Still doing the Waiting Game...

No yet! She had a doctor appt yesterday, but haven't heard how that went. She was dialated 2 cm last week so I would think it should be anytime. Her original due date is Monday so it has to come soon. They don't let you wait it out like they used to.

WooHoo I finally bought the last show tickets for Vegas. We will now be going to see the Cirque show "Love" and the impersonator Danny Ganns. I haven't been able to get the magician tickets as they haven't been available and I got tired of waiting so I went ahead and bought the other tickets for the impersonator, who is supposedly very good. We have less than 13 weeks before we leave now!

I am now down 35 lbs with WW. I have had a bit of a slip and slide since I caught this horrible cold and ate whatever was fast and easy, which was usually junk.

Here is my latest FO's. It is for Thomas's birthday the end of June. I am now finished with his blanket to go with this stuff. I made it all for him to use Cub Scout camping.

Everyone have a good week and weekend! Hopefully I will have baby pictures to post in the near future!

Donna

The Things we do for Love!

We are supposed to be nice and sunny again today. It started cool yesterday morning, but warmed up a lot by afternoon. I got the shopping all done, Jack got a haircut, we had lunch at Macaroni Grill as a special treat (we had never been there before) and today we will pack and then wait for the call.

Do you remember the Lucy episode when she was pregnant and Ricky, Ethel, and Fred all had a game plan and kept practicing calmly until she said, "This is it!?" They then fell all over each other and dropped her suitcase, etc. Well, the little smart aleck I gave birth to and is going to be my new grandson's dubious father... called here yesterday. When Jack answered the phone he heard a siren sound and a voice saying, "This is a drill, this is a drill!" Jack started laughing and I yelled over him that I was going to slap that boy when I got to Indiana.

Today I am going to clean the downstairs, Jack is going to get an oil change in the car to be ready for the trip, then tomorrow Fortune goes to the groomer so he is all pretty in case we have to take him. I actually expect her to go into labor sometime the week of Memorial Day, but we shall see. I know she shouldn't have problems until then, but you never know. Best to be prepared at any rate.

Since the hat was a whiz bang to do, (just took me a about 3 hours actually,) I have an easy pattern for a hooded sweater I am going to start him to finish out his Cub Scout stuff for his birthday. I am going to work between it and the blanket. I only have 4 blocks of color to finish on the blanket then a round of SCrochet around the edge and it will be done.

Everyone have a good Sunday!

Donna

I have a New Digital Camera....YEAH!

I found a great deal on a Nikon at Target of all places then went to Walmart and got a spectacular deal on the memory cards a 2 for one thing so now we are all set to take loads of new baby and Vegas pictures! Besides that, I can show you what I have been doing all this time with yarn.

First off, there aren't many patterns out there for people my size in the knitting world so I have to adapt and I am not any where near an expert knitter so sometimes they aren't as perfect as they should be. Take the peach sleeveless shell and the cardigan. These are two different patterns and the cardigan sleeves are way too big, but I had to do an estimation from the largest size they had how much to increase everything. I push up my sleeves on long sleeve anything anyway so... It is a nice comfortable sweater and can be very warm for me. It is made with Caron Simply Soft in Soft Country Peach.

The blue shell is made with Estelle Dazzle in Caribbean Surf and it has this sparkle too it, which now lies all over my carpets, my furniture, my bed, our bodies, etc. Even the cat and dog sparkle!

This is Thomas's Cub Scout earflap hat for his campouts that will match the blanket I made him for Cub Scouts for his birthday. The ice tea pot was in love with it and wanted it for himself, but I refused!

This is the yarn bag my dd bought me for Mother's Day. Isn't it the coolest thing. I just love it.

I am almost finished with his blanket, am working on a hoodie jacket for the new baby for Christmas and want to make this sweater for my dd for her birthday she wants badly, but I am having a real problem with the instructions. I may have to come to you ladies and have help figuring it all out.

Oh and PS: I had been shopping all day and had taken all my makeup off and my messed up my hair before I started the picture takes so I know I look awful!

Everyone have a great weekend!

Donna

It won't be long now....

