A Very Nice Birthday

Yesterday turned out to be a very nice birthday. After my morning and lunch activities, I can home and just decided to relax. So I sat around and knit on the Butterfly Vest from EZ. I was thinking of making that my Ralelimpic Project but I could not wait. I had a bunch of false starts Monday night but now it is going along very nicely in an interesting Noro color combination. Caroline and had had take out Sushi. It will be a birthday dinner for both of us. Her birthday is on Sunday and she will be camping near Howe Caverns.

After dinner I went to B&N for my regular knitting night. It was even nicer then usual. I got flowers from one friend, yarn, wooden needles and a great new knitting bag from another. I gave out bags of soap goodies from my huge sort out to everyone and got almost one skein of Noro knit. Came home and watched House on the DRV. Who could ask for more?

Tonight is dinner at my sister's house for Caroline and my birthday.

A Day of Contrasts

Today is my birthday. I had a very relaxing day planned. A ride down to the shore and lunch out with friends, then back home, a quick meal with Caroline then out to my knitting night. Wed. I will go to my sisters for a birthday dinner with the rest of the family who are around.

I found out yesterday that a friend of mine, who was on hospice passed peacefully and his funeral was scheduled for today. He was also a friend of the people I had planned on being with so we all went to a funeral instead of a relaxing lunch out. The service was beautiful. The Rabbi who lead the service remembered this man beautifully as a husband, father, son, brother, artist, businessman and friend. He was a wealthy man who was a friend to many famous artists but I remember him as a man filled with curiosity, compassionate but realistic.

Every year, a group I am a member of runs a full day workshop. One year I did a "Pampering Session". I had gathered a series of easy homemade "pampering product ingredients" and instructions and we made homemade sugar scrubs, bath teas and I can't remember what else. The theme of the session was that you can't take care of others if you don't care for yourself. He was the only man there. We has such a good time teasing him and he did all the projects and used some himself and shared the rest with his wife and daughter.

After the service, I did go out to lunch with several friends instead of going back to the family's home. As I was sitting at lunch I realized that these were some of the same friends who two years ago were sitting with me while Bob was on hospice, bring me food and keeping me company. One of the women lost her 37 year old son unexpectedly shortly after Bob passed. I don't know what I would do without such good friends and family.

August 4th

Today I woke up with mostly every part of me sore and aching. Sunday was another day of sorting and tossing. I did make shopping bags of goodies to give away. Neither room is picture ready yet but both are cleared out enough that I can really sort and organize.

I got two new patterns in the mail today, Wool Gathering with a Gansey Pattern and Schoolhouse press butterfly vest . I may change my ravelympics goal to the vest.

I took Marly aka the DevilCat in to be declawed today. His actual procedure is done on Tuesday but they kept him to avoid having him eat or have another fit about getting into the carrier. I think I'll like him much more when he is not scratching my new furniture!

Still Cleaning Out

For two years I have sporadically been on a mission to declutter this house. Bob and I were BOTH terrible pack rats. During times of stress or sloth, we carefully stored away bags and boxes of junk and foolishness. When Bob came home for hospice, we needed to clear out half of the family room for him to have a spot for his bed etc. MORE clutter and junk carefully or just crammed into shopping bags and boxes hidden. THEN we converted the unfinished attic like storage space on the top floor into a sitting room for Caroline. Stuff was exposed, unbelievable amounts of stuff came to light, some we dumped, some in true hereditary manner, I just found new spots to recram. NOW I really am getting serious. Caroline decluttered my old "sewing room" a room when I never really sewed, just stored massive amounts of craft stuff. Yesterday, I dejunkified Caroline's old bedroom. I can actually see carpet (very ugly carpet actually) there and today I am going to tackle the downstairs guest room which is the biggest suck of junk in this house. When I gave up doing craft fairs, ALL that stuff and lots of other junk that lost a home in the other clean ups we have been doing migrated to this room. Does all this stuff sneak around in the night OR am I supposed to believe that I actually shoved all that stuff in there?


