The crazies have not been easy to keep at bay.

Posted on 09/06/2008 by Barb | Comments (2)
Filed under : Random Thoughts

I don't like to talk about a lot of really personal stuff, and I promise, no photos.

Andrea really has been overwhelmed with crazies lately .... all that goes along with being pregnant, getting ready for the baby, keeping up with home routine, and being crazy-busy at work.

Another really, really overwhelming "crazy" she didn't mention, that we all in fact could barely say out loud even among ourselves until the last few days, is that her dad, my husband, was diagnosed recently with colorectal cancer.

What a shock! The whole family has ricocheted between denial and sheer panic for the last two weeks! We’ve kind of settled in for the moment at least at very concerned but optimistic.

We’re through the diagnostic and screening processes. The tumor was found on routine colonoscopy. It is malignant, Stage I or possibly very early Stage II. The doctors assure us that we have every reason to be optimistic that the tumor can be removed completely and he will lead a perfectly normal life.

So in a couple of days we meet with the surgical team to discuss next steps and set up a date for his surgery. Then, once all the pathology results are in, we meet with the oncology team to decide if chemo and/or radiation will follow.

So the bottom line on colonoscopies: Ya, the prep is gross and awful, and the colonoscopy itself sounds so rude and crude a person doesn't want to think about it, much less talk about it! But folks, if you’ve achieved the age where your doctor says you should have that routine colonoscopy, or if someone in your family has had colon cancer, don't put it off like my husband did. It might be icky and no fun at all, but it pales in comparison to hearing the words “we’ve found ...colon cancer.”

We'll be beating back the crazies on this one for a while yet so keep the needles handy. Clickity, clickity, click ……

You can say a lot without saying a lot

Posted on 06/18/2008 by Barb | Comments (0)
Filed under : Babies!, Random Thoughts

Monday I was at a job location with some coworkers, all women. We’re all about the same age. We four were the advance crew, setting up for a project prior to the client’s arrival the next morning.

CR says something like, "I thought MG might come over and help set up … but I guess she’s just planning on showing up for lunch tomorrow, when the hard work is all done." (Now understand that this was all in good fun and we'd have carried on the same babble if she were standing right there ... and she'd be dishing it right back at us. She’s a stitch.)

“Oh, did you hear one of her girls is expecting, again?” asked SW.

CR said, “How many grandchildren does that make for her?”

“I don’t know but it's a bunch,” said ML.

"About a hundred and twelve, I think," chortled SW. She asked ML, “You have grandkids, don’t you?”

ML said, “Ya, from my husband’s side, not mine … but I still consider them mine. We have two.”

I’m saying nothing, nothing at all, just keeping quiet, staying on-task, doing what needs to get done through all of this idle chatter.

SW says, “You know, the three of us (referring to herself, CR and me) should have a contest to see which of us gets to be a grandma first.”

I stopped in mid-motion, turned around and looked from SW to CR to ML and back again. I could feel myself slowly turning color, on fire, exploding ... and I blurted out, in spite of clamping my hands tightly over my mouth … “I WIN!!! I WIN!!!”

Andrea, your turn ….

Must post … must post!

Posted on 06/10/2008 by Barb | Comments (0)
Filed under : Knitting, Random Thoughts, Show-Off Ruffle Skirt

I wish I had more knitting progress to report, but I’ve only put a few more inches on the baby blanket. It’s very pretty, though. And soft.

I love Andrea’s flirty red skirt. She wore it today and it looks just as great as you’d think it would. Nice job, Andrea!

I have some pictures of hail that fell a couple of weeks ago. That was a little interesting. Storms are such a love-hate thing. Love the energy of them, but hate it when they punch holes in the hostas and cut the throats of the irises.

We’re getting along fine with Steph’s cats. Elliot likes to hide under things and Bo insists on being as high up as he can get. So it’s unusual to get them in the same photo.

Also, last weekend a very special niece, Ali (right), came to visit. And Steph (left) is home on vacation this week.

So things are busy and good. The knitting will be there next week!

