Like A Kid On Christmas...

..or maybe Christmas Eve, but definitely the kid part. My company handed out Christmas bonuses today. Mister and I had previously discussed my Christmas gifts...or really, the lack there of. Not that it's a surprise to many married women, the Mister does not do very well with Christmas. He only has to buy gifts for me from a very specific, typed list. He often takes the list into a store, snags a store helper, points, grunts and pays. If he gets something on sale, that becomes part of my gift as well. I'm quite the proud bargain shopper. So where was I going with this...so the bonus check was handed out and we'd discussed if it were above a certain amount then I would get the one thing I've been coveting for years. I'm preparing to be the proud owner of this. I've even figured out a way to get it online, despite being a freak of America family that does not have a credit card. Hello gift card!! I've already joined a yahoo group to try and get a jump start on tips and tricks. I am determined to produce a blanket for Peanut with it.

This arrived in a newsletter in my mail box. I think my soon to be born nephew, Joshua will need one. He'll be joining big brother, Justin in February. I think I'd like to try it in a washable yarn, though. I'm so excited we live so close to my brother & sister-in-law now. I'm definitely looking forward to snuggling that little man. I missed out on so much with Justin, but we also had a Peanut the same age to snuggle too.

I used my allowance from a few weeks ago to buy Sandy Miner's new book. It has some fabulous patterns in it. I love Sandy's simple designs. They're sized preemie to adult. The money goes to a good cause. It came autographed with a customized thank you note, bookmark and tea. You don't get such a warm & fuzzy feeling from an Amazon shipment.

Santa is bringing Peanut a Big Girl Bed (aka twin). Who knew BGBs (aka Big Girl Bed) would be so expensive. One mattress shop guy explained that there are only two factories that make the foam used in mattresses and one of them was wiped out by Katrina. A few months ago, we could have bought a fabulous set with our budget...now it'll just get us the very basic set. We can't have the princess on a cheap mattress, so we'll be increasing the budget. Aunt Jack has already spent lots of money on the required Dora The Explorer bedding and matching hot pink, tie-dyed sheets. We're trying to convince Peanut that BGs don't use pacis in BGBs and she should leave her pacis out with Santa's snack so he can give them to babies to use them. She just gets paci when she goes to bed in her crib at home. She doesn't use it at daycare and doesn't get it during the day just because. We've always been pretty strict on the usage of the paci. Now we just need to take the final step and cut ties to it all together.

Mister attended his first swank party with me last night. He did pretty well despite being made to wear "preppy" clothes. They had a chocolate fountain that we made friends with. We got there a little late for dinner but I did sneak a potato martini before visiting the fountain. It was my kind of party. You would have thought someone had yelled "fire!" by the way people ran for the coat room after the end of the raffle. The Admin staff work really hard to plan this event and they can't be bothered to stay longer than to hear the higher ups speeches and who won the flat screen tv.

Have I mentioned how amazing our neighbors are? Peanut goes over there for daycare M-F while we're at work. She loves it. We've seen an amazing difference in her since the change. My Aunt had planned on having a slumber party with Peanut while we were at my company party. Mother Nature had another idea. The massive amounts of snow scared her off and we had to call in for back up. Enter the neighbors! There was no hesitation in the offer to keep Peanut for us. When I called to check on them, I couldn't believe my ears when I heard "I really hope you don't mind but I gave her a bath". Um, mind? You must have me confused with someone else. In talking with her today, they invited us over for their New Year's get together.

And to close this manifesto...our ghost story. We've been in the house two months now. We've had some odd stuff happening. Things moving around, but I've chalked it up to my forgetfulness or lack of organization. The strangest has been the TV. Four or five different times now, I've been watching something and the channel will change to A&E. The remote is rendered useless for several minutes and then switches back to what I was originally watching. It finally happened when the whole family was in the same room watching TV the other night. After witnessing it, Mister now believes me and doesn't call me crazy. Now it can't be the neighbor's because we don't have any 3 sides of the house and the ones we do have, have satellite rather than cable. Here's the thing that has me the most convinced. We were all in the spare bedroom going over Christmas gifts. Peanut suddenly became fascinated with playing in the closet. No big deal. The light was on and we were in there. Mister began to notice that she was talking to someone. He then realized that she kept referring to someone named "Neil". She'd go in the closet and tell "Neil" to get back or hide or sit down. Mister told her to give Neil a kiss, she went over to the closet and kissed the door. Now, our Peanut is only 2. She's really not old enough for an imaginary friend just yet. She's just starting to get into pretend play with her baby or tea set. What we've found the most strange is the name "Neil". We know NO ONE with that name. I checked with the neighbors and they don't know a Neil and confirmed that there wasn't a "Neil" character on any of the shows she watches. So our question is, who is Neil? Jennifer also told of her own oddness with their puppy breaking out of his steel cage in the middle of the night. I've decided that Neil is friendly, no matter what he is. It keeps me from allowing my imagination get the best of me when I hear a bump or creak in the middle of the night.

Here comes Santa Claus...

Ahhh...Winter. It brings lovely thoughts of family filled holidays, making new cherished memories and...the flu. Yep, we've been hit. Peanut started showing signs at 11:30 Friday night. It was a downward spiral from there. Saturday morning brought a call from next door saying Mom, Dad and LittleGuy1 were having the same problems as Peanut. I started with it this morning. Peanut goes next door for daycare, so they were well enough to take her today and I get time to take care of myself. What a luxury!

In a clearing of sickness clouds, we attended Mister's Union Christmas Party. What a party they put on! While standing in line for "peetza!" I noticed a familiar face in the crowd...my roommate from my last year of college! Who would have thought? He was just as surprised to see me as I was to see him. My last year at CMU, I lived in the AKPsi house with 6 roommates....a group of guys that liked to call themselves "The Wolf Pack". Good times were had in that house. The boys definitely prepared me for life with Mister. It was great to see him and I gave him my business card. We'll see if I hear from him.
Santa made an appearance at the party. Peanut did pretty well with him last year. I was able to rescue her from his lap before total meltdown happened. See the pained look on her face? 30 seconds more and it wouldn't have been pretty.

And this was this year...She wasn't even up for giving him a chance. Still haven't decided if we'll have time to make the traditional trip up to Sommerset to see their Santa just yet.

Peanut seemed to warm up to the idea of Santa once she opened her new baby, Sarah Lynn from him. Notice the red cheeks and lack of blue, holiday themed sweatshirt. The Blonde Wonder overheats very easily. Waiting in a hallway for 25 mins with a couple hundred other people did her in. I think this was part of the Santa freakout.

To end this post...I'll include one more photo. Seems that little Miss is obsessed with Pink. We don't tend to push it on her, so I'm not sure where it comes from. Here's a photo of her in our bed earlier last week waiting for me to be ready for work and take her next door.

Pink pretties, sunglasses, angel shirt, pants, socks and shoes.

Blanche

Today I attended the memorial for my dear friend Blanche. I can't express how different the office is without her. It's still hard to believe she's gone. When I take Peanut in to see Santa at our holiday breakfast, it'll make me sad to know we won't stop to visit her.

I was pretty proud of myself. I've cried about 100 times off and on the last 10 days. Then this morning I decided that it was absolutely not what she would have wanted. So, I kept upbeat. I made it through the service with just a few tears. I waited for the crowd to clear before paying my respects to her family...the guy in front of me was crying and talking about how much he thought of her and missed her....I said hello to her daughter and just lost it. I felt so bad. It was just too much. I think a few people are going to propose the company use some of the money the employees raise during the holidays to establish a memorial scholarship. I'll be interested to see if that idea goes anywhere, though.

