Reflections In Literature

I am thrilled to tell you that Baby Logan is doing incredibly well. He's gained weight and is up to 2 lbs 8 ozs. They're talking about removing him from the ventilator today and moving him over to a nasal CPAP. He'll be on the feeding tube soon for another few weeks, but the good news is that he'll be back to taking feedings again after his surgery. What a miracle!

Over at The Bookish Girl, she's posted her list of books read for 2006. What a great idea! After a few years away from reading for pleasure, 2006 brought me back. I read quite a few books in 2006. This is mostly due to joining www.paperbackswap.com Unlike The Bookish Girl, I do not remember when I read them. So here's a quick list from memory:
The Red Tent
A Map of the World
A Good Yarn
Knitting Rules!
Jarhead
Confessions of a Shopaholic
A Million Little Pieces
The Shop On Blossom Street

These are on my list for 2007, so far:
Tara Road
Empire Falls
The Notebook
Life of Pi
Memoirs of a Geisha

I'm about to put down everything I'm knitting to start up some speed knitting. There's a baby scheduled to be born on February 23rd. I have been commissioned for their coming home outfit. Months ago, I was asked to make something. With as much as has been going on in the JB house, it hasn't been the best environment to knit something that will be kept and cherished. I've had the yarn forever and I have a good idea about what pattern I want to use. The blanket will be done on the USM. That'll probably happen the next weekend Peanut visits Mister. I'm usually pretty good with deadlines. I just need to buckle down and do it.

I made some changes to my site design on Saturday. By upgrading my blog template, I seem to have lost all of my ring codes. Despite Blogger's claims that they would save a copy of my old template, I can't seem to find it. Other problem is that I cannot seem to remember what rings I belonged to. So, if you end up here from one of the rings please leave me a comment if you don't see the ring code. If I'd known it would be this trouble, I wouldn't have bothered with the upgrade.

007 Snap A Dozen Days

I've decided to join Stephanie's 007 Snap A Dozen Days challenge. 2007 will be a year of a lot of changes for me and my family, so it'll be cool to have a record of it. I found out about the project through WoolWinder.

While her January photo is about reflection, mine is about focus. In January, I started to focus on me. I took this photo while waiting for Jennifer to finish up at the Blackjack table on my recent casino trip. Pictured are my new iPod and my new KnitPicks bag. What I see is a visual representation of my growth. While I enjoy quiet time alone, I've never been one to want to be in public alone. In college, I would never have considered going to the dining hall alone. It just wasn't something I could do. Now, with the breakup and Peanut having regular visits with her dad, I have a lot of opportunity to learn to do things alone and enjoy them. The 90 mins spent in the hotel lobby was the first time I truly enjoyed being alone in a busy place. Despite recent ridicule that my hobby and blog are only enjoyed by "old women sitting around", I find a lot of peace in it. The hat pictured will soon be worn by a baby that is too small for anything but medical tubing and needles to keep him alive. The hat will bring him and his family comfort. It brings me a lot of satisfaction to know that I was able to use something I enjoy to bring them some joy. Also, in January I made some pretty big lifestyle changes for Peanut and I. We're changing our relationship with food and it's bettering the both of us. I'm down 15 lbs and she's limited to McDonald's to just once a week at school. We're both drinking more water and I'm not buying the crap I used to. I'm focusing on bettering her and I. With her I'm building the foundation for a healthy life. With me, I'm changing a lifetime of bad habits. Every 1000 mile journey starts with a small step.

I got a notice from Logan's family that he came through the surgery beautifully. The next 48 hours will be rough as he recovers, but his doctors are very optimistic about his recovery. I'll post additional updates as they come through. Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. His family is incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support.

Quick Logan Update

Baby Logan will be undergoing minor surgery today to place a metal clip to close the hole in his heart. While this is "common", it's still surgery on a very tiny baby. Please say an extra prayer for him and his family today. They also suspect he has a minor infection, but he's responding really well to antibiotics. He still has a long road, but he's showing to be quite the little fighter.

