Little Buddy has new wheels and a finish.............

Just in case you hadn't noticed somebody is growing.  Growing so big that he needed a new walker.  I met with the equipment rep at Physical Therapy a few weeks back and we discussed many options.  The one she suggested I was not happy with and frankly I should have stuck to my guns because I just know it is not going to be right for him.  I also needed to order a different, extra walker for school and she sent me a quote that was sky high.  So I went online and found an even better one.  Little Buddy is just in the middle of this walker as far as fit goes, he has about four more inches to grow and it won't work anymore.  Yet it is light weight and the, "ride is really smooth!" according to my little guy.  He loves it, it doesn't squeak, it maneuvers beautifully and it was not expensive at all.  I  will be meeting with the rep and PT again on Tuesday to discuss why the huge walker was suggested, return it and get them to order something more appropriate.  We will be keeping this one for home.  I know it is all about making money, but still you should have the children's least restrictive option available because it is what will work best.

My last Christmas present is done.  This was my car crochet project.  When a child from work would cancel I would sit in my car and crochet a few rows here and there.  Eventually it got long enough and here we are with a finished scarf.  I made this with a size H hook and the remaining skein of the Entice yarn made for Silver Threads and Golden Needles yarn shop in Franklin, NC.  Remember I bought it a few years ago on a visit there and ended up making the East End sweater with it earlier this year.  So I am guessing 300 yards of yarn used for this pattern.  The funny thing is I made a very rookie mistake making this scarf.  I started off with 7 treble crochet clusters and ended up with 7 double crochet clusters.  I didn't even realize I had switched until it was completed.  I am glad that it isn't too noticeable and frankly I put a lot of work into it so it is being given as a gift even if I should keep it or donate it. 

After a very long and challenging week at work I came home to find this at my front door.  It is from a far away friend that I adore.  It made my day, thank you so much for thinking about me my dear, dear friend.

Okay, I am out of here, Little B and I have homework to get done. 

A week that is gone in a blink..........

I feel like a broken record but again my week has flown by with work and Christmas shopping and such.  It has had me running around like a mad woman the few moments I am not working.  And of course this weekend I got a big ole brutal headache, yesterday and today have been very tough.  So I will make this short and I am sorry if you are thinking not more photos of the dogs, I mean how many can she put on this blog?  But here they are anyway, with fresh face haircuts by me.  When Hank's hair sticks up he looks like a lion.  To answer a few questions, they do have to be brushed everyday.  And even with brushing everyday they still get big mats that I have to cut out.  I should go get them cut and groomed, I am just afraid I won't like how they look afterward.  They are indeed allowed on our furniture, something Max was never allowed to do.  I wanted a sofa dog, one that would sit next to me as I sat and knit in the evenings, not that that is happening here.  So when we got Hank we allowed him on the sofa, of course not knowing Bear would be here as well.  Now it is a free for all, they sit on the sofas, jump on and off the sofas, play on the sofas and believe me they do not care if you are in the way, they will just jump right over you.  Hank is weighing in at 50 pounds and Bear about 41.  Together they weigh as much as Max did when he was with us, and Max was not over weight.  They are still crazy and full of energy, and make us laugh all the time.  They are very loving and gentle with Little Buddy, much more so than with the rest of us.  Dogs just know when someone needs a bit of gentle care.

Little Buddy has been very busy with school, homework, therapies, soccer on Saturday, a visit with Santa on Friday, dinner with The Aunts after Santa, and he even got his new computer from school.  We have been waiting for this for over a year and here it is.  It is not new, just new to us.  He will take it back and forth with hopes he will be able to type faster than he writes by about third grade.  He did some math on a program the school uses this morning.  Isn't he adorable?  After this he got a haircut so no more bedhead. 

Okay, really that is all I have unless you want to hear about laundry, washing the floors, vacuuming, paperwork and all that boring stuff.

I hope to visit you all soon, I swear I miss you all so much when I miss a week of reading your blogs.  Hope you are all well and Happy December.