Mister's dad and girlfriend were in for Thanksgiving. The house was immaculate before they got here. It's still a mess and they left on Sunday. I'm tired and glad we only see them once a year. I know it's horrible...I won't go into the details of their visit.

I'm still working on the shawl for Blanche. She always called herself my work grandma so I think it's only fitting that my grandmother receive the shawl once I'm finished. I know she would have liked that. Or I could send it to her daughter. Depends on how long it takes me, I guess.

I picked up the latest copy of Knit It. I'm making the green baby cardigan (made with VelvetSpun) for my good friend Jennifer's baby, Allyson. Jenn peeks in on this blog from time to time, so I'm not going to say anymore about it.

That's about it. I'm going to go put on some jammies and have a bowl of ice cream.

Sad today

The dear woman that I talked about in my last post passed away early this morning. Luckily, I was home with a sick Peanut when I got the news. I've been a mess. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful she was. Such a classy, classy lady.

Tiny Dancer

I finished the felted ballet slippers. The photos don't really show how much they shrunk. You might think I was well prepared by showing the before photo on a tray with one of Peanut's magnetic numbers for a size reference. I was prepared for the before...but not the after.

Here's the after...I couldn't remember what I'd used for the size reference and grabbed one of the magnets off the fridge. Silly momma...the numbers are larger than the letters. You get the idea. I really liked this little project and will definitely be making them again. These were made with Cascade 220, but I don't recall the color. It's a darker purple than what's showing, though. The Mister was even impressed!


I'm nearly finished with the CMU sweater. I started on a new project today, though. I need another project like a hole in the head, but this one's important. There's a woman that I work with that I just think the world of. She was the first person to go out of her way to come to talk with me when I started at my job 6+ years ago. She's always referred to herself as my "work grandmother". She's had a rough road the last few years. Her son was in a major accident and is now unable to live alone. She doesn't have any other family in the area. On Monday, she started having chest pains and complained to her boss. They called 911 and rushed her to the hospital and then airlifted to a major medical center in the area. They've found that she has two tears in her aorta. She's in for a long road of recovery, but things are looking up. I found a whole mess of old lion brand chenille sensations yarn in the stash. I think it was passed on by my aunt as some of it's crocheted. I've started working on a shawl for her. I'm hoping it'll work up quickly doubled using US13 needles.

In Peanut news, one of her daily reports had the following note on it from daycare TALKED A LOT TODAY!! It's been a verbal explosion! Her new thing is to pick up one of our old landline phones and pretend to talk to someone. This morning she picked it up and said "Hello!! Ummm...question? TALK!!" Some of the words she throws at us are hysterical. She's really becoming such a big girl. I keep wondering where my teeny baby peanut is. Mister and I discussed the possibility of more kids in the future. Right now it wouldn't be smart for our family, but we're not saying we'll never have anymore. The most important factor is my health. I have to get that in check before we can even discuss getting pregnant. We'd like to have kids a few years apart, so I still have some time. Even if we only have Peanut, that's a blessing and we're grateful for the blond wonder in our lives.

Of Mice and Men....

Ah, the joys of country living...field mice. We found signs of them in the undersink kitchen cabinet when we moved in. I bought some of those nice, new dCon traps that offer to trap them without harming them. They've been set for 2 weeks with a smidge of peanut butter to lure them in. Yeah..we caught one. It then proceeded to chew it's way out of the trap and exit the cabinet. It left behind a trail of shredded red and black plastic. Well, I can't have mice running rampant no matter how cute they are. We have resorted to the archaic wood plank/metal spring mouse trap. I feel horrible about them, but I'd feel worse about Peanut encountering one or their calling cards. I can't have that on my watch. Pepper has gone into stalker cat mode and is doing her part as well.

Speaking of Pepper, I have great news. Since moving into the house we have not had a single accident. I guess she hated the apartment as much as we did. She's a totally different cat. I'm so glad we kept her. She's also becoming more like a dog everyday. It's so fun to watch her.

Yesterday at lunch, I shirked my family secretary responsibility of running errands to visit a new yarn shop in the area. After finding the expressway exit closed and turning around twice, I finally arrived at Neighborhood Knits in Dearborn. I've been in four yarn shops in my life, this being the fifth. This is a very small store, but it was incredibly homey and welcoming. Mind you, they'd only been open 3 days but I had the place to myself for most of my visit. The owners are incredibly sweet and were interested in me, not just what I was going to buy from them. With it being a small store, they don't have an overwhelming amount of yarn. They've done a nice job of giving you a sampling of many different yarns. I bought my very first skeins of alpaca yarn. So soft! This will be a lacy scarf for gram or Aunt Jack. I also picked up the Great American Aran Afghan book, a nifty yarn guide tool and a new INOX needle. All of my INOX needles are teflon coated, this one is nickel and is supposed to rival the Addi turbo I've recently acquired. I bought it in a size 4 to hopefully use it to contribute a completed bereavement item to the Preemie Project sometime before Peanut goes to kindergarten. If you're out in the Telegraph & Ford Road area, definitely make the time to stop by. They're having their grand opening the first weekend in December.

I'm still working on the felted ballet slippers. I'm nearly finished with the second one. I'm hoping that will happen tonight, but I have a feeling it won't. Mister has class tonight, so it's just me and Peanut. My father-in-law is coming in for Thanksgiving, so we need to have things in order before then. We still have a lot of "we'll wash it once we move" laundry to do. Having to pay for it in the apartment, we kind of let things pile up. Now that pile is overtaking our master bath.

UFO's are becoming a problem in the house. I still need to wash and sew buttons to the Sunshine sweater to send out to it's gifter. The CMU sweater is in the home stretch, but it needs a hat. I'd love to do a blanket for it too. The Allison Sweater will have to been given to another little Miss as Miss Allison has outgrown it before I could finish it. There's another Allyson I know that is still teeny enough to wear it. I may need to send it her way. I have several preemie project items that are in final stages. Oh, it's a lot to think about. Once the boxes are unpacked, I'm going to refocus on my knitting. That's a promise to myself.

As life slows down...

This is the first weekend in nearly a month that I don't have an apartment to worry about. I can't tell you what a relief that is to me. Mister and his buddy ventured out and picked up our "new" furniture. My friend Lisa moved to Tucson and gave us her living room set. Now that she's a full fledged orthopedic surgeon, she can afford something quite a bit nicer for her new sprawling ranch. She also gave us the table & chairs from her basement. We now have a place to sit and eat in the kitchen. The house kind of feels complete now. The big empty spaces are gone. The boxes have been distributed to the rooms they belong to and are just waiting for someone to unpack them. All in due time. I need a small vacation first.

A couple weeks ago we visited A Stitch In Time in Howell. Very nice LYS. I think it'd be worth the trip out there from time to time. The ladies in the shop were fabulous. It was Mister and Peanut's first LYS trip. They sat down at the big ol' wooden table and hung out while I shopped. They have an awesome selection of Addi Turbos!! I broke down and bought my first one. It's fabulous! I think I'm addicted. I also picked up the Fibertrends felted ballet slipper pattern. I've seen it around online for a while and it was a impulse buy. I got home and found my new needle was just the right size for it and OH! that skein of Cascade 220 in purple was screaming to jump out of the stash. This is the first project I've started without a recipient in mind. It's also my first felted item. I have one done and am barely started on the second. I'm thinking tomorrow might offer some time for progress during the 30 loads of laundry that needs to be done.

