Lemonade

Pictures of my finished Stag bag up as soon as it is...well, finished. I can't really call it done while dripping water at the rate it currently is. With the generally high humidity here added to the tropical depression that dumped on us all week I'm all but wearing a snorkel.
Instead I will amuse you with craft done this weekend, making lemonade out of lemons. Monkey's brain keeps misbehaving so while he slept on my dark couch all postictal, I finally took a really precise profile photo of him. I tinkered a little in photoshop, resizing and increasing lightness and contrast in order to give the most distinct edge I could get. I printed the picture and went over my edge with a fine black pen, adding in things like his collar, shoulder curve and bottom line.
I used drafting tape to very carefully stick the print onto the brown paper and started cutting using my tiny virtually unused embroidery scissors. Piece of cake. I even used supplies from my stash (for someone who does not "scrapbook" I sure have a lot of paper here).

Closer...

Finished the body of the Stagbag yesterday, then seamed it up during "Dial M for Murder". Fifty million inches of i-chord or something to go and I can run it through the wash.
Monkey and I received a hugely important phone call today. The director of the special needs program in our school district called; Monkey has been approved for the program and registers next week! I'm mildly freaking out, he's to young to start school! I thought I was going to have another two years to prepare myself for kindergarten. Good grief, what will I do with my time?

Book club

I'm being punished for my sins of last night. Our regular flavored household madness has been joined by the 1 and 2 year old kids of a friend who called me, desperate and on her way to the ER, after throwing out her back. The kids are quite well behaved though; my bitching is purely superficial. I'm always shocked to see how very easy other children are. More disturbing than anything really, is seeing how normal children behave in such an intimate setting as compared to my little Monkey. He is doing really well, but it is...just not your average kid. But who wants average anyway.

Back to the sins anyway, they were worth it. Pretty mild as sins go. Last night a friend invited me to a book club-The Count of Monte Cristo. Hadn't read it, but still wanted to hang out so I crashed the party. I told Lawyerboy I'd be there an hour, hour and a half tops. Hahahahahahahahahah.

The hostess M., S. and I ended up sitting on the front porch until 1:30 laughing madly. Superbly fun time. It was so much fun my cheeks absolutely ached when I finally left.

Still knitting away on the Stagbag, endless rows of stockinette stitch stripes. I just barely moved on to ball #2 on both colors, so I should have plenty left over for a hat or something so I'll be all matcherific. Hopefully tonight will be a nice quiet night of video games and yarn, and I can finish up the body. Then about a zillion inches of I-cord and I can finally felt it, hurray! It should dry out by March.

Home!

Back at last from my epic trip! Actually I was back Sunday night, but Monday was spent doing all that stuff that piles up when you are gone, as was most of Tuesday. The parts of Tuesday that were not swallowed by laundry and grocery shopping disappeared into the time-suck that is Ravelry. I'm artmomma there too, stop by and say hi! I've spent an embarrassing amount of time looking up every project I've ever considered, to see how it looks on real people. I replaced my camera recently, and am slowly adding my projects to the collective.
More stories from my fabulous trip later, when I can pull my head together.

It's been another week and while I really did get stuff done, it is nothing to talk about (especially since my new camera is still in transit). The center panel of the Stag Bag is done, now I'm putting the chevrons around the sides. I finished sewing a hideous white skirt I am supposed to wear for my sister's wedding. It now brings the number of white clothing items I own up to one. I am hard at work putting together a veil for the afore mentioned sister, who's only request or description concerning what she wanted was "nothing poofy."
Seriously, that was all she asked for. Nothing poofy.
The mean older sister part of me wants to construct some huge elaborate fluffy number, attached to a tiara or something, to give to her before handing over the real thing. The kind sister understands that this could possibly cause her to freak the hell out. Realistic me says that there is almost no chance I could get it done before I fly out of here Wednesday.

Saturday

Only 10 rows left on the center panel of the stag bag. I knit a little on the beach today, but only one row because the salt water makes your skin kind of adhesive. Not so conducive to letting the wool slide through your fingers (although pretty favorable for letting Oreos slide into your mouth).

I was somehow able to amuse myself though.

Lots of stuff!

