Some Photos to share

Baby Afghan - a gift for a friend.
It is made of cotton tots yarn and is just a granny square made very large.

Athena Smoke Ring

From the Book Goddess Knits. It was very simple and takes the place of a hat and scarf.

My Rainbow (and other things)

I have been very busy. The tests results are in and don't at this time show cancer, but they will continue to monitor.
I finished the Athena Smoke Ring. It has one error in it, but that is not bad and I feel like leaving it, because I can't knit without interruptions. Besides, my oldest girl likes to wear it just as it is. She says the boys can't pull it off of me and ruin it. I finished a dishcloth, not very exciting just slip 1st stitch and knit the rest.
I taught a class of 15 women how to knit. They were so much fun that they have decided to have a get together at Panera Breads on May 19th. They are so excited, and I told them that if they make a mistake in the learning phase, they should tell everyone it is a design feature. They liked that and were laughing.
I also have been trying to make a few lapghans. So many sick or injured people at our church. I had to frog my youngest daughters sock (that is what happens when a needle is pulled out).
My oldest girl's birthday is coming up and so I will take her to her very first Mother-Daughter Tea Party. She is so excited about that. She wants to spend the day at Kings Island for her birthday. I have no problem with that.
Kings Island opened 2 weekends ago and we have been there a few times.
The Flying Pig Marathon is Sunday, May 3rd (my oldest girls birthday) and we have to be there to man the 22 mile (The Crest Smile Mile) to man what is supposed to be the GCRC station for hydration, but it will more likely be the Hofacre Family hydration station (so far there will be 8 of us). I really hope that it doesn't rain!
Also, for the past few days, I have been trying to get the grass cut. I start as soon as I get home from dropping youngest daughter at school, quit when it starts raining. Yesterday (29th April), I also moved some of the 3 yards of mulch that we had delivered so that we could mulch our flower gardens. Today, I am sore and will more than likely just take the children somewhere or convince my husband to do so, so that I can sort their clothes (which I started one morning after having to search for summer clothes through winter clothes).
Have a happy Wednesday!

Just a quick update

I am so glad Easter has come and gone. The week of Spring Break, my younger two girls required a doctor's visit. The littlest girl's toe was still red and she was running a fever. She was also finished with the antibiotics. The middle girl was getting worse....she has allergies and required additional medication. We have been driving 60 miles one way to a doctor's office, where I like only 2 of the doctors. The staff isn't the greatest in the world. They require 3 people to do the job of 1. They still cannot call back. While I was waiting in the office today for some papers to be filled out, another woman came in and said I have not heard from the office, is my son's prescription ready? The office staff has been frustrating me for the past 7 years and I am finally going to take my children to another doctor. I just cannot abide by someone saying, "I can't do that." They refuse to learn and don't care that they are not providing customer service. In January, I had to get the insurance company to send them a letter telling them to cease and desist on billing us for services that were to be written off per their contract. If I hadn't liked the doctors so much, I would have left that office 6 years and 6 months ago. I think that if you work somewhere, it is better to learn more than sit back and say, "that is not my job."

As for Easter, we took the girls to 2 egg hunts on the Saturday before. They had a really good time and after the 2nd egg hunt, they were COVERED in mud. The next morning, the girls did not get a visit from the Easter bunny, he was too tired from all the egg hunts on Saturday (that is what we told them). While we were at church the bunny came to visit. The girls had so much fun hunting for eggs. The tricky bunny hid the eggs everywhere! In shoes, slippers, coffee pot and filter holder. Closets were the best place for the bunny to hide things.

With Easter over I began spring cleaning in earnest. I cleaned all the rooms. I am glad that is finished.

The worst news came today. My doctor has found a growth in my neck. I now have to undergo tests to see what it is and what is the next step.

I am outraged

My youngest sister is an idiot. She posted some things to her blog back in December and she decided to share her blog with me. I read what was on her mind and I find that she just doesn't have a clue. She wrote in her blog titled 18 things, #6. I am ashamed of my family. Well, guess what I am ashamed of her! She is such a stuck up little girl. She still has some growing up to do. I used to be proud to claim her as my sister, but recently I have changed my opinion of her and I have to agree with my other sister about some of her opinions on her.
She wrote: 7. I have a major fear that I'm going to end up fat, lonely, ignorant, useless, and ...basically, like most of my family. While, I might be overweight, I have been battling an illness - not imaginary, like hers, but real! One that required surgery, one that found cancer, one that requires I take medication every day for the rest of my life. One that could have caused me to not have children (which I am blessed with three beautiful, smart, young girls). I am not lonely, I have friends, some of my friends I have had for over 25 years! She can't even claim to have had any of hers that long! And, most important I am not ignorant. I have 2 undergraduate college degrees! I came out of school without any college debt! I paid my own way and I made it. She cannot claim the same thing. I seem to recall that our parents paid her college way and even paid for her to go places, places that I could not even dream about going to. Sure I made mistakes, but they were mine to make and learn from! Everyone who LIVES makes mistakes! I am also far from useless. I have been teaching many people how to Knit and crochet. I have been doing this for the past few years. I also used to work with USA Swimming as an official. I worked my way up to starter. Please note, that is something that she hasn't even tried to do.
I am also wanting to go back to school for a graduate degree. I finally accumulated the necessary three letters so that I could apply. It seems that some of the people I asked to write me letters, either were too busy to write them or were too far gone (mentally) to write a coherent letter.
14. I don't watch TV. What I know about shows, I've heard in conversations by other people...its a self-preservation skill I started using, because I didn't have cable when I was young, and all the other kids thought it was weird that I didn't have TV, so they made fun of me. That is a lie in and of itself. We had cable when she was little. We didn't have the movie channels. We didn't have it when for long when my sister, brother and I were little, because there was no such thing until we were about high school age. My youngest sister seems to forget she had the silver spoon.
15. I lie about things. nothing major, stupid stuff mainly - things that aren't important, but for some reason, I feel like I have to lie about them. - Yes, like why she can't ever find the time to spend with her 3 youngest nieces. This is her loss! She is missing out on some of the funniest, cutest, most wonderful children in the world! Yes, I am biased, but I love my girls and wish they could spend more time with their family. It is shameful the way they don't get to see their family. They know their father's family and they love them to pieces. These are wonderful children.
16. The reason I have all the experiences and interests that I have, ...It never worked, and now people don't like me because I seem like an intolerable know it all. - it is not because she is an intolerable know it all, it is because she is a biased schmuck. She thinks she is the end all be all and she closes people out of her life because they don't fit where she wants them - too fat, too stupid, too black, too white, take your pick.
I know that she is following this blog. I hope that it gives her time to think, because as far as I am concerned, she can stay away from my wonderful, unbiased, sweet little girls and I will stay out of her life also.