Catching Up

What a crazy 10 days it's been! I'll be glad to see things settling back down again this weekend. Thursday morning we packed up and headed off to Mt. Pleasant to cash in our casino trip. We had a great time! The hotel was beautiful. The spa was awesome. We played some black jack, slots and bingo. I broke even, but I'm not really much of a gambler. I was up $30 at the black jack table, then I was down $25. When I won my $25 back, I walked away. That was enough for me. If you're in the area and looking for a really nice place to stay, definitely consider Soaring Eagle. It's not cheap, though. But it was definitely worth it. It was good to be back at Central again. I felt like I was getting back in touch with an old friend I'd left behind a long time ago. We spent Thursday night enjoying $4 margaritas at La Senorita's. It definitely felt familiar and homey. I loved it. We're hoping to make this an annual trip.

I finished Logan's hat while waiting for Jennifer to finish up at the black jack tables Friday morning. It was wonderful to spend 90 mins uninterrupted. No one yelled for Mom! and meant for me to come. There was no drama. No support calls or purchase requests. It was blissfully quiet and serene. I got through the first LimeNViolet podcast without interruption. I've gotten through the next 5 episodes since then. My Aunt sent me some money for Christmas and I decided to treat myself to the LimeNViolet Lisa Souza Sock! colorways.

Logan's hat now just needs to be washed and sent off to him. He's doing really well. He's ahead of "schedule" for everything. He's weathered the lung bleed really well. All of the blood from the brain bleed has been reabsorbed. His mom and dad are hoping to start kangaroo care very soon. They still have a long road ahead of them, but he's proven to be quite a little fighter. Please keep your good thoughts and prayers coming for him and his family.

Today was "Default Day" for the divorce proceedings. So I guess we're onto the next phase. I'm not completely sure as to how that all works, but I'm sure my lawyer will be glad to explain it...for a small fee, of course. I've gotten so many apologies recently when people hear about the breakup. It's nice, but unnecessary. I'm so past the hurtful parts. I've definitely come to the acceptance and calm part of the process. It's so funny because the woman that did my pedicure had the best words of advice I've heard in a really long time. She said that she lives by a very simple philosophy. When someone is causing her grief she asks herself two questions: Do I have to sleep with this person? Does this person sign my paycheck? She said if the answer to each question is no, then she just lets it go. I think that fits in well with my "Be Better" goal for this year.

Along the "Be Better" lines is an update on the "Be Better to Myself" progress. I'm 2 weeks and 2 days into the healthier living life style change. I'm so happy to say I'm down 11 pounds and have lost 14.875 inches overall. It really hasn't been too hard either. Now that it's just me and Peanut in the house, I can control what's brought into the house. We're doing just fine without the candy and chips. It'll be the best for the both of us in the long run. As I've said before, that's the most important thing to me.

I'll leave you with gratuitous Peanut photos from a recent shopping trip. Her choice of red, patent leather, open toed, sling backs just proves that she is my little girl.

Baby Logan Update

Logan had a rough day on Thursday, including a hemorrhage in his lung. He was strong enough by Saturday to be able to have it suctioned out. Seems that he's been moved up from a respirator to a ventilator. Recent news is that initial tests have shown he may have blood on the brain (not sure if that's the same as a brain bleed) but additional tests needed to be done to see if he had reabsorbed it. It's still very touch and go. He and his family definitely still need all of your thoughts and prayers to help see them through this.

Mary asked if I had been knitting recently. I thought that I would over the weekend with Peanut off visiting Mister, but a nasty sinus infection got the better of me. I did start a tiny hat for Logan. It's a slow go with the 1x1 ribbing. It's tiny but it's still a slow go. I'm also a little out of practice. I'm hoping to have a couple of different sized hats to send to him to grow into. I'm still working on the second of the felted clogs and about a million other things. I'm hoping to have some down time this week to spend knitting. More on that next week, though.

