Breaking the radio silence...

Sorry for the long radio silence but this pregnant momma has been sick.  Here is a picture of CGR to make up for the time I was silent. :)

It all started around the 6th of September, shortly after my last post, when my tonsils decided they would let me know that I wasn't getting enough rest.  Yes, I still have my tonsils and yes they probably should have been removed A LONG time ago but now that I'm older, it would be major surgery with a long recovery that I doubt is in my best interest.  They haven't really given me any real trouble in the last couple years.  I was honestly really surprised that those first many months of Carmen's life when she was waking up multiple times a night and I wasn't sleeping that they didn't let me know they were still with me.  But by some miracle, they kept themselves healthy and I was able to get through that time.

There was a time during college, that I remember getting tonsilitis at the end of every semester!  I would be so stressed during finals that when they were finally done and I started relaxing, my tonsils would swell and I would be miserable.

The worst I ever had it was my 21st birthday.  I will not lie and say that I didn't drink before I was 21 because I grew up in Central America, where you were able to drink at a younger age.  I won't say I'm proud that I used to be a drinker but I am proud that I am no longer one.  I will have a glass of wine or beer here and there but never more than one or 2 and never to the point I get tipsy.  Those days are over for me....long over.

Anyway, I digress...So my 21st birthday, my friend Ryan and I, right after finals, flew down to San Diego to spend some time with my sister and her husband.  Ryan was only there for a couple days and I stayed for around 2 weeks.  I knew my tonsils had started hurting that weekend so I had avoided all alcohol and had been trying to take it easy.  On the night of my 21st birthday, I had to at least have ONE margarita at the restaurant we went to celebrate my birthday.  I enjoyed the margarita BUT by the time we got home my tonsils were SO swollen that they were touching!  I had a hard time swallowing and was unable to really even drink water.  I spent the next couple days of my supposed vacation feeling like I was going to die.  Eventually, after some persuading, since my sister is usually one for letting your body take care of itself, they took me to the walk in clinic where I was put on pain meds and antibiotics.  I eventually started feeling better and was able to enjoy the last part of the trip before heading back to San Fran for summer school.  I will never forget that fateful margarita that I though was SO important.  And now if my tonsils even start feeling funny, I stay FAR away from any and all alcohol until they feel 100%.

Ok let's get back to the present.  After my tonsils had been hurting for a couple days, I went to see my doctor who told me that I didn't have strep, which is what my primary care and OB were worried about and that they would like my body to just work itself out.  I tried getting as much rest as possible but when your throat hurts and you can't take any real meds but tylenol it makes sleeping a little difficult.  By Friday of last week, they started feeling better so I just figured that would be great but then the head cold kicked in.  So, that is what I have been dealing with since.  Today is the first day I feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  I won't rehash my frustrations with my doctor the last 2 days but if your friends with me on FB then I'm sorry for the ranting.

When talking about being sick on FB and Ravelry, many other moms mentioned how it just takes so long for your body to get rid of colds and such when you are pregnant.  One lady said she was sick for 3 months of her pregnancy!! WOW...so glad that I'm finally on the mend after almost 2 weeks.

Carmen has also not been feeling 100%.  She had double ear infection and some how got thrush!  So she's been no meds for those.  It finally looks like she is feeling herself again, which has helped this momma a LOT!  Oh speaking of which, at some point this weekend, I went from being mama to mommy!  I love both but it's so silly how she says mommy and says it with such intention. :) Love her silly face!! Here she is at the pet store...she loves looking at all the animals.

I know I have promised pregnancy updates and I have a craft to share and some knitting, which I haven't really done much of lately but I have a WIP that might be an FO tonight! YAY!  So, as soon as I can get my legs under me and not want to crawl in bed shortly after putting Carmen to sleep...I will get back to posted regularly.  I'm so excited to share some things I have in the works!

Hope you are all well and that the fall weather is blessing you where you live.  I always love when the weather changes to something other than melting.

Happy Day!

Keeping it Real: Let go and sing a song...

Keeping it Real - is a weekly meme from ink + chair where bloggers share the ups-downs, lows-highs, hits-misses, dark-light, peaks-valleys, plusses-minuses...of their week - acknowledging wholeness.

frogging -  lows
- having to let go of the things in life that I cannot control
- CGR got an ear infection and had a couple nights she didn't really want to sleep
- not being able to be direct but doing the best I can in being a good example
- failing to say what I have needed to say.

tail-wagging -  highs
- getting to cuddle, feed, play with, and love on my littlest nephew
- watching my daughter with her cousins...the pure childlike joy and love
- my daughter has started to sing and talk more.  Don't always understand what she is saying but hearing her precious voice brings smiles to my heart. 
- finding comfort and more peace in daily devotionals. 
- handing God my worries, negativity, and letting it all go.
- finishing a pair of socks!

What are your frogs and tail-wags this week? 

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A Series of Thoughts: Allergies...

