Some Days You're The Windshield...Some Days You're The Bug!!

     That expression is so true! Some days you're just going along and everything is fine. Things happen and you're just like a windshield...everything is just bouncing off of you!....And then there's days like yesterday....But before I completely 'bum you out' let me show you this great Treasury my 'bug', Fly Button Brooches, made it into!

      I love the title of this Treasury~~"Gray skies are just clouds passing over~Duke Ellington". It was curated by MidWestMermaid. { Here's a little Duke Ellington music for you to cut and paste, and put in another window to listen to while you're reading, if you like :-) --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yxzkRNT-o4 }
     And once again, the coincidence of a treasury that's perfectly named for me today. Gray skies "ARE" passing over...Not literally, weather-wise. Not today anyway!...(Although we do have several storms due to 'pass over' during the next several days)...No, I'm afraid my gray clouds are all emotional. 

              {bad day by roofchimp}

       I talked to my dad yesterday. He was in a lot of pain. He went to have his pre-surgery visit with the doctor and when he got back home he was in some intense pain...just from the jostling around of going. :-( I feel so bad for him. He has all kinds of medication, but it's not really taking the pain away...And it's another whole week before his surgery!
     When I asked him if he was going to be able to endure this, he said: "I'm gonna have to!!"...That's sad...but unfortunately true. Sometimes you just have to endure it until it gets fixed.
      Thankfully there was some good news! The surgery is suppose to be a pretty quick thing. I think he said they're going to remove a nerve or something. And he's only going to be in the hospital a couple of days!....If you can call that "GOOD" news! 
     Laughingly, he said: "I'll call you from the hospital on my new phone, to let you know what's happening. I told these guys to call you, but....I'll call!" LOL "Right dad!! Just call me in between the anesthesia and the lights out!!" ^_^
     Let me give you a break  and tell you something good, before I tell you the other news. :-] ... I started again, and here's my knitted slouch hat...

     ...and here it is right now, after knitting almost all day...in between a couple of naps!...

        ....Is it starting to look like a hat yet?! ^_^ I can kinda, sorta, with my head tipped sideways, see it!
     Okay, back to news...Hubby had a doctor's appointment yesterday too. He's been dreading it for months now. At the last visit, the doctor told him to go on a special diet...a special eating program really. He doesn't need to lose weight, but his Cholesterol is high. The doctor told him that if it didn't go down by this visit he might have to put him on a medication to lower it...Liperol.
    Hubby heard some bad things about this medication that scared him and he REALLY doesn't want to take it! So, he was very anxious about the visit...But, as it turns out, he got a reprieve...at least for a little while! His cholesterol had gone down a little. From 192 to 182. Still not 'good', but enough so that the doctor didn't want to give him the drug just yet!
    Truth is....hubby barely followed the special diet AT ALL!...Grrrr!...I just 'force fed' him good stuff the last few months...alongside his pastries and other bad stuff he loves so much! :-)) Good thing some of the 'good stuff ' knocked off some of the 'bad stuff' when they met in his body!!...But the doctor scared him this time around, talking about the heart attack or stroke he could be setting himself up for if he didn't start seriously watching what he eats...even though he's a pretty healthy guy for his age.
     I think hubby got it this time!! He's already talking differently. He REALLY doesn't want to have to take that drug!!...Or listen to me yapping at him all the time about it. I can be pretty relentless if given a tiny bit of a reason, and a good soap box to get up on top of!! LOL
     Now, to the last reason I was so bummed yesterday. I watched "Oprah". It was about the little girl that was kept in a cage in the basement by her parents until she was 7 years old. It was so sad. :-( And unfortunately it got me to thinking about my  tough childhood. It wasn't that bad. I wasn't in a literal cage, I mean...But it was bad enough!
     The girl is now in her 20s. She went back to the house, and to the basement, where she had been kept. She hadn't been back there since she had been removed by the police...Memories came flooding back to her mind. And not good memories. :-(  I could feel her pain because this happened to me too, when I went back and saw the house I grew up in as a child.
      Just like her, a lot of my memories are fragmented. And just like her, I don't know where the line is between what I actually remember, versus what other people told me happened...All I know is that I'm thankful,...just like her,....to have survived it!! And thankful that I became the girl I am now, despite it!!...That's really 'Good News'!! :-) But it inspired a poem...of course! :-) It's not a very happy poem because of it's subject matter, but as soon as I put it on paper,...as usual, my mood lifted!! :-)
       So, I'm in a good enough mood to go back to the purple knitted hat!!! YAY!!! {No! I'm not being sarcastic....this time! LOL}


I Remember

I remember bright shadeless light bulbs,
wondering if I'd soon be dead;
An army blanket with a hole,
and always starving to be fed.

