A dog story on Friday

I finished Marley & Me last night, it was a great story. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I never really thought about how it would have to end. It was very sad and brought on the tears. I have an extremely soft spot for dogs. I can watch a movie where the blood and guts fly but if one dog is hurt, lost or dies I am a wreck.
Old Yeller was read to my second grade class. The teacher had to call my mother to come take me home. I would not stop crying. I cried during all the Benji movies. Lassie movies were just as bad. I watched Eight Below with the kids and had to have lots of tissues.
I have had pets all my life. So that means I have had to suffer through many losses.

I had my own Lassie as a young girl (8 or 9 until age 12). His name was Woodstock. He was given to me by my aunt. I thought he was the most wonderful thing in the world. He would walk to school with me, then turn around and go home. He was my anchor in difficult times. I remember crawling into the doghouse with him and going to sleep. Woodstock ran along my bike every time I went for a ride. I could not get in trouble or yelled at if he was around. He would cover me with his body and look at whoever was yelling.
I was completely devastated when he died. I was young so I never noticed that he had stopped going to the bathroom. One day I was outside trying to get him to play and he just kept trying to go to the bathroom. I told my mom Woodstock was sick, so we took him to the vet. The vet found a mass in his bowels. They wanted him to stay over night for some tests. I remember that I was stern with him because he did not want to stay, whining and pulling away from the tech. I woke up the next morning and started bugging mom to call the vet and see how he was, see when we could come pick him up. I did not know yet that the vet office had called very early to say that Woodstock had died during the night. My mom kept putting me off until my dad got home. They told me and I became hysterical. I ran out of the house and got on my bike. I rode all over the neighborhood and ended up at he vet office, it was only one mile from our house. I went inside and demanded to see him. My parents had not know what to do with a 100 pound collie so they had the the vet take care of him. All they could give me was his collar and leash. I looked at the people and their pets in the waiting room and began yelling "go home take your dogs home he will just kill them" Needless to say they called my house, but I left before anyone got there. I cried myself to sleep for weeks. Because I never saw him, I convinced myself that he was alive and that the vet had given him away to someone else.
Twelve is a hard age, and that did not make it any easier. The death of my favorite dog was the beginning of my very unhappy teenage years.

Dogs on Thursday

I heard a commotion yesterday and found Starsky standing in the tub waiting for someone to turn the faucet on so he could drink.


He loves to drink out of the faucet, the faster the water the better.

Please do not look at the very old bathtub
This is as close as Hutch wants to get to anything with water. When he was younger he would not even come in the door ever. He will come in now if there is no water running.

The baths we gave the other day were traumatic for all involved. I tried to make Hutch feel better by giving him treats. He would take them from me, then spit it out in the tub as if to say "nothing you can do will make this better"

I will shell out the $8 next time and take him to Feeder's Supply and save my back.

I got Marley and Me from the library yesterday. I am enjoying it very much.

Thanks for the suggestion Vivian

A vacation, I got to go on vacation!

Knitters Virtual Vacation Swap!

Everything was wrapped up and tied with gold ribbon. Little tags with each told me what was inside. Do you want to see it??

I went to Pennsylvania and then had a mini vacation to Vermont. Oh, the candy in the red box is already empty

The tags said, "goodies from my local yarn shop" "Souvenirs for you from recent vacation in Vermont"

"Crafts from Chester County, PA

local honey

local soap-the soap has a beautiful fairy on top.

yarn made by adult residents of a farm for developmentally disabled individuals" The yarn was dyed with onion skins

Can't forget the great magnets, peanuts and teas

Love the dishcloth!

Look at that mapley goodness.

Beautiful kid mohair,wool and nylon blend that wants to be a lace scarf from the lace book Wrapped in Comfort
Gorgeous fiber from Pine Ledge Fiber Studio in Fairfax, Vermont



Thank you so much Marsha!