It's been a little bit since I wrote about little miss CGR.  I know I have tossed out little things here and there but what's up with my little girl!   Let's see...where do I begin?  My little girl is a skinny minny!  She just had her 18 month apt yesterday and she is finally over the 20 lb mark by 1 oz.  I've never been worried about her weight but she has always been really low on the weight percentages, not that I think those really matter, but as a mom you get asked a lot what percentage is she.  I think as long as she looks healthy and not missing any milestones then she is great! 

 When we found out she was allergic to milk, my doctor was concerned about her getting enough fat in her diet because fat helps with brain development.  Hence for a while, every time we saw her she recommended giving her more fries and fatty foods.  I never thought that was the answer.  While we do give her fries if we are having them, we increase her fats in other ways such as by sauteing in olive oil more often and giving her more good fats.  I restrict her sugars as much as possible since that is not a way to increase fats in her food as that is just sugar not fat.   She did get a special treat of a lollipop after her shots yesterday!

 She's a healthy eater over all.  We had some issues right after she had the stomach flu a couple months ago.  Not only did she drop off the weight chart, which concerned us all, but she stopped eating meats after she felt better enough to eat.  She has just started eating meats again.   When she is hungry she eats a ton but sometimes she just eats a little.  She loves rice and pasta and would eat it for every meal if we let her.   Since she's allergic to milk, she drinks soy milk and we have found some soy yogurts and vegan butters that she enjoys. We even found a good cream cheese that she will eat sometimes.  Thankfully, we breastfed until she was a year so we didn't have to experiment with which expensive formula we'd have to give her.  If you want to read about the changes I had to make to my diet to continue breastfeeding after we found out about her allergies you can read this post.

Feeding her has sometimes been a challenge when out and about in new places, but I always bring backups in my diaper bag just in case and online allergy menus are awesome.  A big challenge is making it clear when we are around new people that they really can't offer anything unless they ask us first.  We always have to check ingredients because even things that you wouldn't think would have milk in them...do!  For example, Special K had bought some salt and pepper chips and she wanted some so he gave her a couple...well...shortly after she started getting hives because it had milk in it.  You wouldn't think salt and pepper chips would have milk but you always have to check because they sneak milk into so many things!

At her appointment before this one, we tested her baked egg allergy.  I baked a cake with eggs in it but no milk.  It had to be backed for at least 30 minutes and she didn't have any reaction to it!  YAY!  That opened up things she could eat.  She's now able to eat cakes and breads that have been baked for 30 minutes with eggs in them.  We haven't given her too much in this category but now we can give zucchini breads, banana breads, and cakes.  There are only a few boxed cake that doesn't already have milk in it so we have to be careful but now birthday's are a little easier.  I still bring a little piece or a vegan cupcake for her when going to a birthday party so she can have her own while others eat cake too. 

The doctors, both her allergy and pediatrician, have decided we are done with food challenge testing.  Where we give her the foods she might have reaction to and see if she reacts.  We did milk at a year and then the baked egg.  The baked egg was a go but the milk was definitely not.  She reacted to it within 5 minutes and had to give her benadryl, which is our lifesaver!  From here the plan is to wait until after she is 2 and do a full allergy screening with the allergy doctor.  He pretty much told me since she is my daughter that he's sure she's going to have lots of allergies and that he wants her to go through 2 allergy seasons before we do a test.  At that time, we'll test both foods and environmental allergies.  We already know she's allergic to dogs too so that is a bummer.  

 The dog allergy has been tough.  She LOVES her puppies like her momma does. (picture above of her with my friends dog...since I used all the best pics last post of her and the pups)  So, she wants to go cuddle with them but if she gets licked or if she cuddles too much poor thing will be a little uncomfortable for a bit.  Her reactions aren't severe but she has eczema because of her allergy to them.  We use Aquaphor and hydro-cordozone cream to battle the eczema she has and it has helped a ton!  We also use Cetaphil body wash or sensitive skin Dove soap.  Since we switched to these, her skin has gotten a ton better.  We also give her Claritin every morning to help with her allergies as I know she is like me and is probably allergic to the pollen that is ever present in this area the last couple months.

It sucks to know that I passed down my allergies to her, but considering that almost all my sisters and their kids all go to the same allergy doctor...it's not a surprise.  She is the only one who has the food allergies and with her allergy lingering longer she may not grow out of those allergies for a long time.  We've managed them pretty well so far and I think we'll do fine.  Will be harder once she goes on to pre-school because I know peanut butter is prevalent in kids diets and peanuts is something we haven't ever considered testing as that is a bad allergy.  But we'll tackle that when we get there.

I started this post thinking I'd talk about her talking more and silliness but I guess we'll start with all her allergies and then next post about her I'll go into more fun stuff. :)  Stay tuned for that to come.

Happy Eating!!

Do you have any food allergies?  Kids with food allergies?  How do you manage them?

A Series of Thoughts: Body Image...

Oh so much has been going on in my brain...I can't exactly figure out where to start but I have several posts that I have been wanting to write lately but haven't figured out exactly what I want to say yet.  I think I'm going to start by which one inspires me most when I have time to write.  I've been working on this post for about three weeks and I think I'm just going to post what I have.

