Do you ever...

have one of those days where everything seems to be a struggle?

Like when it feels that people at work are going out of their way to make your job difficult? Or every call you get is someone complaining about something?

Or, when every step of the way seems to have a snag?

Or when bad news is added on top of bad news?

Oh yes, I know, my problems are insignificant. They're just little things - like the clothes dryer that just doesn't want to dry? or things that fall? or being in your overdraft and you still have another week until payday? Small problems compared to those who've have loved ones killed, or lost their jobs/cars/homes/children etc. I am certainly grateful to have clean water and a dry, warm house, and clothes on my body, and a spouse who loves me, and two loving doggies and a strong, able body... but when so many small problems come together at onces, it's hard to stay motivated as they accumulate and make you feel like you should just crawl into bed and stare at horrible daytime TV.

And then, like a ray of sunshine, something good happens just in time. I just received these in the mail from BigGirl Feet - read all about them here:

Aren't they gorgeous? Everyone buy them... they are wonderful.

I'm so proud of ME

Okay, I know that sounds selfish, but the whole blog thing is pretty selfish isn't it? So here's my selfish story:

I bought a small skein of a lavender yarn that's kinda lumpy and feels like it's got some cotton in it from a thrift store. There was no label so that's all I know. But I really liked it, even though I had no idea what it was or much was was left - I bought it. I used it for one row on my ripple blanket, and used it as trim on the Tweakie P bear dress (see yesterday's post), I made a knitted rose and there was still more on the skein. So I started to crochet a baby hat for charity. Except I liked how it was coming together so much I became selfish and decided I wanted to keep it for myself. I frogged the hat and mulled over what I could do with it. After going through my pattern binders and some books I decided on a little bag. I crocheted a chain and then joined it so I was making a tube and then when I got close to the end of the ball, I started to make a flap. There was a wee bit left over, so I added some scalloped edges to the flap. I was left with about 36" of yarn. With that I sewed up the bottom and have about 20" remaining - that's pretty good and I'm very pleased. Then I went to my button jar and found this perfectly matching lavender pearly button. It's not to often that patterns work out so well - perhaps it's because I was 'winging' it and had no expectations?

(I think it looks better in real life)

I know it's a very small project and a very small triumph, but it feels good all the same.

It's helps that we've had sun all week too - I really think it does!
Now I'm looking for my next mystery project.

Tweakie Easter Dress

The craft store Michael's carries a dress-up bear called Tweakie P and you can buy different outfits for her. The bear is my brother and s-i-l's as they love decorating for the seasons. You may recall I made a couple of seasonal sweaters for her back in the summer: a Charlie Brown Sweater for Back-to-School, a Jack-O-Lantern sweater for Halloween and a poppy sweater for Remembrance Day. I also made a Chef's coat complete with an embroidered name, mini Joy of Cooking and a crocheted cupcake.

So it was time that I made her a nice spring dress for Easter. The body was knitted and the edges were crocheted. Although I had a sample dress, I wrote the pattern on my own.

My bear is modeling - she's not a special Tweakie P bear. JP won her for me at the PNE.

I hope my brother will send photos of Bailey wearing her new dress.

I have done 17 out of 37 "stupid things"

