And yet another contest!

Okay, so Aunt Kathy sent me to Darcy's blog who sent me to Patt's Etsy . . . and the purpose is because Darcy and Patt have combined to do a contest. You can find out the details at Darcy's blog. There are several ways to enter AND awesome prizes (Patt's project bags AND stitch markers).


SOOOOOO, what are you still doing here??? You need to go Darcy's blog and enter. Now. Although, if you don't, it increases my chances of winning!

Simple Woman - April 27, 2009

FOR TODAY
Outside my Window... The sun is shining, the sky is blue and it is going to be about 85 degrees. Go figure.
I am thinking... that I complained too much about winter hanging around too long.
I am thankful for... warm weather
From the kitchen... we had friends over on Saturday night and had a variety of food. Chicken bites with oriental seasoning, Thai chicken, rainbow noodles, pot stickers, meatballs, fresh fruit, shrimp
I am creating... the never ending grey shawl
I am going... to the doctors at 10:30 this morning for an esophogael (sp?) study . . . nothing to eat or drink since last night at midnight, well actually 10:30 because I went to bed.
I am wearing... brown slacks, aqua shirt, brown jacket
I am reading... Duma Key by Stephen King
I am hoping... to finish it today
I am hearing... people arriving, and traffic increasing
Around the house... it looks really clean. Nothing like having friends over to clean up all the clutter
One of my favorite things... spending time with friends
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... meeting tonight, water aerobics, starting on liquids
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you... am still having problem loading pics . . . sorry.

Friday Fill In - April 24, 2009

1. Apparently there's some sort of conspiracy to keep me from finishing THE SHAWL. Seriously, I knit and knit and knit and it just is THERE.

2. After the freakish thunder storms early this morning, it is going to be a sunny day.

3. 2009 has been very interesting so far.

4. I fixed Dave's resume, read the newspaper and went to bed last evening, that was it.

5. For too long I've been cruising without doing, must up the doing and stop the cruising.

6. I am not obsessed with NCIS; I am not! (But I gotta tell you Mark Harmon gets better and better looking all the time.)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to laundry (how sad), tomorrow my plans include helping at our Church's First Communion, fixing appetizers and dinner for the "Teachers&Spouses) and Sunday, I want to celebrate Sarah's birthday!

True Friendship

True friendship is like sound health,

the value of it is seldom known until it be lost.
Charles Caleb Colton

Over the past couple of weeks, I have developed a deeper appreciation of those who I consider my friends. I think that there are people that flit in and out of our lives, sometimes being friends, sometimes being acquaintance. And then there are those who become true friends.

~

My dearest friend is my husband. Last weekend, we celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. We have known each other 35 years. He is funny and sweet. He is wonderful husband (he does do almost all of the grocery shopping, flips the mattress on a schedule that he has written out (he is a little OCD) and usually ends up finishing doing the laundry . . . I do the folding . . . he does most of the washing). He is a great father, tempering my vast array of emotions with a sense of humor and patience. He recognizes that Lindsey knows exactly what buttons to push and sometimes he lets her but he is much more gentle in calling her out when she is pushing too hard. He is a good teacher and enjoys working with the first graders. It is such a pleasure to see him when he is discussing their accomplishments . . . he calls them the "Light Bulb" moments. His butt is cute. He also wears the same size jeans he did when we got married . . . for that, however, I could sometimes smack him.

~

My next dearest friend is Janet. Janet started working with me shortly before my wedding. We have had sooooo many ups and downs together. She has held my hand while I cried about not being able to have children. She laughed with me when we found out that Sarah would be joining our family, and supported Dave and I when we took in my niece's children. She has embraced my children as her grandchildren. When her husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, we cried together. When each of our parents died, we were there for each other. She even went to confession before my Mom's funeral so she could receive communion. She has taken my kids on various trips and vacations, mostly Lindsey. She is the person that I can recruit to plant a seed in the kids' heads. The things mothers do. She just celebrated her 70th and she and Lindsey are planning Lindsey's college graduation trip (in six years) to Ireland . . . they have decided that they would allow me to accompany them.