Many of you might not be aware but I have lost a pretty substantial amount of weight since I went on what I like to refer to as the Carmen diet.  It's a diet I would have never done for myself but because of Carmen's allergy needs I gave up everything milk, eggs, and peanuts for over 5 months.  I will freely admit that the first week I cried almost every night...I just didn't know what I could eat.  The problem was we had not up until that point been buying groceries with these allergies in mind so when I would go to grab something to eat most of what we had was on the list of food to avoid.

It took several weeks before I was able to find substitutes for some of my favorite foods so I didn't feel like I was giving everything up.  I didn't try very hard to find sweet substitutes but things like mayo, yogurt, peanut butter had to be replaced with something. I spent several years of my life drinking only soy milk so that was not a big change for me.  I now look back and realize that it was a blessing that I had done the switch earlier because if I had to while giving up everything else soy milk would be hated and not loved like it is now.

Through these months of giving up these foods and being a royal pain in the butt when it came to eating with others, I learned a lot about myself.  First I realized that I could sit in front of a chocolate cake and not feel like I HAD to eat a piece.  Yes, I wanted some but I was able to say no and be fine.  I knew that I was saying no for Carmen and that made the no so much easier.  And that brings me to the second thing, that giving things up for my daughter is SO much easier than giving them up for myself.  When I knew it was for her, I just felt like it was something I had to do and not something I was choosing to do.  I know many people just said why don't you just wean and do formula but that just wasn't an option for me in my head.  I'll go into that more in another post I have planned but my goal was to nurse her for a year and then let her wean and that is what I was able to do.

The third thing and what I originally started this post to write about was I learned I really didn't know how to respond to the comments people made about how great I looked because of the weight loss.  I have never in my life been what you would call thin.  I have gone through periods of my life where I felt I could lose weight and I know there were several times I wish I was thin but once I got past my mid-twenties I stopped wanting to be thin.   I want to be fit and healthy but not thin.  Getting pregnant I was not upset with the weight gain, my body was creating life!  I was proud of my body for creating such a beautiful little girl and being able to carry a baby to term and even though I ended up getting an epidural, I was able to labor without it for over 12 hours. I was proud that I was able to provide my daughter milk for a year...my body is amazing!  I love my body not for what it looks like but for what it has done and what it has created and where it takes me.

When people started commenting, I had to refrain from telling them what I felt but have stuck to thank you and to say that I can't eat anything.  What I want to say is that I wasn't unhappy with my body before the weight loss.  I wasn't unhappy with myself or unhappy with the way I looked.  I am a mom and I had gain those pounds with pride.  I knew they would come off when they were ready but I wasn't going to starve myself or workout incessantly or sacrifice the time with my daughter to lose them.

I know people may not understand where I'm coming from but I don't want my personal value to be based on how I look, I don't want to teach my daughter that looks are everything.  I want her to love herself for her.  I do plan to teach her how to be an active child and play sports and be healthy and fit but if that means she's not what society considers to be thin or beautiful then so be it!  I will always think she's beautiful as I will always think I'm beautiful no matter what weight I am.

A friend posted a link to a video today that describes what is going on in society today and it really pushed me to post this finally.  I was thinking of posting pictures of the weight change but I really don't think that's what this post is about...what I look like now.  It doesn't matter what I look like now.  I'm sure you can see pictures of my thinner self on this blog but this post will only have this video.

Happy Loving yourself!

Baby in arms...best way to spend an afternoon.

It's been a long day with a little girl who's nose hasn't stopped running since she woke up and who avoided naps most the day.  After taking a short drive to get her to sleep, she only slept for an hour in her crib and then spent the rest of her 3 hour nap like this.

I spent the majority of my maternity leave with her sleeping in my arms but since she's gotten older she rarely sleeps in my arms.  She's also not much of a cuddler...mostly because she is always on the move...so I knew she wasn't feeling good when she let me cuddle her a lot this weekend.  I savored every moment and cuddle.

It worked out great because it happened to be Harry Potter weekend on Family Channel.  What is so funny is that the weekend we brought her home last year it was also HP weekend and what I can remember of that weekend and the week to follow was nursing my newborn while watching lots and lots of Harry Potter.  It was something that I had already seen plenty so I knew I could miss things and still be able to just enjoy the movie.  I also would record them and watch them throughout the weeks to follow.   Harry Potter will always remind me of those first weeks with my baby girl.

I hope she feels better soon because I can't stand to see her feeling this way.  She's managed to sleep tonight but not soundly.  Hoping she stays asleep long enough for me to get some too.  Speaking of which...off to bed I go!

Happy Sunday

A jumper FO and it's almost the weekend.

