Pea Socks

A couple of weeks ago the flu was going through the family at The Ponderosa. As everyone was laying around  Scout noticed everyone had on Pea Socks. Now in Scout talk that was Pretty Socks. Christmas before last I had made everyone houseshoes. I think Scout's were more booties. Since her foot has grown considerably since then she had no houseshoes. Well that is all YoYo needed to hear. I went to the stash and whipped up some Pea Socks for her. Mom gave me her foot length and wala new Pea Socks. They fit perfect. From now on when someone needs houseshoes they will be getting Pea Socks. Gotta love it.

Ahhh...Sunshine

Rowdy enjoying the warm sun after some really cold mornings.

Reading

A couple of years ago I decided to start keeping a list of the books I read through the year. Last year the total was 39 books. That includes biographies, mysteries, political, a variety of things. I can't imagine anyone not liking to read. There is something out there for everyone. I am finishing a Brad Thor thriller and am in the middle of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. I usually am not influenced by books that are recommended in the press. Different people like different kinds of books. Plus I hate wasting time on something that is boring or not my type of book. I also hate not finishing a book. Around Christmas I saw an interview with Louis Zamperini. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is the story of his life focusing mainly on his World War II service. Before the war Zamperini was also an Olympic athlete. I started reading the book and found it very interesting. In fact it was hard to put down. Hillenbrand gave some childhood background and then introduced WWII and Zamperini's service in the Pacific theater. My dad served the Navy on Okinawa during WWII. All through the descriptions of battles I can see what my dad must have gone through but never talked about. I am only half way through this book but I highly recommend it. I will give a full review when I have finished it but will say it is well worth reading.

Suggestions

On my blog I have a link to "But You Don't Look Sick". The problem with a lot of autoimmune diseases, including my RA, is that if you are functioning pretty well people do not realize how really awful you feel. When you are having a flare it sometimes seems that people come out of the woodwork to give you suggestions on how you can "cure" yourself. It sometimes seems that they do not realize that you are actually paying good money to someone how is trained to help you cope with your disease. It is also not that we love pills, shots and infusions of which some are really toxic to our bodies. At this point we know that these drugs help us to live and function. And if we are lucky enough for all these meds to work well for us then maybe we can take our grandkids to the park or the train exhibit or the zoo. At this point the medical community has not found a complete cure for most of these diseases so those of us who have them have had to learn to adapt so we can live our lives. I mean it is not that we like having excruciating pain 24 hours a day, or perhaps that pain that doesn't knock us out but that is just "always there" distracting us. Today's post on But You Don't Look Sick speaks to all the well meaning people who think they are doctors but don't have an MD behind their name. It's not like they don't want to help us but as said before a little information can be a dangerous thing. Click on the link and check it out. After you read it understand that most of the time we don't think that you really are out to send us over the edge, but that you do love us and want us to feel better. The thing is it is  we have read and heard it all before. We have an autoimmune disease that is not going to be cured by giving up caffeine, exercising or not, or giving up wine. If it were that easy I would have given up chocolate a long time ago. Yeah, like that is going to happen. www.butyoudontlooksick.com/dailymagazine  The title is Sick Humor: Information Overload: "Suggestions" We'd Rather Not Hear Ever Again. After you have read it remember we love you too but the day you suggest we give up caffeine and we will get well, well it might just send us straight for the biggest cup of coffee we can find.

Knit-A-Cap

It's January and time to make sure the knitting is progressing on the hats for the Knit-A-Cap group. This is the group that sends hand knit hats to various Indian reservations throughout the US. My sister and I have been knitting for this group since 2003. Our wonderful coordinator is located in Washington, DC and makes sure the hats go to the schools that have requested them for the year. 2010 hats went to Washington state, Arizona, Montana, Massachusetts and North Carolina. This is a picture of the hats I have finished so far, 15. I am hoping for many, many more. If you are interested in participating in the group leave a note in the comment section with your email or some way for me to get in touch with you. You can also leave me a message on Ravelry. I am knittingyoyo there also. This is a great way to help children. All it takes is one picture of the cute kids wearing the hats and you are hooked for life.

Shopping Day

Today was grocery shopping day. Before we went to Wal-Mart we went to Jo's choice of El Fenix for lunch. At the end of the meal the waiter brought "sopapeople" for the girls. Jo actually prefers a four tortilla with butter and sugar for her dessert. Scout on the other hand loves the "people". Interestingly they bring you honey to add on top of the already sugar/cinnamon people. Whoa, way sweet. But Scout is not to be detered.

Here she is adding her honey.

After she put her honey on her plate she decided the heck with the "people" just go straight for the honey.

Since the honey is pretty drippy we decide to put it a little closer. Much more convenient.

That is some yummy stuff.

What? Doesn't everyone eat their honey this way?

Here is Big Sis Jo with her sugar tortilla dessert. Someone else was being funny.

It was a great day.

Mmmm, It's Wednesday

Today is Wednesday. That means $4.99 enchilada dinner special all day at El Fenix. Yes it was yummy.

Snow?

The weatherman was right. It's snowing! Yeah I know but in Texas we get excited over even a little bit.

Hat

Another One Bites The Dust

In this world of technology that we all seem to depend on it seems inevitable that things will break. So far in less than two months the car died completely, the computer crashed to a sure death and now today it was my phone. I am not sure how it happened but I guess I could blame it on my grip or the lack thereof lately. My RA has been shall we say acting up and I have been having some issues with my wrist and hand. But I think it was just one of those out of the blue things that happen. My phone fell in water. I grabbed it quick but the thing was five years old and had it's issues. So even though I was thinking it might dry out it was definitely dead. So off to the phone store. I now have a what I call "high faluting" phone. I am sure I will get used to it and like it but it is a whole new world. I may not know what to do with all the options, aps, and cool stuff on it.

Grandkids

This week all the grandkids were here. We went to The Trains at Northpark display. It is sponsored by Mc Donalds with all proceeds going to Ronald McDonald House. It was a very neat display of trains. Jo was the only one who had a favorite display. It was of the State Fair of Texas. That is probably because she had ridden the giant ferris wheel . We will definitely be going again next year.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. In all the celebration of the new year don't forget our men and women serving in the armed forces. Take an opportunity to visit the Operation Gratitude website so see how you can be involved in bringing a little bit of home to the troops this year.