Birthday & a new baby

Trying to think of what to write about for the past week. I'm already half way through the next one, so it's getting harder & harder to remember what I did 10 days ago! Work is still work. While it's nice to have a job & be paid for being there, I'm finding it rather stressful lately. I think that I am there whole-heck-of-a-lot-of-hours so that's not helping. I also think that there is a lot expected of me & while my boss seems happy with my performance, the day to day of it becomes rather grating after a while. Clientele is picking up, we've got a couple new employees, so hopefully when I get enough staff trained up & stop getting so many questions, I'll start to feel a little better.

My birthday was last Friday. I had the best day you could imagine! It was warm & breezy, which was nice because having a March birthday means never knowing exactly what kind of weather you'll get. My friends Janet & Liesl were able to go yarn shopping with me (we went to Knit Wits which is a lovely little store!) and then we got sandwiches at a cute little deli near the shop. I came home after that to wait on my brother & his girl friend to arrive for dinner. Now I must admit I was feeling a little slighted that my own mother had not called me on my birthday. When Josh got to my house, I asked him if he had heard from her lately. He replied that he had not spoken to her in probably a week & didn't know what was going on with her. At that point I knew I wouldn't get to talk to her on my birthday since she was already at work. I was bummed. I mean, I know I was turning 29, but talking to my mom on my birthday & letting her tell me (as she does every year) how proud of me she is, is one thing that I always look forward to. And then someone opened the back door. I assumed it was Josh's girlfriend who drove up separately & kept knitting. But it wasn't. It was my momma! And that right there made it the very best birthday ever! We went to dinner at Indigo (which is quickly becoming a birthday tradition for Charlie & me) and just had a wonderful evening with my family.

So Sunday I acquired a new foster baby. His name is Jack & he may be the sweetest thing ever. A 10 year old girl sat on him & broke his pelvis. The family couldn't afford to care for him & were going to euthanize. Well, needless to say that an orange, 8 week old, face-licking, tail chasing, constantly purring kitten is currently residing in a cage in my guest room. He's freakin' adorable. He'll recover for a couple weeks here, and then be taken in by a rescue for placement in his forever home.

Hope everyone had a safe & happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's a square!

Not a whole heck of a lot happened this past week. Had a truly stressful week at work as the temperatures were on the rise, so were the number of people coming into the clinic in the evenings. Last Monday, I didn't leave until 1:30 in the morning. That's a long day!

Charlie's mom is in the hospital. They admitted her into the heart failure ward at Christ Hospital for having fluid in her lungs. After a few tests have been run, they are thinking now that it's just pneumonia, which is a good thing because we most definitely don't want heart failure.

In knitting news, I joined a swap on Ravelry to make squares similar to Ron's Blanket that appeared most notably in GoF. It's going well, I am able to complete a square in just under 2 hours, which makes it a wonderful mindless knit! Still completely & totally sick of the lace ribbon scarf so I'm using this as a diversion!

And then something sad actually happens

I have to say that I was totally bummed this week to find out that lead singer of one of my all time favorite bands, Barenaked Ladies, is leaving the band! Steven Page, ladies and gentleman, has the voice of a god. Now, let it not go unnoticed, that as of late Steve Page has fallen prey to some of the less desirable follies of stardom, and those are likely the reason for his departure from the other Ladies. But, I say forgive and forget. After all, how can you not love that voice?

In other news, I both cast on & even finished an object this week!
A lovely cowl that I'm really enjoying. It's dropped all the way down to 20 degrees here today, so I'm staying toasty warm! I really just had to take another break from that never ending lace scarf. I'm still working on it, & even though it's making me crazy I just keep telling myself that I have to be getting somewhere on it & this ball of yarn can't last forever.

Oh, MY Steven wants to say 'hi.' And yes, he is a name-sake of the afore mentioned Steve. I am that big a fan, and that big a geek.

Re union & re knitting

Well, interesting week. Monday started with an event that should have been sad, but was really a ton of fun! My grandmother died late last week & her funeral was Monday. Weirdly, no one was terribly sad about it. (Maybe not weirdly, she wasn't a very nice person) It did give us an un avoidable excuse to re unite as a family. I hadn't seen all my cousins together in probably 15 years. It was wonderful to sit around, eat, drink & just catch up on everyone's lives! So that's a shot of all of us up there at the left .

Here's my mom with her 2 remaining brothers.
And here's another shot that includes a couple of kids!
I can't believe that any of us are old enough to have children of our own, bit it's true! Both Katie and Christie have a little girl each! Heck, Melissa has 3!!

As far as knitting goes....feels like I've been trucking along for EVER on this lace scarf & I'm not getting anywhere! That ball of yarn just isn't getting any smaller & it seems like I knit on it at every available moment. But my logic prevails & I know I must be getting somewhere, so I'm keeping at it. Hope to be done before too much longer, it really is a lovely project.

