January 2010

I still can't believe that it is 2010! Just crazy how fast the last decade went. Last time I checked I was still in Buffalo, in grad school. Then I got married, moved to Maryland, had 2 kids, the eldest of which is in elementary school. When did that happen?

January has been a crazy month! We had to replace our heating system (the furnace was 32 years old, and the heat pump died, so we had to do the entire thing. I have also been busy organizing the science fair at our elementary school. It's been fun getting the kids motivated and helping them come up with projects. We have also been having lots of fun with girl scouts. It is cookie time, and we did our pre-sales, and now are waiting for them to come in. We had our first outing, and are planning more. Celia is really loving it too, which is just awesome to see.

Lots of fun things coming up! I will be participating in local Indie Artist Celebration up in Frederick, MD on Feb 20th. Here is the info:

Date: Saturday, February 20
Time: 12 - 5pm
Location: The Loft at Antique Imports, 125 N. East Street, Frederick, MD (directly across the street from Eleganza).

There will be about a dozen or so of us, and I can't wait!

I've also applied to be a part of the Homespun Yarn Party again. I had a blast with it last year, and I really hope i am accepted this year!

I will also have yarn at the Cloverhill Yarn Shop booth again at Maryland Sheep and Wool. I got great feedback from last year, so I'm looking forward to bringing out some of my favorite yarn, in old in new bases.

I have also gotten hooked on puzzles again. So far this year, I have completed 2. The first is one of my favorite Van Gogh paintings, The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night:


And the second is a fun crafty one:

Is this thing on?

I really missed writing here. I don't know why I stopped. Things just got crazy busy, and I completely lost all track of time.

When did Thanksgiving get here? And Christmas? Seriously??

At least I can now work on getting things back to normal.

Some updates:

I got a layoff notice in October, and was to be laid off Dec 31. Thankfully I interviewed for another position within my institute, and was offered the spot, so I took it. Am no longer getting laid off, thank goodness!


I went to the UK for 2 weeks in late November/early December. 2 full weeks in Cambridge. I was there for work, so I had to leave the husband and kids home. It was nice, but really lonely.


I've finished a few items- a Swallowtail Shawl, a few hats, and have been working on a Central Park Un-hoodie for my son's day care teacher (she asked if she could pay me- I let her buy the yarn but am not letting her pay me for the work. She has spent a ton of time with me outside of day care hours working with me and my son to help him learn to speak.


I got some new ink!! Finally, went and got a knitting tattoo. Fitting, because I was in Asheville, NC for SAFF at the time. And, I was a vendor at SAFF and had a great time! Fabulous show, and I can't wait for next year.



My son (who is now 23 months) has been receiving speech therapy, due to speech delay. His pediatrician and ENT both suggested this due to the fact that he has had so many ear infections and sinus infections. I am also doing a class with the County, called the Hanen Program, It Takes Two to Talk. Between ITTTT and the speech therapy, my son is finally making some real strides towards communication. He still has few words, but he is definitely expressing himself much better than he was. And his level of frustration is so much less. I've always been all about Early Intervention, and my son is living proof of how much EI helps.




And here are some kid pics! Can't believe how big they are getting!!

HSKS 8 kit!

Things have been a bit hectic over here for the last few months, and I"m finally now getting around to posting about the FABULOUS kit I received from my HSKS 8 summer camp pal, Honoria Beckett.


Included in my kit, is some yummy Palette yarn and some Esseential Sock from KnitPicks, a beautiful bag, which is in all of my favorite colors, stitch markers, a beading kit, and a pretty scarf pattern, for my herbology assignment, and some of my all time favorite candy- skittles and starburst! Talk about a rockin' package!! I am sooo spoiled! Thanks so much for everything Honoria!! I love it all! And I"m so sorry for the delay in getting my post up...

Kindergarten

I still have many posts to catch up on, but the most important one is this. I now have an official Kindergartener. My little Celia started Kindergarten on Monday.

When did she get so big??

woops!

I haven't posted in 20 days? Seriously?? Yikes!

Things have been a bit crazy on this end. After the vacation in the Finger Lakes, the kids and I headed to Buffalo for a week of family time. I managed to work while the kids played, and even had some fun myself! I was able to catch up with one of my best friends (who has a little girl who is 1), for lunch and then again the next day to hang out and again have lunch. It was so great to see her and the baby, who I hadn't seen since last august. Funny how some friends, you just fall back into the same time with, like no time at all has passed. It was awesome.

Then, there was the TKGA/CGOA Summer Knit and Crochet Show, which was fantastic! I had a ball, met a lot of great people, including a few people I know from Ravelry, and just had a yarny good time. I got a lot of great compliments on my yarn, and made a really good profit. I didn't make it to Sock Summit, but my yarn was there. Still waiting on hearing how it did, but I can't imagine how busy the shops are sorting out whose yarn sold, and packing it up. Craziness!

Seth is currently sick, with a double ear infection. And he has tubes in his ears, so they are just draining bloody goo all over the place. Pretty nasty, and he's been a bit cranky. Took him in to the doc yesterday, after the day care provider noticed the blood, and he's back on antibiotics. We're holding off on the Ora.pred for the moment (he's wheezing again too), but may need that in the next few days. Fun times. You know it's rough on a kid, when the doc is looking at the history of prescriptions, and he is impressed that Seth made it a month and a half since his last course. 6 weeks! It seems like he's always on antibiotics, the poor kid. Better get some stuff done while he sleeps... More later! Still need to post about the colonoscopy, more weeks from the CSA, and all of the goodies coming from our garden!

Vacay

I love vacations! This week has been so much fun! We're in Canandaigua, at my uncle's place. Last time we were here, is when I took the HPT that came up positive after my IVF cycle. So it holds a lot of good memories for me.

We've done nearly everything I can think of. The beach, the New York Wine and Culinary Center, shopping, wine drinking, relaxing, reading, spent some time with my MIL/FIL, and my SIL, and spent some time just relaxing. I got to take a nap, which I really needed. And I got to spend Tuesday in a chair. Getting my newest tattoo!! Here it is:


The pink ribbon is for my Aunt Debbie, who passed away last year from a 12+ year battle with breast cancer. The cherry blossoms are there because they are one of my favorite flowers, and we have several cherry trees in my yard that bloom every year. Love living in DC for that. If we ever move back to Buffalo/Rochester, I'll have that to remind me of our time in DC. And if we're in DC forever, I can see them year round. I got this done at Lady Luck Tattoo in Canandaigua, NY. Tom was the artist, and what he came up with is so much better than I had ever imagined. I love that there are some buds, and some petals falling- life and death. Just perfect.

My DH also spent a little time in the chair, getting his first tattoo on Thursday. Here it is:


Nice and simple, just our names. In a triangle, because he's kind of a math geek. He loves lines and angles.

Other than that, I've been reading A LOT. I finished the first two Twilight books, and am 150 plus pages into the third book. I came with the first, and bought the second, third and fourth here. Because I couldn't wait. SO addicting.

More CSA

Lots more CSA goodies last week! More beets, green beans and a few heirloom beans, tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, blueberries, peaches, plums, black currants, cherries, some fennel fronds, green pepper, banana peppers and some lovely flowers.


We've already used the blueberries (blueberry waffles), tomatoes, zucchini, and some other goodies. Going to make some black currant schnapps with the currants. Need to get on that tonight.

Lots of knitting going on. Lots of prepping for the Knit and Crochet show, and got my packages off for the Sock Summitt. We leave for vacation on Saturday, and I can't wait! I sooo need a break!