Spring Showers

Spring showers around NE Oklahoma really means torrential rain storms. It has been raining so hard this morning that I could hardly hear the phone ringing. The ceiling in the back office is leaking, I just hope the ceiling tiles don't fall and cause a huge mess. I've called the landlord, but who knows if he'll call me back. It's supposed to rain for four days. I wish you could hear what I'm hearing. Rita (my co-worker) called and she's stil trying to get to work, she said that hwy 69 is like a river, the water is up to the doors of her jeep right now. She just made it to work and her husband called and said they've shut down hwy 69 and that the traffic is backed up 8 miles and that people are getting their boats out to get back and forth.

Now lets talk about work...things have been looking better this week. We actually had some jobs to fill. We were able to actually place 14 people in full time jobs. That will definitely help our numbers. And, it looks like we are going to need another 20 people to start on Monday! YEAH!!!

Has anyone read the book The Shack? My sister bought it for me last summer and told me I had to read it, I told her not to buy a new book, I'd just borrow hers. She told me she didn't want to give up her copy because she's going to highlight in it and read it again. I started it, maybe read about 10 pages (actually, I don't think I made it past the Forward section) and put it in a drawer and really just forgot about it. A few days ago, my friends Sabina said, "I'm reading the best book, my sister, Pam bought a copy for me, Jackie and Monica because she didn't want to give her copy up because she's highlighting in it and wants to read it again." I said, " is it The Shack?" and she said, "OMG, how did you know?" Anyways, I found it in my drawer and decided to try and read it again. I'm about 1/2 way finished and it really is a good book. It makes you think about yourself, God and the relationship that you have with God or lack thereof. It's not a shove it down your throat book about Christianity or religion. It's just a good book. If you haven't read it, it's definitely worth the $10.00 to get a copy for yourself. I'd loan you mine, but I'm probably going to highlight in it and read it again. LOL

Now on to the really important stuff...my barn raising quilt. I've just finished square #47, only 16 more squares to go. I'm making it almost 50% bigger than the pattern calls for. I wanted it to be long enough to really be able to cover up with and not have your toes sticking out from the bottom. Rita (yeah, my co-worker and Thursday night knitting partner) has finished her 6th square and excited to get more finished.

After I get the BRQ finished I'm going to try and find a pattern for a light weight sweater, maybe with a lace pattern. Just something that I can put on in the office when the AC is turned down to 60° and I'm freezing to death.

Okay, gotta get busy and find those 20 people to start work on Monday.

Sunday Squares

I hope everyone had a happy Easter day. We got up and watched Hayden open his Easter basket. He actually had more fun throwing the grass around than anything else. But he was introduced to Hershey's Kisses which he calls cacalot (chocolate). He ate a half of a kiss and then another and we put the rest of the bag up for later. I bought him a cute little blue monkey that was wearing rabbit ears, and some Easter stickers. He loves stickers now, he likes to stick them on everything and can play for an hour or longer with 1 sticker, he calls them ditters. I forgot to get the peeps, but it's probably better, he doesn't need all that sugar.

The kids went to Brennan's grandpa's house in Jennings for the afternoon. It rained most of the morning and into the afternoon.

I started to make a ham and all the fixin's for an Easter dinner, but since it was just me, David and Davy I decided we really didn't need all that food. So instead I made chicken breast with rice and then some brocolli and cauliflower on the side. I really didn't have a recipe, but it was pretty darn tasty. I put some rice in the bottom of a casserole dish, covered it with cream of mushroom soup, place the cut up chicken breast on top, poured some chicken broth over the whole thing and then dobbed some green chilis over the top of the chicken. Added some poultry seasoning, and pepper and baked it covered for 1 1/2 hours at 300°.

After we ate, I started working on my squares again for my barn raising quilt. I finished #35 last night. I wish I had kept better track of the square that came from yarn donated by my Ravelry friends. I'll have to go through them and see if I can remember which square came from what yarn. But I was smart enough to start keeping track with the ones I just finished. This is the square that came from the beautiful Koigu yarn that Mspalmtree (Nancy) sent to me.

Isn't it pretty? I love the colors and it is going to blend so well with the squares I've already worked up. This was also the first time I'd knitted with Koigu. It's quickly become one of my favorites to work with. She also sent me another skein that I'm going to start of very soon.

I've got another picture of a square that was from donated yarn. Well actually this yarn was won in a bet. I'm involved with the Ravelry pool (The Amazing Race). It's a pool where each person who signs up is assigned one of the teams racing on the show. The object of the game is to be assigned to the team who wins the race. All the other members of the group will then send the winner a prize valued between $15 and $20. It's a lot of fun. So I was assigned the cheerleaders, Cara and Jaime. One of my buddies Knit4ever (Kara) was assigned the blond flight attendants or STEWS for short. We had a little side bet going that the first team out between the two of us would send the other an extra gift. My cheerleaders outlasted the Stews and this is the yarn that Kara sent to me. It's Panda Wool, another that I've never used before. It's so soft, I'd like a sweater out of it. But I don't think I could ever
afford to buy that much of it to actually make myself a sweater, I'll have to stick with socks.

I had also gotten some sock blanks and started dying them. I've got pictures of the blanks on my stash page in Ravelry. But I decided it would be a while before I got around to actually making myself socks and really wanted to use some of the yarn for BRQ squares. I seperated the 2 strands and wound them up. I used the "Northern Lights" for this square and I think it's one of my favorites in the whole bunch. The funny thing is that this dye job was a total mistake and a flop, but the finished square is gorgeous. I'm going to have to block some of these pretty soon and start trying to figure out the best color scheme and sew them together in strips.

I hope everyone has a really good week and I'll try and post again really soon!

