Happy 2nd Birthday Brody!

Two years ago today ... Brody was born at home weighing 12 pounds. I'm so grateful that I chose to have a home birth as there most probably would have been medical intervention otherwise. While it was hands down the most intense day of my life I would do it again in a heartbeat for the same results.

This is Brody shortly after birth.



Here's Brody with my wonderful midwives, Jess & Lynne.



Houston's face shows so much concern and wonderment. He is such a good big brother ... I couldn't have asked for any better. They are truly lucky to have each other.




We had a small family birthday party at Papa & Miss Nancy's river place yesterday. It turned out just great. We usually have really big parties at home but we decided to switch it up a little. It was a really fun day.









Today my mom and I took the boys to a u-pick blueberry farm. It was really fun and the boys were really good pickers too. I couldn't believe all the blueberries we took home for only $4. We'll definitely do that again.








After picking blueberries we took Brody for his first professional haircut. He wasn't all that happy about the situation and I ended up having to sit with him so he would let it happen. We both left covered with hair but it looks cute.

Run Your Car on Water

Interesting.

Knitting Update

Meredyth's Baby Blanket
I've been thinking about the baby blanket. I found some satin that I was going to use to trim it but I was a bit stressed about sewing satin to knitting. I thought about it some more and decided that it might just be fine how it is. It's the perfect size for laying over a car seat or a stroller which is probably how the blanket will be used, if at all. So ... I've got some yarn tails to weave in, some washing and blocking and it will be done. Yay!!!

Socks for Seeley
I found the perfect crazy sock yarn and cast on my socks for Seeley Booth. They are going super fast using this yarn. I thought about over-dyeing once I was done to tone it down a little but I got a lot of comments from the group on Ravelry knitting these socks telling me to leave them as they are. We'll see how I feel when I'm done. I really wanted to do a ribbing pattern on the leg to ensure a good fit but after knitting and ripping out twice I decided to stick with stockinette. The stripes looked really funky with the ribbing that I tried. This picture is a little deceiving as the light green is more of a bright lime green than it looks here.



Juliana's Mae Day Dress - Take 2
I'm a little frustrated with this right now. Apparently there is an error on the pattern. The size I am knitting says it takes 2 balls of this yarn and the next size up says it takes 3 balls. Well I'm SURE that I need at least 3 balls. I'm almost done with the second ball of yarn and I'm just over halfway down the dress. Ugh! And I was in G'ville yesterday ... the day that Hanks is closed! Hope they have a ball of this left when I make it back.

First Pick!

We had some yummy wax beans from the garden last night. Should have some squash in another day or so.

Baby Birds!

New Garden Pics

On this day in 1997 ...

... a cute little beagle-basset puppy was born. Today is Mowgli's 11th birthday. Happy birthday girl!

Good News

My brother was released from the hospital yesterday. He's on crutches and is still healing but it looks like he's on his way to a full recovery.

Some Knitting Content

Because I know there hasn't been a lot of that around here lately. I have been knitting though. First we have the log cabin baby blanket for my niece who will probably be walking before I get this thing finished. I modified the pattern a bit and I think I ended up making it too narrow. I could fix that by adding one more strip of the lightest purple yarn at the top. Problem is that I don't have much of that color left. I do have plenty of the second lightest purple. Should I just use that and have it change order right at the end? Would it stand out? Would it matter? I just don't know. If Hanks were right around the corner and I could run in and see if they had one more ball of this color then it wouldn't be a problem. Also, had I kept track of which color was which (they are numbered, not named, the colors I have are something like 6, 7, 8 and 21 but I don't know what is what) then I could call them up and ask. But ... I don't know what i'm asking for! I could also just do a narrow strip of the light purple with what I have and call it done. Then there's the "wrong side" issue. I don't like a blanket having a "wrong side". Just doesn't seem right. I had thought of sewing some fabric to the back side but wasn't sure how exactly to execute that plan. Then I saw Sharon's comments on her ravelry page about sewing fabric on the back and doing a quilt tie thing. I just might have to copy that great idea. This also means I have to find coordinating fabric which will delay the blanket even more. Hmmm ...



