I Will...

I will blog today. I will blog today. I will blog today.

Later.

Need vs Want

I have no idea if everyone is neurotic about need/want items or if it's just me.

Seriously.

I grew up poor. Like- welfare, free cheese, and 4 sizes too big hand me down clothes- poor.

Anyways, I sometimes get things that I want into my head and can't shake it out.

Like a stroller that I want. Jamie is the last kid I'll ever have. I know from experience that a good stroller is necessary. I have a battle-ram travel system stroller that weighs about 49 pounds, takes up every last inch of my trunk and is impossible to steer. I want something small, that can fit in my trunk with extra room for stuff, that I can take out one handed and not feel like I'm going to burst a back muscle. Seriously.

I did research. I want an Uppababy G-luxe stroller. It's $160 bucks. Youch!!

There's no way in hell I'm paying that much. Sigh.

And LLBean....oh, don't get me started. They have a new Signature line. I want everything...

These!! $100 bucks for shoes that I can only wear 5 months out of the year and I can't chase down kids in!?! Do I need these?? No.

I really want to go places and see things. Fiber fest season is coming. Hubs gave clearance for me to go to WOOL....sigh.

Sometimes I feel like I'm back in the 6th grade, wishing that money grew on trees.

Oh well, at least I have knitting to keep my mind busy!

Distractions

I know I said I wouldn't do it, but I did. I started a new sweater.

The Boy had to go into the hospital for a quick surgery on Friday and I needed something to keep my hands busy. I'm still working on the cardigan, but now I'm using 2 balls of laceweight. Not too good for travel. Or mindless knitting. Which is what I needed on Friday.

Why is knitting so therapeutic? I would have gone nuts if I had to wait repeatedly and not have something to do. Hubs was half way there before The Boy even went in to the OR. The half hour or so that the surgery took was the longest and I was so happy to see the doctor and to hear him say that everything was fine.

Recovery was difficult and I never, ever want to repeat it. The Boy was not happy and pulled out his IV- yikes.

Anyways, it's over. The Boy is doing fantastic and we've been reminded just how blessed we are to have 2 healthy boys to love daily.

The Problem with Laceweight

I'm still working on the laceweight cardigan. It's coming out lovely and I do enjoy working on it. The problem? It is taking SO long. I'm somewhat of an instant-gratification kinda girl so this is an issue.

Part of me wants to cast on another project, But if I do that, then this thing is NEVER getting done.

And I want it done.

It takes between 13 and 22 minutes to complete one row. It depends on how many stitches I drop (happens repeatedly every row...grr) or what's going on around me. It's not the "watch tv and have a chat" kind of project. It's like doing intricate lace, but without intentional holes.

Anyways, I'm up to about 11 out of 13 inches on the body. I'm hoping to have all 13 done today and start the decreases for the arms soon.

"Friend" in Need.

Questions:

Say I had a "friend" who wanted to go somewhere drive-able for a weekend.

Perhaps that "friend" wanted to knit and spin for the entire time, and when not knitting or spinning, was eating, drinking, and laughing with others who were either knitting, spinning, eating, drinking or laughing too.

And, say that the "friend" wanted a yarn store or two to be close by...you know, in case she was into that sort of thing....or maybe to take a class- dyeing or intermediate spinning would be nice.

The "friend" had only a small amount of money, so ideas like Squam (I dream of doing this....someday) or Omega Institute were out, but staying at a bed and breakfast might work.

This "friend" has a few weekends open in the spring and early summer.

Any ideas??

Oh, Delightful.

Not pregnancy, only PMS. YAY! (As if the anxiety, breakouts, bloating, headaches and mood swings weren't nearly enough to satisify the period gods.)

Yuck.

Sensitive.

I've always had a sensitive body. Not as a mind-set or emotionally, I mean my body is sensitive, both inside and out. I'm sensitive to some foods, allergic to most kinds of fabric cleaners, and I sometimes have a tough time with touch- which is difficult to explain to most people.

I also have difficulty with hormones, as you can tell from my two very trying pregnancies. The past week and a half I've been tired and nauseous all day. I thought it was from drinking, after having a glass (gasp! one glass!) of wine with dinner last week.

Yesterday was the worst. I felt like I was going to hurl all day. Today I felt a bit better and I took a nap this afternoon which helped.

Tonight I'm back to feeling like I'm green. What the hell is going on? I have no other symptoms, other than the tiredness.

There is NO WAY that I could be pregnant...the doctor was kind enough to tear out, stomp on and burn my tubes during my c-section (per my wish) last year. And no, I'm not going out to buy a test.

Perhaps it's just a stomach virus running its course. Funny thing is, no one else in the house has it.

Sigh. Now what?

Gold!

Like I said yesterday, I finished my sweater at Jay Peak, VT.

This sweater was worked on for 16 days straight. Was it the most difficult pattern? No. But there were some days that I knit on 4 hours of broken sleep. Some days I knit with a baby in one arm and a 4 year old sitting next to me, chattering non-stop. With a life as crazy as a stay-at-home mom's can sometimes get, it's a miracle that this thing was finished.

Hubs and I planned a weekend of skiing (he skis, I don't. I was to rest, read and knit. That's exactly what I did.) and it happened to fall at the end of the olympics. I was able to knit on the way up, which was a life saver. Seriously. We had nasty bouts of rain, wind, ice and snow on and off the whole time. I'm a nervous passenger. When I felt the need to scream, I just knit. And knit. And knit. It was wonderful.

We stopped in White River Junction, VT- the US Men's Hockey team was playing at 3 and we needed a break anyways. We drove through town, looking for anywhere that would have a tv tuned into the game. We found a place called the Filling Station. It was Nascar from one end to the other, but they were kind enough to put the game on for us. I broke out the sweater, much to the dismay of the other men at the bar. (Hubs is used to it, and it never bothered him anyways.)

We left after goal number 5. As we were packing up to leave, the bartender came over and told me that my knitting was a first. One of the other patrons joked that I "sullied the bar". I told him that if I sullied his bar, it had nothing to do with the knitting. They laughed, wished us safe travels and off we went.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. I enjoyed Jay Peak's new hotel, the Tram Haus. Lovely people, great food...good times.

But now it's back to the daily grind.

But hey, at least I have a new sweater and a gold medal!