New Addition

Meet Stanley!!!

This is my new baby. On Mother's day, the kids and I went to a small local festival with my parents. We usually try to go every year. There's live bands, pony rides, craft for kids, loads of vendors, and all that great fair food. This year, there was a woman there who was giving away kittens. At first, I resisted. Even when the kids started begging. But we don't need another cat. Really. A little while later, my son asked how much they were. When the lady said free to a good home, I knew it was over. I have always wanted a tan/orange cat. We always manage to get black/white/gray. This was the only one who was all orange/tan.

It took us a day to come up with a name. We were going to go with Milo, but it just didn't fit him. The hubby suggested Stanley, and you know what? I think he really looks like a Stanley. So the name stuck. This little guy is a sweetheart! He's 7 weeks old. He went to the vet monday, and other than worms (which I'm told are normal for new kitties) he's in perfect health. Stanley weighed in at 1.6 pounds. He was already sort of litter trained, although we did find a little poo once or twice the first day. Since then, he's using the litter box. He won't use the small one though. He uses the big one that the other 3 big kitties use. He purrs all the time! While playing, eating, sleeping... The other kitties didn't purr when they were young so this is a nice treat. It sounds so cute! the other cats have warmed up to Stanley. Smudge, the mother hen, has taken to bathing him. Of course, now he follows her around batting at her tail. Smart girl, she just ignores him and walks away. He naps in my lap during the day, and give me baby kitty kisses. I'm in love.
He really has blended in quite nicely :)

Hehe...Look, he's a little bigger than a skein of yarn pirate sock yarn :)

In Bloom

Have I ever mentioned that I have a brown thumb? Seriously, I can kill a plant just by looking at it. Last year, my Mom got into gardening. Big time. She orders flowers/plants like I order yarn. And we all know how much I like to order yarn. Sometimes she drove me nuts talking about gardening, showing me plants. But it wasn't long before I realized her hobby was like mine and I should support it, just as she did for me. My Mom lives like me. We don't work, we don't have any friends. Just each other. I took more interest this Spring when the real gardening began for her. She had trees cut down to make more room for her garden. Visits to the flower nursery were almost a daily excursion. The results, which she is still adding to, is inspiring. I started feeling envious. I mean, who wouldn't want a big beautiful garden to relax in, maybe knit a little? But me, garden? Ha!

So on one of our little shopping trips, I fell in love with some hanging baskets. Petunias. I decided to give it a whirl. I bought 2 yellow and a purple and hung them up across my front porch. They really are quite nice. And after a month, they are still thriving. They survived some late season frost. And me. It wasn't long before Mom decided I needed my own garden. (I suspect part of this is because she ran out of space in her yard, and thought she could start on mine.) We tossed around a few ideas, and that was the end of it.

Fast forward to this past week. I took Mom to Lowe's to look at more flowers. I saw this huge orange one and I fell in love with it. next thing you know, Mom was putting it in the cart. "Happy Mother's day!" she said with a smile. And on we went. Before you knew it, I saw a huge pink flower that I loved. Again, it was put in the cart with a smile from Mom. In no time, the cart was full of flowers. For MY garden. The one that doesn't exist. We worked our way inside the store where I saw a garden decoration that I *had to have*. With that same Motherly smile, it was added to the cart.

The next day, Mom came over. And we planted my very first garden. We had fun. We laughed. Especially when I found a ton of worms, some grubs and a spider whose abdomen was bigger than a quarter. Each time, I jumped and ran away. I'm such a girlie girl. Mom stepped in and killed the spider, moved the worms and the grubs and on we went.

It was a labor of love. We sat there, in our matching blue shorts and white shirts, which was totally unplanned. *we do this a lot actually* A hobby that before bored me, has now taken me over. Something that my Mom loves, I've grown to love. We made wonderful memories that day. I can only hope that this garden will grow and grow, over the years. (Yes, we planted some perennials.) It's truly one of the most wonderful gifts I have ever received. I will treasure it forever.

To the best Mother in the world, I love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

Now...how about some pictures of my new garden?


Here we are working away. The hubby had to take a picture as proof that I actually did some work.


The finished product. I'd tell you what was planted, but I can't remember most of the names. Let's see: Lavender, rosemary, portulacas, African marigold (they're huge!). There's four more, I don't remember. I'll look in the morning (I did remember to keep the labels in the garden), and let you know. There's also a lemon verbeena on the table. I didn't want it in the garden, since I plan on using it in the kitchen. There's a cat who likes to play in our yard, and I don't want him peeing on it or something. And of course, my fairy statue from last year.

