PIF & ABC's and a rant

I joined a couple of things this week and you can too if you want to..........

PAY IT FORWARD

Here are the rules:

“I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog"

So if you wanna play, just send me an email to reno_rainy at yahoo dot com or you can also leave me a comment with your contact info.



ABC-Along 2008

I joined the ABC-Along 2008
that Vicki at Knitorious is hostessing. If you love to take pics, you should join us. Just click the link above. Sign-ups end on January 19th.


Okay, now for the rant.......

I was at work today and there was a couple in the waiting room waiting to be called back for a medical procedure. While they were waiting, the husband starts clipping his fingernails. This totally disgusted me. I wanted to say..."Hello!....You are in a public place which happens to be a medical facility and you are clipping your nails and letting them fly everywhere! I can't believe that someone would think this was okay to do. Come on.....go outside or do it at home or something!

Tap, Tap, Tap.......Hello, is anyone out there?

Well 2007 turned out to be an exciting year in more ways than one. Here is a recap:

  1. Celebrated my 40th birthday on April 18th.
  2. Got my Ravelry invite on June 21st.
  3. Celebrated my 6th wedding anniversary with my wonderful hubby on June 29th.
  4. Had my appendix and an ovarian cyst removed in July.
  5. Built a retaining wall on the south end of our property in August.
  6. Found out that my hubby and I are going to be grandparents in June 2008.
  7. Spent a couple of days in the hospital due to a heart condition and started heart meds on December 11th.
  8. Got a new puppy on December 17th (see pics below)
What an eventful year! Some of it was good, bad, and ugly!

So in 2008 I already know that I will be turning 41, not that big of a deal. My hubby and I will become grandparents for the first time by my hubby's daughter. We will celebrate our 7th anniversary. We are planning a trip to Texas to visit my family this spring. We are going to sell our Expedition and get a more fuel efficient car (we are thinking about a Prius). I will be seeing a cardiologist in Eugene the beginning of February. And the biggest life altering thing that will happen to me in 2008 is........I am getting braces! I have needed to get braces since I was in high school but it was something that my parents couldn't afford to do. My husband and I have great dental coverage right now that includes orthodontics plus I have great benefits through work that reimburse me for my medical and dental expenses, so we just couldn't pass up the opportunity.

I know I haven't mentioned anything about knitting yet. Well in 2007 I did complete a pair of socks! I had a ton of WIP's. Some will be frogged and some will get finished this year. I will post pics and the line up in a future post. I plan to do much more knitting and crocheting this year. 2007 seemed to have too many distractions.

And now for what you all have been waiting for.........I introduce to you........

Gracie



Gracie is half Chocolate Lab and half Weimaraner. She was born on October 27, 2007. She just turned 9 weeks old. She is very smart. She is completely house broke and knows the commands; sit, stay and down. My hubby is planning to train her to be a bird dog for hunting (we'll see how that goes).

I hope to be a much better blogger this year.

No Wonder I Am So Tired

No wonder I am so tired at the end of the day! I'll bet you will feel the same after watching this video.

Did you miss me?

I can't believe its been over a month since I last posted on here! Where have I been, you ask?! Well do you remember when I posted about this?........
Click the picture to read my first post about it

Well now it looks like this......

With the help of our neighbors and a couple of friends with the trade skills needed to build a wall like that, we built that wall ourselves. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears put into that wall.

We have also been busy working on the house and doing some landscaping to prepare to refinance our home.

Thank goodness that is finished and I can finally get back to my knitting!

My hubby and I also went on a hike last weekend to scout out his hunting location for this year. This is the view from the top of the bluff we hiked to. We were on the Oregon and California border. Isn't it just breathtaking?

That is Mt. Shasta in the background to the left. Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Back and better than ever

I am back and better than ever. I had my post-op appt. with the surgeon and it turns out that my appendix was the major problem and the cyst was just a bonus. Apparently, I have been suffering from a chronic appendicitis. The surgeon said that I have probably been suffering from it for the past 3 or 4 years.

Last week was my first full week back at work. It was good to be back but also exhausting at the same time. I played a little golf this week too just to get my game back. I would say that it is coming along quite nicely as I shot a 51 yesterday for 9 holes. Not quite Tiger Woods or Anika Sorenstam but pretty good for me since I just started playing in May.

