G-L-O-R-I-A!

Tonight I was freaking out 'cause I thought I was going to run out of my blue yarn. I was brainstorming all kinds of options that excluded purchasing an additional skein of blue yarn. As I kept knitting, well, after walking the dogs with dh, eating catfish, and popping weeds in the yard, I realized that I don't need the blue yarn for the picked up stitches around the collar. The Noro was going to go there. This was the point that I decided that I could consider a Noro collar for an option- obviously prior to reading all the directions for the pattern.

So I kept on knitting, and eventually it was time to bind off the two fronts. But, alas, I was going to test my knitting skills by trying something new. Enter the Three needle bind off. It was like magic. Elegant, timeless, and virtually seamless, the two rows of 18 sts each came together like they were meant to be. Ooh la la. These babies demand a pic.

Prior to all this knitting flurry I did indeed begin my new role. Dressed in my best professional clothes and having ingested a small Caribou zebra mocha, I visualized myself succeeding at this new task. It went even better than I had expected. I was having a coming of age moment, though it was more a coming of career and knitting success day. DH rewarded my behavior by making dutch cocoa chocolate syrup. Yumm-o. I just had a half a glass of chocolate milk. I would have drank more but all that lactose might adversely affect my lungs. I know that I sure have been coughing away today despite taking my prescribed drugs.

Diagnosis and new adventure begins

Well, I went to the Dr. and was told that my right lung sounds fine, but my left lung sounds "pretty junky"- and that I have walking pneumonia. So I got myself some Zithromax and am hoping for all that to go away soon.

Yesterday I knit most of the rest of my morning after going to the Dr. and have been making progress on the fronts of my gloria sweater. I just hope they aren't too wide.

Today I am starting my new work role- I am very excited and a little nervous. I did have a really positive dream about it on Sunday night though. So we'll see what happens.

Bunny rescue and coyote sighting

On the way to our small group dh and I saw 2 beautiful mammals- not deer, not red foxes, probably not wolves, but possibly coyotes. They bounded through a nearby field as we watched in awe.

On the way back from our small group dh and I saw a bunny limping across the road. My heart breaks when I see hurt animals or dogs loose on freeways or major roads, and my heart was breaking after seeing the bunny. Dh acted fast and pulled the car over to the shoulder, jumped out and caught the hurt rabbit. Conveniently we had a dog crate in the back seat and he placed the bunny in it. We drove to the animal emergency clinic- they said they couldn't do anything for it. Then I called Roseville's Animal Rehabilitation clinic. I was saddened to have to leave a message, but my call was returned quickly. The staff there agreed to stay late to take in our hurt bunny. So we dropped it off after saying some bunny prayers for healing and survival. The receptionist gave me a magnet in exchange for the bunny. It has a baby fox on it. It looks a lot like Genevieve. I intend to e-mail them and and check on its prognosis.

On a sadder note, Amy of the blog "Knit Think" is being faced with some hard decisions about their rescued King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, Teddy. He has developed cirrhosis of the liver. Poor doggie baby. Send him some doggie prayers for health, too.

And, as long as the uncertainty is continuing- I think I will be going to the Dr. tomorrow for analysisof my long-lasting cough, and the newly developed pain (hopefully just a muscle strain) under my ribcage. I'm scared to go for a number of reasons- one of them being fear of the unknown, and another related to not wanting to take drugs of any sort. I just don't like side effects and often a illness seems milder than a drug's side effects. I've been trying to knit my way to wellness- but it just hasn't worked yet.

Fabulous anniversary!

I got my hair done at Aveda, we ate at Tiburon, desserted at Muddy Paws, and then my husband surprised me by having our wedding video and honeymoon of Victoria, Australia videos turned into dvd's. These dvd's were then viewed at a special showing for the two of us- at dh's office on their big screen. It was a very memorable evening. Prior to that I had peeky-toe crab cakes, Mango bbq marlin (fish), added my own rum (as in a tsp.- no I'm not kidding) to a mojito, and dh had Lobster tacos. The big draw of Tiburon is their 65 ft aquarium that regretfully was not teeming with aquatic fish. Sad, yes, and a main reason for our selection of the restaurant, but we were told a bacteria was taking over the fish and they were dying, the tank was being cleaned, and that all new fish were arriving on Friday. Of course, just in time for the weekend out-to-eaters. Maybe I'll have to stop by just to see them sometime. Despite that letdown we had a wonderful time together.

The reason for the updo was why should a woman only look her best on her wedding day? It does not have to be all downhill, as in dressing down, from there. No- I didn't put my beautiful wedding dress back on, but I did wear a cute springy dress that made me feel like I should be in a much warmer place. And of course I wore my sexy sandals that I purchased in Santa Clara, CA. We are looking forward to spending much more time together, since dh is the best. :)

Ooh- I had a big meeting today. It went well. I am moving on in my career to more challenging work that is a lot more demanding. I have an adventure ahead, but don't we all. And congrats to my bro who has given his whole summer over to GIS work. I know he'll do a great job.

One more thing. My gloria sweater fronts have been frogged- I ripped or ribbited out 11 inches of the 12 inches I had completed since oops, I forgot to do the decreases. It wasn't that paintful to rip out the 120 rows of work- I want it to be just right, and was wondering why there wasn't any shaping happening to the cardigan fronts. I figured they must just hang big and wide. I was wrong, oops. I think I'll go knit some more since I feel behind now. My goal for it is to be done by my last day of class, May 26th.

Aveda Institute updo- to celebrate our anniversary

This was taken at the end of the night.

We're two! Two years old on our anniversary!

We ate at Uptown's Muddy Paws Cheesecake- our wedding "cake". They made
me a special drink with our "age" :)

Weasel gets a bath- again!

