I am alive!!!! (with the grace of God!!)

Wowza!!! I know that alot of people who knows me just figure that I jumped off the computer and dissapeared. Wellllll....I kinda did. Not by choice, but by a major medical emergency!! What happened is still somewhat of a mystery, because I certainly don't know everything that happened and never will! So, lets go back to August 2009......

Patricia and myself went on a weekend trip to Mendocino. We just hadn't gone anywhere all summer and we needed to get away for awhile!! We had both been working so very hard. Myself on our new home, awaiting for the rest of my family to get moved out of Arkansas to Calif., and my sister at her job as a social worker. We were just tired. So, I was the driver on the journey. We made good time, and we actually found a nice motel for the weekend.

So, it came time to leave, again I was driving. About an hour or so from home I started feeling bad and had Patricia drive the rest of the way home. We got unpacked and all and I went on with life.

Sometime during the next week, I was talking to my husband on the phone and he remembers that I told him that my head was hurting and that I was going to lay low that day. As the day rocked on, I was doing my thing and finally I hit the bed for a much needed rest. I thought that I was still tired after our trip. The very next thing I knew, for some reason I had called 911 and told someone that I was in trouble and that I needed an ambulance RIGHT NOW!! That was the last thing I remembered at all for 4 months!!!!! Much of that hppened to me was told to me by my husband after that fact. Even now, when I ask him about something new he recalls something new sometimes.

My aunt phoned my husband and told him to come NOW because I was in bad shape. According to what was told to me, nobody knew if I would make it through the night! He got here the very next day, not knowing if I was alive or not. Once he got here, he took our youngest son to the house, gave him some money to eat on etc. He went to the hospital to see about me and where I was at. He made arrangements for me to be transfered yo UCFS--which is the University of California at San Francisco.

Apparently I was basically stuck in a holding pattern until he got here and could make decisions about me. Transferring me gave him some time to deal with Preston and getting arrangements to get him started in school etc. The poor guy had his plate full from the moment he hit the ground.

Finally the diagnoses was truly made. I had a cerebral brain bleed. Kinda like a stroke but different. Nothing actually ruptured but what happened was for some reason my blood vessels started spasming. The doctors told Tony that there wasn't anything they could do for me at the time. All they could do was just watch me and moniter whatever they monitered. If I had known I would have been scared to pieces!!!

So, there I was. Not conscius at all. Didn't have the first clue about what had been happening with me or what people were going through in my family. My kids were scared, my family was scared friends were scared. meanwhile I didn't know anything about anything and couldn't care less!!

As time rocks on things were being done to me. I was improving somewhat, even though I had no recollection of it. I had passed through the point of dying, but still it was unknown how I would recover of if I would ever recover. As I am typng this, I can say now that I am well on my way to the big recovery! My husband tells me a lot of stories that are amazing, funny and sweet. Apparently, one day it was PT and OT day. My therapists were working with me and were asking me questions along the lines of person, place and thing. The asked me if I knew where I was at. I told them completely the wrong answers. Really, I didn't know where I was or anything. I thought I was still in Arkansas at the old ''local'' hospital. The therapist eventually told me that I was at UCSF and been in the hospital for x days. I apparently was blown away by the info because I said just as clear as a bell ''shut the fuck up!!'' The girls with me told Tony (hub) that I was going to be just fine one day because of what I said. They were totally cracked up. I had no clue about what I said, and if they hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have known really where I was at! At that time I wasn't clear on my location on the planet. I was kinda going along to get along at that time I guess.

So, again time was passing. The progress I was making was very good and it got along to time to leave the hospital, but I still wasn't ready to go home yet. The next thing I knew, I had been transferred to another facility. By the time my poor little brain caught up to actually thinking clearly, remembering things, being able to communicate etc etc etc, I was never so shocked in all my life!!! My husband had admitted me to a nursing home!! You see, I myself had worked in a nursing home for 9 years!! I was the administrator of the nursing home I worked at, knew everything about nursing homes!! I had done my tour through the trenches wih nursing homes. I didn't want to be in another nursing home until I was an old woman! I tell you, I was beyond pissed off!! How dare they do that to me! Of course now, I totally understand. I had to go there for the kind of care on the 24hr basis for the time being. My poor hubby felt bad enough having to do that to me. He totally didn't have an alternative until I got better. And better I did get! In January 2010, I finally got to go home!! But, as I found out later, I was no where out of the woods.