I really haven't been doing much in the way of knitting lately. I think it's because it has been so hot. I do have one sock finished and I started the second one. I will post pics later in the week. I am going to hurry up and get the Indigo Ripples Skirt finished. I have totally neglected it. I also have something really cool to share with all of you. My daughter took wood shop class last spring and made me a really cool chest for me to store my yarn in. Take a look!



Isn't it cool?! This thing is huge! She even made a tray that slides back and forth so I can see all my yarn.

Recovering

Well I am home now, recovering from my day surgery. Everything went well. The only complaint I really have, is that they rushed me out of there so quickly. I think I can still hear them saying "NEXT!" The day after surgery was really rough. I was really nauseated and ended up getting sick. Hubby made a call to the surgeon's office and they called in a script for an anti-nausea med. I am doing much better today. I am off the pain medication and only taking Tylenol and ibuprofen for the pain.

They did take my appendix and they found the culprit of my pain and agony for the past couple of weeks. It was a HUGE cyst on my right ovary. You can see a picture of the cyst by clicking the word cyst in this post. Yes, they took a picture of it for my scrapbook.

Updated on Monday, July 23, 2007.

I scanned the photo of the cyst today and you can see it by clicking here--------> CYST

Appendectomy

Just a quick update because I feel absolutely lousy. I went to the OBGYN yesterday and she said that I am not having problems with my ovaries due to cysts. She felt it was my appendix and referred me to a surgeon. I saw the surgeon today and he felt it was my appendix also. I am scheduled for surgery on Thursday at noon. He will also do some exploring while he is in there.

It's not a boy....

It's not a boy, it's not a girl, it's an..............ovarian cyst! That was what was found during the CT. I have to see my OBGYN on Monday to find out what the plan of action is going to be. Surgery is not out of the picture yet. I will know more on Monday.

Just wanted to give everyone an update.

I'm a Mystery

I haven't been feeling very well for the past few days. It started with a pain in my lower right abdomen. The pain comes and goes and is accompanied by nausea and fever that comes and goes.

I have been spending the past couple of days in the urgent care to figure out what is going on. My white blood cell count jumped from 7000 to 10000 and back down to 7000 today. I had a limited Appy CT Scan on Tuesday that said that everything looked okay, I still have pain in my LRQ (lower right quadrant). I am going in for a complete abdominal/pelvic CT study with contrast this afternoon. Hopefully this will tell us what is going on.

I just wanted to let everyone know what was going on so you all knew why I haven't been posting on here for a while.

SP10 Reveal

My SP10 reveal package arrived yesterday! I couldn't wait to find out who had been sending me all the awesome yarn and goodies. My pal loves Elvis! This is sooooo cool because I love Elvis too! My pal this time around was Sandi of Hunka Hunka Burnin' Yarn. Here is what I found in my reveal package.



I had asked my pal if she could possibly send me another skein of the Romni Wools Angora Silk that she had sent me previously. She not only sent me one more skein, but two skeins of it and the Interweave Knits Summer issue that I haven't been able to get my hands on. I am overjoyed beyond words. She also sent me some really nice sock yarn and size 1 dpn's, a lens cloth for my specs, gardening gloves and some cute decorations for my kitchen window.

Thank you Sandi for being such a generous pal!

The Best Way To Contact Me

I have had a couple of comments left recently that required my response. Unless you leave your email address, I have no way to get back to you unless you have a blog that I can comment on. So, the best way to ask me a question that requires my response, is to send me an email or click on the marquee that says "Click here to contact me" that goes across the screen at the top of my blog. That marquee automatically pops up an email window.

If you are wanting to sign up for the Indigo Ripples Skirt KAL, I need your email address and I also need your blog URL if you have one. Again, to sign up just send me an email.

My email address is: reno_rainy at yahoo dot com

You can also Skype me. My Skype handle is: renorainy

Skype for those who don't know what it is, is a voice chat/IM chat program that is free to download. There is a huge knitting/crochet community on there now and we are having a blast! Come join us!

That's all for now, hope everyone is having a great week!


(Betty, you left me a comment and wanted to join the KAL, but I have no way to contact you. Please send me an email.)

A FO and Ravelry!

I got my invite to Ravelry a couple of days ago, so if you are in Ravelry look me up and add me to your friends. I am an organizational freak, so I think it's pretty cool.

I started going through my stuff and my stash and organizing it so I can post it all on Ravelry and I realized that I never posted about this FO.