[x ] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were talking (not for a long time)
[ ] Gum has fallen out of your mouth when you were NOT talking
[x] You have run into a glass/screen door
[x ] You have jumped out of a moving vehicle (when I was a kid)
[x] You have thought of something funny while walking by yourself
[x] Laughed, then watched people give you weird looks
[] You have run into a tree/bush.
[ ] You know that it IS possible to lick your elbow
[ ] You have tried to lick your elbow... a few times
[x] You never knew that the Alphabet and Twinkle Twinkle Little star have the same rhythm.
[ ] You just tried to sing them.
[x] You have tripped on your shoelace and fallen. (when I was a kid)
[x] You have choked on your own spit . (not as an adult)
[ ] You have seen the Matrix and still don't get it.
[ ] You've never seen the Matrix.
[] You type only with two fingers.
[] You have accidentally caught something on fire
[] You tried to drink out of a straw, but it went into your nose/eyes.
[x] You have caught yourself drooling. (not as an adult)
[ ] You have fallen asleep in class and fell outta your chair
[ ] Sometimes you just stop thinking
[x] You are telling a story and forget what you were talking about
[] People often shake their heads and walk away from you
[X ] You are often told to use your "inside voice".
[x] You use your fingers to do simple math
[ ] You have eaten a bug
[X] You are taking this test when you should be doing something more important
[x] You have put your clothes on backwards or inside out, and didn't realize it (when I was 7 and had pull on pants that looked the same front or back
[] You've looked all over for something and realized it was in your hand
[x] You have run around naked in your house.
[ ] You repost bulletins because you are scared that what they say will happen to you if you don't.
[] You break a lot of things.
[ ] Your friends know not to use big words around you.
[x] You tilt your head when you're confused
[] You have fallen out of your chair before
[x] When you're lying in bed, you try to find pictures in the texture of the ceiling
[ ] The word "ummmmm" is used many times a day.(not any more)

Little Bear, Little Bear

I made this little bear over the weekend. He's just around 3 1/2 " tall. He's made from a rusty coloured yarn. Not sure what I'm going to do with him, I gave him beads for eyes so a baby can't play with him. I guess he'll just hang around until I figure out what home he could go to. Poor little orphan bear.

We had a lovely sunny day yesterday. Thank goodness, we needed the break from all the rain. Two houses about 1/2 a km from my house are going to be demolished as too much of the slope behind them eroded in the heavy rains and they are risks. Poor people. Imagine getting your house to look and be just right and then have it taken away from you? I almost bought in that neighbourhood, and sometime wondered if I should have bought that house instead of this one. I guess there area reasons I have this one.

A break

Yesterday we had a much needed break in the weather - most parts of the Vancouver area where actually sunny. First we dropped in on Mountain Equipment Co-Op where JP picked up a briefcase/backpack and other assorted items and I found a great rain jacket and a rain/wind jacket.

Then took a cruise down Commercial Drive and it was quite packed. I think that many people were tired of being cooped up from all the rain that an extra amount of people decided to get out and shop, browse and dine. We would duck into stores just to get a break from all the traffic on the sidewalk, but the stores were packed too - definitely more than I have ever experienced.

We did spy some antique furniture we would have bought if we had a pick up truck, and lots of other cutsie things.

JP picked up these bacon-flavoured tooth picks:

We went for lunch at Frenchies. JP had the Montreal Corned Beef Sandwich and Poutine with Gravy. I ordered a Chicken Burger - one because I felt like it, and two because it seemed like a lower calorie option. JP didn't say anything until about 10:30 last night when he asks "Who orders a Chicken Burger in a place specializing in other Quebec cuisine?". Um, yeah, you're right. But why didn't you say anything before I placed my order! Silly boy.

We had Sugar Pie for dessert. It's like pecan pie without the pecans. And was super yummy with a scoop of ice cream. Good thing we did all that walking!

Isn't this a pretty bag? It's called Olivia. Check it out at Yarn Bazaar

20 out of 23

It has rained 20 out of the past 23 days. Now for some that might not matter, but in my job, weather is a major part of the day. Everyone is grumpy.

I sure hope we'll get the sun this weekend that the forecasters are talking about. We could all really use a break.

In knitting news, I finished my first pair of socks (on my own, no help from mummy this time). No pictures, I am already wearing them. Besides, how interesting is a plain knitted grey sock?

But what I want to know is why do they feel so super comfortable? Is it all in my head?

And how come the first sock seemed so perfect, but the second sock has a ladder here or a snag there, it just doesn't seem as good. Maybe I wouldn't have made the second sock, if it wasn't as good.

Now I have the fern lace shawl and a crocheted amigurumi bear that I might be able to finish today.

Can you BE any more lazy?

This is one lazy eater. Now he's been laying down to eat for several years, but laying in bed and eating? That's new!

