Shaddow's Fading

My lil girl, my first pup, is soon to be twelve.  I got her when she was a two month old eager puppy, tumbling after her mother and her one other sibling who was not yet spoken for.  She was a soft fuzzy black sweet thing and her mom appeared to be a lab, tho I was not exactly sure.  I really didn't care.

So I scooped up the wriggling mass and took her home.  She followed my every move and slept lots.  That was troubling to me, an inexperienced doggie companion; that she slept sooooooooooOOOOoooo very much.  I knew babies slept lots, so it only made sense that a baby~dog would sleep lots too; but that much?

However she seemed happy and healthy, so I didn't worry overly much.  After we'd spent a few days together, I decided to call her "Shadow" cuz she either was at my heel, dogging my every step, or she was just under the edge of table, in its shadow, sleeping.  The doof I was seeing at the time {omg, such a huge ass mistake that, but thankfully short~lived...being "together"; tho the way he lived, I wouldn't be overly surprised if he himself didn't see his thirtieth birthday} had a leather collar made with a lil brass plate on it and misspelled her name.  So "Shaddow" she became and has been and will always will be.

Shaddow has been my constant companion {with the exception of the two months it took me to track her down with the doof 'napped her and then left her with his crackhead friends who then gave her to some methheads after she retrieved the neighbor's koi from his pond~~she's a lab, who loves water, and retrieving is her thang}.  So after I got her back to health {she'd been in a cat carrier, in a junkyard, scrunched up in her own feces and ammoniac urine...it still makes me sick, poor baby}, she and I resumed our relationship.  I promised I would never let anything like that ever happen to her again.  She remained a sweet, gentle girl; would stick close to me, but never did like lots of human contact after that.  She likes to be close, but not actually touching.

For the first half of Shaddow's life, we lived on a large farm.  I'd rented a small place on that farm and so she had lots of room to run and explore.  There were several ponds and being a lab, this suited her just fine.  The other folks had dogs, so she had lots of playmates.  She loved the nightlife and would go out and check out all the critters that roam nocturnal.  She was safe and happy.

I met my husband in December 2008, he fell in love with her too.  She had already started to have a lil problem with stiff joints.  So he built her a bed to replace her sofa.  It's a low frame that fits a toddler's crib mattress, so she's got room to sprawl out.  We moved to his place, which sits closer to a highway, but she has amble room to roam and she's smart about the road.  She had no problems adjusting.

She often greets my husband with puppyish hops and lots of wriggles.  It's one of the high points of his day, coming home to such an enthusiastic welcome.  Shaddow's been our big girl, as we now have a lil girl who has learned how to remain sweet from Shaddow's example.  Sophie will be three and we've had her since she was ten weeks old.  She is a chiweenie, tho favors the dachshund line in appearance.  Shaddow's been a good big sister to Sophie.  A great companion to me, a loyal friend with a big forgiving heart, and a wonderful first dog for me to have had.

Shaddow is aging not so well.  Her earlier trauma has had its toll.  Her joints are stiff, she moves slowly and awkwardly.  Her growth had been stunted, so her proportions are a bit off and now she is almost swaybacked.  She also has tumors throughout her body that are growing at a fast rate, one is pressing against her throat.

Most of the time, Shaddow seems to be happy, content to live and sleep.  She goes out and basks on the cement parking apron.  Or over in the soft field.  Comes in and climbs into her bed.  Sighs.  She eats, gets her treats, lays out on the porch.  Comes when called.  Sprawls next to me, on the cool tiles.

But I can tell she won't be with us much longer.  She's fading.  Sometimes she seems to be fading faster than others.  Sometimes I can still see her bouncing puppyish aura, happy to see her humans, happy to feel the fresh breeze, happy to get the treat.

But she no longer plays with Sophie.  She no longer wants to be bothered with the hustle and bustle of company.  She no longer roams, making her rounds to visit others.  She takes longer to stand from the prone, supine, or sprawled positions.

She whimpers now.  From time to time.  She seems to be in pain.  Now and then.  And I keep watch, because when it's time to say goodbye and let her go, I want to be able to send her on her way with love.  But I don't want to do that too soon.  But I want to be fair and do it on her time table, when she's ready.  But will I know when that is?  Will I be able to do the right thing by her and not hang onto her presence selfishly?

