Seriously?!

Last week was crazy. I was in and out of the ER. The first time was for the pressure behind my left eye. CT scan showed nothing, trip to the referred ophthalmologist showed nothing other than I light eyes in the back. He said it was weird and that it was like having brown hair, but blond eyes. Umm o.k. He believed it could be sinus pressure and I should go back on the allegra, but as a precaution put me on steroid drops for that eye.

I used the steroid drops as prescribed then on Thursday as I was helping James with his school work my right arm and hand went numb. Before that I had to pick some stuff up off the floor and got really sick feeling. I sat down to try and relax and see if maybe I was just holding my arm wrong and it had gone to sleep. Once I sat down I had a weird shaky sick feeling. I waited a while to see if the numbness would subside, but it didn't. Sent a msg to Kevin and called a local Dr office since we still hadn't found a Dr yet. I was advised to head to the ER. So another call was made to the MIL and I waited for Kevin to come get me as I wasn't about to drive like that.

Another CT, an EKG, 6 viles of blood work and 6 more hours in the ER came up with nothing! In a way I am glad that nothing was found, but then it makes me feel like I am crazy. My arm was numb all that day and you could physically tell that the hand and fingers on that side were colder than the left. They couldn't give me any answers and I was told to followup with our GP. While I was at the ophthalmologist I asked the ladies there if they knew of any Drs. I was told to call a place in Lawrenceburg and they are taking new patients! Whoo Hoo! Down side is I can't be seen until Mat 17, since I am a new patient and they only see 2 new patients a day. They were booked that far out! I am just happy at this point to have found a Dr.

I stopped taking the steroids as they were giving me a bad chemical taste in the back of my throat and burning it. Since I quit taking them the numbness has subsided. I remember having a bad reaction to steroids when I was younger and I had to take them for my asthma. The Dr at the ER said it could be back problems or a pinched nerve. I just wonder if it could have been an allergic reaction to the steroids? If you know me you know that I can't have any normal reaction to meds.

In between all this I was filling out my order for yarn to dye. :) Guess what came today?! Oh yeah some yarn. I still have another order to put in for roving and more yarn. I should do that in the next day or so in hopes that it will all be here for next week. Then the madness will start with the marathon dyeing. I need to get it all done and dry for my first show of the season in May. The Kentucky Sheep and Fiber Festival! I can't wait as I had to miss it last year and really wish I could have gone.

Amongst everything else that has been going on I have done some spinning and knitting of you can believe it. It is so nice to be able to spin colorful fun rovings into bright beautiful yarns.




These colors made me smile. :)



Oh by the way I see that people are reading the blog. See "purl of wisdom" below here? Yeah that is where you click to leave a comment or "purl of wisdom". :) I do like to hear what others have to say.

So Much and So Little Time

I have so much going on to tell you all, but so little time to get it done.

These are the topics that I want to talk about hopefully in the next few days....

Ky Wool Festival
Homeschooling
Contests - yes that is right I will be having 2 of them - call a buddy bring a friend. ;)
Knitting
Spinning - Yes I was able to do some at the Ky Wool Festival - oh how I missed it.
and a few others that I can't think of now. Maybe I should talk about lack of sleep and the inability to think straight?.

So sorry that the past few posts haven't had any photos. I do have photos to share, just need to get them off the camera and onto the computer.

Well I have to run the babe should be up soon and I really want to head to bed. I am T-I-R-E-D.

Hope to have a post with pictures the next time. :)

Drive By Posting

I can't believe it has been over a month since I posted last. Thanks to all that have commented and sent emails wondering how we are doing. We all so appreciate it.

James and I are better from the nasty ick that has been going around, but now it seems like something else is trying to get ahold of us. James has been acting tired for a few days and has said that he isn't feeling well. Now I have a soar throat, but just on one side. It is nasty painful to swallow. My glands aren't swollen, so I don't know what it is. I just want to get well and stay well. I don't know where it is coming from. James and I don't go anywhere. *Sigh*

I have been knitting and will have 3 pair of socks to share with you once I get pictures of them. 2 pair are of a "normal" length. The other pair is a thigh high pair I made for my SIL. Nothing too exciting, but it is knitting none the less, right?

I have also been spending many hours getting my dyeing area organized and ready so that everything will run more smoothly. I am really liking the look of it. Kevin is going to build some little shelves so that I can have little houses for all my dyes. I have been dyeing up some sample swatches and the real things will be next. I have some new colorways for the spring and summer seasons that I am quite happy about.

Speaking of dyeing.... I have something exciting that will be happening to my yarns. I will reveal that later. I am very excited.

Sorry that there are no pictures on this post. Hopefully I will have some for the next one and it won't be over a month before I post again. ;)

Only 12 More Days Left & Yet Another Contest

There are only 12 more days left for you to be able to donate to The Buddy Walk. Mindy is so close to meeting her goal and it would be great to blow that out of the water. It is for such a good cause and if that isn't enough then look at all the lovely prizes that she will be giving away. If that doesn't do it for you then look at her adorable little guy while you are there. What better reason to donate?