Teresa

Medication and Insurance Companies

Okay, I just posted a nice fun post, but now I'm irritated. As you all know, my daughter got married a couple of weeks ago and you also know that she has been diagnosed with a seizure disorder (epilepsy, is what they are calling it but they don't really know). Anyways, when she was on my insurance her medication was a $50 co-pay. On her husbands insurance, they are telling her it's going to be $86.44. When she told me that it made no sense at all because, I had contacted the pharmacy before she got married to find out the cost of the medicine without insurance and was told $150 something dollars. Her new insurance card states that prescriptions are as follows: Tier 1 - $10, Tier 2 - $20, Tier 3 - $30, all other 20% copay. Okay $86.44 is more than 1/2 the cash price. So I called the pharmacy, I know, she's married now and an adult with a child of her own, but I'm still her momma. Anyways, I called the pharmacy and they are now telling me the cash price is $331.72 for a 1 month prescription. What the hell happened in the last 3 weeks???? Okay, so if her medicine is that much and she has to pay 20% that's only $66.34, where is the other $20.10 coming from. The pharmacist technician, Mandi, told me that I would have to contact the insurance company because everything is done online and that was the price she was given. Chelsea called the insurance company and found out that her medication is actually a Tier 3 drug and should be a $30 co-pay. Wait, Chelsea just called me back and was told that because she has to take 100mg per day and the pills are 25mg each it is basically a double prescription each month and the price will be $86.44. I don't understand that at all, if it's a Tier 3 and should be a $30 co-pay, even doubled would only be $60. What a rip off.

Now my question, what if she didn't have insurance? How in the world is someone supposed to live with a siezure disorder and carry on a 1/2 way normal life if they can't afford $331.72 a month for medication. I guarantee you that the insurance company isn't paying near that for the prescription. They are probably only paying 1/4 if that. It's so sad, but shouldn't it be the other way around. I know Wal-Mart has the new $4 prescriptions, unfortunatly her medication isn't on that list.

Okay, my rant is over.

Did you get fooled?

I went all day long yesterday and nobody tried to get a joke on me until I had already left work. I stopped at the tag office to pick up the car tag and left my phone in the car. I came back out about 30 minutes later and had 5 missed calls. Just seeing that the calls were all from Chelsea and David made me panic just a little bit and when I noticed that they were all within minutes of each other I really started getting nervous. My mind started spinning out of control and all I could think was something has happened to the baby.

I immediately called David and he asked if I'd talked to Chelsea. I told him not yet and asked what the heck is going on. He said, "You know the wooden spoon that 'little dude' (Hayden) likes to carry around?" and I said "Yes". He said, "Well it's found a new home." I was confused and asked him what he was talking about. He replied with "Well let me just say, I can't move the big screen TV by myself." I gasped and said, "Is he okay?" "Yes, he cried, and it scared him when it popped and sparked, but we got him calmed down." All I could picture was him sticking the wooden spoon through the screen and hurting himself. It's not a glass screen, but I thought maybe he could have been shocked. David told me that the screen was ruined and the spoon had fallen inside and messed something up and the TV was dead. I guess once I realized that the baby wasn't hurt, I really didn't care about the TV. I just said I'd have Davy and Brennan move it out and put the TV from the bedroom in it's place. (The big screen is old, probably from 1995) I've been wanting a new TV anyways. After I hung up with him, I called Chelsea to check on Hayden. She informed me that it was April Fool's Day and it was Dad trying to get me. Okay, ha ha ha, you got me.

On to the important stuff, like knitting.

I've been working on my barn raising quilt and I've got 30 squares finished. The pattern calls for 42 squares but I think I want to make it a little bigger so I'm aiming for 56 squares. If I knit when I get home, I can usually get a square finished in about 3 hours and depending on what's going on during the weekend maybe 2 or 3 finished. This is Chelsea and Brennan's wedding present from me, I knew I wouldn't get it finished by the wedding, but it was a good start. When Chelsea saw the picture she asked if I could make it big enough to fit their bed. They have a king size bed and I have no idea how many squares it would take. I'm enjoying knitting the little squares because they are a fast knit and I don't get bored. I like being about to bind it off and put it in my stack of squares and start with another colorway. My plan was to have the 56 squares finished by the end of the month, but you never know, I may keep adding on squares until it will fit their bed. Maybe this will actually end up being their Christmas present. Here are some of my squares. In no particular order. What do you think?


I'm also working on a new Red Scarf for 2009. The Traveling Scarves Groups, better known as TSG has a group that is working on the charity for the Orphanage Foundation, they give scarves to all the children who were in foster care that have aged out and are now in college. Last year, the TSG - Red Scarf Project made scarves that started out as a 4x5 inch square with live stitches that traveled from person to person, each adding their own unique pattern to the scarf. All the scarves were made with the same yarn (which traveled also). This year we are going to have a free for all. Some of us are making lengthwise scarves, casting on 300-400 stitches and then each person that it travels to, will add up to 3/4" of their own red shade of yarn to the scarf. It should be very interesting, some are going with the traditional scarf like we did last year and sending their own yarn and others are going with a uniform pattern throughout but with different shades of red. The scarves officially start their travels on Saturday, April 11 and all the scarves should return back to their original starting place within 4 to 5 months as long as we don't have any snags along the way. I'll make sure and post a picture of my red scarf as it travels along.

Mr. & Mrs

It's finally over and they're married! Chelsea and Brennan said their vows on March 14, 2009 at 4pm.

My mom, sister and I started working on the decorating and food on Friday right after we got the call that the cala lillies didn't arrive. We took a quick trip to Sam's Club and were able to get some beautiful cream roses and white daisy. It wasn't what she'd planned, but they were very pretty.