SO the driveway is again lined up with garbage bags and we have 5 huge garbage bags of stuff to be donated to Goodwill. I can't imaging the amount of stuff that will come out of this room.

Some finished stuff

Here is the quilt I made for Caroline's friend, the yoyo puppy and yankee fleece blanket are for my niece, Laura's son Joey, the two sweaters are for me!

I need a better camera!

I finished the quilt I'm making for Caroline's friend last night and I tried to take a picture this morning BUT the batteries are dead again. For some reason this camera is EATING batteries. I just got some new rechargeable ones and I'll see if that makes a difference. I've given away the last few baby sweaters and quilts without having pictures of them. I also want to take a picture of the yoyo puppy I made for my niece and the Yankee fleece! If I won the lottery I'd get a great easy camera and one of those room size quilting machines--and buy my mother's beach house yada yada!

I went to see Mama Mia last night, what a fun movie. No big sad message just beautiful scenery and lots of singing and dancing. I needed some cheering up yesterday. I met the new hospice patient who I'll be visiting, a sweet older women and when I was going in I met the chaplain who visited with us when Bob was on hospice. It was good to talk to him but it brought back memories. It is hard to believe that it will be two years in two weeks!

I'm off to visit a quilt shop with a friend while she is dropping her daughter off for visit with her aunt. Hopefully the camera is working when I get back! AND work keeps going on the Lady Feb Sweater

Joined Ravelympics

I wasn't going to do it but I gave in and joined (with a very minimum twisting of my knitting arm) Teamjersey and I will do a sock during the Summer Olympics. We had fun with our team a few years ago during the Winter Olympics. I'm going to do a sock with my new STR club yarn.

I am just about finished with a new quilt for Caroline's friend. Just a bit more quilting then the binding and the label. I'll get it finished probably Friday because I am going to see Mama Mia tonight.

My friend's husband power washed my house yesterday and we had dinner together, vegetable lasagna and a really nice upside down peach cake. I'll miss this when I go back to work!

Good News for Me!

Yesterday I got an email from my sister in California that she and her husband have gotten a ticket using their points for me to fly to California to visit with them at the end of August. I am so excited. Caroline will be out there at the same time for her job so we'll be all together for a while.

I had been hoping to squeeze out some money for a ticket for myself but there have been too many other expenses this summer. My sister has lived n Australia, Chicago, CT and now California. With my job, expenses and Bob being sick I only got to go to CT. Any suggestions on what to see in San Francisco?
I spent a few hours gathering up all my knitting books from the little hidy spots in my house and listed them all in Ravelry. Now I have them organized in a few bookcases in the family room. I have about 60+ books and some that are not possible to list AND that is not counting the Quilting books. I started to feel guilty about having so many then I just decided that lots of people have many cookbooks and they have not cooked everything from each book and they don't say well I will not buy a new book until I've cooked more from the ones they have! And I have used many of these books. Just organizing them brings back so many memories of things I've knit and would like to knit again. I should just feel lucky! not crazy!

Knit-tink-knit-tink

I usually do not tink, (knit backwards --- pull out what I've just knit) BUT for whatever reason the Lady February Sweater is doing that to me! It is a simple pattern, seven stitches repeat over 4 rows two of which are purl! I normally can read my knitting and know when I've made a done something wrong quickly BUT with this pattern I just keep loosing the pattern adding or misplacing stitches!


I knit at a hot air balloon festival yesterday and when I got home I unknit everything I had done. Then when I looked at it again this AM I think I have more tinking to do! I may just go back to the sock for a while.

The balloon festival was nice, there was too much wind so they did not actually fly the balloons just cold inflated then and let everyone see them hooked up to the ground. Actually they are very beautiful but almost everyone had some type of commercial advertisement. Hopefully I'll get there next year and really see them go up.

getting lots of kniting done

This was a good knitting week for me. I went to my regular Tuesday group and then had some of the women over to knit Thursday and yesterday I took a vacation day from my vacation and spent most of the day relaxing and knitting. I got my new STR club selection and I REALLY want to knit up this yarn. I can't cast n yet because I already have two socks on the needles, one is a really nice German yarn that Debbie gave me and the other is my last STR club yarn which I lost for a month. I was in my WW bag so that shows how serious I am about WW this summer. I might break my own rule but I'm not sure yet!

