Last Post of 2008

Since this is the last one of the year, I thought I'd do a recap of the good vs the bad. There's so much of both that I'll have to pick just a few highlights. Here's some of the good in no particular order:

I bravely went where I didn't think I could go in knitting and I'm pretty proud of myself. I've learned new techniques and completed projects I didn't think I could do. My husband had his first year anniversary with the new job. My son turned 2! We were able to make many changes to the house - including moving our bedrooms upstairs and cleaning up the downstairs. We bought a new car. We have food, clothes and warmth when otherwise we could be on the streets. We have family and friends who love us. We are not poor, we are merely broke. We have a reliable vehicle. Gas prices have gone down. Our son has everything he needs and most of what he wants. I have an iPod!

And here's some of the bad, also in no particular order:

I unfortunately continue to have anxiety attacks due to a number of reasons. My father-in-law continues to be very ill and very ill-mannered, not a good combination. My MIL had knee surgery and lost her apartment due to mobility issues. We continue to live with my grumpy father who reminds us on a weekly basis that we have absolutely NO privacy. We live with my father and have no privacy. Did I add, we live with my father and have no privacy? Right, moving on. We are broke. We had to cash in our last remaining savings account to pay the remaining bills and put money down on a car. We have a car payment...and no savings or retirement. iTunes is expensive!

All in all, I think we have more good to be thankful for than bad to bemoan over. I continue to remind myself that my father is having just as tough a time as we are. Whatever we face, he faces. No privacy, all his things have been rearranged, changes have happened everywhere. Regardless of whether these things are positive or not, he has had his world turned upside down over the last several years. He may not accept it with good grace but then again, it's his house and he's letting us do all these things to it so he doesn't have to accept it with good grace. We would be arrogant to assume he's ok with everything that's going on and we need to be cognizant of his position. We need to remember to respect him and understand that he's doing the best he can with this situation. It's not ideal for anyone except for the wild man. He's getting the best of everything and since he's the one we are all doing it for then I guess it's safe to say that everything will work out as it's supposed to. We need to remember that we all love each other and we should continue to try to make this as comfortable a place as we can - for all who live here. No matter how difficult it seems sometimes. And if that means many more sacrifices on our part? Than so be it.

I am grateful to be here. I am at a place where I can say I no longer miss our old house merely that I miss the idea of our old house. Anxiety attacks aside, this is our house now and it is a very good place to be. Wild man is insanely happy here. He has lots of room to play, lots of toys to play with, plenty of food to eat and juice to drink, and a safe and warm environment to live in. He's growing up with people who love him. What more could I ask for?

Here's to the old, bring in the new! I'm pledging to be a better person to my family in the new year. I'm going to show more respect to my father, more love and support to my husband, more attention to my son and I'm going to try to meet my 40th birthday with a sense of humor. Bring on the mammograms!

Happy knitting and have a safe and happy holiday!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Quick Hello!

Things have been so blasted busy the last few weeks that I have seriously neglected my blog! I barely have enough time to sit down and sift through email before I'm needed somewhere else in the house. Today is no different. Our big combined family Christmas party is being hosted here in our tiny little house. It is finally clean, lighted, toys put away, food pre- prepared and is awaiting our guests. Dad has been exceedingly grumpy - but with some reason I'll not explain. I do adhere to some respect for privacy! In any case, it's been a little tense around here and I'm hoping today will help brighten the Holiday atmosphere.

I have several FO's and many pictures to post in the next few days. As for right now? I'm off to make some Shrimp Stuffed Eggs courtesy Paula Deen's recipe.

Happy Holidays, happy knitting, be safe and enjoy the coming New Year!

Hoping you all have a wonderfully blessed and safe Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!! Thanks to all who have been reading my blog and I promise you, once this holiday hullaballoo is over I'll be posting more often!!

Be happy and safe and as always, happy knitting!

Photo posting

Pics of the wild man during our power outage...notice the battery powered DVD player that had just enough juice to play Franklin and the Green Knight once.




Recent pics of my darling child occupying himself.

Mysterious unknown bird that isn't in the Audobon Society book - the closest we get is some bird that is indigenous to the West coast! And we have them by the dozens here in southern Maine!



The view out my front window of the recent ice storm. It got much much worse. We lost power for 2 days - there are still some people without power including the road in Saco where we used to live and it's been nearly a week! Roughing it sucks, though. You don't realize what you take for granted until it's gone! The bottom pic is how I entertained myself by firelight...knitting socks for my Secret Santa!

What I've been crafting...hand painted origami boxes accented with glitter glue and hand crafted jewelry to go in them! I'm loving making jewelry and would do it more it it weren't so durned expensive!!

What I want for Christmas...
L O V E the knit cloche on the cover of Boutique Knits.