We were able to get the sanctuary decorated and the punch made and in the freezer before the rehearsal started at 7pm.

Have you ever known someone who just carries stress and tension into a room with them? That would be Brennan's sister, Heather.

Let me give you a little background on Heather. She is 25 years old (2 years older than Brennan). Their mother died about 6 years ago, and their father has never remarried. Heather has now taken the role of the mother. When Chelsea and Brennan started dating 4 years ago, Brennan asked me if I could help his sister find a job, since I'm in the staffing business. So, it just happened that our Tulsa branch needed a receptionist for a temp position and I sent her there to fill in, a few months later she was hired as an admin. We've always gotten along okay I thought, until Hayden was born and that was when she decided she was in charge of everything.

So, back to my story...Heather shows up at the rehearsal and everyone is supposed to pay attention to her. I just tried to ignore her and get on with the business that we were there to take care of. At the rehearsal dinner, she asked me what time I was going to get to the church and I told her I had to be there at 9am to finish decorating for the reception. (I couldn't do it after the rehearsal because AA meeting in that room and I didn't want to take the chance of someone spilling coffee on a tablecloth). She told me she would be there at 9am...I quickly told her she didn't have to help us, if she could just pick up the cake at 11 and the sandwichs at 1pm that would be great. Guess what? She showed up at 9am and took over. I pissed her off a couple of times and then my mom pissed her off because she didn't like what we were already doing. Then out of the blue she says she wants a bouquet for her grandpa to carry, in memory of his late wife and she wants to carry a bouquet in memory of her mother. We didn't plan on this and with all the problems we'd already had with the flowers I was a little irritated. She wanted me to take flowers aways from Chelsea's bouquet so she could have flowers for the two bouquets that she requested. It was a nice thought, but it felt like she was trying to make the whole wedding about her mother and not about Chelsea and Brennan and the new life they are starting. But Chelsea decided to run to Wal-Mart and get a couple of bouquets of yellow tulips to keep the peace.

Chelsea got to the church around 1:30 to start getting her hair and makeup done. She was calm and relaxed and they were having a good time getting ready. Heather had left the church around 1:30 to go and take a shower and get ready. But at 3:00 Heather comes blasting into the dressing room wearing sweats and trying to get her daughter, Avery (the flower girl) dressed. I left the room to go get my sister (the photographer) to take pictures of them getting ready and Chelsea getting her dress on. We walked into the dressing room and Heather is standing in the middle of the room stark naked. We are trying to get pictures of Chelsea and keep the naked girl's reflection out of the pictures. That was about the time Chelsea started stressing and the tears started flowing.

The wedding coordinator (she tells you where to stand and when to walk) had the bride's family ready to go to the parlor and wait to be seat. Suddenly I see Heather hurrying around the corner with Hayden and he's screaming his head off. I went to him and she turned him away from me. He was reaching for me and she didn't want me to take him because she wanted him to walk down the aisle with Avery. Ok, that would have been a great idea and he enjoyed walking with her during the rehearsal and picking up the flower petals that she was dropping. But now it was a different story, he didn't want anything to do with anyone there except me or his grandpa. I took him from her and got him calmed down and walked down the aisle with him and my son Davy.

The wedding started and it was so pretty. They had made a slideshow of their lives. It started out with me holding Chelsea just minutes after she was born and went through pictures of her life, then it show pictures of Brennan's life, their lives together and then pictures of their family with Hayden. It was so touching, I cried through the entire thing. Then the preacher pronounced them husband and wife and I started bawling again.

After the wedding, we went back into the sanctuary to recreate some of the wedding pictures that we weren't able to get during the actual ceremony and that was when Heather told my sister that she wanted a picture of her family and Hayden but she didn't want Chelsea in the picture. What the hell is that about? This girl is a psycho. I think we were just a the same wedding and Chelsea is now part of your family. So here's the picture of Heather the matriarch and her family. (excluding Chelsea)

Here's Chelsea waiting while Heather get's her picture made.

Finally we were finished taking pictures and moved into the reception area, where everyone was having a great time.

The happy couple left to go on their one night honeymoon while I kept Hayden. He was so exhausted, it had been a couple of very busy days for the little guy and he was way past sleepy. He woke up a little fussy around 1:30 in the morning and I didn't want to make alot of noise and get him fully awake so I was trying to arrange him and his blanket without putting down the railing. I'm only 5 foot tall and it was a very bad idea. As I was stretching to reach the blanket, I suddenly felt my ribs seperate and the bar of the railing tear through the muscle. OMG...the sound of the cracking was enough to make me want to puke. It didn't really hurt, but I think it was because the nerves had gone numb. Yesterday morning, I hurt so bad and this morning it is almost unbearable to try and move around. I came to work, but all I can do is sit in one spot and type. I can just hardly answer the phone. I went to the dr and they took an x-ray and gave me some drugs so I can sleep tonight.

So that was my weekend.

The countdown begins

5 days and counting till the wedding...

Mom and Dad arrived on Friday night. Saturday we took the dress to Mom and she began the alterations. With a scare here and there and one point when I think I peed my pants it all ended up perfect. We thought for just a few minutes that the lop layer of chiffon had been cut wrong and ended up about an inch shorter than the other layers, but after Chelsea tried it on again it was perfect.

I've gone over the checklist several times today and with Mom's help (thank god for her) we are going to be able to pull this all together. Now I know why people hire wedding coordinators. The groom and his family are just laxidaisy (is that a word) about the whole thing. The bride is shutting down and won't communicate with us anymore, except with shruggs and or screaming. At this very moment, my mother is out getting the last of the decorations and stuff for the reception.