I did try to take a nap in the hammock I got myself for Father's Day. We have been in this house for years and I have a nice shady yard with beautiful trees and I always wanted a hammock and I finally got one. So yesterday I stretched out in it to look at the new sock patterns from STR and I drifted off the sleep. I woke up to the noise of my pattern blowing away and I grabbed for it. Well, you can't make sudden moves in a hammock so I got dumped out and I swear the dog was laughing! So I went back into the AC house and knitted and napped. I have the Lady February sweater done to the armhole divide. This sweater seems to be eating yarn much faster then the pattern indicates so I'm glad that I ordered more on Ebay.

Well, I have another baby quilt to make so I'm off to quilt then knit.

Post # 201

I finally reached over two hundred posts! Not easy to do when I constantly forget or put off posting!

I had a knitting night at my house last night. I knit with a great group of women in B&N every Tuesday night and last night some of them came over to sit on my new furniture and knit. I think it was a very pleasant night--- the only problem is that I made a no bake ricotta blueberry cheesecake and everyone also brought in great snacks and one friend even brought in some wine AND I got left with TOO many good things to eat. I need to delay WW by at least another week!

This week has been busy, we got a new attic fan on Sunday and the upstairs floor is really cooling off and I finally painted the redone closet in the living room. NOW I just need to get after Lowe's to get the last pieces I need for the cabinets, finish the power washing of the house and then all that is left from the summer plan is CLEANING OUT of stuff. I don't know how I became such a pack rat. I surely never intended to save the amount of junk I did and so now I have to clear out my husband's saved stuff also. I am committed to getting rid of junk so that my kids don't have to go through piles of stuff, really boxes and bags of crap after I die. I'm not including yarn or fabric in this THAT they can just deal with when I go! Really --- I hope I still have good knitting friends who can pick my stash clean when that time comes!

Kitchen update

We have gotten lots of progress done on the kitchen. The cabinet is mostly installed, I need to wait for Lowes to get in the finishing kit and Joey still has some stuff to do then I can finish painting and start to move whatever into the cabinets. I'm planning on using one of them and my laundry room to store what is left of the soap business. My next big project is to dismantle the upstairs kitchen which used to be known as the soap kitchen and now is just the junk kitchen BUT I need to catch up financially and take a rest first!

BTW, I finished the red Mr Green Jeans sweater. It is just waiting for buttons and blocking and edging. Pictures to follow!

livingroom update

I've had a little over a week to enjoy my new furniture and I'm loving it. These pictures are a little strange in showing the fabric. The three pieces are covered with a textures fabric, green with some brown. I'm going back to get a small chest to go right near the door. Yes, under the lamp on the floor. I'm making a quilt to throw over the couch, the fabric roll is on the coffee table. Caroline and I have been sitting in the living room and it is not even Christmas!

Taking the Day Off

I'm on my way to the beach. The last few days have been very hectic. I'm just about finished painting the kitchen cabinets, the new counters and base cabinets should be done on Monday. I got my new living room furniture AND I love it. It is so nice to walk in the living room and not see mismatched and old stuff with throws concealing tons of old whatevers!

Gizmo is continuing to bring drama into the house! He was at the groomer on Thursday and she found a huge abscess on the glands near his backside. So we had an emergency visit to the vet and now the poor guy is on meds and hot compresses but is really doing better. Actually he is happy with all the extra treats going his way to hide the pills!


Today I am going to the beach with friends. I plan to swim, work on my sweater sleeve, get some sun, eat and just rest before the next round of day labor around here!

Moving Right Along

Yesterday I had lots of excitement with my dog. I was working on painting the cabinets and he has a history of being a pest around paint so I put him outside in the backyard. After a while he ran into the paint area and I though "Didn't I just put him out?" So I scooped him up again and put him out. When I went to check on him a while later he was gone. The gate was open and Gizmo was not to be found. Now. I'm in panic mode. I'm running around calling his name and one of my neighbors tells me that he found him out and tossed him back into the house! Didn't I feel like a fool to say I popped him back into the yard!