Everyone, go say hi to Marsha

Tuesday night Knitting

I frogged the blue stockinette seed stitch sweater. Ruth and Tabitha tried to talk me out of it. Just rip out to the offending round they said. That was not good enough for me. I had about 9 inches finished. I need to learn to acknowledge when I am too tired to knit. I knit an entire round out of order. It was not noticeable until several more rounds were finished. So when I saw the mess up yesterday morning I spent most of the day pissed off. I was having second thoughts about the sizing, it seemed too snug when I tried it on her. I read the article in Knitting Daily about ease in garments. I actually was able to figure out some of the knitting math that has always eluded me. I had cast on 100 stitches, I was getting 4.5 stitches per inch. Another 10 stitches will give the room needed, so I will be casting on 110 stitches. This is a big deal for me, gauge and the need to swatch has never really clicked for me.
Loretta finished up the toes on her socks, Tabitha worked on a box stitch baby blanket. She left a little early to go out on the town with her cousin. Holly knit on mittens of her own design. They are incredible. I will let you know as soon as her design is available. No photos of Tuesday night knitting this week. I have been taking lots of photos for my KVVS and needed to charge the batteries. Olivia's sweater will be put in time out for a few days.

Some bloggy fun

http://goldenpurl.blogspot.com/2007/08/contest.html


has an interesting contest going on. Go over and take a look.
Good Luck!

P.S. Tell her Sonya sent ya.

2007 Heart Walk/Luke

The link in the previous post is not live anymore

The Story of: Luke Samuel
On January 21st, 2005, after a healthy pregnancy, we were blessed with our second son, Luke. My husband and I, along with his big brother Noah, were so excited Luke was finally here. Just before we were to go home from the hospital (Clark Memorial) our pediatrician, Dr. Jeb Teichman, heard what he thought to be an innocent murmur and decided to have Luke checked out by a cardiologist, Dr. Delwyn McOmber. In a span of 45 minutes our lives turned upside down. Luke was immediately transported to Kosair Children’s Hospital where he was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and had his first open heart surgery at 6 days old. At two months old he had stomach surgery (Nissen Fundoplication and G-tube placement for severe reflux) before leaving KCH, and has required two more open heart surgeries since, at age 10 months and 22 months. He’s been a real trooper and is doing wonderful today! Through God’s grace, a lot of prayers, support and therapy Luke is a rowdy 2 year old and as of February 14, 2007 no longer has his g-tube!!! We are so grateful for all God has done in Luke’s little body and although he faces more surgeries we know God is faithful !!

2007 Heart Walk

We joined hundreds of people (and lots of dogs) and walked across the 2nd Street bridge yesterday. We walked for Luke he is the adorable little brother of Noah, who is Alex's best friend. Click on his name to find out a little bit about him. (Luke is the little guy being held in the far left of the photo)

The weather actually cooperated, it was in the high 80s with a nice breeze.

There were lots of corporate or business teams. Team Brave Hearts is a friends and family team.
Team Brave Heart was in the top 5 teams. They raised about $20,000

It is a team organized by the parents of children with heart defects. Most of the families shared the same pediatric cardiologists or were in a support group together.

There was lots to see and do. An inflatable jumper for the kids, free water and snacks for everyone and some entertainment. The Louisville Arena Football mascot Fire Dog



A little belly dancing for all to enjoy, especially the men.














Buddy from the Louisville Bats did a little dancing too. Then posed with Olivia.

S is for Silly

SCATTERGORIES ... and it's harder than it looks! Here are the rules:
* Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.
* They MUST be real places, names, things ... NOTHING made up!
* If you can't think of anything, skip it.
* You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
* If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, but you can't use my answers!
My name: Sonya

1. Famous Singer/Band: Sting 2. Four letter word: Stop

3. Street: Southside Dr. 4. Color: Sage

5. Gifts/Presents: Shoes 6. Vehicle: Saab

7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: State magnets 8. Boy Name: Scott

9. Girl Name: Stephanie 10. Movie Title: Sideways -the CA wine country movie

11. Drink:Sprite 12. Occupation: Salesperson

13. Celebrity:Sylvester Stallone 14. Magazine: Southern Living

15. U.S. City: Seattle 16. Pro Sports Teams: Sea Hawks

17. Fruit: Star Fruit 18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Sick

19. Something You Throw Away: Stuff 20. Things You Shout: S O B

21. Cartoon Character: Snoopy

Ok this is different so I am going to tag some people.

