when it just wont go anymore

These past few months have been a blur. Still two more weeks before my life returns to normal, or was that abnormal??? I am finishing arms on the gansey, finished the noro couch blanket last night after days of round and round in circles with my lil fingers moving at lightening speed. It inspired me so much that I went through my entire stash yesterday.....YES even the stuff in the cupboards and inside the teacups...lol. I rearranged it according to project. I have a rubbermaid full of sweaters and large projects to finish. One full of sock yarn and a cupboard full of smaller grab and go type of items. Then I have three travel bags, one for the car, one for the truck/roadtrips, and one for my walking. I am taking the gansey with me to New Mexico next week...finished or not!!! I have been asked to do another baby blanket for a relative that is due on Christmas Eve, a stocking hat for a neighbor, and a set of small penguins for WH one for the dash of his truck, one for his keychain, one for his pillow, and one for his cancer surgery this upcoming tuesday! He didn't have a middle name at birth (with 18 other bro & sis I think mama ran out years ago) so our children and the neighbor kids got together and renamed him.....his middle name is Marie, and his nickname taken from the movie Happy Feet is fluffy. Hence the penguins....lol. So keep "fluffy marie" in your prayers Oct. 12 and I will keep you informed on how he is doing. This is his second go round with the beast in 7 years so he tells me not to bury him in a tuxedo....lol. Not sure that would help his dancing ability or not????

mid-week

It has been a wild summer. Too many things have happened to note right now but I will try to have a new post by next week.....stay tuned....

spring gardening and travels

Whoa....its been a long time since I last posted something in here....partly because (insert lame excuses here) while finishing up my current class I was made Director of Missions at our church. Which is a fancy way of saying as pastor put it...." I know its only April but I want a team in the field by July." Nooooo pressure since I was in the middle of my integrative project anyhow!!! (insane laughter goes here)! Recieved a 99/100 on the project by the way! And my future schedule looks like this...(try not to drool on the wool here puullleezz)!
May 23 shearing with DBinlaw, May 24 funeral in Wichita, May 25 make up day at work for coworker who covered yesterdays shift, May 29-31 Navajo reservation trip to Gallup NM and preaching two sermons (for those of you outta the loop that is a 12 hour drive one way), June 3 DSinlaws bday in Virginia with WH's ex (oh joy!!-pray for this one), June 5-6 run TV camera at church for guest speaker, June 10-11 a mad dash road trip from Ashville NC to Gallup NM with donated paint for mission project, June 18th my baby Junebug turns 20, June 19th Our 6th anniversary, June 20th-23 FCF Int'l conference in Tulsa, June 24-25 Mission conference in Speary OK, July 4th neighbors birthday bash (WH is included), June 12th WH bday!, June 16th-24th Missions trip (with unknown head count as of now)to Smith Lake NM, July 26th-August 14th cover for sweet coworker and bosses wife again, August 14th wedding in Estes Park CO, August 17th DSD anniversary and housewarming in Suffolk VA, August 24th Dental appt in KS (pray again), Sept 2-4 several famliy bdays in Wichita area, and finally Sept.12-14th regional Ministerial mtgs in Omaha NE.......all this in and around a part time job.....LOL!!!!! and they wonder why I throw knitting needles!!! Oh yes THE GARDEN....oh look pretty flowers!!! oh what a pleasant surprise....Santa!!! (WH in drag...lol) and he bought another gift for me....Oct 1-Nov 6th teaching Ministerial training in Gallup.....LOL! Excuse me while I check ebay or etsy for extra needle to throw......(sigh!)

spring break

Well this semester will more than likely be my last for a season or two. School is killing my work schedule...lol. A quick overview of the last few weeks is as follows: weekly homework and quizzes -- done, housework -- almost done, dinner ready on time every night -- done, mentor located at the request of our national director -- ummmm well I tried really I did...I scheduled an appointment with our Pastor and went in to see him about getting a mentor set up within our region....30 minutes later I walked out Director of Missions. It is a NEW position in our church....which is a fancy way of saying "I" am building it from the ground up with the hopes of having a team in the field by July 2 and another in the field come December....I don't even finish school till May 9th. In addition to my boss getting a new program system at work that I still need to learn the only good to come out of this so far is lotsa help from some dear friends, good sleep just not enough of it, and a pay raise. No yarn yet....but there is the weekend....LOL! That is just the stash cupboard he knows about....lol.

