Just a Quickie :)

Just a quick post to let everyone know that I have updated the sidebar section and added links to a bunch of new blogs. You can see them if you scroll all the way down....

In addition to the usual knitting blogs, I've added several sewing and quilting blogs that I think you will find inspiring as well - even if you don't sew or quilt. The colorful photos alone are worth a look!

Did you know that I also read History blogs? Perfume blogs? True crime blogs? Softie blogs? Even a parrot blog... There are also a few blogs that fit into what I would call the "domestic goddess or the art of living" category. The "blogs I read" section is like a little trip through my cluttered mind. :) But there are lots of blogs there that I think less eclectic people will really like as well.

And of course there are also some blogs written by my fellow CI sponsors.

Take a look. I'd love to know if any of you find anything new that you enjoy. Leave me a comment if you do!

To Whom It May Concern

Would the person or persons who borrowed my camera (you know who you are) please find the lost charger so that I can take some knitting photos? The knitting blog natives are getting restless. If I don't post some knitting photos soon they're going to turn on me! Help a girl out here!

Queen Victoria's Knitting Bag Sold

I came across this interesting bit of historical knitting news today... Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day!

A knitting bag once owned by Britain's Queen Victoria was sold at auction yesterday (21.05.09).

The purple, velvet-line pouch - thought to have been knitted by the monarch herself - went under the hammer in Lichfield, Staffordshire, where it was expected to fetch over £1500.

Bidding was sluggish and the bag was eventually sold for just £800. It was bought by a Spanish collector who placed his bid via a telephone link.

Auctioneer Charles Hanson was disappointed with the sale, as he had hoped the item would go to a public collection of royal memorabilia within the UK.

He said: "I think it was an accessory of great personal importance but I am pleased it's sold."

Victoria - who died in 1901 after 63 years on the throne - was a keen knitter, whose pieces were said to be "worth their weight in gold" when they were sold at fairs.

It is thought she gave the bag to her doctor, Sir James Reid, as a thank-you gift.

Meanwhile, furniture the once belonged to Victoria will be auctioned later this month.

The antique items - which once furnished Windsor Castle - are expected to fetch up to £12,000 when they go under the hammer on May 29.

A pair of gilt wood chairs, a silk screen, a table and two cabinets will be up for grabs at the sale.

Read more: "Queen Victoria's knitting bag sold - Monsters and Critics"

Aww Cripes!

Spoke too soon. Kid number 2 just yacked.

This is the kid that can never tell that the puke is on the way until it's actually there. So I am expecting a "clean up intensive" experience.

I'm going to have a FUN weekend.

A Wee Bit of Complaining...

I'm feeling like an exhausted - but happy survivor today.

The past three weeks have been like this:

1. Little One has the flu. Some puking. Lots of high fever. Many days home from school. I get little sleep.

2. As soon as the Little One gets better my Mom has her heart attack. I get little sleep from worrying.

3. As soon as Mom gets out of the hospital the Little One gets a stomach bug. This time much puking and only a little fever. Lots of days home from school. I get little sleep.

Today has been good because I slept pretty much the whole day. Little One had a good day back at school. So I am happy. :)

The only problem is my Mom. (Thanks to everyone who expressed concern or sympathy - I appreciate it!) But I just don't know what to do with this woman.

She had a heart attack and about 5 days later I called up to check on her and found out that she was at her new house supervising the movers unloading the furniture! WTF?! Seriously - who the hell has a heart attack and then moves house 5 days later? Her excuse was that the doctor said she can do normal activity as long as she avoids physical strain. In my opinion moving house is not a normal activity for anyone - ever. Moving house is stressful. Very stressful when you are a perfectionist like my Mom.

So I called my step-dad and bitched him out for allowing my Mom to be doing this. What the hell is the use of him being out there to babysit her if he can't make her take care?

I lost my mind (as politely as I could without beating around the bush) and I left it at that. I obviously can't control what my Mom does. But at least I voiced my opinion.

So to some extent I have mentally washed my hands of it. What else can I do? Does anyone else have parents that are this stubborn?

Sigh.

Catching Up & Finally an Announcement!

Oy. We've been having a rough time at Chez Needles.

The bad news is that my Mom had a heart attack.

The good news is that she is out of the hospital & only requires medication (so far) in order to deal with the problem. The doctors say that the radiation she had when she went through her first round of breast cancer probably damaged that section of her heart and made it more vulnerable. Luckily they think whatever further damage she suffered during the heart attack may be able to heal. But as of now she is pretty weak and has lots of medicines she will have to take.

It really sucks to be so far away & not to be able to help - even though she does have other family members there. All I can do from here is try to stay positive and help my Mom feel more cheerful.

