A little writing assignment about me and weekly catch up.....

Hello friends, hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  Since very little crocheting has been happening this week I will entertain you with a little writing assignment from Little Buddy.

His weekly writing prompt was, "describe a family member." He has specific words he needs to use such as for example and one reason.  This is what he wrote.

I love my Mom.  One reason is because she is nice.  For example we play games together.  The next reason is Mom makes me happy.  For example we hug a lot.  The last reason is we kiss a lot.  This is why I like my Mom.

Okay, I'm in love with this little boy.  As you can see in the picture above I am the one in the red shoes.  I am not sure why I am so much smaller than Little Buddy but I can tell you that we are holding our hands and fingers behind our backs because he did not want to draw them.  

My week has not been that exciting but this did happen last Sunday as I tried to change the bedding on Little Buddy's bed.  Everyone had a grand time making sure I did not get it done.  Oh to be a little boy with two furry brothers!

This also happened as Little Buddy tried to get himself undressed the other night.  Those long sleeve shirts can be very difficult.

My dear friend Holly surprised me with this incredible bag.  I just love it so much.  And if you know me at all you know I love Colin Firth.  I will leave my family and friends if he comes knocking at my door.   Not that he will with his gorgeous Italian wife but I can dream!  Thank you Holly I just love it!

Flower Power and the truth about colonoscopies......

Well if that title doesn't draw you in I am not sure what will!  Thank you for all your well wishes for my procedure last week.  Can I say that I was much, much more nervous than I needed to be?  It all went well and now I don't have to get another one for ten years, yay!  I was not worried about the prep, we have all had the flu and food poisoning which is much, much worse than the prep was.  I was nervous about not eating for so long due to my hypoglycemia.  I did not eat for 41 hours, which is a very long time for me.  I had juice, tea and even chicken stock, which got me through it but boy did I suffer with a headache all last weekend and into the week.  That was the worse part, just feeling so weak.  But again, it is over and done with and I don't have to go back.  In ten years they should have a really easy test that is more reliable than the Cologuard that is out right now.  If you are putting this procedure off don't.  It is a pain but it is worth it if they catch something very early.  My doctor told me 40% of women have polyps that need to be removed.  Most aren't cancerous, but you don't want them to become cancerous.  My husbands best friend died of colon cancer three years ago.  He was 61 and had never had a colonoscopy before he experienced abdominal pain and problems with digestion at the age of 60.  He would be alive today if he had had the test in his 50's.  He was a vibrant, loving man and now his wonderful family has to face life without him because he did not want to have the test.  They still struggle with his loss every single day.

Okay, end of lecture, let's move onto the week.  I have had two unexpected finishes this week and I am pretty happy about both of them. 

First off this very simple crochet cowl is hot off the hook.  This has been my car project since January.  When I have a few minutes between patients I pick it up and add a few rows.  Each row adds up even if you only get in one or two a day.  This is made with hand painted mulberry silk yarn from Sweaterkits.  I bought this yarn ages and ages ago when one of my favorite little yarn stores closed.  It is so, so soft, just gorgeous to touch.  I used almost every inch of the 300 yards in the skein and a size H hook.  The pattern is a simple 7 stitch treble crochet shell.  I made two scarves from this pattern last year.  Easy and beautiful.  Made for a dear friend, I hope she will like it.

Four Flower Power Dishcloths were made up last night and today for another friend.  Ms.Opal helps out at one of my medical foster homes.  She is a hoot and I just love her.  She was telling me how much she loves crochet or knitted dishcloths the other day.  So on my day off yesterday I popped by Joann's to get two balls of Sugar and Cream yarn to make these up.  She told me she has red decorative accents in her kitchen and so I chose the red as the primary color for the flower, plus it won't look like it is dirty as easily as yellow would.  This is a super easy pattern, I have made many of them before.  I did add a row to the pattern, some sort of sc, hdc and dc combo to make the dish cloth a bit wider.  I can't tell you specifically what I did.  Next time I make these I won't do hdc in the middle section (yellow), I'll make it all dc so it will be wider right from the start.  I used all of the red ball of yarn, 200 yards and a bit of the yellow, so maybe 250 yards for this project.  I hope to surprise her with these on Monday.  

With the little bit of red yarn I had left I made this coaster, nothing should get wasted, right?

Work was a bit brutal this week with my headache from h*ll and of course all the driving and behaviors I have to deal with on a regular basis.  There was also a report due and oh yes we are getting new cabinets and counters in our master bath, that was fun to clean up after a 13 work day.  The cabinets are in but the counters won't be in for a few weeks.  We are brushing our teeth in another bathroom, no sinks or faucets in mine.  Soon it will all be done and I can check it off my list of things that need to be done to this house.

