Playing Hookey

I took the day off of work today so I could get ready for my daughter's baby shower. We have people coming in from out of town, including my favorite twin girls! So today I went shopping. If you've never been to Geneva, Illinois you are missing lots. Especially if you're a shopper! It's a quaint little town with tons of great shops. I don't think you could do it all in a day. Maybe a weekend. So today I'm taking you to some of my favorite shops. Before we go we have to get cash, lots of cash.

The first stop is The Little Traveler. It's been around since I was a kid and I'm not going to tell you how long ago that was! It's grown since then but it keeps getting better and better.My husband says my eyes light up when I walk in here. You'll see why. Oh, aren't these pretty?I must stay out of this department.Ahh, yes, this is where I need to be today.They have the cutest baby clothes. And I'm all about that today. Oh, man I can't wait. Here's something that would great in my dining room. Just in case you wondered why I took a picture of it. Ooops, $2800, can't afford it this trip.

I don't need to go in this room. But I did anyway and bought some copper ornaments because the colors I'm using this Christmas are copper and sage.Darn I wish she was having a girl. I could do girly things so well.I'll have to stick in this corner from now on.

Next stop the Paper Merchant so I can get wrapping paper and ribbon.They have the cutest cards here.

Ok That's done. Now I need to go home and wrap everything. I'll take you to more Geneva stores later. It's a lot of fun. Even Ellen DeGeneras had a segment on how fun it is.

Before I forget, here's my latest socks. They are the Nutkin pattern in Wollmeise yarn in the colorway of Spice Market. I really like how they turned out.

This last week was the 1 yr anniversary of my father's death. I'm choosing to write about him because he led a very interesting life. In my later years I came to be very proud of him, in my teens I rebelled at his old fashioned ways. But when all was said and done, he was always there for me. And no one can take that away from him. My fathers family came from Sweden, his Grandfather was the kings horseman. When my father was 4 yrs old he was visiting his Grandfather and whenever the king would pass by all the children were supposed to run in their houses to not disturb him. Well, my father was a bit of a rebel (like his daughter) and he stood by the side of the road when the kings coaches came by. He waved at the king and said "Hi King", not really knowing that the king was someone special, the king stopped his caravan and sat and talked to my father. I'm sure he got in trouble for it later but it led to lots of family stories for the rest of his life. My father also quit school at 17 because he didn't understand English very well so he kept being held back in school. He had his father sign him into the Navy. Three weeks after being stationed at Pearl Harbor it was bombed. He was in the head when it happened. He said he knew right away so he went to wake up the other guys on the ship. Since he was a newby they thought he was imagining it. They quickly believed him. The ship he was on he had just traded with another friend to be on. His friend wanted to stay on the Indiana so my father went to the USS Reid. The Indiana was sunk that morning. His friend didn't make it. A lot of people didn't make it. Even when my father was dying he always said he thought he was so blessed because he should of died that day. He went on to fight in the war. A couple of weeks after he was stationed at a base the USS Reid was hit and sunk. Two times he escaped death during that war.Then he met and fell in love with my mother. They were married for 56 yrs. He went back to school and became a math teacher and she a nurse. They raised 3 children and helped me raise my 3 children after their father left.

And he had a knack for running into celebrities. I'm telling you wherever he went someone famous would be there as if they were just waiting to meet him. Here he is when my husband and I took him and my mother to Washington DC when they opened the WWII memorial. We were at the Navy Museum and in walks Tony Curtis.

This would happen all the time with him. He was a private pilot and one time he was out in California, I'm not sure if I'm getting the story completely accurate, but somehow he ended up giving Buddy Hackett a ride to Chicago.

He was obsessed with having everything taken care of for my mother and us before he died. He'd call my husband over and have him fix things he couldn't do anymore. About a week before he died he woke up, which he seldom did at the end. He asked for my brother. My brother lives in Cincinnati, about a 6 hr drive from here. We called my brother to come home thinking he was going to give us words of wisdom to live with for the rest of our lives. My brother drove here and sat beside my dad and asked him what he wanted. He said "Tell Jody the extra batteries to the camera are in the camera bag". We all just cried with laughter.

We didn't agree on politics or religion, in fact, far from it. But we did agree that love is what really matters. I miss him so much.

I was going to post a picture of my most recent socks but I accidently erased it. So you'll have to take my word for it that they turned out beautiful.

Busy week

Oh, what a busy week I've had. I went with my daughter to her Dr appt and got to see my Grandson on ultrasound! It's so fun to see the little guy. I wish I could see him in person. But only 6 more weeks! I'm getting terrified that we won't be able to get her to the hospital on time. Because of her liver transplant we have to take her to downtown Chicago, which is about 1 hr away in no traffic. And since this is technically her second delivery (She had a stillborn baby last year) it will go a lot faster. I'm going to make a list of all the hospitals on the way and give one to my son-in-law too. I'm throwing her a baby shower in 2 wks and preparations are going well. Thank God I decided to have it at a local Country Club so there's no cleaning or cooking! That was a good decision on my part. And it's not that much more expensive.

I'm in a group on Ravelry (Reclaiming the House) that gets you inspired to be more organized. I joined the decluttering challenge and I've been busy going through all my drawers and cabinets to get rid of things I don't need. With my mom moving in and bringing her treasures my house has become very unorganized. But I'm zipping right along with the best of them.

Can you stand it? Of course the other 10 million gadgets that I never use went into an empty picnic basket for safe keeping. You never know when I'll need them.

I got 2 boxes of goodies from swaps I joined. The first one is from Deborah in the BBQ swap.

The next is from Nancy and it's for the Summer Swap.Finally, I survived the Taste of Chicago. I purposely work evenings so I don't have to deal with the millions of commuters everyday to downtown Chicago. It is usually of very relaxing time riding the train back and forth to the city. Of course, there's always Sox and Cubs commuters to deal with once in awhile (cubs fans are the worse). But every year for a week and 1/2 there is the Taste of Chicago. It's a total nightmare for commuters. It's 90% drunk college students trying to show everyone how cool they are (eyeballs rolling). The worst night of all is July 3rd when they do the big firework show. They have armed security on the train throwing people off left and right. This year someone on the train before mine apparently died of alcohol poisoning! This is what it looked like trying to get on the train at 11:30 at night.

But I survived it thanks to my knitting friend Mary who finally found me and we just sat there and knit while everyone else was throwing punches.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008)

This just makes me happy!

A Friendly day at the Dentist!!

I went to the dentist office this morning. Nobody is more afraid of the dentist then I am. I had scaling done the last time I was there and they told me if I didn't start using my water pick I'd be in serious trouble. I have never been one to floss or water pick. It just takes too much time! I'm a busy woman. But the thought of gum surgery had me scared. So I have been water picking at least twice a week. I try for more but I'm still not real good. I went for my check up this morning and after her probing in my mouth with sharp instruments of destruction and saying into the computer "Bleeding, Bleeding, Bleeding" ( I thought I was going to have a heart attack) she announced that my gums are doing excellent!! I couldn't believe it. I guess it does pay to listen to them. Who knew.

Here's my first socks for the SOS2008. It took a little less then 2 wks to complete. I should have 5 or 6 done by the end.





And here's a wine bottle cozy I made for a swap partner. That's all the knitting I've done. I've been too busy water picking!