Where have I been for the last...oh, several weeks? Ugh, lets just let that go. It has been issue after issue for us, and you know how I hate to bitch.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Ok, just one complaint and then I will let it all go, and move on to real content. Ever do something that you thought could totally improve your life in a small way and it just BIT YOU IN THE ASS? It turns out in about 1% of people taking Depakote, Zoloft lowers your seizure threshold.
But enough of that. It is over (hopefully).

On to real live craft content!
Finally, I take some pictures of the fantastic kitty quilt that Amy sent me, instead of just stealing the one she took. Adorable! The focus on my camera is broken, so there is a real art to taking pictures with it (if by art you mean walking closer and farther from the object in question, hoping to come up with a photo or two in the sweet spot.)


See this? Hand quilted. What an amazing woman.







Here is the quilt I sent to Julie. Most difficult to part with thing I have ever sent away for any swap. Luckily, I have lots of little strips all waiting for assembly left over-I made enough for two (or maybe even three) so the color patterns would really be random.

Due entirely to inspiration by another Erin I've started knitting the Stag Bag. Considering the volume of crap I carry around for the Monkey, and the need for instant gratification that ordering yarn just doesn't have, I picked up some worsted weight wool at ye olde local craft store with the intention of felting it when finished. This should also help cover any multitude of sins, which is especially good because I have never done any color work previously. I couldn't even tell you what kind of knitting I'm doing. It has two colors, and it looks like berber carpet on the back. The carries are amusingly long, because I couldn't figure out how to wrap the carried yarn. I just keep telling myself that the felting will fix everything. Notice anything amusing? My stag is marching to the beat of a different drummer, as I started the pattern on a purl row but still jumped into the pattern on the bottom right. Knitting lace has me programmed.

Ravelry

Just checked, and I am #10407, which is a mere 4249 from the top of the list on Ravelry. By the time I get in, everyone will have knitting robots that use fantastic space-age polomers that breathe or insulate perfectly and self-adjust to best match the color of your eyes.

EEGs and CATs

Finally, Monkey is back at home from more than a week of back and forth hospital trips. More stuff has been glued to his little head than he deserves (did you know when they are measuring your head for an EEG they use medical grade LIPSTICK!?! Bright red, no lies). But he is finally at the point where his EEGs look more like brain waves and less like tsunamis, hurray! But I feel so emotionally burned out that I can barely function. Luckily I have my fabulous doll quilt from Calico Cat hanging by my desk to cheer me up! It arrived...I'm not sure when. Some time while Monkey was in-patient again, and Lawyerboy brought it up to the hospital and it was the most cheerful bright thing in the entire beige hospital. Amy, I am so impressed by your hand quilting skills! Kitty cats in bright colors! I couldn't hope for anything more perfect. Plus, Amy admitted to me that she has in excess of 900 different cat prints which is possibly the greatest stash-related confession I have ever heard. Thank you Amy! I adore this quilt!

Happy 4th

Happy Birthday America!
Since we saw fireworks at our home on Friday we didn't torture the monkey by making him stay up late to see more on the 4th. But interestingly, as firework time time began and we could hear distant explosions, I had to listen really carefully to tell if they were fireworks or actual C-130s blowing stuff up on the range. Rockets red glare, indeed.

Real Justice League

Lawyerboy has been way more crafty than me this week. I screened a dozen tshirts for his law office to wear for our Base's Independence Day celebration, but he helped built his team's boat for the cardboard boat regatta.



It was awesome. Their boat wasn't the best looking one (there are some seriously creative people here),










But they did win! And they looked awesome doing it.

Moooooooommmmmm!!!!

Yesterday, after a noisy day of mysterious peeping, we found a nest full of brand new Mockingbird chicks in our front yard.

They are adorably hideous.

Holy smokes, look at those necks.

Their beaks are downright freakish.

But I seem to recognize that look...

Doll Quilt

Please forgive my crummy taken-on-the-floor-of-my-craft room picture; I just finished my Doll Quilt Swap quilt top! Now I need to figure out what the devil I'm doing for the quilting part of the operation.

It seems I am also prepared to make another quilt (or two) from all the strips I cut and sewed.

Yikes, Stripes!