Luckily for me I found him. A boy from around the block saw Gizmo, thought he knew whose dog he was and put him in some one else's house! So while I was searching for him, Gizmo was playing with another Shih Tzu in an air conditioned house! Gizmo was Bob's dog. He was so worried about that dog when he was passing on. The one promise he asked me for was to take care of the dog! Now any of you who know me know that I am not a dog person. I always feel so guilty when something, anything happens with this dog. In spite of myself I am very attached to him. The couch we just just threw out was the couch Bob spent so many years on sick. I could not get rid of it for a long time. It is just over two years ago that he went into the hospital and his two year anniversary is on August 14th. Caroline and I have made so many changes to the house, I think he would be shocked at some of them but deep down I think he would be happy at how well Caroline, Steven and I are doing! And even the dog is doing OK. He gets groomed today so he will look nice and neat by mid morning.


I have the frame of the cabinets primed and half of the doors primed. The man at Lowe's tinted the primer the same color as the paint so I really think the cabinets will look good. I'll probably get the new cabinet and counters cone Sunday or Monday so pictures will follow by early next week!


AND my new furniture is coming between 11 and 2!!!!!!!

July 7th

I've been very busy but a good type of busy. So far since I've been off from work,
* I've caught up on all sorts of household stuff,
* power washed most of my house using my own power of a scrub brush and a bucket of cleaner ( I did get a power washer from my sister to finish! -- Just could not get Caroline up on a ladder for the third level),
* made a really nice baby quilt with prairie points,
* did a yo yo stuffed puppy for my niece's new baby
* made a quick knotted fleece Yankee blanket for the same baby
* bought new living room furniture
* carried out the old couch (with the help of Caroline & Katie)
* switched the old living room furniture to the family room and the family room stuff to Caroline's sitting room
* started refinishing the kitchen cabinets
* ordered two new cabinets for the kitchen
* made machine embroidered heart pillow for me
* went to the quilt shop to get another lifetime supply of fabric
* celebrated Natalie's college graduation

My daughter is threatening to send me back to work so that she can get some rest! I made a list of stuff I wanted to do before I go back to work in September and I am making progress!

Today I am going out for lunch with friends and the most energetic thing I have planned is knitting on my sock and folding laundry!

School's out for Summer!!!!!!!

Thursday was the last day for students a teachers in NYC. As much as I love the kids and my work I am SO glad to be out for the summer. I have not blogged in the longest time because --- well no real reason--- I just didn't! I read blogs every day and I always mean to blog then I get tired and something else calls me away.

I've been doing lots of quilting and some knitting but really more paperwork from school and yard work and cleaning etc. I spent part of the weekend at the beach with my family and celebrated getting out of another school year of Friday by getting a manicure and a green tea pedicure! What a luxury!

I taught myself how to do a new heel from Wendy Knits and have been playing around with making hexagons from Jelly roll strips. As a math teacher this really interests me. I think I've learned more about angles from quilting and molding then any class!

Well I'm off to do some dinner stuff then I am going to knit and hopefully finish one sleeve of Mr Green Jeans in red start the last sleeve!

May 25th

WOW, two weeks since I blogged! When I first started this blog I thought I would blog every day or at least every few days. Then I thought well every week, NOW unless I'm in a swap which requires it I could go a month or more. Why is this? I read other people's blogs just about every day. They aren't doing stuff for the most part that is so wildly different from me. They work, commute, garden, knit, deal with family stuff but these people I've decided are writers. They can take the same every day things we all go through and make it seem interesting. OR they are photographers who can take delightful pictures of the world around them that just sucks your eyes right in. So me I'm a teacher, reader, knitter, quilter. I can explain well, and break learning task down to make them easier to master, and I read so my mind is full of ideas, and my knitting and quilting is (IMHO) very good but without pictures how do you communicate it? SO for me all the things I good at don't make for a particularly interesting blog!

