MommaGoose’s Nest

I've finally had enough of non Vox members not being able to post comments here so I've moved to wordpress. Please visit me here: http://mommagoose.wordpress.com/

What I've been up to lately:

005

008

009

007

001

003

For reasons unknown to me, I've been depressed lately. Maybe it's just everything piling on at the same time. The extreme heat isn't helping. It was 112 degrees at 11:30 this morning! My sister made my mom cry. My own daughter made my mom cry! All in the name of defending me because they thought I'd been mistreated. Didn't make a damn bit of difference that I told them both that nothing happened, I was not mistreated nor was I upset. And even if I was, it's wasn't their damned business anyway! I have a headache that I meant to take something for earlier, but you know how that goes. Youngest dd decided to be difficult (to say the least) last night. It's been so long since those old horrible days, but the feelings flooded right back. Got my hair cut yesterday but haven't even washed and styled it yet. Who cares? Not one person in this house has even noticed that I practically had my head shaved! I'm serious, I left a LOT of hair on the salon floor, my haircut is noticable. And I miss John. A lot.

Bleah, I don't even want to knit.

Lonely, neglected knitting

Knitting2

... this hat is so freaking adorable!

NICU Friendly T-Bonnet

Something went terribly wrong with this one. I'm blocking it now, also hopeful that it'll at least be a decent baby hat, since it'll likely be too large for a preemie. We'll see.

NICU Petal Hat

DH coined the phrase "wine glass hats!"

Group1

Borrowed from SallyTomato:

ONE WORD ONLY!

Not as easy as you might think. Now copy and post this, change the answers to yours and pass it on. It’s really hard to only use one word answers.

1. Where is your cell phone? purse

2. Your significant other? hubby

3. Your hair? yuck

4. Your mother? sad

5. Your father? california

6. Your favorite thing? knitting

7. Your dream last night? forgot

8. Your favorite drink? clubsoda

9. Your dream/goal? uhmmm

10. The room you’re in? hot

11. Your ex? remarried

12. Your fear? unkindness

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? mansion

14. Where were you last night? home

15. What you’re not? wealthy

16. Muffins? pumpkin

17. One of your wish list items? yarn

18. Where you grew up? california

19. The last thing you did? worked

20. What are you wearing? shorts

21. Your TV? awesome

22. Your pets? beasts

23. Your computer? new

24. Your life? quiet

25. Your mood? down

26. Missing someone? step-father

27. Your car? beattle

28. Something you’re not wearing? shoes

29. Favorite store? yarn

30. Your summer? HOT

31. Like(love) someone? hubby

32. Your favorite color? blue

33. Last time you laughed? yesterday

34. Last time you cried? yesterday

35. Who will re-post this? nobody

Yes, I said "knitting injury."  Who'd have thought that a pastime enjoyed by so many grandmas would be dangerous?  Who knew you could actually get hurt and that there are safety precautions to keep in mind?  Certainly not I. 

Let me just say this right now.  Do NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT put your knitting needles in your chair!  I bet you're wondering what happened. 

One Sunday morning, not long ago (last weekend), I was sitting on my mother's patio, knitting and enjoying the outdoors.  Mom was in the kitchen making breakfast so I got up, set my knitting on my chair and went in to help.  It's important to note that I was knitting a preemie hat on size 3 bamboo dpn's.  I was in the process of shaping the crown, so the needles naturally formed a little tepee while resting in the chair.  (Starting to get the picture yet?) 

Breakfast was on the patio table, we were ready to eat.  I flumped into my chair and immediately thought "what the hell kind of thorn hurts this much?" then flew out of the chair, yelling for Mom!  That needle went FOUR INCHES into my butt!  Mom tried three times to pull it out when I said that I was gonna faint, get it out NOW!  She set her feet apart, gripped tightly and pulled with all her might.  OMG, it was out!  Mom told me later that if it hadn't come out right then, she would've called 911.  Imagine it... paramedics arrive to see... well just imagine it.  Then imagine what the ER would have been like.  As it was, I had to go to urgent care for a tetnus shot, where they were greatly amused by the fact that I was still knitting with the same needles. 

*Sigh*  Everyone has gotten a good belly laugh out of this.  My sister called twice to revel in the hilarity and Mom has been telling all her friends.  Fine, Mom needs a good laugh right now, but that poke in the ass really hurt!

Remember: DO NOT put your knitting needles in a chair.

The Hat

Eyelet2

John Kathy

Losing a loved one is one of the most difficult things we can go through, so much more if it is a husband or parent. No words can express what our family is feeling right now but we’ve rallied together and with the support of friends and family, we’ll continue what John started.

Some of you may not know that John was not the natural father of the three daughters here today.  Robin and I are his step-daughters, yet John was never a step-father to either of us.  Pam has been part of our family for many years.  When her parents passed, John and Shirley became Mom and Dad.  Father is the only way to describe how he impacted our lives.  Three sisters, one father who wove us all together as a family.