This photo was taken this morning.  It is all sorts of wonky but it just makes me laugh.  My father used to wear his white t-shirt, khaki shorts and white socks all the time, I mean everywhere he went.  So while getting Little Buddy dressed today he did not want to remove his t-shirt that he slept in, and well he looks very much like my father did, stain on shirt and all.  When he went out to the store he did change and put on a real shirt, still I feel he was channeling his inner Papa.  By the way I still am missing my dad, seems like there is so much I'd like to talk to him about and I can't.

Speaking of Little Buddy, he has been very much a pistol lately not saying nice things to his baby sitter or his speech therapist.  We have had to have several talks and he has written two apology notes in the past week.  I think he is hearing things at school and frankly does not know how to use or not use them correctly, so he tries them out on people he loves.  He does not have little friends in the neighborhood to try stuff out on, so it falls to his family, baby sitter and therapists.   When I woke him up for school on Wednesday he was very, very sleepy.  I carried him into the bathroom and put him down on the potty and told him to be a nice boy at school and to get busy with his work and only say nice things.  He then said to me, with his eyes almost closed with sleep, "Don't worry Mom, I won't say pissed."  Now that is a good idea don't you think?

Have a great weekend my friends.  I have baby blankets to get back to making.  Wish me luck.

One done and two to go...............

First off I hope you are all staying warm and inside during the Polar Vortex that is charging across the country.  We are a bit chilly here but I will take it, no freezing temps and deadly wind chills.  Stay safe my friends.

Baby blanket # 1 is done.  It is for a boy as you recall. This was made with Berroco Modern Cotton in the colors Toverton (darker gray) and Gadwall (silverish gray).  I am loving this blanket.  Berroco Modern Cotton, while a bit splitty makes a great baby blanket.  It is sturdy and washable, as baby blankets need to be.  I used a size I hook and five total skeins of yarn, approximately 1,000 yards to make this blanket.  A 14 stitch ripple, with 8 repeats, making it 34 x 33 in, a perfect size.  I also bought a few sweet gray baby clothes to complete the gift.  I hope the new parents will like it.  Now onto # 2! 

I popped by the yarn store last Thursday to pick up my missing skein of yarn and to buy more yarn for blanket # 3.  Number 2 is for Little Buddy's medical foster parents daughter, she is having a little girl in June.  You might remember he was in her wedding a few years back.  They are the loveliest of people and took great care of Little Buddy when he was in desperate need.  That is where I started working with him and fell in love with him.  If you are new to this blog you can read his story here.

Blanket # 3 is for my soon to be great niece, also due in June.  I love this color combination don't you?  This will be the third baby blanket for this family, I am not sure if they need it or not but I always make one for every new member of my family.  Every new baby needs something handmade with love don't you think?

Last Sunday we were a bit housebound as it was raining like crazy and very chilly out, well chilly for Florida.  We were all a bit stir crazy, I think we are used to being on the move.  My photos were not loading onto my computer from my phone for some reason, so I spent the afternoon frantically crocheting, with a fire on and the fur boys by my side, not blogging as I usually do on Sundays.  

There might also have been face haircuts, which you can see by this photo were not appreciated. 

There might also have been several Grace and Frankie episodes watched, tea drank and lots of snuggling with two fur babies and their not so snugly seven year old brother, who had more important things on his mind then a cuddle.  

I am off  now to get ready for a routine colonoscopy tomorrow.  I am not happy about this procedure, but I am 54 and it needs to be done.  Wish me luck!

The Slouchy Crochet Cardigan has been put on hold for............

My lovely Slouchy Crochet Cardigan has officially been placed on hold.  Not time out, as many of my projects seem to be placed when they are naughty, just on hold.  The big news is there are three baby blankets that need to be made, and I might add they need to get done quickly.  Each baby is cooking at over the 20 week mark and frankly I am afraid they are all coming at the same time.

I asked my husband for a gift certificate to my favorite yarn store for Christmas because I knew these blankets had to be made.  And this week when faced with the decision to either drive and hour to go see two children getting over fevers and throw-ups, or driving a half an hour to the yarn store to pick out baby blanket yarn, guess which option I picked.  These are going to be simple crochet ripples, I've made many before.  There is one problem, I got these yarns out of the bag to take some photos and realized I was missing a skein of light grey.  Knowing I paid for ten skeins I called the store and they put one aside for me.  I hope to pick it up this week along with yarn for blanket number three.  I just found out it will be a girl so I can get that yarn ready to go.  That's one boy blanket and two girls. There is one big issue I am going to have and that is time.  When am I going to find the time to make them?   I better get moving.

Here is a photo of Little Buddy doing his homework yesterday afternoon.  He had three pages of math and had to write a story, boy did it take a long time.  The story was about whether you would like to travel on a plane or a train.  He picked a train.  This was one of his sentences, "I have ridden on a train at Tampa International Airport in Tampa Florida." Some of the spelling was questionable, but still the sentence made me smile.  He rode on the monorail to get from the main portion of the airport to the planes.  He is a funny little one.