I remember angry faces;
The strong smell of alcohol;
The things we could not touch;
Waiting for the social worker's call.

I remember running away,
but having nowhere safe to go;
I remember being touched
in ways I shouldn't have to know.

I remember being chased,
and sleeping three girls to a bed;
And adults with an agenda,
and never trusting what was said.

I remember fluffy biscuits.
Somehow there never were enough.
I remember that my childhood
was really, really tough.

I remember when things changed;
That sweeping feeling to be free;
Now I remember every day,
and don't forget to just be me!

Oh Yes!...As Rich As I Can Be!!

                       (Knitting Robot 5x7 Print by leahmcr8)

      I won't bore you with the details...and I know you're thankful for that! LOL...but I've been having some really interesting conversations with friends lately. Conversations where I come away knowing that I'm leading a pretty rich life!
    It got me to thinking about all of the ways that I'm rich... And one of the big things I'm rich in, as of yesterday, is knitting time and purple suede yarn! :-) Yes, I said purple....The red slouch hat is GONE!  :-) I pulled it loose. It wasn't looking right to me, and....okay....it was just taking waaaaay too long to work on!! I couldn't take it any longer!! ^_^
    I knew something wasn't right! And then when I spoke with Silke {from the blog Metamorphosis} I realized what it was! My yarn that I was trying to make the hat with was too thin...So, a loose it came! 
    Now you'd think I would rack this up as my venture back into knitting that went awry....and just leave it alone! But Noooooo! I don't give up THAT easy! Instead I got out some different yarn. Some rich purple yarn...and started again!

     The piece of the red hat that I had finished was 4 loops of the pattern!! This piece with the purple is only one loop so far. Already it's as big as the red piece was!! I'm kinda excited to work on it today...Who said that?! LOL
     I guess I can say I'm looking forward to knitting today because of the fact that I'm rich in "time" today. I don't have anything pressing on my schedule....except eating and napping! ^_^ And "Oh Yeah!" I'm gonna do that today!!!
     Okay, before I go I wanted to show you the wall hanging of my poem that I forgot to show you the other day...

       I think I'm really going to try writing one of my poems in my own handwriting and see what it looks like framed....eventually. But not today. I've got some rich purple to sink my teeth in!! :-) What are you rich in today?!

I Am Rich

I am rich in loving friendships.
Rich in loyalty and love.
I am rich in deep emotions,
and in my love for God above.

I am rich in complications.
Rich in insight from my years.
Rich in belly folding laughter.
Rich in sympathetic tears.

I am rich as I can be,
in things not taken in a flash.
Not all abundance can be counted.
Rich is not always in cash.

It's All Coming Back To Me Now!

      When you visit my blog, knowing who I am, you expect to see poetry, silliness, LOTS of talking, and...knitting?! No!!! You expect to see crocheting!...Well, not today!! ^_^ I saw a really cute slouch hat that Silke, from the blog Metamorphosis,  knitted. It was done using a pattern that was given to her by Vicki, of the blog 2 Bags Full.
      I thought it was so cute that I, through Silke, contacted Vicki to see if I could get the pattern. She said "No Problem!"...It's been quite a while since I actually knitted anything. About 15 or 20 years at least!! But I figured it would be just like riding a bicycle. You never forget...right?!
     So, I was excited to get started. First I had to pull my knitting gear out of storage.

       It's been wrapped up for quite a while!

     Then I had to get the right size knitting needles out...

     Then I had to go into the recesses of my mind and remember how to cast on stitches...the easy 'no-long-strings-in-the-middle-of-each-stitch' way!...Hurray! It all came back to me...after 2 or 3 tries that is. :-]

      Then it was just a matter of working the pattern!

