Somewhere over the rain cloud.....

It is really coming down here and I guess I am going to have to do the treadmill instead of walking today. Bummer! I need to work off eating some of the junk we had with Thomas yesterday. We got to keep him for the whole day, which was delightful as we usually only get him a couple hours. We did Chuck E Cheese and the movies! We went to see Open Season, which is full of bathroom humor and silly stuff like that, but is funny. He insisted we share junior mints together so we did. I think most of the box got thrown away. The 2 drinks and 2 candies cost more than the movie tickets did! Chuck E needs to buy a bigger ! He had about a bazillion parties and they had all the tables reserved. Jack asked the manager what's with all the reserved signs and she said we could sit anywhere in the free area so we found a booth that had a half seat where I could knit so I knitted and T and Granddad played games. I wish we could have him more. I feel so disconnected from him most of the time.

I finished the one side and have started on the front of the sweater so I hope I can get a lot accomplished today. I need to get the baby blanket done and since I didn't get the stuff from my dd, I am going to wait to start her sweater, maybe, maybe not as I love to have new things going. I do want to finish my hat though, so I may work on it this morning and try and get it done so I can felt it and wear it to lunch next Saturday.

It's not too newsy in this part of the world, so until next time....

Donna

What used to be Howdy Dowdy and Bugs Bunny day is now Chuck E Cheese...

Today is the infamous trip to see the mouse at his house. I am taking my knitting for sure, but I sure hope I can find a detached chair to sit on because you sure can't knit in a booth and knit! . Drum roll please:











I am down 6 lbs! I swore I was not going to get on the scales for a month, but they called to me and I got on them this morning.

I have a few more rows and the back of the sweater is finished. It is incredibly easy as it has no armhole decreases and the neckline is a boatneck so it isn't difficult either. I did put in the second pattern and didn't like it at all so ripped it back and put in a couple more of the pattern one. I think it will look really nice when finished. Cotton yarn can be hard to deal with though, because it seems to easily ravel and split.

I really would like to finish it up this weekend if I can. Oh and here is the skein of that delic yarn I am going to make myself a top out of. It is the lighest stuff you have ever seen. I got it so cheap too, under $4 a skein, of course for someone my size it took 13! I mean, still, could I go into some shop and even get a top that would look like this in my size let alone get one that would cost less than $60? You definitely wouldn't be able to go into a department store or something and find a handknit one for $60 even in small sizes so I figure it was a great deal!
I am going out walking instead of the treadmill this morning. I can walk at least a mile doing it on land, but I tire easier on a treadmill so I like to walk outside when I get up the gumption to get clothes on and get out early. I always exercise early in the morning to get it done or I don't think I would do it.

Time to get the old bod going and get chores done etc. It should be light in half an hour or so and I can get outside.
Parting is such sweet sorrow ...until tomorrow, I bid you adieu Donna

How can you use your knitting needles with rice????

Nope, not as chopsticks, you fill a long cylinder with rice and poke your needles back and forth in it to shine them up. Tip from Knitt Gritty

I just had to include this cartoon someone posted on KH. It sure fits me at the moment!

The sweater is coming along, I was up to the yoke and discovered I was a stitch short. I had dropped one and had to frog out a huge amount, then last night was knitting merrily away on the yoke and discovered I had read the pattern wrong and had to frog it too and start over. I believe I am now on the right Ok, so that was a lame yoke....Brother I am getting worse aren't I?

For those of you who read my blog, if you ever see a finished project you like and want to knit, feel free to let me know and I would be happy to pass it on. I use mostly free stuff as I have trouble finding stuff I like at places like Walmart and Michaels and haven't been to any lys. I don't buy patterns online for the most part because without seeing the pattern, I don't know how difficult it is sometimes.

Tomorrow is my test of will. We are taking Thomas to Chuck E Cheese and though I detest their that doesn't mean I wouldn't sit there and eat it. We are going really early, like 10 o'clock so I think we are going to ask him if he wants to go somewhere else for lunch afterward instead of having pizza.

My husband said the nicest thing to me last night in bed. We were laying there just talking about our dating and stuff (how we met is a story for the magazines) and he said that when I sent him my senior picture he said he thought, "Wow, she is really beautiful!" I am anything but beautiful but after knowing him 35 years he STILL thinks so. He calls me gorgeous instead of my name most of the time, comes in from work at night and asks me how his sexy wife is doing, etc etc. One thing he never ever forgets to do even if we happen to go to bed mad, which rarely happens, he always me goodnight. If I go to bed before him and are asleep and he can't find my lips, he will kiss my shoulder, head, arm whatever, but I always get that kiss! I will ask him if he loves me and he tells me he adores me, what more could you ask, right? He is a peachy husband that is for sure. He makes all the bad things right again just being here.