This is Coach John and Little Buddy at soccer today.  I really love this man.  He is so kind and funny.  He lets Little Buddy come right up to him with his walker and then Coach John falls down on the ground like he is being run over.  Then Little Buddy falls over and they both roll around the ground laughing and laughing.  He spends a lot of time with Little Buddy and really seems to enjoy him.  Let's just say not a lot of soccer skills were learned today, but it was beautiful out and Little B had a great time, that is all that matters.

There can't be a post without a photo of these two, Crazy 1 and Crazy 2.  

Have a lovely weekend my friends.

A quick catch up....................

I feel like I have been missing since the New Year and indeed I have.  Work has kept me busy and to be honest I am still fighting this cold/flu/infection or whatever it is.  I am going on week four but have seen vast improvement, still it is tiring me out.  How are you?  Feeling okay?  Any news?

These two interrupted my peaceful morning with their crazy antics.  I tried to get them to sit still for an early morning photo but nope they would not have it.  They had way too much energy after a night of sleep.  This weeks casualties, a screen on my lanai that they dug out and thankfully we caught or they would have been on yet another grand adventure. The bus driver from Little Buddy's bus is now an amputee and several of Little Buddy's cars have been mysteriously showing up all over the family room, and it hasn't been from Little Buddy.

   

They do make me laugh.  I can't even tell you how happy they are every single minute of the day.  Our beautiful Hank, who is on the right in the photo above will celebrate his one year adoption day with us in just two days.  Bear's is coming up in two weeks.  Where did that year go?  

This is about the most action this new crochet project of mine has seen all week.  There is just no time during the week to even think about creating anymore.  As much as I miss working with yarn and creating I am fortunate to have a busy job, at least for now.  Come February 1st all sorts of changes will take place with Medicaid and who knows what will happen then.

This is another Slouchy Crochet Cardigan.  I have worn the first one I made several times now and that is a miracle as I actually rarely wear what I make.  But that sweater is so nice and soft, it is comfortable and fits perfectly.  I just love it.  This one is made with Jeans by Lion Brand in the color Vintage.  The yarn is a dark grey but in some light it almost looks green.

I can't remember if I showed you my finished tile work.  This fireplace had forest green tile that was definitely dated.  We replaced it with a fairly inexpensive porcelain tile that looks like marble.  I love how it lightens up the whole area and really updates it.  I have ordered a new rug which should be in this week.  Our new master bath cabinets have also been ordered.  They are definitely showing wear and need to be updated as well.  My husband has been fixing all the divots in the walls that Little Buddy made when he was first starting to use his walker and was a crazy driver.  Now he only uses crutches in our house so the walls are safe again.  He has also painted baseboards, it looks so fresh and clean.

This is Little Buddy and his best friend at soccer last weekend.  It was so cold out we did not wear his soccer jersey.  They adore each other, they even have the same color walker!  They are no longer in the same class yet still see each other every day at school.  It is good to have a friend.

Before soccer today we had to go get new glasses as Little Buddy broke his at school yesterday.  He has two pair but I wanted to get them fixed before they were no longer under the one year replacement plan.  Of course the red/black ones he had were no longer available so I had to spring for these new frames.  These were the only ones that fit his lenses.  I think he is styling!  We laugh because now he has the most expensive glasses in the house.  Still for one year they can be replaced with no charge, and believe me they will be replaced several times. 

I will leave you with this lovely photo of a very tired boy on the way to our car after soccer today.  It has been a tough week for him returning to school, he is very tired.  I think we all are.  

I feel bad about not visiting all of you, to be honest I have just been so tired fighting this bug and trying to work.  I'll catch up.  Wishing you all well.

Hello to a new year........

Welcome 2019!  I have been looking forward to you so much, or might I say looking forward to all the holiday stuff being done.  This is my favorite time of year in Florida.  The leaves are falling from the trees making a carpet of crispness to walk through.  The evenings are cool, the days still warm.  It is wonderful outside.

The boys have been having loads of fun running around after a squirrel or two who darts across my screened enclosure.  Max used to do this daily with the same squirrel, or the squirrel's descendants.   Run, run, run across the lanai, back and forth throughout the day.  The squirrel has the advantage, the boys fall for it every time. 

No deep words of wisdom about the year that has past.  It has been crazy as far as politics, natural disasters, shootings and all that.  Each story more horrific than the next.  I so hope this will end for all of our sake but it looks far from it at this point.  I think our collective levels of stress continue to be at an all time high.