Peanut seems to have taken another personality change in the last week. The highs are higher and the lows are lower and they are closer together. Wow. If she was an adult, I'd suggest some paxil or something. I'm sure this too will pass soon.

I did scout out the new Lyon's Den yarn shop in South Lyon. I have yet to find the opportunity to visit. Amy has paid it a visit and said some nice things. I joke with the Mister that they heard we were moving out here and that I would need a LYS. From what I've heard, it's only been open a month or so.

On a sad note, after much discussion with the Mister and a lot of thought...I've decided it would be best for everyone if I stepped down as the Preemie Project Michigan Chapter Co-coordinator. I'm not leaving the group but will now be a volunteer rather than coordinating donations and hospital stuff. It was a hard decision to make, but it would have been selfish for me to continue on when I really don't have the time to keep things in check at home and work and the MI chapter. Jan will now be taking over. She and Laura have been tremendously supportive and I can't even begin to tell them how much I've appreciated it.

Milestones...

The Mister graduated for the first time....

And Peanut the Giraffe, Trick or Treated for the first time.

Dust is slowly settling...

Shew...sit down with me for five minutes..please. Bring drinks...those that require an ID if you've got them!

We got the keys to the house about 8 p.m. on Thursday. We made a beeline for it. While waiting for laundry to dry, Peanut and I spent some waterless time in the new master bath tub. This thing is massive and humongeous all at the same time! Needless to say Thursday night was a late night.

On the way home from the house, it all just gets to me and I reach a point where I need to be heavily drinking or be in the vicinity of comfort food. I spot the golden arches and it goes down hill from there. We're sitting in the drive thru (it's nearly midnight) and Mister turns to look at me and says, "I don't see how you could be hungry." We then enter into a discussion about how I sometimes have to use french fries to medicate myself to deal with the stress and considering we've been married several years now, you'd think he'd have noticed this already. He then has the audacity to say to me, "You should really find a better way to handle your stress, it's not healthy". Mister is a former pack and a half a day smoker. If he's had a bad day, 6-8 beers magically disappear from the fridge. THIS from the man who has gained 35 pounds in 2 1/2 months!!! I mustered up all of my self-control and looked at him to say quietly, "Well, I used to have time to knit but since we're moving and it's my responsibility to secure the house, all utilities, money to pay for it, pack all items, clean all areas, cook, arrange for movers AND work 50 hours a week..I haven't had time. So we're going with the french fries tonight". His response was, "Well when things quiet down you should go back to knitting and I should probably stop complaining about it, huh?" Yeah..that might be a good idea.

So on Friday, I wake up to a sore throat. It gets worse as the day progresses. It's another late night and I just ignore it because I don't have time to be sick. Saturday, I'm up at 5:30 and off to the grocery store to pick up cough drops and cereal. Peanut needs breakfast and I need some help with the sore throat. Friends start arriving at the apartment at 9 a.m. We're so not ready to move. I'm totally mortified...I'm moving at the speed of light (well, as close as I get) to pack and organize. By 11, we have three pick up trucks and a trailer full of stuff. I go to pick up pizza's and find the first little ceasars I stop at to be closed. Closed on a Saturday??!! I had to go way out of the way to hit the one by our old, old apartment. I'm getting progressively sicker as the day goes. I get to the house to find the three cleanest women I know have found mice droppings under the kitchen sink and in the adjacent cupboards. Loverly. I'm now running a fever and experiencing aches in my legs. I can't deal with anymore and send them all home at 4 p.m. I resist their protests of wanting to stay and help, but I just can't do it. By 5, Peanut & Mister were on their way to the store and I was in bed with a fever. Sunday, I spent 5 hrs at the apartment cleaning, packing & loading the car. Still running a fever and feeling horrible. I got home and Mister unloaded the car. I find that while I've been gone, he's made friends with the longnecks in the fridge and has come to a realization that he sucks. He FINALLY admitted that he should have helped me pack and move. Thanks, buddy. We decide that Peanut and I should both stay home on Monday to chill out and rest up as we think she's now running a fever.

Despite needing the rest, my mental health depended upon the state of chaos our kitchen was in. I spent the day cleaning, arranging, rearranging and chasing Peanut...but feeling better (finally!). Mister came home and gave Peanut a bath (photos to come soon) but neglected to notice dinner needed to be put away while I was at the grocery store. Another late night..but I'm feeling better.

That brings us to today. My first day in the office with my boss being gone. My first day taking Peanut to her new day care provider. My first day in 2 years since I've had a commute all to myself! Peanut surprised me a bit and was hesitant to hang out with the new sitter. We distracted her with a bouncy furry beast in a cage wanting nothing more than to get out and smother her in puppy kisses. I snuck out while she was checking out the toy room. Did I mention our new sitter is also our next door neighbor? When I called to check on Miss Thing, she invited us to her son's birthday party and trick-or-treating with the other neighbors. THIS is why we moved. THIS is why we'll be a bit chilly this winter scrimping to pay the gas bill. THIS is why we'll be cutting back on everything. A happy Peanut in a nice neighborhood is worth it's weight in something much more expensive and precious than gold.

**NOTE: Sorry about the lack of knitting content. There really isn't anything to talk about. I can't remember the last stitch I made. I'm hoping that will change soon. A blog is cheaper than therapy, but I know life will be back to "normal" soon. Hang in there with me.

Can a girl get a beer??

It's 11:08. Mister and Peanut are asleep. I'm sitting in the middle of chaos. Boxes, newspaper and mess...Lord help us prepare for Saturday. We FINALLY sign the paperwork tomorrow. 3 p.m. today it seemed as if we weren't going to have a place to move to on Saturday, but my excellent people skills have smoothed that over. Let's just hope I didn't just buy our way into a disaster. Oy.

I was called in for jury duty last week. Sat there most of the day. They finally came on to say that the defendant for the case had "fled" and we were free to go home. One more day to call and then I'll be done with my civic duty for a while.

Peanut was 2 on Sunday. 2. Yep, have to say that again: 2. I can't believe it. I kept watching her at Chuck E Cheese and thinking how tiny and fragile she'd been. How at 4 lbs 6 ozs I was terrified to hold her because the monitors would rat me out if I wasn't doing it right...and she'd been through enough, she didn't need an incompetent mother on top of it all. Man, she's a great kid. What a blessing. I'm not a deeply religious person, heck..not even casually religious really...but I do throw a shout out thank you to the Lord every once in a while for gracing our lives with the blond wonder.

Here's the teeny tiny miss at a few hours old with her namesake. Aunt Jack was just 4 days shy of the big 5 - 0 and was a little bummed we couldn't hold off. Sorry, wasn't my decision.

And here she is on Sunday...

And this was before the party..

Notice the look of excitement over Bob the Builder...Happy birthday Lainey-bug!!

10 days gone...

Sorry about that, I didn't realize it'd been 10 days since I last visited. We're deep in the throes of packing a new Fall Television. These two items do not play well together. Knitting and Fall Television do, but packing seems to be a selfish activity that requires all of my attention. Good news is that the Mister finally got it together enough to pack FOUR boxes! Mind you they were all of our DVDs, Tapes and CDs..but still he did it. Our biggest problem is that once we have boxes packed, we don't really have a place to put them. Right now we're lining our short hallway with them, but that can only last so long. The house is starting to feel a little bit bare...just a smidge, really. I don't think I'll be sad to leave this place like I was with our Plymouth apartment. Way too much drama and riff-raff in the complex for me.