Some time last week the Monkey and I charged into the fabric store, intent on purchasing 1/4 yard of a bazillion different cotton fabrics so I could get to work on the Doll Quilt Swap. Within 5 minutes my cart was full of a dozen choices. But then I started to doubt-Is it too modern? Too pastel? Too something that my non-blogging swapee is not going to like? How am I supposed to stalk this lady so I know what to pick? I picked up and put back approximately every single bolt of fabric in the quilting section before choosing a half dozen fabrics I hope she loves, or at least doesn't dislike.

Once I actually had some fabric in my hands the work has been really fun. I decided on a roman coin design, and actually got up early (well, earlier than everyone else) to sew strips together Saturday morning. It is coming together so quickly, I should have the top finished in the next day or two.

Unless something comes up, which it never ever does in our home. Nope, nothing but smooth sailing here. We never, for example, spend an afternoon binging on white chocolate mousse and crying after a stressful meeting with the Psychologist evaluating Monkey about speech and behavioral therapy where he screamed for the entire 1 1/2 hour appointment.

Donuts

I had the weirdest experience this morning. While getting the Monkey ready for yet another speech evaluation I promised that if he hurried and got in the car early I would get him a donut. Donuts are possibly the ultimate treat for him, and he actually hurried. So we stop at a donut place on the way to his appointment and rush in, asking for one glaze donut (least messy). So the guy grabs him a donut, puts it in the bag and says "$1.26". One twenty-six? How can it be one twenty-six? "With tax" he informs me. But the sign says one donut, 59 cents. How can the tax on one donut equal one twenty-six? "$1.26 with tax," he tells me again, and I begin to think that this might be the extent of his English. All I have in my wallet is a single dollar bill, and he doesn't take credit. Aaaaarrrrrgggg. I'm short on time and confused and frustrated, and Monkey is thrashing around. Finally he takes the dollar and tells me I'm fine. I'm not fine, but I'm in a hurry so I flee instead of pressing the issue. I buckle Monkey in his car seat and race off, tossing him the little bag with the donut. He happily munches away as I drive, completely perplexed. A stop light or two later I turn around to check on him, and he hands me the paper bag, which you have of course guessed by now, contains another donut. Man did I feel like a genius. This poor donut guy must have thought I was a complete idiot. On the other hand, if you work at a donut shop you may need a better understanding of the phrase "One donut please."

Opportunity

Recently I was suckered into offered the opportunity to become one of the leaders of our church Young Women's group. As much as the thought scared the crap out of me, I accepted anyway and am having a surprisingly good time. And the nice part of being in charge you make the decisions about what activities to do. So when I have a pet project come to mind, I can just set the minions girls on it. Recently I heard that Skip to My Lou was collecting tiny blankets to send to China with her nephew. He is traveling there with Hope's Heart in order to work in three orphanages. So I bought some fantastic fuzzy flannel and some satin, and in one short evening of music and pizza rolls we cranked out 12 little blankies. I got them in the mail that night, and at the end of the month they will be on their way to China.

Doll Quilt Swap

Before I even had a chance to post about it, the Doll Quilt Swap has filled up. Holy smokes, I am glad I heard about it early. I do much better in my life (crafty and otherwise) with solid goals with deadlines. I am impatiently waiting for the next sale at the fabric store, so I can go in and make some poor employee cut 1/8 yard of a dozen fabrics.

I finished this skirt last night with more space between finish time and deadline than usual (I needed it finished by Sunday, as I'm tired of wearing the same black skirt to church). I love it! More girly than usual for me, but when you buzz your head you sometimes have to step it up in the female department. Skirt assembled with a few tips from this snappy tutorial, and pattern drafted with lots of help from geometry, my friend and yours. Pictures taken inside on the self-timer because there was a fantastic lightning storm going on. I feel especially smug because I used <$8 worth of broadcloth.

Sticky

Monkey and I have plans to hide inside the rest of the afternoon eating Popsicles. It rained really hard this morning, but it turns out that precipitation does not equal cooling trend here in the South. Here, you just have hot rain. You can see how humid it is in this photo. It was so wet this morning that even thought the rain had stopped the water in the air was making the light do strange things.
These hot pads and towels are now on their way to California, to be prizes for my little sister's bridal shower. I felt like a bum for not trekking across the country for her big party and volunteered to make something for the winners of assorted silly shower games. The hot pads are inspired by Denyse Schmidt's beautiful quilted oven mitts. Only not so complicated. Initially I intended on accompanying each towel with a rectangle and circle hot pad but at some point I remembered that I had a deadline and circles are rather difficult to edge with bias tape (if anyone knows of a good tutorial let me know, as it stands I have three beautiful circular hot pads that are finished except the edges). So congratulations, Little Sister! I wish I could be there with you but plane tickets for the Monkey and I cost an entire paycheck, and that would make me feel like a huge jerk. Give your boy a kiss from me. Wait, never mind. Give your boy a firm handshake and a heartfelt congratulations, and I will see you in August for your big day.