You see, I was still missing part of my skull. I had to back eventually and get it repaired. So life rocked on and it came time to go back to the hospital and repair the hole in my head. In mid June I had my appointment for the repair. Apparently, my body did not like getting fooled with again and I had a bit of complications. Soon enough though, I got over all that and went on to the next phase. I was scheduled to receive a month of intensive physical and occupational therapy. I was doing all right in the speech therapy area so I got to miss 90% of all of that.

While I was again in a facility where Tony didn't need to do anything but be there for support and stuff, we determined that it would be a fantastic time for him to go back to Arkansas and get all the rest of our stuff that we had still in the other house. Finally he got back to Calif. and shortly after that, I got to back home forever!!

So, thats my story. Why I've been gone so long and where I've been. I still do physical therapy every week which really works my butt off!! I am pretty much amazed how much I acomplish. I've always admired the various therapist's I've known much of my adult life for different reasons, but now, I truly have a lot of admiration for them. I'm busy doing my thing as like anyone else does. I'm looking forward to spring and getting into my garden again.

2 Finished projects!

Simply Stripes pattern knit with Brown Sheep Naturespun. Cranberry Fog and Dark Olive colorway. I started this sweater way back in Sept. 2007 and made real great headway until I got to the sleeves. Then, for some reason, I guess I got bored with it and set it aside for a while. The worst part of the whole sweater was weaving in all the ends! This will be a nice warm sweater for next winter.

Simple crew length socks knit from Urban GypZ yarn in the Olive colorway. Love this yarn! Socks are way more green than they appear in this photo.

I've got so many projects in my que that I'm not sure what I'll be working on next.

Momma's go a brand new bag!

Isn't it pretty! What doesn't show really well in the photo is the color along the top. It is a very deep auburgine purple. The whole bag is made of a chenile tapestry fabric. The front there as you see in is a magnetically snapped full pocket. The top has a hidden metal clasp type closer. Inside both the front pocket and the body of the bag are small side pockets for assorted knitting gadgets and accessories. I LURVE this bag. I have always loved tapestry fabric and this is sooooo soft and lush. It even has little metal feet on the bottem to protect it. Squeeeeee happy dance!!!!

My parents farm distroyed in last weeks tornados

As if losing my dad last October wasn't bad enough. Last Tuesday when several states in the Southeast were ravaged by tornados and many, many lives were lost and many millions, perhaps billions of dollars of property damage was done, my parents farm was also distroyed.

My mother was alone in the house with her two little dogs when the storm roared through Cleveland, Ark. She took shelter in her small wood frame home in a central hallway. Only God and his angels know why she wasn't hurt.

Both of the barns were totally blown away. All of the trees that were in the immediate surrounding area of the house and in the yard were either uprooted or broken off and striped of limbs. As far as we could see on the 48 acres all the way down to the wood line, there wasn't a tree left standing.

Thankfully, a neighbor who is an EMT, came up to the house and ran through the pasture and up to the house and got her out safely. The driveway up to the house, which was once tree lined was unpassable. They literally had to lift/carry/toss my mother over a fence row of broken brush to get her to a vehicle to take her to safety so that we could get to her to bring her to my house that night.

The next morning, when we saw what the storm left in the daylight, we were all just stunned. The thought that kept going through my mind is that I was SO glad that daddy wasn't alive to see all the distruction to his beloved farm because it would have just killed his soul. They lived and loved on that place for 25 years.

