Broken Bones and McGyver Ideas

Oh lordy am I behind!  I don't know where November went but it's gone!  I love this time of year and I hate this time of year.  Obviously the best part is the holiday celebrations and great food with people that you hopefully get along with.  The sucky part is all the holiday pressure weighing on your back and days going by in a blink.  Not to mention your accident-prone mother falling off a ladder while trying to trim the apple tree with your father despite the fact that they have 3 daughters and 2 son-in-laws in the house who would jump at the opportunity to use a long branch cutter thingy.  She broke here wrist.  In three places.  And bruised her lower back.  Poor momma.  At least it was after Thanksgiving.  2 days after.  People, I am all for being independent and doing things yourself, but please be honest with yourself.  63 is not the new 20.  Now, i know 63 is not old.  It's not.  But if you have younger people close to you that you can boss around to do the job, please do so.  Sit back, sip your lemonade, and enjoy watching us do all the work.  You deserve it.  Hopefully she won't need surgery.  They popped that sucker in place and so far it's looking good, but she still has to go to a specialist to get the real deal.

Now, the exciting news!  I have an idea!  I never blocked that perty green shawl with the beadwork.  Seriously, it's been sitting on my table since the summer unblocked and yarn ends hanging all over the place.  I don't have blocking wires or a blocking mat.  I'd rather not spend the money right not either.  Then it hit!  My yoga mat that has been sitting in a corner for years!  Yes!!!  The perfect blocking mat replacement!  It's thick, water-resistant, and pretty big.  Shawl big?  We'll see.  Now for the blocking wires.  I was told a wire hanger would be too thick but it just so happens I have a ton of thin gauged wire from a jewelry tree I made my sister for Christmas a few years ago.  It might do the trick.  Wish me luck.  This might end up being a total waste of my time, or I might be the next McGyver!  Fingers crossed for McGyver!

I'm also painfully close to completing my Jared Flood Rock Island Shawl.  It looks so pretty!!!!!!  I have no pictures to share of the progress but really, I'm almost done with it.  Wouldn't you rather just see it finished?  I know I do.  Maybe that yoga mat will be big enough to block this baby too.  I'm really enjoying lace knitting.  I love how delicate it is and even non-knitters can appreciate the beauty and detail of it.  Have you ever knit something that you were really proud of and a non-knitter will just be like, "Oh, that's nice."  Nice??!?!?!!  THAT TOOK ME 3 WEEKS TO KNIT AND 2 FROGGINGS TO GET IT RIGHT!!!!  CAN'T YOU SEE THE BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS IN EVERY STITCH???!?!?!  Ugh.

My next knitting project will definitely have to be socks.  I have never knit socks.  Shocker!  Actually it's not that shocking if you know me.  I've been knitting for years and I have never knit socks or finish a sweater.  i was close with the sweater.  I was all done except for the sewing.  Apparently sewing in sleeves is the bane of my existence.  Hello top down sweaters!!  I'm coming for you soon!

On a side note, is anyone watching Big Bang Theory?  I just started watching since its in syndication on TBS.  I LOVE IT!  And I'm trying to get into Dr. Who since I can stream it on Netflix.  It's growing on me.  Knitting and Netflix are like 2 peas in my pod.  I just wish their streaming library would be bigger.  I guess they do that so you are forced to spend more money on getting mailed DVDs.  I refuse.  Sadly that means no Big Bang Theory marathons since it's DVD only.  BOOOOOOO!!  But TBS runs them like 3 hours at a time so I get to have mini marathons.  Hurray!

Enough typing, more knitting!  Hope your Thanksgiving was accident free!  And thank you for all the sweet words for my doggy.  She's still hanging in there.

Hallo-weenie!

You would think since I dressed up in my costume twice last week I would have a couple of great photos of it.  Nope.  Think again.  I'm such a weenie.  The formal photo shoot is coming Monday.  I did steal this one of me off Facebook though.

Can you believe 2 people thought I was a squirrel?!?!  Hahahaha!  I really thought that was funny.  Since I'm wearing a crown I must be King of The Squirrels!  That's right.  I am royalty.  I guess it was the big fluffy tail.  Anyway, I was extremely comfortable all day and I intend on wearing this around the house during the winter (without the tail and crown, of course).  I'll gladly tell you all the details and dilemmas about the crown when I get those photos up!

Halloween was pretty good this year.  I had the day off so I really got to enjoy it.  As soon as 2 o'clock rolled around I jumped into my costume and scoured my Halloween bin for a costume to share with my Dad so we can festively hand out the candy.  My Mom wasn't feeling the spirit but she sat out for a little while too.  Here he is, in all his clown glory!

I'm sure he's thrilled that I'm sharing this photo with you!  

It was a lot of fun seeing all the kids (and adults!) dressed up.  Sadly we didn't have any candy leftover for me to enjoy but that's ok.  

On a sad note, our family dog, Samantha, is not doing so good these days.  She's a Chow/Sheppard mix and is 15 years old and has terrible arthritis and nerve damage in her spine and back legs.  She's in pain and lost all balance and depth perception.  To top that off, she fell down a flight of stairs about an hour ago.  She's ok, nothing broken.  She's on quite a bit of pain meds already so I doubt she's in much more pain than normal.  She just looked shaken up.  So here is a couple of photos of the Chewie Dog in her glory days:

Feeling lazy after a day at the groomers.  She's so saucy with her kerchief on!

Begging in the ruble that is my apartment when we first started moving in.  (It's all fixed up now, I assure you!)

Checking me out from the deck.

Sammy is a very special dog and I hope she makes it to Christmas.  She's our first puppy.  The house won't feel the same without her.  There's already a void since our first cat, Snowball, died last year.  At least we were lucky to have him for 19 years.  It's so amazing to have the love of a pet.  They add such joy to your life.  It's so heartbreaking to see them suffer.

I hope I didn't depress anyone!  It's a good thing I have my little Forest to get me through.  If you have a pet, give those fur babies a big squeeze!