Hurricane season

My first official day of Hurricane season has so far gone without a hitch. There is still time though. Anyone else notice that the 5th Atlantic hurricane/tropical storm is going to be named Erin? I advise you to watch out for that one.

I really do still knit, although my thoughts have strayed from my sweater and Adamas shawl; it is just too stinking hot to sit under a big pile of wool right now. The project of the day is a pair of socks for the Dulaan project-a pair of Horcrux socks, to be exact. First pair of socks made following someone else's instructions, instead of making it up and flying by the seat of my pants like I usually do. This is going to be one sturdy pair of socks, I'm using the worsted weight yarn called for and size one needles. Six, maybe seven stitches per inch? Who knows; I didn't exactly gauge this one (gasp!) The yarn is a ball of Nature Spun worsted in China blue or Nordic blue or Someothermeaninglessdescription blue, overdyed with a smidgen of red to make it less flat.

Carnivores

If we are going to live in such a buggy part of the world, at least the predators here are adorable.

(Make no mistakes, there are some EPIC insects here. Without the frogs et al. we'd be screwed.

Seizures

Late late late posting tonight because a certain husband has been playing Age of Empires for approximately five hours. Not the awesome Memorial day activities I had planned. Of course, my awesome plans didn't include waking up at 5am when the monkey had a big seizure.

I was really hoping his brain had forgotten how to have those.

It wasn't terrible, just terribly disappointing. The on-call Neurologist upped his meds. Now we restart the clock, counting down to when he has been seizure free for two years and we can see if he is fixed. This does mean that lots of the small privacys and freedoms he has gained are gone again; no more swimming, or sitting in the bath alone for a moment or playing in the backyard without me.

He is doing well now; he slept in late and seem completely unaffected by his early morning workout. I am a mess. I was together enough this morning to throw my knitting in my backpack though, in case I ended up back at the hospital for three days like last time.

Shorts!

While I have been getting a lot accomplished, this last week or so has been rather difficult so you haven't seen any of it. So, in synopsis (of the crafty parts):

McCall's #M5393
97% Cotton, 3% Spandex
Fabulous pattern, but the body measurement/size chart on the back of the package are a dirty lie. According to the chart I should have been making a size 12 or 16 off of hip and waist measurements, respectively (I am shaped like a cardboard tube). Instead I made a size 4 and was delighted at the fit. A much better estimate of the size you want comes from the finished garment measurement chart. Size 4 called for 6 inches of ease at the hips, and really, who wants that?

McCall's #M5393 again, this time in shorts

100% Cotton duck, plus some cute fabric savaged from a bandanna for the inside of pockets, flaps and waistband.

Boxer shorts, pattern drafted directly onto the fabric with a piece of chalk. Something this simple I don't use a pattern for, just a tape measure. Piece of cake. Used some fabric I've had in my stash for 12 YEARS (seriously, I remember buying it.) Cotton? Polly? Some sort of blend? Who knows! I've used it for some small projects, but still had an embarrassing amount left over, especially since the color/print seems a little...intense for me now. So I made a pair of boxers for kicking around the house in.

Crazy

I am going to need a nap today.

The night before last was long and sleepless, thanks to my boys. When Monkey wasn't having dreams that required my frequent reassurance and tucking in, Lawyerboy was snoring. Most of the time I'll rub his back until he stops (seriously, he is the only person in the world who snores while sleeping on his stomach) but that usually wakes him up and he was getting to work at 6am the next day, even earlier than usual. By the end of yesterday I was tired enough to be having muscle spasms in my eye (normal for me) and in my butt (not normal). Laying there somehow this shaky, twitchy feeling made me feel hugely anxious, like I was going to have an anxiety attack (yes, sometimes I suffer anxiety that I might have an anxiety attack-awesome! Self-perpetuating worry!) So I did some 1am yoga and then wasted an hour or so reading about how to play the didgeridoo.