This is the free pattern from Patons called City Wrap. I used Patons Decor yarn in the Secret Garden Variegated colorway on size 11US needles. This was extremely easy to make and knit up really quick. The hardest part was finding the buckle. I searched everywhere, including on the internet and when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere! My daughter finally suggested that I look for a belt in the accessories department at Walmart and this is what I found.


With a pair of pliers it went from this to this......



I think it looks much better on the wrap don't you?

Black Sheep Gathering and Nenah

I think I died and went to heaven. Yesterday I went to Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene. I was like a kid in a candy store. There was sooooo much yarn and woolly goodness, it was hard to contain myself. Here is my loot!



A spinning kit complete with 3 balls of roving, a spindle and instruction book, 2 mill end skeins of Socks That Rock and a free pattern. And that's not all! Here is the best part of going to Black Sheep Gathering.

I have been trying to knit socks unsuccessfully for the past year. Just about everyone that I have talked to said that since I don't have a LYS that I should get the DVD's by Nenah. Well guess who just happened to be at BSG!! Nenah of Knitting Korner herself! I was so excited to be able get the DVD's and meet Nenah too. She is the nicest lady and I was flabbergasted to find out that she only lives about an hour away from me. She invited me to come down to Grants Pass and visit her anytime and told me to call her anytime if I had any questions.

This was the best part of the loot I brought home.


Socks

I just finished my first sock! Well okay, its kind of a sock. See....


Okay, I know its not an actual sock that I can wear, but my soda sure is enjoying it.

I have tried several times to knit a pair of socks without success. I am extremely determined to complete a pair of socks. I have met Erin of Damn Knit, Ariel of Stariel Knits, Shannon & Stephanie of SSK, Charles of Stitch Stud and His Bride, and Patricia on Skype and they are going to get me through this pair socks. Stephanie and Shannon of SSK podcast started a Skypecast virtual SnB a couple of weeks ago on Skype and it is a total blast! You should come join us on Skype. My handle on Skype is renorainy so give me a buzz sometime and I will introduce you to everyone!

Here's a couple of pictures of my first sock in progress.



On another knitting topic, I have joined the Summer KAL-CAL Purse Round-Up. Marly of Yarn Thing and Jill of Woolcrafting started this KAL-CAL. They are going to be giving away some great prizes. Go check it out and join us!

Cha-Ching...Whoo We're Havin' Fun

Okay, it's June 1st and you know what that means don't you? It's bill paying time! Whooohooooo!

So I sat down at my desk today after work and pulled out the bills and the checkbook and then pulled up my budget spreadsheet (yeah, I'm kinda anal, I mean analytical like that) on the computer. The next thing I know, Willow has just jumped up on the desk in all the excitement and climbs into my lap as she meows, "Wait up for me, if money is going to be spent, I want to help! Whoot!!"

So, we proceed to spend my money (pay bills) and all is going fine until.....uh oh......"Hey Willow, you selected the wrong bank account! That account has no funds in it right now!" Luckily I was able to cancel the payment and resubmit it with the correct account info. Disaster averted!

At least I didn't let her balance the checkbook!

"Hey, what are you looking at, haven't you ever seen a cat pay bills before?"


7 Random Things

The rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged need to write on their own blog those 7 facts as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven other people and list their names on your blog. Then you leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1. I was born in Eugene, Oregon and then when I was 5 months old my mom and I moved to Brussels, Belgium to live on the army base with my dad. We lived there until I was almost 3 years old. I came home speaking French.

2. I am employed doing the same type of work (Medical/Hospital Administration/Medical Assistant) my sister received her bachelors degree in and I never attended college.

3. I met my husband on the internet. We were both trying out ICQ at the time and he accidentally messaged me. We messaged each other a few more times and its all history from there.

4. I love the ocean but I have a fear of water that I cannot see to the bottom. Something might grab me and drag me to the bottom or touch my legs as it swims by. Yikes!

5. I love to go rockhounding. Someday I hope to find huge diamond.

6. I just learned to drive a stick shift a year ago this last January. Now I just need to learn to fly a plane!

7. I have owned a guitar for over 10 years and I have never learned to play it. I used to be a sound tech for a band and thought that I would try to learn to play the guitar....lets just say that my ears are better than my fingers!


I am not going to tag anyone in particular. If you want to do this and post it on your blog, go right ahead!

Indigo Ripples Skirt in Progress

Well here is my progress so far on the skirt. I don't have nearly as much done as I would like to have done. I have a few more rows of increases and a ton of straight stockenette....ugh....before I start in on the lace part of the pattern.

