size 3's. I gotta tell you-- I'm really lovin' this project. And here's a plug for the pattern: It's written with directions for any type of yarn!!! I was just amazed. So worth the $3. I chose the Cathay because I wanted something that would be light and totally non-itchy. I might just have to make another one for myself-- and maybe one for The Daughter, and let's see, I have 4 sisters, and 12 girl nieces..... well, maybe not for everyone. But in the interest of time, I'll probably do mine with larger gauge.

The Daughter came home last night for spring break and I'm just thrilled to see her. She'll probably do the college student thing and spend most of the time sleeping, but while she's awake, I plan to have her help me with the slipcover for the apartment living room chair. I'd really like to get that completed.

And the rest of today? Well, it's devoted, for a couple of hours at least, to the book chapter. It's not the stress of the article, so for that I'm grateful. Then a bit of grocery shopping-- we are seriously out of basics (NO EGGS!!!! but at least there's coffee) and then, I can't wait to get back to the Celtic Cap.

(and maybe I can sneak in a stop to The Shop)

Thank You

(And hey-- guess what!!! I finally figured out how to do pictures!!!)

A bunch of you have sent emails with well-wishes for my Mom.  I appreciate it so very much.  I talked with Dad this morning.  The surgery was a bit more complicated and the post-op course a bit more involved than we would like, but Dad insists that her spirits are great, and that she should be home by the end of the week.  

I've been (of course) working, and during my after-work-for-a-few-minutes-before-sleep time have made great progress on The Newsboy Cap from Stitch’n’Bitch Nation (aka the chemo hat).  I started it on Saturday at Knit Happens where I got hugs and support from some of the Irregulars. Stephanie and Carol and Holly and Kelly and Courtney and Brittany; and Shelley were there.  It was just what I needed.  I'm in the last few rows of the main part of the hat, and then will work on the brim.  I'm doing it in coral CashMarino Chunky, and it's very soft and cheery looking.

Wanna see what the finished cap looks like in green?  Go visit Lara


Mom's also getting this:


In other news, I got an email from the publisher, and the article is in peer review. I'll have some tightening to do, but it's minimally invasive and very manageable.  The next hurdle is the book chapter,  but it should be pretty straightforward and relatively painless.

Other than that, I plan to sort through mail, tidy the family room, and of course knit.  And maybe start the slipcover for The Daughter’s living room chair. Or maybe I'll take a nap.

Such will be my day off.

A Do-Nothing Day, Finally!

The Nurse has had a very busy couple of weeks. Every breathing moment not devoted to work or sleep has been spent on "the article" that finally made its way to Kinko's for shipping at 9:30 Wednesday night. Dumb thing wouldn't come together, and as I was doing the legends for the pictures, I realized that I totally had to reorganize the article. That's not too bad with cut & paste on the computer, but the dumb references... and Word tries to "help" with automatic renumbering. It gave me a headache.

The worst part was that I had been SO looking forward to Late Night at The Shop. And I couldn't go.

Then full, busy busy days of work on Thursday and Friday.

This has all been overshadowed by news that my Mom needed surgery for a recurrance of an old problem. A serious one. She was operated on Thursday, and is doing ok. But things are a bit more complicated. I haven't allowed myself time for a breakdown yet. I had a minor one on Sunday night when Mom & Dad called to tell me about it.

But I'm sure it's coming.

One thing's for sure. I AM going to Knit Happens today to pick up some soft yarn (probably Debbie Bliss Cashmarino) and spend time with my friends. I'm going to knit the Newsboy Hat from Stitch'n'Bitch Nation for mom. I think it's perfect chemo hat. All other projects are on hold til it is done and sent off.

Or maybe I'll take it to her. Next weekend.

What Good is a Day Full of Doctor Appointments?

Why it’s good for KNITTING, of course.  All that time in the waiting rooms, very good for knitting.  I got most of the back of the Debbie Bliss Bolero Jacket done, almost at the point of casting off for the armholes.  (By the way—they were a bunch of routine follow-ups to my annual physical.  I’m fine.)

I left from the hospital to go to Winchester for the annual Dessert Extravaganza, which I’ve helped to run for the past 5 years.  Hopefully this was my last hurrah, because hopefully, The Son will do the graduation thing sometime in the next year.  I met him for some shopping and the obligatory Buffalo Wild Wings run.  I then entrenched myself in the Hampton Inn to put together raffle baskets (about 25 of them) and cut polarfleece scarves with the rotary cutter on the cutting mat.  I watched the Olympic opening ceremony—loved the floating acrobats and the torch lighting.  And of course the fireworks.  I always love fireworks.  AND I discovered a new treat—the newly introduced Michelob Ultra Amber.

Drove back in the beginnings of the snowstorm, and when I went to bed last night I figured that the weather dudes got it wrong again—we only had a couple of inches.  But when I woke up this morning, it had REALLY, REALLY SNOWED!!!!  And then I discovered that the electricity was REALLY, REALLY OFF!!!!.  It apparently went off about 5:30 this morning, and stayed that way until about 2 in the afternoon.  But hey—I got most of my article written.  Pencils and paper, and luckily we have one of those old fashioned rotary pencil sharpeners.  Guess I need to do that more often—back to the basics.

And then, because I was such a good girl, I allowed myself some knitting time tonight. Finished the back and cast on the left side. Gotta love it!!!!

It Will Be OK

Today's my first day not-at-work since last Thursday, but some friends decided to have dinner tonight, so back to The City I go this evening, and then a bunch of doctor appointments in the same place tomorrow. (nothing serious-- just followups from my annual physical.)I'm a bit drained, because we've been really busy at work, and those 12-hour days... Well, I'm older than I used to be.

And so today I need to take another major chunk out of the project that is due to the publisher NEXT WEDNESDAY-- NEXT WEDNESDAY, I TELL YOU!!!! But I have commitments over the weekend. Deep breath-- it will be ok. It will be ok. It will be ok. Sleep is overrated.

The writing's not a problem. I'll whip that out today. The reference list is huge and is a big pain. Everyone has different formatting, and although I know the editors will help out with it after it's submitted, I really don't want to look like a dodo and turn in hash that they have to manipulate a lot. And I've only done ONE of the pictures. It will be ok. It will be ok.

Needless to say, I haven't done any knitting. I seriously need to.

Groan...

Only time for a couple of lines 'cuz I'm actually on a roll on my writing projects.

Yesterday was a "do-nothing-day." The Husband and I went through the DVR recordings and cleared out the cache. So now all that's left is The Son's Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis episodes. I just can't get myself to start recording them, because it's a rather interactive endeavor.

The "something" that I did was to knit the increase section on the back of the current sweater. (Did I mention how much I enjoy knitting with Cashmarino Chunky??) The next "something" that I did was to realize that in my chatting with friends at The Shop, I inadvertently cast on the first number of stitches. As in the small size. As in definitely not a size that would fit me, even on the best of non-bloated days. As in there wasn't a question about what I needed to do. So rip it out, I did, and started all over again. The Husband hit the sack, and I watched Return of the King as I cast on not only for the large size, but added an inch at each shoulder. I then proceeded to get myself almost to the point I was at when I realized the error of my ways.

I hate having to recover from bonehead moves....

