Monday, July 31, 2006

This darn job!

Don't you just hate when you've had a really good weekend, but Monday comes along and you have no time to post about your really good weekend? My day has been like that. And then of course the 'puter chose to be it's typical uncooperative self, so I couldn't get pictures into my blog either.

I got to meet YH in Ann Arbor. It was the coolest thing ever. I haven't been in the right place at the right time to meet other celebs in the area and I'm ok with that....now. I must have been earning much celeb karma points or something, because not only did I get to see her, hear her talk, she will hopefully remember me because of what she did for ME. She was up there talking about her book and cracking us up no end (like when my 10 year old piped up during the Willy Warmer part and said loudly "What's that?") After I crawled back out from under my chair she shared some more humorous stories with us about her book tour and radio interviews. At the end she gave us an opportunity to ask questions. I figured with all of her experience with radio hosts and interviewers who are non-knitters (as if) she would be the perfect person to answer my question. I asked her "What do you tell non-knitters when they don't understand why knitters feel the need to blog or document their WIP's or FO's?" I went on to explain that my fiance doesn't understand the obsession with knitting, but is completely baffled by our (knitters) need to talk about it, type about it and take pictures of it all. I even mentioned how he asked for the digital camera back because "all you do is take pictures of knitting with it anyway". Stephanie immediately took charge of the situation, and instead of a few purls(lol) of wisdom or a witty comeback she said "What, do you want a note or something?" and as I was thinking about that she immediately dictated a petition to whomever was quick enough to grab pen and paper (thank you to the fast writer) and after she finished dictating said petition she directed everyone (I mean EVERYONE) in the room to sign it. Needless to say I left there armed with a personally dicated petition, signed by practically everyone in attendance, including Stephanie herself. I'm picking my moment, to spring it on SO, the next time he gets uppity about my "little hobby". Or thinks I'm silly for wanting to meet an author who won't remember me anyway. Hmmmph!

I was able to get my picture taken with YH, thanks to my friend/personal photographer. I also got my
picture taken with another knitter standing in line, working on the same hippo beast sock I am. She was still on the first, but the gold color and the recognizable pattern caught my eye instantly. I only wish I had gotten her name.

I was able to finally put a face with a blog, when I met Ms. Frottez herself .
She was kind enough to join some of Knit Detroit (she wasn't in the picture though) after, for a bite to eat at Parthenon and then we wandered over to Busy Hands, hoping YH was not too wiped out to make an appearance. We didn't see her, but we enjoyed 20% off of our purchases, so all was not lost!

It was so nice to see so many people there, I only wish we had name tags or something that had our blog names on them, cuz then we could have made so many more friends in person, and not just in cyber space. What a great group, it was a fantastic experience.

I can't believe how much energy Stephanie must have, she stayed well past 6 to sign every book and pose for umpteen million photos, no bathroom or food breaks. She's truly an amazing person, very real, very everyday. We were all very lucky to meet such a person.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Where's the summer going?

I can't believe how fast this summer is flying by. I have been here, there and almost everywhere (not really, just feels like it) and knitting when I can. I'm almost finished with the first Hippo Beast sock, just about to the toe decreases-finally. I should avoid SSS since I'll be doing the second sock toe up to keep the pattern symmetrical. Sounds good anyway.

I have pictures to post, but no time for the slow process of uploading them to my blog, so I promise, those will appear soon. I have birthday pictures, Hippo progress pictures, and maybe some others that I've forgotten.

I'm back to teaching an exercise class for the rest of the summer, to gear up for my regular class that starts up in the fall. If only we could have cocktails AND work out at the same time, now that's time management! Oh well, it makes the drive home more bearable though, knowing I can pig out and have a drink when I get home. There's more to life than alcohol, I certainly don't think I have a problem with it or anything, but nothing tops off a workout better.

Hope you're all doing well.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Have I lost my mind?

Just because I saw someone crocheting a dishcloth, does that mean I have to monkey-see and make my own? I guess so. This baby was handled on our drive back up to the lake Saturday morning. (Not a bad deal-work 2 days and head back to the lake for 2 days-I could get used to that schedule) While I normally despise crochet, this was a very quick fix for those never ending FO's that seem to be taunting me with their in-complete-ness. So there! Plus I like the colors and it will be less dreary when I have to clean my kitchen next. (Crap, I think I left some dishes in the sink-those will be waiting for me tonight!)

Speaking of never ending FO's, here's another progress shot of the Hippo sock. I chose not to torture you all by snapping another lakeside photo, although Saturday and Sunday's weather made last week pale in comparison. I'm sporting the glowing skin to prove it.