The best laid plans …

Posted on 05/08/2008 by Barb | Comments (4)
Filed under : Random Thoughts

I’m taking my long-term cat-care-provider responsibilities v-e-r-y seriously. Very seriously indeed. I’m wanting to be the best long-term cat-care-provider in the whole world! (It really eats into the knitting time, so not much to report on that front.)

So on the recommendation of Alex and Andrea, I decided to stop free-feeding (they’re a bit portly), and serve them Science Diet rather than the “grocery store” cat food delivered with them last week.

Everyone I talked to agreed: Transitioning them over the course of several days to a week is the way to do it, very important.

So after work yesterday I bought me some Science Diet … not too much, though, just in case they don’t like it or it doesn’t agree with the little darlings. And I put together a well-thought-out transition plan.

I divided out the remaining old food.
I combined it with an appropriate ratio of the new food.
I put each day’s allotment in a baggie.
I labeled them: Thurs 1:5 (new:old); Fri 2:4; Sat 3:3, Sun 4:2, Mon 5:1.
Tuesday they’d get all Science Diet.

(You know where this is going, don't you?)

I put all the little baggies in a little brown Starbucks bag.
I closed up the bag of Science Diet.
I set the Starbuck’s bag beside the Science Diet.
I neatened up the counter.
I went and watched American Idol.
Eventually I went to bed.

This morning:

Bo, you’re so busted!

So … I think I have my answer to the question of whether the cats will like Science Diet! But, is it fact or myth that normal, healthy cats will get sick if not carefully transitioned to new food? (If it’s fact, I’ll spare you the photos!)

If you look reeeeally hard, you'll find some knitting content

Posted on 05/05/2008 by Andrea | Comments (2)
Filed under : Random Thoughts

You could say I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. Since my vacation, I've only had time to go through one day's worth of the 900 photos. Rather than waiting until they're all done, I thought I'd show the photos I have ready so far.

They're from our half-day in Dublin, when we first arrived in Ireland. We wandered around the city, saw the Book of Kells
(very impressive), strolled through St. Stephen's Green (sort of Dublin's equivalent to Central Park), window-shopped Grafton Street, and got a peek at the Dublin Spire, which was near our B&B.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

We were quite jetlagged so we didn't really do much that day. The next day, we left Dublin behind (until the last part of our trip), and we took a bus across Ireland to Galway, on the West coast. I was enchanted with Galway. Maybe when I have time to go through some more of my photos and post them here, you will see why.

In the meantime, instead of finishing with my photos I'm trying to finish staining and sealing our bedroom closet door before I go out of town on Wednesday. I didn't realize I'd chosen an oil-based stain and that it would require far more time to dry than a water-based stain. So once you factor in drying times, I will just barely have enough days to get this done before I leave on my work trip to California. Nothing like trying to get ready for a business trip and having to finish up a home improvement project at the same time.

Still, it's spring and it feels good to be busy beautifying my house and getting things done. I have big plans for fixing up our house this summer. Probably nothing dramatic, as far as most people are concerned, but neither Brad nor I are very handy, so every little bit seems like a major accomplishment.

And if you're still reading this far, I guess I'd better throw in a knitting update. I have actually had a little time to work on the Show-Off Ruffle Skirt. Once I finished the bobble section and dropped all the stitches, the project has gone from agonizingly slow to lighting fast. At this rate, I'll be done in no time!

Before and After

Posted on 04/29/2008 by Barb | Comments (2)
Filed under : Random Thoughts

Steph recently went to a sheep-shearing festival somewhere in Massachusetts, and sent these pictures.

While she was there, she bought some bamboo fiber to spin. I can hardly wait to see what she does with it. I think she said she’s planning on spinning some lace-weight.

She’s off to Prague on Thursday. I’m envious. Bon voyage and safe travels, Steph! Have a blast, and send e-mail updates if you have a chance!

Expecting house guests ...