Hurry over and give a few bucks. It doesn't have to be much, every little bit helps.
You can also reach it by clicking on the Buddy Walk picture on my sidebar on the left.

Go now, I will wait.




Ok good you have made your donation, now I will let you in on another contest.

Dorene of Gingerbread House is having a contest. All you need to do is leave her a comment with your email. Of course I would love it if you let her know that you saw it here so I can get that extra entry. ;) Thanks! The more entries she gets the more she will add to the kitty. So hurry on over and leave your comment.

Oh yeah guess what....



There has been knitting!!!! Shhhhhhh don't say it too loud. It might get frightened and run away. You can thank Susan for it. She is such an enabler. ;) I am hoping to get a picture tomorrow during the day light hours. Granted it is only a swatch at the moment, but it is knitting none the less.

Craptastic

Did I quit blogging? No

Sorry folks, I have been having a bit of a craptastic time lately. Not only in my knitting, but also in my personal and not so personal life. If it could go wrong it has. Heck it it couldn't go wrong it went wrong.

Computer is on the freaking fritz again! I am only able to run in safe mode so it has to go back to the shop again. UGH!!!

I haven't been to a Monday night knit night in over a month and it doesn't look promising for any in the near future. Kevin has picked up a second job. You would think that I would be happy that we will have more money, but I am quite upset by the hole thing. I feel terrible that he wants to work another job so that we will have mad money and we can do the things that we want to, to the house. I just wish I could pull in money, but staying at home with the kid doesn't seem to pay with cash flow. He will be working evenings at the second job, so I won't see him at night or have him next to me sleeping until the weekend. I will get to see him in-between jobs, but that still isn't the same as having him here at night with me. I know it will all work out and he is only part time, but it is going to be a hard transition that is for sure. Looks like a Sunday here and there a month might be my new Monday nights (hint Susan).

I haven't been doing much in the way of my knitting either. I have been working on a pair of socks for my cousin that seem to be never ending. I do a few rows then put them down to do something else. I just can't seem to knit on them for any length of time and I don't feel like starting another project. So I am slowly chugging along on the socks.

This past Tuesday my Mom called me in tears. Her 10 year old Golden Retriever has cancer. She wanted to know if I could take them to an Oncologist on Wednesday to have her checked out. With where the Oncologist was and my Mom's state of mind I knew she wouldn't be able to drive it. I called my MIL to see if she could watch James and she so graciously came to help. Wednesday came and it was a nasty rainy gloomy day. I was hoping and praying for good news, but all the news that she could give us was bad. It wasn't just bad it was horribly bad. We were told that if they did surgery and the dog lived through the surgery that it would only give her 3 months at the most to live. My Mom was a complete wreck and I was trying to be strong for her. We were told that the cancer had attached to blood vessels and that she was bleeding internally, it isn't painful to her, but one day Mom would find her dead and it wouldn't be long. With my Mom living alone since my Dad passed she said that she couldn't handle coming home from work or waking up one morning finding her dog dead. So she made the terribly hard decision to have her put to sleep. I had to call and make all the arrangements with our normal vet. Sadly we made an appointment that evening at 3:30. So I called my MIL and told her what was going on and she said that she could stay as long as I needed her to. So I stayed with my Mom since I was going to have to be the one that drove them to the vet. From 11 am to 3 pm the poor dog had gotten much worse. Her bark was really weak and she didn't move much at all. I would have been very surprised if she would have made it through the night. At 3:15 we reluctantly got into the car to head to the vet. I felt extremely sick to my stomach, all my muscles were tight and I just really didn't want to have to do this, but I knew that it was the right thing to do for my Mom and the dog. My Mom said her tearful goodbyes and I led the dog back. My Mom didn't want to go back because she didn't think that she could handle it, but she didn't want her to die alone. So I told her that I would do it. Not that I really wanted to, but I wanted the dog to be as relaxed as possible and I wanted my Mom to feel better knowing that someone was there with her. It was actually very peaceful. Not saying that I was happy about it or enjoyed it, but I am glad that she went peaceful and didn't have to suffer. I had tears streaming down my face the entire time, but I am glad that I was there for the dog. I stroked her head and talked to her the entire time until the vet said that she was gone. It has been so hard these past few days knowing that I was the one that drove them to the vet and took the dog back. I am an animal lover and to have to do something like that just kills me. My heart is still breaking and I am sure that it will for some time to come.

James has been sick for the past week now. He has the lovely running like a faucet nose, watery eyes, sneezing, coughing and all those fun things. So I have been trying to get him better too.

I need some sort of calming day or something. Man do I need that spinning wheel.

I promise you all that I am trying to catch up on reading all your posts. I have over 100 to go through and I am not sure how long the computer will decide to keep running for me. So I want you all to know that I am thinking of you and I wish that this would have been a happier post. Hopefully I can get down to the computer repair shop and get this thing fixed then I will have some pictures to share with you.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter and a good Friday the 13th.