You would be amazed to know how often I recall my nights during the light of day and think, man, I really am crazy.

Yo-yos

Making a fabric yo-yo takes more finesse than I expected.

At least, that is what I'm going to tell myself as my first one turned out less tightly gathered in the middle and more of a gaping but very evenly puckered, well, hole. Really, it can not be gathered any tighter without a pair of vice grip pliers and stronger thread than I used. And that still wouldn't make it turn out.

While cleaning out the craft room tonight I started thinking how cool it might be to make a few yo-yos out of the leftover fabric I've used for various projects, and in a million years or so I could have enough to stitch together in a really cool wall hanging (There is almost no chance of ever covering my king-sized bed in tiny fabric circles. Maybe if both my legs were broken.)

My last week has been lots of gardening, running in sprinklers and sewing. I've finished a pair of black capris and blue shorts but still need to photograph them (I'm not much of a model and Lawyerboy isn't much of a photographer). Tonight I cut out the fabric for a blouse from a pattern I bought probably 10 years ago (hurray for stashes!). Hopefully it will turn out as cute and useful as the capris and shorts, which I've been switching between nearly every day.

I harvested my first vegetable today, one cute and delicious radish. There are easily twenty tomatoes on my vines but they are taking there sweet time ripening and I had to buy another crappy store tomato for our salad tonight. Luckily the radish was there to offer some actual flavor. In another week I should have a couple crookneck squash, yum.

Back on the needles

Once long ago I started Mim's Adamas shawl, knitting straight off a cone of Zephyr. Sadly, at the beginning of December when I really needed a soothing project that I wouldn't accidentally finish too soon Monkey pulled the needles out and did quite a bit of unraveling.

Lucky for him, it was bed time when this happened, so I put him in his room and locked the door instead of beating him.

I tried running a thread through the stitches that occur before the incident, but that is not an easy thing to do on lace. Finally, to avoid getting any more angry, I folded it up and stuffed it in a ziplock bag with the cone. Hid it under my bed.

This weekend, I finally decided I wasn't mad any more and pulled it out. Rip, rip, rip; I tore out two or three inches. Delightfully, it was surprisingly easy to get the live stitches on a needle after ripping back. So Adamas is back in action. Only like a million more rows to go. But that is ok, because it is already hot here so my shawl needs are rather small for the next 6 months or so. Or more.

Declaration of War

Attention Squirrels that live in the trees around my home:
I really do think you guys are adorable. I loved watching you leap from tree to tree, playing grab-ass and other squirrely games. I was tickled to find out you actually make tiny purring noises at each other. I loved leaving you peanuts on my bedroom windowsill so I could watch you eat.
But that is no more.
It was one thing when you kept eating the blossoms (and a great deal of the plant) off the Impatiens and Petunias I planted near the front door. I was fine resorting to a little chemical warfare: planing garlic among the flowers (it is probably too late to actually get a crop of garlic if they grow; but I know the plants smell garlicy and I hoped it would deter you).
I was completely willing to overlook that. Hey, it might not even be you, I have no proof.
But building a nest on my engine block, from my cars insulation, is TOO MUCH. What if had caught fire? Really not good for my car, and less than ideal for the tiny squirrels you intended on placing there. Thankfully, I discovered the nest in an un-squirreled state.
I try to use my car as little as possible to be kind to the environment and save on fuel costs. Not to create a squirrel hotel. Stay the hell out of my car. I know you are just rats with personality.
No peanuts for you!

Gardening

The garden is coming along beautifully here at chez artiste. All the tiny plants I bought are doing very well. The tomatoes are going crazy and have blossoms all over, as well as half a dozen smallish green tomatoes that seem like they are taking forever to ripen. Must be patient! The crookneck squash greets me every morning with beautiful golden male blossoms that are spent by the evening like morning glories. There are some small female blossoms developing, so there should be some tiny yellow squash soon, nature willing. The zucchini, which were so tiny when I bought them, are getting bushy and healthy looking. The bell pepper is getting tall and looks great, but I think it needs more heat before it will blossom. Still waiting for the eggplant to do something fabulous, but it will catch up. The cucumber is reaching desperately for the fence, and the cantaloupe is covered with little blossoms.