~

Then there is Wendy. Wendy is my neighbor. She moved two doors down from me, shortly before her eldest son was born and he is 18. I have to tell you that we are such good friends, we are each other's support person for the TOGa study. Which means, GASP, is that we know exactly how much each other weighs. We have done stamping and scrapbooking and girls' nights together. We were one of the first Friday Nite Girls with Radio Delilah and, I believe, if you click here, and go to picture 87 (out of 110) you can see our picture. I am the one in red. Wendy is sitting straight across from me and the one standing is Laura, who I talk about below.

~

Laura is my buddy/friend/pal. We had worked together for years but had never worked "together" until about 11 years ago. We were both working for the same woman who is the queen of psycho babble, also fondly known as "DP." DP is only happy when she is the queen bee. She is a horrible people manager, pits her underlings (and, yes, that is how she thinks of us) against each other. You have no idea how totally pissed off she got (and still is) that Laura and I became friends inspite of her conspiracies. Think of the worst manager you have ever known and she is worse. She gives instructions and contradicts them. It was so bad that at one point, every time she would "assign" me a task, I would send an email back to her to confirm exactly what she wanted done. I am sure she thought I was a dunce but on more than one occasion, those little email confirmations saved my butt. It was so effective, that Laura, who still works for DP still does the same thing. Frankly, it plays to DP's ego and I don't think she has ever figured out the purpose. DUH.

~

Anyway, Laura's oldest child is the same age as Lindsey (15) and our youngest boys are also the same age (8). We have decided that while we thought the worst was the terrible toys, that age in no way prepared us for the frankly fearsome fifteen. She works part-time in my office. We generally each lunch together once or twice a week. Last week, she said to me, "you are the only person I know that I can say this to. I don't like my 15 year old. He goes from being sweet to surly to kind to wacky." Funny thing is my 15 year old does the same thing and when my oldest daughter was 15, she wasn't very nice to be around either. LOL. I keep promising her that it will pass.

~

I have other friends who I treasure. Some of the teachers that my husband works with. I have discovered that teachers are very social creatures. Or at least the teachers he hangs out with are. We regularly get together for dinner or appetizers or fun.

~

I have friends from Church. Those who I know I will always be able to rely on . . . including calling them up to go fetch one or other of the kids because I'm stuck in traffic. How many people would you trust that task to?

~

I have my internet friends, my knitting buddies, the ones who will painstakingly explain over and over again how to do a stitch or pattern or who thoroughly understand my lack of sock and sweater knitting.

~

I have my sisters and brother and their spouses. I was talking to my brother and sister-in-law last evening and when I got off the phone, I kept thinking about how much I not only love them, but how much I like them. They are good people. Kind, loyal, generous and funny. I guess that is probably what I like most about my friends. It is that same, certain thread that runs through all of them . . . the kindness they show others, loyalty to what they believe, generous sometimes to a fault and funny.

Simple Woman - April 20, 2009

It’s such an interesting world.

It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it?

There’d be no scope for imagination then…
―Lucy Maud Montgomery

FOR TODAY
Outside my Window... it is drizzling, still warm (about 55) but is expected to get cooler as the week progresses.
I am thinking... I want to take the zip in lining out of my rain jacket
I am thankful for... my family
From the kitchen... lazy weekend. We had cheese and crackers for dinner last evening. But the kitchen is clean.
I am creating... still working on the gray shawl. I have a pattern for Sarah's shawl but I don't want to start on it until I have the gray done.
I am going... to meet with the nutritionist tomorrow.
I am wearing... black slacks, black sweater, red/black reversible jacket
I am reading... Bright Futures
I am hoping... to start Duma Key by Stephen King
I am hearing... the radio and traffic
Around the house... cleaned the office this past weekend. Looks good. Now, if only I could keep everyone from dumping stuff on my desk.
One of my favorite things... a clean desk and good intentions to keep it that way.
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... nutritionist tomorrow (I'm thinking of getting up early and as soon as everyone leaves, scrubbing the kitchen floor), water aerobics tomorrow evening and Thursday evening, Lindsey's violin on Wednesday along with my KAL. The "teachers" are coming on Saturday for dinner. We keep changing our mind about what to serve but think we are going for an oriental theme: Pot stickers, egg rolls, peanut noodles, chicken bits, chicken satay.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you... Blogger is not allowing me ease in uploading pictures. Or it might be my computer . . . even Flickr is not behaving.