Lora

Tabitha

Mae

Cris

Gina

You want a good laugh?! I have never noticed that there are two buttons on the right hand corner. So I have been composing all of my posts in Edit Html. Duh! So be ready for lots of color, some bold and just maybe some italics.

How do you entertain yourself in this heat?

Apparently Starsky entertains himself by riping tearing shredding and chewing my books. Three large coffee table books are destroyed and three other books are severely damaged. Including a 31 year old book that was my favorite as a child. He is taking them off of a low shelf. He has done this once before, but it was only one book. It 102 degrees right now. It is so very hot that I don't want to leave them outside for any length of time. I was only gone for about 1.5 hours. I guess we will be getting the crate back out and he can stay locked up. At this point I am so mad at him, I love dogs but they cannot destroy my stuff, especially books.

Dogs on Thursday

I have joined Dogs on Thursday so be prepared for some doggie love, cuteness and funny stories every Thursday.

Hutch is on guard at Fort Keim
We think it is really funny to watch Starsky drink water. He drinks gallons.

If you look closely you can see that the entire muzzle is in the water. Sometimes he blows bubbles in the water.
This is our first Lab, our first dog ever that likes water.
I tend to be Hutch heavy on the pictures, so for this first Dogs on Thursday I give you more Starsky.

A scare in my neighborhood

I was out shopping today with my mom and nephew when I got a scary phone call. There was a house fire just two house away from ours. Lots of smoke and flames out the windows. The worst of it was over by the time I returned home. The L-shaped shotgun house is a total loss. Something was left unattended on the stove. The one person home got out safely. The Fire Chief told me that he was very concerned because of the closeness of the neighboring houses. John has found some debris in the backyard, and both side yards. He is going to check the garage roof tomorrow. The High today was 98,(tomorrow is supposed to be 100) so the firefighters had to be very careful. They had extra firefighters on hand to rotate them out so they could take a break.
We only know a few of our neighbors, this family was not one of them.
I was worried about the dogs out in the backyard. The last photo was taken from the backyard.



Added later- I did not take any photos of the house. The firetrucks and ambulance said enough. I felt like it would be wrong.

Tuesday night Knitting

Just a few of us again this week. Loretta, Holly and I.
Loretta is on the toes of her third pair of socks. She had lots of great stories to tell about her Alaskan adventure. One of the nights on the ship they had a chocolate buffet. It sounded just incredible.

Holly is nearly finished with the second sock, knitted out of Panda Cotton. She also brought her new book. I looked through it and it has some wonderful things. My friend Lora
knitted a beaded box from a pattern written by the same author.
I actually have something to show for Tuesday night knitting. This is the beginning of a sweater/shirt for Olivia. I am working from a stitch pattern that I really like. It is "stockinette seed stitch". Ruth says it is probably already out there somewhere, but for now she wrote it up for some baby things she had knitted. So no real pattern. When I get to the sleeves I will have to look at some patterns and find sleeves that I like. I will have to do the same thing when it come to the neck.
Just so ya'll know, I did NOT do a gauge swatch. I know, I know you think I would have learned. But no. So here's to hoping it fits.

First Day of School (a little late)

Here is my baby looking so happy to be going off to the first day of kindergarten. He was just as happy when he came home.
I'm not sure if this is real happy or fake happy. Either way I got a good smile.
Here they are all together. One of them made the other two mad so this is the only photo I could get of all of them and of Olivia.
Check this blog Crochet by Cris go down about half the page and look at the back to school pictures. Her 4th grader looks so much like Alex, that I showed the family and they thought it was Alex.
Take a look and tell me what they think. Both very handsome boys!

The next generation of knitters..

Stacy, the cute preggo that you had been seeing, had a baby.
Audrey Lynn was born Tuesday morning. Here she is with her wonderful parents Stacy and Bobby.
Now I get to knit baby girl things. What to knit..hmm..