Thursdays are so close to being my favorite days of the week but yet so far.  They are close enough to Friday that I can taste it but yet there is a whole day of work before the actual weekend.  I'm always ready by Thursday for the weekend to start.  Tomorrow is going to be a bit busy until 5pm.  For the last week, I've had this calf pain/cramp and it just won't go away.  I've iced it, stretched it, heated it, had it massaged, eaten bananas, added calcium pills, and it's still here.  So, I broke down and called the doctor today for the 2nd time...the first was on Monday and they told me about adding the calcium pills and calling in 24 hours if it's still there.  When I called today, they said to stop the stretching and the yoga and to come in to see them tomorrow.  I have to head into work early and then go to my doc apt at 9:15.  Hopefully it goes quickly and they have some idea of making it feel better.

Well...after that and working for the rest of the day...I'm really looking forward to a relaxing evening.  As usual after a long week, I hope to knit and spin and just be. :)

Speaking of knitting, I finished something tonight!  It's for a friend, who I'm not sure reads my blog but she doesn't know this is for her so it's OK to post the picture on here.  For one of my many friends having or have had babies this year, I've finished another baby knit.  This time it's a jumper.  The pattern is Skull Jumper by Malia Mathe.  I didn't think my friend would like the Skulls so I just made it all purple.  Kenny wants me to make one for our baby but include the skulls. :)  Add it to my list.  Not the greatest picture but I'm still using my cell phone for pictures.

Baby Jumper

 Well, I hope you all have a great Friday and weekend! I'll let you guys know what the doc says.

Happy Knitting!!

MIL socks and Missing Bobbins

Hi, how are you? I forced myself to go to the doctor today even though it scared my cough away my doctor gave me cough meds and I'm hoping to take them soon. They have codine in them so I don't want to take it until I'm ready to pass out. I did manage to make it through an hour long recording of a podcast with no coughing but ended up with a big coughing fit when done. Go figure.

I will be uploading the episode either tonight or in the morning. Depending how late I want to stay up until it renders out. :)

So...if you read a comment from a certain Mother-in-law of mine, whom I love and miss dearly, you would have noticed that Sharimom requested that her cold feet up in Ohio need some socks! You know I couldn't possible not start a sock as soon as I could for her! She appreciates my hand knits and reads my blog and is known to listen to my podcast! :) So, you know I love her very much. So, when Special K and I headed to the beach yesterday, so he could wad fish and I could get some sun, I brought along some sock yarn to cast on a sock for her. I also decided that since I am going to knit her socks out of Dream in Color Smooshy, one of my favorite yarns, that I would knit her the same pattern I knit for myself out of this yarn. The Monkey pattern! It's an easy fun knit and they are one of my favorite socks! Check them out at the beach. Like the scenery?
Here is Special K showing me his last catch!
Ok..why the Missing Bobbin? Well, as I've been saying I've been spinning singles for my 3 ply yarn. I only have 3 bobbins and if all of them have a single on them, what am I going to ply them onto? So I came up with a plan! I put a paper towel roll onto a bobbin winder.
Then I set up my make shift lazy kate with the bobbin in it and balled up one of the singles on there. :) This freed up a bobbin and with the roll in the middle prevented a big messy tangle. What do you think?
I tried using it as I would a bobbin in my makeshift lazy kate but it didn't work so I just left it in the box and it rolled around. This seemed to work and so far no tangles!

I'll share finished Yarn pictures later. Must head to drink some cough meds and get a good nights sleep!

Thankful Tuesday!! and quick update!

Today I am thankful that Jackjack is feeling better. We went to the vet on Saturday and he took x-rays and the pins have not moved. The vet says that the surgery was amazing and that his arm looks great, however, he is developing arthritis in that arm now. That is the cause of the pain. He had to take a blood test so he could put Jackjack on some pain meds and then we'd retest in two weeks. So, Jackjack is feeling much better. Here is the proof!!



Before you press play be mindful that Jackjack has a loud voice! :) I uploaded a couple others videos to Youtube.com of Jackjack and Abigail's puppy cousin's visit. :) They had fun.

So, Jackjack is better and I'm very thankful that we are not having to do surgery. YEAH!!

Abigail is doing well also. He said her skin looks a whole lot better since we did the allergy test and that her itchy ears are due to the allergies. We have her on some medication for her ears. She will always have ear and skin issues but she's doing well.

I guess that's all I have to say for now. I've been knitting on my 9-5 socks and I'm at the heel finally!! I think I should be done by Sunday!

Work is going really well. I had my 90 day review and I think it was a positive one. I've been working out at 6am still and I'm actually off to bed soon so I can be up at 5:45 to make it to the spinning class.

Hope you are all well!

Dogs on Thursday and an update!

I've been kind of quiet this week but loads have been going on...I'm not even sure where to start. I guess we will start with Jackjack since it's DOT day!
I think I might have mentioned this before but Jackjack has pins in his left elbow because he was hit by a car two years ago last month. We had to have surgery and about 4 months of recovery and after we were done with that he developed arthritis in his back legs. Well...let's just say the poor guy has been through a lot but the last year and a half he's been doing great. He only really got sore after a long swim or too much time at the dog park....but the last two weeks he's been getting sore a lot more and not putting weight down on his leg much. We went on a short walk the other day and he got home and was not able to walk well. I'm not really sure what's going on and my biggest hope is that it's muscles and not his elbow!! I just don't know if I can go through another surgery but if we have to I will. ugh!! Let's not even think about it. Well...we have our annual apt on saturday for them and I'm going to talk to the vet about what we can do and what he thinks is going on. I'll let you know what happens. Jackjack just doesn't realize he's got a bad leg and that he can't jump around and do what Abby does. Please send some good energies ang thoughts for Jackjack... He needs it right now.