FO!! Socks for my Secret Santa! Also my first time using two different colors. That was an experience! Anyway, they are done and now I'm onto the next Christmas project...the felted mocs for my Dad.


BTW, wild man has been very well behaved of late. Don't know what I'm doing right but it's working!!!

Ciao and happy knitting!

Small Victories

I've been making some progress with the wild man's behavior. Not sure how long it's going to last but I plan on sticking with it. I know he's only testing his boundaries and I also know I've been reacting very badly. So I decided to try something new. I'm monitoring my behavior. If I react badly to the wild man's negative behavior he escalates. Spanking his hands doesn't work either...in fact, it's only teaching him that it's ok to hit - which of course it isn't. Two negatives DO NOT make a positive! I know most of you are thinking this is all common sense and maybe it is. Trust me, it's not a natural thing for me. My mother's been gone for 15 years so I don't get any kind of feedback. And, since having children was never part of my game plan, I've had many years to become comfortably selfish. So, believe me when I say that this is extremely difficult for me. I need to be conscious every minute of what I'm projecting to my son. To be frank, I'm exhausted. The good news is it is working! Instead of seeing Mumma fly off the hook every time he misbehaves, he's seeing Mumma calmly advising his consequences of bad behavior and actually following through without reiterating or negotiating. He screams and won't stop, his favorite toy is removed from the room for a while. If he continues, more toys disappear until he realizes Mumma is serious about using his indoor voice. I have to say, I've nearly cleaned out his toy box today. But by the end of the morning he had earned two of his toys back by listening and doing the first time I ask instead of the third time. It has been confusing for him yet more pleasant for me. He's been calmer and nicer. We even had a long period of time where we played together and laughed and had lots of fun! It's been a while since we've had much fun together. I was WAY too demanding and not thinking about how my behavior was influencing his. I have a lot of work ahead of me but I'm not going to give up. I want to have fun and snuggle time with my son again. I think I'm on the right track. Like I said, this may seem like a "duh" point with most of you and again, maybe it is. What can I say? I had 12 years with my husband when it was just the two of us and I was perfectly happy. Selfishness is very hard to suppress. The crux of the matter is that he is now more important than anything else in the world and I need to show him that Mumma really can focus on him even when I feel I'm being lured away. Pray for me, people!!! I really need all the help I can get! Pray for patience, tolerance, generosity, calmness and all those things that make a Mom a really good Mom.

Peace and, as always, happy knitting!!!

Never Enough Time in a Day

I can't believe how long its been since I last posted. We've been super busy around here and things seem to have slowed down a tad. We had my oldest SIL stay with us through the long Thanksgiving weekend and it was simply wonderful! She is such a creative lady. She brought along some crafting projects for us to try and introduced our wild man to watercolor paints! It wasn't that bad! We covered him with one of hubby's old tee shirts and plastered the table with newspaper. Then we let him go to town! Here he is with his creation, isn't it wonderful? He really has a good eye for color!

She also introduced me to the wonderful world of beading jewelry. Wow, I never knew it could be so much fun or so expensive!!! Of course I gravitate to the good stuff so I had to pay for it! I made my MIL a lovely Christmas present from the wild man. Check it out! (Don't worry, she doesn't read my blog).

Yes, those are Swarovski crystals...like I said the good stuff, right? If I'm going to do something, I'm going ALL the way! I also made myself a beautiful pair of earrings. Photos another time.

We also learned some origami - making boxes! We made these lovely boxes after watercoloring our designs on the top paper. I lined mine with self-sticking felt.

Hubby made several and the little man did one too! We are going to use them to give our gifts in. I'm telling you - this woman should run her own crafting business. She's done everything from beading, candle making, clay polymer, origami, painting, and photography to woodworking and welding and everything in between! She's great with kid friendly ideas, too. She really brings out the best in me - I have to think she's my creativity muse. Nothing comes out right when she's not around! We also stamped some cards and that carried over to my PC group on Tuesday morning. I made these during group:

No progress to report on the "green monster." My new term for the never ending hubby sweater. After having to rip out the sleeve I lost my ambition for the project. So right now I'm finishing up the last sock for my SIL and have wound my balls for the slipper project. Today I'm ordering the leather slipper soles. At least I'll have everyone else's Christmas presents done even if my poor hubby doesn't get his sweater then. I haven't given up on it. I'm just going to pick it up again after Christmas. I do want him to be able to wear it this winter season!! It's my goal to finish it before I start any other large projects - like the swallowtail shawl. The palindrome scarf is hibernating for now. I'm a third of the way done but I have more important projects to finish first!

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to get the wild man dressed so we can head outside and get some fresh air. It's really lovely out today!

Ciao and Happy Knitting!