A New Adventure

Today Uncle Daisey is moving to Lubbock. It is about a five and a half hour drive from here. This will be the first time that he has been too far to be able to just drop in on the weekend or on his day off. I have varying degrees of feelings about this. I hate that he is going but I am thrilled that he is going. Not make any sense? Well he has always been here for all the events and get togethers. Jo has adored him forever. He has always been the one who was close if I needed help with my car, being stranded on the side of the road, or had computer trouble. I will so miss not being able to see him all the time. But...I am so thrilled that he is being promoted and the fact that after a very serious motorcycle wreck that he was healed and can live a normal life...even if it is what seems like a long way away. Here is a picture of him and Jo and Scout yesterday. We all went out for one last lunch together before he left. Good luck Matthew. I love you bunches. Oh, yeah, remember to call your Mother.

Still Grumbling About The Computer

I have not been able to get my computer fixed yet so I feel almost lost without being able to check things more frequently. Here is a pix of Scout wearing the crown I made Jo. I have not been able to get my pix up on Ravelry because of the computer issues. I did not make Scout a crown because she did not like hats. Well like everything else that changed. I am now casting on a crown for her. I downloaded the pattern from KnitPicks. It is called the Loved Crown by Talitha Kuomi. It is very easy and so cute. I did Jo's out of Vanna yarn in #142 Rose and #101 Pink. I am now working on Scout's in Vanna yarn in #145 Eggplant and #157 Duckie. The pix is of Scout wearing Jo's crown. More pix to follow.

A Love/Hate Relationship

Computers and I have a real love/hate relationship. Right now it is in the hate part. Last week my power cord came unplugged from the computer. Dang, I was in the middle of something. I plugged it back in and then after it came up it locked. Of course it did. It goes to any length possible to make things harder. I turned it off and instead of turning back on it gave me the message that it needed to check something and in 30 seconds would return. Famous last words. After "playing around" and waiting for it to fix itself I said forget it and went to bed. The next morning thinking positive thoughts I just knew that after a night of rest the computer would be fine, relaxed, refreshed. That computer would have a whole new attitude and pop right up and say yes ma'am here I am to do your bidding. Yeah, right. So after 2 hours on the phone with Dell, in India, I was told that they could not fix it. That the harddrive was ok but that I would need to go to a tech and have them get everything that was on there onto an external harddrive, just for extra caution in case anything has been missed, and then I would have to have Windows re-installed. Did I mention I have a love/hate relationships with computers. I love being able to "talk" to anyone anytime, I love looking up things on the computer, the fastness of it. I love pictures, I love Ravelry and finding anything at anytime about knitting. I love that I can find the most update in RA news and the blogs of my friends dealing as I am with auto-immune diseases. What I hate is what has just happened. Basically computer crash. The time, energy and money wasted getting things back to normal. So at this point I am typing on the big ol' PC and thinking how do I put pictures on this thing. So here I am at the mercy of technology and again asking why do I have to put up with this thing. By the way, on the first day of spring, Saturday March 20, here in North Central Texas, it snowed 2" at my house. Crazy.

Is It The Weather?

Argh. For two days now I have been aching. Is it going to rain or has it been too much knitting and not sitting correctly or picking up too many kids at one time? It started yesterday morning with a "crick" in my neck. By evening it was down into my shoulderblade. Arthritis is a wonderful thing, not. It hits you when you least expect it. You also are never sure if it is the arthritis or something else. So you take a little Tylenol and remember that next week is your Remicade infusion. Sometimes I forget that it is almost time for it. Other times I ache. Ah, RA, the misunderstood disease. It is not like the arthritis everyone complains about. It is an autoimmune disease that attacks everywhere in your body. Once it is there it does not go away it only subsides for a while. You feel like you always have the flu. You are tired all the time. Dang it is a pain. Really.

Disaster Averted

We averted disaster today. Joanna had told me that one of the boys afghans had a "hole in it". They thought it was probably not repairable that a new one might have to be made. Oh, no. Before the twins were born I knitted them both afghans and a car blankie and hat to match. One was blue and silver since Dad is a Dallas Cowboys fan and one was maroon and white since Mom graduated from Texas A&M. When they arrived last Thursday they handed me the afghan. Gulp and gollies. I do have to admit I had never seen anything that bad before. I looked it over and said I would see what I could do. At that point I did not see a broken thread but I knew there had to be one. Sunday I spent around eight hours working on the afghan. I finally found the broken thread in the middle of the mess. I knew the repair would not be pretty but it would be fixed and it would be back to the boys for them to love again. Interestingly they don't care which one they hold as long as they have one. I finished the repair this afternoon after spending about four more hours on it. I then ran it through the washer and dryer to make sure there were no loose edges or loops. I had used my knitting needles, crochet hooks and craft needles working the loops back up the afghan. When I came to the last two rows I used kitchener stitch to weave them together. (Thank you Yarn Harlot for telling me to learn to use this for my sock knitting.) So it is not pretty and it is a little "off" the line but it is repaired and secure. I really did not know how it was going to work but since it is dragged around everywhere I am sure someday new ones will have to be made. Hopefully this will make it till then.