Well...enough about that for now. I'll keep you posted. This past weekend I spent babysitting so I really didn't have much time to post but I did finish a project and will have pictures up this week. I'm going to block it and then I'll post them!! It looks great though! I also cast on for another sweater for my sister fleas. I'll take pictures when I have more done for that.

I also recorded a podcast last night so if you get a chance listen! I had fun recording it.

Ok...so my peronal health challenge has been to put down my needles and work out!! I've been trying but not enough motivation so this week I decided to join a gym. I joined on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning I went to the 6am spin(cycle) class!! It was great. I feel if I'm paying for the gym membership then I BETTER go!! :) I also made it this morning to another 6am class but wasn't as fond of it as I was yesterdays...so I probably will just skip it. Tomorrow's spin class is full so I might just go and get on the treadmill but we'll see. This all was inspired by a trip short shopping!! It was not good. I am not going up a size so I just have to get back in shape. My toe is no longer the excuse so I've got to do something. I'm hoping to at least get to the gym 4 times a week and maybe more. I'll let you know how it goes.

Another thing is that I've been spending time over at Barknknit.com and adding stuff so you might want to go over and check it out! I'm going to be adding more and more in the next couple weeks. I'm kind of just playing around so things may come and go on there. :)

Don't forget to check out the DOT post because Paula put up some great resources for hurricane information and doggie rescues. We are hoping not to have a hurricane head our way but Ike seems to be wanting too. We'll see.

Happy Knitting!!

Foot update!

Ok...yes this is late but I figured I'd start with an update on my foot. When I went to the doctor's office on Friday, he had to numb the bottom of my foot and use a scapel to cut off the top layer of skin to expose whatever was embedded in my foot. So, he did this and then was able to get this little white ball which had a circumferance of 2mm out of my foot. The most painful part was the actual numbing shot. The rest was fine. When I finally was done and was getting up to leave though...my world spun and I almost passed out. So, he forced me to laydown and wait until the feeelings passed. It took about 15 minutes. He said this happened because I was laying down and the blood rushed to my foot while he was working on it.

So, my foot is healing and dispite my little stubborness trying to play tennis on saturday, it's been going good. I will spare you pictures because come on it's pretty gross. :)

Well...hope all is well!!

Happy Healing!!

Ravelympics 2008!! Begins tomorrow!

Some of you who may have noticed that a bunch of projects have popped up with this logo as their picture on my side bar recently.

These are projects that I'm knitting for Ravelympics 2008!!

Oh yes, the fiber world some how got involved in this years Olympics and made it our own. :) You knew it was coming. I think it's great there is always something fiber related to go along with any event in the world or in life. I love how Knitters/Fiber folks step up and make themselves useful.

For a quick overview of Ravelympics, it's a team or individual competition per say. You pick projects that you plan to cast on during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and finish these items before or during the closing ceremonies. You have to add your projects before 8/8/08 and have all the yarn and needles ready to go. You can however use projects you are currently knitting in the WIPwrestling event. I am hoping to finish my current sweater for that event and have a couple more as you see added to my projects to keep me busy. My main goal is to cast on and finish the green clapotis that I'm making. It's a lot of knitting but I think I can do it in 17 days!! Wish me luck. I'll be posting occasional updates so keep checking back.

Since you know I love Photoshop, I also make some cute ravatars for my team. I joined Team Bob, which had some of my fiber friends. For those of you not on ravelry, Bob is Casey and Jess's dog who is the Ravelry mascot!! Isn't he cute!!!

There are some great teams though!! I can't name them all because there are so many but just know...there are some great ones!! Not sure how the points and such are going to go so the more I learn the more I'll update you.

I wish everyone a safe and fun time during this Ravelympic time. I hope to finish my projects and be able to stay sane. Just need to figure out how to maximize my knitting time and keep the house and dogs clean! ;) That's always a tough one!

Happy Competing!!

PS...I think I may have a piece of glass or metal chip from Special K's work in my foot. I'm going for a doc apt tomorrow to see what he can find. I tried having SK dig in and take it out but I just couldn't handle the pain. I'll update you on this tomorrow!!

Dogs on Thursday!!

So we are starting a fun swap over at DOT!! If you've got a doggie you should go check it out. There's also a doggie spotlight on Goldentrack's puppy Jackson. He is a cutie!! If you haven't seen her new blog, she has got the most beautiful golden retrievers and a cute beagle. She's also jump started into blogging. She was supposedly hesitant but it doesn't show. :)

edited to add button for swap that I just made:

This week is picture week:

My Cute Abby with her ball!! She looks so good against the grass! :)And a man and his golden looking out to sea. I wonder what he's thinking here. :)And my BIG headed Jackjack!!