Shaddow's fading.  Fast.  Too fast for me.

Pail of Paint

This past week, it was a busy one for the family.  My husband's youngest son and his wife came to visit.  She is six months pregnant with their first child, a lil girl whom I wrote about a few entries ago {Suthern Belle}.  They are moving into a new home, which has some planting plots in the backyard, so she's going to be able to raise a bit of garden with veggies and herbs.  Plus when they left yesterday, they took a blueberry "bush" {it didn't look bushy, but in a few years, it will}.

Also, my husband's eldest son's wife returned for the fastest visit ever, and managed to squeeze a defense in there too!  It was a successful defense of her dissertation, so congrats to Dr. Daughter~in~Law!!  Yea!!!!

We had a lil cook~out with the above folks, plus the new Dr's parents and my husband's mom and one of the other siblings {my husband's youngest, the baby, who isn't such a baby anymore, 25yrs old now}.  The following day, my husband's oldest {35yrs old} and her family were here for a bit to visit with her brother.  So of my husband's five adult children, four of them were represented this past weekend.  The one who was absent was sorely missed {my husband's middle child, is also his middle daughter, as he has three girls and two boys}.

One of the things that Suthern Belle's mom and I did was go to the local "paint your own" studio.  The one downtown was closed, so we went to the new one out closer to the college and a lil bit trendier.  The staff was helpful, the ceramic selection was good, and there were plenty of various glazes to go with too.  So I would return there again.

Long time readers may remember that last summer I painted my "fire in the bowl" piece.  This year, I painted my Sky Bowl.  That's what you see here.

Also pictured is a small piece which is actually brown rather than the red it can appear in this pic.  Brown and blue combined are one of the pairings that Suthern Belle's mom likes, so I thought she might could use this as a caddy to hold her used tea~bag when she sips her mug of peppermint.

That is, if she doesn't use her own lovely creations pictured here as well!

repair

I've been procrastinating in a major way.  In fact, you could say that I'm a master procraster!  But here is the first third of the repair project.  After I get the other hexes joined into strips and the strips joined together; then I will go a~tuckin' and a~weavin' in the ends of all the joining yarn and such.  And then I'll post a pic of the finished project.  But here is the project at one third done!

Oh yeah? Well, Spec This!

So this afternoon, I wrote to my lovely daughter {yes, I claim her, I share her with lots of others, but she lets me claim her, so I do!} the following:

"...is irregular painful period part of the whole perimenopause thing?!? is it? cuz i wanna rip my uterus out, inflate it, tie it shut with my fallopian tubes, and use it as a floatation device while i am drowning in pain...oh good times, good times them..."

Then my husband brought in my new glasses which have arrived in today's mail.  They are my progressive multi~focals.  I think I'll adjust just fine to them.  I have a pair, pictured here, for everyday wear {mostly indoor}.  And I have a second pair with gradient tint so that I can see outdoors with out scrunching up my entire face into one big scowl so I can get the best squint possible.  Often I would forget my shades until I was already blinded by the sun.  So this time, I am hoping having the gradient tint will prompt me to actually WEAR them when appropriate.  I used to wear gradients at all times, cuz the glare from the text book page would give me a friggen headache.  As a grad student who was taking max hours, teaching, researching, using computers, and blah blah blah...it was important to be headacheless as much as possible.  I got waaaaaayy off topic here, the point is, got the glasses and I'm a happyish camper.

Except for the friggen hellishness that is commonly referred to as "cramps".  I got the front cramps, the back cramps, and the side cramps.  The side cramps are something that I've been introduced to within the last two months.  Oh yea!!  Lucky honored me!  Yea!!  A new type of seemingly unreachable pain!  Yea!!

And there is this sorta weakness, nervelessness, numbness, tinglies that make my thighs quiver and jump.  Ya know that sorta buzzed~numbness that you experience after that initial sharp pain when some asshat delivers a knuckle punch {and why the hell do they think that's funny?!?}?  That's the sorta feeling I have from the waist down.  I think it's lack of blood flow cuz all the blood in my body has rushed to my lower torso.