The seeds I planted are doing better than I expected too (I don't seem to have much luck with seeds). Monkey and I planted carrots and radishes last week, and the radishes have sprouted in a cute green little stripe that I've already had to thin. I highly recommend anyone plant radishes, they sprout in no time giving you the instant gratification that I rarely experience with seeds. Plus, when you thin them you can save the sprouts and throw them in a salad-super delicious! I had nearly given up hope on the carrots when they all seemed to spring up in a furry little row yesterday. We started a rotating crop of assorted lettuces Monday and will plant more once a week, so we will have constant fresh greens all summer.

All this growing and I really wish I had blocked off room for more. I've sent off for some purple carrot seeds, having looked everywhere for them. I'm reading about growing potatoes. Monkey and I started some peas and melon in little cups yesterday. Apparently, after 12 years of living in apartments, I am ready to be a farmer (at least in my head).

Striped Socks

Finished!
The first pair of socks actually knit for me! Some simple ribbed socks, with a cute little cable down one side. Knit from a ball of Opal that the fabulous Margene gave me when I left Utah for parts unknown. Short row heal brought to you by an exquisite tutorial from Misocrafty. These socks have been a security blanket for months now, being carried everywhere as the perfect "just in case" project. I'd better start some more socks pronto.


So now that these are photographed and posted I can pack them away with the lavender I picked last summer, because wool sock season has passed me by.

Interview

Finally my interview, questions by the lovely and talented Eliza.

1. Do you like living in Floria? What do you miss most about Salt Lake City?
I love living in Florida, but I really miss the mountains in Utah. I miss hiking every weekend, and the ocean just is not as good for keeping you oriented as the mountains were. I also really miss our geek-fest Saturday nights with our best friends Jeff and Mary. We got together virtually every weekend for about 7 years to cook dinner, RPG and let the kids get together. I miss all my Salt Lake knitting friends too, people just aren't that into wool here.

2. Who taught you to knit and how old were you?
My grandma taught me to knit when I was 5. I was a patient kid with an unnatural ability to sit quietly, and since my grandma was frequently knitting I wanted to learn too. I lived with my grandparents for a while then, and I always wanted to be around my grandma. She had this amazing gift to make everyone feel like they truly were her favorite person. Or maybe I really was her favorite grand kid. My first project was a doll blanket, made patchwork style with a block from every skein in her stash.
I resisted learning to knit continental for years because she taught me to throw. She died almost 10 years ago and I still miss her almost every day. Strangely, I wanted to knit the way she taught me, as though it would somehow be disloyal to do otherwise. It was my lady Mary who convinced me to pick, which has an awesome circularity because I initially taught her to knit.

3. How long have you been playing the guitar? Do you play any other instruments?
I've been playing guitar (well) for about 5 years now; I took a guitar class in college but it taught me nothing. A friend moved in with Marc and I when he was having marriage trouble, and the guys wanted to form a band. To avoid being stuck as the bass player I practiced really really hard. (Nothing against bass players, I sleep with one. It's just that if a band has one girl, she is ALWAYS playing bass. I refused to be a stereotype.)
I also play Mandolin, which is what I practice most now. I also took 6 years of clarinet in school, but that was a long time ago.

4. What is your favorite food/comfort food?
Initially I would say lasagna; but last week we went out to dinner at a place on the beach where you order a bucket of steamed clams, mussels, shrimp, oysters, lobster and other goodness and that was definitely in the top 1% of meals I have ever eaten.

5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
I have this lovely image of visiting Greece by way of sailboat. The ancient Greeks were so closely connected with the ocean, this seems the best way to see the country. There are some places there aren't roads to, you have to take a boat. Plus, this was suggested to us by a Greek couple we met in Rome. We just need to convince a few other couples to go with us, and it is a pretty reasonable way to travel.
I would also go back to Japan in a heartbeat. Or Switzerland, that was another favorite. Really, in all our world travels the only place I wouldn't return to was the Bahamas.

That was fun! Anyone else not been interviewed who would like to, just ask. Although I'm pretty sure I am the last one to this party again.