And then we have another Mae Day Dress. It amazes me that only ten people on Ravelry have knit this pattern. It's so freaking cute I almost can't stand it. I made one in pink but took so long to do the finishing (seaming) that the baby I knit it for grew up. Go figure. So I finished that one for Simone and started a new one for the originally planned recipient in one size too big so that she can actually wear it when I finish it. I also modified the pattern to knit in the round this time so that I don't have to do the seaming at all. Yay! I'm using the yarn called for in the pattern this time around too which I am totally in love with. It's Vickie Howell's Craft by South West Trading Company. It's made with organic cotton and milk fiber and it's so so very soft and lovely.

Help Finding Yarn

So that I don't proceed to spend the next four hours searching the internet and drooling over yarn I can't purchase ... I'm asking for help from the knitters out there. I'm participating in a group of knitters who are knitting (obviously) and sending socks to David Boreanz (sp?) who plays Seeley Booth on the show Bones. In the interest of time and actually finishing said socks, here are my requirements:

1. weight: either DK or Worsted (to speed things up)
2. content: wool/nylon blend or even better would be a cotton/wool/nylon blend and even better yet would be the last one with something stretchy thrown in ... cotton/wool/nylon/spandex type thing
3. color: must come in fun color options. he likes crazy socks so crazy socks he will get. some sort of self-patterning/self-striping/funky color thing that appears as i knit. no colorwork involved here as i tend not to finish those projects.
4. price: cheap! not so cheap that my hours of knitting will be lost when the socks fall apart but also no pricey hand-dyed or big name label. good stuff that's on sale somewhere would be cool too.
5. washability: yep ... superwash if there is wool involved. no hand wash only please.

Thanks!

So ...

... the lab had an "unfortunate incident" which rendered my blood unusable for finishing the tests they were running. We got some results back but not all and I had to go back to the lab yesterday for another blood draw so they can try it again. But the good news is that from what the doc was able to see, he doesn't think I have RA or Lupus but we're still waiting for the ANA results to see if my immune system is attacking my body or not. I'm supposed to call him in a week to get the results. My TSH was fine but no T3 or T4 results and somehow we had a miscommunication or something in that he did not re-order those tests. He's as baffled by my rash as the rest of the docs who have seen it. (maybe the allergist will have a clue) He wants me to stick with my orthopedic surgeon for my ankles and get a family doctor to keep an eye on my blood sugar and my thyroid. I probably need to move on to the next option with my ankles which is steroid injections under x-ray. Sounds fun, no?

Things That Sucketh

Ya'll please excuse me while I vent. I've had enough already. Seriously now ... I'm only 31 years old. I don't even want to think about how much pain I'll be in by the time I'm 50. I wish one of these docs would figure out what is going on so I can try to do something about it. I've been going to an orthopedic surgeon, a hematologist, a rheumatologist and an ENT and all they have managed to do is tell me I have "several issues" but we don't know why yet and refer me on to more doctors. Now I have to add an allergist and an oral surgeon to the mix due to my CT scan results and was told that I need either sinus surgery or a temporary fix of an in-office procedure involving burning the swollen lining of my sinuses to shrink it down. Um, no thank you. (i'll spare you all the details of the nasal scope I endured with a hangover on Wednesday ... absolutely awful) I didn't even know my sinuses were involved here. Jeepers man! I know they are in bad shape but I've learned to live with that. What I'm not learning to live with is the unbelievable, unrelenting, increasing pain in my ankles. I don't know which issue is causing more of the pain ... the arthritis or the tendonitis due to me having a coalition rather than a normal joint.

I also have bilateral degeneration in the articular disc of my TMJ which I'm managing by wearing a bite guard and eating soft foods (i really miss my granola) along with heat packs and Advil. Honestly, Advil has become my best friend over the past six months. I'm sure my liver and/or kidneys would disagree at this point but it's better than a prescription narcotic. So all that pain I thought was in my ear turned out to be my jaw. I have a habit of teeth grinding which I have apparently sent into overdrive with all the stress over the past several months. Go figure. The good news is that the pain has seriously calmed down since I've stopped using my jaw so much. (not easy to do, by the way. talk about teaching an old dog new tricks!)

