Oh happy day!
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: "Wanted Man" by Ratt

We got the news this morning that my dad will be moving to the Soldier's Home this coming week! This is excellent news for us for several reasons, but most of all, it's because that is where my father really wanted to be when his disease progressed to the point that he couldn't be home anymore. While the nursing home staff, like the nurses, aids and social workers have been wonderful as are many of the patients, we feel that our father will be happier in a place where there are more men who all have something in common.

As far as Thanksgiving went, we had a lovely day. I picked my dad up at the nursing home and brought him home. My mother and brother Luke, who is home from California, cooked a 20 pound turkey, made stuffing, mashed potatoes, garlic broccoli, baked sweet potatoes, and Luke's special cranberry relish, which is wonderful! They also baked a coconut custard pie and a lemon meringue pie. I baked a pecan pie and pumpkin pie the night before. And we found that brining a turkey is really work the extra effort. The dinner was enjoyed by all. :)

Today DH and I are spending the day getting caught up on household chores, while we stay home with our two boys. DS1 has an eye infection, so we are housebound until Sunday, when he's no longer contagious, and DS2 is fighting his own cold.

Trust me when I tell you this; you really want to drain an above ground pool when it's much warmer. Brrrrrrrr! Hot chocolate anyone?

Web's haul
Mood:  bright
I'm developing Carolyn's sleep schedule it seems; 4 a.m. is becoming my normal wake-up time, much to my dismay. Although I am getting a lot accomplished in the early morning hours, like laundry.

On Thursday, after our delicious lunch, I did get over to Webs for about an hour. My haul consisted of two bags of their "KFI Cashmereno", which is, according to Webs, the same thing as Debbie Bliss' Cashmerino, but just marketed under another name. Web's has this for $44 per bag, which is about 1/2 the price as the DB label. So, I picked up two bags in a lovely dark purple shade, and the DB Cashmerino book, which has two sweaters in it suitable for this yarn. I also bought two skeins of a dark purple glitzy/eyelash style Berroco yarn for a scarf; either for my niece or myself. I love the color, and the Berroco book #221 has a perfect pattern. My last purchase is a very cute sheep doormat which now resides in our family room.

Today I'm off to go help my friend at the craft fair she's selling at. Carol builds beautiful bird houses, and this is her biggest show of the year, and she's shorthanded. I'll be over at Smith Vocational if anyone wants to stop by and visit with us. :)

Yummm! Bread!
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: "Fantasy" by Aldo Nova
Topic: Daily musings

I'm a carb addict. I love my pasta, bread, sugar, fruit, ice cream, whatever. And was pleasantly surprised to see that a Panera Bread opened up in Hadley. I've been eagerly awaiting this, as my curiosity was peaked when I heard it was not only a bakery, but a cafe too. I *love* eating out!

So yesterday, I suggested to my Mom that we head over to see if Panera was open, and I was thrilled to see that it was. My lunch consisted of Asiago bread with roast beef and horseradish sauce, tomatoes, lettuce and red onions. And I couldn't resist a drink that had peaches and tangelos in it. Fabulous lunch! I'm hooked. So hooked that I had to go back today, and buy two other small loaves of bread (yesterday I purchased a killer sourdough loaf); Sesame Semolina and Kalamata Olive bread. And two orange scones, which I was able to try yesterday, and found it heavenly.

I've found a new place to indulge myself. Heaven!

Nothing inspires
Mood:  hungry
Now Playing: "Joanna" by Kool & the Gang

Due to all the time I have on my hands right now, I thought I might do some knitting. Of course, even with my ever increasingly large stash of yarn and rovings, I couldn't find anything I wanted to work on. The *only* thing that appealed to me was the thought of going to a yarn store, and perusing the pattern books, buying new yarn and needles. I need new stuff like I need my gallbladder back! But, the trip to the yarn store wasn't about to happen, as my youngest son Nate was home sick from preschool yesterday with a cold. We settled in for watching Nick Jr. on tv for a while, until the thought of watching anymore kids cartoons had me leaving the room.

The next thing I decided to do speaks of just how bored I really was; I spent two hours on the floor of my office, going through piles of papers, filing some, and tossing the rest. Deanna and Marcy have a good idea of just what this means (I don't allow *anyone* into my office because it is such a disaster area!). However, after spending this much time sitting and bending over (gently), I was ready to finish. It's cold in my office, and I felt like I had accomplished something, even if it wasn't fiber related.

Maybe today I can take a trip out and do some fiber shopping. This weekend here in Western MA is a big one for small craft fairs, and the huge Old Deerfield Craft Fair at the Big E in West Springfield. I don't know if I'm up to walking the whole fair in W.S., but doing a few small ones would be nice.

I'm back from the hospital
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: "Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol

I wound up in the ER on Monday morning, deathly ill (again). Had the gallbladder taken out on Tuesday morning. Home to Mom's on Wednesday, and today, I'm back at my own home. I missed my kids, husband, animals and house very much.

I'm taking it easy; trying to put the pieces back together after having felt so sick for so long, and wondering why none of my original doctors caught this in the past 10 months (you know it should have been when *every* nurse that took care of you, plus your two new doctors ask "Why didn't someone do an ultrasound on you months ago?").