29 years and counting

29 years ago, I was off from work, my Mom was going nuts, I actually thought that my Dad was going to take up drinking . . . and what was I thinking . . . after all, it was my idea. We could DO this at home. Seriously. Why not.

and then Dave showed up. We had things to do, places to go, people to see . . . .

We needed to go pick up my ring . . . nothing like waiting until the week before to find something that we both liked.

We had plans for dinner. Nothing fancy, just the two of us, but we had to get it in early because our next stop was at our wedding rehearsal.

Isn't it amazing the things you remember.

I remember that Dave knocked on the side door and my Mom yelled out something like "geez, Dave, tomorrow you are going to be family . . . you probably can just walk in." (Note: up until the day she died, he still knocked on her door, even when he knew I was with her.)

Friday Fill In - April 17, 2009

1. Join me in a nice cup of tea and a little peace in your day.

2. Put a little quiet in your day!

3. Happiness is hugs from those you love.

4. Bored and confused.

5. I'm waiting for a very important phone call . . . why don't people return calls.

6. Good chocolate is hard to resist.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to nothing, tomorrow my plans include swimming, dentist, Mass and dinner with Dave and Sunday, I want to sleep, go to Leanne's Confirmation meeting, see Lindsey!

Another contest - really cool stuff

Seriously, look at this stuff. Isn't it cool. It could be your's to win . . .

So, Aunt Kathy sent me over to AllyB's blog because Ally is having a 200th post contest. Anyway, if you are interested, please go on over here and comment on it and you too can be entered (although I really, really want to win . . . but don't I always).

Designs by Tami - a Phat Fiber Giveway

Okay, so here's the thing . . .

Go visit Tami's etsy shop. She has lots of really cute stuff.

Find something you like (not hard to do, trust me). Once you do that go on over to Phat Fiber and tell them about it.

And, if you blog about it or do something on Ravelry to Twitter, you get more entries into the contest . . . I did say that there was a contest didn't I?

TOGA study

Hmmmm, where to begin.

Oh, well, it is quite simple. I have been fighting my weight since I graduated from high school. No more gym class, no more walking to school (seriously two miles each way), no more walking all over the building (as students we were convinced that the scheduling was done to make you walk from one end of the building to the other for each class . . . plus there were 3,000 kids in the school . . . yes, 3,000 and 1,000 were in my graduating class). So, I graduated, started working, only walked to/from the bus, sat on my butt most of the day, etc. etc. etc.

The first time I did Weight Watchers was when I got back from my honeymoon. I weighed 155 and dropped to 123. And kept it off for about two years. Then we went through all the infertility stuff which included lots of stress eating, although we did walk a lot, but both Dave and I ate our weigh through thoses years. We would go to the doctor, go to lunch. Go to the doctor, go to breakfast. And sometimes we just ate because everything was so frustrating (trust me when I say that when they give you a list of the days you are allowed and not allowed to have sex . . . frustration reigns supreme!). Plus, I got to take all kinds of drugs.

Anyway, Dave didn't gain any weight. I did though. And lost it and found it and lost it and found more of it and so on and so forth.

I figure that over the years with Weight Watchers, Atkins, grapefruit, cabbage soup, metabalife, Xenical (now there's a treat! LOL), high protein/low carb, no meat, no cheese, no everything diets, I have probably lost over 400 pounds. Seriously. Two years ago, I was at my heaviest (which right now is my little old secret). We started a WW @ Work. I lost 20 pounds. The WW @ Work ended. I gained 12 pounds. I started back at WW last November and then we started WW @ Work again and I have lost a total of 18 pounds since November.

