Thursday, August 24, 2006

Relaxing weekend

Yes, I realize it is already Thursday.
Last weekend was wonderful. The cabin really nice!
The food Wonderful. The company perfect.
I spun, I knit, I drank, I talked, I ate, then I slept.

I miss it already.
This week the ballet run started. That means I pick up DD2 and we run home and change
clothes and then I take her to ballet. She has ballet almost every day this year.
Today there is an audition for the group of dancers who go to SERBA every year.
DD2 has made the decision that she isn't going to try out for this group or for Nutcracker this year because, She wants to be able to have time to do her homework and go to some Chorus
events. Good for her!

Next post I may talk about the difficulty I have in making time for the evening meal because of the dance schedule.

I'll try not to bore everyone with a screaming session about my 18 yr old.

Viki

Friday, August 18, 2006

Fiber Weekend

For the last several years there is a group of us who get together and do a "Center of the Fiber Universe" party. Annie, the original COTFU, has moved to Las Vegas. I have to tell you that one of the better ideas she has had in the past is to have several of us get together on Odd Numbered Tuesdays at the coffee shop in Barnes and Noble. We sit and knit or spin and talk and if anyone passing by wants to join us, we let them. Her second greatest idea was the COTFU yearly party. It has been held in TN and different places in KY. Sometimes we have had people from St. Louis, Ohio, several from Indiana and Kentucky. This year it will be small, just the regular Odd Tuesday group minus a few.

This year Cindy has secured us a cabin in the woods. Well, it is a rustic dublex. We get half.
It is 3 stories, has a game room and a grill and 2 bedrooms and 2 futon sofas for sleeping.
We all bring food. Hopefully Anita is bringing Carrot Cake. I'm bringing margaritas and enough food to feed us all probably. My main dish will have corn cut from the cob, halved grape tomatos, red onion, olive oil and Balsamic vinegar. Makes my mouth water to think about it.

I'm trying to get everything I might possibly need packed today. I don't know what the chair situation is, wonder if I should toss a few of the plastic outdoor chairs that Annie and I bought for the original party, in the back of the car?

On another tasty note I made granola bars from Alton Brown's site on food network. I of course changed a few things, used what I had on hand and they turned out to be like a nut & oat brittle.
Yummy. The kids both like them, which is amazing as they never agree about anything!

Viki

Thursday, August 10, 2006

slogging along

I'm on my 5th repeat of clue 4 of the mystery shawl. I am slogging along. I was going to do 6 or 8 repeats of this clue because the shawl looks fairly small. Lace is like that, blocking is magic.
I don't know if I can stand to do any more repeats of this clue, I'm getting tired of this project.
I hate it when that happens. When I finally finish and block this beast I'll try to post a picture.

For once DD1 woke up early and so both the girls are awake and it is fairly early in the day. I may have to separate them by room. DD1 can slay DD2 with a word and a look. I really dislike puperty and all that comes with it. Can you say moody and insecure. The noise polution in this house is nuts when they are both awake, music from one end and a movie from the other. I think I'll listen to a book, the earbuds will block the other noise.

Gas was $3.09 yesterday evening, we heard a rumor it was to go to $3.55 today. That is crazy high. Flame me now, but they should fix the Alaskan pipeline, it would help. I lived in Alaska for 3 years. Every person in Alaska benifits moneywise from the oil. As for the wildlife: the pipeline is heated so the area around the pipeline always has grass and food. There are more moose and other wild critters now than before the pipeline.

School starts next week for DD2. I'm not ready. The gas prices alone make it difficult. It is 17 miles one way to take her to school. My husband takes her to school on his way to work, but I have to pick her up and then take her to ballet after school.

About 3 times a year I seriously think of homeschooling. DD2 goes to an Arts middle school in downtown Louisville. Last year went really well, great grades, AP classes, drama and chorus. After school there was dance classes with the Louisville ballet. We only had a few problems with girls picking on her. Girls are so mean at this age. Luckily, DD is mostly oblivious and doesn't play mind games. Unfortunately she only has a few friends. Everyone lives so far from everyone else that it is hard to see anyone except at school. So different from neighborhood schools. If we homeschooled we'd use less gas, have more time for fun stuff, but the friend issue would still be there. We might argue more as well.

Any solutions?

Viki

Saturday, August 05, 2006

Lazy day

My oldest child works for UPS. That means she works nights. It also means that we try to do somewhat quiet activities while she is sleeping through the day.

I have been knitting on the mysteryshawl4. I am on the 4th repeat of the 4th clue. I should have used a larger needle, this shawl is small! I'll have to do at least 2 more repeats of this clue before I start the edging clue.

DH is napping at the moment. He'll probably cut the grass later today. The heat wave has broken, it is in the 80's today. Yea. The dog is happy too.

My youngest is making envelopes. I have 2 sets of templates for this activity. I buy calenders at the $1. store for the kids to make envelopes out of, today's calender is puppies. Way too cute for me to use, perfect for a 12 yr old.

My bloodwork results came in normal except for zinc. So I'll take a vitamin with zinc and see if that stops the hair loss. I'd really rather not be bald.

Viki

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

headaches, hair loss and friendship

I haven't had a migraine in months. Yesterday, between stress and PMS I had a doozy. I still have a bit of a headache on the left side of my head around my eye.

I go to my regular doctor today to talk about the lump and the fact that I have been losing a significant amount of hair on a daily basis. I didn't say anything last visit because I was a bit preoccupied with the lump.
My hair is fine, but usually fairly thick. Not so anymore. The last month I've lost a lot of hair.
It's scary.

Today is also an Odd Tuesday. A few years ago my friend Annie decided that our group of knitters and spinners should meet on Odd Numbered Tuesday's at the local Barnes and Noble coffee shop to eat cheesecake, drink fine coffee and spin or knit. If we attract a few people over to the pursuit of fiber, that would be great. Since then Annie has moved to Las Vegas, and there are still 3 or 4 of us that meet almost every odd numbered Tuesday. We miss Annie though.

At least 2 of us will show up this evening to sit in the cool and talk and knit. Sometimes we even bring our kids. Anita comes from South East Indiana. She drives 1 1/2 hours to be with us and Cindy drives about an hour from her house.

It is a reminder that friendships take work. You have to nurture each other and plan for ways to get together in this busy modern world. In these days of email, blogs and cell phones it is easy to communicate, but not so easy to feel close to family and friends.
Make time.
Phone someone you haven't seen in a while and invite them to lunch or meet at a coffee shop to catch up and just be together.

This summer instead of not hearing from the women I work with we have had 3 get togethers.
One woman is from Iran, she had us over for food and had her friends help and we all got to know more about her and her home country and customs. Another is from Greece and we learned all about greek food and looked at modern greek publications. Then there was the baby shower for one of the ladies. Good food, good fun and we all got to see each other and talk to each other, something we don't get to do while teaching 3 and 4 year old children.

Tomorrow I will go to lunch with 2 other women I work with and then on to a yarn shop because we all knit and want to see each other more.

Friendship, like any relationship takes work. Call someone you haven't seen in awhile and let them know you were thinking about them.

Viki