Peanut's 2nd birthday is quickly approaching. It's actually just a few days before we move. Shhh..don't tell her that, though. We plan on celebrating after we've moved in and settled. She'll never know the difference. There's talk of a toddler bed being her big present along with Dora the Explorer bedding. Can never had too much Dora in the house. I'm also going to try and track down a Laurie Berkner CD or Video locally. If you don't know Laurie Berkner, definitely get to know her! She's great. She's made a living making kids music that fun for parents to listen to. Peanut adores her. Last night she was watching her music special on Noggin On Demand. She was singing about "a song in her tummy" and for the very first time, I saw Peanut react and pat her tummy! Actually put down the sippy cup to dance along with the song. Child magazine had a great article with her a few months back. It just reinforced why I'm happy my kid likes her.

Mister's 28th birthday is Saturday. I had to argue with him the other day that he would be 28 and not, 29 like he thought. We celebrated last Saturday by going out to see the new Reese Witherspoon movie, Just Like Heaven. I liked it a lot. Somewhat predictable, but sweet. Prior to being married and dispensing the child, I was a HUGE Cure fan. So, I was pretty excited to hear the new versions (not by the Cure) in the movie. That song was huge for me in high school, so I think I was kind of sentimental about it and like the movie more because of it. Sigh, I really need to work in some quality time with the CD collection. Oh! Peanut gave Mister a present that made him tear up. Now, if you know my Mister, this isn't the hardest thing to get him to do...but still worth mentioning. I had insomnia Labor Day weekend and found myself up watching HSN at 2 a.m. I think they put hypnotic messages in the broadcast because it was almost as if I could not turn it..but anyway. Mister made out well because he got this for his birthday. (Note - in case you don't know, Mister is a transplant from Atlanta to Michigan. DIE HARD Falcon's fan) I caught him wearing it in the bathroom checking himself out in it...too bad he only had his boxers on with it. It was quite a sight and I had to walk away to laugh. I couldn't ruin his moment. Prior to dating me, he always said his birthday was unimportant...now it's probably his favorite day of the year. And yes, he will have a butter flavor recipe cake for breakfast on Saturday. It's the least I can do.

So...um, yeah..knitting. I've done a bit here and there. I gave up on the booties for the Sunshine sweater. They're just not happening. The buttons need to be chosen and placed on it before being sent out. I finally figured out the pattern I was using for the CMU sweater. How much work do I do on the pattern before it becomes my pattern? What a mess that was. Good news is that it's coming along quite well and I'm pleased with the colors. It's the first time I've used Caron Simply Soft and it's wonderful. Cheap, soft and washes well...what more could you ask for?

The Preemie Project is coming along well without me. Jan and Laura are doing an excellent job picking up for my slack. The group is busily working on Halloween related items. I've also done up three cloths for Cloths for Katrina. I can do the cloths on my lunch and not worry about getting them dirty, since they're wash cloths! Love how that works.

Short post...

Sorry I've been MIA, but man, life sure gets in the way sometimes doesn't it?

We're a go for the house (still!) so some packing and sorting has been going on. We recently found out that the Mister may only have a job for 60 more days. For now he'll be going down to 4 - 10 hr days a week to help his company save on gas. We thought this would be great because we would save on day care. I provider decided to change price rates on us and it's actually just $10 more to keep her full time. Well, this move has forced us to consider a new provider near our new home rather than accommodating our current provider. I don't have a clue as to how I'm going to break the news to her without her causing a ruckus. Sometimes it's just no fun to be an adult.

Peanut went poop in the potty Thursday night. I never thought I'd be so excited about poop in the potty! Friday I went out and picked up a Dora potty seat, Dora feel & learn pants and Dora stickers for a reward. Despite being put on the potty every 30 mins, there's been no activity to warrant the opening of the stickers. I certainly don't expect her to be potty trained in just one day, but way to tease a mom!! She'll get it eventually, I know.

Knitting..what is this blog about knitting? Oh, yeah..guess it is. Well in knit related news, my very first baby sweater has been posted for sale via a donation to the Red Cross or any charity helping out the victims of Hurricane Katrina. You can find it here. I've also joined the Cloths For Katrina yahoo group. Their goal is to get a handmade cloth and a bar of soap to each victim. You knit a cloth and send $.50 with each one to one of the list moms. They take the change and buy the soap (cheaper than shipping it) and pass along a bar for each cloth to their contacts in each of the states taking in victims. Nothing feels better than a nice bath after being dirty...so it's the least we can do for these people. We can't afford to send cash, but I can bust some of my stash and send it to people who could really use it. We also contributed 3 boxes of food to a local drive going down to Mississippi. It's our way of feeling like we're doing something.

I still have 1/3 of a bootie left to finish the Sunshine set. I just can't seem to finish it. It's killing me. I've started a CMU sweater for another friend. This is a different patter than I normally use and I've been using some sailor words while trying to work through it. I've frogged it and started over 3 times now. It'll be awesome when it's done, I just need to get it there. I found basketball and football buttons for it. I finished a cloth for Katrina this morning. I'm hoping to do up three or four and then send them. Thanks so much to Erica for posting about the group on her blog.

The amazing Laura has the Preemie Project up to 60 members. How awesome is that?

Checklist for a cruddy day...

• You go out to your car to go to work to find it's been egged over night
• 22 month old eats leftover egg shell while you survey the damage
• Use last $5 for car wash
• Accidently open door (not thinking) while man sprays down car
• Go home for lunch, find 3 spots on car where paint is damaged
• Eat frozen burrito for lunch that comes back to haunt you later
• Husband calls to say you are being subpoenaed to court
• Husband re-reads letter to say no, it's just jury duty summons
• Jury duty is in downtown Detroit
• Sitter lined up to watch Peanut tomorrow calls to say they now can't

Yeah...that's it. I give up and I'm going home.

When I got home, I opened the summons and found this on the list of items not allowed in the Courthouse:

• Weapons, laptops, cellphones, knives, knitting needles or crochet hooks

Yeah..I just can't win.

Quiet Purchases and Katrina Help

I can't believe the images I see on my TV. I'm thankful for the life the Lord has allowed us to lead, no matter how hard and stressful I think it is at times. I have the luxury of sitting on our couch (be it broken down and kitty christened) and viewing Katrina's wrath, I couldn't imagine living in it. This was posted to the CIC yahoo group I belong to. I have my first baby sweater and a few odd FOs sitting around the house that I'm going package up and send to them. I also have some really old yarn I inherited that I know I'll never use and it's not appropriate for the Preemie Project. I'll have that wing it's way there to be made into something warm and useful. It's the least I can do.

I bought these yesterday:
http://www.chiagu.com/ - The Crumpets pattern
http://knitandtonic.typepad.com/knitandtonic/2005/08/draft_7.html - GF Swing Coat

I've been coveting each for a while and now Peanut will have both! I think she'll get the GF Swing Coat in CMU colors for the Fall. Her friend Katie might just find one for herself for her birthday too. If Katie's mom reads this...it could be late, but you knew that didn't you?

