Thanksgiving

I cooked all of the things. My dad and my kids came. We had a wonderful time - food, stories, laughing.



















































I am back to work. It's like they say - plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Walmart is a constant in that it never changes despite how much changes.
I am enjoying being back briefly; making what difference I can. It's also affording me the opportunity to say goodbye to a lot of the people that have made my time there pleasant and worth everything.
I can't even describe how much better I feel. Having been in pain for so long, taking drugs for so long, I'd forgotten what a weight it is. How mentally and physically exhausting it is. It's gone. All of it. I feel so much lighter, carefree.

Not much knitting has been accomplished on any project I'm afraid.
I'm hoping to get to Woodstock this weekend; it's going to depend on what my Bee needs done to fix the grinding noise. I'm thinking bearings or suspension; not sure that I have a 'druther.

I did have a good mail day!!





My purchased bag (doggie one) and my prize from crafts-o-matic arrived!! Included were stitch markers from Hanks & Needles, a special stitch marker from Knit Cubby, a skein of yarn from Up In Yarns, and some sweets! Everything was packaged up with care and love - thanks Kate!!!

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JIT

I needed this time off desperately!! I left for my dads in rural Grey County straight after work on Friday.


He is building an energy efficient house, very Green, and off the grid. The man is brilliant!! He is investing well in the materials that will add value and efficiency to the home. I'm crazy proud to be his daughter.

Met up with my sister and we went to the drive in (Inside Out and Ant Man) Not my fave of the Marvel superheroes, but I got into it by the end. I also corrected and made real progress on the New Project.

Today we went up to where our cousin Natasha is cottaging up by Mar. (*NOT* the UK meaning!!) The North American tradition of going to the cottage.
My niece Jasmyn traveled with me and we had fun making a few garage sale finds. Always good times when finding new-to-you treasures for a couple of loonies!!

We had a lovely afternoon.


One of their party had bought a canoe at a garage sale so Daphne, the girls, and I made sure it was sea worthy. (I have pics on my DSLR; I'll post them as soon as I download them)
I had a blast!! I could've paddled around that lake all afternoon, but we just made quick little jaunts to take turns.


(I saved this one from my sisters FB page)
I got some sun, then more sun driving home.


The puppies are having such a great time with their freedom outside at my dads!
Chica is actually tired from chasing her ball!! She has so much room for me throw it!








Petey sneak attacked her while I was waiting to throw her ball, and I captured it!!


I laughed so hard.
I am knitting outside in just a perfect setting. Quiet country air, beats cranked, (seriously?? you're surprised??), knitting with what has a bit of a Morrocan feel needles and Post-it, and a mojito.



My tummy has kicked off this afternoon, so it is medicinal supplement to the T3's. ;)

Ah yes. There were inquiries about my yarn crawl acquisitions.
Here is the two trips worth:












I love and am inspired by each item. The already knit socks? Well, for $10?? Yeah. You would've too.

And the mug, well. I do have a thing for mugs. Sigh. Untreatable really. But I spent a great deal of time at Philosphers selecting the one that spoke to me; it was this one with the leaping sheep and the wee Bunny FooFoo.

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Block Party

Beth's Drops 85-11, front

Well, last night was blocking night. I really do enjoy blocking - seeing what you've knit transform and unfurl into what it's meant to be.

Westknits Rockefeller Clue 2

I also swatched for a new strip for my next SweetSpot afghan. It's Family Pendragon, Fae Lite colourway.

I'm not sure if I am going to have an official Ravellinic Games project ... I have these 3 things on the go and am going to be casting on a new project for Elise. I think that juggling these will have me quite busy enough without adding a self-imposed deadline that will put a halt to progress on one or more of these.





Saturday was beach day. My sister came up with my niece and we headed to Wasaga. Now, I did give some thought to walking in sand but perhaps I didn't think it through as thoroughly as perhaps I should have. Not that it would have mattered - I'd've gone anyway, but still. Damn - walking on the extra fine & shifty sand of Wasaga took a whole lot of concentrating and slow, deliberate movements. I didn't wreck anything but I am back to feet up. It was a gorgeous day and totally worth it!!

For a woman who is supposed to be resting I have been very busy. And if I could just shake off my perfectly harmless but time-consuming love of Bejeweled & Solitaire Blitz I would be even more productive!!

My Dad had quadruple heart bypass surgery done last Wednesday. He had been feeling shortness of breath and tightness in his chest for about a week when doing different activities but it went away when he stopped. He finally went to the hospital and they jumped right on that with diagnostics & drugs and the surgery. He is doing well by all accounts, and in good spirits considering the considerable change in his diet, quitting smoking and having his activities severely curtailed.

