lifelong knitter

Resting

In case you are wondering, this is how I *read* the blogs. Little Miss Fluffy Face HELPS. I know I'd be moping around, not knowing where to throw myself if it weren't for her. "Come on, Mommy, let's go see what Sherlock is up to at Madame Glitchbane's! He's so Handsome!"
Honestly, it is impossible to take yourself seriously when you are owned by a boodle.
I'm thinking of springing for one of those glasses cleaners in the Sharper Image catalog. The current method (see picture, above right) leaves me a trifle blurry.

Our bedtime story last night was Magical Knitting by Cat (why are you growling, pupster? that's her NAME.)
Bordhi. A lovely birthday prezzie, there was a small note on the front, instructing me to swoon over the CAPES. OMG. Swooning. This led to dreams of knitting myself INSIDE a never ending loop of Orange cashmere....

Enough about the dreaming, you are probably saying, what about Actual Knitting Content? Oh. I am still working on the Cotton Fleece ribby shell. I do not honestly THINK there are elves that unravel my cotton knitting every night, to build character or anything like that, I just seem to be So SLOW when the fiber content is cotton. I pondered this as I drove through cotton fields in South Carolina...there is something that just THRILLS me about the plants with their dark green foliage and the fluffy white cotton balls (they GROW that way, I remember exclaiming as a young child, of course getting the resultant lecture about the agonizing, laborious way cotton made its way into our bathrooms and closets...sigh. I also got the walking to school in the snow lecture. Coincidence? I think, NOT.) Character building lectures abounded in my childhood (to no avail, you are probably muttering...right you are!) but I still love to watch snow fall and still try to make things out of cotton....

Just in time for Fall. The season for pressing leaves between sheets of waxed paper (see, I do TOO know how to use an iron....) and hanging them up in the windows to admire. Hopefully we'll HAVE some leaves left to admire...
Weather pixies? If you have a moment? Could you please have Frances go out to sea and dance over the ocean waves? Please?

Is it MONDAY already?

I am exhausted. The fundraiser was a great success, much fun was had by all who attended, and thankfully the weather pixies held off the deluge until after the festivites had ended. I have to confess that my favorite part was seeing everybody's creative bumper stickers...I haven't picked an absolute favorite yet..they were ALL so good. A rural parking area of grass and gravel filled with sturdy vehicles sporting canoe racks and muddy wheel wells made my heart sing. The Mommymobile was very happy with her Knitting is Sexy sticker on the back window.
The mood was hopeful, the music was good (the band was a little worried at first, that they would be Too Loud, but I pointed out that the future of the free world could only be HELPED by some rock n roll ;) Kids ran around playing croquet and chasing chickens and jumping on the trampoline....
sigh.
It has been 22 years since I woke up on a Monday morning and had NOTHING on my list involving meds schedules or who to pick up where and when for what therapy appointment. I wish I could say *Oh Happy Day* but truthfully it is Pouring outside, and in my heart as well. What do I do now? I've been toying with the idea of going back to Law school to become a full fledged Educational Advocate with Credentials...but today I don't have the energy to make my own bed. I'll probably be trying to find my way clear over the next few weeks to set a Goal (in my typically overambitious fashion) or two and then get my nose back to the grindstone to really accomplish the Next Big Thing.
The Olympics are over (Greece is on my Must Visit list, those shots of the Agean Sea just made me drool)
What is that word for the letdown you get after you finally get the advanced degree and then have a panic attack at the idea of leaving the security of academia?
Good lord, my brain is fried.

Make a Difference

Go visit John Kerry and take a moment to think about the future of the Free World. Do something to make a difference. I'd LOVE it if all y'all could come and knit with me this afternoon at the Fundraiser, but distance is no barrier to the depth of caring that resonates through blogland....I KNOW you'll be there in Spirit.