I'm still working on the Sunshine sweater set. That last bootie is tinking itself when I'm not looking, I just know it! The lace burial gown is coming along too. I'm hoping it'll soften up once it's washed. It's plenty soft in the skein but it knits up quite a bit differently. I had the same thing happen with the WoolEase I used in the Marina set.

Pumpkin Hat Pattern

Since I've had requests, here's the pattern from memory. If someone tries it, please let me know if it's not correct.

Worsted weight yarn (I used Cotton Ease in pumpkin and Kitchen Cotton in dark green) The kitchen cotton isn't as soft, but it never touches the baby's skin since it's on the foldup edge of the hat.

Size 6 needles

Should make a hat to fit a 1-3 lb baby - it's about 10" across. You could easily adjust the size by casting on more (in a multiple of three) and working a longer hat body.

Using the dark green, cast on 183 stitches - do not join

Row 1 - K1 BO2 across - this creates the lacy ruffle

Row 2 - K across

Row 3 - change to the orange and knit across

Row 4 - K1 P1 across

Repeat row 4 for 2" - 3" depending on how much rib you'd like on the hat. Keeping in mind it will be folded in half when you're finished.

You'll want to look at the lacy edge and color change row and determine the WRONG side of the piece so far. From here on out, the WRONG side of the lace edge with be the RIGHT side for the stockinette. When the edge is folded up, the wrong side of the edging will be hidden in the fold.

Begin stockinette work until the piece is about 4" long. This will make a hat with 1" cuff (2" in half) and 3" body of the hat.
Decrease row (right side)- K5 K2tog across the row (Don't worry if you're off, just be sure to match the decreases in the next rows to create the line pattern on top)

Purl across

Decrease row 2 - K4 K2tog across row, matching up decreases

Purl across

Decrease row 3 - K3 k2tog across row, matching again

Purl Across

Decrease row 4 - Switch back to green - K2 k2tog...again, matching

Purl Decrease row 5 - K1 k2tog, matching

Purl

Decrease row 6 - K2 together across

Purl

Keep decreasing across the knit rows with K2 together until you're down to 3 stitches (keeping wrong side rows in purl)

Knit a 3 stitch i-chord to the desired length. I think mine was long enough to where I could have tied it into a knotSew up the side and flip the cuff.

All signs point to "Yes"

We had yet another meeting with the homeowners on Saturday and it looks like we're a go for purchasing their house. Right now, the plan is to move mid- to late- October. The packing, sorting has begun! I'm still going to restrain myself until all of the contracts are signed and all that jazz...but I am still pretty excited! Thanks for all of your positive thoughts and kind words to get me through this. I'd rather get married every Saturday for a month than have to deal with the stress of this house situation again! And for those of you who don't know, our wedding was no walk in the park.

I'm a stress eater. I admit to it. I accept it. I won't begin to tell you the amount of ice cream and chips & dip that have been consumed in the last week. I'm giving myself another week and then we're back on the meds and low carb. It could be worse, I could have dug up the Mister's left over cigarettes and given them a go. Believe me, I thought about it...but the chocolate Heavenly Hash ice cream tasted a whole lot better.

I was a productive knitter this weekend. I've got about 4" of the burial gown skirt finished. 6" more to go! I finished my cutesy pumpkin hat. It should fit a 1-3 lb baby. I'm pretty proud of it. It's something I kind of just went along with. So, if I write down the pattern can I call it my own? It was inspired for a few and originally began as one design and I changed my mind halfway through. It was so easy that I think I will eventually share it. Once, I think about it. Here's a photo of it:

I've been told the recipient for the Sunshine sweater has been born. I finished his hat and one of his booties over the weekend. The second bootie is in progress. I'm hoping to mail it out to his gifter by Wednesday. I'll post photos once I've got it finished, washed and blocked.

It's now official, so I'll post it here. In my last post, I alluded to some exciting change to the Preemie Project that was coming. Well, here it is...the Michigan Chapter is getting a Co-Coordinator! Feel free to whew-hew! if you'd like. I sure did! Who might you ask? None other than the wonderful, super, fantastic Jan! Swing by her blog and wish her handsome son a happy birthday if you get a chance.

Making her official blog debut...

Peanut!! It's been a long time coming and I've really tried to keep her out of the blog, well other than the back of her head...but I really couldn't resist with these latest photos. Seriously, how cute is this kid? Enough exploitation of our kid....


There was a comment left on my last post regarding sending donations in for the Preemie Project. Right now, Laura is gearing up for the Iowa donation and could use ever tiny hat, bootie and blanket you can spare. You can find info on where to send things here. If you'd rather have things donated a little closer to home, contact me directly for my address to send donations. You can email me at jlaine76ATyahooDOTcom. Since we're in limbo about moving, I haven't put our address on the official MI chapter paperwork just yet. I do believe there are some changes a-brewing for the MI chapter, but I don't want to mention anything until all parties involved have been informed. I can tell you, I'm going to pretty excited if things go the way I think they are...details soon I promise!

Photographic Proof

Ok, here's proof that I've been doing something other than throwing myself a pity party. Below are photos of items to be donated to the Preemie Project. Peanut's CareBear is modeling the pumpkin hat experiment. If you look closely, you can see the pumpkin design in purl stitches. It didn't turn out quite as well as I would have liked it too. It's even hard to make out in person. The green splotch near the top is the pumpkin vine. It just wasn't worth the trouble of knitting with the chart. The other one I'm working on has a fancy (well, as fancy as I get) green ruffle on the cuff and then is just plain pumpkin stockinette. Piggy is modeling the angel wrap that I took 10 days to complete. It's a simple garter stitch mitered square and triangle that's about 9" wide. Yes, 10 days. Rather than a ribbon closure, I added a pretty white satin covered button. I also added a crocheted ruffle edge.


Last night I cast on for a burial gown..as if I didn't have enough WIPs already! I'm hoping to have that done in time for it to be winging it's way to Laura for the 9/1 donation. We're planning for a quiet weekend at home, but you all know how that can go.

No word on the house to share. We were supposed to hear something on Wednesday, but nothing yet. In my book, no news is not good news...but I'm trying to stay positive. In the wonderful, fantastic news front: my friend Jennifer did have a beautiful baby girl on Tuesday. Little Miss Allyson arrived Tuesday afternoon weighing 4 lbs 14 ozs and 17.5" long. She is perfectly healthy! She never paid a visit to the NICU, Special Care or regular nursery after birth! All those prayers paid off! Thanks for those of you who took the time to include them. I don't have permission to post a pic just yet, but I do..you'll see her here!

I'm here...somewhere...

Gosh, life has just not been my own this last week. We had another meeting about the house on Saturday. We're hoping to get some sort of final answer this week. This is far more stressful than getting married or having a baby! I've reached the point where nothing surprises me and rather than getting upset about things, I just laugh at them. Nothing I can really do, no need to get all up in arms about things. Few more days of crossed fingers please. If this one falls through, I'm not sure I have the energy to look for another one we love...at least not anytime soon.

With that being said, my job has be uber hectic. I felt like I ran all morning this morning. It's just been crazy. I have a feeling there's another weekend stint coming soon. That's all I'm gonna say about that because I won't muddy up my blog with such things.

Peanut is sick, again. Yes, again. We haven't even beat the cold and some wicked tummy virus has settled in. I got one of those dreaded calls from daycare today. Even with the tylenol she's running a fever. She looks like she hasn't slept in days...just a sad Peanut. She'll be home tomorrow with me to chill out and terrorize the cat. Yes, we still have the cat. We're in limbo about her. That's all I got to say about that too.