John Sky

John and Shirley were very much in love for every one of the 33 years of their marriage.  Through his example, John showed me what a good husband is and I’m forever grateful for that.  He cherished my mother and loved her for who she is.  One thing that stands out in my mind is that he loved anything she cooked for him.  I don’t think I ever shared a meal with them that he didn’t praise her cooking.

John was kind, hard working, a good friend, and a dedicated family man.  He seemed to have a solution to every problem and had his way of making things simple.  Anyone who listened to his jokes, heard one of his silly songs or glimpsed his goofy grin knew that his sense of humor ran deep.  His beliefs and values were of a time when family was the first priority of his community.  Old fashioned?  Yes.  I didn’t always agree with him, but I should probably reconsider my positions since things turned out so well for him.  John was a great man who had a great life.

He showed strength until the end and still had some special words for us. We should all be thankful that we were given the chance to have known this man named John Alcalde. At this moment when we are about to lay his body to rest, let’s all think back and remember how John touched our lives. How he made us laugh and how good he was as a person.  We know that we will see you again, that Mom will feel your warm embrace again and that our family will unite together in heaven. In the meantime, please guide us as we live our life here on earth.  John, you will always be remembered and you will always live in our hearts for as long as we live. We love you so much.

Poem of Life

Life is but a stopping place,
A pause in what's to be,
A resting place along the road,
to sweet eternity.
We all have different journeys,
Different paths along the way,
We all were meant to learn some things,
but never meant to stay...
Our destination is a place,
Far greater than we know.
For some the journey's quicker,
For some the journey's slow.
And when the journey finally ends,
We'll claim a great reward,
And find an everlasting peace,
Together with the lord.

Author unknown

The blessings I've received since my oldest daughter and her sons moved here are innumerable.  One of the sweetest blessings was when Skylar's teddy bear sprung a few leaks and needed repairs.  He's so pleased with "N'ya N'ya's" new scarf and socks.  I recently discovered that Orion, my youngest grandson, did not have a bear or other lovey so I set out to make one just for him.  I dropped by his house yesterday afternoon to give it to him but discovered that he was still napping.  I placed it in the crib, right next to him so he'd find it when he woke up.  His mother called later to tell me how delighted he was with his new bear, that his brothers couldn't take away from him.  Yay!

Harry Bear Orion.1

The KAL or Knit Along is another blessing.  My friend Mander is making a Survivor's Quilt (using the Barn Raising Quilt pattern) to make money for the American Cancer Society.  The very cool thing about the quilt is that folks from all over are knitting the squares and sending them to Mander to put together.  She's asked that we use purple sock yarn of our choice, and hasn't limited us to any one shade of purple.  I can't wait to see the finished project.  Here's a sample of my quilt squares:

Square.4

I can't wait to tell my friend Tam about the blessings my sorority chapter (Beta Sigma Phi) and I have received as a result of a post she made to her blog many months ago.  She posted about an interesting project where washcloths were being knitted/crocheted to be sent to a midwifery program.  Upon graduation from the program, the women are given a 100% cotton, hand knit or crocheted cloth to be used for cleaning up the newborn babes.  I am proud to say that my chapter has 107 cloths to send!  I made 27 cloths and may make one more before sending the box off to Canada.  Even numbers and all... and multiples of 10... may have to whip up 3 more before shipping. ;-)

Charity Cloths

My Washcloth Collection - click to see more pictures:

Washcloths

Knitting - enriches my life and hopefully the lives of a few people within my reach.

The Harry Bear, that is.  A co-worker had given me two skeins of Berroco Chinchilla, about 2 or 3 years ago.  It's a lovely yarn, but somewhat novelty-ish and I had no idea (other than yet another scarf that I don't need) what to use it for.  Then I hit on the Harry Bear and that's all I needed to spur me onto another project and something new.  I just love him!

I got hooked on the pattern and started another bear, before I finished the first one! AND, I actually bought more (non-natural fiber, no less) yarn! Youngest grandson doesn’t have a bear, so Grammy had to knit one up right away!

The 2nd bear is much smaller than the first, even though I double stranded the yarn. He’s going to be very soft!

Harry:

Harry Bear.3

Harry Bear.Orion.1

Harry Bear.Orion.2

And the great news about the additional purchase of yarn is: Somehow, the skein had fallen apart and was a tangled mess.  Naturally, I asked about a discount since I'd be spending time unraveling and rolling a ball.  I got the yarn for .65!!  That's 65 CENTS!  I can prove it!

Cheap Yarn

testing... I want a nice automatic font.

I like it, the green looks nice on ravelry, the "blooms" are nice and I don't have to fiddle with the font.  I hate ariel.