I still have to find shoes that will fit and not kill my feet 30 minutes after putting them on, I've got to get my son something to wear because I'm sick and tired of waiting for him to go get something. If he had his way, he'd wear holey jeans and a holister t-shirt. Thank goodness he's not in the wedding party.

I'll be happy when Sunday gets here!

The things I put up with for Traveling Scarves

Before I tell this story, I first want everyone to know that I am not making fun of anyone.

As most of you know I'm one of the Administrators for the Traveling Scarves group on Ravelry, so every couple of weeks or so I'm at the post office mailing off my next package. On Tuesday, 2/17/09, (the post office was closed for President's Day) so when I walked into the building I quickly saw the line off 20 people or so. I took my place in line to wait and said hello to the gentleman standing in front of me. The line moved just a smidgen and the door opened as another customer entered, I turned to smile and saw a older woman approximately 60ish with a man who was probably in his mid 20's carrying a blankie and was extremely mentally retarded. I smiled and said "Hi" and the man began parroting me. He said "hi" to everyone in the post office. The woman said "Hold Grandma's hand." which he repeated many many times in his grandma's voice. She said that he was a victim of child abuse when he was two years old and that's where his mind stayed. I didn't have a problem at all until he walked up to me and said "Hi, Good Lookin and squeezed my boob. (it was just one squeeze but multiple squeezes) I gently removed his hand and looked to Grandma for some guidance or help in what to do in that situation. She said, "BJ leave that woman alone." then he repeated that several times. At this point I was afraid to make I contact because I didn't want to encourage the fondling episode ago. He then let out a loud cry and then in a high pitched voice said "he's baulin'." Then he did it again and in the same voice said "he's pitchin' a fit." It was like listening to a parrot mimick the family he lives with. The line started moving again and he got loose from Grandma and grabbed my boob again. By this point I'm really feeling scared and uncomfortable. The line moved again and suddenly my head jerks back like whiplash and grandma said "BJ don't pull her hair." I completely understand how a two year old behaves because my grandson pulls hair, has hit, etc. But he's only 25 lbs and 30" tall and a little bit easier to control. BJ then began flipping his blankie at me and then I heard the postal clerk call next. All I could think was thank God there was some distance between me and the 6' 200lb BJ.

All I can say is Grandma is one angel and what happened to BJ's abuser? Did they get a short sentence or a slap on the wrist? Poor BJ is stuck as a 2 year old for the rest of his life and Grandma will never have a peaceful life. I can't imagine what strength you would need to be a fulltime caregiver for an adult 2 year old.

So I just want all my TSG friends to realize that I'm willing to be molested in the post office line while trying to get my scarves mailed out.

Couch to 5K

I've been meaning to update my blog for several days now and just can't ever seem to find the time to just sit and type.



A week or so ago I was watching TV, it was late, I was in my bedroom lying on my bed. A show ccame on about the one ton man, he was lying face down on his bed because that was the only way he could breath. The firemen had to take out a wall to get him out of the house and to the hospital. I was thinking to myself, how in the world can someone let themselves get to that point and then I caught my reflection in the TV screen. There I was lying on my stomach, just like the one ton man. So I got up and did a few jumping jacks to remind myself that I could still move and be active.



The next day I was on Ravelry, talking to one of my friends and she told me about Couch to 5K. It's a plan to get yourself off the couch and doing a 5K race in 2 months. If you've read my blog, I'm sure I've mentioned how much I absolutely hate exercise and don't understand how people can say they are addicted to running or weight lifting. But, I remembered how proud I was of my sister when she started running years ago. I was proud and jealous at the same time, I so wanted to be a runner, but I always made excuses about my knees (yes, my knees do hurt and crack and make it really hard to jog) but I know if I were to lose some of the weight, they might not hurt as bad.



So I recruited my sister to join me in the couch to 5K. I've got a goal! My goal is to walk/jog/run the Tulsa Full Moon Run on May 9th. I might not be able to run or jog the entire 5K by then but I'll finish it. We started our "training" last week and we walked the trail at the lake it's a little over a mile. It's a hilly little trail and it's really hard for me to walk and talk at the same time without being so out of breath. The shin splints finally went away. We drove 2 cars and parked them at opposite ends of the lake and walked to one car and drove back to the other car. We will continue this routine this week and then next week, we will walk from one end to the other and back again to the car. After we are able to do that for a few days I think I'll be ready to start adding some jogging into the mix.



Remember a paragraph or two back when I said I hated exercise. Well, last night I didn't get to go to the lake with my sister for our walk and I really missed it. Chelsea's neurologist appointment was last night. She's been on the Topamax for 1 month and no freaky side effects which is really good. The dr asked how she was doing and said "Okay, I'll see you in 6 months." and that was it.



On the knitting front: The girls and I started up our Thursday night knitting night again. After Survivor ended last season we tried to switch to Tuesday nights, but that just wasn't working for us. I think we only met 2 times since Thanksgiving. Since the new season of Survivor started last Thursday, we met up again. Michelle ordered pizza, Rita invited her cousin Pam to join us. She's a brand new knitter, never held needles in her life. She did really good, we started her on a dishcloth. I'm working on my TASK squares and still have a few to finish. I was having so much trouble with them and the gauge. Who would have thought that knitting a 12" square would be so hard. But, I found a great way to finish them up. The log cabin pattern is really working out great and it's easy to stay on gauge. I've promised myself that I will get them all finished and mailed out before I start a new project. My new project that I'm wanting to get going on is the Barn-Raising Quilt which is a bunch a squares. I'm not real excited about knitting squares again, but at least they have a pattern and they are with sock yarn which is so much fun for me to knit with.

Here's a couple of pictures of the Barn-Raising Quilt that others have made. Aren't they pretty?