Well...there's some pictures of our outdoor times. We haven't done that in a while and I miss it. When my toe finally heals, I have big plans for loads of walks and maybe even work on riding my bike with Abby or roller blading with her.

I had to go back to the doc yesterday because my toe was not looking good. He said i may be allergic to Neosporin, who would have thought. I now need to soak my foot in a vinegar/water solution and put iodine with gauze on it. Fun fun fun. He sent a swab to the lab to see if I need antibiotics too. My toe was looking great before the Neosporin so I'm sure it should heal soon. My poor doc thought he was done with me and now I have to go back again next week.

Happy Dogs on Thursday!!

Knitting catch up and extra!

I've been doing a lot of knitting this weekend. I actually organized an extra SnB on Sunday because I missed last Wed. due to my foot. Which by the way I got to wear my pedicure sock a bunch because it looked great and kept my foot warm. :) Check it out.
I had a doctor's apt on Friday and he said my toe is heeling really well. We talked a bit about the gout and he said I need to get my uric acid levels tested next time I get a blood test. I got to actually see the toe and let me tell you it was black and blue. I only have 6 stitches which come out this coming Thursday. Go ME!! I already have big plans to start up walking every day with my dogs as soon as I get an ok from the doc. I miss taking them on walks as much as they miss going with me. :) So that's the plan!

As I said in the 2nd episode of my podcast that I had a couple things to finish that were on my needles...well guess what?? I finished them. The first one I finished was my fingerless gloves in the Symmetrical Braided Gauntlet pattern and I used Dream in Color Classy, which is LOVELY!! I'm a big fan of Dream in Color. I had started these as my travel knitting for Thanksgiving and I'm glad they are done. When I was finishing them I realized that it was my sister, Cris' birthday coming up..well..it was last week...and I decided that I should send them to her. She lives in Encinitas, CA and gets cold a lot and I already sent her the hat that I made in this yarn. So...I gave it to my other sister to include in her package. :) So...off they went and hopefully she will like them. Next time I knit this patter which I plan to, I think I will make them longer on both ends. These were my first cable pattern and it was surprisingly easier than I though.

The 2nd thing I finished was Surfer Girls hat and I don't really want to talk about it because again I knit a hat that is too small!! ARG. I showed it to her and she said she is going to give it to her cousin and promise to knit her another one. I have to find a pattern that is for adults and not children. I'm hoping to get on that soon.

Other than that I've been knitting my Rainbow Socks, which have been knitting up great and will take a picture of the first finished one soon and post.

I've also trying to rest my toe more than I have but I am restless and just want to be up and about. I'm paying dearly for it though. My toe gets very sore quickly.

You may also notice there are quite a few new things on the blog lately. Such as a feed for my podcast, more ads and now including ones from Google, and there is a little more info at the end of my posts. ;) I'm testing things out and seeing what I like. Let me know what you think if you get a chance. The ads are there because I'm really just trying to get some more extra money especially some yarn funds. So..we'll see how it goes. Thank you so much for all your support!! You readers and my family and friends are so wonderful and thanks for sticking around and reading and commenting little ole me.

Ok..well, off to put my foot up finally and relax.

Happy Knitting!!

PS...finishing the two on the needles projects means that I can podcast and I have plenty to talk about because we got Abby's skin test back but you'll have to listen to the 3rd episode to hear about it. Ooh I'm bad. :)

Update on sidebar!!

It's late and am heading to bed. I started updating my blog roll on my side bar today and I got through a lot of the blogs I read but I know there are a couple more than need to go up. If you are one of these please don't hesitate to let me know I missed you. I'll finish this list hopefully later this week. In the mean time I have a big announcement tomorrow so keep close for that!! :) I'm so excited I'm about to burst!

It's been a great weekend. I got to relax and spent time cleaning and actually got a bit of knitting in. I took the dogs to Special K's softball practice today and they had SO much fun running around. Well, Abby ran around chasing the ball and Jackjack was on a lease close by. He does not have a great recall.

Special K grilled both nights this week and it was delicious!! Tonight we had steak fajitas with some grilled veggies on the side. They were amazing. Last night we had steak too with some veggie skewers. I was never a big steak eater until I started dating Special K. :) I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but it's a YUMMO thing!!

Well. I'll try to get some knitting pictures up this week. Tomorrow I'm working all day and then heading to a memorial service for a close friend's father in the evening. Her father passed pretty suddenly and I only wish I could have and could be there for her more. She's going through a tough time and helping her family and mom get everything in order. Please pray for her health and sanity.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. I'm off to bed it is late and I've been on this computer long enough.

PS. You will also notice some new ad spots. If you have an ad you want to add please let me know.

SiCKO...RANT!!!!