I'm trying to narrow things down since all these crazy symptoms popped up and all I've managed to accomplish is to add more doctors to my medical "team". I think I need a real life Dr. House. Anybody know one? I go back to the rheumatologist on Monday to get my latest test results back. Looking forward to that. You should have seen all the blood they had to draw. He ordered just about every test on the lab sheet plus hand wrote in the bottom "additional tests" area about six or seven more tests. Then I get to endure the fun of allergy tests a week after that. I had really, really bad allergies when I was a kid (think three shots a week) to the point that I could not walk through grass that needed to be mowed without having hives all over my legs from the grass seeds touching me. I also had a really bad episode after dusting some shelves when I was about 13. Scared my mom pretty good with that one. Most of my allergies went away as I grew up. The only things that seem to bother me still are dust and medication. Well, that I know of anyway. I actually hope they find me allergic to something I'm surrounded by because if they don't then that means it's an autoimmune condition which goes along with all the other funky stuff I've been dealing with and we're back to looking at lupus, RA and similar autoimmune diseases. The rheumatologist thinks I may have a collagen deficiency which is a model of RA (whatever that means) along with possibly hypothyroidism.

Ya know, I was a pretty healthy woman about two years ago. BEFORE I had a 12 pound baby. I honestly have not been the same since. Something got seriously out of whack when I had Brody. He better be glad he's so darn cute and entertaining! My body went back to normal very quickly after Houston was born. I don't know what happened with Brody. I now have a funky blood rash of varying degrees at any given time (called petechia) , arthritis in my ankles and jaw and probably other places as well, tendinitis and random bouts of dizziness and nausea. I also may or may not have decreased energy. I have resorted to drinking a steady flow of coffee throughout the day to keep me going. I thought it was just because I have two little boys that require a lot of attention as well as about fifty other things to deal with during the day. The more I think about it though, it may be a symptom too. And the weight ... ugh ... while i'm not obese I do have about 15 extra pounds on me that I can't seem to get rid of. I work really hard and loose 8-12 pounds and then it comes right back. It's a cycle I can't seem to break. I've never had that problem before. It's always been easy for me to drop pounds and keep them off. Is it just because I've hit that magic age of 30 where the metabolism supposively slows? Or is it hypoglycemia or hypothyroidism or both? I've learned they can both be hormone related and it's not uncommon for them to occur together. I bought a blood glucose test kit yesterday and am monitoring my blood sugar. It was a little low yesterday when I felt a little icky. I'm curiously awaiting my next round of the shakes to show themselves so I can test and see where my level is.

Well now that I've wasted a good part of the afternoon sharing my personal medical issues with anyone on the blogosphere who happens by ... I'm going to step outside to the porch and join my hubby and father-in-law who are getting their weekend started a little early. Unfortunately I'll just have to watch them drink beer instead of joining them. Seems these days all I have to do is look at a beer and I gain a pound and then fall asleep. I do have some yummy hazelnut coffee brewing though ... mmmmmm. Actually, I think I'm going to go play my piano for a while first. I haven't blogged about Charley recently but we are still getting along wonderfully. I have actually managed to reach the point that I can flip through a book that I have and play about ten different songs without too much effort or error. I absolutely love it! :)

(PS ... Angie ... I made the baked radishes last night and they are yummy! thanks for the recipe!)

Rocket Yarn at Work

Socks! Click here to check out some gorgeous socks knit with my hand-dyed yarn. Way to go Heather!

Wildflower Pics

Questions ... for the audience (if i still have one)

Any good recipes involving radishes? I have a bunch from the garden and I don't like to eat them raw. I plant them every year and then I end up feeding them to the dogs. I was thinking there might be some sort of sauce/dip/marinade that I could make.

Anyone have a recommendation of a good "Diabetes Diet" book and/or cookbook?

