New Projects

I've been working on two new projects.  

This first is a baby blanket for the soon to be Emma. 

 She's due to arrive April 11th, so I'm on a bit of a tight deadline.  I choose an acrylic yarn because I want it to be an easy wash and dry for the mom...  seeing as she'll have her hands full with a three year old and a newborn.  But I hate acrylics.  Or at least this one.  It splits and pulls and gets caught on my dry skin.  I'm doing it in pale pink and a creamy white, to match her recently painted room.

My other new project is a second blog, this one focused on my cooking and actually noting my recipes.  You can visit me at Kitchen Adventures.  So far it only has a few recipes (chocolate chip cookies....  the mussels I made the other night...) but as time goes on, I hope to expand it to a more complete site.  I still have a lot of work to do on it, but for now its a start.  

I spent most of my day reading and just being quiet at home.  I had the house to myself most of the day, which was so nice.  I didn't turn on the tv or any music, but just read and relaxed.  I didn't realize how much I enjoy that, how nice it is to be alone for a bit and have no one around.  Especially with so much stuff going on in my life, it was nice to just try to forget it all.  I did email about one place I saw listed tonight on craigslist, but I'm still holding out hope for positive news in the first couple of days of this coming week.  

How was your weekend?  Did you relax or have fun?

Still got nothing

I spent the better part of last week thinking maybe today.  Maybe today.  But got nothing.  I need for this to be the last week I spend here in MA before heading to Chicago.  Its getting dangerously close to the start of school, and I'm still not knowing when I can have my apartment.  

I've started to look on craigslist for other options.  But its so difficult to gauge by pictures what the place might actually be.  I found one listing today for an apartment in the complex that C lives in.  Which I found humorous, but so not an option as he has this scary set up of a door that enters into the bedroom and a door that enters into the living room.  It freaks me out to no end that there would be a door entering into the bedroom.  I could never handle being alone, at night, in a place like that.  But, I'd never know that from the pictures.  

I'm crossing every finger, saying every prayer, wishing on every star that someone makes a decision this week, papers are signed, and I can be moved by next weekend.  Optimistic thinking never hurt.  And pessimistic certainly won't get me anywhere.

I've made the rounds, had farewell dinners, packed all the boxes....  Now to just get those dates in order.  

More tomorrow on my latest projects...  one of which is teaching me how much acrylics really do suck.  

Llamas are just ghetto alpacas

Agree or disagree?  I have to say I love Miranda Lambert's comment about llamas and her wish to own an alpaca.  Who knew they can cost up to 100K though.  Really?  That is one crazy expensive animal!

Its been a long day, full of the tantrums of a almost three year old.  But no news.  I'm tired.  

One piece of good news

Mom got good news today.  There are no other spots of cancer in her body.  They are still exploring treatment options for her, she has to talk to doctors about a round of chemo and a round of radiation.  Luckily, we are in Boston, where one of the most world renowned research centers on cancer is located, and they are hopeful that there will be a study to involve her in, as it turns out the cells that were bad were of the rarer forms of cancerous cells.  It is a relief to have that news behind us, and know that the prognosis is all good at this point.  

I still haven't heard anything on my move just yet.  I'm still waiting, and hoping that news is coming sooner than I think.  The moving company is anxious to book my move too...  which is good, cause the last time I dealt with a moving company they kept my stuff hostage on the opposite coast from me for over a month.  I must rather this over eager approach.  I do have a couple of offers of places to stay if I do want to head out to Chicago now, before the apartment is ready, but I'd rather avoid those.  I'm not fully comfortable staying in someone else's space.  And I want to make this transition as easy as possible on my stress levels.  I think I need that right now...  as I've been on over load lately.  

I did manage to finish up the bag that mom wanted today.  Its wrapped around a box and drying after being felted this evening.  She'll be happy to have it, as she requested it for mother's day last year.  It is a slightly different shape and size from the ones I've made before, mostly because I lost the pattern somewhere in the middle of America on one of my tours and had to create it from memory.  But, I think I like the shape better than my original bag.  Now its back to working on my sweater...  

Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers for mom and the family was we went through this testing process.  

Maybe Tomorrow?

For a few weeks now the date of March 10th has stuck in my head as a day I'd learn something about my move.  Tomorrow is March 10th, so here's hoping that the feeling stuck in my head holds true and I do hear something.  I am trying to keep the mindset of I'm closer than I think.  Pray I'm right on this one.  

Today was a truly gloomy day here in Southern Massachusetts.  I needed to turn on the lights as soon as I woke up...  usually I get to sit curled in the sun for the first few hours of my day as it streams in my windows.  I did finally finish up the second of my fingerless mitts though, as I needed a quick project to get some level of satisfaction for completing something.  I've just got a few rows of the thumb left to do.  I'm slightly upset that the thumb on the first one had to be pulled out (and destroyed) due to my knitting it in a counterclockwise direction, which gave me a purled thumb rather than a knitted thumb.  Because of this, I need to break into the second ball for just the thumb.  I do hope to make a hat as well out of the same yarn, so I guess its good that I bought multiple balls.  

I'm feeling a bit blase lately.  I feel so run down by life.  I want to have a place where I can curl up and forget about everything that is going on.  I kind of want to talk, but I don't know who I want to talk to or words to say what is going through my head.  I guess I just want someone I can be quiet with then.  I want to know when I get to move.  I want to know the results of mom's tests (she goes for those tomorrow afternoon).  I want her to not be worried or stressed.  Or for dad to be either.  I know all of these things will come with time.  

I just really hope that tomorrow brings good news all around...  for mom to not have any other spots of bad cells, and for a moving date to be set.  Say a prayer...  Cross your fingers...  Light a candle...  Find a four leaf clover...  And send me a laugh if you've got one.  

People say the darnedest things...

Said by my 60+ year old aunt, in front of my mother, in regards to her up coming hip replacement surgery:

"Well, I've just got to think to myself, its only a hip replacement, at least I don't have cancer like Betty (aka mom)."

Said by my favorite 3 year old, while we were out shopping the other day:

"My jacket is a slippery little sucker.  It keeps falling off."  

Her mom had no idea where she came up with that one.  She's also request that I send her postcards when I move away...  refused to discuss (using those words) potty training...  and knows that credit cards are for shopping.  She keeps me laughing constantly.  

Still Waiting

It seems like I spend so much time waiting these days.  Waiting to hear this or that, get this news or that news.  It drives me a bit crazy.  I'm working on staying calm and not letting it get to me too much.  But, right now, I'm feeling a bit anxious.  

The last I heard on my apartment was Saturday.  I don't know when I get to move yet.  I really just want to know that date.  It seems like so much will hinge on that information.  When I can book the movers, who came back with a very reasonable price quote.  When I can be on the road.  When I can start working and make some money to pay off the loans I just took out to pay for school.  

I'm developing a nervousness about it all.  I'm questioning whether or not its going to work out or not.  And that is driving me crazy.  I'm trying to stay focused on positive and relax...  but I feel on edge as this week draws to a close with no more news.  I actually took my friends advice this morning and woke up and screamed.  It let a bit of the tension out...  especially when I woke up still exhausted (which could be the combo of being out til 2 am with friends who were in town with their tour combined with the stress of waiting)

Mom had a PET scan today.  They gave her this note to take home saying that she would be radioactive for the remainder of the day and that she wasn't allowed to hold any babies or play with any kids.  I found that entertaining, as we joked that she'd really been making WMDs in the backyard.  She'll find the results out on Tuesday, and hopefully that will be good news.

I've been doing lots of praying and trying to focus on being calm and focused and positive and knowing that good things are coming.  Its a different way for me to handle things, and has left me feeling calmer and less agitated and worried.  

I just hope I get news soon!