(I wasn't going to post this post because I felt it was too political and may offend someone and the last thing I want to do is offend anyone. But as I sit on the phone with my insurance company trying to figure out stuff and I want to SCREAM at the poor people on the other end who are just doing their job, I am inclined to post and see what others say and what you feel about this. Again if you are offended I am sorry and if you don't want to read my rant about our health care system please feel free to pass.) All type in red was added today!

I am depressed at the moment(and still am). We started watching the Micheal Moore movie SiCKO last night(Saturday night) and it made me SadO...we ended up having to finish it today(Sunday). If you haven't seen it you should. I'm not sure how factual it is or what the "critics" say but it was depressing for me. I told Special K that I would like to pack up and move to Canada I never really thought about anything different than what we have as our health care system...but ours SUCKS!! As a person who has college debt and is now trying to figure out who is supposed to pay the medical bills from the accident I was in over Thanksgiving...this movie made me want to pack up and move to a country that has free college education and universal health care....VIVA LA FRANCE!!

I've always loved living in the US but now I'm wondering. I grew up in Panama with military insurance from my father working for the DoDD Schools(Department of Defense Dependent Schools) down there. I never really thought about health care. I actually spent quite a few years without any health care. I tried to stay healthy and even dabbled in western medicine...I would stick with it if it wasn't so expensive in the US. I swear acupuncture, herbs and preventative care is wonderful. When I graduated and started my first "real" job with insurance I thought "hey, now I can go to the doctor when I'm sick or if something happens and I'm covered." Covered, what does that mean?? I am still trying to figure it out.

I hope that everything gets figured out and with this pending bone chip...I wonder how much will get covered and how much I will have to pay out of pocket.(Both my doctor and hospital are in network but I'm still going to have a bit of out of pocket expense)

Back to the movie for a second it was amazing how those people were treated in Cuba of all places and for free and got their medicine for pennies...while their doctors here wouldn't even give them the test they needed and charged them outrageous amounts of money for their medications. What are we doing in America to help our sick and heroes no less? If you haven't seen the movie I'm sorry I'm not being detailed but watch it and you will understand.

I hope I am not offending anyone by talking about this on my knitting blog...I am sorry in advance for that. I know it's political and I am in no way a huge political person. I just wanted to express my frustrations at the moment with all the money that is supposed to come from some where to pay for our health and education.

I'm now planning on paying more attention to our candidates and see where they stand on this. I guess it's partly my fault for not paying more attention to our governments actions but I am naive in the thinking they will take care of their people and we will all live happily ever after. I am usually not so morose and synical but that movie just got me in a mood. I'm sure I'll be fine soon.

Well...I'm off to enjoy our one year anniversary with Special K. We both took the day or half day off to spend with each other. Should brighten my mood. Hope that you will still read my blog after this post.

Thank you and have a wonderful day.

Dogs on Thursday, toe update, SnB.

For todays Dogs on Thursday I wanted to share my napping puppies. They had gotten baths and Special K decided to cover them up because Jackjack was cold. He's such a big sucker. They sure are cute. :)

Jackjack tends to act funny during the cold weather but he's been really funny lately. He gets excited about almost anything it's so cute. :) Abby is still itchy but we are saving up for her to go to a specialist for her allergies. It may take us a bit but I think Special K and I both feel bad that she's itchy.

I almost forgot!! I mentioned to Nichole from Lapdogcreations about my escape artist Jackjack. I actually have video of him getting out. I used to have him on a webcam when I worked at an animation studio. All my friends at work would watch him on it all day. :) It was funny. I even made him his own website www.jackjackinthebox.com. But I thought I'd share the video of him escaping one day. I had to get a new crate and re-enforce it after this. He is no longer crated because of an incident where he broke the crate and pierced his tongue. That was the day it was put away. It kind of sounds like he wasn't crate trained but he was. He just was better when he had a routine and when it got disrupted is when things would happen. The piercing happened when my roommate was taking care of him. Jackjack also spent more than 2 months in the SPCA before I got him and is not a fan of being confined.

The video is kind of long but you can really see him thinking. :) Well...hope you enjoy the video.



Well...a quick update on my toe. The doctor didn't have the x-rays so he said he'd look at them this afternoon when he went over to the hospital but he said from the review of them he got that we might need to remove it (the bone chip). He spent about 20 minutes trying to figure out what he could do now and I ended up leaving with some cushiony thing around my toe. It hurt at first but then felt really nice. I'll spare you the pictures of my un-manicured toes. :) I won't find out for sure what he plans to do until my apt next Thursday so I'll let you know.

Last nights SnB was so much fun. We had about 7 people and everyone seemed to have a great time. :) I worked on my Monkey sock but didn't get too much done because I was kind of tired.

I'm going to head to another Knit night tonight at Needles and Knobs. Since I've decided to take the season off from softball, I can skip the practice today. I'm kind of sad that I won't be playing but have been for almost two years so a break will be nice. I wish it was a choice and not because of my toe though. Oh well.

Well...hope everyone is doing well. Happy Dogs on Thursdays!!

PS...Paula and I are going to try to come up with a great spring activity for the DOT group!!