It really is going quickly as long as I don't get side tracked with other things such as golf. Yes, you read that right! My family got me golf clubs for Mother's Day and I have been busy learning to play. We have a superb golf course here in town (Oak Hills Golf Club). After spending an hour every day for a week at the driving range, my hubby decided that I was ready to hit the fairways! He says that I am doing really good for a beginner and that I caught on really quickly. I am really enjoying playing and have been out there everyday so we decided to purchase an annual membership. My oldest daughter is on the high school golf team and she is doing really well. Her team won the state championship last year. She was their #2 player this year and is going to be their #1 player next year.

SP10 Struck Again!

I have been really bad about blogging lately, but I am back in full swing again!

I received package #2 from my SP10 earlier this week. She had sent me an email to let me know that she was going to just send two packages and that the second package would be larger than the first one and would arrive in June. Well, she changed her mind and sent me all of this!




The hank of yarn that is hiding in the middle is an Angora and Silk blend by Romni Wools. It is sooooo soft and Willow has taken kindly to it too.



The pin is from the "No Sheep For You" launch party which was held at Lettuce Knit. She also picked up the "love to knit" magnet from there too. She also sent me this cute coin purse.

Thanks SP10....You're The Greatest!

Okay, Who Left Their Breast Implant on the Beach?

I was going through all of my pictures on my computer this evening and came across this one.

It struck my funny bone because as I was skimming through all the thumbnail photos it reminded me of a breast implant. So if anyone is missing a breast implant, I think I saw it laying on the beach!

I have been a bad blogger lately, but I promise there is some good things coming tomorrow!

SP10 Package arrived!

When I arrived home yesterday afternoon, this was waiting for me! I am really surprised that the postal service allowed this to be sent with the gift wrap on it, how cool is that?!

So, I carefully unwrapped it (tore into it) and this is what I saw.

I opened the card and this was the message from my SP10......

"Hi there Teri!
Hope this secret pal package finds you well and that you dig all of the groovy goodness!! Happy knitting, etc......Your SP10"

She sent me some awesome yarn, two patterns, some toys for Willow, some chocolate (which is already gone), a sugar cookie scented candle, a cute cat magnet, a pen with my name (spelled Terri) on it with a note from her saying--you never know when you might need an extra 'R' (I can never find things with the correct spelling of my name), and the coolest stitch markers that she made!


Thank you SP10! This package was awesome! I already wound the hank of yarn into a cake, Willow has been playing with her toys, the magnet is on my fridge, the chocolate was delicious and the stitch markers are being used in my Indigo Ripples Skirt!

Look What I Got!

I finally got a yarn swift! I am so excited to finally have one of these. I used some of my birthday money to purchase this. I have sooo many hanks of yarn that are just waiting to be turned into yarn cakes! My kids thought it was pretty cool too and took turns trying it out.
I Have A FO!

I also wanted to show off a FO! I finished this scarf about a month ago but just haven't gotten around to posting about it. I used size 13 needles and CO 18 stitches and worked it in garter stitch (very simple I know). I used 2 skeins of Noro Tidiori yarn. The fiber content of this yarn is
60% Rayon, 35% Nylon, 5% Cashmere, so this scarf is pretty soft. This was fun to knit up just to see the color changes.

My Cat is a Dork

I was busy minding my own business working on the Indigo Ripples Skirt and watching TV in my bedroom last night when my cat decided that she needed immediate attention. So she jumped up on my lap without warning, nosed her way under my arms and the knitting needles and snuggled up as close as she could. She then readjusted herself and placed both of her paws on each of my hands and sat there while I knit away. I couldn't believe what I was seeing so I hollered to my hubby to grab the camera and come take a picture. By the time he got there she had readjusted herself again but the pictures are still cute.










Sometimes I just don't know what to think about my cat, she is such a dork.

Indigo Ripples Skirt KAL is Here!

Click on this picture to be taken to the offical blog!


And if you are joining, here is a button for you to take!




Now go tell all your friends!

Indigo Ripples Skirt Knit-Along

I just picked up a copy of the Spring 2007 issue of the Interweave Knits magazine. There are soooo many cute things in this issue that I want to make, but the first thing I am going to make is the Indigo Ripples Skirt by Kat Coyle. Unfortunately this is not a free pattern on the Interweave Knits website, so you will have to pick up a copy of the Spring issue.