I don't really like to discuss depressing health stuff on the blog so I'll just leave it at that. My Mom has really had more than her fair share of trouble this past year!

Better news is that I have been doing tons of crafting. I've finished my nine patch quilt top & now just have to decide on the borders. I'm halfway through a second needlepoint piece (even though I still owe you guys pictures of the first one!). And *gasp* I actually picked up my knitting again! I haven't knit in probably 8 months or so. Luckily I haven't forgotten how. :) So I am nearing the finish of the mitred square blanket that I worked on last year.

I'll try to get photos ASAP so my blog posts won't be so boring. :)

And now....

The best news I have is that I finally have a moment to tell you all about the "project" I've been working on and semi-mysteriously mentioning off and on. :)



A charity group called Aura's House has agreed to raise funds to help five of my sponsor children. Aura's House has launched fund raising for Income Generating Projects for four of my sponsor children, specifically Ana in Ecuador, Nyslin in Guatemala, Zoila in Honduras, and Joey in the Philippines. The fifth project is to help Lesly in Guatemala with some special needs. Aura's House website will tell you all about each of the projects and has lots of pictures of each child and their background story. There's even a picture of me (unfortunately taken before my weight loss - 27 pounds now!) and some words about my sponsorship. You can also read more about each of the kids by searching their names in the tags on my blog.

Please go visit the website and check it out!

Aura's House has been absolutely wonderful to work with and I am so grateful to them for agreeing to help me! They have been doing this work for several years now and have helped lots of needy children in many ways. You can read all about their past projects and the history of Aura's House on their site. If you donate you will get a letter from Children International acknowledging your donation (at least I did) and it is tax deductible.

I'd like to give some random gifts/prizes as a thank you to my blog friends for donating so if you do - please leave a comment and let me know! Every little bit will help and maybe you'll get something yarny as well. :)

Is This Thing Still On?

Sheesh - I think my blog might have expired. I haven't been near it in so long!

As you can see I haven't been able to post about my "secret project" yet due to circumstances beyond my control - but I am told it will be ready on the 9th, so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

In the mean time I hope to placate my readers - if there are any still out there - with this sweet photo of Indy.



We weren't sure that we were going to be able to keep her at first but of course the longer we dithered over that decision the more we became attached to her. She is a real sweetie pie. I think she is the most likely to learn to talk of the three of our parrots. We finally bought her a proper cage of her own a few weeks ago. She was so happy she immediately jumped into her water dish and took a bath! Plus she seems to have finally discovered her pellets and makes a ruckus crunching them with gusto.

I hope I don't jinx it but we have been very lucky with our birds. They are all quiet and well mannered for the most part. They rarely have screaming fits - even when we play Rock Band at high volume late into the night. In fact the only time they ever make a fuss is when Hubby gets up late on the weekends and their food isn't delivered as early as they are used to. But even then they kindly give him a good three hours before they start to protest.

Other than playing Rock Band and keeping this family fed, clothed and bathed I have been working on some needlepoint and reading.

Recently I read Patrick Mcgrath's Asylum which I thought was very good. Not super brilliant but good enough that I stayed up late reading when I should have gone to bed! I tend to like stories about crazy people though. Especially crazy psychiatrists. :) I liked this book in the same way that I like Ian McEwan if that makes any sense.

Also read John MacLachlan Gray's White Stone Day. It is a sequel to his other novel The Fiend in Human which I enjoyed. White Stone Day is a Victorian crime story which uses Lewis Carroll as a main character and a journalist in place of a detective - a good start but unfortunately I thought the plot was a but scattered and rather struggled to come together. If you haven't read the first novel I think you would be quite lost trying to get through this one. But his characters are very interesting so overall I enjoyed it and will probably read something else of his. I will definitely read another Macgrath.

Adios, you jackass!

Pack your bags and be sure to take all of your bad mojo with you. America has a real President now.

So close!

So I'm this close to being able to spill the beans about my secret project! Squee!

In the meantime we have been doing much Rock Band rockin'. In fact, I'm considering running away to join a rock band. Anyone know any geriatric rock stars that need a bass player? :)

Seriously though I do think Rock Band is a great game. Kids spend so much time being told to be quiet and sit still and behave - I love having an activity with them where I can shout "Sing louder, I don't think the neighbors can hear you!" Especially for girls who learn at such an early age to be "ladylike" (whatever the hell that is supposed to mean). I think when you learn at a young age that it's awesome to sing at the top of your lungs and who cares what you sound like - well, I think you will end up a much happier person. I know I feel happier when I sing at the top of my lungs.