I love this blanket, I think it will be a late wedding present for my daughter Chelsea. Yep, she getting married in less than 4 weeks and we are no where near ready for the big day. I've planned to take off on the 12th and 13th just to finish up the last little details.

The Groundhog saw his shadow!

Yesterday was groundhog day and that damned groundhog saw his shadow and ran back in his hole. 6 more weeks of bad weather.

I just hope we are finished with the ice. Last week, Jan 26th on Monday afternoon the ice started. Freezing rain was coming down so fast that I had 1/2" to 1" of ice on my windshield within an hour. We closed up the office and slid home. It started out as a really scarey evening, my house is totally electric and like a goofball I never called the firewood people to have them bring out any wood. So, at approximately 8pm our electricity goes off. Since it was pitchblack in the house except for the couple of candles I found to light, we all decided we might as well go to bed.


I sat up and read by the light of my cell phone for an hour or so until it got so cold I couldn't keep my arms outside of the covers. At 3:30am the electricity came back on, because the TV was blaring and the lights came on. I shot out of bed like someone had invaded the house. I ran though really quick and shut off all the lights and turned off tv's and went back to sleep. The next morning, the schools were all shut down and the roads were like ice skating rinks. So I made an executive decision for our office to work from home. We were fortunate enough that the electricity stayed on for the next couple of days and the ice finally melted away.


We are on the countdown to the wedding...6 weeks from this coming Saturday is Chelsea and Brennan's wedding day. This Friday I'm taking a vacation day to take Chelsea to order the cake, pick out flowers, figure out the music, etc. The invitations were mailed on Saturday so it's a done deal. The date is picked and the dress is bought.


I finally finished the sweater for Angie's baby. I can't believe that Thursday is her last day and that her little boy will be here on Tuesday. Here's a picture of the sweater:

Slacking on my blogging

I really can't believe it's been almost 20 days since I let you guys know about my life and it's ups and downs.

Let's see, Chelsea had the ultrasound done on her thyroid because the neurologist said it was enlarged. She had the EEG and the MRI and then on Monday, the 19th we went back to the dr. I don't think I like this dr. because I can't go in the exam room and ask questions. It's driving me crazy. But, she told Chels that the MRI on her pituitary gland showed small tumors (she said they are benign, but that makes me terribly nervous), her thyroid was okay, no tumors and her EEG showed signs of distress on the brain. She gave her a prescription for Topamax and so far it hasn't turned her into a zombie. She has a follow up appointment on Feb 20th.

On the knitting side of life - I finished the cute little baby sweater for my secretary's new baby who will be arriving in a couple of weeks, but I forgot to take a picture. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it, that makes me so mad. But I was litterally weaving in lose ends up until an hour before the shower started. Finished it, tucked it in the tissue paper and wrapped the box.
I'm hoping to get a picture of him wearing it sometime very soon.

My latest knitting obsession (which I haven't started yet, but I'm dying to cast on) is the Barn-Raising Quilt. But, before I can start another new project, I've told myself that I have got to finish the TASK square for the Traveling Scarf Group. So to curb my appetite a little bit, I'm using the Barn-RAising Quilt pattern to make my squares. I'm just using worsted weight and doing a few more rows to get the right gauge for the 12" squares. Then, and only then will I pull out all my sock yarn and start designing the color theme for my barn-raising quilt.

What else has been going on???? Hayden is getting smarter and smarter every day! He's talking up a storm, we aren't always sure what he's telling us, but I'm sure it's really important. The words we have deciphered all seem to start with a "d" sound. Like dog, and daddy, drink, down, diaper, but then there's also cat, which sounds like dat, or cow which sounds like dow, or pig which sounds like dig. He still hasn't said mommy or grandma, but I'm sure he will any day now.

Hopefully, I can check back in with you guys before 20 days fly by again.

Chelsea's tests

So after our long stressful evening with Nellie. Chelsea went to see the neurologiest today for the brain test. They tried to induce a seizure but were not successful. She didn't get to see the dr today and the lab tech giving the test couldn't say anything.

So we are still in the dark. She has the ultra sound scheduled for Monday to check her thyroid and then a follow up at the neurologist on the 19th. I'm assuming at that time they will prescribe her new medication.

On the knitting front - I'm ready to talk about fun stuff.

I'm working on the cutest little sweater for my assistant's new baby who should be arriving on February 10th. Baby Landon will get to come home wearing the Lutzling Sweater.

I'll post pictures soon.

Long stressful evening

Last night, I got home and got online to finish up some Ravelry issues and then I was going to settle in to watch the BCS Championship game. OU Sooners vs the FLA Gators. (We won't talk about the game - yuk)

Anyways, my son-in-law came in about 20 minutes after me and suddenly he said "Nellie's bleeding to death!" Nellie is our sweet little 1/2 weenie dog 1/2 terrier. I jumped up and she was standing outside the door looking for help. Someone had shot her. We live in the country where dogs have no boundries. It was already close to 6pm and I knew the vets office was closed. I called to find out that the vet was in Tulsa at a Football party and couldn't help us. We called several other vet clinics and it seems they were all wanting to watch the game. I finally reached one clinic and the dr. was a complete asshole (sorry for my language). He told me if I didn't have a credit card with at least 200.00 available credit he couldn't help me. I told him I had $20.00 in the bank, but I could write him a check to cash on Thursday. He said no! I asked him what I was supposed to do, just let her lay there a bleed to death? He said, maybe you should ask someone to shoot her. I hung up on him. Aren't vets supposed to be humane? Don't they take some sort of oath to help animals?

Chelsea was crying so bad, Nellie was a great dog and we couldn't let her suffer. My son-in-law called his father and he came over and shot her. It was horrible.

I don't understand how people can be so cruel. Was she doing something she shouldn't have been doing? Maybe. I don't know.