Click here to see an up close picture of the skirt.

I am going to start a knit-along! Please leave me a comment or click the marquee at the top of the page to send me an email if you would like to join the KAL. I will start up a blog for the knit-along for everyone to post their progress and their finished Indigo Ripples Skirt.

I am going to be using Lion Brand Cotton Ease in the Violet colorway.

Crazy Aunt Purl wrote a book!

Crazy Aunt Purl (aka Laurie) wrote a book! If you haven't been to her blog then you should becuase she is the funniest person I know! Her book, Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair, comes out in October but you can pre-order it here! I am so excited for her! Congrats Laurie!!!!

I just can't say it!

I just can't say it! Because I just don't feel it! We celebrated my 40th birthday tonight. John and my girls planned a surprise birthday party for me at my favorite restaurant, Si Casa Flores, and we had a great time. I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I am 40. I definitely don't feel 40. I feel like I am 25.

I have to say that I have had an absolutely great birthday and I definitely won't forget it. I got an adapter for my I-pod so I can play it in my car.I also got some yarn, and some new clothes and of course a 40th birthday wouldn't be the same without some adult disposable underwear.



The waiters came and sang "Happy Birthday" to me in Spanish and English. They also brought me a special birthday shot I had to drink.

40 isn't old if your a tree!

Today is my 40th birthday. It's kind of hard to believe. I certainly don't feel 40 and I definitely don't act 40. Just ask my kids, they will tell you how I listen to rap and hip hop and sing with it. It's only when I start singing songs from the 80's that they tell me that I am old. This is a picture of my mom holding me the day I was born.


I have had a great birthday so far. Both of my girls woke me up to wish me a "Happy Birthday." My oldest daughter is taking a wood shop class and made me a photo frame. I got up and indulged for breakfast. I had bananas with Nutella on them (this is very very good, you really should try it sometime). I got myself ready for work and I have to say, I am having a very good hair day (this is very important on your 40th birthday). I am wearing all black today because it is very slimming, not because of the death of my youth. When I got to work there were balloons waiting for me on my desk from the girls in the office. They even bought "Birthday" donuts! The doctor I work for even bought us all lunch (Mexican-my favorite) in honor of my birthday. I only had to work for a few hours today and now I am home relaxing. Hubby just asked me what I wanted to order in for dinner (I am thinking Chinese sounds really good).

There has been a lot of secret meetings in my house the past couple days and I have been told that there is something being planned for Saturday. Life just doesn't get any better than today!

Mammogram results are in!

I had my repeat mammogram of my left breast yesterday and the good news is that the spot they needed to recheck was just normal breast tissue.

I was very nervous about getting the results of this mammogram, in fact I would say that I was actually dreading hearing the results.

This mammogram was much more painful than the first one. They use a special plate that really squishes the area of the breast that they need to look at. I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. After it was over the tech asked me to have a seat while she went to talk to the radiologist to make sure she got a good picture. While I was waiting I thought about what would have happened if I had passed out. Let me tell you, the picture in my head was not pretty. Imagine my limp body hanging by my left breast that was being held by the mammography machine like a vice. Anyway, the tech came back and told me that she got a good picture and proceeded to tell me what the radiologist said, and I quote "he said that he thinks the spot they were looking at was just normal breast tissue." Excuse me?!!! "He thinks?!!" I asked her to go back to the radiologist and get clarification. She came back and told me that he said "the spot is just normal breast tissue and we will be sending a report to your doctor within 3 days."

I was very relieved after hearing this news. I urge everyone to do regular self breast exams and even though the mammograms are uncomfortable(painful) to get theirs done. For more on breast cancer awareness visit the Susan G. Komen website at http://www.komen.org/index.htm

FO's as promissed!

I know I am a couple days late getting these pictures posted, but better late than never. This last week has been kind of crazy for me. I received some not such great news on Friday. My mammogram came back abnormal and I have to go back in for another one. They spotted a change in my left breast since my previous mammogram 2 years ago. So on the 17th I get to have another mammogram. I am trying to stay positive about this and I am not going to dwell on it. There isn't really anything I can do right now anyway.

Here is the finished Kitty Pi, pre and post felted. I had to have a stern talk with Willow and was finally able to get her to agree to use it. She is getting used to it now and I think she actually likes it.


I have been working on some preemie beanies for Julie. She is sending them to the St. Charles Hospital NICU. Here are the ones I made and sent her.