I finished a pumpkin hat for the Preemie project. My experiment didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, but it'll still be cute on a tiny head. I don't think I'll be putting in the work to do another charted design on another one anytime soon. I have another one in the works. I'm hoping to have it done soon to send to Laura. Our highspeed connection is no more, so the photos will be few and far between. I'm hoping my posts don't follow that same path as well...life is really crazy for us right now. More than I ever thought it could be...oy.

For those of you interested, I'm so happy to tell you that Mr. Grant was released from the hospital this weekend and is home with his parents and older brothers. He had reflux surgery last week, but came through with flying colors. Keep him and his momma in your prayers...reflux is tough to deal with even with his surgery. My good friend Jennifer is also in need of some positive thoughts. Her new little Miss is scheduled to arrive 9/9 but it looks like Jenn's body isn't cooperating. The dreaded preeclampsia is starting to creep in. Everyday the little Miss stays put is a better day for her. If you have an extra spot on your prayers list, please include them too.

Ok, enough of my pity party...I'm going to knit a few rounds on my pumpkin hat and hit the bed. Peanut will be up early, I'm sure. Let's hope she feels better tomorrow. Happy knitting!

Someone call Comerica Park!

One of the many yahoo groups I belong to posted this link:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2002408641_stitchnpitch29m.html

The Tigers are far from being the Red Sox...maybe they should consider something of this caliber. I think we'd have to load the family up in the Merc for that game! The Mister is a bit embarrassed when I knit in public with him, maybe this would convince him it's cool.

I'm slowly, slowly working my way through the burial wrap for the Preemie Project. Small needles, thin yarn and tiny stitches do not for a fast project make. I seriously need some instruction on continental knitting. I feel like I have some serious knitting potential just waiting to be unlocked!!

I found some Caron simply soft at Walmart yesterday that would be perfect for a tiny Chippewa sweater. The Autumn Red and Jonquil might just be what we're looking for. I have a commissioned set to do for a CMU alum's baby due in September. I think the little guy needs this sweater. His WMU mom may not agree, though.

Since my posting with the Sunshine sweater disappeared, I'll post it again. The matching hat has been set aside for the week to work on charity knitting, but I'll need to pick up again come Sunday. The Baby Alison sweater is next up to be finished and shipped to Indianapolis. Then we'll move onto the tiny Chippewa set.


No new news on the house. We're still waiting, gathering info and trying to decide. Pepper is on borrowed time right now. She's having random accidents and we're just kind of at our wits end here. She's put a major dent in our savings account with the vet bills. I got in touch with her former owner about them taking her back. Our conversation included this from her, "I'll just be dropping her off at the humane society when I leave your house". Yeah, can't do that. We told her not to bother as that was something we could do ourselves. If any one has any ideas about bleeding heart vets willing to look at beautiful, sweet cats with an intense bladder infection for a discounted (or free) price, please let us know. She's just too wonderful to toss away. We're really at a major crossroads with her right now.

Very, very strange...

I posted a new entry yesterday and even had people leave comments about it. When I go into my blog today, yesterday's entry is now a draft that I began on Friday rather than the completed entry of yesterday. Gremlins in my blog? Considering the day I've had, I wouldn't be surprised.

Ever have those days where you feel like work is raining down on you and you'll never be able to keep up with it all. That's the kind of week I've been having at work. It's nothing big, just a lot of little things that I need to pay some attention to. I know that I have to work on Sunday, so maybe that'll offer some time to catch up. Mister hates when I work on the weekends, but I guess he'll just have to get over it.

Well, if my mystery post hadn't vanished, you'd know that I did score 2 3-skein packs of cotton-ease at Tuesday Morning. One in CandyBlue and another in Pineapple. I went back today and picked up another pack of the blue and one in Orangeade. That's a fun color name. It was all on my allowance, so Mister can't complain about it. Now that I've scored the orange yarn, I can try my hand at the hat experiment. Laura requested we do Halloween themed hats for the Preemie Project. At least I think it was Halloween and not just Pumpkin...guess I should check that..but anywho..Rather than doing a plain pumpkin hat, I think I'm going to try an orange hat with a pumpkin/bat/ghost charted on it. I found some charts on the web that I'm itching to try. They'll have to wait until next week, though.

This week I'm dedicated to creating at least one burial items for the Preemie Project. So far so good. I've cast on and am 7 rows into a burial wrap.

I'll add photos and links later...I wonder if my mystery post will return??

Waiting game...

We're currently in a waiting game about numbers and percents about the houses we looked at. We're not locked into anything just yet, it's all informative at this point. It still freaks me out, though.

I submitted my site info to be inducted into the Fiber ROAK, hence the new link and button. I know it's closed and there's a backlog, so I'm not expecting to be admitted any time soon. But there's nothing wrong with wishful thinking!

On the weight loss front, I'm down 26 pounds in 8 weeks! I'm pretty darn excited about that.

In great news, Mr. Grant's mom sent photos of him sporting his new hat on his way home from the hospital. She has given me permission to post them here. He's much too cute not too share with the world!

Not much to report..

We're still in limbo about the houses we looked at. Nothing new there. Such a huge step, makes me pretty nervous. I tend to be overly nervous about such things, though.

I went to a baby shower that was 2 hours away on Sunday. On the way there, I knit up a pair of booties to go along with the gift. No photos but they were cute and well received. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh?

I'm still working on the Cottontots sweater. I added additional stitches to the sleeves and I'm not super keen as to how they turned out. Kind of looks like I'm making it for Popeye's kid. I'll have to revisit where to place them next time I guess. It's still super cute, though.

That's about it from here. They're saying the weather should break tonight with the thunderstorms that are supposed to roll through...keep your fingers crossed!

Home sweet home?

Family and I went to look at two potential homes today. Verdict is still out on them. We're still in the "fact finding"/"number crunching" phase. I loved one over another. Is it bad that I looked at the island in the kitchen with the overhead skylight and thought, "That'd be an awesome spot to photograph FOs?" Seriously something wrong with me....

Baby Grant took his first car ride yesterday to finally go home to be with is family!! From what I've heard, mom was up all night "checking on him". Sounds like a typical mom to me! Congrats to Baby Grant for graduating the NICU. Yeah!!

Sleepy, sleep...

Ahhh vacation. Today was a definite vacation day. Peanut and I are in the same clothes we started the day in. Nothing wrong with that. Ahhh...jammies and no place to be. Funny thing about vacations in our family, though...they're not always relaxing. Yesterday was spent at the Art Fair. Proud to say I stayed on budget and didn't really see much that grabbed me anyway. I could definitely tell I was 22 lbs lighter in the 90 degree heat and crowds. That's inspiration to keep on.

I don't think I mentioned this, but I started a new baby sweater on Sunday. It's my same ol'pattern in cotton tots sunshine. Ahhh, sunshine. Somehow seems fitting considering the currently in utero recipient lives in Florida. I'm halfway through the second sleeve, hoping to finish it this weekend. If I do before Sunday, it may be gifted...and another cast on for the new little Floridian. We'll see what happens.

I've found that I cannot stop watching Being Bobby Brown. Seriously, it's like a car wreck. It's really something else. Just goes to show that money doesn't solve every problem nor does it make a perfect family.