Trading...............

Trading in Autumn for.........Winter.

 Now we really haven't had any really cool weather or even changing leaves, they are mostly falling off the trees because they can't stay on any longer.  The weather is warm, unseasonably so, it is hard to get in the Christmas spirit with all this heat and humidity.  We have very few berries on our  holly tree, wonder what that means for the coming winter?

Trading places with plants on my lanai, hoping they get the right amount of sun to make them happy.  The taller plants were my parents, as was the little Christmas cactus in the middle of the table.  The big Christmas cactus is the one I thought was going to die earlier this year, it has come back beautifully and is getting ready to bloom.

Trading weeds for plants with beautiful colors for the season.  It is finally cool enough to not melt the plants in my garden, I did this all a week ago and all of my new plants look happy so far.

Trading in my attempts at the The Lakeside Pullover for the Slouchy Stripe Cardigan.  I got about 6 inches done on the Lakeside Pullover before I realized the fabric was not all that forgiving, and frankly if it is going over my belly I need forgiving, so I started over with another pattern.  A cardigan that is slouchy, well you can't beat that, and my protruding belly will be happy, it is a win-win.

I am not trading in this new little Christmas cactus for my SIL's.  You know me I LOVE Christmas cacti.

Trading in Thanksgiving decorations for Christmas.  I am all decorated inside my house except for the tree.  Never my favorite thing Christmas trees, and with two puppies and a 7 year old, well it might be a Christmas disaster this year.  I am holding off for a few weeks before I put it up.

Trading time with all my boys home as Mr 21 will head back to school tomorrow.  He'll be back soon, after finals with his girlfriend for a few days.  She will return to spend Christmas with us, I am thrilled just to have a little feminine energy in this house full of testosterone. 

Nope, not trading these two.  But I did trade collars for chest harnesses and now we are able to walk the neighborhood without me screaming and getting my shoulder ripped apart.

Trading in the weekend for a new week, after four days off in a row you would think I would be ready to go back but honestly I am not!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend, so much to be thankful for this year.  Have a great week my friends..

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from my turkey to yours.

Missing something.......

Last Sunday Little Buddy pulled out one of his super wiggly front teeth.

Then he showed me what he had done and we had to find that tiny tooth in his bed.  When he opened his mouth the other front tooth was dangling and I had to pull it out.

So two front teeth came out within an hour and Little Buddy has a whole new look.  Believe me when I say his already prominent lisp is out of control!  Oh the drama of it all! He looks pretty cute I think.  Enjoy it while you can my friends, one adult tooth is already coming in.

Happy Friday.

Seeing Double.......

Last weekend I finished the Rowan Berry Shawlette that was giving me so many problems.  I finally found an error in row 12, well maybe not an error but something I wanted to fix to make it work out better and be more symmetrical.  I know that is sort of funny with an asymmetrical shawlette.  This was made with two skeins of Berroco Pima 100, 100% pima cotton yarn, and a size I hook.  The color is Day Lily, or 8414.  It did not take long to make if I don't count the several days of frustration before I got the hang of it.  About 420 yards went into this shawlette from my stash.  I liked it so much you know I had to give it another go and make number two.

The pattern is quite simple.  After you get to row 13 there is a four row repeat that is easy to remember, so easy I often found myself surprised when I was already done with it and had to start the pattern again.  I wrote it all down so I would not forget the several changes I made.  I'll have the major change on Ravelry soon, just in case your interested in making this.  You can find me there at Mereknits of course!

Rowan Berry Shawlette II was completed this morning as I sat down in my quiet house and watched a bit of TV.  This is something I never do, I mean never, ever do.  But this week has me waking up and 4:45 in the morning and then having to carry out my entire very busy and long work day with little sleep.  I don't think  it is because of the time change because I did not wake at 5:45 before this.  I am plum tuckered out my friends.  Besides the no sleep this has been a brutal week at work with many difficult situations that had to be addressed, I'm not sure I handled them all well but I did try.