Meet Simone Olivia

Come Buy Some Stuff!

My Zooted Dog

Well Mowgli hasn't yelped in pain once since she's been on her meds. She's pretty well zooted as you can probably see in this picture. She seems happy and is eating well and even ran around a bit with the other dogs last night. I could tell she was holding back from her usual antics but it was good to see her moving around that much. She was even able to jump up on the couch pretty easily and without yelping in pain. She's on a muscle relaxer three times a day, pain pill twice a day and steroid once a day so I'm sure she's not feeling much of anything right now. She's comfortable though so I'm happy. :)

And just a side note ... one of the best things about working from home and for myself is that I have her sleeping right here at my feet. She can tell when it's time to head to the office for the day after I get back from dropping the kids off at daycare. She heads to the office and assumes her spot for the day.

My Mowgli ....

So we came home on Sunday from a great trip to visit some friends and meet their new baby to find Mowgli shaking and whimpering in pain. I thought her arthritis must have flared up again so I started her back on Rimadyl. I gave that a few doses of time to see if it would help and it didn't do much. So off to the vet we went this morning. I was totally prepared for him to tell me that she was full of tumors. I know that sounds very negative but Brett thought the same thing. Turns out the vet does not think it's tumors but it's more of her arthritis progressing into her spine (disc degeneration) which is causing pinched nerves and muscle spasms. He sent us home with three different meds to get her comfortable and then we will gradually pull back to see which one is helping the most. Giving her six pills a day is going to be quite a challenge but she took the first set this morning without too much of a struggle ... surprisingly enough. Maybe she knew it would help. She's laying next to me now snoring away which is a really good sign that she's comfortable. She hasn't been sleeping very soundly lately. She always snores but she hasn't been snoring lately. She's also had some trouble walking which I attributed to her arthritis but she's got more fatty deposits on her as well which we thought may be tumors.

We all know when we adopt a pet that they will not be around forever but it's still so hard when they leave us. Mowgli will be 11 next month so she's definitely no spring chicken anymore. I picked her out when she was four weeks old and I took her home when she was eight weeks old. She and I have been through a lot together. We made it through college (i'm sure she's glad that's over), we moved halfway across the country all by ourselves, we've gone on hundreds of road trips ... even drove between Houston and Gainesville a few times by ourselves. She's been the one constant thing in my life for 11 years now. She's been a huge comfort to me, she's protected me and loved me, she's licked my tears ... and she's always happy to see me no matter what. I hope and pray that I have several more years with her but I also don't want her to live in pain. Maybe this is the beginning of the end ... and maybe it's not. I've cried a lot over the past few days just thinking about it ... almost in disbelief at times. I've dealt with so much over the past three months and there are some other things I'm dealing with as well that I'll share when the time is right .... so please God, don't take away my Mo-Mo just yet.

Interesting Link

Florida-Friendly Landscaping

And speaking of plants, Houston and I replanted the entire garden last friday. We now have a garden full of sprouts, once again ... hopefully here to stay this time. :)

School Visit

Brett and I had our interview at The Blake School yesterday. We were there for two full hours and we both just loved it. It is, honestly, exactly what I want for my children. I'm so excited and sooo looking forward to bringing my boys up through this school. I have so many wonderful thoughts swimming through my head right now that I can't even settle on one to write about. It's a Montessori school with approx. 125 students. It was just great. We saw every room, every teacher and every student. I'm all excited just thinking about it all over again. :) Houston will start this fall with the next school year and Brody will start the year after. They start at age 3 and go all the way up through high school graduation. They have 100% of their seniors accepted to the school/college/university of their choice. They have music, art, sports, drama, etc.

I went to a private Montessori school through the 3rd grade myself. I think it's a wonderful method and I really attribute those early years with my continued success in school. I was having flashbacks while we were touring the school seeing the wooden shelves that lined the rooms with all the learning materials on them. (if you went to a Montessori school then you know what i'm talking about better than i can explain it) I'm a very visual person so learning math with algebricks was probably what set me up to be so good with numbers. Everything has a tactile and visual part to it. It's just great stuff .... I can't say it enough.

