August 28, 2006

the yarn aboard II box goes for a vacation

I thought that it was only fair that my Yarn Aboard II spinning box go on a vacation ... since it was sending stuff to my swap pal. Here are some pictures of the trip we took. Box was so happy to be able to get out of the mail system and see the world around him. No longer was he stuck in dark dank warehouses, rather, he had a window with a view.

With Grandma Mary and Cameron in tow we headed out on the road. Off to the border we go. No not the US border, rather, the Alberta/British Columbia border. There is this nice little pull off on the BC side (none on the Alberta side ... cheapo's!) where we were able to stop and take some pictures and smell the clean fragrant BC air. Box was commenting on how interesting it was that the air smelled different on the BC side than on the Alberta side. Box made me walk back and forth just to prove a point. He was right. The air was different. After stretching our legs, Box wanted to sit in the sun for a minute.

Of course we had to check the map out. I showed Box all the different national parks that were in the area.

After looking at the map, Box was ready to get on the road again. Nevermind me, grandma or Cameron, this was all about Box and making box happy. We did all stop for lunch since Box and Cameron wanted some chicken fingers. Then it was on to Three Valley Gap. It is an old ghost town with old railway cars, a theatre, a hotel and on a lake in the middle of the mountains.

Box started laughing as he has never seen such a big a** before. We just had to take a picture.

IT was time to get back to business and get on the road again. Once we were on the road the rest of the trip went by fairly quickly. We arrived at Kelowna and at auntie MJ's house. Box was SO glad to get out of the car and play. Here are some pictures of Box smelling the flowers and feeding the fish.

All in all Box had a great time. He was sad to leave but knew that he was going to a good home somewhere else for a few days.

August 24, 2006

Liz ... I love you!!

I Love you Lizzy!! Thank you so much for coming over tonight. For giving me an excuse to crack open a bottle of wine and for helping me get motivated.

Liz is my cousin. We used to detest each other. Know we love each other. She came over tonight and hung up ALL the clothes in my room and cleaned out my closet. I have been struggling with doing it but every time I have the chance Cameron is asleep and I don't want to be puttering around upstairs. Liz came over and just did it for me. She didn't even plan it. She just came in and took over. Which motivated me to clean the clutter in my yarn corner and the kitchen.

It lifted a weight off of my shoulders. I was going to do it this weekend and now I don't have to. I can just knit and spin and relax!

August 23, 2006

the trip

On Friday I picked up Grandma Mary and the three of us headed to Kelowna. Grandma to visit with my aunts and me to see dad. It was an interesting ride down there. We laughed alot. Grandma has mild dementia and well ... needless to say we had the same conversation more times than I could count during the drive. Thankfully on the way there Cameron was tired due to a smart mom who kept him up late and watched his movies most of the way.

Seeing dad was very hard. Cameron and I go there around 7pm and he was in bed. Cameron was not sure about the whole situation so went and played in the main room. There were a lot of tears shed over the next few days and Cameron did warm up to his "Poppa".

I couldn't stop crying while I was there. I apologized to my dad but he understood. He also did quite a bit of crying with me. We spoke about him coming off of antibiotics and just letting any infection that he has take its course. We talked about him dying peacefully. All he wants is to not be in pain and he is at the moment so that will need to be taken care of. For me there were two times when I found it almost unbearable emotionally: 1) when dad described to me the day I was born, the emotions he had holding me and how he told the doctor my name ... that I was his perfect little angel and still was 2) when we said goodbye at the end of this trip and he kept telling me that it was going to be "peaceful" and that he and big poppa (my grandfather) would look over me and Cameron. That he would always be with us. The fact that he had the stregth to talk about all of this was quite amazing.

Needless to say, I am looking forward to this weekend when I can have some down time to deal with some emotions, read and knit. I have been working on my cousin's flower basket shawl and will have a picture of it as soon as I charge up the camera batteries. I also have been working on a Noro Log Cabin blanket that is turning out really really well!

August 22, 2006

home again

I am home. Not that you all knew that I was gone! I went to see my dad this weekend. I'll write about it tomorrow.

But ... just to let you all know ... I bought a dying kit from HELLO YARN today!! YEEEHAWWWWW

Check it out, she gives it ALL to you and there is enough dye to do 8lbs of roving!! She has yarn too that is undyed but I am going to try the roving first!.

August 16, 2006

re-gifting

Now, let me start off by saying this ... I am not thinking of doing this. However, with the swaps I am in and the one's I am getting together at the moment, I had a random thought, which turned into more thoughts, which turned into a possible blog entry, which in turn then turned into an actual entry ... (wow that was long!)

So my question is ... do you/would you regift something you had received during a yarn swap or that had to do with your craft of choice?

August 15, 2006

Yarn Aboard II - Spinning

So awhile ago I joined this little known swap called Yarn Aboard II. I had missed the first go around but that was ok because I NOW am involved in the second one. YAY for me. Since I am a Canuck I figured it would be awhile before one of the two boxes (one for knitting on for spinning) would show up since that is usually how things work.

A box!

I got home last night after teaching a class to find that box. I looked at it in disbelief. As I read who the box was from I started to get this sense of excitement. Suddenly it clicked. The BOX was from Yarn Aboard!! I couldn't wait to open it.

Upon opening this box I saw that it was the Ferdinand Magellan box!! How exciting!! Just looking within made me sit back and hold off on opening up the packages. I was letting the anticipation build. But not for too long of course ...