Back to The Happy Place Again

Klaralund is all sewn up, and actually wear-able.  I stitched it up yesterday and all that’s left is a bit of weaving-in.  It’s very light, and very warm.  I wore it outside today, and I could feel immediately where the “v” in the back was.  And in fact, I wore it to Knit Happens for Late Night this evening. It was great to see everyone.  I cast on and did a few rows on the wonderful Bolero Jacket from Debbie Bliss’ Simply Soft book. (It’s this year’s pattern book from The Club. It’s done in Cashmarino Chunky, and I chose a dark teal that is really lovely, and knits up fast. Now mind you, “fast” is a relative term.  It doesn’t mean that I’ll complete the project in the foreseeable future, especially since I must be very judicious with my time until I get my writing projects finished.)  But I will certainly find some snippets of time, because I’m looking forward to wearing this while it’s still cool enough. (I know—winter has only spent a day or two here, but one can hope.)

I feel quite righteous, since I spent hours and hours today on a literature search for my projects.  I killed a small tree on the printouts, but it was interesting stuff—to me, at least.  The only problem is that I could go on for weeks just tracking related articles, and somewhere along the line I need to call a halt and get on with it.

It's Been a Long, Long Time

...since I blogged. But I'm still kickin'. The Son and I flew to Chicagoland to spend time with my family. The Husband drove and joined us there. We had a surprise 80th birthday party for My Dad at a German restaurant that was really great fun. It was complicated a bit, because "Second Christmas" takes place at my parents' place whenever most of the crew can be there. So Dear Ol' Dad was so concerned that all these family were coming from out of town, and wanted us to fix big dinner for everyone. We all spent a lot of time on surreptitious phone calls, making sure that everyone "had plans" for the afternoon. Then on cue, one of my sisters called to say that they were going to the restaurant for an early dinner, and would Mom & Dad and our group like to join them. When we arrived, everyone was in another section of the restaurant, and they all came in singing. There was, of course, German beverage, and at the end of dinner, we ended up singing some more.

We went back to Mom & Dad's for presents, and then we sang a little bit more.

(We're not "singers"-- we just like to sing.)

We have a system of gift-giving that works well for our family. My siblings and I don't exchange gifts. If we see something that we want to give to someone, we just give it to them whenever, but no actual exchanging. Each of the kids gets one present from all the aunts and uncles. At Thanksgiving, those who are together divvy up the kids (this year I had one of my brothers') and we purchase gifts. As they are getting older, most of them like to get gift cards. The typical amount is $35-$40. We let "The Accountant" sister know how much we spent. She adds it all up, factors in what we spent for my parents (this year was a new CPU for their molasses-like computer) and divides by 9. That's our bill. We either get money back, or pay the difference between our share and what we spent. We really like that the kids get something useful, that they are not over-innundated with "stuff", and that it's equitable. We also like that it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to get presents for 26 kids.

Then along came New Years. A lovely party at my second sister's lovely house to see in 2006. Being together-- priceless.

Go Hokies!!!
The only downside was that The Daughter was not with us for all this family bonding. However, she was in Jacksonville with her friends, involved in Gator Bowl activities. They kept those Marching Virginians hopping, with parades, including one at Disney and another in Jacksonville, pep rallies, performances etc.

As you are already aware, Tech beat Kentucky. We had another opportunity for a family gathering back in the MidWest, as The Husband and I sponsored a Gator Bowl party for The Relatives. We got Famous Daves, and the bloodies were quite the hit. (we also had a red velvet cake, which is actually maroon, in honor of the Hokies.)

Our pride in the team was immense. Our disappointment in Marcus Vick's behavior was also immense. What a bonehead move to step on that guy's leg. And then to follow it up with the rest of the garbage behavior. It's really unfortunate that someone with so much talent is just throwing his life down the porcelain. And if any NFL team is deluded enough to think that he's going to be anything other than an immense amount of trouble, they deserve what they get. I was really glad that Virginia Tech showed him the door, and I've never admired Frank Beamer more. The home of Michael Vick and Bryan Randall and so many other honorable and also talented people should not be a refuge for thugs. So There.

Knitting?
Yeah-- a little bit. Worked on a couple of socks, but nothing spectacular.

So What Have I Been Doing With My Time?
Working. A Lot. And really enjoying just doing my thing, taking care of my patients, and avoiding the peripherals.

And, putting together the condo we got in Blacksburg. We went down weekend before last to put together beds, spackle/sand/paint a bathroom, and get the place looking good. And it does (although it's a bit like walking into page 79 of the IKEA catalog.) We went down on Saturday, and planned to leave on Monday afternoon, stopping in Winchester for dinner with The Son. Nice plan. As I was taking a shower to rid myself of the sweaty, smelly aura I'd acquired, The Husband pounded on the door demanding that I turn off the water. Luckily I'd opted not to wash the hair, and I was about rinsed off, so the timing was great. Turns out we were leaking water into the apartment below. So we called Mike, our Handy Guy down there, who came over with his merry crew. It was an old gasket from the tub drain to the pipe. It took them a couple of hours, but they fixed it, and didn't charge us, because he'd installed a tub liner, and said he should have checked the entire thing. There's integrity for you. So I convinced The Husband that we should spend another night rather than heading out on a 4-1/2 hour trip at something after 9 p.m., and as long as we were there, we painted the other bathroom on Monday, then departed, had dinner with The Son, and then home.

Procrastination
And now, why am I not knitting more? Because I have two major articles to write, with deadlines looming. And I can't justify knitting when I need to do them. So why don't I just do it and get it over with? Well that's what I'm going to start right now. I'll let you know how it goes.

I WILL, however, go to The Shop tomorrow. I'ts been a Long, Long Time.

Random Thoughts 'n' Things

Merry Christmas, and Happy Hannukah. The Nurse's family is Christian, and Christmas is what we do. We had a rather unusual Christmas this year, since The Son sings in the choir at his church in Winchester. We've been out there a lot to worship, and we decided that we needed to be together at Christmas, so we drove out yesterday, had dinner at a fun restaurant, then went to the late evening service. It was beautiful, and I'm so glad we went. We spent the night at the Hampton Inn. I brought along a little pretend tree, a present for each person, and after the service we had Gluwein (heated in the microwave), and cheese and crackers. We watched the end of the Pope's Midnight Mass in Rome, and then a special on historical investigations into the birth of Christ. (The Offspring happened upon the program, and I couldn't convince them that I really was zonked. We finally turned off the tube at 2:30 a.m.) It was great fun.

We came home this morning, and had brunch, watched football, and fixed our "roast beast" and the rest of Christmas dinner. I threw the roast in the oven, and The Daughter did the lion's share of the rest. She's amazing. We opened presents, and enjoyed being together. (Watched a bit of football, and I sewed up a hat for a fellow nurses' newborn.)

It's been a good week for being together. Despite an over-full workweek, I was able to be off on Wednesday. We went to see the matinee of Les Miserables at the National Theatre-- absolutely spectacular-- well staged and performed. Then it took us an hour to get to Kinkead's where we had a wonderful dinner. It was a lovely day with my family, and I will cherish the memory.