I had my foot surgery on Thursday. It also went well but it hurt like a mofo!! I spent Friday in a drugged haze.

Daphne concentrating

my niece Jasmyn

Saturday my sister came to get me so that we could visit Dad and take him some more books. He can't do much more than read and I came by my love of reading honestly.  It was a gorgeous day and we did a few errands (I picked up a few more books) on the way there & back. While I just limp around at home, I have crutches that I used for the day. That was a lot more work than I thought - my arms and shoulders obviously need more work and it was more ab intensive than I would have thought. I love my dad and I wouldn't have not gone but my body waved the white flag.

I am feeling loads better today!! It is a necessary luxury that I am able to sleep and not sleep as my body dictates. Sometimes that is an hour or 4 hours or 10 hours. I am just rolling with it. The pain has significantly subsided; it's more of a throbbing ache, I still need to keep it elevated more than not.

I finished Elise's sweater! well actually a week or so ago ... And you know the drill, super Top Secret.






I banged out the Mountain Colors scarf - doing the fringe took awhile. I'm not very good at fringes.

 And I have dragged out some yarns and a couple of Sweet Spot strips that I had made - I want to do some more, I just need to decide on the next strips yarn designer.






I finished my Starbucks socks and have started a new pair of Purple Regia socks. The sock on the left reflects my mood during the few days that I was knitting it - the tension is all over the place. It's not noticeable in the fabric itself but the patterning is a whole lot less forgiving and shows even slight and subtle changes in tension. Not a bad thing, just a thing.

Yes, I have a fun photo editing program and I really love it!! 

The Olympics are coming up and all Ravelympics/Ravelry Games drama aside I am looking forward to them! Along with Netflix and an excellent movie collection my knitting and resting are well accompanied.

The Real Reality

I love reality shows and all of us who do wonder if they're really "real", partially scripted or if it's just real skilled editing, showing us only the most tantalizing and scandalous bits.
Blogging is kind of like that - do we put all of ourselves out there come what may, change the script and put a bit of a spin on it or just edit out the good, bad or ugly bits.
I have to admit that I've been editing. I've always had to edit my knitting content when I'm working on a project for a designer that needs to be kee on the Down Low. Professional editing.
I've shared a lot about my journey through my cancer. I've editing a bit - there is such thing as TMI on a public forum and I don't want anyone's virus software blocking me.
I've shared some things about my family but it's a fine line - they have their own lives and opinions about how much they want my friends to know so I've kept it fairly light & general. And sometimes it's just that some things are hard to say out loud or write down - doing that makes them more real somehow.
For the last few months I've been adjusting myself to a new reality. At first I couldn't even wrap my own head around it, then I started telling a few very close friends and it got easier to talk about and accept for myself. Then I got to the point where I could tell more casual friends and it didn't feel like I was talking about someone else. I finally told one of my most dear friends - we don't talk much or often but I know that she is always there like I never went away. Telling her was hard - I felt like I was admitting to a personal failure (even though in my head I know that isn't true, our hearts are traitorous things). But of course she was as true a friend as ever and her support as healing as ever. And now I feel like I've gotten to a place in my head where I can really put it out there because I've learned from my cancer that you can't get support if people don't know that you need it.

Kerwyn decided that I am no longer what he wants. Yes, he's a man being a weak man. 'Nuff said. It's hard to say how long he's felt that way; his anger says that he's never been happy but he announced it a few months ago. I know, Epic Bad Timing but it is what it is.
After 21 years it's a lot to wrap my head around and I know with my head that it's about him and his decisions and that it's not really about me. My heart is crushed and the kids are angry & really hurt.

But just like the cancer I'm trying to take it in stride and move through it. When there is nothing that you can do to change a thing you do what you can with it and I'm trying to sort through the paperwork & find a lawyer. Just like I learned more than I ever wanted to about cancer I'm learning more than I ever wanted to about family law and I haven't even hardly done anything yet!!

This is going to be an area of my life that gets not so much edited as just not included on my blog. I wanted to share the fact of it because it's impacting various areas of my life more but I just can't share the details - personally & legally it's not a good idea.

I'm seriously starting to feel like Job, but he kept the faith and made out like a bandit in the end. I'll be happy with just getting through with my sanity, kids & health intact.

I'm Bringing Sexy Back

I'm no Justin but I'm about to kick it up a notch 'round here!