So I finally admitted defeat and took something a bit stronger than a handful of naproxen sodium, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen.  It's kicked in.  I still have the pain, but now, I don't give a shit.

New Hair Cut, featuring my natural undyed/unpermed hair

So this picture is probably the last time you will see me wearing these glasses.  Cuz I've two new pair ordered.  Why?  Well, turns out those twitches I've been experiencing around my left eye are not nervous tics, caused by stressful situations.  Nope, I just found out I am in need of bifocals.  I'm getting those progressives, the no~line bifocal which is actually more of a multifocal than only two.  If I can get wear these with no problems, in the long run, progressives will be better than glasses with lines marking clear delineations.  Cuz eventually I will need to have not just the two prescriptions for close and distant work; but also my eyes will need assistance with focusing on mid~range work {like with the computer screen and such}.

Aging aint for sissies.

My love, my husband, the dapper dude

Every girl crazy bout a sharp dressed man

This past Saturday night, my husband took me to see Pops in Pink.  The Breast Heath Care Clinic has been directing this annual event for three years now.  Several of the Starkville Community Theater members set up their karaoke machine and entertained us while we nibble food and visit with friends.  The proceeds go toward helping women who cannot afford screenings and diagnostic measures, as well as helping to offset treatment of breast cancer.  So $38,000 has been raised in just three years, thru events such as this.  That's damn good, at any rate, but especially for our area.

It was a lovely evening.  While it was a bit warm to start, the back yard of the Modern Mississippi Homestead Center got much cooler as the sun set.  The lawn was lighted with strings of tiny lights, the round white tables were set with roses and napkins, the dog mingled with the attendees, the chickens and pigs provided further ambiance, and my sweetheart held my hand and sang along with the country program.

I'm a lucky gal.

The Gift of Giving

Each year, or thereabouts, I select a non~profit group in the area whose work I appreciate to donate hand~knit/crocheted &/or loomed items to.  Sometimes I already have a list of local groups, and other times, I construct a new list.  It depends.

I like to first look at groups in my town, county, and the surrounding Golden Triangle.  Then I widen the net to also consider efforts of those organizations within the state or the SouthEast region as a whole.  Usually I don't get further than that, cuz there are lots of groups right here at home, in my own backyard so to speak; that going national or international doesn't make the list often.

I also consider what sort of work that group does, who they serve, and what sort of record they have.  Do the recipients actually receive the benefits, or does most of the money go to the administration?  Is the organization mostly made of volunteers or is it staffed with mostly paid/salaried folks?  Is this group funded in large part by some major foundation? Is there a need for the items I make?

In the past, I've made fifty hats/scarves/hoods/hooded~scarves for the Palmer Home for Children {an orphanage in Columbus, MS}; over a hundred hats for the Children's Hospital in Little Rock, AR; about thirty lapghans for French Camp Academy's Autumn Auction; scarves, hats, toys, washcloths for both the Safe Haven {Meridian, MS} and Sally Kate Winters {West Point, MS}, which are shelters for women and children; and other projects for groups in the area.

I always contact the organization before~hand, telling them what I do, asking if they would be interested in some items, and if so, what are their preferences/requirements/restrictions.  If possible, I ask if they can give me some demographics for the population they serve.  I give examples of what I make, and why I am asking for the information that I do.

For instance, some organizations work with populations like children who need soft caps because they now have newly naked, tender heads due to the chemo and radiation treatments.  Their siblings and parents often need warmer hats too, as most of the families' resources are going toward care for their sick child.  However, there usually are many groups that are assisting these organizations.

So I tend to want to help those that are not quite as widely or publicly known to be in need, so might not be receiving the assistance that they need.  Group homes for the elderly, mentally ill, recovery addicts, or developmentally disabled are usually in need of items and don't receive adequate assistance.  Their clients are often financially stressed, have health issues and expenses, and can use something that is personal, functional, and pleasing.  Often these folks don't have families who provide them with boundless love and support, sometimes those families don't have the means to provide them with much at all.

I know what it is like to be on both ends of this spectrum.  I've received services over the years.  I've worked as a provider of services.  And when I can, I like to be able to give back, help someone else out, let them know that folks do care and can help and will help.  Sometimes, receiving a personal item can remind the person that they are just that, a person, an individual worth caring about.  A scarf, a washcloth, a lapghan, a hat are all small things, yet they can mean so very much.

