Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Wednesday off

I switched my schedule around at work this week to accommodate my in-law's trip out of town, so I had today off.

I ended up going to work anyway, because one of my doctors wanted to adopt one of our kittens. They're technically too young to be going to new homes, but they're big and they're healthy, and the mother is done nursing them and anxious to escape the confines of our bathroom, so I decided to let them go.

I didn't think it was going to be hard saying goodbye to them. It's not like I ever entertained the idea that I might actually keep any of them, but kittens grow on you. Really, really grow on you. And when one of the other girls decided she wanted to take one, and chose the one that nearly died- the one I pretty much brought back from the brink of death- I did cry. Only a little.

So, two gone, two left to find homes for. And I realized after the fact that I really didn't have any pictures of them. Here's one of two and a half of them.


It's that little black and white one that really stole my heart.

After that, J and I went and spent some time at the park. It's been too long since we've done so, and it was great. The weather today was beautiful-- low 70s, no humidity to speak of, and wonderfully sunny. I was surprised that we pretty much had the place to ourselves.





Now, I do realize that the last picture isn't one of those cutest kid in the world sort of shots, but it's my absolute favorite out of the group because look what he's doing! Yes! My kid who, just a few months ago, had trouble negotiating curbs and steps is finally getting his balance and confidence. He's slow and meticulous, but he's climbing all by himself. We've visited this same park regularly for about 2 years, and today was the first time he attempted this.

The picture I don't have is of him deciding to try and slide down the pole! I'm glad I was underneath to catch him. Otherwise, instead of writing this, I'd probably be sitting in the ER right now waiting on sutures. :)

I still ahve yet to show you guys the progress I've made on the cami, but it's coming along. I'm just about to separate for the armholes, and I think it'll zip along from here. Still holding my breath about not running out of yarn, though. We'll see.

And I'll leave you with this shot of myself with a long-overdue haircut. I'm still adjusting to not being able to pull it back out of my face, but I do love it. She also trimmed J's up a little.

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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Easter, mostly in pictures

EDIT: For some reason Firefox is showing the pictures in their unedited size and orientation for me. They are perfect in Explorer, though. No idea how to fix it. Is it the same for you guys, too? If so, my apologies, but I ain't doing it over unless someone can tell me a quick and easy fix.

The easter bunny was very good to the munchkin this year. And before you roll your eyes at the Tony Stewart cupholder, it was a very specific request. My kid loves Home Depot.
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Afterwards, we went to Granny and Daddy Dave's for egg hunting.
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And some more easter goodies...

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I remembered at about 8 o'clock the night before that I'd wanted to start a tradition of knit bunnies for J every easter, so I had to come up with something quick. Here's blinding yellow yarn meets quick pattern:
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J took one look at it and told me "I like the blue one better." Referencing the one I made him last year. I had to agree.

And Dad showed off his hillbilly roots with his newest acquisition.

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And I'll leave you with a dose of cuteness.
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This one loves to be held on her back and a good tummy rub. The others, not so much. She'll be the first one to go with her sweet disposition.

That is all.

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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Air Show, and Knitting, and Kittens, Oh My!

We had a fairly busy weekend around here, but I somehow managed to get a little knitting done, too.

On Sunday we met up with Thomas and Michele for an air show that was literally minutes from their house. I figured that J would really love it, seeing as how he's completely smitten with his model airplanes. Well, he did really like the airplanes, but it was a tough day to be a shortie. It was very windy, and the airport where the show was had no shade, and was mainly dry sandy dirt. The poor kid was getting pummeled with sand in his face and eyes, and it made him miserable almost immediately. No sooner had we spread out a blanket and all got situated did he turn to me and say "Let's go home."

We compromised, though. He took my glasses, and that made it a little better. I was a bad mom and didn't even think about packing his sunglasses or even sunblock. *smacks forehead* I just can't seem to get organized lately at all. I wasn't real keen on him wearing my prescription glasses around, thinking of what horrible harm I might be doing to his vision, but my prescription isn't very strong, and it made him content. Besides, he's a pretty cute bespectacled kid, isn't he? Kind of reminds me of the kid from Jerry McGuire... "The human head weighs 8 pounds."



J's favorite part was watching the F-14 fly. He was amazed that by the time he could hear it, it was already long gone.

We wandered around and looked at all the planes on display, and he even got to climb a ladder to look in the cockpit of one. Fun times.

Afterwards, Michele and Thomas were kind enough to have us stay for a barbecue at their house and J had a grand time chasing around the backyard with their beagle, Diana. He pitched the ultimate fit when it was time to leave, but that seems to be the way lately. The child simply doesn't switch gears well.