And on to Hannukah. When The Daughter was in Sunday School, probably 1st or 2nd grade, she learned about Hannukah during one of our Old Testament studies. So The Daughter wanted to know if we could celebrate it. Well, there's really no theological reason not to, but while honoring the Maccabees, we really needed to put this in context, realizing that we were not going to do presents, and that it was unlikely that we would all be in the same place to light candles for 8 days in a row. The one thing we have continued is having latkes on the first night. Well, this year, the first night is on Christmas. I couldn't deal with Christmas dinner AND latkes, so they're being moved to tomorrow night. I must say that I'm looking forward to it. I don't eat potatoes, but I've discovered that I can make mine with zucchini, and they work out just fine.

So now I face a couple of days at work, and then look with hope and faith toward the New Year.

All Day, We Worked...

But before I get started, let me say that zinc works wonders. I think I still have the cold, because I am totally wiped out and exhausted, but I have remained relatively symptom-free in the nose department. The trick is to start with zinc tablets or lozenges every hour. I found some sugar-free ones, and they basically have no flavor at all. You let them dissolve in your mouth-- don't chew or swallow. They really seem to work as long as you get going as soon as the symptoms start. The Daughter resisted-- and she's going through tissues at a most alarming rate.

The cookie-baking saga is an annual event in my family. My Gramma (the one from Austria) used to make mountains of cookies for us. We always got a bunch at Christmas, but she'd send them to us at summer camp, at college, a couple of times a year after we moved away from home -- I don't know how she did it. All by herself.

As she got pretty advanced in years, she didn't have the strength for all the beating and rolling and generalized stamina it takes to make her masterpieces. So she would come over to my Mom's house, and my sisters would help her. (I was away from home by this time, and missed out on lessons from The Master.) The first of my sisters became the new cookie guru, and gleaned the nuances of the art.

After Gramma died, that sister would sometimes make some cookies, but then we all decided that we really needed to keep the cookies alive. So First Sister and I made a little cookbook for all our family members with the recipes and techniques in it. It's just a little thing-the size of postcards, but we did a rather nice job, if I do say so myself. All the pages are laminated, and it's bound with the plastic comb thingees.

The most labor-intensive is the flaky cookie. It's quite something. It has two types of dough, and they get rolled out, and the dough gets folded up, and then you have to let it rest and then roll it out again a couple of times. (We finally figured out that one of the doughs can be done with the dough hook on the Kitchen Aid mixer. We think that Gramma would approve, in the interest of keeping the cookies going.) There's a special way they need to be cut, and then they are filled with Solo pastry filling and baked. Then they get rolled in sugar-- some in powdered and some in granulated sugar. These things take forever to make, and each batch makes 3 dozen. Do the math: I have 4 brothers and 4 sisters, plus my Mom & Dad, plus our collective spouses and 24-going-on-26 children, the youngest of whom is 7. We ended up making 3 batches, and with all the other types of cookies and brownies, it almost did us in. These are the best cookies on earth, and if we made 10 dozen, they would all get scarfed up. Gramma used to say (with her Austrian accent)--All Day ve verk...

(Alternatively, the almond crescents are quick and easy-- we made 20 dozen of them, and except for the fact that the youngest of my sisters ended up elbow-deep in powdered sugar for much of the day....)

So The Daughter and I arrived in Chicago at 10:30 on Saturday, started baking at my Second Sister's at 11:30, did cookies pretty much all day (although I needed a bit of a nap for about 20 mins) and we got back to my parents' at about 2 am. My Third Sister drove down with her youngest (4th grader) from Minneapolis for the event, and my Second Brother's wife and their daughter (high schooler)flew in from Omaha. We all returned to our respective homes mid-day on Sunday.

We take cookies seriously.

Oh Yes!!! Oh No!!!

The good news is that The Daughter is home from school. My darling, sweet, youngest child who I love as I love my own life is with me for a couple of weeks. And when she's home we have such fun-- shopping, cooking, movies, and we're going to Chicago (actually Naperville) on Saturday to be with my parents and most of my sisters and brothers and a bunch of their kids for the annual Christmas cookie bake.(The Son -my lovable, huggable, clever, wonderful firstborn whom I also love as much as I love my own life will be home just before Christmas.)

The bad news is that she's sick. Her eyes are watering, and she's sneezing and stuffy and has a runny nose. I've loaded her up with vitamin C and zinc, and plenty of fluids. She loves orange juice and hot lemonade.

Having done that.... My eyes have just started watering, and I'm sneezing and my nose is both stuffing up and running. So I'm loading myself up with Vitamin C and zinc, and plenty of fluids. Mine will include hot limeade with Bushmill's.

Tomorrow was supposed to be: Finish cleaning the living room, put stuff in the new kitchen drawers, and purchase and decorate the Christmas tree. Ordinarily a very manageable list.

I may settle for just being able to get out of bed. Gotta get ready to fly to Chicago, y'know.

And My Top 10 countdown...

Following on the tails of Holly, Kristine and Ann, here is my plunge into the pool. I decided that the exercise of actually thinking about these things would be good for my soul and clarity of mind, so what the heck.

10 Things you might not know about me:
-I'm the eldest of 9 siblings
-I started out in the Nursing program in college, but graduated as a Communication Arts major (Speech/Theatre/Radio)
-None of the institutions of higher learning I attended had a football team, or if they did, it was really sorry.
-I have, through The Daughter, become an insufferable, unapologetic Virginia Tech Hokies football fan.
-The Husband, The Offspring and I spend a week every summer with my parents, my sibs, our spouses and 24-going on 26 (my baby brother is marrying the wonderful Beloved and her 2 lovely daughters are joining the throng) kids.
-Aside from that, My favorite way to spend time is at a Hokies football game with my family.
-My next favorite is at the happy place with my Irregular friends.
-My third favorite is with a huge cup of coffee, a good movie and a fast-moving knitting project. If family is there, it's a plus.
-I am a terrible housekeeper. (See favorite ways to spend time for an explanation).
-My favorite phrase is: "It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

9 Places I've visited
-The Scavi (excavation)under the Vatican in Rome. A necropolis combining pagan and early Christian graves, and the wall containing the remains of St. Peter. The Vatican itself is awesome-- but the Scavi is icing on the cake.
-The Prado museum in Madrid. Velasquez' picture of the little prince on the horse holding a baton is over a door-- I remember wondering if I would ever see it again.
-The Champs-Elysees in Paris. Walking down the street, in search of a glass of wine and hoping they wouldn't mock my French.
-Yeats' grave in Drumcliff, Sligo Ireland. "Cast a cold eye On life, on death,
Horseman, pass by!" Two weeks traveling in the Motherland with my bestest friend from childhood, Kath, and our high school English teacher Tim-- several decades out of said Academy.
-The underwater Jesus statue in Pennecamp State Park off Key Largo. I got seasick on the small boat out to the site, but make the dive and held Jesus' hand.
-The villages of Quebrada Larga and El Ocatal in Honduras. A life-altering experience serving on a medical mission trip with my dear Daughter.
-Tulum in the Yucatan. Climbing up Mayan pyriamids with my parents and children.
-The Normandy Beaches. The 3-year old Son with his arms around one of the Jewish soldier grave markers saying "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
-The top of Pikes' Peak. Again with the Offspring, during a 3-week camping trip surrounding one of the aforementioned family summer gatherings (at Estes Park, Ann)

8 Ways to Win My Heart
-Say Thank You.
-Give me a hug.
-Be nice to someone who is easy to forget.
-Be generous with your time, resources, and love.
-Root for the Hokies with me.
-Listen to my concerns, and help me sort out my thoughts.
-Send me a random e-mail.
-Bring me coffee (or if you're really in a good mood, Hokies tickets)

7 Things I want to Do Before I Die
-Take The Offspring to Italy. Several times.
-Get my house really clean-- all over, and keep it that way.
-Live on the beach for a year.
-Live in the mountains for a year.
-Live near the rest of my family for as long as humanly possible.
-Reread all the classics and books I didn't appreciate in high school and college
-See every one of Shakespeare's plays performed onstage.