I hope to have nice sunny weather to run errands today. I am going to get that blasted gift mailed back to my sil. I still have not heard from her and it is closing in on 2 weeks now. She told Jack she is sending my son and dil a gift card for the baby, but I will believe it when I see it. If they don't have the money, then just send a card. Jay certainly won't care as they just keep getting more and more gifts and she pretty much has everything they need and more. She never sent Kelly even a card for Thomas nor did she send even cards for either of the girl's wedding or baby showers or their weddings for that matter. I have begged her several times to send me her son's address, who is in Afghanistan in the Army so that I can send him a nice fat care package, but I haven't gotten that either. Her olded dd is getting married in August and I don't know if we will get an invite or even information so I can send them a gift. I don't even know Michelle's fiancee's name. I do know she has major problems in her home, but still how much time does it take to email someone.

I started and finished the earflap hat yesterday and it turned out just adorable. I sure do miss my digital camera at this time. I have a knitting online friend who told me how to make a pompom and for the first time, mine actually turned out. They usually come out like tassels instead, but she doesn't use the cardboard technique and the way she does it worked. the hat is the Cub Scout blue with a 2 inch gold stripe in the middle. I did a double crochet all the way around the hat in the gold, the pompom is half gold, half blue and the ties are gold and blue braided with short tassels on the ends. It was super easy to do and I even ripped 3/4 of the hat completely out and started over when I saw it was going to be too big with the needles I was using. It was a pattern my dd sent me from the diy show on tv called Knitty Gritty. The hat was knit in one piece, well actually two pieces, as I knit the first earflap and put it on holders, knit the second one, then left it on the needle, cast on stitches, knit the second earflap onto the needle then cast on stitches for the front of the hat. It was knit in the round on circs, but I have found that I have much better time if I start the project on straight then transfer to the circs and my stitches never get twisted this way.

We are going to pack this weekend to go to Indiana and be as ready as possible when Jay calls us. We sure would like to beat the stork if we can so I am going to email him with instructions on when to call, if her water breaks, call, if she is steady and having contractions 10 minutes apart, call, etc. I can see him calling us when she is already at the hospital pushing and I at least want a fighting chance to get up there.

Well, I am going to do morning chores and knit until Jack gets up. He has blood work that has to be done this morning so he is going into work late.

"The Queen"........

I finally got a chance to watch "The Queen." Helen Mirren does a spot on job with Elizabeth, doesn't she? The woman is a bit on the cold hearted side, but then again she was raised that way. They sure made Prince Charles a big wimp. Wonder if he really is?

Good morning all! It is supposed to be a beautiful sunny day in our neighborhood and in the 80's today. The pool opens a week from Monday and I am looking forward to that.

I got a call from our dil last night and she said she is officially on maternity leave. When I spoke to her on Monday, she said she was going to work through the weekend so that her partner doesn't have to do it since he is going to be covering for her while she is on maternity leave, but she had a dr appt and she may have told her no go. I know she measured at 38 instead of 37 weeks so they think around Memorial Day would be the day. That would be good for us as Jack wouldn't have to burn a vacation day that day. Bad part would be the kennel isn't open on a holiday so we wouldn't be able to get Fortune over there and would have to take him with. He isn't a problem except their dogs are so rambunctious and Fortune isn't. Our friend's have a huge brown lab, but he is an angel and wouldn't bother Fortune at all except Fortune is afraid of him. So, we shall see what happens when the time comes.

We were going to go see Pirates of the Caribbean this weekend, but it doesn't come out until next weekend. Bummer! Johnny Depp does a great job and they are pretty funny movies. Oh well, Jack isn't feeling that great anyway so it will give him a chance to really rest this weekend.

You all have a great Thursday and catch you on the flip side!

Donna

It is Raining to beat the band here!

I had a very early night last night and when I got up to go to the bathroom at 3 just didn't feel like going back to bed. Jack thought he had disturbed me, which he hadn't. He sounds awful, but says it is just his throat.

Fortune is standing at the door wanting to go out, but it is raining hard and when I let him out, he went about 4 steps out and right back in so there isn't any reason to try it again. I think he went in and used the puppy pads, at least I hope he did that and not the carpeting.