I have loved the Honda Ridgeline since it came out 2 years ago. The Sienna has been an excellent minivan, but maybe it's an early mid-life crisis - I've been coveting a truck. The Ridgeline is just the sexiest truck out there and it's packed with safety features and rugged usefulness. There's also a great in-bed lockable trunk with a drain (top left) which makes is a massive portable beer cooler!!! I know!!!

So anyway, it's been one of those "one of these days" kind of things. It was definitely going to be our next vehicle but it comes down to when the "right" time is. Apparently it's THIS WEEK!!!
Honda has 0.9% financing on and we have a major service coming up next month on the Sienna so Kerwyn says to me Saturday when I came home "We need to get a Ridgeline this week." Now, Kerwyn is not known for his impulsiveness or his practical jokes, but I'm like, "Really? You're not teasing me are you?" and he's like, "Really." and proceeded to tell me all about it.
Yeah, it occurred to me, but I don't care what he did - I'm getting a Ridgeline!!!

We've He's done his homework (and explained it all to me) and we're going in tonight to get a fair trade-in for our van and negotiate our best deal on the my truck.

And there's lots of elbow room for knitting!

And how much do you want to bet that Kyle get his G1 next week? He's going to have a stroke when he sees my Ridgeline in the garage!! He's been out a lot lately, and while Amanda's in on it Kyle doesn't have a clue. He'll be lucky if I let him get out of 1^st gear! LOL

Alone with my Husband

The title pretty much sums it up. Both of the kids had sleepovers at other kids' houses!!! Mostly when one of them gets invited to sleepover at a friends house the other one comes asking to have a friend over - like they're responsible for maintaining the adult:child ration in the house. Perhaps there was a rare - like once in 5 thousand years type of rare - planetary alignment that allowed for a child-free Prescod house without causing a cataclysmic disaster.

I swear, I didn't know quite what to do!! We've had a child or two under foot for the last 16 years. We'd sometimes get out for dinner & a movie but they'd still be there when we got home.
I started getting nervous - what the hell would we do? I mean, no kids to hear, see or have wake up or wander around. We used to have complete privacy and freedom - what was that like? I was starting to feel like a virgin bride on her wedding night!!!

I had a quick shower and put on clean clothes and did my hair and face before Kerwyn got home. Too nervous to knit - I know, the horror!!! - I cleaned some stuff up moved stuff from some places to others, surfed Ravelry and had a little drinkie (just to take the edge off).

So Kerwyn took me out for dinner and it was wonderful! We didn't even fall into that inevitable parent trap of spending the entire dinner talking about the children.
We decided to watch a movie at home and on the way back I started a mental checklist.
Candles? check
Something sexy to wear? check
Movie that's romantic but not a total chick flick? check (Next with Nicholas Cage)
Wine? double check

It was awesome! Just out of habit - I swear!!! - I knit for a bit, but then I realized that we might not get this chance again for months and I reluctantly put it aside and just lived in the moment with my man.
We even got to sleep in without the sound of little feet pitter-pattering sweet child-like laughter wretched children fighting over the last egg.

Of course, once I was awake I had to take off for the Passport Office - which wasn't the day of waiting that I thought it would be. I was in & out in less than ½ hour and all of that was in the initial line-up to tell them what I needed & get my waiting number. All because I filled out my form online!!! I love online, it's the greatest place in the whole, wide world and this is just another example of why.

Anyway, it was a wonderful evening and it's nice to know that we've still got the connection that we had when we first met, dated & got married. It's nice to know that we still have more than just the kids keeping us together and that we won't be bored with each other when the kids are gone. Kyle's 16, Amanda's 10 ... I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!!

Auntie Tina

My sister Tina is moving to Vietnam later this week so she came and spent a few days with us. And when I say "moving" I mean "going to live & work". She's visited there a few times and knows some people so it's not like she's going in without a clue. She's going to be teaching ESL so while I'm concerned for her in a broad familial sense, I know that she's doing what she wants and what will make her happy so I'm not worried.

Amanda helped her cook dinner on Monday, we went to see National Treasure 2 on Tuesday (after watching the 1st one at home to get Tina up to speed) and went snow tubing on Wednesday. And when I say "we went snow tubing" I mean that I drove to Snow Valley and paid for the snow tubing and photographed the snow tubing but then sat in the chalet and knitted.

I went down to Marsha's on Thursday after I dropped Tina back home and picked up a bunch of Japanese pattern books - I'll take some pictures in the next few days - and my 1^st Elizabeth Zimmermann book. I know, I've lived a sheltered knitting life. But I've taken the plunge with The Opinionated Knitter because it has some of her most well known patterns and I like that I can read some of her pattern notes and anecdotes.