      There's no 'purling' in this pattern. It's all knitting.

      Row after row of knitting.......Hmmmm...

       It's all coming back to me...why I no longer knit!!! LOL

      Is it starting to look like a hat yet?!!!....How about when I turn it like this?!!

      *sigh*.....No disrespect to Vicki or Silke, but I got so bored!! It's taking so long!!.....And my hands are so tired of holding 2 needles!!....And one needle kept sliding off the stitches. I had to keep re-putting it back on the needle....Yep! This is why I don't knit much!! It's too slow and tedious for me. My mind couldn't stay engaged!
      So, you know what I did?!....LOL...I converted the pattern, or I should say I'm in the process of converting the pattern.....to a crochet pattern!! ^_^ I already did this much of it!!...

     I can already see where some modifications have to be made. Like the brim band is too long...Am I terrible?! :-/ I thoroughly enjoyed doing the crochet one!!
    No worries. I'm going to finish the knitted hat...while at the same time working the crocheted one...to break up the monotony! LOL ... I can see that me and my crochet hooks are going to be loyal friends from now on. 
     Does this happen to you?! That you go back to doing something in a way you used to do it....and then you remember why it was that you didn't do it anymore?! ^_^ I think that this hat pattern is going to solidify the reason in my head this time!! I love to CROCHET!!!! :-)
     Speaking of which, my customer that received the pink fingerless glove, sent me a picture with it on!!!

     She says they 'fit her hands like a glove'! ^_^ Good thing..since they are gloves!!!  She also says that they're beautiful and warm! She gave me such a thrill saying that because I was worried that she'd get them and they wouldn't fit. It's tough doing custom orders without the person being right there with you...But, and I have to give her credit for this idea, she drew an outline of her hand on paper and sent that to me so I could make sure they fit!!! I followed it exactly...and it worked!!
     Okay, I've got a slouch hat to finish!....*sigh* I'll think about showing it to you when it's finished. Will that be today?!...Stay tuned...I don't know either!! LOL...And guess what?...It's snowing again!!

        In someone's comment yesterday I was reminded that I do have one of my poems on the walls in one of my bathrooms. It's framed and everything...but it's not in my own hand-writing. But I thought I'd share with you what all of my bathroom visitors are reading! :-))


Love Fills The Holes

Isn't  it wondrous,
this life that we live,
the holes we fill up
from the love that we give?

Even the hard times
make wonders abound,
because of the memories
of times safe and sound.

The good times, they come,
they fill us, they flow
and leave behind a smile,
like the hard rain's  rainbow.

So, its the love that keeps growing,
that adds wonder to life;
because no matter how peaceful,
or how full of strife,

Isn't  it wondrous,
this life that we live!
Cherish it always-
for the holes it will fill.

Okay, So It's Not Handwriting That's On My Wall!

      Any of you who read my post yesterday, the post I did about quirky things, saw the framed pictures with the handwriting in them. I was talking about how cool that idea was. Well, first thing this morning I was up and looking at my walls! I was looking at what kinds of things I have on them now...to see if hand-written poetry in frames would work in my house.
    I'm going to share with you what things are on my walls now, and you can let me know if you think the framed hand-written poetry will fit in.
     The header photo is a glimpse of one of the oil paintings that's on my wall. This one...

     ...It was one of the first pieces of REAL art that hubby and I ever bought. We loved the colors of the sunset in the back, and the mountains. At the time we bought it we were longing for a quiet place to live...solitude. We wanted to move to wherever this was!
        This was the 2nd one we bought...

       ...It was called a "Tondo", because of the way the painting is in a circle in the middle of the painting...like a tunnel. {The 'tunnel' wording is how I think of it!}
      As the years have gone by, I have become the art connoisseur in our family. And as I initially started to buy art, I never paid much attention to the name of the person who painted it. I just liked what I liked!.
      But today it's a different story! Although I'm still not a serious artist collector, I do pay more attention to what and why I buy art....or wall hangings. They all have a story or a personal meaning to me...For instance, some of you may remember me talking about my 'baby girl'. The daughter of my friend that was almost like my own daughter. I talked about her in an earlier post, HERE. Well, when she was, I think, 14 she painted this!!