Tonight is actually the first night that I have had an opportunity to really sit down and write about all of this. Thankfully, my mother had already been planning on moving away from the farm into the town where I live because she knew that she couldn't live so far out from "civilization" by herself. So, because of this, she actually did have somewhere to go as she had already purchased a new mobile home. The problem was however, that it had just gotten delivered and was no where near finished being set up. Plus, she hadn't even begun to pack the first box! We worked like mad in the freezing cold, and mostly in the dark inside her tornado damaged house just to try to get her belongings out before another rain came. Luckily, I think as it stands right now, we have 90-95% of her stuff out. All of the major important stuff is out anyway. She still has pantry canned food items and some kitchen cabinet items, but those won't be damaged it they get wet.

We are all just so overwhelmed at the daunting task ahead of us as far as the clean up goes. She was going to eventually put the farm up for sale, but now with all the damage, I just don't know how that will effect the value of the property. It used to be so beautiful with huge oaks and cedar and pine trees. Now it's just a jumbled up mess.

Mom is very much in shock. She doesn't understand why God took her husband and then took her home like that. Me, I am just very, very sad. Sad for her and sad for the distruction of such a beautiful place that was so special.

The Good, The Sad, and The Ugly

It has obviously been a loooooong time since I have posted here on my blog. As you can tell from the title of this post, it has been anything but "normal" around here. It has run the gamut from very happy to incredibly, inconsolibly sad, and painfully ugly. Why you ask? Well.....



A very happy day was when the UPS man delivered 4 ginormous boxes of processed fiber for me from Stonehedge Fiber Mill! I tell you, Deb McDermott does a wonderful job! I sent her 6 fleeces in my first order. I was pretty much just sending my largest fleeces out at the time to be processed. I was also sending them out to "test run" the mill to see how I liked their work. I was completely and totally satisfied. And let me tell you one thing.......she packed the finished fleece so tightly into the boxes she sent back to me, that when I cut the tape to open them up, the fiber literally sprang up and exploded out of the boxes! It didn't take me long to decide to box up the rest of the fleece that I had and send it to her to process. SO much easier on my back and neck! And for the price, I don't think I can get it washed for what she charges. The worst part of the whole deal in my opinion is the shipping! THAT is highway robbery!!!!!

Now......much to my dismay, onto the sad. Unfortunately there is a couple of things that fall into this catagory. One is a sort of sad, but in the big scheme of things -- not so much. The other -- LIFE ALTERING.
1. my German Shepherd female, Jade has been sick. For the past 4 weeks she has been having 1 grand mal seizure in the middle of the night one week apart. Since she finally had 4, she established a pattern and the vet said to bring her in for a full work up. Well he ran every single solitary test on her from stem to stern and everything came back negative except for one. Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever. We have no idea when she got a tick bite since we never SAW a tick on her (she probably bit it off before we saw it), and we have no idea how long she has been sick with it. But, with the diagnosis in hand finally, now we can treat her. She'll be on antibiotics for 6 weeks. Since she is young, we'll just have to watch her in the future and hope that her brain can repair itself where it's got the lesion or "short" in it that is causing the seizure. FYI - you can't immunize against Rocky Mountain Tick Fever, you can only treat it. Both in humans and in animals.
2. My dad had an accident on his farm involving a tractor and a bush hog (a big mower) and died on Oct.31st. Needless to say, this has ripped the guts right out of the whole family. A neighbor called and notified me, but he was using my dad's cell phone and for a few moments I couldn't figure out WHY the neighbor was calling me on dad's phone. After the news sunk in, I literally lost my mind for a few minutes. I am still in somewhat of a "shock" state. I'm supposed to be able to pick up my phone and be able to call my daddy. My mom is beyond lost, but I really think that in time she'll do ok. She's alot stronger than she gives herself credit for. It's just that she's depended upon dad for sooooo very long for nearly everything.



That, my friends, is the UGLY!! What you are looking at there is a photo of what was hanging out of the middle of my back between my shoulder blades last week for 5 days. I underwent a "trial" for a Spinal Cord Stimulator. What a Spinal Cord Stimulator is, is basically a pain pacemaker. Since I suffer from chronic pain ever since I wrecked my spine back in '03, and have just about exhausted every other medical avenue avaliable for the relief of pain, this is now the second to the last stop on the road. Why would a person want a "pain pacemaker"? Well, for me it's because I hope to not get as much "break through" pain even though I take pain medication. I also hope that I can keep the amount and the dosage of pain pills that I have to take a day down to a minimum.