As well as the tough times there has been light.  These two entered our lives last January, grabbed our hearts and never let go.  Even though they gave us quite a scare with their mad adventure they have enriched our lives so much.  They are still very mischievous,  grabbing reading glasses is their favorite thing to do.  Still we are so blessed to have them in our family.

2018 was not my best year at making things.  But I did work an extra amount, I mean averaging 14.5 more treatments a months this year.  As each treatment is an hour you can see how that adds up.  So most of the week was about work and Little Buddy, not creating.  I did knit a sweater and a shawl, so knitting did happen on this blog called Mereknits!  Amazing if you think about it!   My favorite projects were the East End sweater, my second Zick Zack Shawl, and last but not least my latest finish my Slouchy Crochet Cardigan.  Only 12 projects were completed because of those work hours.  And only 9,875 yards of yarn used, but that is okay there is more to use this year. 

This year there are no resolutions of exercise or eating right.  I do what I can with the time I have available.  I am thinking more of really trying to do with what I have before buying more.  I am going to see how long I can go without buying new clothes or shoes, I really have all that I need.  I am going to try and continue to work from stash as much as I can, there are three baby blankets for me to make so far this year and all that yarn will have to be purchased, but the rest of my projects should come from stash first.  I am not picking a word to lead my year but will continue on with this quote from Oprah, "Have faith that the universe has your back."  With all the potential changes at work, with Little Buddy's services, and well our country as we slip into year 3 of complete chaos I think this quote still works well.  

I am not a huge social media fan and have fallen off from most of it.  I find it just takes up so much time, and time I have little of to start with.  I want to connect on a real level, not with likes and such.  I feel we are all losing or ability to relate in real life, in real time.  Does that make sense? 

I also want to feel more kindness to myself and to others.  I have to remember that kindness matters every moment of the day.  And I have a tendency, especially when tired, to not be as kind as I can be. 

I wish you all a wonderful, prosperous, happy and healthy 2019.  Thank you for joining me in this space, thank you for your friendship and your continued support. 

A day of rest.......

This little boy had a wonderful day yesterday.  It started off waking up in Mom and Dad's room because a sleep over is a tradition on Christmas Eve at our house.  That way we won't bother Santa when he comes with presents.  He waited patiently til 9:00 for the older kids to wake up and then walked into the family room to find a kitchen, his stocking and a yellow blender with green on top and a red button.  Yes, it had to be that specific one.  The kitchen was almost a Christmas disaster as it was missing half the directions when Santa's Elves tried to put it together on Christmas Eve.  So a helper had to download new directions, which weren't quite the same or in the same order.  It took thee Elves, with multiple degrees in education, to get this baby together and advert a Christmas disaster.   There was quite a bit of swearing and laughing too as three adults had to contort themselves to hold pieces together to be screwed in place.  It is a lot smaller than I expected but it works and this little one has been very, very busy cooking and making smoothies.

He also got a camera from my friend Lynda in North Carolina.  A very, very simple one.  Yesterday he too 168 photos all of which were very interesting.  He has it figured out even though it is really for a right handed person and his right hand doesn't work all that well.  It is so great to see his perspective, all the photos are taken from interesting angles.

He got remote control cars, pots and pans, dishes, food, two different buses and so much more.  We had recently passed on toys that he had grown out of so there was plenty of room in his room to add all of his new things.  He has been very busy!

This was our first Christmas with Hank and Bear.  They had a wonderful time and got lots of things to chew on.  Yet they still seemed to get the little gnome out of my son's girlfriends stocking and rip it to shreds.  The poor little guy never stood a chance.  Luckily Santa had another one that quickly replaced this one.

  

Today is quieter, not quiet, but quieter.  I got my husband and Amazon Echo Show for Christmas so as I am cleaning up and organizing here and there I can listen to music, and of course I can hear Little Buddy asking Alexa all sorts of questions. "Show me a picture of a high speed elevator.  What sound does a broken elevator make?"  Poor Alexa, she has no idea what to say to these types of questions.   So we often resort to, "Alexa, tell me a knock knock joke!"

I am back to work tomorrow and I have to say I am not ready.  I feel a bit mad as I have been ill most of my six days off.   I feel cheated somehow, but that is life isn't it?  At least I am well enough to go back tomorrow.  My oldest is working today, Mr. 21 and his girlfriend have headed back to Orlando.  She will work a few days and fly off to see her family in Indiana for a week.  Mr. 21 comes back on Friday for a day or two before he heads out on a cruise to celebrate his best friend's 21st birthday with his family.  Oh, to be young again!

This lovely rocking sheep was a gift from Lynda in North Carolina.  She said she is doing everything I like to do, rock and knit with my reading glasses on, so true!

I hope you all had a wonderful day.  For those of you recovering from sudden surgery or who have had some issues and are in the hospital, I want you to know I am thinking of you.  You know who you are and I am sending you healing thoughts.  Have a peaceful day my friends.