       Isn't it pretty?! I have proudly hung it in my home every since then. She's a wife and mother now, and I don't think she painted anything else since then!! She only painted 2 paintings. Her mom has the original. And I have the only other one she did!! It has very sentimental meaning to me....besides a NICE view of snow! :-]
      Speaking of snow, look at this painting. This one has a story too. It was painted by a girlfriend of mine many years ago. A local painter did some free classes to teach a group of friends how to paint. He was VERY good!! This was one of the paintings she painted during one of his outdoor classes.

      It has a lot of meaning to me because the place where it was painted was a local area where hubby and I used to live.  An area where brides would have their banquets and get their wedding pictures taken, in Connecticut. This wooded area is across the street from that famous restaurant.
     The painting has even more meaning to me though, because of how I got it! She wanted me to crochet her two sweaters. I did. She traded me the sweaters for this painting. I wasn't expecting to get it all framed and everything, but she found the frame at a flea market or something, and she cleaned it, painted the thin blue line in the crease of it all the way around, and then gave it to me!! :-) I've had it every since....and she is no longer painting!
      A friend of ours worked at the movie theater in Connecticut. All along the walls they would display art for sale. Whenever we went to the movies we would go early so we could wander around and look at what new art was available...but we never bought any from there.
     Then, on our anniversary one year, he gave us this...

       We loved it!! The detail in it is amazing! From the little chair the kitty is sitting in, down to the detail in the carpet underneath him!...By the way, the carpet in the movie theater looked JUST LIKE THIS!!! :-))

      As you can see, my art possessions, while probably not very financially valuable, are almost priceless emotionally.
    And not everything on my walls is all that serious either. I have this on a bedroom wall...

     It was an anniversary gift on our 20th anniversary!! They gave us butterflies and sunshine! :-)
     This is on that same wall in my bedroom...

      ....considering my proclivity for napping, this one is pretty self explanatory! LOL
      I thought I'd share this too. It's not actually hanging up...although it could. 
     Another girlfriend of mine went out to California. She went on a tour at the San Diego Zoo. She saw these two tigers and said she thought of me and my hubby! LOL So she bought a post card of them and sent it to me. :-)

      I bought a frame, put the post card in it, and have had it on my dresser every since!! It makes me happy to know that her sweet words are also preserved under the glass, along with the smile I get every time I look at it!...It "IS" me and hubby too! Two fat cats! ^_^ I'm the one in the back...napping! :-]
     This wall hanging has a story too...The husband of a woman I was studying the Bible with was enthralled with doing puzzles, the ones with thousands of pieces. He had piles of puzzles he had finished and then glued to cardboard just sitting in his basement. After the puzzle was done he didn't care what happened to them!
     His wife said they 'had to go!' She was going to throw them all away...and he was fine with it! But when I saw them, I said to him: 'What a waste!' He said: "You want 'em?"...I did want some of them, but I didn't have anywhere to put them either! So, I took one. This one...

      ...and I framed it!

      Those desert rocks and blue sky have been hanging in my house now, for years. I think of him every time I look at it.
     I have one more wall hanging to share with you. And it is at the top of my list of favorites!

       This one hangs in my bathroom. 

    I could talk about it all day!! It was actually a poster I bought and framed. This is what I'm waiting to see the earth look like soon!

       Ducks and bunnies dwelling together....

     ....Children working to keep the planet clean, not littering and putting graffiti everywhere...

     ....Young ones, no matter where they live in the world, not having to be afraid of... anything!

      And life as simply ENJOYABLE!!! :-] ... Okay, making not everybody riding giraffes and ostriches, but you get my drift!! LOL
     So, what do you think?! Do my framed hand-written poetic words fit in with this menagerie?! :-)


Artist's ROCK!

Their eyes see what their heart sees,
and in colors on canvas or in yarn.
You can see it in their photographs of foliage,
or the red and brown that's painted on a barn.

Their heart says: "This bead color's perfect!"
Then you see the artist's work on jewelry stands.
They recycle, mix the media and show you,
and collect a lot of now adoring fans!

Whatever medium they work in,
Whether working with their hands or just their eyes,
you can be sure they'll get some ogglers and lookers,
who, like me, will give them "Ahhhs" and "Ooooos" and sighs.