Do you know that my sil has never even answered my email about what to do with her birthday package? I mean, how rude is that? I am just going to mail her gift card in an envelope then send her handbag out once more separately in a box, if it comes back than I am keeping it. It is ridiculous I can't even get a response to what she wants me to do with it. It has been sitting here for over a week now as I have been waiting to hear from her.

I peeked at the scales and it looks like I am down another lb though my "weigh in" isn't until Friday's. I think I told you I quit WW and am just doing it myself. I liked the place I changed to, but I don't get a lot out of the meetings and I don't seem to need the others in the group to spur me on. I have Jack to do that, plus trying to lose weight for vacation or whatever I make as a goal. I can't see spending all that money on it.

I sure wish I could hurry up and get the blanket done. It is the most boring knitting and I sure get tired of it pretty quickly. I have to finish the fourth strip and start on the fifth today. I can't keep avoiding it. I only have about 15 rows to finish the 4th strip and I am only making two more so I am making progress.

I saw yesterday that Jerry Falwell died. Kelly went to college there. Not for long, just one semester because of problems she encountered with a dishonest debate coach, but it is a beautiful campus up in the hills of Lynchburg. It is always a shock to family when a person goes off to work, even has breakfast with staff and then is found a little while later with no pulse. I can't say I agree with everything he said or did, but I applaud him for having the courage of his convictions.

Well, I guess I will do some morning chores and then sit and knit until Jack gets up for work. More cleaning to do today upstairs and I would like to get it done early.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday!
Donna

Oooh, got my new knitpicks catalogue!

Good almost afternoon gals! I had a rough night and Jack is sick so I finally gave up and brought Fortune downstairs about 2 AM. I read until 5 AM when Jack got up for work then I crashed until 9 this morning. Jack feels he can't take time off so he went to work feeling sort of crappy. He has a sore throat and is pretty hoarse, but otherwise is ok. You know when you have a sore throat you always feel a bit off.

I have to get upstairs in a minute and clean the bathrooms. I haven't made the bed yet because Butterscotch is refusing to stay off the bed long enough for me to make it. I have put him out of the bedroom and closed the door, but our door doesn't latch really tight and the little bugger shoves his body up against it to open it and back on the bed he jumps! I have to trick him and wait until he goes downstairs.

I got my knitpicks catalogue yesterday and they have a knitting book I want to get. It is called "Charmed Knits." It is projects for fans of Harry Potter. There are 30 different patterns including sweaters, invisibility cloaks, Christmas ornaments, all kinds of things. I also saw a knitting software program I want for Christmas. It allows me to take any pattern and adapt it to any size. It allows you to take a straight needle knitting pattern and convert it to circular needles too, which would be a god send. I could have a whole list of stuff for Christmas for myself just from this one catalogue. One of the things I have wanted for a long long time from this site is an "options interchangeable needle set." I don't have nearly the number of circs I would like to have and this would be a great way of having a whole set. I am sure many of you probably have this set.

Well, I guess I should get myself up and get to cleaning. I really need to do a lot of knitting on the blanket today as I got a new book from my book club and sat and read it instead of knitting yesterday and this morning.

Have a great Tuesday!

Could it Get any Worse?????

I went to breakfast with my dd and Thomas yesterday morning. Boy, Cracker Barrel has the best turkey sausage! We had a nice visit, Thomas gave me this cute little, for lack of better words, sand painting in a jar thing that is very pretty and they both gave me this cool handmade straw handbag that is shaped sort of like an African jug. She said she didn't know if I would like it as a handbag because of the sort of irritating way you have to undo the latch. A long woven piece snakes through the front like belt loops and goes over the top of these protrusions and fastens down on them so it is kind of irksome. She bought it to carry my knitting in, which is great. I can carry one set of whatever when I go somewhere and not have to carry everything I am doing. It was really a very thoughtful gift. Since T didn't have anything to give to his mom, I made up a gift for him of a "chick lit" book that I bought for her for her birthday, a handbag I bought in a sale for her and votive candles that I always keep on hand. I went to the store yesterday morning and got him a card to sign so he had something to give her. His dad is in Toronto and didn't do anything with him ahead of time. My son called around noon and we had a nice visit.

