whew..

I live, and I have not broken another limb, and even as I type I am still able to yell at my 12 year old to get off of that stinking video game, and go give his stinking self a bath.... not very effective though...

"Mom, I have to finish this level!"
"Sam, I told you 7:30"
"Ahh, ahh, dang, I hate this so much, I can't get it to work"
"What did you say?!"
"Not you Mom, the video game!"

Of course now, he is really, really, really angry that I made him get off the game and he is screaming mad. Oh well.

Rages are so not fun. Can I get a witness?

The end of the school year is always like this, and it so does not help that school is in until June 17th due to that snow month that we had this winter... and if you want to know why I haven't written lately, may I allow you to hear the eloquent screams of

"MOM! WHERE ARE MY PAJAMAS?"
"They are in your dresser."
"BUT I CAN'T FIND THEM!"

This is Ben this time and geesh, training them to come and talk to you, and not to yell at you through the house seems to be impossible. Has this mission ever been successfully completed? Is it like the elusive "never putting down the toilet seat"
Should I even continue to try?

Although, when I stepped away long enough to help Ben get his pajamas, answer the telephone and speak to my darling husband, and to assure Ben that if the cat got up the tree, she can get back down, and that you should not use a long stick to try and touch her in the tree... (where is that witness?!?) Sam seemed to calm down, and decide that having some food was a good idea. (Yeah, NOW he wants to eat) But, on the up side, he made it himself and seems to be speaking in a normal tone of voice. So I complement him on his good choice of making food....sigh, and come back to let you all know that I really, really have not given up blogging. I am still knitting, I have pictures of socks, lots of socks that I have completed, (I still cannot work on my sweater because of the shoulder. I'm chopping on that bit a little.) I will show those to you hopefully tomorrow, because now I have to usher a 12 year old into the bath.

Isn't that where we started?

Where did the 2 (or so) weeks go?

Okay, I still exist, really. I can give you all kinds of excuses, like going back to work has thrown me off, and I.E.P. (individual education program) meetings are going on for 2 boys, and I am furiously knitting socks, and cleaning house and blah blah blah... and all of those things would be true, but in fact, every time I went to post, my thoughts leaked out of my head and I just couldn't come up with something worth while. I must admit to feeling very mortal lately. One of my Jr/Sr highschool friends that I have stayed in touch with over the years has two wonderful daughters. The eldest just gave birth to her 2nd child in March, and her baby, Olivia, was stillborn. They knew that this would happen, she had no forebrain develop, so they knew that she would not live, and bravely made the choice to give her what life and love that God would allow. This has firstly made me feel.. well old. That I waited until almost 30 to have children does not change the fact that I could easily have grandchildren now, and this makes me see the time line of my life in a more traditional way.. the true middleage.

Second, and more importantly, I have been amazed at the deep, mature, abiding love of God and Baby that Heather and Nathan showed. I have felt the need to slow down, reevalute my attitude toward the everyday moments with my own children. ( come on, be honest, it is so easy to focus on the arguement about getting homework done, or getting them to take a bath.)

Both of my children are so very intelligent, and frankly so very reasonable 90 % of the time that I often forget that Aspergers exhists. So when a major Asperger's moment occurs, I often forget my "tools" to deal with the issue at hand (I can't win this level!... I don't want to do handwritting, it's too hard!) I forget to take a walk, or let them just have a sensory break. Sigh, it is so easy to forget the huge leaps and bounds of growth that they both have made this year--Ben could hardly read at the beginning of this school year.. 2nd grade, and now is at the low second grade level reading.. and only because of his fluency, (he has a low to moderate disfluency in speech.. he stutters.) So I'm thinking that reading to himself, he is nearly or completely caught up! Wow!
Sam is starting to take some ownership of homework too... and you all know that this has been a struggle.
I have to say that watching Heather's strength through this ordeal has touched me. I marvel at her grace. I hurt for her too. I continue to hope that my children will be so giving and open to love even when their heart is breaking.

So this has been on my chest and on my mind for a while, and although I sat down today to give you pictures of my latest socks, apparently I had something else to say. Tomorrow I can give you pictures of socks. Today I leave you with a reason to thank God for the children that you have, healthy, or not, neura-typical or not, all of us, with our own personal birth defects are still here to love and be loved.

Gotta go interupt Sam's video game with a Hug... he'll hate it.. too bad!

Geesh.. Where did the week go?

So first of all.. the boys both have their ears... This is due in no small part to me letting go of my need for perfection, and just using the clipper guides for around the ears. 'Nuff said.

I started back to work, part time, this Wednesday, and I am still desperately trying to get my house into some order.