Excuses

The lovely and talented Eliza was kind enough to interview me last week; unfortunately I was unable to answer until now (by now I mean sometime tonight when I finally get everything together.) Last week Monkey started having a new kind of seizure, not quite the grand mal seizures he had last year but extended absence seizures. We ended up at Sacred Heart in Pensacola having a long term EEG-the first 30 minute EEG he had turned up NOTHING and his doctor was smart enough to realize that was not right. The Valium he received in the ER was suppressing them so the immediate EEG was useless. After 18 hours of having the leads glued to his head the doctor reviewed results and it turns out my sweet little monkey is having tiny seizures that exhibit no outward signs every few minutes.

This sounds like terrible news, but that EEG gave us more information to help him than anything else we've done.

He is now on some new medication that has prevented any noticeable absence seizures since Sunday, the longest he's been seizure free for months. The bruises from falling during seizures are starting to turn green. And we are set up for re-testing him concerning speech deficiencies and Autism in a few months; his really awesome doctor suggested that we see what his brain will do after a month or two of not interrupting itself every 10 minutes.

Despite how crappy all this sounds, the last several days have been the best we've had in a while. So later tonight I'll post my interview, along with some finished knitting (I had a lot of time in the hospital where a knit sock was the perfect thing to hold myself together with). Hurray!

April

Green really is a perfect color for the April and May Project Spectrum. Everything around my has exploded with bright greens in the last weeks, astounding considering how green everything looked when I got here in December.


Monkey and I installed some vegetables in the garden this weekend: tomatoes, zucchini, crookneck squash, cantaloupe. We still have room leftover to put in seeds for carrots, radishes and peas, as well as cucumbers and eggplant when I get over to the nursery to pick some up.

Green is also the little lizard hanging out on my bedroom window ledge this morning, looking all charming and tail-challenged. And fast, almost too fast for my s l o w camera. We get geckos here too, cute little guys with round sticky toes on windows at night, but they are too fast for my camera.

Mother of the Year

About time I get back to this blog thing.
There has not been a great deal of crafting going on around here. A pair of capris will be cut out tonight and the sock plods along slowly, but nothing really exciting in the diy category.

I have been enjoying myself though.
Disneyworld was a lot of fun but insanely hard. Monkey is not an easy kid and being at the Happiest Place on EarthTM didn't make things easier. There were still plenty of screaming fits that make you feel like mother of the year, plus the absence seizures that make me feel sick. But overall I'd call the trip a success.
My sister was in Orlando for a medical conference and the Monkey and I met her there. We started off with the tiny kid rides, but noticed in Pirates of the Caribbean that Monkey's favorite parts were the drops. Turns out that he is tall enough to go on the good stuff, like Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain Railroad (not Space Mountain, sadly. You have to be 45 inches for that). People really look at you like you are insane when you load your three year old onto a roller coaster, but they love it when it rolls back into the station with him laughing and clapping. The crazier the ride, the better if you ask him. He was downright bored on the Peter Pan ride. Splash Mountain prompted singing and clapping.

The only real regret about the trip is that despite carrying it in my backpack the entire time, the sock NEVER ONCE got pulled out.

Sewing

The sewing world does not seem to be as online as the knitting community. Disappointing because I bought several patterns yesterday and there is not a single other person who seems to have used the pattern and written about it. And I would really like to see someone else's execution of what these capris are going to look like in real life, so as to get some pointers before I get started. If this was a knit pattern that hit bookshelves yesterday, today there would be 9 knitters out there with detailed stats about what yarn they used/needle size/gauge, what size they knit, pictures of the finished product on a real body, what alterations they made, their opinion of the pattern, and a picture of their cat looking adorable.

Technically there is a photo on the front, but this leggy model's body is no more comparable to mine than a framework made of popsicle sticks would be. She's also wearing 5 inch platform sandals, something I rarely slip on for a jaunt to the supermarket or playgroup.

I would be posting the before mentioned details on the pattern right now but I only got as far as prewashing the fabric and ironing before my sister broke my sewing machine. Oops. She was nice enough to go order the part before telling me. I hope I didn't come across as mad, because more than anything this really cracked me up-so much for our craftacular weekend.

The monkey, and therefore me, has been very busy this last week. First a general physical to meet his current doctor and get a neuro referral, then a screening visit to see if he is delayed enough for speech therapy. Slam dunk there, which meant a hearing test too (passed with flying colors). Next comes a long evaluation of how well he actually speaks. Then how well he listens and processes. Plus a visit with occupational therapy. Someday all this will be done and he will start speech therapy and once or twice a week I may get a chance to KNIT again!
Which would be awesome.
Because I haven't even turned the heel on this one yet.