Cute Kids

Ok, humor me. I know I should post some knitting, and yes I have been, and I will. I even have a major repair job I had to do that is coming up. But I had major grandkid fun this last week and I just have to share. The boys were very busy with sand, feeding and watching the chickens, mowing the lawn, letting Dudley lick their feet and kissing him on the nose, and playing, playing, playing. Drew pretty much let people admire him. Uncle Joseph and he look as if they are having some mutual admiration time. Jo was enjoying her ice cream. Scout was enjoying her party with all her seriousness. She was not serious all the time. Later she could be heard laughing and screaming while she wheeled her bunnies and babies around in her new stroller while chasing Jo with the balloons. It was such fun.

Scout's Birthday Party

We celebrated Scout's first birthday with a HUGE get-together at The Ponderosa on Saturday. We had a great time and lots of yummy food. I took too many pictures to choose from but of course the cake was important. Scout loves bunnies so that was the theme of her party. Her cake was a carrot cake that Allison made in the shape of a bunny. It was yummy. When it came time to open her presents Scout was more interested in all the balloons she received than anything else. She did like her little baby stroller and was pushing her bunnies in it. Oh, yes, that is her Uncle Daisey who is tempting her with a Dr Pepper.

Busy Cousins

All the cousins were together this last week. Aunt Allison and I watched everyone while the boys Mom & Dad went out. Holy cow, taking care of four and then five kids all four and under takes a lot of energy. They were so much fun and busy, busy, busy. We played all afternoon on Thursday, went shopping and picture taking on Friday and had Scout's birthday party on Saturday. Yes, I took Tylenol. My meds are doing pretty good but that was the kind of action I do not normally get. I was so tired by the end of each day and was hoping that the next one I was not too stiff to move and would be able to play with them. We had a great time. I love 'em! Oh, yes, the boys love hats.

TJ's Hat

My son-in-law TJ, Jo and Scout's Daddy, is a pretty laid back guy. He can do, well, everything. Since he and Allison live on The Ponderosa he has a lot of "country" work to do. He is comfortable with himself. I prefaced this because I recently made him a hat. Yeah, I know, it was 75 degrees here yesterday but until Easter we could have a sudden freeze or snow or something. Also the wind blows hard out there and it sometimes feels even cooler than it is. He does have to tromp out to the south forty to gather the chicken eggs. One day a couple of weeks ago it was cold. He and Scout were going to gather the eggs and Allison told him to just grab a hat. Of course he lives in a house of women of various ages so there are probably going to be "pretty" hats sitting around. He grabbed the purple hat, put it on and he and Scout headed out to get the eggs. When I saw the picture I said this guy needs a hat. I mean he can wear whatever he wants to but he should have his own too. So I whipped up the blue/green Encore Worsted (#670) hat. I cast on and altered it to a no brim hat. After I was finished I decided it might be a little short over the ears. All that means is he will get another one with a few more rows added. So once I see it on him there will probably be another hat made. Love ya TJ.

Birthday Lunch

We took Scout to The Olive Garden today for her birthday lunch. She opened her own colors to draw on the placemat. She loved the bread and the Minestrone soup. I can't believe she is already one year old. Such a big girl.

Happy Birthday Scout!

One year ago today this little bundle of joy and energy came into our lives. Time flies so fast and now she is off and running, literally. Everything is new and fun for her. Love you bunches Scout. Happy First Birthday!

Happy Birthday JE

Today is my sister Jane Ellen's birthday. Yeah this is not what you might consider the most classic picture for a birthday but I love it. When I went to visit her this last July we went to one of my most favorite places. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Yeah one of my favorite places is a swamp. Jane Ellen knows I love it so she takes me every time I visit. It is one of the most beautiful wildlife places. The day we went it was drizzling and humid and sticky and almost ready to start pouring down rain. But we went and had a great time. This was our picnic lunch that we ate out on the deck instead of the picnic tables because is was misting. So we look like we have been walking in the rain which we had but man that was a fun day. Happy Birthday JE. Love Ya!

Happy Anniversary

Five years ago today my daughter married the guy who became the best son-in-law anyone could ask for. It is hard to believe it has been five years. They have given me two of the most adorable grandgirls anyone could ever want. Of course Allison being my only girl I feel a special bond with her. TJ is everything a mom could want for her only girl. Not only does he adore Allison and his girls but he treats me very special. This is the guy who put in a new floor in my kitchen. When it was supposed to be an easy job and turned out to be harder and take longer than we thought he never acted frustrated even though I know he had to be. This is also the guy who warms up my car in the winter and hands me a cup of hot coffee to drink on a cold drive home. Have a Happy Anniversary and I am wishing you a gazillion more years of happiness. I love you both.

Crazy Bunny

To start with I really do not knit or crochet toys. Scout has a real thing for bunnies. Stories of bunnies, stuffed bunnies, pictures of bunnies, any kind of bunny. So when we saw a knitted bunny on a website I got the idea that I could do it without the pattern. I used the tried and true original old grandma's dishrag pattern. I used the Baby Bee yarn I had used for Scout's baby afghan and made contrasting ears. I used stuffing for the head and seamed it shut. I just eyeballed everything and this is what I came up with. As I said I don't do toys and the eyes, nose and mouth are not what I would consider that good but apparently Scout really liked it. It's a bunny.