S.O.S. ... not the scouring pad but HELP!

I have attempted the H-E-L-L sweater twice now and ripped it out twice in desperation because, well, I S-U-C-K! OK, then I ate a 1/2 a bag of Lays and then some licorice and a couple of chocolates to wash it all down with. Knitting depression strikes and I turn to food for comfort. I was doing soooo well on "the plan". Will I attempt it again without intervention? Probably. Today? Dunno.

My wool is looking kind of mangled and so am I as you can see. Help. Pray to the knitting gods for me. No matter what I do, it doesn't look like the picture!!! Maybe if I screw it up the same all over noone will know it wasn't supposed to look like that! Now she rationalizing Folks!

I think I'll go see if I can poke my eyes out with my knitting needles.

Biting the Bullet

Well, I bought the wool yesterday to make a sweater I have been coveting for some time.

Now I just have to work up the courage to actually start it without having an anxiety attack.

I saw the pattern in a magazine called "Interweave" ( I think). It has the coolest patterns, intimidating, but cool nonetheless. I kept going back to dream about it everytime I needed to look for another pattern from my stash. I finally took the magazine to the LYS (local yarn store) and and asked for advice on the making of said sweater. It was confirmed that if I had knit socks, sweaters for babies and children that I SHOULD have no problem with it. Yuh. We shall see.

First of all, it is a sweater - big project.
Second, it is for me and I'm fussy about the way things fit.
Third, what if I put all this time, effort, money and material into this and it turns out like crap??

but....

If it turns out beautifully my confidence in my knitting ability will be most certainly boosted.
We've got to challenge ourselves right??

OK. Here it goes. I'll keep you all posted on the progress of my dream sweater.


Five things to be happy about -

1. having a warm house on a cold day.
2. people being interested in reading my blog.
3. tax refunds.
4. striped shirts, striped anything.
5. when projects turn out the way you see them in your minds eye.

Presenting Miss Scarlett... I feel so bad looking at this picture. What a perfectly pitiful portrait. 

Holiday - Madonna's running through my head

No. We're not off to Mexico, the Bahamas or even a ski trip in the Laurentians but.... my husband is on his march break. Ahhhhhhhhh. You can hear me sigh in all corners of Canada.

I actually was singing "Holiday" in the shower last night when he got home from writing his last midterm. Well, parts of it over and over, probably off-key. I felt light. So did he.

Today I get to run errands BY MYSELF.
... and not icky errands like groceries and dry cleaning - not that we ever have any dry cleaning, I'm a wash and wear kinda girl - but fun stuff. I'm planning on going to the yarn store and Micheal's (yarn sale). Maybe I'll even swing out to the Scrapbooking Mecca at the other end of town, who knows?! The world is my oyster! I'm shaking off those February BLAHS!!!

After the week we had last week, we both deserve a breather!

It started out with Kate coming down with the flu- we thought. Being a good citizen and not wanting to overburden our already bloated medical system with something as routine as a flu consultation, I opted to treat the symptoms and that was that. Well, that isn't always that. On the third day her fever had subsided but she looked very flushed. I lifted her shirt and discovered that she looked as though she was sunburnt and her skin had a rough texture when touched. The nagging Mommy voice in my headwas saying "something is amiss here!". When the parentsof the year decided to get her to a doctor the diagnosis was ... get this.... Scarlet Fever!

I was like, "Wait a minute, she can't have scarlet fever, Beth in "Little Women" DIED of scarlet fever..." It kinda freaked me out a little... OK, a lot. The only comforting fact was that the doctor didn't seem too concerned and assured us witha good dose of anti-biotics ( Thank you God for great anti-biotics), she would be fine! And she was.

Chapter 2 - Philippe the Terrible

scarlet fever- a complication of strep throat which is HIGHLY contagious.
Philippe started complaining of a sore throat, which was more of a warning than we got from Kate, and we had him swabbed right away! Unfortunately for us, he is the WORST sick kid!!!
If I had him sick on the front end, I would have had the patience and creativity to deal with his various shenanigans - but I was tapped out. For a few days we had the privilege of having an in-house exorcist candidate! His bedroom carpet is witness to his strong desire to not take any kind of medicine. Does anyone have any ideas on how to get cherry Advil stains out of peachy pink carpeting??

Anyways......

All are well... now. Everything is back to normal.
Normal.
I still might need a strong drink by 5 tonight.
It's five o'clock somewhere!

Mama's Night Off

It's Mama's night off tonight. (... as I guiltily muse about when Papa's night is...) I actually washed and DID my hair for the first time in a long time. AND AND AND I got dressed for the first time since Wednesday.