And one of the most impressive things was that there was not a single child in that entire school that was not completely into what they were doing. Nobody was acting up or goofing off. Not one. You could tell all the kids really loved their teachers too and they were all excited to see us and to say hi and to tell us how much they like it there. Houston gets to go spend a day there sometime soon and hang out in the primary cluster. I really think he's going to love it. :)

I Think I'm Going to Cry

The weather report told us it was going to get down to around 38-40 degrees last night with some wind which told us we didn't have to worry about our garden. We could have left the sprinklers going and might have saved it. We woke up to the radio alarm clock this morning with the guy saying "it's 33 degrees out right now" and we both said "CRAP!" at the same time. The whole entire garden is gone! Totally frozen/burnt. Well except for the radishes and carrots. The tomato and pepper seedlings we just planted along with all of the seeds that had sprouted .... it's all gone.

The tomatoes in my earth boxes are about half burnt. The outer leaves are definitely goners but the stem and inner leaves seem to have survived. Not sure if they will recover or not. The peppers don't look so good and only one of the little sprouts survived. This is the first time i've successfully sprouted sweet pepper seeds. Ugh! I was really excited too because the seeds were from a pack of sweet pepper seeds that included purple, yellow, red and orange so I was really looking forward to seeing what they turned out to be. :(

I guess we'll be able to tell in the next few days if anything will come back but i'm not holding my breath. Excuse me while I go have a major pout session.

Gutting Charley

Well not really, but I have become fascinated with the inner workings of the piano. I actually got a little froggy sunday night and opened her up. I managed to make two of the minor repairs needed all by myself. Well almost, Brett helped with a screw to fix the keyboard cover. A clip had come off so it sat crooked ... but not anymore! And I fixed one of the dampers. They sit back down on the string after you release the key to dampen out the sound. One of the keys kept resonating after the key was let go of and I discovered it was because the damper was loose and was not sitting on the strings correctly. A little internet research, a small paintbrush and some wood glue and it is working properly once again!


Here is a pic before the repair. You can plainly see the crooked damper. I haven't taken a new picture since the repair otherwise you know you'd be seeing it too. :)

Making the small repairs we did along with all of my internet research has really given me a lot of confidence in being able to make all the repairs myself. I know what's wrong and I know the process required to fix it. Pretty cool stuff I tell ya! I've decided that regardless of what my dear husband thinks I need to be doing with my time, I am going to fix this thing up myself before I have it tuned. That leaves more money for piano books and more confidence in myself as well. :)

The most challenging repair will be fixing two hammers where the felt has come loose. I've found a website that explains how to fix it without replacing the hammer. I know I can do it ... I just have to figure out how to remove the whole hammer assembly thing so that I can get to it. The repair involves a small drill bit, some wire, a C clamp and some wood glue. In the picture below you can see one really sticks out and the other sticks out just a little.



Tonight i'm going to take the bottom/front panel off and vacuum out 34 years of only God know what. I'm a little scared after what I found in the top part. It kind of freaked me out at first and then I jumped on the internet and found it was completely to be expected and not that big of a deal at all. I'll leave it all to your imagination. :)

I'm also going to file the front of the hammers to remove the grooves thereby improving the sound quality and will also replace some felt disks under the keys that are sitting a little low. Sweet!

Garden Update

Everything is up and growing well, except for the okra. Not sure what happened with that so I bought some new seeds today and replanted. We also added some tomatoes, bell peppers and banana peppers. My earth boxes are growing really well too. So for a recap, in just another month or so we will have these yummy veggies available for the eatin':

Tomatoes (about five different varieties), Bell Peppers (three varieties), Sweet Onions, Carrots, Corn, Okra (hopefully), Squash, Zucchini, Acre Peas, Green Beans (three varieties), Radishes, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Pumpkin and Cucumbers (the yummy small ones).

Not too shabby for a couple of engineers, huh? ;)


See my roaming garden gnome in the background? At least I've trained him to run in between the rows instead of on top of them!