Having said all that I've been busy for the past two weeks, work is busy and very interesting. I'm taking a class to learn the Mel Levine , All Kinds of Minds Program. Even though I am nearing retirement I still love to learn new ways to do my job better.

Work on sheet rocking Caroline's upstairs sitting room continues -- so dust still continues! I've rearranged part of my kitchen and really like the change AND I weeded and mulched my flowerbeds. Some years I don't get to do this until school is out and then they never really look like they should.

I've still plodding along on Mr Green Jeans in red -- just about finished with the body so all I have left is the sleeves and button bands. I'm hand sewing the bindings on three baby quilts. One is for the grandchild of my friend who passes away in January. She had asked me to make a quilt for her a few years ago and I got it mostly finished then my husband got sick and with hospice and whatever I put it aside. I don't know who it was originally meant for but it does seem like a blessing that it can go to this grandchild. The other two are for a friend I work with. She had twins in NOVEMBER and is still waiting for her quilts. There is really no excuse so I do owe her something else as a "I'm so sorry!".

Well this has gotten so long that even I am loosing interest!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all those mothers and children who are celebrating! I just finished my part of Mother's Day at my house. For the last few years, I've been doing a Mother's Day Brunch at my house. I make tons of muffins and scones, homemade waffles with real whip cream and fresh strawberries, tons of bacon and sausages and mimosas. This year the weather cooperated and we ate outside using the new table, chairs and umbrella my kids gave me for Mother's Day. I sent everyone home with bags of muffins and scones, the dog ate the few leftover bits of bacon and sausage and it's 5:20 and I already have the tablecloths and napkins in the dishwasher! My daughter and I may go out for Japanese food later or we may just stay in! Steven is working in Florida for a few weeks and he called very early to beat his sister in saying Happy Mother's Day!

I gave my sisters and mother and grandmother "a green bag of goodies" They each got a reusable shopping tote filled with handmade soaps, a knitted facecloth, some "ShamWows" gotta watch late night infomercials to know what that is ! I received a beautiful pitcher of polish pottery and some lovely flowers.


My friend's husband is rebuilding a closet for us in my living room. He already fixed my backyard gate, two broken drawers in my kitchen and re nailed a piece of siding that was flapping. His next project is going to be sheet rocking what used to be a storage spot as a hanging out room for Caroline. If he wasn't my friend's husband I'd marry him!!!!!

And now I'm going to go upstairs and put my feet up and knit on my Mr. Green Jeans sweater.

What a week!

This week was one of those weeks where anything that can go wrong went wrong. I had Monday off as a comp day but I spent the day doing errands, chores and getting set up for a medical test that I had to complete on Tuesday.

Tuesday, I left my house a few minutes late because I just could not get out of bed, then got gas, went to the bank, picked up coffee all because I was leaving early to finish up this test and so NO carpool. So I was about TEN minutes later then normal and I was one of the first cars to get stuck on a bridge behind an accident which closed the bridge for THREE AND ONE HALF HOURS!!!!!! Because of where I was I could not exit. SO I knit and knit (thank God for my pocketbook sock) and then squirmed and squirmed because of a nice venti coffee!!!! So I got to work HOURS late did some work to set up a yet another standardized test and turned around to come BACK to NJ to take my medical test.

Wednesday was a normal day but wild because of a meeting we were having on Thursday morning at 7:15. The day ended nicely with dinner with my daughter. Who knew sushi could be so relaxing!

Thursday, as soon as my carpool partner got in the car she started feeling dizzy and lightheaded. We went into work and after my meeting she was doing much worse and Wound up taking her back to NJ and spending the entire Day shuttling her around before finally taking her home AND in my rush to leave I FORGOT MY KNITTING at work!!! Fortunately, her MD had a delay in seeing her and we went to my house where she rested and I grabbed an emergency dishcloth to work on!

The rest of the week was alternately boring, or frustrating (new company doing a cable installation----NO COMMUNICATION---between the people who set things up and the installers!!! BUT enough on my whining I did get a quilt finished for a friend at work even though I missed the shower because of ALL the time the installer took!

NEXT week has to be better! although with all the work I have piled up I'm not sure how that can happen!