It was a rough night.

Update to Chelsea's dr's appointments

I wanted to let you guys know how the dr's appt went yesterday.

Chelsea saw the neurologiest yesterday morning. She was told "by definition" she has epilepsy. "by definition" means if you've had 2 seizures in your life. She is going back to the dr. on Friday morning to do the brain test. They will hook a bunch of pads to her head and then try and make her have a seizure to see if they can catch it on the scanner. The last time she did this, they couldn't force the seizure.

The other thing is, the dr. said her thyroid is enlarged so she is having an ultrasound on Monday to get that checked and then a follow up on the 19th. The dr is going to put her back on medication (not Keppra) and hopefully it doesn't react the same way that the Keppra did. I don't think my boss will want me taking another 2 or 3 weeks off of work.

I really hope that the seizures were caused by her thyroid. I think it would be easier to take thyroid meds for the rest of my life versus epilepsy meds.

The dr also told her that it is against state law for her to drive right now. Which she hasn't since December 2nd. She will have to be seizure free for 6 months to be able to drive again. The state hasn't revoked her license, but if she were to drive and had a seizure behind the wheel and wrecked her car or someone elses, we would all be in big bad trouble.

Deep down in my gut, I really think it has something to do with the time of the year, and studying for math finals. During the 3 years that she didn't have a seizure, she wasn't in any math classes. The neurologist said it doesn't have anything to do with math, but could be stress due to studying for math. But, the dr's and scientist don't even know what causes epilepsy, so how could she say for sure that it doesn't have anything to do with math.

I know there are people who live a normal life with epilepsy, they drive, take care of their families and hold down jobs just fine. But they aren't my child.

It's so hard not having a confirmed diagnosis one way or the other.

Christmas Gift Cards to LYS

Wow, Christmas is over. Thank God...I don't think I've knit so many hats in a one week period since...well...ever. Everyone loved their hats and Mom thought the Woodland Shawl was gorgeous. I have a picture of it on the blocking board, but didn't get a picture of it on Mom's shoulders. Hayden loved Christmas, technically this is his 2nd Christmas, but the 1st he was only 1 month old. He had a blast ripping off the wrapping paper. I think he actually liked the paper more than the toys. Out of all the toys he got, his favorite is the popper. Remember that toy? The blue handle with the clear bubble and the balls that make that horrible annoying popping sound everytime the wheels move. Yeah, that's his favorite toy.

I received $110.00 in gift cards to my local LYS, Loops in Tulsa. Luckily, I read my emails on Christmas day and found out that Loops was having a huge sale on Friday. Everything was 25-40% off and some stuff was 75% off. So Friday morning (I had to work until 10am) I headed to Tulsa. The store opens at 11am and I got there about 10:25am. So I parked and sat in the car knitting. I watched a lady with a knitting bag walk up and look into the windows and then walk away, then 2 more woman walked up, peeked in the windows and walked away. By now, I'm not knitting anymore, I'm watching the door like a guard dog. The clock in my car said 10:43am, and then I saw the first woman coming back. Right then I decided I'd had enough of these people trying to horde in on "my sale". (I really don't know what came over me, I usually a very docile person) I got out of my car and stood next to the door, eyeing the women in the store and checking the watch every few seconds. The big clock in the shopping center started chiming and donging the hours. I looked behind me and there must have be 50 people lined up to get in the store. Suddenly, I saw the owner of the store walking towards the door. I could feel my blood rushing through my veins in excitement. She pulled the door open and took a picture of all of us standing around the door like a pack of starving dogs waiting for their master to throw the last bone into the yard. Finally, she let us in...I ran straight back to the back room where all the clearence stuff is always kept. I grabbed up about 7 or 8 skiens of alpaca in varying colors and a lady tried to grab it out of my hands. I jerked it back and said "exxxcccuuussee you" and grabbed the yarn back. After making sure there wasn't anything else in the bins that I needed I made my way out to the store to see what 40% off stuff I could find. I filled my basket with Blue Skys Organic Cotton, Noro, Malabrigo and then a miscellaneous skein of this or that, just because. I finally made my way to the cash register thinking I was probably going to have to write a good sized check on top of my gift cards. Amazingly, the total was $109.83. I handed her my 3 gift cards and said "I've got $110.00." She replied "You've still got .17 cents." I told her to keep it and use it for the next persons tax or whatever.

Mom and Dad are heading back home to Colorado today. Dad was getting antsy, he was missing his own stuff and we all know how we like our own stuff. It was nice having them here and I wish they didn't live so far away.

Chelsea had her MRI on the 18th and there were no tumors, but she does have an enlarged pituitary gland. They ran blood work (which came back normal) and a 24-hour urine test (we don't have those results back yet).

I've started knitting the Dead Fish hat, you can find it on my favorites on Ravelry. I don't have a picture of it yet, but I'll get one posted tonight when I finish the hat. I'm also getting ready to start a wedding shawl. I haven't picked out a pattern yet, but I've got to hurry because Chelsea is getting married on March 14th. I'm not sure why they are all of a sudden rushing to get married except that Spring Break falls the same week and Brennan will have been at his job for 1 year and be able to take vacation.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday and ready for all the excitement that 2009 will bring.

Chelsea Star Hat Pattern

Here it is! The Chelsea Star Hat

Materials: (I was able to make 2 hats with 2 skeins of Paton's Classic Merino Wool worsted weight) MC-Cream and CC-Paprika

Note: This hat is meant to be creative, after knitting the star chart you can use your own imagination and add different color strips or whatever you feel like doing.

