Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Don't Forget the Pig

Along with the dog, cat and multiplying hamsters...we also have a pig.  Not any pig.  A very snugglable, very loved pig named "Olivia"

She posed for the family Christmas picture.

Snugglings

I picked up the pig at Kohl's as part of their book special.  They do fund raising for the local children's hospital.  They have books for $5 and the accompanying stuff animals.  This was part of "If you give a pig a party".  I bought some books and the pig.  The pig sat in her room for some time as a decoration and then one day something made sense to Clover and from then on the two of them have been virtually inseparable.  

When I worked in a day care, parents were always telling me tales of stuffed animals and disaster.  I knew that eventually as a parent it could happen to me so I always thought I would prepare myself and buy two of everything.  Or at least know where I could buy a replacement.  But here is the thing...you never know what your child is going to get attached too.  EVAR.  There is no way you can predict these things.  The odds are worse than the lottery.  And if you do find something you think they might get attached to, like say for instance it's cute and you like it...it will, for reason be invisible to them.  Needless to say from that paragraph, I only bought one pig.  Since it was part of a book drive I can't just walk into the store and buy another one.  I could buy one off of ebay if I really get desperate, so there is always that option.

The last two weeks my little Clover has been fighting off a bug.  She got full blown sick and then it's just been lingering.  It seemed like every time I looked over at her she was wiping her nose on everything.  Including poor Olivia.  Olivia was pretty gross by the end of the week.  So into the pillow case she went and I tried my best to sneak her into the washer.  About twenty minutes later Clover asked me where she was.  Frantic that she couldn't find her.  She usually doesn't notice where she is during the day but for some reason her Olivia-sense was tingling.  She seemed quite upset that her pig was now in the dryer.  I told her how gross she was.  She calmed down a bit and waited.  When Olivia emerged from the dryer soft, clean and downy fresh,  it was like reuniting with her best friend.  The pillow case did a great job of protecting her eyes and tail from the washer.  Since she has been attached to Olivia for some time her neck is starting to get a little wobbly however.  It just occurred to me that I could preform surgery and add a little more stuffing in there.  It would have to be something I do while she is asleep.  I wouldn't want to traumatize her by cutting up her precious pig in front of her.     

Maybe I should have been more specific when I said I wanted to live on a farm.  It may not be my big red barn but there sure are a lot of animals around here!  

   

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Hearts Day!

Welcome to the Happy Sappy Love Song Station Hosted by yours truly this afternoon.  :)  Don't cap on my music taste either!  I love them all!

Along with Don't Give Up from Darren Hayes (via Grooveshark)
I love this song as well!
Bloodstained Heart Video via YouTube



One of my all time favorite songs
So Beautiful by Darren Hayes via YouTube



I love this song by JC.  No matter what I will always be right there by Hubby's side.
Right Here (By Your Side) via Grooveshark

Another song I love from JC.
You Ruined Me via Grooveshark

It's got what it takes.  So tell me
Why Can't This Be Love by Van Halen (Sammy) via Grooveshark

Because this song makes me laugh
I Wanna Have Your Babies by Natasha Beddingfield via YouTube

Blast from the Past
Get into the Groove by Madonna via Grooveshark

Saturday, February 11, 2012

OH YEAH!

Have you ever had a moment where you want to shout something off of your rooftop?  I am having one of those moments!

A YEAR AND A HALF IN THE MAKING...AND IT'S FINALLY DONE!  252 HOURS OF KNITTING...2 HOURS FOR THE CROCHET BORDER.

If you knew how much I worked on this you would be shouting from the roof top with me!

Hubby's Zelda Blanket!  Yes, I know it's Link.

252 mitered squares!

Don't forget the sword.

The wheels started turning when I saw this Mario blanket crocheted with Granny squares.  I discussed it with the Hubs since he is a retro gamer.  He said he was much more of a Zelda fan boy than Mario.  I was never that into Zelda but since it was his blanket I went with his idea.  I started sketching out a chart which I thought would be easy since it is 8 bit so it's all squares anyways.  Three charts later I came up with the chart.
I freaked out about three times when I lost it.

After a year and a half this is what it looked like.  

This is a point in the story where I say that I meant for it to be a massive project but that would just be a lie.  When I started I wanted it to be lap blanket.  I obviously didn't concentrate on gauge.  When I started I knew that each square would take an hour so I wanted the square to be large enough to justify knitting for an hour.  I don't knit little things.  If I spend the time on it I want it to be big.  It is huge.  So much larger than my king size bed.  No wonder it took a year and a half.  Although I did take a couple breaks from it to work on some baby blankets.  I started with three skeins of each color and lost track of how many times I went back to the craft store for more.  It is knit in acrylic.  And there is where the hard core knitters *gasp*.    But after you wash it with some fabric softener it softens up.  I wanted to keep track of everything so I could write my own tutorial but I lost track of so many things so many times I just gave up.  So it's not really a tutorial or anything.  I just wanted to scream that IT'S DONE!  

Adapting

Adapting seems to be the theme around here as of late.

I guess I should fill you in.  I'm okay.  I will be okay.  I just have to change the way I do things and adapt to my condition.  My MRI showed a Chiari (Ky-Ry as my Neurologist pronounces it) Malformation.  The spot where my spinal cord connects to my brain is lower than where it's supposed to be.  It's something I may have been born with and have had my whole life.  Apparently one in five people have it.  It's been causing some weird symptoms which so far have been annoying.  They aren't exactly sure if it was what was causing my dizziness or not.  I am getting a lot of could be's and maybes.  I guess that's why it's called "practicing" medicine.  The human body is very complicated.

So it's taken me some time to get used to the fact that I will have to live with all of this stuff for the rest of my life.  There has been some down points and in all honesty a bit of depression.  It's been difficult to get out of this hole.  Been...past tense.  I'm ready to move on.  There are still so many things I can do.  The list of things I can do is greater than the list of things I can't.  So I am taking that momentum and running with it.  Well, not literally because running is on the don't list.  There goes my dream of running a marathon.  The running thing isn't that big of a blow because like I have stated before...Juju doesn't run.

So...NO sky diving or bunji jumping.  No more roller coasters which is kind of a bummer because I love me some Space Mountain.  So basically nothing that will jar my neck all around.  And I am limited to lifting no more than 15 pounds.  So let me introduce you to the newest member of the household...

I'm lazy!
  
I got tired of making ten trips out to the truck to get the groceries so now I can just wheel everything in.

It's been about perspective, adapting and keeping a positive attitude!  I may not have the greatest of health but I have my Hubby, my Clover, my loving supportive friends and family, my positive outlook and my run on sentences that make up my blog.  Sorry it's been so far between posting.  I'm starting to get back to things as I work on everything in between.