A woman's Hands!

When I first started reading this I thought it was going to say something about knowing a woman is a crafter/knitter/crocheter, by looking at her hands. 

However - the second part of this perfectly reflects my state of mind this morning.  I really dislike starting my day by putting out fires, but it seems this morning it's all I've done - so yes - this woman is slightly upset, of course I would never use my hands in the way specified here - but after all it is meant to be funny - and it did lighten my mood a wee bit!

Chip and I made a 7 minute movie last night.  I was crocheting, and he was trying his best to help me, so I decided to get the computer out and get some video.  His interest quickly shifted from the crocheting to the computer.  He tried to eat it, walk on it, his little head was bobbing all over the place trying to figure it out - and I got it all on video.  Now I want to take it in to i-movie and edit and see if I can create a real movie with it and some still pictures I have.

I have had my Mac for a couple of years, and it has all these neat things on it that I have never experimented with, so this will be my first at creating a real movie.  Will let you know how that turns out!!

What was I crocheting?

Cross bookmarks - I have committed to make 25 before Easter.  They are lovely and here's the pattern I use.

http://momsloveofcrochet.com/BookmarklaceCross.html

A fast and easy craft that will use up all those left over bits of size 10 thread.... enjoy!

Special Olympics Start Today!

Today is the official opening of the 2012 Special Winter Olympics in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada.  It is the day that so many special young athletes have worked so hard for during the past year, it is the start of a week of activities where they get to show us all just how special they really are.

My girlfriend is leaving for the games today.  She is going to watch the games, but also to support and cheer on our friend's daughter who is competing with the Snowshoe team from Manitoba.  Good luck Sara,  we are so proud of you and your teammates.  Enjoy yourself this week, and no matter if you win or loose, you all are winners to those of us who are cheering you on from home!

I gave my girlfriend an assignment.  I deemed her my correspondent to the Olympics.  She is to find a athlete wearing one of my scarves and get a picture so I can post it on my blog.  My scarves might be easy to spot because I embroidered little red maple leaves on the ends of all four of them.  I forgot to tell her she must also ask permission to for me to post the picture here... I know you will read this Denise...
I'll pay you later, GF!  Have a wonderful vacation, I'll miss you!

On a totally different subject - yesterday I saw my surgeon for my 6 month checkup and mammogram results.  When you have had breast cancer you are followed by your surgeon every 6 months and your oncologist every 3 months.  Five years later, you'd think I would be used to the routine, but every time I sit in his office in my little paper gown, I get a feeling of DeJaVu.  I imagine, I will always feel this way, after all there are no guarantees that my cancer will not return - but I am happy to say that as of right this minute, all is fine.

So thank you Dr. Momoh - for all your excellent care, your kindness, and dedication to your patients.

Which leads me to another relevant story - A year or so ago I was surfing the net and ran across a pattern for a knitted breast.  I have not had reconstructive surgery so I wear a prosthesis, which is pretty much the most uncomfortable thing I have ever experienced.  This knitted "Boobie" intrigued me, so I made one.  The pattern was fairly simple and adjustable to cup size, and when finished was the perfect boob.  Yesterday at the doctor's office I had it lying on top of my t-shirt when I undressed for my examination and my surgeon noticed it.  He asked to see it and was blown away at how perfect it was.  He called it "Beautiful", and although I had not looked at it quite this way, perhaps he is right.

Breast prosthesis can be very costly and very hard to get used to wearing.  A lot of women I know give up entirely.  So this is for those who have given up on the regular prosthesis.  If you have had or know someone who has had a mastectomy and is struggling with their prosthesis direct them to this wonderful pattern.  They will thank you for doing so.

http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/PATTbits.html

Happy knitting!

What A Nice Weekend!

Well that weekend sure went by awfully quickly.  We had a kind of stormy weekend - some snow, some wind, but not at all what was predicted.