Carpal Tunnel

I worry about getting Carpal Tunnel. I don't worry as much about not working, although it's something I wouldn't want to stop, but mainly I think about not being able to knit (or other crafts).

When I've been typing for a while, my hands get cold. That's when I know to stop and take a break. I knit a round or two on my socks.

What do you do when you're doing lots of data entry? Have you ever had carpal tunnel?

Best Buy Sucks

I placed an order on line and the product was in stock. I print out the order confirmation. I am supposed to get an email in 3 hours, so I forward my email to his Blackberry. Nothing arrives. I get to the store and pass my order confirmation to the "customer service clerk" and she tells me there is no such order, it's been cancelled and hands me back the paper. BestBuy.ca and Best Buy are two different stores she tells me. Did you know that?

Best Buy Sucks.

We walked to the section ourselves, found something on the shelves that was $200 cheaper and carried it to the cash without any sales assistance.

The cashier had ZERO customer service skills and kept us waiting a long time because she needed clearance for an item - why I don't know, we picked up off the shelves. Are we not allowed to buy from the store?

Later the same day, I went into another store (don't ask why) and was shocked at how friendly the staff was. What a difference, I thought. Maybe it's just one store, I asked. There is hope, I think. . And then I found out that all the friendlies work in the cellular section only. They were just being nice because they get commissions there.

Best Buy sucks.

The First Day of Spring

... and what do I hear? HAIL! I look out the window and yes, little ice pellets on the first day of spring. See the little chunks of ice in my primulas? Oh oh, does this mean more rain for us? I'm so glad I'm taking a warm vacation in 4 weeks.

Yesterday, JP, the kid and I all ran some errands. But we had to leave the house in the heaviest downpour of the day. Super fast rain! When we got home, the kid pointed to the front of the courtesy car and asked why it was on fire. Well, it wasn't on fire but it was smoking. It turned out to be some antifreeze dripping on the hot block. A blown hose/hose clamp. This is the second time that a Jetta has come to die in our driveway. And how many of you get a courtesy car that's worse than your own car? I take mine to a dealership and get a 1-2 year old car. He takes his to a shop and god know what he'll get. That's a big scary, especially considering the distance he drives.

Happy Spring! Even if it's a wet one!

Rain, rain, go away

I woke up this morning and thought "good, it's not raining, finally I can go walk the dogs". So I put on all the gear, get them all leashed up, walk about 1 block and the rain starts again. Man, is it ever going to be spring or summer? My dogs and I could really benefit from some long walks.

Yesterday, I finished up my ripple-a-long. I quit. I went as far as I was going to go. The sides became bigger and bigger, I didn't pay enough attention, and it's odd shape is not good enough to give away as I had planned. Also, if you don't use a big enough hook for crochet, your work can be quite stiff and I didn't feel it draped nice enough. I am using it as a cover to my bird cage. This may not be such a great idea, because now I have to look at it everyday and think about how I'm not happy with it, and contemplate whether I consider it a failure or if I am happy with the learning experience.

It got me thinking though, I joined the "a-long" because others I knew were doing it and they seemed to be having so much fun. I thought "hmm, yeah, this is something I could do". But my heart really wasn't in it. I didn't have the great stash of yarns that everyone else had. And every other project I've done, has been something I wanted to do. But this one was for other reasons. Maybe that's the trick with crochet or knit projects. It should be something you really want to do. I mean, you're putting your money into it for the supplies, and of course lots of time and then some pain (I get cramped hands from crochet and sometimes sore shoulders - am I doing it all wrong?). So if you're going to endure these three things or more, you really should make sure that you are really enjoying it. That's my life lesson for this week kids.

Yesterday, in spirit of St. Patrick's day, I crocheted this shamrock coaster.

Today, I'll pick up the dpns and work on my sock - something I really would like to do.

Is it Internet Explorer 7 and Blogger that have problems, or is it me - but even though I space between paragraphs, everything get's crammed together. Is it my template?

The way I write my blog and the way it looks, are not the same!

Anyone know how to correct it?