Does anyone but me have trouble figuring out i-cord and doing mattress stitch? I think with the seaming I only get it about half right, it just doesn't look bad or I take it out. I have never been able to to the pull up the seam thing so I know I am doing something wrong. I guess I am going to have to watch the KH videos over and over until I can get it right and I am not sure I am ever going to get a handle on the i-cord.

Well, I hear the has stopped and the dishwasher needs unloading. I have the to get on and breakfast to make for myself. Today is day for breakfast.
Have a good one everybody! Donna

Juggling my projects...

As of this morning, I have three all going at once. I like to keep more than one project going so that if I get bored with one, I can go to another. It is a fine act to keep from getting confused sometimes, but I enjoy having more than one going.

I got my Gedifra Cotton and my Jewel Box yarns yesterday. The Jewel Box is not exactly what I expected, but I think it will knit up into the sweater just fine. I have started the sweater for my sister and I like how it is coming along. It is a really simple pattern, but one I know she will wear AND since she lives in

California

this will be a comfortable sweater for summer. It is a very lightweight sweater and is almost a cap sleeve type thing so will work well out there. I am probably going to get her a gift card to buy some pants to go with it so she can wear it to work. She has very dark brown hair and I think this color will look fabulous on her. I love this color. I may get more of this yarn to make another sweater with this stuff. The only thing I had trouble with is doing ribbing with it on smaller needles. I couldn't keep the rib stitches tight. I think it is because I have arthritis in my hands and keeping the yarn tight is hard in some situations. I found it hard with the black cotton yarn I used for my grandson's Beatle's sweater too.

You know, I sat here thinking that when I started knitting and was posting at my KH board, I kept trying to keep up with people that were doing harder projects than I? What is with that? Why should I feel I have to compete with not only more experienced knitters but those that want to do hard things right away and happen to be good at it? I think the worst thing I can do is pick stuff that I find too difficult for me in some way and it causes me not to finish a project because of it. There is no reason I have to set myself a time limit and learning to use dpn's or doing intarsia or whatever. I should just find stuff I want to make and make it!!!!

I am doing pretty well with the diet. I am going on day three and am getting my exercise in every morning and keeping my food under control. I did fudge in this regard. I HATE ff salad dressings and would rather eat the extra calories of a full fat dressing. I just got a cookbook that mimic restaurant recipes and they had the tangy tomato salad dressing from Outback in it. I made a batch last night and it is pretty good. It had quite a bit of sugar in it, ie the ketchup and regular sugar, but not a huge amount of oil and it calls for olive oil, which is good. So I will just use less but enjoy it. I am going to get myself a little container I can take with me to restaurants so I have my own salad dressing. For some reason, restaurants in the south don't have french dressings. I like Bleu Cheese, but that is a diet killer right there and I really only like it as a dip and not on salads so much. Best thing to do is bring my own!!!

We get to take Thomas to Chuck E Cheese on Saturday and I am looking forward to that. We haven't seen him since Christmas Eve.

For all you ND fans, I send my condolences. They got trounced by LSU in the Sugar Bowl last night, 41-14. ND is in my hometown and my son only lives 4 blocks from the university. I am sure everyone is walking around with their heads down today! That is 9 bowl games in a row ND has lost.

Things to do and knitting to accomplish so I say

Donna

Here we go again (gosh I hope not)....

For those of you who don't know, Jack had open heart bypass surgery on Sept 18, 2006. One weird side effect from the surgery was his immune system got all screwed up and about a week after he was home from the hospital, he started having these strange swellings. It would start with an itching, for example in his hand, then it would swell up like a balloon and be bright red for a couple days, then just go away all by itself and somewhere else would start to itch and do the same thing. He had it happen with toes, hands, fingers, feet, belly area, underarm, upper arm, face, legs, just about everywhere at least once. We ended up having to take him to the ER one afternoon when his tongue swelled up huge and I was concerned about choking or breathing issues. To sum it all up, after that, his cardiologist suggested an allergist to get to the root of the probelm and a couple weeks later got in to see the one my grandson sees. Only problem, the swellings had completely stopped! The doctor ran some allergy tests and put him on Allegra for 3 weeks, which I wasn't sure why as the swelling had stopped, but... Well, last evening both bottoms of his feet started itching and swelled up tight and he was in pain all night and with that and the cold didn't get any sleep so he is staying home today. I am hoping it was from his new work shoes and not the stuff starting over again, but I am keeping a watch out and if it goes away and pops up somewhere else back to the allergist he goes. He had finished what the dr wanted him to take with the Allegra, but I gave him one early this morning to see if it would help any. His fever broke in the night and his side of the bed is wet so I brought the animals downstairs and told him to get into my side of the bed and go back to sleep until he had to call in sick to work.