Rhonda asked about the ease of use of the iPod. I have to tell you, it's pretty darn easy. I had a SanDisk MP3 player last year. It was nice because it had an FM radio and I'd gotten it from a vendor for free. It conked out on me in December and I didn't get a chance to call on it before the warranty ran out. It did not have playlists or a way to organize the songs, so I didn't use it as much as I thought I would. With the iPod, you do everything through iTunes on your computer and then sync them up. Everything's pretty much drag & drop. So far, so good for me. I haven't imported any new CDs, but all of my old ones came in just fine. (They had been ripped to MP3s) I really do like Grace quite a bit. I've gotten through the first two podcasts from Lime N Violet. So much easier to listen to on the iPod. I sent my SanDisk MP3 player with Peanut to Atlanta when they went earlier this year. I know if it had had the playlist option, it would have been much easier for Mister to control what she heard when. Bedtime stories I had recorded me reading were not the best option when they were expecting music for the ride down. At the same time, it does not have the recording capabilities the SanDisk player.

Pictures coming soon, I promise.

Grace Kelly

The latest addition to the family is Grace Kelly. I adopted her from my coworker after he got a video iPod for Christmas. She needed a good home and I had yet to venture into the land of fruited mp3 players. Her first download? This. (from iTunes rather than utube, of course) Now JT isn't usually my style, but there's something about this song that I love. It's the ring tone for my phone too. 2007 is the year to take stock and reclaim my life. I had a clarity moment on January 3rd. It was incredibly scary and it certainly renewed my faith in God. He was definitely keeping an eye out for me that morning. It was at that moment that I decided to let go and make strides to just be better. That's my motto for the year. Be a better person, mother, friend, sister, employee... No real set goals, just two words to keep in mind "Be Better".

This all starts with being better to me. That's part of the reason for the adoption of Grace. My neighbor and I started a new diet on Tuesday. In 5 days I've lost 10 lbs. My neighbor is down 6. Grace will be accompanying Peanut and I on walks with the stroller. It's big enough that I can snuggle Peanut and her baby with some blankets and zip up the cover if it's cold.

I've also started a plan to be a better employee. Due to recent changes in our family, I had to change my schedule at work. My entire life I've been perpetually late. It never fails. My reviews are always glowing with the exception of trying to stick to a set schedule. I'm so proud to say that this week I have been on time or early for work. A huge, huge accomplishment for me.

So, I'm going to be better. Better with Grace & Dignity and a little green iPod mini to help remind me.

**Baby Logan Update: I haven't heard much other than he's tiny, he's still putting up a fight and he's breathing ahead of respirator. Please keep your thoughts and prayers for him coming.**

Baby Logan

Stephanie repeatedly shows the power of the knitting world and I'm hoping to tap into that. If you have a spare moment or room on your prayer list, please put little Logan on it today. He is the newborn son of college friends of mine. He refused to wait and came into the world this morning being only 25 weeks along. He's little, 1 lb 15 ozs and 13" long and needs all the prayers and good thoughts he can get. I'll never forget how scary it was having Peanut at 33 weeks, I can't imagine how his momma's feeling today.

I don't have any knitting to post about. I've been way to busy to even knit a stitch. I will be knitting up a tiny hat to send to Logan this weekend, though. Peanut's doing ok with the switch to school full time, but has taken a step back in potty training. No big deal, she'll get it eventually. She's focused on what "bad" words she can say now. This morning she asked if "darn it" was ok. When I gave her approval she tested it out several times at many different volumes, smiling the whole time. She never ceases to crack me up.

Just a side note for those of you visiting my blog who were not drawn here for the knitting aspect of it. There will be no discussion of what's going on with Mister here. You're wasting your time continuously hitting my site. I do appreciate the increase in hits, but I would think your time might be better served doing something else like charity work.