A brand new bag

This cute little bag is the Mandy's Candy Bag Knit is some Peaches & Creme cotton "Fiesta Ombre"
I dislike knitting i-cord so much I learned to do a simple crochet chain for the
tie. A candle is inside the bag right now.
These would be great in a solid color, white, blue or pink to use as favor bags
for a wedding or baby shower.
Thanks for the cute pattern, Amanda

Here she is Miss Birthday Girl

My brother Jason and his fiancee Becca!

Thursday was a good mail day too

My July reds came on Thursday. Thank you so much JillWhat a great idea to have mailed them in the red container! The red thing in between the yarn is one of two glow sticks. The little fan is wonderful! I had to tell the three kiddos that this was MY cool stuff and to keep sweaty little hands off.

The two balls of Peaches and Creme cotton will be perfect for the Mandy's Candy Bag I want to knit.
Thanks again Jill for the great swap!

A WIP that is almost an FO

The knitting part is all finished. I need to find some ribbon to do the embellishing. I have some pretty beads that will match. In the next picture I show you, Becca will be wearing her birthday crown.

A boy needs his mother

Here is Eli 3 months before his 4th b-day.
Well, I did it. I gave my youngest child to the local elementary school. He was so excited this morning. I turned the light on and said "is there a kindergartner in here" he jumped right outa bed and ran to get dressed. He is excited but I have other feelings. Giving him to strangers is hard. I am expecting them to take good care of him. If he is sad will they hold his hand, If he cries will they call me, will they let him go to his sister Ok now I am gonna cry. I have not been alone during the day for 10 years.
The heat here has been horrible 100 101 and 102 degrees over the past few days. They will dismiss early because some of the local schools are having trouble with AC. So tomorrow will be the first full day of school, with lunch boxes and everything. I should be ok today, he will be home in about an hour. Tomorrow they will keep him until 2:45.

Added at 12:45pm They will have early dismissal again tomorrow. Maybe Monday will be back to the regular schedule. P.S. Eli loved it!

This was in my mail today.

And boy was it needed. Today has not been one of my good days. The feeling of always being at the mercy of someone else is not a happy feeling. The more you try, you just can't seem to get a few steps ahead. If you do manage those few steps ahead , the sidewalk will jump up and take you down.This wonderful bag was a b-day present from Lora. I love the little elephant stitch markers. Lora is quite crafty, she knits, beads and makes wonderful things with a sewing machine.
Thank you Lora. It brightened my day a bit.

Lace n. an ornamental fabric or net of fine threads

I have been wanting this book for months. I finally got it yesterday with a gc to Borders Books. The author is the very wonderful Alison H of spin dye knit
If you have yet to read her blog, go there now! We have been conversing long before I started the Skein.
The book is wonderful. It has charts and written patterns, 6 pages of helpful hints for lace knitting, and beautiful color photographs. I will probably start with one of the 4 lace scarf patterns. My only thought would be to have it spiral bound so it would lay flat.
Alison, thank you so much for a wonderful book!!

Tuesday night Knitting

Did not really happen. Olivia and I were the only ones there. Loretta and Jill (I think) are still out of town. Tabitha had open house with Emma at her new school. Emma is starting kindergarten. Stacy is Very pregnant and tired. On top of that her new house is two counties away. Ruth, the other pregnant knitter, is busy getting ready for school to start. And Holly got a better offer, dinner with her mom. Mom was paying. So Livy and I left early. I did get my mocha freeze.

A WIP continued

This is me trying to P2tog. The PSSOs were really hard. I think I will get the crochet hook to help me.





It looks like I will be able to finish it by Saturday. Wait, crap, did I say (type) that for all to see?!

A WIP

This is what I am knitting for my soon to be sis in-law, Becca.





It is an interesting and difficult knit. If you were wondering, it is crepe paper that I am knitting with.

It is a pattern found in AlterKnits. It has not been without much cursing. Yesterday Eli yelled "I heard that" I thought I had been muttering quietly under my breath.