I am 3 rows away from finishing the leg chart and starting the heel flap-finally. I only managed to get this far on such a beautiful, boat worthy weekend, because I got to enjoy a couple of hours of quiet knitting time whilst enjoying I think the second Mission Impossible movie at the glorious Grayling, MI Emergency Room, all the while convincing my SO that leaving was not a good idea, since it wasn't going to fix itself - Men! Yepper, you heard (read) me right, the ER. He decided our weekend needed a bit more excitement so he livened it up by slicing his leg open on the boat prop, about 10 p.m. Saturday night. He had been working on the boat all day and he and his brother took it out for a test spin, and after encountering more troubles with the engine and fixing them on the water, brought the boat back to shore, was covering it for the evening due to impending storms, and hit the prop with his knee on his way off the back of the boat into the water. Let me tell you, I've heard of others injuring themselves on boat propellors before but until I actually saw the aftermath, I will never view a boat prop as casually again. I even looked at the prop the next day, while it sat motionless in the water, and I shuddered just visualizing the previous evening's event. For something seemingly dull and thick it sure made a mess of his knee. Fortunately he didn't cut anything really important, so the bleeding was under control before we went to the hospital, only to be aggravated by the doctor. I'm not sure if he felt better messing it all up again, to achieve a greater sense of accomplishment once the bleeding was controlled again or what. I was there, close at hand to monitor the repair work and when the nurse had produced a suture needle too small for him to use, I offered up a yarn needle since I had my knitting with me, but he politely declined and waited for the proper size suture needle. I feel pretty confident that should the need arise, I could step in with my embroidery needles (yarn needles are probably too big for suturing) and handle the procedure on my own. I'll add that to my usual medical kit of duct tape and super glue and go confidently on my way. I'll be sure to offer my services to all the guys at work, since they come to me on occasion for minor cuts and splinters and the like. They'll be very happy to learn that I have a new skill to show off. Anyway, this is why I was able to make progress on my Hippo sock, considering that I didn't do much knitting this weekend due to beautiful weather. SO is limping along, not a very happy camper today back at work for sure, but upon inspection his beautifully sutured smiley face under his left knee cap is going to be fine in a few weeks. As long as he doesn't get silly and try any superhero work stuff to interfere with the healing. Still, I can't help but clutch my knee every time I visualize his accident. Sheesh!

I have to teach my Total Body Conditioning class in Royal Oak, so while I didn't exercise last week I'll at least have a snazzy tan and maybe they won't notice me huffing and puffing up front. Wish me luck.

Have a great night!


Thursday, July 06, 2006

Hello Reality!

Well, my birthday, I mean my vacation is now over and I'm back to work. Yippee!! I'll try to contain my excitement and keep my cartwheels to a minimum for your sake! How come you're always tired-er (it's a word) when you get back from vacation? Like you need a day off to recover from crossing over that point of vacation to non-vacation territory? Today will be a long day, to say the least, and I'm just eating my lunch.

I took 2 pictures while on vacation, because frankly, I was lazy and didn't feel like struggling to document my trip. I took 2 to prove that I was a.) knitting, b.) at the lake, and c.) consuming alcohol. All vacation attributes for sure.
See:

These are those pesky Poma, Pota, Hippo socks that have been really giving me a workout. I've frogged them (ok, Amby did it) tinked back, used lifelines and now I'm finally (I hope) on the upward swing. Good thing, since I'm about to repeat the chart for the 3rd and final time. And no, you can't prove that simultaneous alcohol consumption had ANYTHING to do with my progress (or lack of). Anyway, I have idle knitting time to look forward to tonight, while darling daughter flips her little heart out at gymnastics. I hope to survive the chart stone cold sober.

So, anyway, happy birthday to ME, I'm deciding to be 29 again, give or take a decade, since I figure I'm old enough now to pick my age or repeat any that were somewhat memorable. 29 was a good/bad year. I discovered I was a Celiac after my daughter's first birthday. I almost died, I think. You decide. I'm 5'8" and I checked into the hospital at 88 pounds. I couldn't eat, sleep or hold my baby. It felt like near-death. It took them 8 days to determine I was a celiac. Those days felt like years, since every day I got weaker and couldn't see/hold my baby and I had a spouse that was "afraid" of hospitals. I had family and friends around me, luckily, and they are the only thing that kept me strong. On the 8th day they figured it out, changed my diet, weaned me off the steroids that they swore were going to "fix" me and released me on the 11th day. I went home, weak, sickly and scared to death to eat anything that may cause a relapse. I caught everything under the sun over the next several months, including pink eye (gotta love daycare sometimes), strep throat, sinus infections and the like. It took me months to get some weight on me, all the while trying to raise an active 1 year old, almost by myself. But I got better, I got stronger, and now I think I'm pretty healthy. And DD doesn't have it, she was tested at age 2, and will never go thru what I did, thank God. So that was a pretty monumental year for me, good and bad. And dammit, if I choose to repeat that age, I think I've earned it!

Anyway, back to work for me, hope you all had a great 4th!


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