It was the first Saturday in a long time that I didn't have to get up and rush right out the door, so I procrastinated as long as I could before really getting the weekend underway.  I did manage to get some house cleaning done (Yuk) and I worked on my second prayer shawl (Yeah) and best of all I finished our income tax preparation to the point where it just needs a quick review and it can be sent away (Yes)!

Katie

Yesterday afternoon I went to visit my cat kids next door and hear about my neighbours trip to NZ.  The cats were very happy to see me - Katie headed straight to the bathroom, thinking I came there to feed her, and Sparky just wanted lots and lots of pets and smooches.

Sparky

It was great visiting with them again, and really great hearing all about NZ.  Then it was home for a supper of homemade pizza, and a quiet restful evening.

All in all it was the perfect weekend - but I must admit, I was sort of hoping for a major blizzard with enough snow to be home bound for a day or two.

Ah well - we can't always have everything we desire!
    

Gardening season is around the corner...

My brother and I were talking on the phone the other day about gardening - in particular how and what we are going to do with our gardens this gardening season.

I hung up the phone and went in search of my seed catalogue.  I used to always start a lot of my annuals by seed myself, it was something I looked forward to doing every year, but for some reason I stopped doing this and started buying my plants every year.

This year I am inspired to take up growing my own bedding plants again, and my brother shared the same sentiment, so we pretty much decided we would start some seeds SOON!.

While I was looking after my neighbours home I was even more inspired because she has a growing area set up in her basement.  She has a huge table, a growing light, and every imaginable type of soil, and mix available.  She also has about 30 very nice Geranium plants that she started from seed last year which she cut back and restarted sometime in this winter.  Some are ready for big pots, and if they are anything like last years variety, they will be gorgeous come summer.  She also has about 30 margarine containers with empty toilet paper rolls sticking out of them.  Each roll has soil in it, and now that she is home, I'll bet the seeds will be put in the soil to start her annuals.

She did this last year too.  What a great idea.  Instead of buying plugs to start her seeds she made her own bio-degradable plugs from toilet paper rolls!  I decided this was the way to go, so I now have a Walmart bag full of rolls, and a stack of clean used margarine tubs!

This weekend I'm getting out all my saved dead-heads from things I really liked last year and I'm going to start some of my 2012 garden indoors.  What a great thing to do on a blustery February weekend.

If you need some gardening inspiration here is a wonderful site, and if you are a Lily lover as I am, you will bookmark this site for sure.  I have been to this place and it is something to behold  - especially in July!  Check it out...

http://www.lilynook.mb.ca/index.html



I thought I'd let you know how Molly is coming along.  We returned to the vet a couple of weeks ago,  and he was very pleased with her progress.  We discussed her treatment and decided that the antibiotics were working, but method of administration really wasn't (for me).  So instead of me having to wrestle the poor dog to the ground and pretty much shoving the pill down her throat twice a day, we opted for the more expensive but least taxing remedy of one needle (to Molly) containing two weeks worth of antibiotics.

What a different dog she is.  She rarely licks or chews herself; the fur is growing back on the two very large bare spots, and she is happy.  She has renewed interest in her rawhide bones, her squeak toys and pestering for food and walks.  She even has taken interest in the squirrels in the trees outside and the large crow that sits on the fence and taunts her every time she is out in the yard.

We are returning to the vet in March had hopefully we will be able to work out a long-term plan for her.

Happy weekend everyone!

Oh where oh where has Dale been?

Okay, so I have not really been a very effective blogger as of late.  In the process I have probably lost most of my readers, and this is totally my own fault.  For any of you who have faithfully checked in from time to time; thank you, and I'm sorry I have not been here for you.

It has been a crazy month for me.  My neighbours have been gone for over a month, and I have been looking after their home and their two cats.  If you have followed me for a couple of years you might have remembered my poems about Sparky and Katie.  Sparky is pretty old, and very slow, and just a wee bit dotty I'm thinking.  But he really bonded with me this time around.  Katie is not the goofy kitten she used to be, but having said that she still has more spunk than she ought to.  So it was a challenge keeping these two happy and fed twice a day as well as working full time, attending my commitments at church, and maintaining my own home, family and critters.