For all of those who are uninformed about what's been going on in this house this week, I'll update you at a later date. I can't right now because I don't have a lot of time because.... I'm on my way to dinner witha friend and THEN THEN THEN we're off to the Nickleback concert with "Live" - the coolest band from the late ninties, you know, "Lightening Crashes" - as the opening act! So I'm done up like a regular Rocker Chick and will freeze my Rocker Chick Butt off in -30 but at least I'll look cool, right?? HA HA. No pun intended. Really.

Made this dress... didn't knit it of course but I found it when I was looking for another pics and couldn't resist including it.... How cute is this girl?? She couldn't complain when she was this age! 

This is one of my FAVORITE things I have ever made. I got the pattern from the popular "Stitch and Bitch" knitting book. I made the hat and designed mitts and a scarf to match. the scarf has dangling pomspoms and knit hearts on the end and the mitts had a heart sewn on the tops but they are long gone. Frozen in a snowbank somewhere or in the great lost and found box in the beyond.  

Not a great picture of K but this is a sweater - my first try at knitting with a graph - that I doctored up to my own taste but the collar, which was supposed to have a hood, didn't turn out very well. But, K loves this sweater to this day! She doesn't always like things that I make for her.... for anyone who knows me, I'm eluding to the blue dorothy dress that I threatened to give to her unborn sister because maybe she would appreciate it! What can I say I was hormonal and 7 mths. preg. 

This is me. This is the first thing I EVER knit. It is still the ugliest thing I've ever knit to date. But Boy! Was I proud! 

Here are some mitts that I made the first Xmas that I started knitting... guess what everybody got for gifts that year? 

I made this sweater in the spring of 2003 - it was one of the first big projects I did all on my own without the help of my knitting teacher. Lesson though - if you are going to invest your time, energy and patience in making a sweater, invest in half decent wool. Not with the cheap stuff that's not going to stand up well with use. This sweater is all pilled and thinning... nice, eh? 

Here's a hat that I made to match Baby G's thumbless mitts - and I also practiced my lazy daisy stitch on before moving to the sweater...Before I added the yellow cetre the embellishments were up for many interpretations - Kate thought they were colourful snowflakes and Frank said they looked like butterflies. 

I FINALLY finished Baby G's sweater that I stated in June of 2005. I HAD to finish because it wouldn't have fit her if I hadn't got my buttocks out of neutral... thus, in gear! 

Feb 13

First of all....

Happy Birthday to Steph! We don't nee dto discuss how old she is and we don't really care! Sincerely and honestly, what is age anyways?? A number, right?? (notice the older you get the more that little tidbit seems to ring true??)

My hypothesis on age is this: I think that each individual reaches a certain mental age, a youth quotient if you will, and stays there for probably the rest of their life - inside. In the meantime, the outside packaging begins to deteriorate. You "mentally" are aware you can't do certain things anymore because of your back, lack of flexibility or your heart condition. Explain that to your inner 26 year old! (Don't feel bad, I think some people only make it to 12 and sadly others just keep aging)

A good friend of mine claims that the 30's are the new 20's. (... of course when she was turning 30... but I digress...) Wwhen you really think about it this seems to hold some water on a society-wide analysis.

Think about it.... People nowadays are taking longer to finish their educations, start and establish careers, get married, have children... so, it stands to reason that what used to be the period of "mid-life" is starting later than in earlier generations. So, the 30's are the new 20's... or at least that we'll keep telling ourselves, eh?

Enough of THAT!

5 Things for today:

1. squeaky snow
2. crisp winter full moons
3. advil
4. when baby's nap...
5. cherry chip cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for Valentine's Day

Deep Thoughts.... Not Really.

Random thoughts about bathtime:

- I think my bathtub may be too sensitive to the baby soap I am currently using. It develops a soap scummy ring way too fast. My tub may be allergic to Dove baby soap. (I wonder if I should trademark that last phrase... I hope I don't get into trouble - I can't afford the real beauty lawyers I'll need.)

- sometimes I wish baby's bums came with a non-skid coating specifically for use at tub-time.
(they're like slippery little slugs when they try to sit up - it's like trying to hold onto a wet fish.)

- I always call my baby "Papoose" when I wrap her up in the towel with just her eyes and nose sticking out... and then we check out her buddy in the mirror and she laughs.

- I love the sound of the "Happy Apple"*. I don't know if it brings back long-lost memories I have of pleasant bathtimes gone by but it makes me, so appropriately, "happy".

*a Fisher Price bath toy from the 70's that bingle bongs when it rolls around on the current of the bath water - a sturdy toy, one of the only things that survived my childhood. Although, NOT in the original box with the instruction sheet. Ya can't have everything.

1-2-3-4-5

Ok.

Five things I'm grateful for or that make me happy.
(...and I'm not stealing these from my cool "Happy" calendar...)