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Yay ! Happy St. Patrick's Day. If we flashed back to about 12 years ago, I would be super excited because it's Saturday and that means that I'd be going to O'Ryan's Club or the Blarney Stone Pub for some green beer with lots of friends, and being silly and crazy because it's Saturday and it's St. Patrick's Day.

But it's not 12 years ago, and I don't have one iota of Irish in my heritage and no longer need to party like I once did. I'm not getting old.. gasp... I've just changed my focus. Okay, because I do have some humour, I'll don a green sweater, which is pretty easy because that's a fairly common colour in my wardrobe. But I don't think I'll have a flashy light-up shamrock on my lapel or wear a green felt hat or cook or drink anything green, except maybe suck on a Chloraseptic since I have a chronic sore throat.

And maybe that's why I don't drink as much, because the alcohol just seems to feed that sore throat monster (I must draw that) who always seems to live at the back of my mouth, waiting for me to get a little run down or eat the wrong foods so he can rear his ugly head. That's why I eat potato chips, because the salt is good for my throat. No really. And that's why one of those Easter Cream Egg McFlurries at McDonald's is not on my list of 'things to try' unless I'd like an instant sore throat. "One Easter Cream Egg McFlurry and a box of Sucret's please". That's how I'd have to order it! (I didn't think there'd be an Wikipedia entry on 'McFlurry'-see above)

Craft update: I think I'll be putting away the Ripple-a-long Baby Afghan. I should have been counting stitches at the sides so then I would have realized it was getting wider and wider. Plus, I'm not having all that much fun with it, so I think I'll finish it off and put it aside. If I hadn't used some weird yarns I'd frog it, but I doubt it'll be able to be unraveled so I'll leave it as it is, maybe it'll make the perfect cage cover for my poor aging canary, he lists too.

Time to go back and finish that second sock. And work on my Fern Lace Wrap. And think about something to bring with my when I go to San Antonio next month. Any good travel patterns you'd suggest?

In the mean time, enjoy some Green Eggs and Ham or other recipes; maybe some Irish Soda Bread or some Apple and Barley Pudding?

I don't know the proper protocol, so here's the image credit: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.christmastraditions.com/Merchand/NCE/StPats/66046.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.php%3Fshowtopic%3D5503&h=504&w=347&sz=321&hl=en&start=14&tbnid=Z64S1p4hTtGmiM:&tbnh=130&tbnw=90&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSt.Patrick%2527s%2BDay%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-US%26sa%3DN

Wild Cherry!

Look what JP brought home for me yesterday.. I musta been a real good girl:

It's a steering wheel cover, with dimensional cherries! Now I think I'll crochet some cherries for my rearview mirror, or something. Any suggestions?

Sigh...to start the garden again

It's that time of year when there is one dry day in early spring and I put on my rubber boots and walk through my yard. It's a bittersweet moment as I review those plants that made it and those that probably didn't. This is also a tough time for my garden as it's about 9 years old and things are falling down. With all our wet weather, wood rots, so I noticed that a side board has fallen out of this planter, a little fence or two have fallen down and the odd plant post is not longer effective. But this year the worst hit was my pergola. A large accumulation of snow followed by heavy rains caused the wisteria/clematis canopy to break the support horizontal supports and even pulled down the large vertical pole. Here's what it looks like right now after I found some 2 x 4's etc to help it up a bit.

I'd better do something before the plants become active and start to pull the mess in other directions. This well need some serious attention if we are able to walk into and sit -in the pergola this year.

It's a little disheartening to see all the work that needs to be done. Garden magazines don't really talk about how to deal with an aging garden, do they? Also, it looks like the roof is failing on my 12' x 6' garden shed, so I'm thinking that I might just shingle it myself in the next few weeks... before my vacation in.................San Antonio, Texas.

So I took some time to draw a warbler, and to think about happy, chirpy birds.

Here are some happy, fuzzy magnolia blooms. The tree that flowers first and then leaves out:

Mohair Shrug

I finished the mohair shrug. At present, it's not working for me, so I might extend the sleeves with crochet . Here's a quick photo: Next: finish the second sock, and work on the ripple-a-long....