Peanut and I are running errands tomorrow. Might even try to schedule her very first haircut. Bangs are getting a little too long. From what their website says, there's a Tuesday Morning store just a few miles away. I've heard rumors of Cottonease being stowed away there for cheap. We're going to have to investigate. I love the cottontots, I can only imagine how I'm going to feel about the cottonease...especially since it's been discontinued. Ah, such is life.

Oh and for those of you who might be wondering...Baby Grant, the proud little Texan who received the previously posted blue velvety booties and hat, may be making his first trip home with his mama, papa and older brothers. Word from the mama is that the loot fit him well. No photos as of yet. Keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers please.

Identity Crisis

I doubt there will be any knitting content in this post...I did post the preemie bootie pattern separately for ease of printing and such. See that below for a fiber content fix.

Ok, I graduated from college in May '99. I thought I was pretty cool at that time. Music was my life. I had several thousand dollars (estimated 6 - 8) tied up in my CD collection. Just as much in my concert ticket stubs, plus the memories that came along with them. I never missed BNL when they came through town. I paid $100 to see Madonna from nose bleed seats and didn't bat an eye at the price...and recently, I've been thinking "where the heck did that Janette go?" Would I trade in Mister and Peanut for that life back...um, no..but I hate feeling like my life only began when the gold band hit my left hand. Maybe it's just part of getting older and moving into another chapter of my life, but it's kind of sad. I used to have a reputation for being the fastest drinker of all of my friends...and in an odd way, I was proud of that. In the last year, I've had maybe 3 drinks. Mister has never seen me inebriated. That just blows my mind. I spent so many of my nights in college laughing and being stupid drunk...and it's like a distant faded memory. Now...I'm a wife. I'm a mom. I'm a computer support associate. And I just keep thinking, what happened to me?? My awesome SIL was talking to me about how so many women lose themselves once they become mothers. I totally identify with that. Now, this doesn't mean I want to be silly drunk at a rock concert every weekend...but once a year might be nice. I'm not one to feel sorry for myself and that's not what this is...it just feels like the old me is like a good friend that's moved across the country and is now a distant acquaintance. There's gotta be a way to combine the new life with the old. I think I may start by replacing the Kids Sing Along tape in the car with my favorite Beatles mix tape. Peanut's musical education needs to expand beyond the Kidstown Singers and the Teddybear's Picnic. Every journey begins with a first step....

Preemie Bootie Pattern

My heartfelt thanks to Sandy Miner for allowing me to post my version of her Warm the Baby bootie pattern. I'm working on other size variations before officially rolling it out to the Preemie Project.

Light worsted weight yarn
US 6 needles
Makes a med preemie bootie - 2 3/4" sole
Cast on 30 stitches
Work 8 rows of garter stitch (4 ridges)
K13 K2 tog, K2 tog K13
K12 K2 tog, K2 tog K12
K11 K2 tog, K2 tog K11
K10 K2 tog, K2 tog K10
K9 K2 tog, K2 tog K9
You'll be left with 20 stitches.

Insert needle in first stitch as to knit. Wrap the yarn around needle twice, and then complete the stitch. Continue in same way in each stitch across the row.

Knit across pulling off but not working the extra loop of each stitch.
This makes long stitches to weave the tie through. You could also also do an eyelet (YO K2tog) row.

Work in K1, P1 ribbing for 6 rows.
Bind off.
Sew back and bottom seam.
Crochet a chain about 18 inches long to weave thru eyelet row or use about 18 inches of ribbon.
Tie in bow at center front

Let's talk about delicious...

Before anything else, I have to rave about something I found at our local Meijer. Philly Swirl Sugar Free Swirl Stix just may be one of the greatest ice cream treats I've ever come across. For those of us low carbing, it has zero net carbs. Yep, zero! I can't tell you how delicious these are. Philly Swirl is a small company that deserves a second look at their product. If you want a yummy summer treat, try and find a box of these!

Speaking of Meijer...they've finally gotten on the yarn band wagon! Peanut and I made a trip there last week and we went to visit the yarn. With our newly imposed budgeting, that's all I'm allowed to do now. Prior to last week, the yarn and notions selection at Meijer was sad to say the least. Wow, have they ever gotten their act together. They've gone the few colors of many route, but it's nice to have a variety. They now carry a Patons 100% wool yarn. This is especially exciting because the only place I could get 100% wool yarn in colors was my overpriced LYS. They also have a good selection of baby yarns. They have Caron's Bliss. Man oh man...if you want something soft, grab a skein of this. It's not cheap, but it's worth the softness.

In other news, The Preemie Project is really picking up. Laura's doing a great job with this. She's on vacation this week, so I'm stepping in as moderator of the group. Let's hope I can live up to the expectation set! Laura left big shoes to fill. For any of the group that frequent my blog, have some patience with me guys.

We didn't plan this, but I'll be on vacation next week too. Difference being my vacations mean just not going to work! I'll take that for now. When our family isn't so new and more established, we'll actually go somewhere. Peanut's day care is shut down for the week, so she's home with momma. Monday, I have to go in to work so she'll be spending the day with her great Aunt Jack and Great Grandma. I'm more concerned about them than her. On Wednesday, she'll be back with them again so that I can attend the Ann Arbor Art Fair. I've gone every year except for the year I was pregnant...since 1988. Just couldn't do it while battling pre-eclampsia and 50 lbs of water weight. I'm hoping my recent 21 lb (YES! 21 pounds!) will make the trip a bit more enjoyable. It's like mixing power shopping, an art exhibit, crowd surfing and 90 degree heat. Not for the faint of heart.

In crafty news, I created *yet another* baby blanket. This time I'm just playing with a simple double crochet and a skein of Homespun Baby. I figure I'll just go until I run out of yarn, then pick it up again when I acquire another skein of the homespun in a coordinating color. I think I needed an unstructured project to just chill out with. The Mister keeps telling me my hobby is stressing me out and it's not going to be fun. He even offered to buy me the new Harry Potter book to take a break with. There are days when I do just adore that man!!

You can't handle the cute...

That's what I keep thinking as I look at these. My biggest issue with booties is picking up stitches along the gusset. (Is it still a "gusset" if it's a bootie and not a sock?) I found this great pattern by Sandy Miner. I can't for the life of me find where I got it. I thought I got it from the Warm the Baby website, but can't find that either. Anywho... I took her awesome pattern and reworked it for a preemie size. I have an email into her for permission to post it here and donate it to the Preemie Project. Super quick knit. I can't believe how fast they worked up. These were worked in the Wendy Peter Pan yarn that I made the Baby Grant hat in. The lady at Knit A Round thought it was a light worsted weight yarn. I used US 6 needles. I simply went with a single strand of yarn for the ties. This yarn is so unbelievable that I thought that'd be good enough. I can only hope for a photo of the adorable model wearing them.

For some size perspective, I placed a quarter and one of Peanut's Preemie socks next to the bootie. The sock is a bit stretched out as I keep putting it on my finger and saying, "Look how tiny her foot was!" I only wish I'd thought enough to have taken a photo of those teeny feet. I couldn't help but stare at them each time I visited her. So very tiny. Who knew they could be that small? She was 4 lbs 6 ozs. Baby Grant was 3 lbs 2 ozs, I can only imagine how the sight of his teeny feet would make me swoon.