On the bright side, my yarns should be here today! Whoopeee! Oh and here is a peek at how the blanket is coming along for the baby. I have 7 more patterns before I finished and yesterday was one of those days where my hands hurt most of the day and I didn't get a lot finished on it so I will tackle it again today.


First day with the weight loss stuff went a-ok. It is getting used to ignoring the head hunger again. That is the toughest part for people I think if distinguishing from your head telling you that you are hungry and your tummy saying it is time to eat.

I feel we are on our way to

las vegas

. I have put the deposit down on the hotel and next month I hope to buy the airline tickets if they are available yet. So far, they don't have the flights scheduled that far in advance. We really feel we are going once we have the hotel and plane tickets lined up. It is still quite hot out there that time of year so I have to work hard to get back into the cute summer clothes I bought for the first trip we went on. I do have to buy some more tops and another pair of sandals. I only buy Clarkes sandals to wear as they are top notch to walk around in and not have blisters or hurt feet and not get tired walking. I have worn my first pair out. They are so good I actually do my treadmill work in them most of the time because they are lighter than my New Balance shoes.

I guess I should put some fresh batteries in my cd player and get to the treadmill and get it over with! I am not a fan of the treadmill but I don't want to get dressed and go out walking this morning.


"Love Means never having to say you're sorry" Jennifer Cavilleri
Donna Wilkinson "Love Means always being willing to say you're sorry."

On the south side of the Mississippi...

Woke up on and off last night because poor Jack is having such a hard time with his sore throat. He got up at midnight and came downstairs and drank my elixir so he could sleep last night. He then got up 15 minutes early to get ready for work so I just got up with him and started my housecleaning, which as of 7:00 is now all done!

I have 20 minutes done on the and another 20 waiting for me this afternoon. I do 20 minutes in the morning and 20 in the evening and on WED and FRIDAY. This has got to be my year for weight loss.

I hope my yarn gets here today so I can start on the sweaters. I am coming right along with the baby blanket and the red hat, but really want to start the sweaters.

Saturday we get to take our

grandson

to Chuck E Cheese for

We don't get to see him much so we are looking forward to it. I just hope that Jack is feeling up to it. I am going to take one of my knitting projects with me as Jack usually does the playing with him. Jack doesn't get a lot of together time with Thomas so I kind of stand back with the video games and let them have a good time together.

Looks like we are getting $4100 back on tax refund this year! Woohoo, helps pay for our trip to Vegas. That will pay for the flight (we treat ourselves and fly first class, which is the bomb) and the hotel bill and
probably a couple shows. We always rent a car, so we don't stay on the strip. The hotel we stay at (The Orleans) is huge and has like 14 restaurants, etc, a full size movie theater and bowling alley, a pub with live music a stadium where they have concerts or hockey games and such and I guess even a ballroom as I see they had a couple parties in their ballrooms. The rooms are huge and have a couch and chair and coffee table besides a big bed and such. The only thing that is bad we think is the "closet" is in the bathroom and the bathroom has a sliding door and not one you can lock, which is ok until you have a visitor that wants to use the restroom and finds they can't lock the door!

Ok, I need to eat some breakfast and get to knittin'.

When you think about it, all we really DO need is .....

And a New Year has Begun....

Happy New Year Everyone!!!



This is my year to lose weight and get healthier. I have a long way to go, but you take it one day at a time. I am looking forward to getting some nice projects finished and having time to do them and not rushing. My yarn for the two sweaters should be here around Wednesday so I can start on those. I only do about 4-6 rows of the blanket pattern at a time because I get distracted and lose my place then make a mistake and have to frog the whole row. I am also doing another red hat with some eye lash on it so my arms are kind of broken out from it.



Still have the swelling but it went down last evening and reswelled some overnight. As Alice says, "Curiouser and Curiouser." I am just going to continue with the ice today and see if it goes down completely. We think I might have been bit by something in my sleep night before last.



Here are some pictures of my family.

This is my son, Jack and daughter-in-law, Alicia. They are the ones having the new baby in June .

My daughter, Kelly, son-in-law, Tom, and grandson, Thomas

The love of my life, Jack. This was our very first trip to Las Vegas in the front entrance of the Orleans Hotel and Casino. They have a New Orleans theme and this was two alligators their mascot playing the instruments.

I guess I better get the morning started. For me, it isn't coffee as I don't touch the stuff, but maybe a nice cup of hot chocolate and some knitting time before the household is up and around!

As the sands in the , so are the days of my life.....