But, too.......I am kinda scared. The surgery to put the thing in is rather strange because they put the electrodes in at the back of my neck. Then, they have to take and run the connecting wire that hooks to the battery pack down inside under the skin of the back all the way down to my lower back. At that juncture, they make an incision and insert the "pacemaker" looking part of the aperatus and hook everything all up together. Since I'm right handed, the pacemaker part will go into my body below the skin on the right side of my hip. Apparently, you can adjust it from a controller that you simply touch to the inside thing from the outside of your body once the incision has healed to either increase or decrease the level of pain control. Then somehow to recharge the thing, you plug into a wall outlet and just sit there and touch some kind of charger thing to the pacemaker inside. It's some sort of high tech weirdness that's for sure. After that, I hope above ALL hopes that I am DONE with people cutting on me for a good loooooong time. Personally, I am sick to death of it.

Next up in the batter's box will be Tony. He survived his mylograms and his diskectomy but whoooo boy was it ever painful. He is still sore! He couldn't get home from St. Louis fast enough. We aren't sure just yet when his surgery will be.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! It will be a quiet affair for us. I don't think the holidays will be quite right this year without dad. It's just too soon.

Essential Stripe Sweater

Here is one of the lastest projects that I'll be working on while I'm just sitting and healing. I started it while I was out in Calif. The pattern is the Essential Stripe Sweater by Wendy Bernard. Unfortunately, the colors didn't show really true in this shot. The actual colors are more olive green and more of a true cranberry grape color. The yarn is Nature Spun by Brown Sheep and the actual colorways are Green Olive and Cranberry Fog. The original pattern showed to be multi-colored stripes, but for the first run at it, I thought that I would just do it in two. So far I'm liking this pattern just fine. It's one of those patterns with options for different sleeve lengths etc.

I'm also working on a Chevron Scarf. Oh boy is that ever a tedious little dude! I *might* be done by Christmas.

Recovery

Well, I was sent home to continue my recovery from surgery on Sunday and I have to say that I was ever so glad! I don't think my poor self could have stood another night on that worn out mattress.

I am doing quite well after surgery, thanks for all the well wishes and prayers. I've had more people (non-family people) ask me if they could "do" anything to help me/us while I was down and recovering than I can count. I absolutely appreciate all the loving kindness expressed towards not only me but my family.

Tony really appreciates it too. He's been pretty stressed out about this. Bless his heart, he hasn't gotten a good night's sleep the whole time I've been in the hospital. Last night, he slept like a baby. I think he just needed for me to be home so that he could rest.

I am totally amazed at how decent I actually feel. Unless or until, that is, it comes time to get up or down or turn over in bed. Or cough. Oh, and I am totally dreading the biggie........the sneeze that sneaks up on me unawares. I got to feel that joy once before already when I had my gallbladder out. What I can't believe is that I can eat a regular diet. Doc said anything I want. That just blows me away. He said that it was already sealed over and closed within about 12 hours or so. It's all so vascular that it just heals super fast. I am super curious about how it's all hooked back together in there though lol. I just can't imagine. Is is all stapled? Is it sewn? I just haven't got a clue and can't wait for my follow up visit so I can find out. (I was too loopy on the good drugs to ask any intellegent questions!)

I have found a totally perfectly comfortable, neutral position to sit/lay so that I can read, knit, catch up on my emails and watch tv. All I need to do is make sure that the backside can outlast and endure what my tummy dishes out.

Once again......thanks to one and all for all your prayers and well wishes for a speedy recovery. From your lips to God's ears. It's working cuz I'm feeling pretty darn well!