This weekend was pretty quiet for the family. We spent some time on lockdown. We haven't done that in about a month. So what does that mean? We watched a lot of TV, played with Peanut and ate from the fridge. Also means I didn't make the goals I'd set to work on The Preemie Project stuff. Sorry, Laura. I feel terrible about that. Mister has a date with the WWE tomorrow night and I plan on spending some quality time with the marketing materials. The only thing that doesn't make me feel totally horrible is the chance I'll have the bootie pattern cleared for donation. Did I mention how fast they knit up? I'm all about instant gratification.

In other news...work will seriously suck this week. That's all I'm gonna say about that. I took the brave step onto the scale this morning and found that I'm down 17 lbs in 6 1/2 weeks. I'm still in total shock and awe over that. Don't question, just keep doing what I'm doing...seems to be working somehow. Few last photos...one is of Pepperino and her lounging glory.

The others are from out trip to the zoo. I just got a good look at these and am amazed at how cool they look. The zoo has the world's largest polar bear exhibit. It is amazing! While there, we saw the brand new baby cub and it's momma hanging out on their meadow. As we wound our way down to the tunnel, we were told by a guide that one of the bears was swimming in the tunnel and to hurry to catch it. This is the awesome sight we saw:


How often can you say a polar bear walked over you? If you're ever in the Metro Detroit area, please take the time to visit the Detroit Zoo. It's not actually in Detroit, but in Royal Oak. They also have an amazing butterfly garden that must be seen to be believed. No photos will ever do the experience justice.

Back to the real world...

Thanks for the well wishes for Peanut's speedy recovery. Just another mystery fever in the long list of childhood ailments I'm sure we'll weather. She was fine come Sunday morning. Thank the Lord for Tylenol.

Fourth of July we went to the zoo. It was hot. Damn hot. Wasn't too bad when we got there, but I was dizzy by the time we left. Naps and drinks were required as soon as we got home. Peanut took a nap when we got home at 2:30. She went back to sleep at 5. We were planning on attending the local fireworks display at 10:05. She didn't wake up until 11:30 and neither one of us had the heart to wake her from her slumber. She went back to bed at midnight and had to be woken up at 8:30 the next morning. Evidently, the zoo really wore her out.

The Mr. Grant hat is finished. I took a combination of a few different patterns to put it together. I'm not so sure about the finished project, but it'll have to do. I'm working on matching booties. I'm hoping the skein will hold out. Once that's finished, I need to revisit some of my previously commissioned baby sweaters.

Laura has been a busy bee with The Preemie Project. Hop on over and check out all of her hard work.

Best laid plans....

Always seem to go one of two ways...A) we have nothing to do on a weekend or B) So much to do that we wind up double booked. Well, we had a B weekend that wound up an A. Months ago we planned on having lunch today with my SIL and nieces on their way up from Indy to Mackinac for the week. Two weeks ago, we found out that my baby brother and his girlfriend had gotten married and planned a wedding open house/reception for today. My SIL emailed me on Thurs to let me know their travel plans had changed and we rescheduled lunch as a dinner on their way back home. No problem, that paved the way for us to attend the Open House without having to cut it short. Well, Peanut had other plans. She woke up with a 101.8 fever this morning. It's continued all day and is now up to 102.2. We spent the day in our jammies and offering her all the french fries she could eat. Now, I'm not normally a nervous mom...with all the stuff that happened at the start of her life, everything else just seems small. Well, I am a mom with a vivid imagination...and I'm thinking about all the bruises she's acquired recently and now a mystery fever. I won't say what I'm thinking because I'm sure it's nothing...but there's always that fear. I'm hoping it's just her final molars making their way in or the byproduct of a summer cold.

So, we're home. The Mister (and now with a newly awake Peanut on his lap) is patiently waiting for the delayed start of the NASCAR race. Yes, he's a huge fan. And even that's an understatement. It's something I've learned to live with and attempt to be interested in. He pretends to like my knitting, so I have to return the favor. Speaking of that...he had a doctor's appointment on Thursday in Ann Arbor. He actually approved a trip to Knit A Round. I don't have photos of the haul, but all but one of the skeins bought was on the clearance rack. I picked up another skein of the Rowan Plaid to make another g-pa hat. This time going to the Aunt that requested it. I also picked up two skeins of cool worsted 100% wool yarn to make CIC socks. The other, Velvet Touch by Wendy (PeterPan) in a wonderful denim blues. This yarn is already on the needles and growing up to be a preemie hat for one Mr. Grant. He made his world debut last week, being born to the good friend of my good friend. Mr. Grant is only 3 lbs 2 oz, but is doing well. His momma definitely deserves a little hand knit goodness for her new little man. Mr. Grant and family reside in Texas, so a trip to LYS was warranted. I have no yarn that would be proper for TX wear. This yarn is much softer than any velvet I've owned. It's like a dream...and light. I really don't think it'll be too warm for wear in the hospital or an air conditioned house. I just couldn't find a cotton that caught my eye. This yarn caught my eye and sense of touch. It was $8 for the skein, but if we hit the lottery I'd buy enough to make myself a new bathrobe out of it...and I'd never take it off.

Looks like I'm a little closer to Loserville than Sassy Gina-D. I'm ok with that. Variety is the spice of life and I think that applies to people as well. Boy, if I didn't believe that...I wouldn't have married my very-different-from-me Mister! We celebrate our wedding anniversary on Tuesday. Some days it feels like we've been married two days and some days two centuries!! I think that's pretty normal, though. Right? ...I hope.

What do you do the Friday before a long holiday weekend??

We all do it..don't act like you don't. Rumor has it the office will shut down at 3..and not a minute too soon, I tell ya.

You are interchangeable. Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every eventuality covered and every opportunity just has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and every day is a new beginning. You are good at so many things, it's amazing, but you can easily lose your place and forget to show up. They have row counters for people like you!

What kind of knitting needles are you?
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Warm Fuzzies

That's what I get for doing stuff for The Preemie Project. I can't knit very fast, but I can whip up marketing materials! I'm doing my AKPsi roots proud. Stay tuned to The Preemie Project website, it'll be there soon. It's still a bit of a work in progress. Speaking of slow knitting...I've been digging away at the B-A-B-Y blanket. It's coming along well. I do like the CottonTots, it's really very soft when knitted. The Mister is slightly impressed, he'll be more impressed when he sees what it says.

I recently won the TLCforAngels yahoo group bingo. Now, I love me some Bingo! Whether it be in a smoky banquet hall with hundreds of whitehaired ladies or music bingo in elementary music class. Really can't go wrong with a good bingo game. Imagine my excitement when my first time out with the TLCgroup, I won! The wonderful and kind, Kaye sent me a fabulous prize box that was obviously put together with some thought. Thanks Kaye for all the hard work you do for the group. We truly do appreciate it!!

Here is the purple scarf. The photo doesn't really do the color justice. It's a much richer color. Keep your eye on it..you may be given the opportunity purchase/bid on it later on. All money going to a great cause!

And for those of you waiting for a Pepper update, here you go.....She started with the bad behavior again on Friday. We've had six incidents of bad behavior since then. She went to the vet today. Seems that her bladder infection from before is even worse than it was the last time they saw her. The vet said she was a very sick kitty and she was lucky to have a family that paid attention to her rather than scolding her for the behavior. Remember..we've had this cat less than a month. She was supposed to be a low cost pet...we're in for almost $300 so far. She's just a doll and Peanut adores her..that's worth every penny. Here's a new photo of our little patient. Keep positive thoughts that the new little pills and food will help clear this all up and break the cycle.