But, hopefully the pain is all over now. I'm recuperating, and taking it easy. I'm tired, but glad it is over!

Give me a week or so to get back to feeling like my old self, then I can get back to taking care of business. :)

By the Way....
Now Playing: "Abracadabra" by the Steve Miller Band


Happy Halloween! :)

After yesterday's comments....
Mood:  mischievious
Now Playing: "867-5309/Jenny" by Tommy Tutone

I've found a burst of energy this morning. So I wanted to sit at the computer and update the blog. If you find typing errors, well, my fingers aren't following my brain, so bear with me.

Last night DH and I had a special evening out. Yes, I know you are thinking "Huh? While she's sick?". The answer is yes. Knowing that we had purchased tickets to see Jim Brickman at the Calvin in N'ton almost 2 months ago, and they were spectacular seats, I didn't eat for 2 days. You got that right; in order to feel somewhat human, I didn't eat for over 50 hours, nothing except water. If there is nothing in the stomach, it can't revolt, right? Wearing on my most comfortable pants, and sitting through a concert wasn't easy, but I enjoy listening to this man play piano so much, that I decided I wasn't letting $40 per seat tickets go to waste. And I'm glad I didn't. During the concert, Jim always asks people to write out questions for him to answer on a piece of paper included in the program. So, DH and I did. They pick out about 5 questions to read, and mine was one of them. My question to him was to ask him to play some of the Sesame Street songs he had written prior to his current career. This might sound like a strange request, but he used to write commercial jingles to help pay the bills, and he mentioned at the beginning of the concert that he had written a few songs for Sesame Street. Being the Mom of 3 and 6 year old boys, AND having watched the very first episode of Sesame Street over 35 years ago, I just had to ask. The really cool thing about all this is that if he read your question (actually, his singer, Anne Cochran read the questions; she has a spectacular voice), you would win a copy of his new Christmas CD. Well, I will have one on the way to me in the mail. DH is happy, as he doesn't have to listen to me asking for it for Christmas now. :)
We also had the chance to meet Jim Brickman after the concert. He's a very nice person, who actually isn't much taller than I am. I enjoyed the entire evening, and once home, ate a cup of soup, much to my mother's delight, when she found that out this morning. We'll see how I feel later today!

Now I'm going back to the couch; it's calling.

Out of commission
Sorry everyone for the lack of updates. I haven't been feeling well since shortly before Rhinebeck, but absolutely awful since. Turns out that I have gallstones, and must have my gallbladder taken out.

Until then (hopefully very soon!), I probably won't be writing much, as I'm not feeling so well.

In any event, after I'm feeling better, I'll get back and write up about the NH Wool Tour, and Rhinebeck, which were both a lot of fun for me.

Color, color, color!
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: "Died in Your Arms Tonight" by the Cutting Crew
Sara Lamb was here this weekend. She arrived on Thursday evening, and we had a pizza party in her honor. Elizabeth from Rochester, Marcy, Deanna, Sara and I were here to eat pizza and discuss the latest on ST, SOAR, and the upcoming dye class. Elizabeth surprised me with a tasty box of chocolates from Hebert's (yummm!). On Friday morning, Sara and I went up to the club, and everyone was already there (we had to make a side trip to Walmart to buy stock pots for the dyeing, which I get to keep). The main goal of this 2 day class was to make a massive dye workbook, filled with samples of wool and silk, and paper samples which show how the colors would look on cotton and rayon. If you go over to Claudia's blog and read her entry for October 1st, you'll see samples of the dyed wet yarns. We managed to make up over 350 samples on Friday alone. Far more than Sara thought we'd get through, since we had an 8 person class (Hi to Roberta, Linda, Leigh, Charlene, Claudia, Diane, Elizabeth!).

Yesterday was devoted to getting those samples onto cards for each participant, and doing the paper samples. Three class members started on the paper samples, while the rest of us did up the yarn samples. We actually finished all samples by 3 p.m, and were able to dye some fibers for an hour. These are my finished yarns and rovings, which I have drying on the woodstove fence this morning.



L-R: WFB Corriedale roving from Maybe, IAGARB yarn (65% angora, 30% merino and 5% silk), Border Leicester handspun, Polwarth roving, and 100% angora roving

I now have over 650 dye samples, which will really help get me going on dyeing for Bay Colony Farm's inventory for the fiber shows.

And here is a picture of the lovely hostess gift I received from Sara on Friday morning. She made me promise that I would use this dishtowel (like I had to!). The picture doesn't do it justice!



Sara did leave here this morning to get down to SOAR in the Poconos. I wish that I were able to join her and the rest of the Thrillers attending, but it just wasn't meant to be. But I had a wonderful time in class and outside of class this weekend. Sara truly is a wonderful person, and I'm looking forward to having her back sometime to teach the knotted pile class.

More pictures from the class will be on the blog soon, as Claudia has promised to share pictures and I will also post them on the website soon. :)

Preparing
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: "Whatta Man" by Salt 'N Pepa
Sara Lamb arrives tonight to teach a two day class on dyeing. Be prepared for some eye dazzling colors in my rovings and yarns to be posted on Sunday or Monday!

We are having a small party for her here tonight; Elizabeth, Marcy, Deanna, and possibly Harry will be here tonight to meet Sara, with pizza, beer and wine. Party!