Waiting, Waiting and Still Waiting

STR

I am one of the ones that are still waiting for their Rockin Sock Club Package. I want it so bad I can taste it. They have a blog set up for all the members and yesterday just about put me over the edge. There were people posting right and left that they got their package. My mail man had come and gone yesterday and today leaving me with nothing but bills. So I am stuck here waiting for Monday in hopes that it will come, but I am not holding my breath. I feel like a child at on Christmas Eve. This is so crazy. :) This was all that I asked Kevin to get me for my Birthday. It is a great gift that keeps on giving through the year.


ADS

Some of you might have noticed on left hand side that I now have ads and a search section. There are so many things that need to be done and taken care of that I was hoping to make a little money that way. If you don't know already, I am a stay at home mom and sadly I don't make any money at doing that. I feel that my contribution to the family is less than what it should be. I have an Etsy store set up that I was told I should do from friends and family, but it isn't going well either. I sold 1 knitted hat around Christmas and that is it. I don't know where I am going wrong. I was hoping that with the adds and the search section I might be able to make a little to help out. We are currently having to get our kitten spayed, looking at a $400 + propane bill whenever they decide to come out and fill the tank again, we have to get the breaks fixed on my vehicle, Kevin needs to have work done on his beater truck that he drives to work, he needs to get to a hearing specialist too and quite a few other things. Sadly you have to have money to do all those things and they always seem to happen all at the same time. Ugh.

If you could just click on one or more of the adds when you visit I would greatly appreciate it. It is quick and painless. If you have them on your site I will do the same for you. Thanks!


KNITTING

I have no pictures to show you of my knitting progress this time. Sorry. I am working on a pair of socks for my cousin though. I am using Trekking XXL Color 102. This is the first socks that I have made with it and I am loving how the colors are coming together. I am not going to want to give them away when they are done I know it. At least I am enjoying knitting them and it is something that is keeping me somewhat sane while I am waiting for my STR package.


PICTURE

I will leave you today with a picture of James playing in the tent that I made him with his table and chairs. He had a great time.

When Without Power....

As some of you know if we didn't have bad luck we would have no luck at all.



It all started with the lovely ice storm that we had then the snow on top of that. We had trees down that fell across some power lines up the street and they had to cut the electricity our direction to fix it. So at 7 pm we had no power.



Kevin and I took shifts staying up to make sure that things were ok, the house wasn't getting too cold and that the candles didn't start some sort of fire. I took the first shift of staying up while he went in and slept. By 3 am I couldn't hold my eyes open any longer and went in to tag out. The electric came on at about 4:30 just to go out again. It came back on again about 8 am and we ran around doing as much as we could before it decided to go back out, which it did at about 11 am. We then had no phone either and the cell phones didn't want to work. So we were without all technology for a while.



Since I had to do something to keep myself awake I knit by candle light. It wasn't as bad as I thought that it would be. The candles threw quite a bit of light and I used a light colored yarn against dark needles for contrast. Where are the lighted needles when I needed them?.































This is a dark picture of my knitting. I decided to knit a wash cloth. I figured that it was easy and if it went horribly wrong I wouldn't be weeping while ripping it back out.



We got power back on around 3 pm and of course, then we went through the taunting of the power coming on and off. Poor James was so confused by the entire thing.


All in all we were without power for over 20 hours. It sounds like quite a bit especially having a 2 year old and trying to figure out what to fix him to eat when we had no power. I can't complain too much about it though. There were people who were without power for 5 days or more.

I have much more to tell you all about what has gone on since last week. I will tell you more in posts to come.

Hope everyone is staying warm and Have a Great Weekend!

I will leave you with a pretty picture of a tree in our front yard.
(click for larger picture - there is a pretty bright red male cardinal in the tree)

SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!! SALE!!!

ETA: I will leave this post at the top of the blog until the sale is over. For new posts look below this one.

Yep you read it right. I am having my first sale at my Etsy store. It begins December 1 and will run until Christmas. So please stop buy and if you feel so inclined purchase a sweet little hat for that little one that could use it this winter. Most hats have been marked down at least $5.00!!!!

Just click on the link above or the picture in the sidebar or below to get there.



Thanks so much!


ETA: I will leave this post at the top of the blog until the sale is over. For new posts look below this one.

Socks!

First off we had a 3 for 1 Birthday party this past Sunday. It was for my Sister-in-Law, Brother-in-Law and Niece. It was the day that the rainbow socks were making their public arrival. I was keeping my fingers crossed that they would fit and most of all that she would like them.

The socks fit her perfectly! I was so happy. After opening all her gifts she put on the socks and wore them all night! I was so glad that she liked them. It is still exciting to me to have someone really like something that you put all the hard work into. She is such a sweet young woman and when we were leaving she thanked me for them and the other things. I can't believe that she is 15 now! Where has the time gone.

Here is a picture of the socks before they were wrapped in their festive birthday wrapping.



Here is my niece with her socks on. She looks sad because James refused to sit and take a picture with her. I think she was trying to guilt him into it, but he wasn't budging on his decision.




I finished one of the toddler socks last night and cast on for the next one. I am hoping to get it finished tonight. I am at the decreases for the gusset so I am going pretty good on it. I would really like to be able to have them out in the mail tomorrow and on their way.


I can't believe that it is almost Christmas. Only 1 week away and I still haven't wrapped any gifts. It might be a long night on Christmas Eve wrapping presents.