When we got home it was already dark, and J was asleep. Wil went in while I was getting J unloaded from the car, and sitting on the entry rug was one of the little kittens. Somehow Kelli (the big dumb dog) managed to get the bathroom door open, and spent the day tormenting kittens. The baby was nearly dead, cold as ice, soaking wet, and hardly breathing. Luckily, Kelli isn't a mean dog. I think she thought that they were just squeaky toys, because if she was interested in eating/killing them, she certainly could have. This is where I am thankful for J falling asleep in the car!

I was able to get the kitten warmed up with hot water bottles and some vigorous rubbing, and rubbed honey on his gums to bring his blood sugar back up. Even then, I didn't hold much hope for him. But once he was relatively warm, supplemented, and dry, there really wasn't much else I could do. I put him back in the box with the others and mom, and said a little prayer that he'd make it through the night.

Amazingly, he did. And now when we're not home, Kelli gets to spend the day in her cage. I just can't trust her right now, and she's picked up a lot of bad habits lately, like peeing on the floor in the livingroom. So, a little crate time isn't going to kill her, and it'll give me peace of mind until these kittens are gone.


Whew... onto the knitting.

I made myself promise to finish up some straggling stuff before starting anything new, so on the ride up to the airshow I finished off an irish hiking scarf that I'd started back in November, and then lost interest in. It's not my favorite project. It's not that the pattern is bad or anything, but I used some acrylic from my stash, and well, acrylic is great for crocheted afghans, but not so good for cabled scarves. Oh well, it's finished at least. Here's the bad picture to prove it.


I had also started a little bookmark for J's teacher, whose birthday is Thursday, but realized that the pattern and yarn weren't doing each other any justice, so I scrapped that one, and I *drum roll please* finally cast on for the Ballet Cami that I was supposed to have been knitting along with Michele for the past 6 months! Michele, I'm just finishing the ribbing! :) And there you have it-- long post done.

Oh, and did I ever show you the tidal wave socks? I love them! This might become my standby sock pattern. Easily memorized, interesting detail without much fuss. A quick knit, even with the impossibly thin and inelastic Tofutsies yarn. I love the color of this yarn, but my love for it ends about there. It's splitty, tiny, and feels 'stringy' on my feet. I could never walk a marathon in these. It would rub blisters on my toes. But they're cute as can be, and that makes them totally wearable. :)

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Sunday, March 09, 2008

The things you can find in my shed

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Meet Dirty Kitty. She's the little stray that adopted me a little over a year ago. Literally. She walked up to me, climbed my leg, rested her head on my shoulder, and from there on out, she has claimed residence on my porch, or somewhere in the vicinity of my house. She's not the sweetest cat in the world, but she's certainly not feral.

You'd think that working for a vet's office, I'd have had her spayed by now, but to be quite honest, I haven't really got the resources to be taking in every stray that wanders this way, and I've resigned myself to simply being a food source for her, and not getting emotionally attached.

But time works strange magic on you, doesn't it? More and more often we find ourselves saying "Have you seen Dirty Kitty today?" or "I'm going to go check on Dirty Kitty. It's sort of cold out tonight."

Well, as all unspayed little kitties will do, she turned up looking quite a bit larger than usual one day, and we all knew what was coming. What we didn't know is that she'd pick the coldest, windiest night of the year to have them. Actually, she may have had them the night before, during the torrential downpour, hail, and lightning storm. Either way, her timing sucked.

But when I came home from work yesterday and she wasn't sleeping in her usual place behind the grill, and wasn't chilling in the shade under the RV, I knew she'd gone into labor. I also knew that the kittens didn't stand a chance of survival if they were out in the elements.

So, in the dark, in the cold, in the windy yuck that was last night, I waited, rattling her bowl and waiting for Dirty to come home for some food. Eventually, it paid off, and my suspicions were correct--she had had the kittens.

I sat patiently, in the cold, in the wind, in the dark, and tracked her back to her babies.

She surprised me, though, and proved to be a smarter Mama than I had anticipated. She had them in a box in my shed, under my table, behind all of J's outgrown toys.

I guess she knew I wasn't threatening to her babies because, although she won't let me pick her up now that she's an adult, she allowed me to wrangle the box out from under the table, and bring it, the kittens and her inside.

My hall bath is now a temporary nursery until I can come up with a better solution. And while I never planned on getting involved with any of this, and I always swore I'd just let nature take it's course, I have to admit that they are the cutest darn babies I've ever seen.

All but one have manx tails. How odd.

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