6 Things I'm afraid of
-Letting people down.
-The Offspring not being happy or fulfilled as adults.
-Financial ruin.
-Dear ones' deaths.
-Being talked about- when it's not a good thing.
-A disability that would severely limit the use of my hands.

5 Things I Don't Like
-Cilantro. Really. At All. Ever. In anything.
-Housekeeping.
-Backstabbing people.
-Slow internet connection days
-Writers' Block bumping up against deadlines.

4 Ways to Turn Me Off
-Whining.
-BO.
-Being mean.
-Belittling people.

3 Things I Do Every Day
-Drink a bunch of coffee while checking out the blogs
-Do the SuDoKu in the paper
-Knit a bit

2 Things that Make Me Happy
-A winning Hokie game
-Being with The Husband and The Offspring

1 Thing on my mind right now
-I gotta pee.

It Seems Like Forever...

...Since last I blogged. And much has happened. The Hokies beat UVA and UNC, and so went to the ACC playoffs in Jacksonville. So did we. The whole family. And we got beat. Some bad plays, some bad officiating, and the bottom line was that FSU got more points, got the ACC Championship and will be going to the Orange Bowl (Go Penn State!!!). One of these days our team will remember that we don't get 5 quarters in the important games. We only had 2 losses this season, but they really mattered. FSU, on the other hand, beat us, although their season record isn't one to write home about. It's sort of like flunking half of your high school classes, doing ok on SATs, and getting in to MIT. C'est la vie.

So, the Hokies will go to the Gator Bowl--yep, back to Jacksonville. The sad part for me is that The Daughter will probably not be with us on New Years' Eve.

Enough of that.

We bought a condo in Blacksburg. It's for The Daughter to live in, but we got one with 3 bedrooms so The Husband and I will have a place to stay on Game Weekends. As much as I love Hampton Inns (and you know I really love them), when I looked at the MasterCard bill for October and November-- oh. my. gosh. So it's a good thing.

I'm making some changes at work. I've been doing extra work in addition to the patient care aspect of my job, and the stress and hassle are just too much. So I'm going to focus just on patient care. I can feel the load lifting off my shoulders already. When the cost-benefit analysis shows you that there's very little benefit, and just too much emotional cost, it's time to let go, and although I've never considered myself a quitter, I'm at the point where pushing the rock up the hill is just dumb. I'll let you know how it's going in a few weeks.

And back to knitting....
Klaralund is done!!!! The baby sweater is done!!! The baby hat is done!!! (the first one, at least). My goal was to not start anything new until everything was DONE!!!!, but I had a plane ride to Florida and needed something small, so I started a sock at the Old Dominion Brewery bar in Dulles airport. It's coming along nicely. I hope to finish the Top-Down-Sweater I started a year ago, and Spring Fling before I start anything else. That'll wipe out all the UFOs. (after I finish two lone socks.) (but I don't think that socks should have to count.)

Meanwhile, I have yarn backed up like crazy for new projects. I think the next one will be the Debbie Bliss shruggy sweater. I tried one on at The Shop, and though it was a tad snug on The Nurse, I am confident that I can add a few stitches here and there so it will work for me, too. And so many other things I'd like to do....

So I'll try to post a bit more often. No promises.

I'm Not Dead-- Only I Almost Got Killed

But that's not the reason I haven't blogged. We're having massive discontent in our computers. I've tried what I know to get it fixed, so now we need to find time for The Husband to work his computer magic. (The Offspring will both be home for Thanksgiving, so maybe they can get stuff working.)

Oh yeah-- the almost getting killed part.

I was thrilled to be off work on Friday, even though I was on call. I got to sleep a couple of extra hours, and got a bit done around the house. Then the phone rang. I needed to come in and do a couple of ambulance transports. So off I went. As I was driving along Sherwood Hall Lane (which is how one gets over to the GW Parkway if one doesn't go all the way down to Mount Vernon) a big white pickup truck swerved across the yellow line and was coming straight at me.

I stopped, because if he was going to hit me, I didn't want my velocity adding to the problem, and I laid on the horn. The truck swerved away, and as he passed me, I saw that the driver was slumped against the window. I remember thinking, "that doesn't look good." (It didn't take being a nurse to come to that conclusion, I'm sure.)

I saw him continue to curve to his right, hit the curb and flip the truck. It was laying on its side with the driver door down. I drove to the Fire Station which is about another block, rang the doorbell, and told the people about the flipped truck. Then I ran back to the pickup truck, and the guy wasn't moving at all. One of the bystanders thought we should break the windshield, but I suggested that since the fire department was on their way, that we should let them handle it. Apparently a good idea, since they determined that it was unstable, and they needed to right the vehicle before they could attend to the victim.

I gave my statement to the police, and then needed to get to work.

I don't know how he didn't hit me.

I don't know if he fell asleep or had a heart attack or stroke, or a seizure or what.

I don't know if he's alive or not.

I do know that I was protected by the grace of God that gets me through every day, and guarded by the angels who for whatever reason, deem to watch over me.

And I am thankful.

This And That

On the Road Again
Why, you ask? Because Virginia Tech is playing against Boston College tonight. I must say that it never occurred to me that being a college football fanatic would be a way to describe me. That is, until The Daughter had the good sense to choose an institution of higher learning that made it worth the time. I do love them Hokies!!!

(And how about them White Sox??? The Miracle on 35th Street actually happened. In my lifetime.)

Maybe I'm Amazed

I am SO excited!!!! The "Baby" Brother (I have 4-- he's the youngest, and I was a senior in high school when God and my parents had the good sense to put him on this earth)called me last week to give me some great news.

He and The Beloved are tying the knot!!!

The story is just too cool-- and would take more time than I have to type, so I'll give you the Cliff Note (or SparkNote, if you will) version.

They had McCartney tickets. The Brother had researched, got the playlist and order, and spent considerable time trying to focus on The Beloved's absolutely favorite tune. (I must say that I have a hard time singling out MY favorite.)

Well, it came down to Long and Winding Road and Maybe I'm Amazed. Cutting to the chase, they were sitting "with some older people" (yikes-- I hope he meant they were older than me!!!) and he described it as a "No Standing/No
Singing zone." So he was getting a bit nervous about THAT aspect of it.