Just look at the goodies I got. Some Crown Mountain Farms Roving in colors that I did not have and probably would not have purchased ... but seeing them in person .. YUMMMMMMY .. Oh I can't wait to do some spinning!! And chocolate drizzled pretzels ... I am going to dig into those tonight with some tea! I just loved ALL of my goodies. Thank you Amanda for the package.

I am off to go shopping for MY spinning swap person. I have a few ideas of what I want to get. Of course some of it needs to be Canadian. Since that is where the package is from!

August 8, 2006

Chub Club

Well Hello Fat. Yes You. Fat. Okay. Maybe you would rather be called "bulge".

Well NO More. See I have this new CHUB CLUB that I belong to. No more of YOUR crap for me. I have joined with some bad ass'd knittin gals who also want to get rid of theirs. Whats better ... I just might win some CASH!!! You heard me right fat. Cash is a great motivator.

Let's get our GAME ON!!!

*check it out and join up! Sign ups go till Aug 25*

August 5, 2006

Thank you...

Thank you everyone who either left a comment about my dad or emailed me privately. I am working through the emails BUT I do want you to know that it means a lot to me to have your support and thoughts through this time. It leaves me filled with heartwarmth about how our community is so close knit (hehe) and caring even though I haven't and probably won't, meet you all!

I am knitting a new blanket out of some stash yarn. Will show it as soon as I get pictures taken.

Am also working on a sweater for my knit class I am teaching.

Today I spent the day with my mom. Cameron and I after nap time went for an early dinner. Stopped by the knit store to show my mom the baby blanket I had done and also look at some yarn for the "knit the classics" next project. Then we went for icecream. Cameron loves his grandma so much. They have so much fun together. It was rather cute to watch. She even got him to try a new icecream (tiger stripes? the orange and black one) in stead of the "pinky" (aka strawberry) that he always gets. Then it was off to play with the puppies and water and eat all the crappy sugary treats that my mom has in her house!

Cameron decided that he was "superman" and I was "spiderman" and my mom was "spiderman's mom" ... we played that for a long time. He is so cute I just can't stand it sometimes.

Last night in the bath he was sitting on the little bowl that I use to wash his hair. He looked up at me and said, after holding the bowl up filled with water, "look mommy I laid eggs" .... where do kids get that stuff! It absolutely cracked me up!!

I promise I'll show some pictures.

Dad is still holding up. I am hoping to go out in about two weeks. I think I'll drive (its about 7 hours ... maybe 9 with cameron) because the flights are too expensive. I don't have the cash to pay for the flights but ... I love the drive too so that will be good. I'll keep you all informed.

August 1, 2006

Why is it....?

That when I eat ice cream, I blow on it to cool it off?

A little bit dorky huh?

I was sitting here eating some double chocolate ice cream from a great little place down the street and watching some Rockstar on the tv (cuz of course they aren't here in my house *sigh*). Not that I need the ice cream when I am trying to lose some weight ... yet if you read the beginning of this paragraph you'd know why I'm not losing any weight. *another sigh* But I'm working on it.

What was I escaping from you ask? why was I binge eating? Well don't keep reading if you don't want to know (*heavy material warning*)

Well people who have been reading me for awhile know that my dad has MS. He has been paralyzed from the neck down for some time. He has caregivers but can't even scratch his *ss if he wanted to, or his nose for that matter ... or anything else. A couple of months ago he coughed up something pretty nasty. He was hoping ... yes I said HOPING ... to have cancer. But we all said no, you can't cough up cancer. The doctors didn't really know what it was. They "thought" that they had seen something mysterious but couldn't pin point it. Since then nothing had happened so the assumption was that it was really maybe a piece of mestastisized food.

well my dad now has his wish.

Last week dad went into the hospital for some monitoring, to give his caregivers a break and get assessed. The ear, nose and throat doctor also came to check out dad. The doctor did a scope of the back of dad's throat. Guess what? Oh I know you are all smart so you already have the answer. Yes, not only does my father have no dignity in life but he also has cancer. If it is treated he will have a feeding tube and not be able speak again OR he will choke/starve to death. Ain't those great options? Dad can't write. He can't lift his hands. So even if the radiation treatment is something that he wants, having it leaves him completely cut off from the world. He can think great. But is paralyzed in his body. He would not even be able to write on a wipe board to let us know what he needed.

You know ... as a family we have stated for at least the last five years or more ... "dad won't make it to this xmas" and then he does ... "dad won't make it to his birthday" and he makes it ... dad won't make it through the "cold and flu season" and he makes it ... now when we say that "dad won't make it to this xmas" the reality of it is more real than its ever been.

I am extremely sad. I find myself diving into work. Though at the same time, I am very distracted which is making my performance not as good (or even close to) what it should be. I am not that focussed on knitting or spinning. I am wanting to curl up in a ball in my bed and read trashy romance novels, nothing I have to think about and sleep whenever I want. I don't really want to be around anyone, and yet I'm glad for the distraction.

This is the reason that there has been little blogging. I will blog more. Soon. I have cleaned up my roving stash ... yes I am gaining a HUGE stash ... and knitting too. Promise. Until then ... a few prayers or good thoughts for my dad would be appreciated. He spends his awake time crying and the rest of his drugged up day sleeping. He needs all the positive energy in whatever form you can spare.

I don't normally ask ... but ... its my dad ...