Street Hockey & Cul-de-sacs

Years ago when I lived in an apartment, there was a news story about the tenants at a townhouse complex who were fighting about the kids playing street hockey. At the time, I was of the opinion that the kids should be allowed to play. What's the big deal? I thought. How bad can it be?

But now I live at the end of a cul-de-sac and multitudes of children gather at the top of the street by the intersection. They are rude, and cheeky and even dare to make the 'slow down' sign when you're driving down the road - and trust me, I'm in second gear and driving slower than the legal limit for a school zone. In fact, the fastest drivers on my street - are parents!

Yesterday when I left the cul-de-sac I had to wait for a cat who thought that walking down the middle of the road would be a good place to be, so I waited, alternating my clutch and first gear because all the kids and adults on the street thought it was so cute. When I returned there was a large gathering of kids at the top of my street. A group of girls to the right completely ignored the fact that a car was approaching and the group of boys to the left also seemed to not care even though a hockey stick was laying across the road. No one made a move to pick up the stick or even seemed to care, so what was my choice? I drove over it. Then in my rearview mirror I can see the kid who was sitting on the ground in the goalie's net with his mouth wide-open, acting shocked that I had done such a horrible thing.

I checked with JP, he said the same thing's happened to him, and when I asked him what he's done, he said he drove over the stick too.

When I bought the house I thought being in a cul-de-sac was a good thing. I thought there'd be less noise from cars roaring past. But I didn't think that you can be trapped, with only one way out. And that if you live at the end, you have zero parking because of the curve and that people from elsewhere on the end of the street think that the circle (which is in front of me) is an ideal hockey arena and slap shooting into people's cars or houses isn't a big deal.

And with lots of sports loving parents on the street, what can you do?
Oh, and 1 by-law officer who takes three months (really) to return phone calls.

Did you know?

You must watch this.

Please feel free to leave your comments.

** Edit: the link has been removed, sorry about that. I guess they didn't like all the traffic.***

Dreams - the nighttime kind

My dreams are a mish-mash of things from the day; things I've read, or done, parts of TV shows - like when I have dinner with Monica and Phoebe (from the show Friends) , or go shopping with Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte (from the show Sex and the City). But yesterday I dreamt that JP told me to cut my hair, so I took the scissors and just chopped chunks and chunks away. It looked awful. And then I woke up and realized it hadn't happened, but kind of felt like it had for a little while.

This is what one website says:
To dream that you are cutting your hair, suggests that you are experiencing a loss in strength. You may feel that someone is trying to censor you. Alternatively, you may be reshaping your thinking or ambitions and eliminating unwanted thoughts/habits.

But I had actually done a bit of scissoring to my hair before I went to bed, so maybe it doesn't mean anything but is just an extension of the little haircut I gave myself earlier.

This morning I had a dream about cleaning my left ear (yah, gross isn't it?). I must have gone through 50 Q-tips and it just kept being yucky.

And this is what that website says about this one:
To dream that you are cleaning wax from your ears, suggests that you are not listening to those around you. There may be something that you are refusing to hear. Are you turning a deaf ear?

But I guess I could have combined the fact that my mum's schnauzer had an ear infection, and I was talking to her about it a couple of hours before bedtime. But if I take everything that happens during the day, everything I see on TV or read, then my dreams would be extremely weird, and normally they're not so extreme.

I guess the other part is normally they are forgotten within minutes of waking up, which I've heard is normal. Something like 'usually 90% of your dream is forgotten within the first 60 seconds of waking up). But for some reason, these two dreams are sticking with me.

Do you take those interpretations to heart? I don't. I read them and weigh them the same as my horoscope in the newspaper. How about you?

Everything but the sync

Man, yesterday I must have been struck dumb, I just couldn't sync with the universe.