Now, you may not know this, but in my past life, I was a slob.

Not that I didn't have good intentions of cleanliness, no, that wasn't it. As a matter of fact, clean was not the problem, the floors were mopped, the dishes done.. The clutter was the issue. I am not what you would call a "Born Organized" person.

I was given a "fly lady" intervention years ago by my great friend Amy, who is way better at clean than I am. I could only get so far on my own. This house is a little house, that has one husband, two boys, three cats, a dog, a fiber addict for a mother and too much crap. I can tell you that the house did not get any better with the mom of the house with a broken shoulder, then with a mom of the house with a surgery damaged shoulder.

In steps my mother.

God Bless my mother.

Now, my mom is a born organized person. I will not lie, when she stepped in to help me clean the house (gut it inside out, more like) I was not too happy. I gritted my teeth, my tone of voice was not always pleasant, I sighed like a disgruntled teenager.

My mom really loves me.

After a few rooms however, I started to see, well, surfaces. Yes, cleared off surfaces. I walk into my living room and have a corner to knit in... by a window, with a clean surface that used to overflow with odds and ends of forgotten projects, undone mending etc, etc -add nausea. No, really, nausea.

I have taken over the project, well, what I can do myself with a shoulder that will not be 100 % for several months yet. I still call on my mom for help... like today to clean off the top of my washer and dryer. It is sooo pretty. See.

I am finding that my sense of peace is expanding like the heart of the Grinch on Christmas day.

Also.. though I haven't taken the picture of the Pink Cable Sock yet.. (sorry) I was so excited about the red and pink "dyed blank" sock that I have taken pictures here...

and here..

and I've started a new pair of socks... because I'm a freak. Pretty soon, I'll not only be a fiber freak, but a clean freak too. (yeah, I went there, it's how momma rolls.)

Hair cuttin time..

I'm afraid... it's time to cut hair again.. and yes, the ear cutting incident WAS the last time their hair was cut, and yes, they do look like some strange update on the Beatles invasion. I am paralyzed with the fear of ear cutting.. and of the (understandable) look of "you've got to be kidding me right?" that will come my way when I mention that we will be cutting hair tonight.


Everyone.. pray... I am in the calm before the storm. I hope I come out the other side unscathed.. and that my children still have their ears.

New Project

So, this is a sock blank that I got from KnitPicks.com.. because I love them, and I love to dye yarn.. For those of you who love crafty, crafty stuff.. I highly recommend this process. It really allows you to play with color, and to see what the colors do on your socks..

I finished my other cable socks, and, as soon as they are out of the warsh.. I will post a picture of them. For now...

As you can see, I could not wait to get started. The red and pink are not showing up on the photos as bright as they really are. Believe you me, these are wonderfully bright, but a deep and rich color, at the same time. Brookes.. I'll have them done before I come back to work.. I'll show you then.. As a matter of fact.. I am here...

Just starting the ribbing on the leg of the sock.

And, in the time it took to take this photo, I had my ever present shadow, who loves all things fiber, as much as Tess ever did, join me.. see

Really, Ryefedd (Fedd-a-la, as she is becoming to be known..) jumped up and sat down before I could take another, better shot. Cat on the table, scandalous!

Maybe this is more like it.. Oscar really loves his buddies!

Joan.. just to answer your question, I sell the kettle dyed yarn through a local store, but if you have a burning desire for something specific e-mail me, I'll let you know all the colors I have and you can tell me what your heart desires...

Weekend Cat Bloggin' # 2 (for me)

This is trust.. here are two cats that know that having children around does not mean terror...



Here is a little Miss who loves clean surfaces! Pam.. there is a small sample of one of my strange collections, I love old buttons! I have several Jars like that.

Happy, warm kittens.

Newly dyed yarns..

(unfair advantage to the other pictures.. it's outside)

So, I dyed some more yarn yesterday.. too much yarn because I can barely move my shoulder today... ouch. That was a mistake, but I have pictures.

Unfortunately, the pictures do no justice to the real yarn, they are so much brighter than this. Pretty, pretty, shinny, shinny! (For those of you, not in the know... that is from the cartoon, "My Gym Partner's a Monkey"... don't ask me to explain, YouTube it....)

Really, I wish you could see these in real life, they are really vibrant. I've decided that I absolutely have to make a "Chestnut Cloud" for myself. I want the "Emerald City" and the "Tropical Seas" and the "Elizabeth's Eyes" (Taylor...it's really violet!) Frankly I think that I will have to eventually have all of these in my own stash. So much for non-bloating the sock yarn!