Today is housecleaning day and I of course, have to walk this morning so it is a full morning. I finally got out to Michael's and got more blanket yarn so I can work on getting it finished. I hope I might be able to get a hat in there too, but I don't know if I can squeeze it in before his birthday. I don't have the proper needles and would have to get them along with yarn and such.

I hope everyone had a really nice Mother's Day in whatever way you wanted to spend it. I am going to put yesterday's in the trash bin and leave it there.

Have a good one!

Donna

Fur Elise it was...

The recital was a huge success even if my behind didn't think so. We had to sit on metal folding chairs and everyone was pretty miserable sitting in them for over 2 hours. Thomas played fourth, had "mastered" his Fur Elise, and did a marvelous job. I saw one of the dad's about 2 rows up from us look at his wife and mouth, "He's pretty good isn't he?" so of course that made Nonny's chest puff up! I felt so sorry for their little girl, who played her violin. She was about 3/4 way through and I think lost her place then got confused and finally recovered, but when she came back to her parents to sit down, she was sobbing like her little heart would break. She did a really good job and I wanted to catch her before they left to tell her so but I didn't get to them in time.

We came home, Jack took a nap, I ran a bunch of errands including getting more yarn so I can get that durn blanket finished, then back out to go to his crossover ceremony for Cub Scouts. They had it out in the heat and it was horrible. Jack and I moved into the shade of the corner of the church and pretty soon there was a whole group of us up there. Thomas is now officially out of Tiger scouts and is a Wolf. He even won one of the door prizes, they call early birds, though all the kids get a ticket and the cubmaster was half an hour late! My sil is going to be cubmaster next year and that seems so unlike him. He is not a very gregarious person and you kind of have to be for that job. I know he will be great at it though.

Today, I am going to breakfast with my dd for mother's day, then back to the house, change into work clothes and clean the downstairs while Jack watches NASCAR and listens to the CUBS game at the same time, more than likely.

I didn't get my box for mother's day from my son and dil yet. I know that Jay will call today and will be miffed that it didn't get here. I am sure it will be here the first of the week.

To you all!

Coming along fine!

Today was in day and I am down 5 lbs so I am thrilled about that. I am in for stormy seas though with Mother's Day, going to Indiana for the baby's birth then Vacation. Vacation is the only time I am absolutely not going to worry about dieting. I imagine I will put back on 5 lbs or a little more, but I can work to get it back off. I am going to thoroughly enjoy myself on vacation.

I finished putting the front two panels on the sweater and they are now all sewed together. I have to measure to set in the sleeves then sew them and the side seams, put on a button loop and the button and I am finished. I may decide not to put a button on at all, we shall see.

I am coming along on the baby's sweater also. It is unusual for me to knit with such fine yarn as I have never done so before. I love the colorwise of the yarn. It makes a beautiful pattern. I am going to hunt for hat and mittens pattern to go with in case I decide not to knit and sew on the hood. I may hunt around for one with a hood that is knit on and see if I can adapt it to this pattern.

I have become addicted to an online video game called Magic Academy. I don't play video games much, I have an online free casino site that I play sometimes, but I am not much of a video game player. I really enjoy this. It takes concentration and memory skills. I think it is good for the old brain of mine to sharpen it up.

Uh-oh, the lady next door is concocting the nasty food again. I don't know why we get the smells from her condo when she cooks something foul, but it sure stinks up the whole house. I am surmising it is some kind of soul food. Which reminds me that I have to put on a loaf of italian bread in the bread machine to get started. We are having spaghetti for dinner tonight and instead of bought bread, I make my own, add minced garlic into the flour dough then after it is baked, slice it, spray butter on it and brown it. Cuts a lot of the calories and fat out.

Jack and I have decided to go outside our comfort zone and eat at some restaurant types we haven't tried while on vacation. I am going to make reservations at Mon Ami Gabi, which is a french steakhouse. We want to be a little adventurous. Of course, Jack eats very few veggies and hates fish so we shall see about a french restaurant. Since I can read french a bit, I pulled up the menu and told him what things like pomme frites (french fries) harcort vert (green beans) etc were so he knows what he can order and not get into trouble. I told him to concentrate on boeuf (beef) and he would probably be safe! They actually have a good looking menu and at the Las Vegas forum I haunt everyone raves about it. We are staying at the hotel right next to the Paris so we can walk to it without even going outdoors as they are attached. I will probably wear my sparkly blue top with some nice dress pants. I have a ton of the ribbon yarn left and if I can find the time may make myself a simple wrap to wear with it.