Returned Traveler

Well I am home now. What a trip. The weather was glorious. A bit on the psycotic side which is pretty much normal for the spring and fall, but definately glorious. I for sure did NOT pack the proper cool weather clothes so I had do some shopping for a few long sleeve tops. I did bring pants but I only took 3 long sleeve shirts and that just wasn't enough! About every other day the weather stayed in the 50's when it rained, then the next day it popped back up to 70 when the sun came out again. I can't tell you how much I love that kind of weather! The smell in the air is so fabulous. The last morning I was there, when I first went outside, it smelled just like camping. People's fireplaces were smoking, I could smell people frying potatoes for breakfast, the odor of wet pines was all around in the air. The air was brisk and the sun was just peeking through the tops of the tall pines and you could still see whisps of smoke curling around on the light breeze. It was just heaven I tell you. I can't wait until that is the type of morning that I get to wake up to everyday in the fall! It is so refreshing and energizing. Totally different from the oppressive, damp, heavy air here. Don't get me wrong. Fall IS beautiful here, but the complete and total difference in the air quality is amazing and mindblowing! I simply cannot get my mind around how different and how totally much more alive and healthier I feel in that air and climate! It is a trip.

On the house looking front........Of course, the very first house I looked at was "THE ONE." And, of course, right this second, we are in no shape form or fashion ready to buy it. I was just looking around, getting the feel for the different neighborhoods and the different types of homes. But nooooooooo, I had to find the perfect house first rattle out of the box. All I can do is keep all my fingers and toes crossed and pray that it either doesnt sell within the next 6 months or we will find something we like as well or better! Go figure.......

I am glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed. I missed my family and my furkids. I'm not looking forward to Thursdays though. Say a prayer for me. I'm not sure when I'll be back home and posting again cuz it all depends on how the surgeon has to make his incision on how long I have to stay in the hospital. Me, I'm praying for a teeny tiny incisions. But, reality is kinda telling me that he is not going to be able to do that cuz I've already had 3 abdominal proceedures before and there will be too much scar tissue for that. Bummer. Oooooooooh it's gonna hurt!!!

Charity Knitting?

I've been thinking about Charity Knitting. I know alot of knitters participate in some sort of charity knitting or another, and I am sure there is alot of different organizations out there that need a helping hand.

I know everyone knows about the hats for preemies that hospitals love to get. But I'm wondering, what are some other worthy causes. I have heard of a few, but not as many as there surely are.

The ones I know about are:
The Duulan Project
Afhgans for Afhgans
Warm Up America (knit/crochet squares made into blankets)

Tell me what your favorite knitting charity is? If they have a link, let me know so I can check them out.

Thanks!

More Dying

I've been back into the dye pot again and have some more sockyarn to list over on my Etsy site. I hope that people like these colors. I've got to re-skein them and take pictures before I get them listed. I'll be working on that today.

Two more weeks until my trip. I hope it goes well. I really hope it is a better homecoming.

Look what I found!

Isn't she cool!! My friend Judy and I decided to go flea marketing one day and I found this old skein winder in a back shed at one of the markets. She is in immaculate condition. The only thing that I can't get to work is the actual "clicker" that is supposed to go of after every so many turns of the wheel. As you can see, I've already put her to work skeining up my hand dyed sock yarn. Works like a charm!! She is so much prettier than any skein winder of similar types that are sold today's market. I'm tickled to death with her!!

Speaking of my hand dyed sock yarn.....I've got several skeins going up on my ETSY site today. My ETSY shop url is : http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5179725. Go have a look at my new shop!

I will be listing more skeins as I get them dyed.

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Wow! I have been SO busy, that I haven't even have hardly had time to turn around let alone blog. What has kept me busy? Well, let me tell you.

First of all, I have taken a booth at a flea market in the city where I used to work as a police officer. My best friend Judy called me one day and asked me if I wanted to go in on her with a booth. Knowing that I had tons of stuff that I needed to get rid of in preparation for downsizing, I said sure! So far, it's going well. I still have alot of things to go through here at the house, but it is slow going. It's been so bloody hot that I haven't gotten out to the shed yet and that's one place I need to get to. I also have been hitting a few yard sales on the weekends to beef up my inventory. I did really, really well on the yard sale front last week end.

Also, I have been getting things lined out to start my yarn dying business. I've finally gotten some dyes in and some yarns. Now I need to sit down and think about some different colorways and start dying. After that, I'll have to do all the photography and posting online. Once everything starts rolling along well on Etsy, since I already have my own URL registered, I'll work on building my website.