Maybe I'm Amazed started up, and he stood up in the No Standing Zone, got down on one knee, and the ladies behind him were saying "Is he going to? I think he's going to. Yes he is!!!" and everybody in their area started clapping and cheering and looking and pointing at them.
(note to all-- Now see here: This is the ONLY circumstance under which I would approve creating a distraction while Sir Paul is performing.)

And he asked her to marry him, and she said yes, and I'm getting another sister, and 2 nieces. And none of us could be happier for them.

I Gotta Go Pack

Oy!!!

Holy Cow!!! You must think I've fallen off the face of the earth!!! The actual fact is that in the circle of life, I'm in an ever-decreasing spiral. And it's the same thing that I've heard from everyone I know in every aspect of my life. "It's been crazy."

So crazy that I went to Late Night at The Shop last Wednesday for about 10 minutes on my way home from work, and was so rushed in the morning that I forgot to put my knitting in the car.

So crazy that while I was able to spend a couple of hours at Late night last night, I absolutely had to leave a couple of hours earlier than I wanted to. The really cool thing was that I saw Carol, who I haven't seen for weeks and weeks. Holly and Lara were busy, busy, busy making felting squares for tomorrow night's workshop at KH.

So crazy that those are the only 2 times I've been to The Happy Place since late September.

There are a number of good things to report, however.
I've completed the front (or is it the back? I'll have to wait until the other one is done and use the better-looking one for the front) and 1+1/2 sleeves for Klaralund.

I got my Debbie Bliss "The Club" gift-- 4 balls of a light pink Alpaca Silk and the Soft Things book.

I got the most wonderful 3 hanks of Lorna's Laces yarn-- a prize from the Katrina Fund.

And I finally mailed out the stitch markers that I was so remiss in sending to the very wonderful and patient knitters who participated in the Stitchmarker swap. Can you believe that I have such a difficult time getting to the post office? It's absurd!!! (I really need a 24-hour post office. I know there are machines and such in the ones with extended-hour lobbies, but I always need envelopes to mail stuff, etc.) What a relief. I've been feeling guilty for weeks and weeks. About stitch markers!!!

I still have many many things to do-- such as:
Catch up on everyone's blogs
Finish the calendar for the hospital nursing staff (fun-- scrapbooking-type picture layout, but NO TIME to do it!!!)
Finalize the election list for a meeting I need to attend tonight
Buy/Fix munchies for tonights Virginia Tech vs Maryland football game (boo hoo-- I'm not going because of the aforementioned meeting, but I'll watch it on tube, bugging out of the meeting early if it starts to run on... but The Daughter is coming home for it, and will be attending with The Husband)
Make an appointment for The Daughter to get hair trimmed tomorrow (Strike while the iron's hot-- that can go on the "done" list)
AND-- I just re-redded.

The Lord Giveth, and The Lord Taketh Away. Clairol Restoreth.

Home Again, Home Again

Just a brief jet-lag entry at 2:30 am EDT:

When there is thunderstorm activity in Chicago, everything that connects through there gets backed up. You can't leave California until they know they'll be able to land in Chicago.

This explains why I ended up back at Reagan National Airport at 2:15 am yesterday, and got home a little before 3 am. (The good news is that Klaralund's first sleeve is about 2/3 done. Then one more sleeve and the front.)

Thank heaven for my co-workers who lent a helping hand yesterday during my 7a-7:30p shift.

I got home from work, shared about 3 sentences with The Husband and crashed. And now it's 2:30 am, and I'm wide awake. (Gotta go read something boring)

And the beat goes on.

How I Spent Saturday

How I Spent Saturday Morning

I got up and checked out of the very nice hotel, went to the conference, and listened to a wonderful man who had preemie twins.  One died, and the other was in hospital for several months. She’s now in second grade.   It was really valuable to listen to his thoughts and reflections, and it helped me to refocus my approaches to my patients and their families.  I need these reality checks from time to time, and the distance that he has from the actual events validates even more his perspective.  

Having had that affirming experience, I went to ESPNZone to watch the Hokies play against West Virginia.

So here I was at 10 am in a bar, as predicted.  Drinking a Bloody Mary (seemed more appropriate than a beer, although the people sitting next to me watching the Red Sox vs Yankees were imbibing in the brew) and eating eggs and sausage.  Yum.  (in the interest of full disclosure, I switched to Diet Coke after the ‘Mary.)

The game was great. I met an Air Force nurse and her fighter pilot husband, and between touchdowns and home runs, we compared notes on the state of nursing in the world (that’s a whole ‘nother issue) and had a good ol’ time.

I returned to the conference, picked up a few more souvenirs for the troops back in the trenches, and headed south.  I took “the 5” (anyone ever notice how on the West Coast all the highway numbers are preceded by “the”?) down to Oceanside, then went to Mission San Luis Rey and then down 101 which runs along the Pacific.  I got down to LaJolla, where I lived as a small child, and walked in the ocean for a few minutes.  Wow.  I vaguely remember being at one of the beaches with my father and mother.  And when I think about how long ago that was, Wow.  What a life it’s been.

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Why I like Hampton Inns

I spent 4 nights at a very nice major chain high-end hotel near Disneyland.  The grounds were breathtaking.  The building was beautiful.  The room was huge.  It was convenient to the conference site.  I could see the Disneyland fireworks from the courtyard outside my room.  The housekeepers did a great job.  I should have been jumping up and down with joy.  So what’s the problem?
I’m spoiled by Hampton Inns.  (and they’re not paying me to say this.)  We have stayed at Hamptons consistently since The Son started college.  And I guess consistent is a really good word for all this.  We are consistently greeted by name, and at a new venue, we are asked if it’s our first time with them, at which point they give us the details of what’s where.  If we are returning, the desk clerks usually know (it pops up in the computer) and they welcome us back.  They ask if I’d like to charge the room to the credit card in the reservation system, and they may or may not ask to scan it. And they make sure we know where the complimentary breakfast is (which now always contains hot items—eggs, sausage, biscuits, fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, pastries, and gallons of juice and coffee.) Then we go to our room, which is usually not super huge, but is spacious enough for us and our stuff.  There is always a refrigerator and microwave, coffee maker, free wireless internet access, and because we’re HHonors members, a little snack (cookies or chips) and a bottle of water.  (The latter probably costs the hotel a buck or so—but what a nice little gesture.)

Contrast:  I checked in to this other very nice hotel.  I walked up to the desk and gave my name—smiling broadly—and said I had a reservation.  The response of the clerk was “I need a photo ID and a credit card.”  Not “Welcome to (our hotel)”.  Not “We’re glad you’re here.”  Not “Hello.”  OK.  I went to my very nice room with its very nice everything except refrigerator, microwave and free internet access. I decided to limit my internet to 2 days, because it was an additional $9.95 per day.  I’m told this is not unusual.  But it’s unusual to me.  And one of my cohorts didn’t have wireless and needed an adaptor, of which there were 2 in the entire hotel, so she needed to get in line.  (now I don’t know if Hampton has adaptors for those who are not “wire-lessed”, but anyone who stays there consistently is equipped.)

There was in-room coffee, for which I was truly grateful (the Disneyland hotel doesn’t, according to my colleagues).  So I figured I’d go grab an egg or something for breakfast, figuring 5 or 6 dollars. Nope.  $12.95 (plus, of course, tax and gratuity).   Now, granted, this is for full breakfast, but I don’t eat pastries, pancakes, toast (French or any other kind), cereal, etc.   I had an Atkins bar instead.