rough week calls for down time

Lately with school and various jobs stress is an understatement. I went in for my annual mammo at the beginning of the year and they found a few "new" lumps. So yes take it I was considerably stressed to say the least (not to mention sleep deprived). BP was a little high too. (lumps turned out to be benign as all the others). Not to worry I had come in for my annual doctor run...(all the checkups at once.i.e. physical, cardio-stress, echocardiogram, mammo, and pap eyes and teeth). I am an all or nothing kinda girl...lol. So as I sat down to ready myself for my cardio-stress test I out of habit pulled out the needles and yarn. I kid you not it lowered my BP 20 points in 10 minutes. HMMM!!! Who would have thunk it!!! Now if I could just get them to write my stash off as medication I would be set! Here are some pretties I have been working on:

happy happy joy joy

well i will try this one more time....today-ahem! all the fun we endured on vacation is finally settling down...a couple of you already know that before vacation we helped DD get into a car. on day 2 of our beloved kidtrip she calls ....MAAAAA! i am sitting on East Kellogg in Wichita and my car just stopped. mind you we were in the outskirts of santa fe new mexico headed to lalana wools....WH PULLS OVER! (if he wasnt so dang cute it would have been the last thing he ever did--i swear!!) I was sooooo close i could smell the wool fumes rising over taos....DD dropped her transmission thankfully next to a major car dealership. her 30day/100mi warrenty only covered half. so after WH and I walked off our anger and frustration by hiking FIVE national park sites we roll into tucson az only to have willey-our beloved car die....(insert sobbing here....sniffle!). no way in hades was i putting a 5th transmission in willey in 4yrs. needless to say...willey died. (actually he was sent out to pasture at a very nice vw dealership think of it as a hi-dollar retirement home for cars). we took my stash cash (all 3 yrs of it) and spent part of it on a new car a 2010 vw jetta which we affecionatly named abraham - because we found him while wondering around the desert. i was able to snatch up 4 skeins of yarn a kiwi knits in tucson - i told WH half was for my friend mallory...and yes she did get it. after which we promptly drove straight home. an 18 hr drive was made in 15...at night. exhausted and tired we fell into bed. i awoke with a cramping stomach and what i thought was a uti...after throwing up and sitting down in a repeated fashion for 3 hours straight i told WH take me to ER......this is when i heard what should have been his last words....."are you sure you need to go to er???" (okay rough background here for ya all....the only two times i have EVER thrown up in my life were swine flu and pregnancy). he carried me back to bed and waited on me hand and foot for the next 15hrs (trying to make up for something stupid he could have said i am sure)....nothing stayed down for 4 days. at which point weak, in pain and dehydrated i drove myself from work to ER and laid there 9 hours.....all the urine,blood and CT scan revealed was a massive kidney infection, and stomach flu....i drove myself home and i kid you not the first words outta his cute lil mouth were ....maybe you really did need to go to the hospital!!!!!!!
Last night before i went to bed i laid out the car payment and a ransom note from the stash....hope he likes cold tv dinners!!! (note to self : maybe this volcanic crater really was deep enough..hmmm!).

duh!

here ya go! this is off the cover of world visions quarterly magazine - one of 2009's. and since i cant bear to not show you yarn here is a shawl i made out of jknits kansas colorway. one skein, garter st body with M1 increases at each end, crochet shrimp st edge along top and a basic crochet shell along bottom.

spring semester overload

Howdy all - its been a couple of months since my last post....forgive me! I am taking two classes and teaching 3 so my schedule has been a lil hectic. But never fear I have pretties I am working on....lol!
These lovely yarns are going to become a shawl or cowl...I am still undecided on the pattern. I am also proud to say I am on the upper front of my green gansey (from the best of Rowan book - first edition not the reprint) the only other thing I have even attempted to do is a colored pencil portrait for our home. When I figure out how to turn it on its side I will show it too you....lol!!! Well gotta go for now. I hear yarn crying in the next room.