Sometime last Fall, there was a little blurb in our local newspaper about the TOGA study. The TOGA Study is a blind study. It is a bariatric procedure in which they do not make any incisions. Instead, they insert a scope and staple your stomach. You still have to follow the bariatric diet (which ends up being about 1200 to 1500 calories a day) but you do not have the risk of the surgery complications that the other procedures involve. in fact, some people have had the procedure on a Tuesday and have returned to work on Friday. Most return to work on Monday.

I and a good friend of mine are both participating in the TOGA study through University Hospitals of Cleveland. Like the other procedures, it does require a significant change in lifestyle and diet. My procedure is scheduled for May 12. I am so very excited.

I am, however, not telling anyone at work. It is a blind study. One out of every three people do not get the procedure done. They get the anesthesia. They get the diet. They are required to do the exercises and make changes in their life. So, I am not telling anyone at work.

Oh, and the other thing about this study that is cool, is that you end up with a very complete physical and it is all free, except for two prescriptions. Free.

Simple Woman - April 6, 2009

FOR TODAY
Outside my Window... it is raining and getting colder with a possible snow storm tonight . . . bah humbug!
I am thinking... that I made a mistake when I thought Spring was here
I am thankful for... my family
From the kitchen... steak, red-skinned potatoes, sauted mushrooms/onions, green beans
I am creating... a shawl
I am going... to go nuts with this stupid itching
I am wearing... black slacks, red sweater, black and gray jacket
I am reading... nothing
I am hoping... to go to the library
I am hearing... the radio
Around the house... desparately need to clean
One of my favorite things... visiting with family
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... doctor's appointment tomorrow and Friday, Manager meeting on Thursday, violin lessons on Wednesday (which means I go to the KAL while Lindsey goes to violin), deep water aerobics Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

Friday Fill In - April 3, 2009

1. Angel or not, I will try to exercise this weekend.

2. Dave, you are my love, any way you want me.

3. As my mother used to say, you're full of doggy poop.

4. I am exhausted after I'm done working out or doing something strenuous.

5. Even in the most crowded of rooms I like to find my own private space.

6. A day spent with my extended family (including all of their out-laws) is a day fraught with peril.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting the laundry done, tomorrow my plans include driving to Kentucky for my niece's birthday, visiting with the extended family (mentioned in 6 above) and Sunday, I want to drive home!

Gray shawl, Amy's shower and other stuff

I am making myself a shawl to wear to my niece's wedding. My daughter questionned my sanity of wanting to be wearing a shawl since Amy's wedding will be on June 27. As I pointed out to Lindsey, the wedding is outside on their farm.

~
As my husband pointed out to Lindsey, he would be willing to lay money on the fact that by the end of the evening, Lindsey will be wrapped in my shawl. She is always, always cold.

~
Anyway, it is KnitPicks Palette (Highland Wool, fingering weight) in Fog. I also added beads to the first eight inches but decided to not use beads on the entire length of the shawl. Lindsey did point out that SHE would find it very uncomfortable to have beads along her back. I think she is already planning on when she is going to be wearing it.

~

You cannot really see the beads or the pattern in this pics. The pattern is an adaption of the scarf that I made for Lindsey earlier this year. It is a four row repeat, so is very easy to memorize. To enhance the lace, I am also knitting it on size 7 needles. The beads are from Earthfaire and are triangles in variagated blue iris. I add the beads using the crochet hook method.
~

Whenever I look at these pictures of the shawl or, actually, at the shawl itself, I am reminded of what someone said (maybe Yarn Harlot or was it Julie of Samuri Knitter fame) that unblocked lace doesn't necessarily look that grand until it is wet and blocked and then it is loverly. I think actually it was something more like that it looked like "cat vomit."

~

My sisters and I are having a shower for Amy. It is going to be held at my church's coffee shop. My sisters have never been there and wanted to decorate. Lindsey and I said that it really didn't need decorating. So this Sunday, we went to the coffee shop and took some pics and Lindsey did the following panorama of the photos she took:

It is quite lovely and the huge windows over look the gardens and walks. Very nice. My sisters agreed that we didn't need to decorate.