Sorry for jumping on my soap box, but I have had a long time to think today about her nastiness. I hope that she does have a happy life, but I know that as long as she acts and thinks the way that she does, she will grow old alone and be the useless person that she feels others are.

For the record:
My mother - an LPN who until a year ago cared for aging sisters of the Good Shepherd
My father - a man who worked very hard to put a roof over his family's head, food on the table, earned an Associate Degree.
My sister - a RN who works in a local hospital as an OR nurse
My brother - a man who is trying to the best of his ability
My cousins: a teacher and a records clerk (sorry if I am describing it wrong) who has been with the same company for 30 years! They have cared for their mother for years.
My Aunt: a woman who was left for another woman, who raised 5 children on her own, and did it without handouts!
It seems to me that my sister is looking at the wrong thing!

So little time

Easter is approaching. I am planning activities for the children of my church (the Kindergarten through 5th graders) and stuffing eggs. To top all of this off, our church lost a member. Her memorial was Saturday and I had to get some food stuffs together for the lunch afterwards. Then I had to take my children to an Easter Egg hunt at the church across the street from my house. They have put on the nicest Easter Egg hunt every year, but this year, we feel that the economy has made people turn out for this when they haven't in the past. My girls who have been able to get at least 10 eggs each (in past years) weren't even able to get one! They were a little upset over this, but the children we know from past events that we have attended together, gave some of their eggs to the girls. The children who took away 60-80 eggs each (taking from the youngest children) ran to their cars as fast as they could. I was shocked at this behaviour. It was like the Firefighters Egg hunt. Today, I will be in Kentucky visiting with my family. My uncle and aunt from Stow, will be in town and I look forward to seeing them every time. Sometimes, I am unable to see them because of illness, but other than allergies, the children are fairly healthy. They are excited, also. They are asking about their great uncle and whether he likes snakes or not. They are so funny.

I will teaching more classes. I have been contacted by East Butler County YMCA and the West Chester Library children's program director. This will definitely be a very busy summer for me, with all the classes.

I am still working on a baby blanket and 2 prayer shawls and 3 socks. The girls are anxiously awaiting the socks to come off the needles. They are so funny. I continue to look for rainbow colored sock yarn....the girls are too funny.

Updates

I have been busy. Last Monday, I taught Beginning Crochet to a group of women at the West Chester Library. On Saturday, I taught Advanced Crochet (reading patterns and making a penguin) to another group of women at the West Chester Library. Monday night, I taught knitting to a group of women and 1 young lady at Resurrection Lutheran Church. I had help with this task from 2 very wonderful women. Melissa Schofield and Martha Savage. Poor Martha had to fly to Pennsylvania and home again and the airline confiscated her bottle of Channel #5. She has to again fly out to visit family members. But on Monday we were talking about Prayer Shawls and what they can look like and the difference in styles. But this kept me from accomplishing much on my own projects. To top all this off, last night I had to stuff eggs for the girls Easter Egg Hunt on Easter. I have to do this when they are away from the house or I will be found out as the Easter Bunny.

Today, I began looking at some magazines that Martha loaned me. I found some fun sites, so Iwill share them here.

http://www.holywoodknit.com/index.html I just love the name of this Holy Wood....they make knitting needles and buttons from olive wood. Check out this site.

http://www.knitpicks.com/Knitting.cfm - I love knitpicks....my cousin Marti, told me about them. I bought a set of dpns from them and I love these needles. I also bought some sock yarn from them for my daughters for socks that I am making them. The yarn is beautiful. The pictures do not do justice to the actual colors of yarn.

http://www.thefibersphere.com/ - they have knitting/crochet bags made from bamboo, they have these specialized spheres to hold the yarn and protect it while you are working with it. They also have a link to Cherry Tree Hill Yarn, they have some gorgeous colors also. I have not ordered from them yet, but it never hurts to look.

http://www.debrasgarden.com/ - She makes and sells stitch markers that are more than the ordinary. They are very pretty and I am sure will liven up anyone's knitting.

http://www.yarnofthemonth.com/ - Yarn of the Month Club, according to the article I read, this is the best gift for a knitter you love.

http://www.planetpurl.com/planetpurl/search.htm - Free patterns....Do I really need to say more.

http://www.lionbrand.com/cgi-bin/patternFinder.fcgi? - Free patterns....Again, need I say more.

http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php - more free patterns. I just love free patterns.

http://www.simplysockyarn.com/servlet/Categories?category=SALE+YARNS! - This site is fun to search for sale yarns and other types of yarns.

So enjoy the search through the websites. Let me know if you have one that you like.