Erica’s Blog

[Pictures coming tomorrow....]

Sewed the embellishments onto the Very Special Things box.  The one thing I don’t like about it is that it shrank too much in the height.  I would have preferred it to be deeper, but I’ll remember that next time.  Anyhow, next step will be the cardboard reinforcement, then the mermaid lining.

Started yet another MD baby kimono yesterday morning.  Hubby and I filled in for MarkyMark & Bobcat as bathroom monitors for children’s ministry at church, and I knew I’d have a lot of sitting around time, so I brought my bag w/me.  Our friends Joel (pronounced Joe-ELLE, though he’s a he) and Amber are due to have a daughter w/in the next couple of weeks, and I’m using the orange/yellow/white Peaches & Creme that I bought in July at WallyWorld.  Got some really cute daisy buttons yesterday to go with it.  I’ll have the knitting finished tomorrow.  Then I can have a seaming party for that one and the hemp one for Jubal & Nichole’s baby.  Fun!  (not)

Talked w/MEY today and figured out what she wanted for the stuff she’s commissioning from me for Christmas gifts.  Since Nine Rubies is having their big “birthday party” and sale on Saturday, I wanted to get the yarn then, so we had to work it out this week.  Should be fun; for some of this, I’ll get to use nicer yarn than I’d normally be buying (think cashmere).  I’ve already got a lot of it schemed out, thanks to Barbara Walker.

SANDY:  My pal Sandy is in the hospital.  Long story short, she went to the ER Saturday night after some long-running gi problems became alarming.  After doing a CT scan, etc., they’ve decided she has colitis.  She’s having more testing tomorrow and may even have to have a transfusion.  Like her life doesn’t have enough stress with being on disability, having to take morphine daily for pain, being the primary caregiver to her 89-year-old mother, dealing with other family issues, etc.

BOBCAT’S MOM:  Well, she loved the shawl, despite my weirdo work-around to the problems with it.  She even liked the crocheted edging b/c it gives her something to twiddle with her fidgety fingers as she’s trying to fall asleep.  When Bobcat read her the card, they both cried.  I’m so glad she liked it.  Bobcat even had the brilliant idea of popping it in the dryer for a while to make it extra toasty when Mrs. G was feeling really cold (she goes from being really cold to horribly hot, with fevers over 103).  It sounds like Bobcat had a good weekend with her, being able to help her out at times and have some good time to talk with her.  So, now they’re trying to figure out how much to pull Andrei out of school to go visit Granny, etc.  Sigh.

ME:  On a MUCH lighter note….I’ve had a bad back for many years.  I’m sure some of it is hereditary (Poppa & Auntie both have scoliosis, Poppa had to get a nerve root injection a few years ago, Nana back surgery six years ago and may need more, etc.), but most of it is because of 1) a really stupid thing I did at work back in 1993, 2) a car accident in 1994 where I was a passenger and ended up in six weeks of physical therapy, and 3) my computer chair is all jacked up b/c one of the Things broke the lever that enables you to raise & lower it.  Hubby’s been encouraging me for years to go see a chiropractor, especially since our medical insurance would cover 80% of the cost.  Well, my back has been SO bad the last few days that this morning I called the first chiropractic place I could think of — one around the corner from our old place.  I make it a rule only to see female doctors if it’s the kind of doctor where you have to get undressed.  Anyhow, they said they could see me right away, but they had no female doctors in their practice.  Just this once, I thought it would be OK b/c We can see you as soon as you can get here was pretty terrific.  I should have known better.  Yupp.   Shoulda known.  When I got there and saw the doctor, I panicked.  Um, are you Fahima and Umar’s dad?  Yupp.  A dad from the Things’ school.  Not just any dad, but the dad of one of Thing Two’s classmates, a guy who picks up his son three times a week and frequently drops the kids off in the morning.  Yupp.  The ONE time in over six years that I go see a male doctor, and it turns out to be someone I know.  Ugh.  (The last one was a dermatologist when I was pregnant w/Thing Two, and he was terrible, made borderline jokes, etc.  The ONLY good male doctor I can remember in my adult life is Dr. Caughey up at UCSF, but I didn’t see him on purpose.  He was the one who admitted me when I had pre-eclampsia, and he treated me off & on while I was there.   He was great.)  Oy. 