Close up of the big pink one I fell in love with. It's a vine. It came on a smaller trellis and it took us a good ten minutes to unwind it. We're hoping it will get tall enough to wrap around the column.

The big orange plant I fell in love with. This is my favorite in the whole garden.

And the decoration I had to have. I'm sure you can see why. It's my homage to knitting, my first love. I like how it looks like the sheep is grazing in the meadow. (that poor marigold in the back. They're so big and heavy they can't hold themselves up. Her head popped off after planting.)


When I went out the next morning to put the kids on the bus, I couldn't help but smile. It sure is nice to have these bright flowers greeting me in the morning. Now...where else can I make a garden in my yard? It's addicting, I tell ya!

Happy Mother's Day to my readers. xoxo

O.K. So I lied...

I really did want to come home and blog Saturday night. But you see...that massage I mentioned. It really did a number on me. In a bad way. That woman was sooo damn rough! I must have said ow 4 or 5 times, she never got the hint though. So I spent the rest of my week-end eating motrin and bathing in icyhot. I kid you not, it hurt that bad. It's sort of ironic that would happen to me. The story of my life, you know? It's bad karma or some shit like that. It's ALL around me...

Sorry for leaving you guys hanging for so long after that dramatic post. I am doing a lot better now. All healed up. Sadly, I'm stuck paying crappy hospital bills *again*, and fighting with insurance companies *again*, and on top of all that...The surgery did absolutely nothing. I still have all the issues from before hand. I have an appt. with my Mom's Dr. but as a new patient, they can't get me in until the end of July. I'll stick it out, and wait. NO way I'm going back to that jackass.

the last two months have been a big roller coaster for me. I started taking zoloft two weeks ago. My IBS has gotten so bad I've been virtually housebound for weeks now. I was depressed long before the surgery. But that was just the icing on the cake. I've finally accepted that I need help. I want to get my life back. I've spent the last year pushing everyone away from me. The few friends I had are gone. I can't make new friends. I miss my old knitting group terribly. I really do. Mary reminded me that I can always join the group that meets closer to Richmond. But I can't. I'm too afraid of what will happen. they have such a good group, and I'm the outsider coming in. I know they wouldn't treat me like that. But after what happened with my old group, I feel like I'm all wrong (the world is all right) and it wouldn't be long before I would do something that would cause, hmm, I can't think how to word this. I just think if anything were to ever happen, it would be my fault. Intentionally or not. And I am just too chicken to set myself up for that heartache again. God...I must sound so pathetic here.

The good news is...The kids and hubby are great. Really. Married life is good. Our 10th wedding anniversary is 6 months away. And I've been buying yarn. And knitting. And buying yarn.

How about a little knitty FO as a thank you for actually reading this far?


This is Thermal, from Knitty. I love love love it! I used knitpicks gloss, Burgandy. I only needed 6 skeins, although the pattern called for 8. I didn't do any modifications to it. Although I did have gauge issues, I ended up knitting it on 4's instead of 2's. I'm surely not complaining. One thing I can warn you on with this pattern....It WILL grow when you block it. It grew a good 3 or 4 inches, which is good since it was too short. The sleeves, of course, were perfect. So blocking made them a wee bit too long. Fortunately, they look good rolled up. I've worn it several times and it is so comfy and cozy. LOVE IT! Here's a picture before blocking:

When looking at the two pictures, you should know...One pair of pants sit on my hips, the other closer to my belly button. So at first glance, the length might not look too different. Trust me, it's there though.

I'm going to try real hard to start blogging more regularly. Even if no one is reading (And face it, I can't blame you I'm SO boring!). I think maybe blogging will help me get out all these crazy things I'm feeling, which will help me in the long run. See you soon!

Long Time Gone

I didn't really mean to leave the blog...It just sort of, happened. I thought about deleting the blog. I thought about starting a new one. But I really just want to stay put. I don't think I'll bore you with all of details today. Suffice it to say, things are back on track.

I have a few finished projects to share with you. A few in progress to share. And whole hell of a lot of new yarn to flash.

How about later tonight? Right now, I'm off to get an hour long full body massage. My first professional massage. Couldn't ask for a better birthday present. Well, unless it's yarn. :)