I had to drop several of my daily activities, and sadly ErndalesnMore was one of those activities that suffered.

But I am back now, and hopefully I will be able to build my site back to where it was going several months ago.

I have been trying to keep my fingers busy and I actually did manage to complete a few projects.

I finished my first prayer shawl for our Prayer Shawl Ministry at Church.  After a few tries at a crochet shawl (which I just was not pleased with) I scrapped the whole thing and decided to knit my shawl.  It turned out much nicer, and just this past Sunday was blessed, and will be given this week to someone who is being visited by our Pastoral Care team.

I also was very lucky to find a lady who was selling some vintage dolls that I have been wanting to add to my collection for some time.  I was excited to finally find a Tressy doll.  She was the first fashion doll (1963) who had hair that grew.  I had one of these dolls when I was about 10.  She was the most sought after doll at that time.  She had a button on her tummy that you pushed as you pulled on her pony tail and the pony tail grew to almost the full length of the doll.  She also had a little key that was inserted in the back of the doll that when turned, wound the hair back in to the head of the doll. 

My doll was long gone, but the little tiny key has remained in my jewelry box all these years.  One has to wonder why I never threw that key away.  I believe it was because one day I was meant to have a Tressy doll once again and not because I am a "hoarder"!  I dislike that term - I mean "Collector"!

When I contacted the lady who was selling the doll, she apologized for not having the key.  I told her I had the key, but not the doll, and we had a good chuckle at how simple the solution really was.

My wonderful husband's Valentine gift to me was my Tressy doll ( and 2 others).

If you don't remember Tressy perhaps this will jog your memory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ysGPctrVp4

More about the dolls tomorrow...

My Molly Louise!

My Molly has been pretty sick. We have all been beside ourselves with worry. It's a long story but I'll try and make it short. 6 Years ago she started excessive licking to the point where she had no fur on her backside and a big bare patch on her side. The Vet told us it was a grain allergy so we changed her diet - no change - in fact over the years after trying medication, sprays, different foods - you name it we have tried it - it got to be so bad that not only was half the fur on her side gone, the skin below it was red and inflamed. We have continued to go to the vet and he kind of gave up on her.


Around Christmas she got much worse. She couldn't seem to stand straight she was yelping in pain all the time and she couldn't bring her head up when she stood. I thought we were going to have to put her down. I called the vet to make an appointment -only to be told that our Vet had left. They gave us one of the other vets and in we went.

He was appalled at how she had been able to reach the point where she was without much intervention. He wasn't blaming us, he could see by her records how many times we had brought her in. He did a few very simple tests and declared it was NOT allergy. He said something had triggered the licking and then it became such a habit that she couldn't stop.

Two things happened 6 yrs ago - I got Breast Cancer and was very sick, and our house was broken in to. I told the vet that, and he actually started to cry.

I have always thought that Molly had exceptional abilities, and the vet confirmed that by saying that some dogs are actually healers - Molly is one of those dogs - but she couldn't heal me, and she failed to protect her home, and her master so she started mutilating herself. She is that smart.

He gave us antibiotics and sent me home with instructions to have a "talk" with the dog.

So when we got home I took her in the room made her look me in the eye and I told her that it wasn't her fault that I was sick - and that she had helped me get better more than anyone or anything with her love and attention, and I also told her that it wasn't her fault that our house had been broken in to - it was our fault we had left the window open a crack. I told her that the house was now safe, and I was now healed and that she didn't have to worry about anything anymore - her job now was to get better. I told her how much we all wanted her to stop hurting herself, and that she had to do her part.

Last eve we took her back to the vet, and although she still licks a bit - it is more normal cleaning behaviour now, and the fur is starting to grow back in both places. She has not had any more pain, and the redness is all gone.... this all in 3 weeks time.

I know this sounds pretty fluky - but this is real... my dog is getting better, and she's making it happen pretty much all on her own.

What a dog I have!