Needles: US 6 circular 16" and US 6 DPN
2 Stitch holders
1 marker
tapestry needle

This is knit for a SM (L) will be in parenthesis

Earflaps (make 2) same directions for either size. I don't have a chart for the earflaps, I just improvised a diagonal pattern. The first 8 rows were knit with CC, then I started knitting 2 stitches with MC and 2 stitches with CC and made a zigzag design. You can make solid color earflaps.

create a slipknot.
R 1 - K,P,K into the same stitch (make 3 stitches on needle)
R 2 and alternate rows Purl
R 3 - Kfb of 1st stitch, knit to last stitch, Kfb in last stitch
Repeat this pattern until you have 25 stitches on needle, turn and purl
Place earflap on a stitch holder.

Cap - with MC cast on 31 (39) knit 1 earflap onto needle, cast on 31 (39) knit on 2nd earflap. Connect stitches in the round making sure not to twist stitches.

Knit 10 rows with MC
R 11 - start working chart

R 26 - with MC knit 10 rows
R 36 - with CC *k12(14), k2tog (repeat from * around)
R 37 - with MC knit

R 38 - continue with main color *k11(13), k2tog (rep from *)

R 39 - knit

R 40 - *k10(12), k2tog (rep from *) ( I changed colors here and did a k1 with CC and k2 with MC)

R 41 - knit with MC

R 42 - *k9(11), k2tog (rep from *)

R 43 - knit

R 44 - *k8(10), k2tog (rep from *) with CC
R 45 - knit with MC until R44

R 46 - *k7(9), k2tog (rep from *)
R 47 - knit

R 48 - *k6(8), k2tog (rep from *)
R 49 - knit

R 50 - *k5(7), k2tog (rep from *)
R 51 - knit

R 52 - *k4(6), k2tog (rep from *)

R 53 - knit

R 54 - Finish crown with CC *k3(5), k2tog (rep from *)

R 55 - knit

R 56 - *k2(4), k2tog (rep from *)

R 57 - knit

R 58 - *k1(3), k2tog (rep from *)
R 59 - knit

R 60 - *k2tog (rep from *) (If you are making the large size continue until you are at k2tog) - 8 stitches left on needle.
Use a tapestry needle and thread threw remaining stitches and pull tight, weave in tail on the wrong side. Weave in all tails

Ties - Cut 3 pieces of yarn approximately 2 feet, (I used both colors) loop them through the point of the earflaps, make sure you have the same amount of yarn pulled through evenly, braid and tie at the end. Do this on both earflaps.

This pattern is fast and alot of fun, you can do any kind of color switches or designs that you think would look cool.

©copyright 12/17/08 Teresa Harmon (knakedknitter)

Wednesday

Well, I'm back at work. (yes, I'm blogging right now, but I've still got work stuff floating through my mind also). But anyways, I came back yesterday and everyone was so happy to see me! Yeah!!! That's job security. I was able to get back in the groove of things pretty quickly and it wasn't really busy since the economy sucks so badly right now. No body is hiring people, which is what we do. So business isn't looking good, but we hear thing should pick up in February.

Today we are having a Christmas party at the office. We decided to draw names this year and we are going to go out for lunch. We're eating at The Hammett House. YUM! I love their chicken spinach salad. It's my absolute favorite. So the girls drew names and since I wasn't here to draw, I got the last name in the hat which is Debbie. She's new to our little team and actually works in our Tulsa office. I had to do a little sleuthing to try and figure out what to get for her, but I didn't have time to go out and get something for her. I did find out that she needs a scarf, well...I thought to myself. That's easy enough, I'll just knit up a scarf for her, but then I thought about the cashmere lace scarf I made this summer. It's finished, ends are woven in and it's been blocked, no one has used it and it's so pretty. Ta-da - Christmas gift ready for wrapping! I hope she likes it as much as I do, if she doesn't I'll be bummed that I gave it to her. On the flip side of the present buying is the getting. Rita got my name and she knows that I love anything fibery or needles or notions, so I'm sure whatever I get I'll love. (especially if it's fibery).

Talking about fibery goodness, I've made another hat using my new pattern. This time I adjusted it for a larger size. But I still can't get my pictures to load. What the heck is going on with blogger? I'm so anxious for you guys to see my hats. The first one I made was white with the red star and then I reversed it and made a red hat with white star. Last night I started another one for who ever needs a gift. It's going to be very pale pink with navy blue stars.

Tomorrow is Chelsea's MRI at 7:30 in the morning. She's not happy about it being so early and it is a huge pain to get her and the baby out that early, but we'll manage.

Winter Weather

The weather was so nice yesterday afternoon. It was about 65° until 4pm and then it dropped like crazy.

I had a nice evening last night. The girls and I haven't had a knitting night since before Thanksgiving, and then the last 2 weeks I've been cooped up here with my own demons. I want to thank everyone who posted comments regarding my last post. It really made me fill good, just to know there was someone out there sending me love. Chelsea is feeling alot better, the dr. took her off the medicine because it just wasn't working for her body. She said she felt like she was completely paralyzed, she couldn't move, talk, or even open her eyes, but her mind wasn't shutting down. So even though I thought she was sleeping for 14+ hours. She was really only getting about 7 or 8 hours of actual sleep. The rest of the time she was trying to will herself to move. How scary is that. She has an appointment for an MRI on Thursday at 7:30 in the morning. But, she's doing good, no more seizures. I'm going back to work tomorrow.

Anyways, we had a Survivor finale get together last night. It was nice seeing the girls and just hanging out and not worrying. But while we were there we had a blast of sleet come in. Man, it got really cold quick. By 9pm it was 23° and the roads were really slick. I was just so happy that I had gotten a ride instead of driving. I'm not good at driving at night and add an ice storm to it and I might still be trying to find my way home. My survivor was Kenny in the Ravelry pool and of course he had to open his mouth one too many times and they kicked him off the island. Bob won and he deserved it, so I'll send my goodies off to the winners and wait for the next pool to begin.