And here is our solution to my earth boxes getting snacked on while we're gone. Working pretty well so far!


A sign of grape things to come. Get it? Hee hee. :)



See all the wildflowers growing in the background? This is the best showing we've ever had. It's going to be GORGEOUS around here in a few weeks. Anyone that wants to come take pictures in the flowers is more than welcome.

My Piano Adventure

So Thursday evening I sat down for my first practice session. I spent about fifteen minutes getting frustrated with myself before I figured out a plan of attack. I purchased a highly recommended book for teaching yourself piano but it had not arrived yet and I was impatient. I did have a few different books from a lot of 4 that I won on eBay for 99 cents so I thumbed through them with no knowledge of how to sit properly or what note, say "C" on the treble clef corresponded to what "C" on the keys ... there are quite a few of them after all. Well after I reminded myself that this was for fun and there were no tests involved I found a song in a book that is fairly simple that I am familiar with because I played it as a solo on my viola in high school. I just picked a C to use as my base and went on from there. Got the whole song memorized too, well the right hand portion of it at least. I decided not to conquer the left hand until I had more instruction. So my frustration quickly turned to fun and I was loving every minute of it. We went to the river this weekend and I was very sad to leave Charley because I planned to get some good practice time in but lucky for me when we got home Saturday evening I found the book I was waiting for in the mailbox. Yay! And let me tell you ... it's exactly what I needed. The first page is all pictures and it shows you where to sit (i was sitting too close), how to hold your hands (my fingers were flat, not curved) and several other things that you really need to know. I also discovered where middle C is on the keys and on the treble clef. Armed with that information I worked through the first 19 pages of the book today during two practice sessions ... probably about 1 to 1-1/2 hours or so total and by the end of it I was playing Jingle Bells with both hands!!! Yipppeeeee! :)

An interesting thing that i'm struggling with, well it's interesting to me anyway, is in this book they give you a number to help you find the note ... for example, you play middle C with your right thumb which is finger number 1. So everywhere there is a C there is also a number 1 written above the note to help you out. Well here's the problem ... in playing the viola finger 1 is actually the finger next to the thumb. My brain is fighting itself a bit but i'm working to retrain. As i'm going along playing these songs (so glad i can already read music) I'll notice that it doesn't sound quite right and i'll realize that i'm playing viola finger 3 instead of piano finger 3. Funny stuff. And the treble clef and viola clef are off also so that provides for yet another challenge. For example, in viola (viola clef) the note in the top space is an F but in piano (treble clef) it is an E. Great brain exercise though ... seriously. I love brainy puzzles, in fact, I have a MENSA puzzle-a-day calendar on my desk. :) So this has created quite a challenge for me that I am really enjoying.

As for Charley, she seems to play really well and has a great sound ... to my non-piano-playing ears at least. She's definitely out of tune in a few spots but I hope to have her tuned up and repaired after our yard sale on the 3rd. (Group yard sale at a church with our FPU class ... should be able to really unload some stuff) There are a few keys that definitely need a little work done on them. I find that i'm fascinated with how a piano actually works. I never knew before ... I just thought you hit the keys and something hit a string and that's it. Boy was I wrong ... there is so much more involved. I've heard several stories now (2 from 2 different people i actually know in person) about people with absolutely no experience in playing or fixing a piano taking a piano apart and rebuilding it. I would so love to learn to fix this thing on my own. I brought my grand idea up to Brett and he kindly reminded me that we just started our own business and that we don't have time for that. Bah humbug! Oh well ... maybe later. He does have a point. And I would rather spend the little time that I do find learning to play anyhow.

So the journey begins ... can't wait for my other books to show up. I found all kinds of used (but not used) piano books on half.com and amazon.com. I bought a couple for myself and a couple for Houston. The book I mentioned about is $20 new but I got it for $3 + shipping ($3.49) and it looks as if it has never been opened. Gotta love the internet. :) I'm really looking forward to the Laurie Berkner song book to arrive. If you have kids (and cable tv) then you know what I mean. Time for some goof ball fun!