Busy Weekend
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm
It's been one of those weekends.

It didn't start out so good. We had our taxes done on Thursday night. Usually it's a good thing; this year it wasn't. That's all I will say about that.

Valentine's Day passed here with little fanfare, as usual. I gave up a few years ago trying to live up to society's assumption of what we are *supposed* to do, and we do nothing. Probably in part because the last time DH presented me with roses on Valentine's Day, I told him that he could have spent the money on something else. ;-) Yes, I'm ever the Yankee in that aspect. It's not that I don't like fresh flowers, I do, but roses on Valentines Day are usually 3 times the normal price, and I find that to be outrageous. We don't do cards either.

However, I did pick up a nice potted tulip for my mother from my father. Since my Dad can no longer drive due to his Parkinson's, he asked that I get something for my mother for the day. I'll make sure we get her a gift certificate for a pedicure later this week too.

DH and I did have a nice Saturday though. We loaded the kids into the truck and went down to Enfield so that I could pick up a battery operated tattooer for the rabbits from Charlene, who was at spinning guild that day. After that drove around northeastern CT just siteseeing. We enjoy that type of thing. When we got home, after I delivered the plant to my Mom, I picked up Taco Bell at the mall for dinner. Since there were 20 people ahead of me in line, I had to wait a while. When I finally got to the head of the line (with at least 15 people behind me), the cashier said to me "Nothing must say Happy Valentine's Day like Taco Bell. It's been like this since noon today!". That gave me a chuckle. There are other tightfisted Yankees out there too. :)

Not so bad after all
Mood:  on fire
Now Playing: WEIB fm 106.3
Today held a whole host of things.

First off was the Upper Endoscopy that I had done at the doctor's office. If you ever have to have one fo these done, don't worry about it. It's completely painless, and the sedatives they give before hand are *great*! :D I'm not the type to go for drugs (either recreational or prescriptive), but I give a thumbs up for whatever they gave me to make me enough aware of what was going on, but relaxed enough so that I didn't really know what was going on. The good news is that the doctor said it looks o.k., and that they will have the results of the biopsy's within a week or so.

After coming home and the spacey feeling wearing off, I finished up our tax information, as I'm meeting with our accountant tonight to file the 2003 taxes. That is a huge relief out of the way, and it took me 10 hours to get everything together. But it's done, and I can relax with one less major thing on my plate.

On the fiber end of things, I bred Annie to Winter two days ago, and again yesterday. Twist was my first choice of bucks, but he's developed this little attitude where he doesn't really care that there is a doe in the cage with him. I'm seriously thinking that he's one of those gay guys that all the girls like "because he's SO sensitive"!. (And I know my brother Luke is going to get a good chuckle out of this; he's one of those guys). Thankfully, Annie was hot to trot, and Winter was more than willing to accomodate. Keep your fingers crossed that we have a healthy litter here in 30 days.

What to do, what to do?
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm. Smooth Jazz
The glizty/eyelash scarf has held little appeal. So truely boring that I haven't knit on it since Thursday. Infact, I haven't knit at all since then. I've been preoccupied with other things.

I did make a call to Claudia at Countrywool and found out what colors she had in the various "greens" in Lambs Pride. True to form, Calvin has picked out a color called "Limeade" for his sweater. This doesn't surprise me, and Claudia assures me that this is one of the more popular greens right now. I'll be using Claudia's Top Down Kid's Raglan Sweater pattern.

In the process of cleaning up my office and straightening out the stash, I've discovered quite a few patterns. I'm organized enough right now that they are all being put into a binder. Who knew I had so many patterns? :)

Snow Day!
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm Smooth Jazz
It is snowing outside. We only have a few inches so far, but due to the fact that it is supposed to turn to freezing rain/sleet by 3 p.m. today, the powers that be in our school district did the smart thing and canceled school.

So the boys and I are hanging out this morning, taking it easy, while DH sleeps before he goes back into work tonight for overtime.

I finished the raglan sweater two nights ago. I'm happy with it, although the sleeves are a bit short for my liking. I think the next time I make this pattern, I'll be sure to have 18" sleeves, instead of 16" sleeves.

After serious sleep deprivation again yesterday, and a trip to see the Gastroenterologist (I'm dealing with Acid Reflux Disease, and they want to do a scope down my throat next Thursday just to check things out; oh joy, and I have I mentioned that I seriously dislike going to any doctor???), all I wanted to do was mindless knitting. So I cast on for a glitzy scarf. It is easy garter stitch using a fur yarn and a ribbon yarn. It is easy, but so very boring, especially on size 17 needles. I did 3 inches of it yesterday morning. When I got back to it last night, I'm knitting to the end of the row, and there is a loose piece of eyelash yarn. Where the heck did that come from? Then I look at it more closely. There are a lot of loose ends. It seems that my beautiful little 2 year old son Nate found my scissors (o.k., so I didn't have them put away, so it's partly my fault), and decided to do some cutting. I've got to admit, flashy, furry yarn is very tempting. So I rip out what is left of that 3 inches of knitting and start again. But it is very boring. I knit two inches before falling asleep in the chair.

I've been on a bit of a yarn diet myself, having bought no yarn since the early fall. Since I've been cleaning up my office (which doesn't look any better, but in fact looks worse as I've been moving things around to dig out the stash), I've found a lot of yarn I had forgotten that I had. I did find the Cascade yarn which is green with blue/yellow flecks that I purchased from Claudia at Countrywool. I do love this yarn, and so does Calvin, my 5 year old (green is his favorite color). Cal was begging me to teach him how to knit with it yesterday, but I convinced him that I will buy yarn in the color of green, and knit a sweater for him, in his choice of two patterns. He seems o.k. with that. I also found the sweater kit that I had purchased from the Wool Connection a couple of years ago. It is a slip stitch cardigan, using Jo Sharp yarn which is just delicious to fondle. I'm really tempted to start on this before the Cascade sweater. Decisions, decisions.