Remember those shoes I said were the wrong size? Well apparently the store partakes in Vanity Sizing because the size on the shoe and the box is not the actual size. The manager of the store showed me where the shoe size is and they were the correct ones I asked for and tried on. My apologies to the sales girl. But then I asked for a half size bigger as they seemed tight - was it all in my head? Then I didn't realize a detail on the inner side and thought he was giving me the wrong ones, he should know - he works there! Then I put the shoes into the bag, but he still needs to scan them.... what was I thinking? I made it all so awkward.

Then we are in another store and I think I see our friendly Canada Postman - so I ask JP and he questions my ability to recognize faces... when I see the guy straight on later in the store, I realize it was not him of course.

We go into another store and the kid is just sitting in the back seat, so I think we are leaving him in the car, so I lock the door. Just then JP is about to open the door to get the kid out of the car and it's locked. "What is wrong with you? What are you thinking?" he asks. (except he includes a swear word)

And I ponder the answer. What am I thinking ? ...besides how I wish I had brought along some knitting or crochet, or how I wanted to work out when we got home, or how I didn't want to stop at 9 different stores.... Maybe I should've stayed home. Or maybe I need to get out more?

Do you ever have a day where you just don't seem to click with anyone?

Hairy Wasabi

Last night we went to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. During the meal, JP went to have some wasabi and found a hair embedded in it. At the end of the meal, after he paid, he told them about it. They all looked at it, and examined it - but didn't say a word to us. I was taken aback. Couldn't they even say sorry? Were they just embarrassed? Test failed.

Next we went to the mall as I was looking for some exercise shoes for when I do yoga and my Billy Blanks workouts. I tried the shoes on, okay correct size, fits good. Pick another style, ask for the same size. Try them on. Great. Good. Everything is wonderful. Pay for shoes. Go home. Try a pair on - WRONG SIZE! Somehow from the front of the store to the cash register at the back, the girl managed to switch the size! Now I have a 1/2 hour drive back to the mall all because of her! And they were the shoes I was most looking forward to wearing! And I am willing to bet that when I return to the store, I'll get a feable "sorry".

In the yarn world, I'm almost finished the mauve mohair shrug and I put a couple more rows on the ripple-a-long, but not enough progress for a new photo. I think I'll switch to double crochet in an effort to speed things up....

Today it rains

One day of spring and that's all we got. It's back to rain for a couple of days. Remember the crocus flowers that were open and basking in the sun yesterday? Here are the same plants all closed up in the rain. No more honey bees, no more lady bugs (but lots of slugs, oh yes).

Sigh, such is the way it is in Vancouver, in the winter isn't it?

No more rain pictures, I get my camera too wet!

Which explains why I was inside crocheting! I decided to join The No-End-In-Sight Ripple-a-long , after reading Big Girl Feet blog and Crochet Me blog. I had a bag of baby yarns my mum gave me when she was knitting for her grandkids.. and the oldest is 18 now! I am going to make some baby blankets and then donate them to the Children's Hospital for charity. This is what I started yesterday:

Today it's Spring

Four days ago we had snow on the ground. Yesterday it rained heavily. Today, it's sunny and 18 degrees Celsius - in the sun.

And look at the flowers (crocus and primula) ,

and the lady bug

and that's a honey bee with pollen laden legs

isn't it amazing?

A Thrifting we will go

Well first we bought a new bed. A Queen Sized Bed. Wow. A new mattress feels so good. Because we previously had a double, we had to buy new sheets too. And then no point putting the old duvet cover back, so we picked up a new cover too. Its a natural linen colour. Yeah, I know. I forgot about the wrinkles. I already ironed my duvet cover after taking it out of the package. While it was still on the bed. But I'm not going to be doing that every week, so I'm hoping after a while it will have that soft all-over wrinkled look that will still be nice. Oh and when then delivered the bed, they gave us new pillows too.

I have to admit it was the easiest purchase I've made in a long time. We went to the store around 1:00pm on Friday. We talked to the nice lady and picked a bed. We paid for it. We were told they'd deliver between 5:00pm and 8:00pm. And, because we live way...out...there... we figured we wouldn't see the new bed until closer to 8:00pm or beyond. But nope, they were here at 5:20pm! Nice clean boys with good manners. No stanky delivery people that sometimes show up. Everything was as promised and everything went smoothly. So impressed. So happy. Sleep Depot you did an awesome job!