1. fresh clean sheets.
2. bright sunlight on a cold February morning.
3. quirky funny things my kids do.
4. checking things off my "to-do" list
5. creamy hot coffe, coffee, coffee

This will be a regular new addition to the chronicles - it makes it less likely that I will go on a prolonged rant... and if I do, say, happen to go on said rant, I may be able to redeem myself.

Heh heh.

KooKooKachoooo

Well, I'd like to tell you how exciting my day was but that would be lying and I wouldn't want to be dubbed a liar now would I.

How about a girl with a wild imagination then??

Well, when I awoke this morning at the lazy hour of 10:30, I slipped out of my 400 count, creamy Egyptian sheets and rubbed my non-puffy eyes smelling the freshly brewed full-bodied Columbian coffe sneaking under my bedroom door. Ahhhh, I pondered.... Roberto is up early today, he must've went for his morning swim already. With that thought still clinging to my head, the door eased open and there he was in alll his tanned, smooth glory.

"hello sleepyhead" he grinned. He was carrying what could only be described as caffeine nectar and tender butter croissants on a tray coupled with a small vase of lilacs cut short and full. I breathed the delicious scene in.

"I thought you might need a wake-up call since you have that massage appointment in an hour..." he mused from beneath his luxurious dark lashes.

I smiled and thanked hime for the thoughtful breakfast. Where can one find a man who looks this good in linen pajama pants? Oh yeah right here in the cocoon of my room ....

Anyways, after I finished up, I wandered into my museum sized closet, to pick out the something that I would wear today. So many choices, so many colours, so many SHOES. What did I feel like today... a floral flirt, a gypsy goddess or a preppy princess? Who can decide.
I flipped my shiny, full-bodied head of blonde gold up into a twisty bun and secured it with a wooden pin so I could concentrate on the important decisions I had to make.

I finally went with Mediterranean muse in the end with a flattering skirt, a gauzy blouse with a sheath underneath... less is more they always say. Then the shoes and jewellery - which is always fun fun fun!

I rushed out the front door after a brief encounter with Roberto promising to hurry back as soon as I could get away. I hopped into the soft leather seats of my volvo? NAHHHHHH. My really nice black convertible (you got me, I know nothing about cars thus have no fantasies about them...) I zoomed off with bursts of rich bass spilling out from my path. There's nothing like the right music to fill your day. My satellite radio seemed as if it were playing each cut just for me and I thought this is the soundtrack to my life... ahhhh.

When I arrived at the spa, there were familiar cars in the lot.... could it be? No. But it was! My friends from all over had surprised me with a weekend get-together. There was Sara from her log-cabin paradise, Steph from her victorian estate, Annie from her wilderness hide-away, Renee from her Algonquin edged sanctuary and Bobby from her Garden district cottage. In the dimly lit lobby, the scent of gardenias was heavy in the air. There they were, some of my most favorite people in the world, waiting for me. They were all clad in the thick white robes that are standard to places like that and each held a crystal flute filled with mimosa. Their happy smiles met mine when they noticed that I had arrived. Our excited chatter echoed off the frescoed walls and my joy could be barely contained. So many people I loved in the same room... For a moment I almost forgot about Roberto waiting for me at home! Bah, who cares about Roberto! I'd much rather spend a week with my friends talking about absolutely nothing in particular! (with some chocolate and alcohol thrown in ther for good measure!)

We spent the morning having decadent treatments of all sorts and chattering all the while. Then lunch arrived in a flurry of activity - it was a buffet! How could I choose, there were all my favorites. Wendy's Big Bacon Classic Combos, Thai dishes, Pancakes soggy with real maple syrup, mashed potatoes, poutine with real squeaky cheese, Vito's pizza and Caesar salad, nachoes smoothered in cheese and sour cream, (can you tell I'm on a diet) - I could go on. (and on and on....)

My massage was the best I'd ever had.... it lasted for what seemed like forever. And I didn't spend the whole time obssessing about when it was going to be over. The masseur just let me fall asleep and left me there until I felt like getting up... *sigh*

then....

WAWWWW
WAWWWW
WAWWWW

Huh? Was that the alarm? Or the baby? Oh, the Baby.
*sigh* I rubbed my eyes with my cracked and dry eczema fingers and searched for my glasses which I succeeded in knocking onto the floor and under the bed. Scrambling under the bed, with the intensifying complaints of my youngest hammering into the side of my head, I finally groped through enough dust bunnies to locate the said specs.
I found my baby girl wet, hungry and quite POed that I couldn't move any faster in my groggy state. When I finally provided her with what she was searching for, I recalled the memory of my parallel life...

Hah. That would be nice.

I watched the warm, round peaches and cream cheek snuggle in close.

But... this isn't as bad either - just different. :)