So this year, I looked at various non~profit groups within Mississippi.  I read about Baddour, a residential facility for adults with developmental disabilities.  Baddour is a community, of sorts, which provides the clients there with various activities and environments that address residents' abilities, needs, and wants.  So some folks garden, work, create items to sell in the facility's store, learn skills that will help them live more independently, cook, sew, watch movies, play sports, etc.  It's about empowerment and enrichment.  It's about encouraging and assisting these adults who are like you and me in that they want to be able to live their lives with dignity, joy, and freedom.  Yet these adults are not like you and me, in that they might not be able to drive to the store, select groceries for diner, pay or count the change, or cook that dinner when they return home.  They might not be able to process multi~stepped tasks the way you and I do.  They might not have families to love them, scold them, get together and take them to the movies.  They might be depending on others to provide their clothing, their meals, their allotted monies.

I can't do everything.  But I can make Dot a shawl of blue so that she can feel pretty.  I can make Bill a maroon and white afghan so that he can show his love for MSU.  I can make a bag that will fit onto Sophie's walker and a large cloth so that Sam's shirt stays clean while he eats.

I know I like to receive something special that let's me know that I am thought of and cared for.  I think we all do.  Don't you?

what the ... fleece?

My husband and I are very "Jack Spratt"; he's slim and I am almost a hundred pounds heavier than he is.  Which means, amongst other things, that I am always lots warmer than he is.  I am throwing off heat.  My body generates tons of it.  With all these solid layers of fat, I am encased in thermoheat wraps, the internal kind.  Now with summer just a twitch away, I break out in a clammy sweat just thinking of stepping outside.

So the other evening, I glance over at my freshly showered and clad~for~the~night husband stretched out in his recliner.  The air~conditioner is set on 74, I'm in my panties and v~necked T, hair up off my neck.  He's in his long sleeved T, the one with super~heros on it.  A thick pair of woolen socks are covering his feet.  And his sleep pants?  Fleece, festooned with teenage mutant ninja turtle faces.

I'm hot summer.  He's a snuggly winter night.

We're an odd couple, but we fit together hand in glove.  We both are comfortable, with ourselves and with each other.  Even if he is a 58 yr old going on twelve.

Oh, where to start, where to start...?

Ohhhh~Lah!  That's suthern for "hola".  Just sayin'.

There have been many things happening, many things happened, and a few have yet to happen.  So I know that I am making huge major glossing swipes here and will attempt to include all the biggies, but will probably miss something super~obvious; cuz sometimes I miss the trees for the forest, or the forest for the trees, but most of the times, I hit a nice balance where I can focus on both the forest AND the trees.  Why?  Not cuz I'm super~woman, no.  Cuz I have a great supportive husband, great supportive friends, and great supportive family.  Oh!  And did I mention that I have a great supportive mother?  She's been living here in Mississippi, just down the road now, for about a year.  Yea!!  It's been the first time we've lived in the same state since I was 24, let alone the same town, or the same property.  It's not that we didn't get along, we always have.  It's just life can take you places, if you let it.

So, this past year has been extremely difficult pet~wise for us.  We adopted a lil tiny ten week old puppy last October who had major congenital issues.  CoCo was with us for a month and then slipped into a coma induced by hypothermia {which apparently happens with small breed puppies very quickly}.  I did get her to the vet within fifteen minutes but she had a very traumatic day and passed during the night at the vet's home.  It was unreal how much she meant to us within such a short period of time.

Then we adopted Ginger, who was most likely six to nine months old.  So we decided her birthday would be St Paddy's day.  She was full~grown but still puppyish and weighed about 13 pounds when we brought her home.  She and Sophie played and played and played.  Ginger was definitely a daddy's~girl, for sure!  We had her for a few months and then, she was either hit by a car or beaten.  We searched for her and then that night she showed up on the front porch but we rushed her to the ER at the Vet School here at MSU cuz she was banged up pretty badly with lots of internal damage, tho not easily apparent from the outside.  Turns out her spine was separated from her shattered pelvis.  I have no idea how she managed to make it home at 3a.  She died just before what we'd been hoping would be her first birthday.