My reservations at the very nice hotel were a bit hosed, (not their fault) and I wasn’t reserved for the last night of my stay.  Not a problem.  There are many hotels, and I had decided to rent a car and go down to San Diego.  I also decided to get something closer to the airport, because, you know how that goes.  I found a Hampton Inn close to the John Wayne airport, and made my reservations online.  There was an option for a King suite at an unbelievably low price.  I don’t know what I expected—basically a king sized bed in my standard happy Hampton Inn room.  Well, let me tell you.  I walked in to the room that has a very respectable sized bedroom with a tv, a large bathroom, a sitting room with a tv, and the entryway that has a wet bar with the requisite microwave and refrigerator, and a desk.  Holy cow.  I didn’t want to leave it to go get dinner.  Really.

So now I must again pack, and get ready for the journey home.  The only problem with being in California, is that it takes not only 6 actual flying hours to get to the East coast, but the 3-hour time difference makes it pretty much an all-day thing.  
Well, more time to knit!

From Sunny California!

Or is it Cah-lee-foh-nee-ah? Depends on whom you're hearing. Anyway, the conference has been great. I've met some really neat characters including (imagine me with a picture of Mickey and Minnie. You know what they look like, but you have to keep guessing about me) and (imagine a pictue of me with Goofy) and this big guy (imagine me with a gihugeous statue of John Wayne at the airport. I come up to mid-thigh on him).

At this point I must tell you that I am tres distressed. I have figured out the basics of my nice new digital camera. I have successfully loaded the software and transferred pics to my computer. I followed the Blogger directions for uploading pictures to the site so that you could see real pictures of my life and things that are important to me, including, of course, my knitting. Well, The Blogger kept saying "uploading images"- while I packed, "uploading images" while I brushed my teeth, "uploading images" while I took a shower, "uploading images" while I drank three cups of hotel-room coffee. And still uploading. Well life must go on, so I'll worry about pictures another day. La de dah. But there are some REALLY good pictures.

So today's plan is to go to the first morning meeting and then to ESPNZone to watch the Hokies play the Mountaineers of West Virginia. Both teams are undefeated, so it should be a good one. The game is at noon. Eastern time. That's 9 am on the west coast. I'll be sitting in a bar at 10 am. Hmmm...

I do love Virginia Tech football, and we've been fortunate to get tickets to the 2 home games they've had so far. We have a spectacular view. We can almost see Charlottesville.
We sit with God. (imagine a picture of me taken from the second to last seat at the top of the South End Zone in Lane Stadium, holding some knitting (a ribbon scarf to be donated to the sale in the Lombardi Cancer Center) with thousands and thousands of Hokie fans behind me. Thousands).

Think binocular ball. And quite truly, with binoculars, it's a perfect viewing venue. The mountains in the background are beautiful. It's an amazing place-- and sitting with God makes one appreciate it even more.

I've rented a car, so after the game, I'm headed down to San Diego for the afternoon to visit the haunts of my very early childhood.

And on to Klaralund

What is it about Klaralund that everyone loves so much? Is it the simplicity of the pattern that lets you focus on the fiber you're using? Is it that the chick on the boat in the book (Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton book #2)looks like she's having such a darn good time? (imagine a picture of the chick on the boat in the book looking like she's having such a darn good time).

Anyway, great progress has been made. A six-hour plus plane ride and several days of sitting in meetings-- however fascinating-- will do that for you.

To bring you back up to speed, since Klaralund and I were not coordinating for quite some time: (imagine a picture of the back and most of one sleeve). Her back is completed. The garter stitch is all in Lorna's Laces Grace (a wool/mohair boucle') in the Somerset colorway. The stockinette portion is done in the Lorna's Lace interspersed with pale teal and pale cotton candy pink Classic Elite mohair. It's pretty neat. The sleeves are done completely in Lorna's Lace.

Why the combination, you might ask? Well, I had some of the Grace from an ebay purchase, but not enough to do Klaralund in. So I started the interspersion. Then I realized that I probably would still not have enough Grace, so I chatted with my pal Kristine at Knit Happens who not only ordered it for the store, but also for the online store. The colors are nearly identical to what I had, which is pretty amazing for hand-dyed yarn from significantly different dyelots.

Thanks, Kristine!!!

It feels really silky to knit, which surprised me with mohair. And there are the obligate boucle' loops getting caught on things problems. But I'm lovin' it. The sweater will be really light, but I think it will also be quite warm, with a tee under it to prevent the scratchies. I'll have some Grace left, so a scarf might be in the making as well.

So on to meetings and football and San Diego. What a day lies in store.

Over Two Weeks since my last Blog????

Bad Nurse!!!!

Well, it's been a harrowing couple of weeks, but I'm still here. But not for long. I'm leaving on a jet plane tomorrow morning to go to Anaheim for a nursing conference. Now I don't know if I'll have time there to blog, but I'll give it a try. I'm still working on the picture thing. I've got some good ones.

There are a lot of raggedy ends that haven't been tied up, since work has been pretty busy, and nights have been late.

Stitch Marker pals-- I haven't forgotten you. I just haven't had 10 minutes to pack things up and get to the post office, because they're only open when the sun is shining.

Most recently, I can report that Spring Fling is almost flung-- on the sleeves, and decreasing at a most alarming rate, so the little sucker should be done soon. Made great progress in the car to/from Virginia Tech. Haven't decided yet whether it makes the trip with me. Klaralund is the likely trip project. I seriously need to limit the number of traveling projects and focus!!!

The Husband and I had a mah-velous weekend in Blacksburg, watching the Hokies nicely beat Georgia Tech. The weather was perfect-- overcast and cool. The Daughter and her 329 bandmates did a formidable job with the band alums (fun folks, they are...) and we stopped by Winchester to see the Son on our way home.

So, I'm mostly packed, but need to make sure I have some essentials-- like the plane and hotel reservations, ipod and charger, meds, cell phone and charger, computer, camera and charger, charge cards, and the beat goes on. (and the toothbrush and makeup would be nice, too.)

See you soon-- and depending on the hookup in my hotel room, maybe sooner than later.

So How Much Fun Was That???

A whole lot!!

Taking a break from the sadness of Katrina and the overwhelming grief I still feel almost daily over this date, there is still room for happiness in life.

Iris Schreier of Multidirectional Knitting fame was at Knit Happens last night, and had a booksigning and workshop for our lys fans. As a group, we pretty much sped through the concept for the multidirectional scarf, and after a few hiccups most got the gist of Iris' lace shawl.

She brought some swatch-sized samples some of her ArtYarns which, of course, we drooled over.

Although this was in no way a contest, it soon became apparent that Carol and Maeve turned out to be the speed-stitchers, with Carol as the expert lace wizard. (By the way, Carol finished her Kaleidoscope shawl which is just awesome, and is working on a beautiful butter-yellow creation in the finest wool I've ever imagined. We all agree that it's the best yet--and she's done a bunch.) (and despite her protestations to the contrary, Carol is indeed creative. Just picking the right yarn for the right project causes me major stress at times.)