And also, it's very very funny when Hubby sings "Mississippi Queen" at the top of his lungs. :)

And I got a new picture of Maica -



And some great news as well - her family income has doubled since I funded her Income Generating Project. I was so so happy to hear that. She now has far and away the most income of any of my Filipino kids. Most of them are in the $50 a month range and Maica is up to $200. Yay!! It's so great to feel like I can really make a difference like that in some one's life.

Our Happy New (And Old) Year

I hope everyone had a very happy new year!

We stayed up to ring in the new year and then the whole family spent New Year's Day playing Rock Band on the Wii until the kids begged us to let them go to bed. When Mom and Dad start a rockin' it's hard to stop 'em! :)

We tried to keep Christmas reasonable this year and not go overboard buying presents. I think we were mainly quite successful. I got some Kiva credits for the first time so I was able to make 6 loans. There were so many people making loans after Christmas that Kiva actually ran out which I thought was wonderful! I funded a cattle rancher, two food markets, a clothing store, a crafts group and a tattoo artist in Lebanon. Awesome!

I was also able to fund my sponsor kid Jhonny's Income Generating Project right after Christmas. I'm so excited for his family! I can't wait to see the report when Children International disburses the money. Of course I will share the photos with you all as soon as I receive them.

2008 was a strange year in many ways and ended on sort of a sucky note with the whole economy collapse thing. Plus I spent the 23rd in the hospital in severe pain so my best Christmas present this year was actually being home for Christmas rather than in a hospital bed. So for that I am VERY grateful!

In 2008 I read 50+ books, lost 22 pounds (yay!) and fulfilled a long held wish to learn to quilt. We also added Yumi and Indy to our animal family. Both of them have turned out to be awesome pets - and thank goodness because we are now at full capacity! Everyone in the family is healthy and happy so despite the crappy economy I think we have a great 2009 to look forward to. :)

And... I have some really really great news that I will be able to share with you all in about a week! :)

More Fun With The E-Collar

Much to her relief Yumi doesn't have to wear her e-collar anymore. But I thought you would enjoy seeing some more funny pictures of the e-collar in action.



Here Yumi attempts to eat food while wearing the e-collar. For some reason she feels like it is best to take the food out of the bowl piece by piece and then eat each piece one at a time off the floor. This activity pre-dates the e-collar so that bit of weirdness has no excuse! With the collar on though the task was more challenging. Yumi would chase after the food with the cone clomping down over eat piece of food like a kid trapping a bug in a jar. Remember that toy from the 70's that was essentially a pair of plastic cans with strings attached so that you could walk around on the the cans? (Why was this fun? Dunno but it sure was!) That was the exact same clomping sound that Yumi made. Ahhhh - memories. :)




Here Yumi attempts to shake off the collar. I don't know how dogs can make their whole bodies shake so violently without making themselves throw up or having their eyeballs come flying out or something. Seems like it would be a handy skill to have though. :)

Yumi in the e-collar,



kept making me think of:



Marvin the Martian.



"Take me to your leader!"

Dog Portrait

Libby wants nothing to do with Yumi and the whole E-collar business.



I love this double portrait. It's so strange, yet so revealing of the personalities. As soon as the camera comes out both of them have to charge right at it - Yumi frantically jumping and pawing and licking the air and Libby barging in and knocking her off balance every five seconds. LOL! The two of them are like chalk and cheese yet they get along quite well.

Look at how grey Libby's mask is getting. Poor old lady. :(

Okay, I lied.....

I don't have any craft pictures...but I DO have this!



LOL!

Poor Yumi was spayed the other day and won't leave her stitches alone. So it's the dreaded E-collar for her - veterinary torture device of choice for only the most sadistic dog owners. :) She is somewhat miserable, poor little thing. It's got to be driving her crazy - a dog with a short little nose like that! She can barely get her face into the food & water dishes and if she drops a piece of food on the floor...there's no way to describe it but watching her chase after the food is pretty darn funny. I laugh internally though because I don't want to hurt her little feelings.

I do however, sing... "This is ground control to Major Tom..." to her several times a day. Do you think if I stuck her on the roof we could get better reception? LOL!

Lookie What I Won!

Ugh...I've been felled by the dreaded winter cold. And since mine came from the worst source of all (my kids) it's been a pretty bad one. I think that every school should have a resident scientist to monitor the progress of the viruses as they make the rounds. You can probably see the darn germs mutating right there on the playground. :(

But the good news is that I manged to be lucky enough to win something during the recent Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. Jenny over at Babyfingers makes these adorable slings for little girls to carry their baby dolls around in and it must have been my lucky day because I won one! Yay! I know a little girl who is going to really enjoy that prize. Thanks Jenny!