It was horrible.  So we decided that we shouldn't even think about another addition to our home for awhile.  I felt bad, but I swear that Jerry was crushed to the core.  So we just need to give ourselves some time and just enjoy the girls we have.

Shaddow is going to be twelve in August!  She is not in the best of health, several large tumors {systematic}; but she seems to be enjoying life still and not in undue pain.  She is loving her bed and during the day, she loves to either bask on the concrete apron in front of the house or stretch out in the field next to our place.

Sophie is two and a half and has mellowed somewhat tho she is very much a puppy still!  She has her favorite spots, usually Jerry's recliner during the day.  She has taken to stretching out in my lap {cuz Ginger was in Jerry's} as long as I put a blanket over her so that the passing yarn wouldn't tickle her while she was sleeping.  Otherwise, she fidgets and glares at me.

One of Jerry's students is graduating.  She has been our house and doggie sitter for us for the past four years.  She got married over Christmas.  So the other night, Jerry grilled chicken and corn on the cob, served up with his mashed potato salad {omg, so good!} for "The Smiths".  She brought her lil tiny eight pound poodle over and Sophie welcomed the lil fuzzy curly five year old rescue like an old long lost buddy.  They even sat on the chair together, watching us eat and keeping an eye out for morsels that might make it their way.

Summer is well on its way!  We've hosted two cook~outs already with more planned.  Here it is almost May!  That means that Mother's Day is just around the corner.

Speaking of mothers, mine has been teaching basket~weaving on Wednesdays at a local center.  More on that later, it deserves its own entry.  And my husband's mother joined me in physical therapy for awhile.  I've been going for months now, but now that the Cotton District Arts Festival is over, I've reduced to once per week, rather than twice.  It's amazing how much of an improvement in general I have noticed!

Also, Jerry's youngest son and his wife are expecting their first in mid~September!  So we have a new mama in the family, since I'm focused on mothers, thought this would be an excellent time to mention that.  The lil girl is tremendously treasured already, at week 18 or so in~utero.  I am amazed at how detailed these sonograms can be!  I usually smile and nod vaguely when I look at these grey white and black scans of blobs when I am presented with a gushing mother~to~be and her shots.  But this imagining now is so detailed that it's almost like seeing a sleeping newborn.  And she isn't even at midTerm yet!  Almost, not quite.

This spring was crammed with all sorts of community events that I was involved with.  Starkville Writers had a second annual Celtic Celebration.  In addition to readings of selections, essays, autobiographies, poems, and fairy~tales; we also had dancing; and announced the winners of the Starkville Memories essay contest.  The BookMart DownTown's Cafe had Rubens, Irish Stew, Irish Soda Bread, shamrock sugar cookies, and one of the writers brought in a wonderful lime sherbert punch and some cake.  It was quite successful and we had pictures with the Mayor and the sixth graders who won, along with their teachers.  I think it will be well~remembered for years to come.

Especially since we will be placing the essays in to the Time~Capsule as Starkville concludes its year~long celebration of its 175th birthday.  We intend for the Time~Capsule to be opened when Starkville celebrates its 200th in 2037.  I'll be 66.  Suddenly, that doesn't seem so far away.  My mom turns 66 this October.  Just to put it all into perspective.

This year was the first year that I co~chaired the Writers' Village for the Cotton District Arts Festival here in Starkville.  It was really cool and I'd love to do it again.  I think that this was a great group of folks to learn the ropes from and they all work well together, so I'm looking forward to seeing what the future brings.  This too deserves its own entry, so more on that later.

I met some fantastic folks these last few months, in several different venues.  I've been getting some knitting and crochet done.  But most everything got put on hold til May, when the spring's events were completed.  Now I have more than enough to do for the next few months!

So I think that brings the general over view up to date.  I will be writing more, more often.  That's a promise!

The Girls

The really cool thing about our girls is that they all get along swimmingly.  Shaddow even shares her bed with the two lil ones and they all gnaw on their treats together, as pictured here.  Shaddow is the black lab, with the aged~white hair on her face.  She'll be twelve this year!  Sophie is the black & tan stout lil chiweenie in the back on the right.  She resembles a short~haired dachshund more so then a chihuahua.  Sophie is two now.