College bird is AMAZING. Her bed was made, her room is neat, she was showered and dressed and ON TIME when I drove to the dorm to pick her up. She had spent the entire Saturday in the library, reading and doing homework. We chatted about a perplexing problem in Statistics....how COULD the results add up to 105% MOM? That just doesn't make SENSE! (teehee)
We had a lovely dinner together at the local Mexican restaraunt and then she invited me back to her dorm room to *hang out* for a little while. She had the cards I sent her propped up on the dresser, family pictures, and a PINK mascot from a knitblogger prominantly displayed.
We set up her reloadable itunes account, and fiddled with the settings on her digital cross country watch. I started to ask her a question and she said *What time are you picking me up for church in the morning?*
sigh. My heart is SO full.
I watched the Olympics and knit until I could no longer keep my eyes open, and dreamed sweet dreams of
Knitting by the Sea, a bagpipe band marching by.....

Still in Transition

I love taking pictures of metaphors, don't you?
On the road again, for a trip back down to the College. Seems there is a very important NCAA form which requires her original signature to insure athletic eligibility. I'll stay overnight to see if there is anything else she needs, go to worship service with her in the morning and then drive back for the fundraising event tomorrow afternoon. zoom-zoom.
Spent yesterday afternoon with Boy bird doing all of our traditional stops...Borders, Brueggers, and the Barbershop (which is the fabulous old fashioned kind where you get a piece of Bazooka Bubblegum if you are well behaved in the barber chair....) for a shave and a haircut (no longer sixpence, however).
A few rows on the Ribby Shell were accomplished. I can't wait to show it to you, what a FABULOUS pattern. Bonne Marie is a genius.
I need to write thank you notes and respond to a FOLDER full of email....
yipes.
The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.
Hope your weekend is filled with DELIGHT.
xoxoxo

Richly BLESSED!

When I was a child, I always dreamed of a birthday party with presents piled on the table, friends running around playing games and of course a big CAKE with candles and singing. My parents were both very reclusive and *proper*, never wanting noise or a fuss of any kind over anything. I was never allowed to have people over to the house, and of course a PARTY was out of the question. Children were starving in China, my parents lectured, and YOU want a party? Eat your vegetables and go clean your room. When MY kids were growing up, I made a ridiculous fuss over their birthdays, making sure there was cake and presents and a theme and all of that. None of the kids we invited ever even RSVP'd much less came to these parties, so once again, no Real PARTY. I ate my vegetables, but still wasn't too good at cleaning my room...all that yarn and art supplies, glue and glitter is kinda hard to keep CLEAN, dontcha know.
Imagine my surprise, and TOTAL eleven year old delight (you know, when you are supposed to be TOO grown up to believe in fairies and such..) to arrive back from the big College bird launch to find a Pile of PRESENTS. For ME. Cards and stickers and fibery goodness and homemade lip gloss....Kindred Spirits came to my party and brought Presents! I even got Something for my ROCK collection!
Honestly, I cried with each new crinkle of tissue paper and sweet card made from children's art.
A forty year old lump dissolved in my throat.
I gathered my Sandy Poodle into my lap and whispered a prayer of Thanksgiving:
"All my Imaginary friends came to my party and brought me EXACTLY what I wanted...let's sing and dance and eat cake until we can't stand up. Next summer there is going to be a sleepover at Anne's house on PEI." You are ALL Invited. Please come.
I felt strangely light and free, and went for a run at the local park. Never let go of your dreams, friends. It may take a lifetime or two for them to come TRUE, but NEVER say NEVER.
Expect a Miracle.

Where's my GIRL?

It is absolutely AMAZING how exhausting a week of moving a child into College can be. I think I spent the whole week running on adrenaline and coffee. Hampton Inn, bless you, for the high octane blend with the complimentary breakfast each morning!
You'll excuse me now, while I deal with the mountain of MAIL and the pile of paperwork and the laundry and the food shopping....
I'm going to try and get to Knit night, catch up on what's been happening in the hood while I've been away....