This shawlette was made with Debbie Bliss Falkland Aran in the color Mustard 07.  I uses a size J hook to make it and could actually have gone up a size to allow for more drape.  Two skeins of this yarn were used so I am guessing about 400 yards.  This will be for the medical foster mother who had Little Buddy when he came into care.  I still work at her home about 9 hours a week, she deserves a nice present for having me there so much!  This yarn was expensive and I treated myself to it sometime last year.  I knew the perfect project would present itself and I think this is it.  Jeannette is a love, she still loves Little Buddy so much, her whole family does.  We had a visit with her last week.  She loves to hear all the stories about him, especially when he is a bit naughty, that always makes her laugh.  And a bit naughty he has been this week at school.  He is waking up early too, so even with early bedtimes to try to catch him up on some sleep he is still tired.  And when Little One is tired he is not very cooperative.  Keep your fingers crossed he has a better day today.

Here they are together, I really like them so much.  Hope you have all had a good week.  I am off to a wedding tomorrow for most of the day and evening.  All the men in my house are thrilled I will be out of the area.  They can scream and carry on all they want during the Ohio State football game!

Have a good weekend.

Halloween fun.................

Halloween 2018 has come and gone.  The fur boys had a good time dressing up like cats, all of the 10 seconds they had their headbands on to take these photos.  Once they realized that their brother had something on their head well it was a free-for-all trying to get them off.  All this fun in my front yard!

Little Buddy had quite the day.  We woke really early to get down to the children's hospital in St. Petersburg for a routine MRI and Neurosurgery appointment.  He walked everywhere as these two appointments were in two different buildings.  All is good with that little brain of his thank goodness.  His neurosurgeon is always so amazed at how well he is doing.  She saved his life twice when he was about 5 weeks old. After all this fun we went to Little Buddy's medical foster family where I worked on two children while he entertained everyone.  He loves them so much and believe me it is mutual.  

On to home where he had his speech therapy and then a tiny rest time before the festivities of the evening.  He was Gecko from the show PJ Masks on Disney Jr.  This year I decided to buy a costume instead of my completely overboard themes of the past.  Really, that train costume last year took me two weeks to make and all he did was wear it for 12 houses.  He wanted to be Gecko so I ordered the costume online.  The joke was on me as when I opened it yesterday afternoon, I know last minute Meredith, it was way, way too big.  I ended up cutting off the legs, which led to his crotch being way too low.  Which meant I had to bring the whole bottom up at the waist, but I made it too tight.  Out came the seam ripper again and I lowered it a 1/2 inch to the perfect size.  But then the legs were too short, so I sewed them back on, but cut off the feet.  Yikes, did you follow that?  An hour of sewing and it fit, so much for not wanting to sew a costume!  He was thrilled and loved being Gecko even though he only made it 6 houses before I had to carry him home.  He was so tired, it was so hot out and he was just burning up in all that polyester.  Still it was a wonderful night with The Aunts here from Wisconsin to tag along.

Let me just say that today he had a horrible day at school and at PT after school.  He is just exhausted.  So it was homework, bath and a very early bedtime.  Tomorrow I hope he is better.  I can't imagine many of the kids had a good day today.  I had just two kids yesterday not my normal 10 due to Little Buddy's appointments.  Then today I had two cancel, and I had to cancel my last four because it was my day to get 35 shots in my head and neck.  I think Little Buddy and I both need to be in bed early tonight.

Yesterday was also my oldest son's birthday.  He is now Mr. 25 and I just adore him.  He is a hard worker, a great big brother, and a bit of a help at home when I ask him.  He can make me laugh like no one else, well and scream a bit too if I am honest.  He is growing into the man I think he should be even if he has a few edges to soften.  He is off to Columbus, OH tomorrow to see his friends and celebrate his birthday.  Oh, to be young again!

Here is wishing you all a great weekend if I don't check in and write another post.  I hope to see what you have all been up to this weekend, catching up is on my to do list.  Hope your Halloween was fun if you celebrated.  Happy November everyone!