Ginger is the latest addition to our household.  She's the long~legged thirteen pound Italian~GreyHound/Chihuahua mix above and to the right, pictured with Jerry.  Due to some camera trickery, it appears that Ginger has a green eye and a red one; she doesn't.  Her eyes are the most unusual of our three girls.  She has light golden eyes that can appear to be very deep like the rich Lion Syrup that we used to get in cans when I was little.  Ginger and Sophie are best buds; but when Jerry is home, Ginger throws Sophie over to snuggle with Jerry.  She gets all comfy and noodly, that super relaxed state of bliss and safe security.  She presses her lithe body into his chest, and sighs with such content, that I swear her lil doggie smile is one of pure joy!

I know how she feels.  He's a good guy, a sweetieheart, and you can't help but feel calm when with him.

What, what?!?

Two months?!?  Holee~Bat~Babee!  Two months since I last posted...wow.  Altho, this last year has been pretty scanty post~wise as a whole.  Let's see if I can't do better this year, what say, hey?

So here's a picture of our two lil girls {Shaddow is our big girl and she is not in this picture, if I am not mistaken, at the time I was holding the camera, she was outside on the concrete park pad sunning herself and soaking up the warm rays even tho the day was not exactly warm}.

Sophie is the darker zaftig chiweenie while Ginger is the skinny blonde model.  Ginger has been with us for almost three months now, tho we are considering mid~March to be her birthday because no one is sure how old she is.  She has gained one whole pound since being with us, so she is now thirteen pounds and I think she is her full grown adult size.  Sophie, like me, needs to lose weight.  For Sophie, it is mere ounces, but I think she is finding it to be a chore also.  Relatively speaking, three or four pounds from the 22 she weighs is roughly like me losing forty to fifty at this point.  Poor thing, she can't even jump up on the bed and her stocky lil legs and long spine are not meant to handle any excess.  So we need to stop giving her so many treats and now that the holidays are over, there are not quite so many tasty dishes...for either of us.

Well, I've settled into the new year.  Wrote a short short for the writers' group here, keeping track of assignments, activities, and goals.  So that's good.  I started off the year with catching up on several to~do lists of stuff that I'd put on hold during the holidays, including getting organized in general and transferring birthdays, anniversaries, and appts to the new calendars.

This means that several of the meetings that I'd been meaning to get to, but had been lax on attending; well, now they are fresh in my mind and so I have no excuse for not getting to the various committees, writing groups, knitting groups, etc.  None.  Sigh.

Unless you count the odd weather we had this past week.  That provided an excellent excuse for me to stay indoors, out of the chilly wet slushy snow that actually stuck to the ground, which is a big huge thing for Mississippi.  I can drive in that, but many others can not so why would I want to risk an accident in several tons in order to show at a meeting?  Besides, I kept warm and toasty and dry and comfy in my jammies.  Cuddling with the pups and a pile of yarn, tho not always at the same time.  Lots of folks don't want items with pet hair, not even short lil matching hair.  Especially if it isn't their pet.  Can you imagine?

There are some after~holiday yarn sales at a few of the tried and true places.  One of the places, Herrschners is having a pretty decent series of sales because they are starting their own yarn company which I think they plan to sell exclusively their own brand {Willow} instead of what had been the house brand {Herrschner} and other yarns like Red Heart, Lion's Brand, Caron, TLC, Village Yarn, Nob Hill, Sundance, Northland, Universal, Dept 71, Bernat, and others.  The last few times I dealt with Herrschner, it was a pain in the ass and there were all sorts of SNAFUs.  But this might be worth it, cuz the sales are pretty tempting.

I brought home an afghan I had made several years back from my husband's youngest son's house.  I'd made 120 hexagons and joined them into a king~sized afghan.  The problem was that I didn't join the full width of the hex seam cuz I was probably thinking that I would need those corner stitches to seam the strip together.  Sillee mee!!

So I had this gaping hole at the juncture of the three adjoining hexes and I thought, "oh I'll take the quilt theme one step further", cuz it was basically like a Grandma's Country Flower Garden pattern in that the hexagons are used in both.  So I tied knots at those junctures, thinking about the lovely knotted quilts.