Baaaaa......

Which Flock Do You Follow?
this quiz was made byalanna

Running Circles around me

I am still in shock. My daughter insisted on going to the time trials today, despite the ninety odd degree temps AND Humidity (of course) because as she put it, *I SAID I was going to be there.*
She was the only young woman to attempt a walkon tryout. Several young men came out, but decided to opt out after the warm up. One stayed, and was sweating like the proverbial swine after three laps. Not daughter bird...She completed the 3.1 miles in UNDER the time given for walkon athletes. She said *thank you* in her sing song voice everytime the coach told her how many more laps to go. She checked her watch at the start finish line of each lap and *did the math*. She slowed to a fast walk a couple of times, and announced to the assistant coach *I may have to slow down, but I am NOT quitting.*
I was sweating in the shade, to be perfectly honest. I wanted to tell her it was okay to stop. The coach just kept looking at me and shaking his head. *I can't very well tell her she can't do it* he said *she just DID.*
For the record, she'll be a redshirt freshman, doing a limited training schedule and going to the local meets only. This is a personal safety issue. The coach said he doesn't feel comfortable sending her out on a 6AM run in the woods. He said if it were HIS daughter, he wouldn't do it, and he treats his athletes like they are his own.
Could I be any prouder?
Oh, and Norma? You might want to check with Rachael and Ann, or maggi, who have met the Dbird in person. I couldn't make her up if I tried.

One More Day

We have met her advisor and signed up for classes....funniest moment for me was when she leaned over to her advisor and said breathlessly *Is there a limit to the number of literature courses I can sign up for?* teehee. Her advisor has been at the college 26 years and has two entire walls of bookshelves, floor to ceiling, filled with Poetry and Plays and Literature of all sorts....she asked Daughter how she would feel about Masterpieces of British Literature at 8 o'clock in the morning, and of course Daughter looked at me and said *REALLY? Literature first thing in the Morning? Just the way I like it!* They will get along famously.
She was a little disappointed that her results from the Math Placement exam mean the only class she lacks is Statistics...she's definitely MY daughter, disappointed that there will be no calculus, no diff*e*que, because she passed all of those sections with flying colors. She bought a math textbook anyway, *just for fun in case she gets bored* GAH!
Her other classes are fabulous as well, and tomorrow she has the Time Trial Tryouts for Cross Country. She wants me to stay for that and then I am *free to go home*.
Honestly, I just wish I had been lucky enough to attend a small, progressive, liberal arts college like this. What an AMAZING opportunity.
I am still skulking around in the campus computer lab, where this morning one of the Honors students said to another in a Stage Whisper...*I think she's a Mom. I guess it is okay for her to be in here....oh she's cool, look she's knitting!*
The Cotton Fleece ribby shell was thoroughly inspected by two young men who look for all the world like future Heads of State...are you sitting down? They BOTH Knit!
Pinch.Pinch.Pinch.
Yep. Awake.
Wow.

Blessings

We went to the campus worship service this morning and I marvelled at the young woman who appeared on time, dressed appropriately, grinning from ear to ear. She had her first *emergency* and handled it perfectly. There is no food service (gasp) on Sunday mornings in the cafeteria, so she went back to her dorm room, opened the emergency kit we prepared for her (we do have weather situations in this part of the country that knock the power out......) and and ate one of the Luna Bars for breakfast. She said now that she knows about the Sunday morning schedule, maybe we should stock up on breakfast things she can keep in a Rubbermaid container in her closet....pretty good decision making, and all without pressing the MOM button on the cell phone. Woo and Hoo!
I couldn't be prouder of her. She told me this afternoon that I could go back to the hotel as she would be *very busy* this afternoon with the other girls from her suite and tonight they are all eating together in the Cafeteria and then ALL of the new students are seeing a movie and having a discussion group afterwards....
This is a Miracle.
Really. As Always,
I feel so abundantly BLESSED to be her Mother!