On Saturday we were heading to Yaletown when we found out that what we were going for wouldn't be ready, so we changed our plans and hit some thrift stores. I found Dog Boots for my mum's schnauzer (it's really cold or super hot where she lives). These retail for $25 + and I got them for $3.99. I don't think the people at the thrift store new what they were for:

I also picked up this flower press :And this big spool of cotton 'twine' for $1.99. I think it will make a nice market/shopping bag, or 10!

And we also found this wooden pineapple bowl and napkin holder. One day, we'll have the house to put all our pineapple collection on display. On our tiki bar!

I also picked up some hankies, which I plan embroider.

And today's my brother's birthday and his present arrived in the mail today! Yay Canada Post! They move pretty fast! Happy Birthday Brother!

With all this running around, I barely had time to work on any knitting, but I did make some headway on my shrug, which I should be finishing within the next few days. I like finishing projects.

I just received two knitting books in the mail yesterday - Nicky Epstein's Knitted Flowers and one on making felted purses. Now I want to get started on a bunch of other things but must finish the three knitted projects I am working on.

Do you ever get sore shoulders while knitting? When I do, I actually lay down so my shoulders are on my pillow and knit that way. It seems like a crazy way to knit, sort of across my stomach and deceptively comfortable and then I don't have to stop. I do that when my body is tired or when I'm sick, but still want to knit. Last night, I knitted through The Office (a repeat) , Scrubs (a not-so-bad montage) and 30 Rock (love this show, it's sooooooooo funny! Tina Fey rocks! ). I like Thursday night TV - the only night I really. Although Lovespring International on Wednesday nights on Showcase is pretty damn funny too.

While I was in that reclining position last night, and while I was knitting my shrug yesterday, I laid it on my legs for a rough measurement. The pattern wants me to knit for 49" before I start the shaping of the sleeves. My legs are 36" long, so therefore until it's longer than my legs, I don't need to measure it.

But JP looked over at me and said, "please tell me you're not making leggings". Yes. Mauve striped leggings. Mauve striped mohair leggings. Mauve striped mohair leggings on large needles. Oh that would be - so - flat-ter-ing. (don'tcha think?)

I played with him for a minute, but he knew I was just jokin' with him

P.S. - over the past few days, you may have noticed I've been playing with the colours and my blog format. I received some comments and I've made some changes. Do you like it now? Please let me know. I want it to be readable.

Good morning Snow!

Well once again we woke up to snow, only about 2 inches, but enough to quiet down the neighbourhood. It's so bright and quiet when it snows. It's so bright, and quiet and cold when it snows. And you have to shovel it. I'm going out shortly to shovel the driveway and front walk - a fashion opportunity really, to wear all the things I've knit. Is that what it's all about?

So I took a break after work yesterday to pick up my needles and knit a few rows on my shrug and watch a bit of the Dr. Phil show. On it was a mom with the only blind and deaf triplets in the world. Yes, I was all choked up watching the story. Three six year old girls still in diapers. Three six year-olds that don't know day from night so they try to sleep in the day and they move around all night. Parents waking up to find the girls' room covered with their diaper contents because they've been up all night.

Can you imagine? I really don't know if I could do that. The mom said she does what her children need her to do. "Isn't that what mom's do?" she asked. And I thought, well yes, but many parents don't provide the level of care and love that this woman does, unfortunately.

The woman felt guilty that she wasn't doing enough, and didn't think her kids knew she was there. Can you imagine? I don't think I could have made it as long as she has -what an enormous task. Well the good news is, by being on the show, and having a documentary done about her and her family, donations will come her way to help her and her children out. After she confessed her thoughts on her inadequacies, she was in tears when Dr. Phil told her that everyone in the audience and 10 million viewers were all in awe of her. I think she has been so busy with the care of her children she's forgotten about herself and the rest of the world, and maybe that's what's kept her caring and working so hard.