Kristine actually carved out time to sit and knit with us. She's the hostess with the mostest yarn, but has been so very busy lately....

Shanti will be leaving us soon, and I was so glad to have a chance to see her. She'll be moving on to bigger things. Navy people always seem to cross paths, and I for one am grateful.

It's really interesting how diverse our little table at the back of the store is-- students and lawyers and teachers and people who do international stuff and, heck-- I don't even know what some of us do-- there seems to be a lot of "consulting" going on. I've never been able to figure that out, either.

I got to see Courtney, and meet Patty, and saw Rosanna for the first time in ages. I discovered as I walked in the door that I had just missed Erika and Bennett. Darn Darn Darn!!!

Iris was interested in our nicknames-- we don't all have nicknames, because some people don't need them. 4-Ply Katie (one of those international stuff people)got her nickname because she LOVES, of course, knitting with 4-ply yarns. I'm NurseLaura because I am. Carol is the Wizard because that's what she is. and so forth.

Well, on for the day. I've got a few things to do, and then on to the shop to finish-- FINISH I TELL YOU! the pink and green baby sweater. I'm so almost there. Focus. Must focus.

Blog From a Nurse in New Orleans...

Oh my gosh. I will try to never complain again. Go here to find out why. And if you haven't given to a relief agency yet, please do it right now.

There Will Be Photography. Soon

The Nurse got a digital camera. Finally. Now I just need to learn how to use the thing-- and then learn to post pictures. Patience, Please.

Stitch Marker Swap

It's been pointed out to me that I didn't fill out the Stitch Marker questionnaire. Guilty. Fact is, I couldn't find it. I mailed out my first sets VERY early, because I was travelling, and then didn't check back to the yahoo page, because I was incommunicato. Sorry.

Quick answer to all the questions: I like surprises! I knit on needles from 0-13. All colors are good.

Green Day-- On to Something, or Not?

I like all --well maybe not all-- but most types of music. And I like some of, but not all of Green Day. One song I've heard quite a bit of lately is Wake Me Up When September Ends. It's a sad song, and September's beginning to turn into a bit of a bummer of a month, generally speaking, with events that range from tragic to just plain annoying. Bad things have been happening in September over the past few years. (April's no treat either, but Green Day didn't write a song about it.)

So I've had that ditty running through my head. And while I sort of like the idea of waking up in a few weeks, escaping the sadness of Katrina and 9-11, and some other things that were less catastrophic, but still very painful, it occurred to me that I better try to focus on the positive. I can't minimize the horror of these and other September events, but since I really can't sleep through the month, I'm left with a couple alternatives, including being really bummed out, or awfulizing until I really don't want to keep company with myself and can't really expect anyone else to want to, either.

Here are some good September things:

-Virginia Tech football
-Being able to walk outside and actually breathe
-Weather that starts to get cool enough to wear sweaters
-Seeing the piping plovers and ponies at Assateague
-Stomping grapes
-Iris at the shop
-Flowers on the crape myrtle
-A schedule that will hopefully allow for more knitting time and more opportunities to hit Late Night.
-The renewal that comes with the new school year for the kids
-Looking forward to Autumn-- colors, smells, comfort food, clear blue skies

I'll guess I'll stay awake through September. And try to smile.

When News is Part of the Problem-I Must Rant

I'm watching hundreds of buses, ambulances and trucks entering New Orleans with some 5 million MRE's, water, and a route out for at least some of our citizens who have been in such despair. So help is on the way. Yes, it took several days. Yes. The situation is awful. And Yes. These are our citizens and we owe them the best we can do.

I also saw footage of Geraldo Rivera who told of riding along in helo's with rescue teams. Good for him. One or two more victims could have been carried in the space and weight he was occupying.

I listened to Bill O'Reilly and some self-righteous blond loudmouth last night and this morning lambasting the government for not doing anything. Self-righteous loudmouth (my husband just told me her name is Nancy Grace)(btw, sitting comfortably in a TV studio) was yelling about why people weren't "getting off their butts" to go help. Guess what. All those buses and trucks didn't materialize in the last two hours. They've been prepping and traveling for a couple of days to get there. And now they can finally get there as the water is receding. The troops and volunteers who are helping needed to get to the staging areas. Stuff had to be loaded. And the troops and volunteers have to be prepared to enter the area. And this is not to mention the fact that they needed to get enough law re-enforcement to ensure that the supplies can get to the people who need it without getting shot by the lawless thugs who have terrorized their fellow citizens during this catastrophe.

Instead of buying into the "ain't it awful" mentality, I wonder why these people aren't putting their energy and visibility into mobilizing fundraising.

Another thing. Dennis Hastert has been misquoted. The question posed to him was loaded and there wasn't a way that he could answer without controversy. When he said that it might have to be bulldozed, he had probably looked at the news footage. How can you rebuild a building that is currently rubble without 'dozing it?

C'mon, people. If you're not willing to light a candle, then don't curse the darkness.

And Yes. I made a generous contribution to American Red Cross. I will give more as I am able. And Yes. I urge you to do the same.

Color Me Relieved

My friend Megan had a girl. In addition to being very pleased that mom and baby are doing well, I am immensely relieved that she's a girl. The pink and green and white sweater would not have worked well for a boy.

Ramblings in the face of Great sadness
The aftermath of Katrina is so overwhelming. Please pray for all those folks and hold them dear in your hearts.

Please give from the pocket of your heart to an established relief organization. The Red Cross, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Episcopalian Disaster Relief and many other organizations take contributions online. There are already fake funds cropping up. Be careful.

I can't judge those who are looting. Some are taking water and food and diapers-- things they need, and there's no one to pay, even if they had money. It's a Jean Valjean situation. But who needs a television or a gun in the middle of all this? The people who are stuck in an untenable situation now have to add fear of a bunch of thugs to their troubles.

Let's also pray that the politicians will continue to work together to help.

To those who are able to help with disaster relief, you are in my thoughts and prayers. This is truly a mission of love.

And that's all I have to say right now.

When Tuesday is Saturday...

I truly am alive and kicking.

Last week was quite something. I worked very late in the office on Monday, then for half a day on Tuesday, at which time The Husband fetched me from work and ferried me down to Blacksburg. I knit most of the fronts of the pink and green baby sweater while riding through rain and mountains. We arrived at The Sweet Daughter's dorm and proceeded to assemble her loft bed and take the initial steps in putting her room together. Then Buffalo Wild Wings for a very late dinner (and thank heaven for Michelob Ultra...) and headed back to the hotel.

On Wednesday I unpacked her stuff. All day. Now I'm not one of those moms who needs to set up the room of a daughter who is totally capable of doing it herself, but she was working with the Virginia Tech band (The Marching Virginians), and really needed to get her stuff out of the way so that her roommate would be able to do the same when she arrived. Meanwhile The Husband made numerous trips to and from the car, and worked on setting up and de-bugging the new compter. (Dude-- she got a Dell.) It was another long day.

Thursday was more of the same, so we finished what we needed to-- computer ready to go, DVD connected to TV, Rubbermaid bins emptied and ready to haul home, and we headed out about 2, and I finished the back of the baby sweater on the way home. We met The Son for dinner at Daks-- our neighborhood restaurant. The Son had been packing for the previous couple of days in preparation for his departure.