Foot update and a sad 21st Anniversary.

First off my toe has a bone chip. Yes, some how in the last two weeks or so my toe decided to shed some bone and has created a bone chip or Osteochondritis. The doctor said these are normal in our toes because we have so many bones but this one is in an abnormal place. My toe which is long and abnormal as it is...is abnormal. GREAT!! Well, the first good thing the doctor did today was he had the "girls" in his office set me up an apt with a foot doctor. I didn't have to do anything. The "girl" in his office just called me back and gave me the doctors name and time of the apt and said is that ok. I said sure is and I have my apt on Thursday at a time when I don't have class, which works out perfect. Now I just have to hobble around until then and hope no one steps on my bone chip and I have to kill them.

My Mother

Carmen Delia
May 25th, 1938 - January 7th, 1987

Well...now a change in my post I guess I'll say. Today is the 21st Anniversary of my mother's death. She passed away from breast cancer when I was 6 and a half. I know she had been sick for a while. Her death has effected me in so many ways. I miss her dearly and don't really remember her as I wish I could. I don't really have my own memories of her. I remember things from pictures I have but I'm not sure it's the picture I remember or the time of the picture.
I was young and very spoiled. I was a late baby, she had me four days before her 42nd birthday. One of my four sister's always tells me that she called me her masterpiece. I wouldn't say that but I was her baby. It's weird losing a parent especially a mother so young. I mourn her every step of my life. I feel when I need a mom the most is when I miss her the most. I know lately with my engagement and the planning of the wedding it's hard to think that she's not here. I wish I could call her and ask if she approves or if she supports what I'm doing. Everyone always says she was an amazing woman and that I look a lot like her. She had to be amazing to raise my sisters and brother and do all that she did. I miss her always and forever.


I got an email from my dad today. He always emails us on big days like today. I asked him if it's OK that I share this and he said OK. So here's what he sent:

It has been 21 years, since we lost that glimpse of heaven of our mother, wife and friend, Carmen Delia. Yes, it been twenty years today that Carmen pass away. Little did we all know how much of a void, she would make in our lives. We all have had trouble dealing without her support and counseling. Yet only the union of us, her family, has made her presence felt, and has help us deal with her being gone. She is still with us in every smile, every major action and every wise decision we make. God bless us all, for God has and is blessing her. And may we always keep her in our memory. Dad. January 07,2008

I can't describe how much I needed this today.

This was I think one of my mom's favorite necklaces. My sister Tammy has this framed with the necklace up in her living room. I love both the picture and the necklace. :)


PS...You would not believe how hard it was to get digital pictures of my mom. I tried to take pictures of the pictures I have because my scanner is at work and called two sisters. Fels quickly scanned the top one before she went off to dinner with her husband. I obviously took the picture with my camera of the one that is of me and her. Tam sent me the last one. Thank you to them for sending me those. I guess we need to spend time digitizing all her pictures.

Toe update and some Knitting.

I had some trouble falling asleep last night with my toe swollen and in pain. It was hard to get comfortable but then I took a ton of pain meds and fell fast asleep. Good knocked out sleep which I needed. :) Today has been a day of hobbling around and finally finishing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which by the way I never got a chance to see in theaters..I know how horrible of me. After that I warmed up some left over Chinese food(YUMMO) and have spent the rest of the afternoon in bed knitting and watching Gilmore girls.

Jack looks so comfy and I can't tell you how much I love these socks. I can't wait to finish them and wear them as a pair.

Happy Knitting.

Swollen toe.

My toe is swollen. This particular toe has been giving me some trouble over the last week or so. Up until last night though it had only been achy. I worked a long day yesterday, then helped a friend move some furniture and had hot chocolate and churros over at my sister Tam's house.
Double YUMMO!!! I didn't get home and take off my shoes until about 7:30 and when I did I saw this....

Yes...a swollen toe. Sorry to include my ugly feet. :) Well, I took some ibuprofen and off to bed I went but was awoken at 4am in tremendous pain. Special K got me some ice and that helped but when I had to get up early and head to work it was very unpleasant trying to put on shoes. Who would have thought a lousy toe can cause so much pain. I made an apt with my doctor and took half the day off work. The doctor said it is inflamed and may have some kind of infection. He took x-rays, which I think showed it wasn't broken but no one said anything to me. Did I mention I'm not a huge fan of my General Practitioner. Well...I'm home now with antibiotics(which I hate but he threatened to cut my foot and let the infection out if I don't take them) and have spent the afternoon off my feet and napping. Special K and I are having some Chinese food delivered and spending the night relaxing.

I got some knitting done on my sock today as I was trying to distract myself from the pain and was sitting in the hospital for three hours. I knit on the sock and listen to podcasts in the waiting room. I'll have to post about the podcasts I've discovered recently that I am enjoying. Well..hope everyone is good. I'm heading back to bed and hoping food gets here soon.

Happy Knitting.

PS. This whole toe thing kind of puts a set back to my exercise routine but I plan on starting as soon as it heals.