Mother's Day 2010

Today I count my blessings. Justin, Alex and Claire are beautiful, intelligent, healthy, involved children. Audra has become a cherished member of the family as well. Though it all feels precarious with Nicole gone and my husband relocating for work for the time being. I hope all goes well for him. I hope we fare well too. As essentially a single parent again, I'll have to stay on my toes.
I really have so much to be thankful for. Friends and family have helped me get this far. I am indebted to them for their love and support. I have a steady job even if it has become harder and we've had a pay cut. We have a home. I am blessed.
Happy Mother's Day!

Cool Overcast Sunday

Just got back from a walk with Paul. It's beautiful out, though a bit cloudy. Perfect weather for a walk. The snow in the mountains is gorgeous and it's nice to have some moisture in the air. Haven't done much this weekend. We did have friends over Friday. It motivated the family to help straighten and vacuum. It was nice to start the weekend with a semi-clean house. It puts a more pleasant twist on the whole thing.
Went knitting at Yarn Deli Saturday. The ladies are all getting ready to go to Stitches West this coming weekend. I wanted to go but think I should go down to the Big 3 in San Diego with the family instead. So maybe next year( I think it was the same thing last year. Stitches and The Big 3 are on the same weekend.) This year we are trying to unload some cars and find wheels for Alex's Model T. You should check out his blog, Fix the T. He's trying to get it rebuilt to drive cross country to New York next year.
Went on a date with my husband. I can't even remember when we last went out together. We've been raising kids the entire time we have been together and have not given the time we need to to maintain our relationship. The kids are definitely old enough now to take care of themselves for long periods of time. And we need to take the time to repair our relationship due to the lack of communication we have been in the habit of. We had a pretty pleasant date. It's nice to take the evening off from the usual responsibilities. We took that walk together this morning too. I am hopeful.
May be heading to Laguna to help my daughter with her sewing machine. It's cool she is designing clothing. That was my favorite thing to do when I was young. I wanted to be a fashion designer growing up. She avoided doing anything I like while she was growing up. It's nice to have a common interest now.

Near miss

Have to say I am glad everything is worked out for the time being. Relationships do take maintenance. I know what my limit is because I was right there. I am feeling cared for again and have new resolve to enjoy my life. I am enjoying my friends and family. I am working towards goals and Paul is too. I've decided to take guitar lessons and to that end I have begun trying to toughen my fingertipa and learn a few chords. Still knitting, though trying to spend more time walking as well. It can be hard at times, but life is good.

October Projects

Dear Ole Hubby has been doing some projects around the house while he is waiting to get his back fixed. Here is is shortly after his epidural. Hope it works.
Hope the projects get finished before he goes back to work, otherwise...

In recent months I have become sock obsessed. I barely work on anything but socks any more. Here are some of the socks I'm working on now.

Mis-Adventures of the Kennedys and friends

This weekend we rented a motor home, packed up, and went down to San Diego to hang out in the Qualcomm Stadium for the weekend. It was the yearly Big 3 old car and motorcycle swap meet. I've been going down there for about 20 years to this event. My parents used to be the ones to get everything down there and we'd just show up and walk around, shop, and visit. Of course they didn't have jobs to go to or kids at home. It's tough to get organized enough to do it. We missed it last year. We don't live in San Diego either.


Any way, DH and DD were supposed to get down there before 8AM Friday, but didn't make it. The rest of us were supposed to leave after work and school or Saturday morning. My older DS and DD decided not to go. I wouldn't have even rented the motor home if I didn't think I was going to get to hang out with my kids. We ended up leaving Friday at about 7PM with our friends Leigh Ann and Robert. When we arrived around 9PM the gate was still open, but no one had the list of space renters and we didn't have the passes they gave us last year. They made us wait until 5AM Saturday morning to go to our spot. Ridiculous.
We kept our spot for next year, but unless we start getting ready for it months in advance there isn't a lot of point. We don't sell enough to cover the space rent let alone the motor home. It would be worth doing if we could get rid of some things doing it. We had a pretty decent time even though DH was a grouch. It was a little cold yesterday, but beautiful today. I guess next year we might do it again.
I did finish my Noro rainbow socks and decided to start the Annetrelac socks from the Holiday issue of Interweave Knits with the leftover Noro. I had some really BRIGHT yellow yarn with me (that I dyed to put a Pikachu on a present for my niece)that goes with the remaining yarn. So I started them. They will definitely be vivid. I'll be able to use up my scraps up. Don't want Noro to go to waste.
I finished one of my son's Fiery Socks in time for him to wear one to his Vista Idol competition.

OhMyGosh My Laptop may finally be fixed!!!

Just picked it up today. We finally sent it back to Apple to get an overhaul. Apple(for a fee) seems to have replaced almost everything in my laptop and reloaded all the operating software. I am busily adding all my most important links. Perhaps I'll get as far as some pictures tonight. It's like a long lost friend returning. You'd think that maybe I'd have more time to knit without my computer taking up my time, but sadly no. Being able to load evidence of my progress on projects is the real motivator. Still, I do have a couple of things to show you. I finished some Angora Bobble socks, a Koolhaas cap, an ice cream/sorbet cozy and am farther along on the flaming socks.



Today is DH/MXL's(maybe I should just use his name?) birthday. Baking a pink cake(he likes cherry and strawberry) and making big steaks and sauteed mushrooms for dinner. I think he'll like them. He's now as old as I am. Okay I'm still 6 months ahead. Off to finish cooking so that I can play with my computer again in a little while...see ya.

Benefit Concert

There was a benefit concert at the First Congregational Church in Riverside tonight. My husband and son played with some friends. There were some other people playing too. I guess they raised about $400 for Katrina victims.

Happy Mother's Day!

I am absolutely thrilled that I have such amazing children. I feel blessed in a very deep way. They came into this world through me. All different. Though I have raised them, they have been who they are from the beginning. I miss the babies they were and am gleeful to watch them step into their lives. I am sad my mother could not be here to see how they have grown and thrived and what good, talented people they are. I am, as she would was, so proud to have be a part of their lives.
I received some special gifts too!
Went to my cousin Mark's house in the Duchess. He had planned a little Mother's Day, Graduation, Birthdays party. He worked all day getting ready. A couple of the guests of honor didn't come. It was very low key. His daughter Chelsea has certainly bloomed, from the silent, sullen girl to a vivacious, communicative young woman. I guess film school and boyfriend Adam have been good for her.
Here's my view on the way home.The Duchess

Recording

Here are a couple of pictures of my husband and son recording yesterday. I'm glad they didn't get it right the first time since I got to listen to them for a long time. I feel so blessed to have music in the house. Thank you Alex and Paul.

The Boys in the Band

The boys had a great time all weekend. It's Paul's birthday today and he says he hasn't played this much in 25 years. He had a good birthday. The homemade eclairs didn't hurt.