I did 12-hour shifts at the hospital on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and did a regular office day on Monday. I guess it was good that I was so busy, bacause The Son left for school on Friday, and with working so much, it didn't occur to me that The Offspring were both sprung.

So Monday was an early day off work. For the first time in ages, I actually had a day that felt like a Friday. How interesting that it was a Monday afternoon. It was such an unusual experience to be out early enough to do things like go to the pharmacy, shop for groceries, actually fix dinner, and do it all while the sun was still shining.

So today is Saturday. Or like Saturday, except that I did most of my little chores yesterday, so I'm home and I don't have to race around. I slept til almost 9, and then deposited myself at the sewing machine to finish appliques on The Daughter's sorority letter shirts, and put patches on the butts of her favorite pairs of jeans. I felt so darn productive. And I've listened to most of a V.I. Warshawski book. They take place in Chicago, which makes me happy.

The only problem is that I didn't pay attention to The Daughter's room number, so I can't mail the stuff til tomorrow. And I guess that's a good thing because I have plenty of things I need to do, and I'll save tomorrow for stuff outside the house.

And best of all, I'll be able to hit Late Night tomorrow. It's been many weeks, and I miss my friends. Just can't wait!!!

And back to the mill on Thursday.

Lovin' the Colors

I've make a bit of progress on the baby girl version of the Quaker Ridge cardigan. It's in celery with pink trim, and little pink and white stripes. It's for a friend at work who is having either a boy or girl. Pick one. If it's a boy, she has to give it back and she'll get the boy version.

The smart thing to do would have been to start on boy sweaters, since 2 others are having boys. Then, if it's a girl, I'd have a boy sweater done already. Yes, I know-- there are "neutral" combinations. But my spirit needed to knit these colors. They make me happy, and that's a good thing.

The boy sweaters will be various combinations of bright blue, celery and white. They'll be cute, too. No doubt.

Packin' Em Up, Headin' Em Out

The Offspring are both getting ready to go back to school. I literally cannot walk through the living room, although they have attempted to make a small path for navigation purposes.

The Daughter is going tomorrow, since she's helping with Band registration. I'll go down with The Husband on Tuesday to install her in her room. Put in the rug, reconstruct the loft bed, set up the computer... you get the picture.

Today is play day. In addition to packing up the Rubbermaid containers, we're going to make Greek Letter appliques for the sorority and fraternity shirts. The kids found really unique fabrics, so we'll make the letters, and either sew them on to shirts, or take them to the little Korean lady at the cleaners. She's wonderful.

Then we'll do a bit of shopping for paella fixin's. It's a favorite, but I haven't made it for awhile. The problem is that we were supposed to have the kitchen drawers replaced yesterday. But since the cabinets are original with the house, the hardware rails for these drawers don't work with them. The man was apparently very nice, and spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make it work, but no success yet. So we have a kitchen full of drawers, and all the stuff that was in the drawers is squirreled away in bags in the dining room. At least I know where the Paella pan is.


So I have to make room to work, and have to locate the stuff I need to cook with.

And get ready to say goodbye.

The Blogger Ate My Post

I just did a very nice update. It disappeared when I tried to post it. Crud!!!

I Lied

I said I wasn't going to buy any more yarn, or start any more projects until I finish what I've started and use what I have.

But people at work keep having babies, so I picked up a bunch of King Tut at You Know Where in a beautiful celery, a yummy pink, a cool white and a bright blue to make baby sweaters. The good news is that baby sweaters are small, and there will be an end in sight. Soon. I'm making the Quaker Ridge Cardigan-- a girl one and a boy one-- from Little Badger Knitwear by Ros Badger and Elaine Scott.

Guess What I Got In the Mail?

Lovely stitch markers-- so pretty and delicate-- from the Stitch Marker Swap. Thank you, Thank you, wonderful stitch marker makers. I love them, and I'll get back to you very soon-- I promise!!!

I'd write more right now, but I need to get these baby sweaters started.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I'm ba-ack... Did you know that it's 1079 miles from Alexandria,Virginia to Lake Ozark, Missouri? Well, it is. But it feels like a million miles away, and that's a good thing.

We got back late last night, and my mind is still on vacation. It was great.

The trip out was pretty uneventful. Instead of knitting, I read, and finished, Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince. Time well spent, I must say-- and I'm very grateful-- and do not at all take for granted --the gift of being able to read in the car without barfing. Everyone is not so blessed. Since my knitting was underneath everything, I started on the newest Kathy Reichs book, Crossed Bones. I like Kathy Reichs a lot. She's a lot like Patricia Cornwell, only she's really a forensic anthropologist. In her actual life. And her protagonist, Tempe Brennan, hasn't gone through a "pathetic phase" like Kay Scarpetta has. But haven't we all...

The Husband and I met up with The Daughter in Lexington, Kentucky, where the young lovely was attending a sorority national conclave. I called her as we approached the hotel, and simultaneously they had fire alarms going off. False alarm, but gave me a minute of breath-shortness. We spoke with the manager of this fine establishment while we awaited our youngest, and asked if the several hundred college-aged girls had behaved themselves. He said they had been remarkably well-behaved, but that during the previous week the Daughters of the Nile (never heard of them, but then what do I know?)-- a bunch of ladies in their 80's and 90's-- had quite the time, and security had to be called repeatedly because they were apparently enjoying themselves immensely. (!)

So we arrived at the compound at Lake of the Ozarks, and into the loving arms of most of my siblings, their spouses/beloveds and their numerous offspring. And my wonderful parents who not only put up with us all every year, but also foot the bill for the cabins.

My parents have been married for 57 years. Can you believe it? And they are still "hopelessly devoted." They spend a lot of their time traveling, and will be heading off for a cruise of the Celtic Isles next month. They're lovin' life, and we are all so very grateful that they are able to. They've done so much for us, and they really deserve this time and these adventures. (In June they cruised through the Panama Canal. In January they cruised around South America for Mom's 80th birthday. They had a bunch of other trips in-between.)

The week was occupied with lots of together time: sittin' round the pool, imbibing in brewed beverages, some marga-reee-tahs, a Luau-themed mega milestone birthday party on Wednesday for the second of my 4 sisters, and a couldn't be beat singalong with sibs and kids on Thursday after one of those aforementioned imbibages. (We got through all of Abbey Road, much of Rumours, large chunks of Van Morrison, Bob Seger, Billy Joel and Elton John, a little Stones..... you get the picture.) A highlight was when brother #2 (of 4) was imitating Joe Cocker-- or rather, imitating Belushi imitating Joe Cocker-- and ended up in the pool after throwing himself sideways-- on purpose, I choose to think. Good thing the pool was there. When we party, we party hearty.

Serious knitting waited for the ride home, during which I simul-knit the fronts of Spring Fling. For cryin' out loud!!! It's almost Fall, and I'm still Spring Flingin'. Just sleeves left and thank God they're short. Progress note-- no froggin'. I seem to have gotten the focus part of this down.

Anyway, it's good to be home, for my last few days with The Offspring before they're off to school again. There just never seems to be enough time.