This experiment? FAILED.  The yarn is meant to have nice drape, and it does.  So nice that the knotted areas drape too.  Which is so not what I wanted to happen.  So I'm going to take the seams out and rejoin all the hexes again.  Completely, this time.  No knots that might fray or come apart and no big ole gaping holes.

I'm also doing some hats and scarves for St Anne's in B'ham.  I want to get those done and out to them so that they can use them while it is still cold enough to need them!  Otherwise, what's the point of hats and scarves?  I'll probably send them a few lapghans too, later in the year, cuz you can always use those.

As far as news in the family, my husband's eldest daughter graduated with her associate's while his youngest daughter just enrolled in college.  His middle daughter is doing great in school, 4.0, go girl, go!  His older son just was promoted at work and is making it thru his New Jersey winter {bit of a difference from Mississippi, doncha know}.  His younger son made chief in the coast guard last month and so will be attending school for awhile this spring.  He also got his next assignment and it was exactly what he wanted.  Yea!  So it seems everyone is doing well, working hard, and for the most part happy.

So I think that my husband is happy.  He is enjoying his last few weeks of football, and is off work tomorrow as it is a holiday at the university.  In fact, I hear him urging one of his teams to get it together right now.  I mean, they do hear him, don't they?

Hope every one stays healthy, avoids the flu, and is landing on their feet ok post~holiday!

Sophie's new friend: Ginger

These two could have been named Ying & Yang.  Sophie, is our two year old lil chiweenie who is a very compact twenty pound sweet girl who would make an excellent ferocious derby gurl with a wicked hip~check, has been with us since she was a ten week old five pounder.  Ginger is not quite a year old, by all accounts.  She too is a mix of chihuahua, but the Italian Greyhound is the predominant breed in her.  She is allllllllllll leg.  Fully grown now, she is about twelve pounds.  So we now have a short dense lil dark girl and a tall {comparatively speaking} leggy blonde one.  They get along like they have been besties from birth.

One of my latest projects

This is one of the two shawls I've been knitting for about ten days now.  This is cotton, Bernat's fruit explosion and blueberry.  I'm using a set of size five needles, on 1960's set of Sear's interchangeables that I found on eBay last year {earlier blog entry}.  This is about seventy rows of a 180 row shawl.  There are about 150 stitches per row now, when it is finished, there will be close to six hundred per row.  I really want to get this done, as the person I am doing it for will go on maternity leave next week.

Bug~Eyed

Wow, I started this yesterday and finished it today.  It's my first counted cross~stitch in years.  I did one, well a partial one, when I was in uhm seventh grade?  Home Ec.  That was almost thirty years ago {...wow...}.  Then almost ten years ago, I did some plastic canvas and then used the same principles to make a keepsake quilt for my friend's baby.  But this is the first actual counted cross~stitch I've ever completed.  I improvised a lil with the legs, cuz I wanted to give it character.  The back looks atrocious, but you can't see that, cuz I didn't take a pic of it.  There are a few places where my stitches get really wonky, with one side of the X a bit shorter and the other side a bit longer, so it's really sorta lop~sided.  But if I didn't go pointing out all that, would you have noticed?

Flowers of the Month

My mom embroiders quilts, wall~hangings, etc.  In fact, this one pulls double duty!  Mom made it for me about five years ago, as a wall~hanging that covered my windows above my bed when I lived on the farm.  Now it is used as a quilt on the guest bedroom that contains my bed from before I was married.

Her work is very good, entirely by hand.  The back of her work looks beautiful.  When held to the light, no loose threads, knots, etc are visible.  She's my mom, I know, and I may be biased...but objectively?  She's awesome!

Dare to Dream

My mother had made this for me around ten years ago.  She embroidered and quilted it entirely by hand.  Some folks asked to see some of her work, cuz ya know, I was bragging on her.  So click for enlarged view to see detail.

Fire in the Bowl

The above bowl was painted/glazed and fired last week when my friend and her family were here.  It's the second piece I've done, with the leaf pictured here being the first piece.  I did the leaf a few weeks ago, when my friend from Chattanooga was here.

