Coming in From the Cold

I've been missing in action, burying my face in CSPAN programming watching everything and anything associated with the new White House trying to convince myself that while the economic sky is falling it is way better than listening to those clowns from the former administration f%$#up the country. Now, with that said, and to keep from indulging in a full on pity party, this is some of what I've been up to.

went to visit son #1 in North Carolina to hear him sing with the North Carolina Symphony


This is a partial sound recording of the Carmina Burana. Not my favorite choral piece, sort of reminds me of a scary movie but it was my chile singing so...




Got caught in the historic nor' easter snow storm. Tried to get out of town before it hit and the lady at the airline checkin said, "honey, if anybody in North Carolina thinks it's gonna snow, we close down the city! Better find you a hotel and sleep in." Well, after I checked out of my very nice hotel with a great wine list and midnight cheese and fruit platter room service -


I found myself thankful for any room at the airport hotel. Even the crows were confused.

Made this gorgeous Radiating Star Blanket as a baby gift (pattern found on Ravelry).

Tried to follow the Harlot's advice with the stash...

FAILED

Why did I keep these??

There were months that brought me little or no joy - except for this occasional backyard visitor.

My pal Phyllis tried hard to lift the gloom, we explored yarn stores and old fashioned soda fountains. I had my first vanilla ice cream soda in many years!




She even baked me a cake and brought me some noro sock yarn and those cool square needles!

I pulled myself together long enough to host one of those local Obama house meetings.

There were a few of them around my town. My friend Arlene, a professional chef, did one with desserts and champagne!

Went to hear a Cornel West lecture with my boys. That was a really good day.

Attended my town's library's author luncheon. Guess who?

I auctioned off several baskets with baby hats. And, the poster below from the Democratic Convention's Women's Caucus that Michelle Obama presided over.

So, hope still remains and is perhaps all that is left when we succumb to our darkest worries and can't seem to see the light. Thanks to all of you who have written to encourage me to write again and to report on my whereabouts. I'm sorry I've been gone so long.

P.S. if you would like one of these historic posters, I have another that I would like to share so, just comment here with your name and I'll do one of those random selection thingies and send one to you, sorry, it is not signed and I won't be able to frame it.

No woman no cry

Yup, it's been an adventure this summer so far and it's only early July. I've wanted to post many times but first I had to clean out the hard drive in order to load more pictures.

So what happened?

It started with a ginormous oak falling in my front yard. No detailed pictures, too depressing. It was 9pm at night when I heard this loud crack and bam! I guess I should be glad that it didn't fall on the house but at the time, I sincerely thought that it fell on something - a moving car, a couple walking a dog... Fortunately none of that happened but it did cost nearly 3 grand to get the dang thing hauled away and get the cables to the telephone and internets fixed.

all that's left

I think I told y'all that I have a mouse. Well, obviously there is no such thing as a "1 mouse" infestation but I can't even go there right now imagining the possibilities. One night, I think, a mouse got into my bird's cage trying to rob some seed and, I think, the male bird fought it back because the next morning the PETA college son (who is responsible for me not calling in the exterminator in the first place) woke me up yelling that something weird happened to the birds. The male was really beaten up. His wing was hurt and all of his feathers on the injured wing was gone. Who the hell knows what really happened but that adventure cost me $175 for the vet.

happier times

I finally got to open the pool. The pool guys informed me that the chipmunks turned my heater into a chipmunk hotel. It is totally destroyed. The little buggers chewed up and redecorated everything inside. A new heater will cost me $3 grand but guess what? WHO CAME UP WITH HEATED POOLS ANYWAY? Pools are for cooling off. It ain't a bath tub! My boys will have to get used to swimming in a chilled pool.

With all of that going on, my hubby had nothing better to do but to paint my house. On a Monday morning these guys show up and commenced to totally destroy all of my flower beds around my house. Hydrangeas, specially selected hostas, perennials, roses - all trampled over or splattered with paint.

Even with a gorgeous face like that, he can make me so mad!

And, if that wasn't bad enough, it was the sulky 13 year old's graduation day and last day of school. So all of my last day of school/graduation preparations plans got shot to shit because I'm fuming over painters.

Graduation or the NBA draft? You don't want to know what I went through to get him to tuck his shirt in and take off that do-rag!

In order to prevent myself from totally wigging out, I decided that I required some pharmacological intervention. I reached for the Ativan. But, as I was so blind with rage, dumb me swallowed a couple of Ambiens instead! I don't need to tell you what happened at the graduation not that I could anyway because I have absolutely no recollection!

It was all a blur...

Several days later, the painters return. This time with power washers. They are now going to power wash the deck. Now the perennials in my flower beds are destroyed - coreopsis, lavender, dahlias... too many to list. I am now in the market for zoloft...