I did a bit of frogging on my cable & eyelet fingerless mitts. They were too long & I thought I could live with it like that. I could not. So I frogged down to where I wanted to re-start the ribbing, picked up the stitches & they fit much better now.

Charlie took me to the bookstore today, just for looking around & of course I bee line straight for any knitting books I can find. I'd read about Big Girl Knits on Ravelry but I'd never seen it in person. I cracked that puppy open & I was hooked. So much information, well written, very very very funny & on top of all that are some beautiful patterns! I made such a fuss over it (including laughing so hard that tears rolled down my face at the phrase 'super hero boobie mask') that I think he'll get it for me for my birthday next month. It's bookmarked anyway....

Newest pet - of the virtual sort

adopt your own virtual pet!

Well, I thought it was funny! He likes to be scratched on his head, or he'll chase your mouse around the screen. He'll munch some grass when he's contented. You can give him a special treat of hay or broccoli (I think it's broccoli, maybe it's more grass?) by clicking the "more" button. I think it makes him feel loved, so please feed Sheldon in case I haven't been by in a few hours. Bit of a bummer that virtual sheep only equals virtual yarn.....but also only virtual poo.....
so.....maybe that's okay.....

What's next?

So the mitts are done! They match the hat perfectly & I like them almost as much. The fit is just a bit off, I think because I knitted too much length after the thumbs. They are also scrunching down toward my fingers so I have to yank them back down every so often. But they are soft, moderately warm & will be perfect for those chilly spring days that are headed our way.

Now I don't know what to work on! Horrible, I know. My first thought is to get back to my lovely Malabrigo scarf that I've been working on since last summer. It's my first attempt at "true" lace and while I am enjoying it, sometimes I need a break from it because I really do have to concentrate on not screwing it up. This last break from it was just a little longer than it really needed to be. I am however open to suggestions so let me know if you think there is something I should be trying!

I think that last time I promised a soup recipe. Well, I'm not so great at coming up with things on my own. But I can follow a recipe! And this is one that we love. It's Rachel Ray's Tomato & Bean Soup. You get a lot of food for your money, it's great re-heated & nothing is better on a snowy night than a bowl of home made soup! The olive frittata from that episode is also quite tasty. Whip it up & enjoy!

Meet the crew!

Not a darn thing going on this week to talk about. Work has kinda gone in the crapper, we're broke & living on ramen noodles & I really freakin' hate all this snow!

I finished my hat, which I love. Wear it all the time! Now I'm using the cable pattern on a fingerless mitt pattern with a different cable to make mitts that match since I had so much yarn left over! Gonna love those, too!

But really, that's it. Kinda dull. So I think I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew. Yup. You guessed it. I have cats. And a dog. And I love them. And so will you.

First we have Zoe. She was the first to come live with us. Charlie wanted to get me something I'd really love for my 20th birthday, so he took me to the ASPCA to pick out a pet. I of course picked the cute, cuddly tabby kitten. And he picked her. We took her home the following day & I have been in love since. She is no doubt the most beautiful cat in the whole world. Her hobbies include being aloof, stealing food from your plate & sleeping with Charlie, not so much me. (She knows who picked her from the cage, I think. He's clearly her favorite.)

Next up we have Lucy. She picked us when she was sitting under my apartment window yowling one night. I went outside, she came running up to me, I lifted her into my arms & she hugged me! That was it, I was done for. Now, she's not the world's brightest crayon, I don't think. Her hobbies include growling and hissing at the boys (see below for said boys), chasing her tail & planning world domination with her only tool, her sparkle ball.

Finally we have The Boys. First came Steve (he's the joker) and next came Fred
who tends to be more serious. They are litter mates, and the story of how they came to me is long. The short of it is, I worked in a vet hospital and their mother was brought in still in labor & the owners wanted to put her down. I said no, went to surgery with the mom, she was leukemia positive & was euthanized & I hand raised the litter. When 6 weeks of age came I couldn't let these 2 go! The litter tested leukemia negative & the 2 others were adopted out. They provide hours & hours of entertainment for me & each other. Don't know what I'd do without them. They have hobbies that they tend to share such as licking each other, playing fetch, talking loudly at 2 am, taunting poor Lucy & walking across the mantle, the only place in the house where they are not allowed.

Last, but certainly not least, is my almost 11 year old greyhound, Jessie. I got her when I was clearing off the advertisment board at work. One of those "Free to a good home" ads. She was a trade with my husband for digital cable. Meaning that if I could get a dog, he could get digital cable. Win win situation for me, I'd say. She's a wonderful dog. Loving, smart, funny, quiet, really, almost another cat! Her hobbies include sleeping on the couch, sleeping on the chair, and occasionally sleeping on her dog bed. She doesn't do much else, but that's okay. She came from the race track so she deserves a life of doing whatever she wants. And if sleeping is what she wants, so be it!

And that's it, kids! That's the whole crew! I don't know what I'm going to talk about the next time I have a boring week. Perhaps maybe I'll post a recipe? I do like a good soup....