Teeth

Today was the third and final day of much needed work on my teeth and I am so delighted to have it done. I keep running my tongue around my mouth and smiling; for problems that no one else could see I was terribly self-conscious of them. Plus if I bit wrong the pain left a lot to be desired. But I am all reconstructed and so happy now.
During procedures I kept my sock-in-progress on my lap. Not that I have the concentration to knit while having my mouth worked on, more of a security item. Thinking about what a Crafty job dentistry is helped me be less freaked-out too. Dentist drill? Just a teeny tiny Dremmel.
Now I just hope I'm never so broke again that I have to wait as long between checkups.

Grrrrrr

Why yes, that is a finished sock with the toe un-kitchnered. I had a darning needle around here somewhere, a needle that actually had some sentimental value, but it seems to be missing.

It is 1am and I'm up knitting and blogging because I'm too wound up to sleep. One week from tomorrow Monkey will be evaluated to determine what his deficiencies are, so he can begin speech therapy. But until he learns to communicate I still have to live with him grunting and shrieking any time he wants something. Or doesn't want something. Or is bored. Or excited. Or it is just too quiet. Like, say, tonight; when he can hear my brain start to relax and decides to scream for an hour. No half-assed cries either, but full strength Soylent Green is people! screaming. So it's not shocking that my gauge is a little tight tonight.

Thank goodness for knitting, otherwise I'd be eating ice cream straight from the carton.

This morning I was expecting some serious weather. Thunderstorms had been predicted for all day. We even got upgraded to a tornado warning, and then a tornado watch. 100% humidity, but not one drop of rain. Looks like we got lucky.

I have the potential to be doing a lot of knitting for others in the next little while. Good news from my brother last night, he and his wife are expecting a baby! And my little sister seems to be falling head over heels for a guy... So I surmise, she's always with him and therefore never catches my phone calls. I've decided not to start anything for her until I get a confirmation that she might like something lacy for her potential big day. The pre-baby will get a tiny pair of cammo socks from the perfect yarn sent to me by the lovely and talented Jennifer for the Knit Sock Kit Swap. Absolutely perfect for my brother's baby and will still leave plenty left over for socks for me.

In case you were wondering...

A Dyson vacuum cleaner pays for itself when it effectively removes fish food from your laptop.

Baklava

I sit here tonight, impatiently, waiting for my baklava to cool enough to eat. Did you know that most of the recipes tell you to bake and then wait 24 hours to eat? Who has that much self control? The whole house smells like butter; it's all I can do to not gnaw off my own arm waiting for it to cool enough to avoid serious burns.

But still I celebrate, because I have my computer hooked up now and once again have the ability to post pictures. Yipee! And with such abilities, you get to see the awesome job I did of boiling over the honey glaze.

There has been knitting lately, but none of it is really at that picture taking state yet so I should get to work. I leave you tonight with a photo of our Saturday sky:




Eta: This is the recipe I used for the baklava. Piece of cake, anyone can do it. The hard part is done for you by the lovely people at Athens, who use whatever arcane magic that creating phyllo dough takes. It probably is a lot more fun to cook with someone else in the kitchen with you, because the layering does take some time. If you are by yourself, I recomend a little Jimi Hendrix.

Second Annual Brigid in Cyberspace Poetry Reading

In celebration of the Second Annual Brigid in Cyberspace Poetry Reading, I present you with one of my favorite poems. Not the most bright and cheerful of poems, but the depth of emotion expressed is nearly tangible.

The Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827) is considered one of the 4 great Japanese poets. He was remarkably prolific, leaving more than 20,000 haiku in journals when he passed. He wrote this after the death of his daughter Sato. Dew is a common symbol for the Buddhist theme of the transience of all things. According to Buddhist teaching, life is as fleeting as the dew and we should eschew attachment to the things of this world. But he can't quite let go, his heart aches with the profound loss.

This world of dew
Is but a world of dew
And yet, and yet

Poetry, especially haiku, is difficult to translate (the above is the translation that best expresses the feel of the original Japanese, imo). This has also has been translated as:

this world
is a dewdrop world
yes... but...

And in Japanese for those of you who are picky about such things (like myself)

tsuyu no yo wa
tsuyu no yo nagara
sari nagara