That’s probably not a good thing to do in class.  Shouldn’t you be paying attention?

Hunh?

Exactly.

No, I don’t want salad.  I just want plain lettuce and tomatoes, mixed up with salad dressing.

OK.

Yes folks, it’s that time of year again.  Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month starts next weekend. 

I was very upset to lose my button with Paul’s picture on it in Florida this summer.  At least I had it last year.  I might order a new one, and I might not; we’ll see.  When we were at Jo-Ann today, though, I found some inexpensive organdy ribbon in baby blue and baby pink so I could make a bunch of awareness ribbon pins.  I figured since those are smaller they would be easy for people to wear more often.  I forgot to get fray-chek, though.  I’ll have to pick some up tomorrow or Tuesday.  I’ll be sending some to the SAND gang and probably one or two other people.  I should be able to make quite a lot of them with the amount of ribbon I got.  If you want one, let me know.  (LS, I know you probably do, since you “wore a virtual ribbon” last year; WT, do you want one?  I thought of you, but I won’t send you one if it’s not something you’d want.)

For more information, check here.

Here’s where it stands currently.  I decided just to make the largest box of the Very Special Things.  Everything’s been felted.  Today, Thing One and I hit Jo-Ann to get the fabric and thread for the lining.  I managed not to force my opinion on her and let her buy the fabric she wanted.  There were others that would have been much better but hey, it’s not my box.

I was really surprised at the way the Peace Fleece felted.  Knitting it up, it was very rough and scratchy.  Felted, it’s SO soft and incredibly fuzzy.  Normally, I don’t shave my felted items, but this time I’m absolutely going to have to.  I’ll probably do the shaving and embellishing tonight.

Well, Bobcat got a call from Mrs. G’s nurse the other day, and Mrs. G’s probably only got a couple of weeks.  That’s what Bobcat & her sister Cindy thought, but it’s much more official when it comes from the hospice nurse.  Bobcat went up yesterday.  MarkyMark and Andrei went up today, so Sammy came for a last-minute sleepover.

Finished the shawl today, as you can see.  Unfortunately, knitting into the wee hours of the morning while still on the dopey post-surgery meds appears to cause one to do things such as make the shawl get wider as it goes.  I didn’t notice this unfortunate situation till this morning when I was weaving in the ends.  It really looked bad.  No way I could frog it and fix it.  Sooo, I wished I had a copy of KnitFix, and had to come up with a rather unorthodox repair job.  If you looked at it while it was on or while it was lying down with the right side up, you wouldn’t really know.  The wearer will be able to tell, though.  Oh, well.  It will still be special anyway, and I KNOW Bobcat will cry when she sees the card I put with it.

Party went well.  I’m still exhausted.  I’ll upload pictures from the “pre-party” with Poppa, Nana, and Auntie, but not right this particular minute.  All the kids at “Nancy Drew and the Case of the Happy Birthday” seemed to enjoy themselves.  All nine of the kids she invited came.  Three of the parents stuck around; the others did a drop-off, which was fine.

We went simple on the food (dogs/sausages, salad, chips, beans, juices, sodas, and beer).  Made a chocolate chunk fudge cake in the shape of a magnifying glass.  Kept the kids busy with games:

• Who am I? (book character name taped to back, have to guess who you are)
• Guess the Guests (multiple-choice game with trivia about all the kids at the party)
• Several Rounds of Hot/Warm/Cold (pick two kids each round, send ‘em out of the room one at a time, hide something, time how long it takes each kid to find it)
• How Many in the Jar? (different kinds of M&M’s, prize was the jar of M&M’s)

Goodie bags were “Detective Supplies”:

• Disguise (sunglasses, two mustaches, ugly fake teeth)
• Magnifying glass
• Flashlight on keychain
• Play money (for paying off informants)
• Trail mix bar (for energy on long stake-outs)

Grandma Ruthie and Grandpa Gil watched remotely via webcam.  Poppa got overwhelmed by the kids and ended up lying down on Thing Two’s bed.  Nana snuck out with my knowing (she says she didn’t want to make others think they needed to leave; I suspect she was just eager to beat a hasty retreat after all her time here, playing Florence Nightingale).

Even Thing Two declared later “That was a great party!”  I think it was a success.  I also think I overdid it b/c I’m a hurtin’ pup today.  Oh,well.  It’s only twice a year, eh?