I'm still getting used to the techniques, what the brushes can do, what the layers of the colors do, and how things will look on the finished product.  It's a learning experience!  It's fun, tho I think sometime I will go when I am by myself so that I can really take my time.

Bidding farewell

Well, after a leisurely morning, a few movies, and a lunch at Mugshots; my friends and I picked up our freshly glazed and fired ceramics.  I'll include a pic in a future blog of my yarn bowl {"fire in the bowl!"}.  We returned to the house, where the rest of them watch a movie, while I napped for a bit til Jerry came home from work.  Then we saw our company off.

Now Jerry and I have watch a couple movies this evening.  It's going to be a SOMSA* weekend.  I am really looking forward to that!!


*Sit On My Sorry Ass

Today {or ya know, yesterday...cuz it's after midnight}

So here we are, late Wed night, early Thursday morning.  This morning when I woke up, I felt kinda weird, so I sat up for awhile even tho it was five.  After my husband left for work, I went back to bed and slept a lil longer.

Then when I woke up for the day, my friend and her son had both been ill to their stomachs, apparently the pizza they'd eaten the night before didn't agree with them.  Whatever it was passed tho, and my friend and I watched "Kiss the Girls".  Then I, my friend, and her husband braved the downpour and went to Woodlawn, a small community a county or so away which has a furniture facility in the old school campus.

After we returned from that, my husband was already home as he'd taken the afternoon off, so that he could grill chicken quarters for my friends and mom.  We had a nice afternoon and the food was so good it made my tummy very happy!  Later, Jerry made us all shakes, and oh my, does he spoil me rotten!!!

The other three adults went to bed early, while me and the kids watched a couple movies.  One was "the quiet" and the other was "orphan".  The first was eh, so I deleted it after we watched it.  But "orphan", dude!  That was a good movie and I saved it so that my husband and I could watch it this weekend.

Tomorrow, my friends will leave later in the afternoon, or early evening.  That way they can drive the night thru and the kids can sleep, with the family arriving back home in Pennsylvania on Friday.  Hopefully, our ceramic pieces will be ready for pick up tomorrow afternoon before they go, so that they can take them with them; but if not, it's no problem to mail them when they are ready.

It's been fun to have them here, we'll have to get together more often than once every ten years and then boom, twice in nine months.  Perhaps we can take turns, and see each other at least every other year, sorta like the Olympics...either the summer {us in the south} or the winter {them in the north} occurs every two years...just an idear...

Late Night Posting

Well, I missed posting yesterday, having posted late Sunday night but being too tired last night.  So let me think, we girls did go have mani/pedis done {their first} and then we went to see my mom for a bit.  Mom said that my friend's daughter does look lots like her when my friend was her age.  Since mom knew my friend since she was ten, I'd say she was qualified to know!  We caught up for awhile and then came home to join her husband and son for a few minutes before my husband came home from work.

Then mom brought some of her wine over for a tasting.  There was strawberry white zinfandel, Arkansas Indian Peach, Cherry Chocolate, and Ozark WildBerry.  We have a partial bottle left from our annual autumnal trip to Natchez last year of Miss Scarlett, a sweet red muscadine wine that the winery there makes.

In the meantime, we girls have become looming fools.  My friend has bought her own set of round knitting looms, so there are more than enough for the three of us to be working on an assortment of hat sizes at one time.  We've made hats for babies, for children, for adults, for ourselves, single brimmed, double brimmed, no brimmed, acrylic, super soft and plush, blue, green, white, pink, and just about any other combination of hats there of!  It's been fun and I get to figure out how to correct mistakes without ripping the whole hat out and redoing it.

Today, we went to the local public library, then for lunch at Lil Dooey's, a local favorite.  I ordered a sampler to share, with fried green tomatoes, fried okra, and fried pickles.  Then my husband and I had bbq, while the kids had chicken tenders, and their parents had the daily special {great burgers}.  My husband took the afternoon off and took their son fishing, while we girls went to Dandy Doodlez and painted plates, trivets, and bowls.  Then I took my friend and her daughter to Tuesday Morning, where we each found some finds.

Time's flying by and before you know it, our visit will be thru!  I think they are having a good time, so that's good.  I know I am.