Lets, see. What else. Oh yes. I skirted and cleaned 6 fleeces and got them ready to send off to the processing mill. I sorted through my raw fleeces and made my decision as to which fleeces I wanted to have professionally processed. I have several small fleeces and I have several large very very nice fleeces. I decided to send of my biggest fleeces and have them done since they would be the most labor intensive for me to do by hand. I had to do alot of research to figure out which mill to use. I hope I picked a good mill, but from all reports I've read, I think I did.

We've been doing some work on the house. We replaced the front door and bought a new storm door. It's so nice not to hear that screech anymore. I didn't realize just how loud that old door was when it opened and shut. My new door has a window in it and I just love the light it lets in. We still don't have the storm door up yet. We had quite a time getting just the door in because apparently this house has settled quite a bit. We really had to coax the thing in the opening and I mean coax as a way of saying force politely.

Time is going to get even more precious in the immediate future. Next weekend we are going to St. Louis. Mainly we are going up there to see Tony's new doctor. But also, while we are there we are going to get to attend a Cardinal's game. That's going to be fun!

I'm also heading back to Calif. in the middle of Sept. and will be gone for a month. While I'm there, not only will I be house sitting for my sister and bro-in-law while they are on vacation, but I'll be looking at houses and checking out the layout of the town. I'm sure that any house I find that I love won't be still available when we get ready to buy out there once we're ready to move, but at least I'll have a good idea of what's out there. There is ALOT of property available in town so in all reality, I wouldn't be surprised if something I liked wasn't still available. But, stuff is still coming up in the listings all the time too. I am SO anxious to get moved I can't hardly stand it. I'll miss my daughter and grand daughters like crazy and it will just break my heart to move because of them, but I know because of my health I have to get out of this climate. I just hope one day my daughter can understand. I know that once she see's the area, she will like it.

She went to Calif. once before and HATED it. But, she went to the San Juaquin Valley in the dead of summer. That is the worst time to be in the valley number one. And, number two, the valley absolutely SUCKS these days and you couldn't PAY me to live there anymore. That's why I left there in 1984! The area I am moving to is up in Northern Calif., right up in the forest where the air is clear and clean and the sky is chrystal clear and blue. It is luscious and beautiful. It is absolutely beautiful. It's just about as country as it can possibly be. My grand daughters will love it. It is just so pretty there and there are so many beautiful parks and lakes and forest trails to walk.

On my needles right now is the Interweave Knits "Tomato" sweater. I'm doing it in the Knit Picks Shine Worsted. It's the first time I've used this yarn and I've got to tell you, this is some great yarn. Super super soft. Pima cotton and model. Lovely drape. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

I'm also spinning alot. I've got a basket full of roving drafted and ready to go. One bobbin is already full of what is in the basket so once it's spun, I'll get it plied and see how much yardage I get. I hope it's enough for a pair of socks. I don't know if it will be. I kinda doubt it. I'm saving my handspun so far for a special project. Don't know what yet. But I've not used any of it yet.

Farewell old friend

Our old dog, Dusty, a faithful Golden Retriever, went over the Rainbow Bridge today. We knew this day was coming, but one is still never quite ready you know? The "old man" was about 15 or 16 yrs old and lived a good life and was loved. I'd say that he died happy and in peace. It's going to be strange for a while though, not to see him laying right at the back door. He was so deaf that he never could hear the door open anymore and he was so big that you had to nudge him with your foot to get him to move so you could get out the door because he was just too wide to step over. Trying to step over him while he was asleep ran the risk of him waking up and standing up while you were mid straddle of him. That would have been a catastrophy! My little granddaughter Malia is going to really miss him. She loved that old dog......called him Dutty. His hair and her's was the exact same shade of red.

Fare the well old friend. I know that all your aches and pains are gone now and your'e running and romping free as a pup once again. We'll miss you.

I have a super Secret Pal!

The last package from my secret pal 10 arrived yesterday. It is, as you can see, FABULOUS!! Sock yarn, a pair of hand made socks, some merino roving, tea, a cute mug, a sheepy note holder, knitty note cards, mini sock pattern and sock blocker (too cute!). WOW! What a great gift! I am so thankful for such a super secret pal!