Posted on 04/28/2008 by Barb | Comments (2)
Filed under : Knitting, Random Thoughts

I haven’t had anything exciting to post ... until now. For knitting, I’m just plugging along on the all-ribbing sweater for Alex. What's more exciting (I think) is that Steph’s two cats, Bo and Elliot) will be coming for an extended stay. I’m expecting them to be delivered this weekend. I do have to take care of some things before they arrive (e.g., lace curtains and a couple of area rugs that look and feel a lot like they could be scratching poles). They’re good ol’ boys and very different from one another. One likes to perch up high, the other finds the lowest, darkest spot he can get into.

Even with the claws, they’re really no trouble at all.

I keep thinking Andrea is going to post up somthing about her Ireland trip, and since she hasn't I will share one photo with you:

I hope you don't mind, Andrea. (It looks to me like you're enjoying yourself!)

Ireland sock choices

Posted on 04/06/2008 by Andrea | Comments (1)
Filed under : Knitting, Random Thoughts

This will probably be my last post until at least April 19th, because I'm going to be off on my international adventure (Ireland, that is). I've narrowed down the travel knitting possibilities to three sock patterns. I've always enjoyed bringing socks on trips; I think they're the perfect travel knitting because they're small but still take a bit of time to knit. I highly doubt I'll knit three pairs of socks during my trip, but a girl's gotta have some options.

I haven't even swatched for any of these. I'm just going to bring the patterns and the yarn and a couple of needle sizes and see what happens. I mean, I've got almost 13 hours of travel time (each way!) to keep myself occupied, so I'm not too worried about it.

Here they are:

• Marina Piccola by Kate Gilbert. The instant I saw this sock pattern I knew I had to knit it.
• Quill Lace Socks from Knitty. An oldie but goodie from spring 2007. I do love me some lace, and this looks like it's easy enough that it should make for good travel knitting.
• Viking Socks by Lykkefanten. Well, I'm going to Ireland so I should do some cables, right? And these look exquisite.

I'm sure mom will do a great job holding down the fort here while I'm gone. I'll be back in a couple of weeks!

Influenza …

Posted on 03/24/2008 by Barb | Comments (1)
Filed under : Random Thoughts

For the record, I don’t get sick. Ever. Don’t have time for it. Don’t have patience for it. In fact, even though everyone else at work has been getting sick, when I was out last week it didn’t occur to people that I would be home sick … because that just never happens. (And I don’t get snowed in, either.)

But I had a f-e-v-e-r and it flattened me! And a cough-til-you-think-you're gonna-die hack. So four days into it, I'd had enough and saw the doctor. She said “influenza … should we test to see if it’s A or B?” I said, "does it matter which I have?" She said, "not really but some people want to know ...." I said, "don't care, just wanna feel better."

So I got my prescription for Robitussin with codeine, went home and knocked myself out with the drugs. (Okay, enough whimpering ... I’m over it.)

Moving on, Andrea’s mother-in-law hosted Easter dinner. As in previous years, I brought a big vegetable tray … the ceramic bunny holds the dip. Aw, fur cute!

The tray and the simple hydrangea …

… were a huge contrast with the snow we’d gotten the day before, and the day before that, and Easter Sunday, and the snow scheduled for tomorrow and next weekend ... will it every end??

I really, really, really need it to be Spring!

(Knitting update: I still haven’t started a knitting project so there’s nothing to report on that front. Sorry.)

Happy Vernal Equinox!

Posted on 03/20/2008 by Andrea | Comments (2)
Filed under : Random Thoughts

It's the first day of spring. YAY!

, originally uploaded by AMK.

I have little to report, knitting-wise. I've been working on my Show-Off Ruffle Skirt, but haven't gotten far on it at all. I've had to take a few days off from knitting because I hurt my hands cutting a bunch of thick plastic at work the other day (no, I didn't cut my hands - just wore out the old muskles).

And mostly I've just been sleeping at every available opportunity, trying to fight off this chest cold that everyone seems to be getting. I know Mom has been knocked out by it for the past couple of days. I hope you feel better soon, Mom!

Anyway, I plan on taking photos of these flowers as they grow and bloom. Since nothing is really growing outside yet, despite the technical arrival of spring, I'm looking forward to seeing these green things grow.