I spent the rest of Thursday and Friday at my friend Ada's. We watched the 1^st season of Dexter (poor Ada doesn't have The Movie Network) and the 2^nd season of Weeds - OMG I love these shows!!! Knitting is what I do to lull everyone think that I'm ordinary and innocuous, while inside I'm quixotic with a twisted, slightly morbid sense of humour - while we knit and played show & tell.

I'm back home and Kerwyn & I are watching Heroes - season 1 & 2!! I'm finishing the 2nd sleeve on Julie's Patrick then it's just the neckline, washing & drying to shrink it up and then seaming.
Amanda & I will be delivering it (yes, not only will it be knit on time but delivered too!!!) to Julie on Monday so we'll be working at The Needle Emporium if you're around and want to swing by & say "hey". Amanda loves working at the store - as soon as I mentioned that I'd be taking it to Julie she squealed and said, "Can we work?!!"

Yes, Virginia ...

Well, actually it's more like, "Yes, Wannietta, there is a deity listening to you endless entreaties. You've been granted a !"

Unfortunately, that means that there is a driveway to shovel.
Fortunately, Amanda is an eager and cooperative minion!
Unfortunately, Kyle is less so.
Fortunately, Prescod woman are resolute, able-bodied and independent and don't need a man-child's sullen and unwilling assistance to get the job done!

I've also been trying to make a (noticeable) dent in the laundry piles. The washing machine has lately decided to stop just before the rinse cycle. I can either just tap the dial or give it an enthusiastic sidekick to start it up. This of course, requires a fairly high degree of diligence (which, since it's not yarn/knitting related has a hard time getting that). So laundry turns into quite a protracted chore.
Then of course, I need to help download music and upload the same music to an mp3 player.
And feed the progeny (I've explained countless times that they will not actually starve if food does not pass their lips every hour!).

So it is only now that I am able to get to the job of making sure that the chesterfield doesn't just float away and get some knitting done. Ah well, this is when speed comes in handy - making up for lost time!

The Apple

It fell from the highest branch and off of the farthest tip of that branch. It then proceeded to roll down the hill, splash into the river and float until the tree from which it fell was less than a wisp of a memory.

Kerwyn & I are both hard working people with a work ethic that involves generous measures of diligence, conscientiousness and delivery.
There is no doubt that Kyle (The Apple) is our child but it's becoming less and less immediately apparent.
I just got a call from his counselor at school (whose counsel is suspect and may be a contributing to the problem - but that's another whole session) who gave me his mid-term marks. Bad. Bad. Worse. And fucking humiliating!
No, I don't know what he really wants to do. He doesn't really know what he wants to do. I don't know what lies he told the computer in careers at school, but it told him that he'd make a great money manager.
Now, Kyle is smart and certainly has the potential to be a money manager (of other people's money that is), but right now he lacks the immediate motivation to do what it would take to be a money manager in the future. A 26% in math will keep him well out of any reputable financial institution and will probably keep him in the kitchen and away from the cash registers at McDonalds!!! Deep cleansing breaths!
I'm sure I really fucking hope that he finds his métier soon and starts pursuing whatever it is with something that resembles zeal.
I think that I've made his last 3 days miserable enough - no TV, gaming platform(s) or DVD's and compelled him into coming with me morning & night on my bus run and sundry, boring errands - that he won't get suspended again. I know, you all know me as a fun-loving happy-go-lucky kinda gal; I've pushed her down and brought out my inner hard-assed bitch. It's for his own good.

Carol & Sandra did this, and I'm just a humble sheep and will do it to. If you're reading this Kyle you might want to have a dictionary handy!

Goderich

Sorry - Amanda & I had to spend some time in Goderich with my Mom. It was a last minute thing and while it was a 3 hour drive each way and not a vacation, we did have some fun at the beach.

Then, I get home 3 days later to the same sink of dishes that was there when I left, a much messier cupboard and plants that had not been watered. I don't think that my peppers will recover, I have a bit more hope for my tomatoes. MEN!!!

I finished Veronik's twinset and she's happy with it. Seriously - I worry about that. No matter how perfect I think that it is or how much I love a finished project I can't rest easy until I know that my client is happy. I've been knitting much - sorry but it's been on secret projects. I'll try to doctor up a few pics for you tomorrow.
Kerwyn turned off the a/c, and while it has cooled off a bit - it's only 36°C with the humidity instead of 39°C!! (That's 96.8°F - 102.2°F for my Southern Friends) Even with the ceiling fan on it's a bit warmish & sticky for sleeping (not to mention knitting) comfort - I may just put it back on.