Saturday, was nice because I was off duty. I had been trying and trying to figure out what to get my dad for Christmas. I finally decided to knit him a hat, but it couldn't be just any hat. I wanted a hat that had earflaps (so his ears don't freeze of in the Colorado mountains), something really warm (so I dug out some wool from my stash) and something with a cool design. I've never tried fair isle so I thought this would be a perfect time to try.

I found a chart for the Norwegian Star and then just started knitting. It took me about 6 hours to design, knit and complete this hat. Now if I can get the picture to upload, I'll show it to you. I'm going to write up the pattern and I'll post it in my blog if any one is interested in knitting this hat. As soon as I finished it and showed the kids, they ALL wanted one, so now I'm knitting another in different colors.

16 days till Christmas

It's been a crazy week.

On December 2nd at 9pm my daughter, Chelsea suffered a grand mall (tonic-clonic) seizure. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen.

The dr is trying to get the insurance to authorize an MRI and a referral to a neurologist. She's now on Keppra an anit-seizure medication with awful side effects. The worst side effect she's having right now is the sedation. She takes 250mg (recommended daily dose is 1000mg) at 9pm and it's now 11:33am and she still isn't awake. It makes her sleep for 14 hours or more. I'm only giving her the night-time dose because I don't want her sleeping her life away. She is 20 years old and has a 1 year old son. So until we can get her in to see the neuro I'm working from home.

I don't think I've been this exhausted since my kids were babies. I'm getting up at 5:30 or 6am to take care of Hayden and then when he goes down for a nap around 10am I try to get about an hours worth of work done. Then he's up and hopefully his mom wakes up around noon to take over.

On to better subjects:
Knitting for the holidays. Is anyone getting anything finished? I've been working on that Woodland Shawl since August and I think I'm ready to cast off. I've decided to give it to my mom for Christmas. I made my grandson the cutest pair of mittens out of Malabrigo worsted. I read somewhere that wool mittens are better for little ones because if they get wet, wool will hold in the heat and acrylics will freeze. I don't want my babies fingers freezing, so he got the good stuff.

This Christmas is going to be slim this year. I had big plans, but the funds just aren't there. This has been the worst year and I don't think 2009 looks much better for the 1st quarter. My salary is compensated with a month bonus or commission based on Ebitda percentages. In 2007 my commission checks were in the thousands, this year I think the highest I've gotten for a month is 600. That really hurts when you're used to making one amount and then it drops like that. I think my annual salary for this year is about $15,000 to $20,000 less than last year.
This year will have to be more about love, and being with family than presents.

I hope everyone has a great holiday...be safe.

Black Friday

First let me do a little updating.

The month of November flew by didn't it. From my last post, you already know that I signed up for the NaNoWriMo and .... I'm a winner. YEAH!!! I posted my novel on the 25th with 61,000 words. I'm still not finished with the story, they didn't say you had to finish it by the 30th, just write 50,000 words by the 30th. I've got my entire office and several friends and my daughter all chomping at the bit for me to get it finished. They've all been reading it a chapter at a time.

My grandson turned 1 year old this month. We had a big party at the local Pizza Hut. (I'm so glad we had it there, because I don't think all those people would have fit in my house, plus the mess ~ yuck!)

We had a great Thanksgiving Day, I cooked way too much food. But the leftovers are nice. I think I'll make some turkey and noodles this weekend. This morning I woke up early and went to Wal-Mart for Black Friday. It has been years since I've tried to get the good deals at 5am and I'd forgotten how crazy and mean people can get. We got some good deals and the very last Samsung Digital Camera for $69.00. (I think I'll wrap it from Santa to me).

I've got so many projects going right now I don't know what to do with myself. I'm almost finished with the Woodland Shawl. (I would have been finished with it over a month ago, but it's been setting in my project bag for the last 5 weeks) I got it out last night and knit 48 more rows. My plan is to do another 48 rows and call it finished. Once it's blocked it will be the perfect size and I think my mom will love it for her Christmas present.

Off to do some more knitting!

NaNoWriMo

It's been a week or so since I've written in my blog. I've joined the NaNoWriMo group. Yes, I'm going to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November.

I've got a lot of stuff to do in November. Let's see. I've still got 1 more mini to knit and the deadline is November 15th. I've got to get started on some of my Christmas gifts, finish my Woodland Shawl, lots of birthday presents to buy in November. My grandson will turn one year old on the 20th, but we are having his party on the 15th, because OU doesn't have a football game that day. (isn't that sad, to get anyone to come to a baby's party, we have to schedule around the Oklahoma Sooners). My nephew will turn 19 years old on the 16th and my neice will be 21 years old on the 24th. Then we've got Thanksgiving on the 27th, and Black Friday on the 28th. How the heck am I supposed to be able to write a novel in the month of November?

I know I can write 50,000 words by November 30th, but I want the story to make sense. Would you like a little excerpt? here you go...

His mother always knew he’d be a famous author.

How would a small town boy with only a high school education become famous? Let alone on the bestseller list?

As Harrison Perkins sat at his desk, starring at the screen on his computer, writing a great novel was all he could think about. What story would make his mother proud? Mother always enjoyed the romantic novels with the half naked man on the cover, saving the damsel in distress. But Harry wasn’t the romantic type, and as the memory of his mother and her trashy novels crossed his mind, the blood vein in his temple started bulging. Blinking away the memories, Harry took another drag off his Parliament Menthol.

Does that make you want to read more? Let me know what you think, I'm just curious. I've written a few short stories in my past. But I've always wanted to write something and get it published. Maybe when I finish this and tweek it here and there, I'll send it off and see what happens.