Buster is jealous of Genevieve's hygiene

Currently I am holding a wet, albeit clean puppy-for the second time today. We came back from our night out and her crate was wet. Ewww. That means she's the recipient of a bath. Buster is dissapointed that she's been gettting all doggie bath's at our house. On our walk today Buster lost all his manners and was pulling on the leash and trying to chase cars. Troy and I decided it was because he was jealous of the pup's bathing time. He hadn't had a bath for over a month. Usually he gets a bath every month but with the new pup in the house it threw off our schedule. Whenever there is a noise in the bathroom Buster runs over to check things out. I took a lavender sea salt bath today and he was by my side (outside the tub) the whole time. Now dh has decided to indulge him, especially since the Weasel's gotten 2 baths today alone! This should help curb some of the jealousy for awhile. He definitely can't be jealous of her getting her nails trimmed more often. Last week it was manicure/pedicure time for the corgis and I clipped all their nails in the backyard. Although come to think of it I do think that Geneweasel's ears are bigger than Buster's...

wool and dyed mohair curls for needle-felting gnoming

Bo peep hand-painted hand-spun yarn, and the gnomes that rule the Land of Beautiful yarn

Put these guys on my list for Santa

Yup- I'll take the pair

The ugly sheep award goes to Merinos!

Mop or angora rabbit?

Congrats to us!

DH and I are 2 years old today! That means that we are having fun all day, and going out to eat, and I am going to the Aveda Institute to get my hair done.

Felted koala, Lucky Charms and Sheep and Wool fest

Last night I finished my second sleeve. It's as lovely as the first. I finished before midnight, and thus I just met my personal goal of 1 week= 1 sleeve. I was hungry and we don't have much in the way of snack foods so I settled on a bowl of Lucky Charms. When you eat Lucky Charms after midnight a weird phenomenon happens. It was like the marshmallows in the box of cereal had multiplied since my breakfast. Every bite I took had marshmallows- and I got down to the last 2 bites and there were 10 marshmallows and only a few pieces of actual cereal. I figured I may as well just eaten a couple teaspoonfuls of sugar instead.

Today I gave into my urges and went to Borealis Yarns- and bought yarn for my felted koala bag. I found a pattern for a felted koala so I plan to manipulate it into the koala in my imagination and then attach it to a felted bag. I am very excited about this idea. The progress will probably be slow, but steady as I am still working on my gloria sweater and some spring socks. I got a tweedy gray and a solid gray, along with some light gray mohair for a fuzzy koala. I plan to swatch it today- and felt it perhaps.

I am also excited about the sheep and wool fest. I have no idea what to expect- but I do expect it to blow my mind...and hopefully not my budget. Although, my Mom is having a garage sale now, and my husband agreed that the money we earn there will go to me to repay me for my dragonfly picture, so that could mean yarn money...I have a weakness for hand-painted stuff...

Hitchhiker's knitting

DH and I just returned from "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". I won't spoil it for anyone, but I do have to say that there was a knitted scene. An entire knitted scene. Not a scene or split second moment of a person knitting, but a scene that featured actual knitted "people" while sitting in a knitted spaceship interior space. It was pretty cool. I wonder if it was actually knitted, or if it was computer graphics work. Hmm...what do you think all you Douglas Adams fans? I know you are out there lurking around...

puzzle- and sleeve

acrylic Care Bears

May I be excused, my brain is full.

Whew. What a whirlwind of a weekend. Thursday evening I saw Miss Congeniality 2 with Elzbieta. It was pretty fun, full of fashion designer name-dropping and trendy clothes. The longer I sat in the theater though, the colder I felt. The next morning I had to cancel an important meeting since I woke up feeling awful. I knew I had a whole weekend of class to look forward to and decided to sleep most of the day. I didn't knit at all, that's how icky I felt. Fortunately dh was a dear and took the little weasel to work so I only had to watch over Buster who attended to my needs by sleeping under my bed.

Now, after a Friday evening, full Saturday and a full enough Sunday worth of class I am home and vegging. I have plenty of things to do for tomorrow but it's time to relax, watch tv/movies/ and of course, knit till I fall asleep.

This morning I was a little out of it and found myself driving past IKEA instead of school- on my way to school. Ooops. I chalked it up as a "Freudian slip" which is not at all the type of psychological view that I hold to, but one that nearly everyone is familiar with. I am not Freudian. I am Adlerian. Freud and Adler were in the same crowd for awhile till Adler found Freud to be too deterministic. Ok- I think I'll go knit now before Adlerian lecture 101...I do have to say with great joy that this was my last FULL WEEKEND of classes! I will have 3 more Saturdays of class, 2 Fridays, and 4 Thursdays before I acheive doneness.

Oh- and next weekend is the Sheep and Wool fest!

Dear Genevieve,

We love you a lot, and you are really cute. We especially enjoy cuddling with you during those rare moments that you are still. We are trying to do our best with you to teach you how to use the outdoors as your potty area. We are not sure why you want to do your business both inside our lovely home, and outside. We are requesting that from now on you only use the outdoors for your needs.

Your mom is doing her best by taking you out to the bathroom nearly every half hour. In fact, it was only yesterday that you chose to poop on the carpet in the doorway of the study, and that was just minutes after you'd been outside for that express purpose. An Elzbieta is our witness as she saw your mom quickly scoop you up to bring you back outside to finish.

Don't worry, we're not mad at you, but we would really appreciate it if you could hold yourself together until you get outside. We are just getting a little tired of cleaning up your messes.

Oh, and if you could take a nap every now and then, that would be a good thing.

Sincerely and with great love,
Corgimom and Corgidad