Can it be any hotter??

Of course it can!! I know, that is a totally stupid, redundant question. I live in a sauna. I. AM. MISERABLE. This year is even worse than it ever has been before. My doctor so kindly informed me that I probably have 5 more years of this lovely hot/cold/hot/hotter/freezing, body temp. fluxuation to look forward to. Oh joy.

I totally now understand why so many people move to another climate when they get older. Crap! that means that I have to admit that I am on the cusp of being old.

You know, it wasn't bad when I went thru this surgical menopause the first time when I was 25. I don't even remember having but the smallest of temperature fluxuations back then. I got the OTHER stuff at 25, but my thermostat was ok. Not so the second go around with the surgical menopause. Lord, I feel like I am going absolutely bat-shit. I know I'm freezing my family out and causing my light bill to sky rocket but I can't help it.

I'm SO frustrated that I'm such a hostage to the weather here. I don't know if I'll survive this with my sanity intact. Just how much sleep deprivation CAN one take before their cheese slides completely off their cracker?

My husband sympathizes, but his sympathy only goes so far.

I haven't even knit anything lately. That's how crappy it is. I'm seriously getting the itch to knit but I don't know if I can even stand to handle something little like sock yarn. Maybe I should just use this time to catch up on some spinning.

HELP!!!

First Skeins of Dyed Roving for sale!

Black Widow
Crayola Box
Daffodil Explosion

These are the first three skeins of roving that I'll be offering for sale! I so hope that all my fellow spinners find these rovings just as yummy as I do. Click on the Feather Falls Fiber link for more details on each.

Bountiful Harvest

My little lavender plants have absolutely flourished this year! I was able to cut enough to get lots and lots of dried buds PLUS enough to make several Lavender Wands.

I've never made lavender wands before this year and after the first couple, I was actually doing a pretty fair job. Mmmmmm they sure smell yummy! My sister Patricia is a lavender lover, so I'll be sending her a few to use in her drawers and closet. She'll love me for that.

The photograph here is just ONE harvest cutting. I got about 6 cuttings of this size over the whole season. I noticed there are still a couple of blooms coming on even still, but sadly the season is almost over. I'll be very very sad if I have to leave these plants behind because they seem to like the way I grow them.

People watching

I have always been a people watcher. If I had a comfy place to sit, a good book and food and drink, I could spend all day in a mall just watching people. You see the darndest things. I entertain myself by creating little "lives" for them. Profiles. I often wonder if I get it right.

Reason this topic comes to mind is because the other day at the doctor's office, in the 20 minutes or so that we were in the waiting room I saw something that made me go hmmmm. Here was this woman, oh I'd say perhaps 50 yrs old there abouts. I'm thinking that she was trying to re-discover her long lost inner teenager. It wasn't so much her clothing that said that, well that is unless you count shoes as clothing... She had on black capri's, a white top and then the shoes. Little PINK ked looking tennis shoes. The pink shoes would have been fine. I like pink ok in some cases. What wrecked the whole deal was the decoration OF the shoe. All over this little pink shoe was printed black skulls. Yes, skulls. The kind that you often see on a bottle of poison. Or maybe on a pirate flag.

It's little stuff like this woman's shoes that often catch my eye and starts my imagination. I don't know, maybe it's just me and my boring fashion sense.

Then there was the guy who came in with the shaved arms............
I'll keep my thoughts and inner dialog on that to myself.

If you like history

I really love to look at historical photos. Today I stumbled upon a really interesting site. If you are a photo buff and enjoy looking at glimpses of life in days gone by this site is for you. http://www.shorpy.com/node It's quite remarkable, especially the black and white pictures. I love black and white photos because they seems to really have that stark realism to them.

Etsy

I've been setting up shop over at Etsy for Feather Falls Fiber. That's step 2. I've got to figure out how to set up the main page. The banner and all that is going to be a challenge. I don't know what I'm doing there! I hope I can figure it out so I can have a decent looking page.