I am so miffed at my sil, (Jack's sister.) I sent her birthday present priority mail, cost me $9 back the middle of March and when they couldn't deliver, (I wanted delivery confirmation so someone had to be home to take the package) well she never went and picked it up. Jack talked to her two weeks ago and she promised to go and get it and it came back unclaimed yesterday. I sent her an email, which she hasn't bothered to answer and if I don't hear from her, I am going to keep the handbag and just mail her gift card in an envelope. I am not spending a bunch of money on it again. I know she has a full time job and is busy, but the dang post office is opened on Saturday and she is a supervisor in cardiac care unit at a hospital so I know she doesn't work on Saturday's. Besides, she has a grown dd that lives with them that could go get it. Well, I told Jack if I don't hear from her by the first of the week, I am just going to mail the gift card to her and be done with it.

I just got off the phone with the sister I went to see in Little Rock and poor thing is having a real bad time with her leg. She is on blood thinner and high blood pressure meds because of the clots and headaches, but she still has clots in her legs. She can only work part time and her law firm has no disability policy so she doesn't get paid when she doesn't work. I feel so sorry for her and what she seems to be always going through with medical issues.

Well, I need to fold my load of laundry, get back to knitting and get upstairs and vacuumin the upstairs. I didn't walk today because it is really dark and overcast and I would hate to get a ways away from home and it come a downpour. I may do some weights or if I feel I really need to get on the UGH

Donna

No I did not fall off the end of the world!

Not only have I been hugely busy, I can't post pictures because of my camera catastrophe so I haven't been posting. That is unforgivable I know.

Let's see since March, I finished both ribbon tops, am halfway done with a Cub Scout blanket for my grandson's birthday, am just a smidge away from completing my cardigan ( just need to do the sewing up basically), have started a hoodie jacket for Jackson for Christmas and probably several other things I can't think of. I knit pretty much everyday so I know I have finished more than this! lol

The baby's date has been moved up to May 26th so we only have a little over two weeks until the new one is here. My dil is doing well. She has problems with her feet swelling and she says she is miserable trying to sleep, but other than that she is doing well. We are so anxious for it all to happen.

You should see the paper chain for Vegas now. We have less than 16 weeks to go. I have the airline tickets (first class ) paid for, the hotel reservation and deposit paid for, we are staying on the strip this time at Bally's, I have bought the Cirque tickets to see "Love" and they are front row seats! I still have the Lance Burton magic show tickets to get, but can't purchase those until June as they aren't available yet. I have the car reserved, though with gas prices outrageous we are going to try and walk most places. We are pretty set to go and really really can't wait to leave.

My trip to visit my sister was a bust. First off, I had hemmoroids really bad, which is unusual, because I rarely have problems with them. The two hour drive was excruciating. We did some shopping, but I couldn't find anything I wanted except a jacket, which I passed up as not necessary. We did go and see Wild Hogs (I had already been with Jack and found it hilarious) ! She was having a problem with her leg being in pain and after she got home found out she had blood clots in her legs and little ones in her lungs. She is still in bad shape over those. It just wasn't the fun time I had hoped. We didn't even go to the pool because she left at 7 AM the next morning because of a family thing so I just went home too. I figure she felt the same way. Too old ladies falling apart.

The shower was great and she loved everything I bought and made. My little overalls were a big hit for some reason. I fell in love! One of her friends has a baby that is 6 months old and he and I got on very well. Everyone is always amazed at how well baby's take to me, but it must be the When my kids were little my dd called them fluffy pillows! She got everything and anything so she is pretty set. The baby's room is adorable done in yellow and green and just charming. Something not so themed. She got this cool thing that throws the constellations onto the ceiling and it is really neat. She also has some neat lighting in there.

Oh, WW is coming along fine. I am down over 30 lbs now and still working it. I have a couple backward slides with traveling and such, but nothing I didn't remedy right away.

Until the next time.....

Donna