Then my new friend, Beate, tells me that she is moving back to Denmark. There was so much going on but I had to find the time to get together one last day to knit with her. Here we are with her friend Erin.

Erin then organized a group dinner where we could all say good bye.

Beate

So, have I been knitting. Yes, absolutely. How else would one survive?

Dream in Color's Smooshy

These are Kirsten's Achillea.

Interweave Knits Cable Rib Socks in ONline Supersocke Cotton color Beach

What else? I'm also almost finished with my pinwheel sweater that I frogged, I made a nice lace cotton scarf and I finished my mother-in-law's shawl. I'll show you when I take more pictures.

Oh, did I mention that the painters destroyed the cables to the internet, the tv and the telephone. At first I refused to intervene and have it fixed. Let the hubby painter/contractor deal with it. But then the children waged an insurrection and I had no choice (and no zoloft) so I called in the repairs.

When I was talking to my pal Phyllis about not knowing what to blog about because so much crap has happened, she suggested I keep it simple and show you my socks. But, alas, I need pity. So, here I am, trying to survive summer with 3 teenage boys and two teenage nieces (a whole 'nother chapter I'll talk about later) and a hubby who feels he can now (after 20+ years) "get involved" with fixing up the house.

But, when I tally it all up something so simple made all the dilemmas worthwhile.

A lovely yellow finch. I'm so easy to please!

Fits and Starts

Fits
I've been collecting Obama stuff. I mean, you all know, I collect yarn. I've not shared all the other crap, junk, collectibles I enjoy hoarding, collecting.


Who could resist, Obama lip balm? Right? I mean who came up with that idea?

I have Lady Bird Johnson pens, Kennedy biographies, Nixon videos, Johnson tapes. A compulsion you ask? Hardly. Look at this, it's what my pal Phyllis sent me this morning. Now collecting Pyrex is a compulsion!

Starts

Remember I told you all about this project. Not done anything with it since I started it. Who knew that knitting with nubby, bulky yarn could cause your wrists to seize?

Fits
I spent the day in the ER on Saturday. I was coming out of the bank and all of a sudden I felt panicky, my palms were sweating and my heart started racing. I've been to the bank in the past when they were just about ready to slap me because of my poor accounting but that didn't happen this time. I honestly thought I was about to have a heart attack!

I drove myself to the ER, we have a hospital right in town. Five hours later, I'm hooked up to all kinds of machines and some kind of IV drip to inject dyes into my blood so that the CAT scan could see where it is my last serving of Fettuccine Alfredo got clogged in my arteries. But they found Nada. Nothing. Good thing I suppose. My doctor asked me how many kids I had. When I told him that I had 3 teenage boys. He actually gasped when he noticed my age (49) and said that I was probably starting perimenopause or my kids were working my last nerve. Actually he didn't say any of that but he did channel those thoughts into my head by the look he gave me when he said that living in Ridgewood is very stressful. What the %$#$ does that mean? Sarcasm, I hate it when other people use it against me. Geez.

Starts
As I was getting dressed I overheard a nurse pleading with a very old woman across the hall to take off her girdle. This was going on while I was pulling and tugging with my jeans to get them over my hips and fastened. Girdle? People still wear girdles?

"I don't feel dressed if I don't have on my girdle." says the old lady
"Well exactly, Mame, I'm trying to get you to unwind and relax until the doctor comes in."
"I would never see the doctor without my girdle on, nurse."

As I fumbled with my zipper, it hit me. I could buy a girdle and this would go so much better. Sure, I'd probably do irreparable harm to my internal organs but I could finally tuck my shirts in again.

Exhibit A:

I'm going to order a dozen!

Fits
Etsy. It's become an illness. You could actually go shopping there and never hit the same store twice. Look what I had to have for just $15 bucks


It's a kit I bought from Heather Knitz. It's knit with strips of fabric. Really nice but I feel my wrists seizing...

Starts
One of my favorite blogs is, Through the Loops. You can find lots of great stuff to knit over there. I'm doing these, now that I'm out of Jaywalker purgatory:

Achillea and Anna's Socks. Isn't it pretty, I'm using Dream in Color's Smoochy

I've got a whole lot more stuff on the needles but I enjoy the variety, I make no excuses just enjoy being able to knit what I want when I want, no pressure, no goals just knitting.

What to write?

Sad posts are such a bummer. But I can't think of much else to write other than this. If your children are sick, follow your gut and do something about it. My college student son called me 5 am just days before he was to come home for the holiday, that he was sick. I told him (and myself) to ignore the $100 deductible, the cost of the cab and the bother with getting dressed and all when you are sick and GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM.

He had a staph infection on his arm. It started out as a small pimple that grew in 2 days to a quarter sized abscess. He could have died. He didn't. I'm grateful. Thanksgiving.