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!

Rain, Rain, and more Rain.

It's been very wet here. We have had a bad storm a day for a week. Yesterday was the first nice day. I think all week will be nice. I'm very upset because I was waiting and waiting for my peonies to bloom and then they bloomed during the storms. This is what I found.

They are always so beautiful and I love to put them in vases. But now I have withered peonies! Oh well, there's always next year. Here's another thing I find when I go out. Karen is obsessed with the big evergreen tree in my back yard. She knows there's bunny's in there. So everyday she pulls me over so she can stick her head under the tree.

I don't know how many are left because our cat, Princess, has been gifting them to us on our back stoop. UGH, the joys of animals.

Finally, I completed the socks I was making for my son Kyle. He's the middle child and is always complaining that we forget about him. The truth is, the other two cause me so much worry, I know I don't have to worry about him.

Mom is getting settled in and so far so good. Until next time.

Pat

My baby is home with me once more. Only for 2 weeks but I'm going to enjoy him while I have him. Here he is with his girlfriend, Tiegan, at my daughters wedding.

He's in the Marines and even though he's only stationed for right now in San Diego I worry about him all the time. It's funny that way. A mothers love never stops no matter how old they get. Speaking of that my daughter, Megan, is expecting a baby boy in August. She's had a very hard life. She was born with a condition called Biliary Atresia. Basically she had no ducts in her liver. She was givin a 5% chance to live to see her first birthday. Back then they didn't have liver transplants and they knew she wouldn't survive without one. She made it 26 yrs without one and last year, Casey, came home from the Marines to give her part of his. She is now healthy and pregnant! Baby is doing fine. One of my other things I like to do is card making. So my friends and I got together and we made her invitations to a shower I am giving her next month.Didn't they turn out cute? I can't wait to be a Grandma! Oh and speaking of Grandma's, my mom is finally moving in this weekend. Here is her bathroom that we just finished. I say "we" loosely because my husband did all the work. I just supervised.I'll show you her room after we get things in there. We had to make sure everything was handicapped accessible. She's using a walker pretty much right now but I don't know how long that will last.

And finally on to knitting news. I finished my scarf for my son, Kyle's, friend. He used to be a district manager at Sephora and when the vendors would give him things he'd give them to me. I have so much make up and beauty products now. It's a girls dream come true. So I like to make him things when I can.

This is a continuation from my last post. Let's hope everything works this time. I finished my Loopy Ewe May sock kit. This was my first toe up sock so I'm very proud of it. Thank you Wendy for showing me how to do it!

I promised I'd talk about Disney World also. We had a wonderful time. It was too short. We only had 4 days and 9 people. But we did go to all the parks. Unfortunatly I accidently erased all my pictures the day before we left. And I had some really cute ones of the twins too.

My mother was in all her glory. It's very hard for her to get around anymore but we had 6 adults helping her. She only went to two parks for 1/2 day each. But she was thrilled because she had all her children there and all grandchildren except for 1. My youngest who's in the Marines couldn't make it. We all stayed in a 4 bedroom condo and everyone got along really well! I'm surprised we didn't kill each other. Here's my mom on the way to the airport to go home.

It was good to see a smile on her face. It's been very hard on her since my dad died. And in closing this is what we did after we got home.Aren't they just precious. It was sooo nice to see the twins again. They are coming to visit in July and I can't wait.

Lot's of stuff

First off, I've been tagged by Karen, a fellow knitter I met at the Spring Fling. So here goes. Sorry,Karen,I'm not very good on the computer.

1.What was I doing 10 years ago? I was a newlywed with 3 teenage children. Poor Tom didn't know what he was in for!So, I'm sure I was refereeing some fight.

2.What are 5 things on my to-do list today- not in any particular order? work, figure out how to post on this new blog layout, laundry, copy recipe of Beef Brisket for my son-in-law, clean kitty box

3.Snacks I enjoy. I enjoy all food!

4.Places I've lived- Illinois (how boring)

5.Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Buy a big house in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and have lots and lots of animals. The house would also have the best craft room you could imagine.


6 Peeps I want to know more about: I love hearing about everyone. Unfortunately I don't know how to forward this on.


Update:darn it all. I can't figure out anything on this new format. I'll have more when I figure it out.
2nd Update: I just found out it's not me. The sight has been having problems. THANK GOD.