Today: The Weirdness

Kim tagged me for this little meme...



This one is tough because I always think so many of the weird things about me are probably unsuitable for public consumption. (Take that as you will...) :)

So here are seven hopefully non-blog reader alienating weird/random things about me.

1. I have a TV crush on Steve Gonsalves from Ghost Hunters.
2. I was accepted as a student at the Royal College of Needlework which is in Hampton Court Palace. (I didn't end up going but wish I had been able to. They only accept two non-British students a year.)
3. Dead birds freak me out much, much more than other dead animals.
4. When I was little I had a Southern accent. But we moved away and I grew out of it.
5. I can't settle down to go to sleep until the sheets and blankets are in a certain position. (I think I probably said this one before.)
6. I had a nose ring for several years but I took it out briefly and the hole closed up. I miss my nose ring but my kids won't let me get it re-done.
7. There are very few foods I dislike but I am violently anti-melon and sweet potato.

I don't know who to tag because I've seen this meme making the rounds and I'm not sure who has done it yet. But if you read my blog & feel like telling the world some of your personal weirdness please do. You know I love to hear about the weirdness. :)

Yeah Baby!!

Hooray!! Good news on both counts!

1. I don't have cancer.

2. President Obama!

Now I hope we can all come together and live up to the opportunity we have been given as a country. Here's to tomorrow!

Plans For Today....

So my plans for today are:

1. Go get mammogram. This is a "call back". I got my mammogram a few weeks ago and the results were "unclear". So back I go. It probably nothing - just a total pain in the boobs. :)

2. Get bubble tea. After mammogram I deserve it.

3. Stand in line. Vote. Don't care how long it takes. I'm votin'.


So - I'm hoping for good news/good outcome on numbers 1 & 3. Wish me luck!!!

Now - go vote!

Edges of Squares

So let's see...where were we? Oh yeah, squares.

Today I give you edges of squares. :)







Today I'm thinking about:
How ominous a helicopter overhead sounds,
What to do about Indy,
Starting a new (and expensive hobby),
Taking a sewing class,
Making Chinese bread in the steamer.

Oh - and I've lost 12 pounds so far. I think actually more but I won't really know until the good ole PMS passes. Drat that water weight! Violet's mama says I should reward myself for losing weight by doing something fun that I haven't gotten to do for a long time. Unfortunately that would be...eat. Eat really, really fattening Mexican food. At this point if I ate food that calorie and fat laden it would probably just make me sick. So I've got to come up with something else....

Whew!

Back from vacation.

Still recovering from Theme Park Shock and the East Coast/West Coast Time Continuum Disturbance.

Glad to be home!

Catchin' Up With Y'all

Soooo - what's been up with you guys?

Actually, I already know the answer(s) to that question because I have been blog reading if not blog writing. I've got the end-of-the-kids-school-year-is-kickin-my-ass syndrome.

Since I last wrote, my daughter finished her school year and we hosted a pool party for her entire class. It was fun - especially because we didn't grill this year. We ordered pizzas instead. I got to catch up with the other moms and got a sunburn (as usual).

Then my daughter had her first ballet recital. Can you say "CUTEST THING EVER"? I only slept one hour the night before & woke up from that little bit of sleep after having nightmares about not being able to do a good enough bun. Ballerinas are SERIOUS about their buns. :) It's not that my daughter is demanding or anything - it's just that she is my baby and I wanted everything to be perfect for her. It was. She was beautiful. The most beautiful little thing in the whole world. Who needs sleep anyway?

My son will be out of school this week - with all the attendant pool parties, teachers gifts and general mayhem that comes along with the end of the school year.

Then - camp. Oy.

In crafty news...I only have one skein of yarn left to crochet up for my blanket! I've sewn about 1/3 of the bundles of various squares into larger patches. The sewing actually goes fairly fast. I can't wait until I start laying the patches out to see what kind of designs I can make. I'm thinking this will end up actually being two blankets - one in blues and earth tones and one in .... everything else. :) SO I may need to buy a bit more yarn. Won't know until I start laying things out.



In animal news...I think Scooter is going to be a yellow head. He looks like he has started loosing the feathers just above his nose/beak and the ones that are there have a distinct yellow undertone. It will be cool to see the new color grow in. I'll try to get lots of pictures.

And last but for sure not least - Children International did an interview with me & my family and will be including it in their newsletter! Email me if you would like to read it & I will send you a link.

Oh, and also - it is hot here. The kind of hot that we locals like to call hizzzzzot! I'm not going outside - possibly ever again.