My server went down, and I’ve lost a few days.  I talked about Daisy mostly, who is fine.  I’m getting over spending so much.  There really isn’t any recourse anyway, is there?

We must have caught the shingles really early.  There has been no spreading, and I can leave the house!  I have 10 blisters, which are shrinking with the medication that my doctor prescribed!  On Thursday, when I went to the Doctor, he got a culture of the fluid, and the results came back normal.  Isn’t that great?  So, because it looks like shingles, and is acting like shingles (it really hurts), we are treating it like shingles.  I’m just so glad that it isn’t spreading.

I’ve not had a knitting post in a while, and while I have little time to knit, I have finished a few little things.  I made Calorimetry with some Artful Yarns Worsted Weight Superwash.  It came out so cute.  I’ll have someone else try it on so that I can take a picture.  I also made a matching pair of Maine Mitts.  These are a gift for some one special.  I’m also working on a felted purse, a kit I bought at Stitches West.  I think it’s coming along fine.

Well the boy is crying, so that’s all for now.

At some point in time, oh maybe 2 years ago, I decided that I wasn’t sure I wanted to blog anymore.  I was really tired of having a place for people to check up on me, without having to contact me and ask me how things were going.  Mostly, I think it was ex’s that I didn’t want to know about my life, not old friends.  As time as passed, I’ve continued to censor myself and what I talk about.  I tried to only talk about my knitting.  I tried to only talk about good things that were going on.  For a while, I felt like I only had things to complain about so I didn’t blog at all.

For the last month, my father has been staying with my mother, my husband, Sean and I.  I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be.  When I volunteered to take him, I had absolutely no idea how bad things were with him.  And they were bad.  He has required 24 hour care since the day he walked through the door.  He has a problem with what I call “tippyness.” One minute you think everything is fine, and the next minute, he has fallen against the wall, rolled out of bed, is catching himself from falling backwards, or better yet, I’m catching him from falling backwards.  My dad has been like this since he started his chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer.  I was told, by him, that it was a side effect of the chemo.  But, a month ago, he fell down while he was getting the mail, ended up banging his head against the curb, and lay unconscious in the street for over an hour.  I thought they had been working on the “tippyness” while he was in the hospital, recovering from his concussion.  I was wrong.  I thought I was getting someone that just needed to get healthy after the chemo.  I was wrong.

While my father has been improving every day, his “tippyness” is not improving.  In the mean time, my mother has been getting worse.  She has been going overboard trying to help with my father.  To the detriment of her own health.  She finally revealed to me on Wednesday that not only had the work of taking care of my father made her exhausted, but every time she saw him she thought of how her life should have been.  And told me that neither one of them would have been sick if Andrea had not come into their lives.  My mother called Andrea on Sunday and told her to find different accommodations.  That having my dad here was too much for her. 

More than that, I think it’s been too much for me as well. 

I’ve been seeing a lot of doctors as of late.  I have the eye thing, and last month I was diagnosed with vasculitis.  I’ve worried about the drugs I have to take effecting Sean… But yesterday’s new diagnosis took the cake.  I have shingles. 

I had decided to take my dad car shopping yesterday, simply because, well, he likes to go car shopping.  I figured that I’d get John’s mom to babysit, and take my dad to do something fun during the last week that he is here.  I had a doctors appointment (with the rheumatologist) at 10:15 am, and after that, off we would go.  The problem came when I showed her the bumps that had appeared on my neck over the weekend.  I thought maybe they were related to all the stuff that was going on with my joints, John thought spider bites.  We were wrong.  She said, “this looks like shingles to me.  Go down and see Dr. Prescop right now.  If he can’t see you, go see the first doctor that can.  If no one will see you, call me and I will prescribe something for you.” I ended up having a lovely blood draw, then having one of the newly called blisters popped for a culture, and an extra 2 hours waiting around at the doctors office.  We didn’t leave until 1 or so.  I was upset, needless to say.  Now I’m taking a pill 5 times a day for 7 days, trying to treat the shingles.  Which have decided to hurt.  I have to wear a large band-aid on my neck, because they are contagious, and I don’t want Sean to get sick. 

And while I’m glad for the time that I was able to give my dad, I’m wondering if his being in the house has brought the shingles on.  I’m wondering why, when I’ve finally found a wonderful husband and I have the best baby in the world, I’m getting sick.  And, if I’m just going to continue to get sicker… And if every new bump I feel on my body is just a bump, or more shingles.

1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?

Oh, my… Ireland, Ireland, Ireland.  I love Ireland.  I would live there if I could.  It’s so peaceful and slow there.  I even tried to find a husband there (before John).

2) Where is one place you’d like to go?

I’d like to go to Scotland… I hear that it is beautiful, and there is great wool there. 

Here is Sean, at 17 weeks (just shy of 4 months old)

This one features his homeys, 2 of his friends that he likes to eat.  And, don’t ask me how I got them perfectly placed.  I’m not sure I could do it again if I tried!

This one looks better in person, a lighter color but oh so cute!

I love this one with the toes, he has just found them!

and just because he drools like crazy right now, I thought this one was most appropriate!

1) What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”?

Wow, what a question!  You know, I’ve wanted to try all kinds of yarn, and everything I’ve wanted to try I’ve bought.  I have handspun Alpaca from Alaska, I have Qiviut, I have camel, I have Tilli Thomas, I have cashmere, I have silk blends.  I have all kinds of brand names… Rowan, Malabrigo, Noro, Blue Sky, Lornas Laces, Schaefer… I buy what sounds interesting at the moment.  Honestly, I really like my stash.

I really like kettle dye type wools… Things that aren’t so pricey that you don’t mind felting them.  You know know that I’m thinking about it, I purchased some Cascade Ecological Wool once, and I’ve lost it.  I wouldn’t mind having more of that.  And there are some sock yarns out there that look interesting, ie, Yarn Pirate and Scout, but I hate sock yarn.  I love the dye work and colors, but I don’t like the weight.

2) What yarn do you never want to be without?
Cascade 220 and Lamb’s Pride Bulky.  I like variegated colors best, really. 

I knit this sweater (from a pattern that my SP11 sent me) (Hi Melissa!), it’s Mikey Liked It.  I thought I would take some pictures of things I have finished for him to wear… I forgot to take pictures when he could actually wear them.

So the first picture is this cute sweater, and matching hat.  I’m so sad about this hat.  I remember him sleeping in it when he first came home from the hospital.  I had a hard time keeping it out of his eyes.  Now, I can barely get it on his head.  But, he is cute in the ensemble none the less, don’t you think.  More pictures to come later tonight, but I thought I’d get started with this one.