I'll post pictures of the sweater later today.

It's a new day
Mood:  cool
Now Playing: WEIB 106.3 fm. Just Once by James Ingram
Today I plan to put Twist and Annie together. I tried doing that earlier this morning, but since they had both been wearing bunny coats, they were more interested in grooming themselves than mating. Once they have gone through the "let's get my fur right!" phase, I'll put them together this afternoon.

The rest of today I plan to spend cleaning and organizing my office. For those of you that haven't seen it, this will take a while. ;-) I'm very unorganized when it comes to yarn stash, plus I need to put together all of my paperwork for taxes, which we are having done next week.

Shearing day
Mood:  blue

I set to work shearing Twist and Annie today. Both were due for their three month shearing, and the wool production numbers were down. I attribute this to the feed I was using until a few weeks ago. I have switched feeds, and we'll see how they do in 3 months when they are sheared again. Plus, I will be adding wheat to their daily food intake, and that should help.

The rest of my day was spent doing a little knitting, and finishing up the brochures for the classes with Sara Lamb and Leslie Samson.

I'm very tired today, and a little sad. I suspect that I'm just overly tired, as I was awake from 12:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. today. I can't wait for my husband to get back on the day shift. I'll have normal sleeping hours then.

New projects, new things to try
Mood:  celebratory
Now Playing: Jim Brickman "The Promise" from the Simple Things CD
I have new projects. Not of the knitting kind, but of the service to community kind. Last night at my meeting, I was asked to be on the Board of Directors for the local Boys and Girls Club. I feel that this is a very worthy organization, and since my friend Kevin asked me to do this, I wouldn't say no. I'm excited about doing this for some reason. Maybe it is in part because I love the old building the club owns. It's a Victorian mansion which was built in 1862, and has a wonderful energy to it. It feels good when you enter the building. I'd like to think that it offers a nice place for kids to come and play while their parents are at work.

After being at the parade committee meeting for 2 hours last night, I came home to find that my husband and 2 sons had cleaned (and vacuumed!) the family room. What a nice surprise. Obviously, the mess got to my husband. But it was nice not having to do it myself. ;-)

I'm through picking out my classes at the WC. I've decided on Finishing Basics with Andra on Saturday morning, Nifty Necklines with Melissa Leapman on Saturday afternoon and the Untangling Cables class with Melissa on Sunday. While these might seem very basic to the more experienced knitter, I'm not that experienced with finishing projects and I'd like to be shown how to do most of these things. I figure if I come away with at least one new thing from each class, I'm ahead of the game.

The rest of my morning and afternoon today will be spent putting together the information for my parents taxes. My mom has never had to do any of that, and since my dad isn't well enough to do it anymore, I'm taking it over. Since Mom has an appointment with our tax guy late this afternoon, I guess I'd better get started. :)

Ewephoric Weekend
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: WCBS 101.1 fm from NYC
The Wool Connection down in Avon CT holds a fantastic knitting weekend once a year in the Spring. I look forward to this event all year, as for me, it signifies the beginning of Spring.

I just received my brochure for the classes. This year I want to take classes both days, but choosing which classes is always difficult. I give myself 1 day to do this, and fax the application back so that I get my first choices.

On Saturday, I have to choose between taking classes with Melissa Leapman, Judy Pascale or Andra Asars. Andra is teaching "Finishing Basics" on Saturday morning which I could really use. Melissa Leapman (whom I think is a really nice person, plus a great designer) is teaching Basic Pattern Drafting in the morning, and Nifty Necklines in the afternoon. Judy Pascale is teaching Elongated Beaded Bag on Saturday morning, and Creative Borders and Bands on Saturday afternoon.

My usual MO is to take one class that helps me improve my knitting basics. The other class I like to take "for fun". Learn something that allows me to expand the creative part of knitting.

Sunday's classes are the following choices (for me):

Basic Crochet for Beginners - Kathie Power Johson
Untangling Cables - Melissa Leapman
Tips, Tricks and Hints - Lily Chin

As you can see, I have some choices to make. :)

It's working!
Mood:  bright
The raglan sweater is coming along nicely. The mistakes have been corrected, and due to the fact that I have a sick 2 year old here, I should get a lot of knitting time on it today. Plus, I spilled a glass of ice water on the keyboard of my computer last night, so I'm having to use DH's until I can get over to Staples and pick up a new one.I didn't start any socks last night either. I missed the committee meeting due to Nate being sick. I'll make the next meeting tomorrow night.

Can anyone explain this?
Mood:  sharp
Now Playing: Toto "99"
Topic: Ranting
It's snowing outside. We now have about 7 inches of the white stuff. School has a delay of 2 hours. Can anyone explain why they would send elementary school students in today, when they normally get out at 1:20 p.m. on Wednesdats? Cal will have exactly 2 hours and 40 minutes of school. This, I can't explain.

Other than that, I'm slowly working on the raglan sweater. I think I finally have it going right. :)

Tonight is a parade committee meeting. I'm wondering if I want to start a pair of socks to work on during the meeting. I'm not up for doing two color knitting, so I might start the alpaca/wool socks. One strand of Inca Alpaca in natural, and one strand of sock yarn in a variegated natural & charcoal.