Book Club

I have been kicking this idea around for a year or so and finally decided to commit. i am starting a Knit along book club. We will listen to an audio book for 15 minutes and then break for 5 or so and then return all the while we will knit/crochet. Of course there will be coffee and cake afterwards to make us feel very adult and grown up!!! I have the first book picked but I can't remember the name for sure. It will start the third Thursday in March. Everyone is welcome, but if you miss....????
Don't forget to register for Sheep int the City!!!!

Knitting Helper

I can't turn my back for one moment. I actually can do what I want on Mondays which is day care. I took a bath by myself, with no puppy grabbing the wash cloth or soap or whatever else. I am working on several ideas and things. I am knitting a beautiful cowl with Dream in Color yarn. I hope to have it done for the newsletter this coming month. I am busy working on Sheep in the City details. I am getting excited with all the little ditties that will be going on. Oh to keep in the mode of all of the cooking godesses out there. I made Pumpkin scones for this mornings Breakfast club. I would take a photo but I am too busy shoving them into my piehole. I sure wish is would warm up some, a nice 40 degree winter would be fine. My heating bill is through the roof, but where do you cut back??? Do you wear a coat inside? I don't think so. I can't live like that if I don't have to. At this rate I may be sleeping under the viaduct sooner than later, so I want heat while I can. I sympathize with all of those street people. We all know there whole goal in life as a young child had to be more aspiring. How bad can things turn? I am pretty sure I am safe to say, most of us are a couple of paychecks away from that situation. That is why it is important to be grounded in the idea of helping the less fortunate. It can happen to us so quickly. I could sleep anywhere, I could pick through garbage, but God forbid, where would I eat?????? I need food. and not from a dumpster.

Iggy Beaver

As I sit here, relaxing with my cup of coffee, my most favorite thing in the morning....i can hear a beaver chewing on wood, it could be my couch or my ottoman, or whatever else is wood. Only it is not a beaver, it is Iggy. Last night he was on a chewing mission. Now you may say..."give him something to chew on" oh I have...my living area is full of chew toys, but that does not compare to the taste of an antique rocker, or my sons woodworking project from high school. Knitting needles with the essence of "mom" on them. So I am on a mission to spray my whole house with bitter apple, but guess what it makes it hard for me to breath...!!! I wonder how long this will go on?? But he is so cute, even while he is chewing the legs off of my furniture. Is it Ok to crate a puppy till they are say....3l???

Let me ask you this???

Why would you have a photo of underwear with a pair of sunglasses on them?? Unless of course they seen how white I am??? What is it with women going into the bathroom for that 5 minutes of private toilet time??? No one dare enter when a man goes into the powder room....why when a mom/ woman goes into the bathroom you need an entourage of walk bys. I remember as a mom, the minute my pants came down, my son decided he had to wash his hands??? He never had that urgency before, but then I had cats and there is NO way you can close a bathroom door with out that extension arm coming under the door and pumping in a way to make their arms long enough to unlock the door. Now I have a puppy, bad enough we take a bath together, because it's easier, but when my pants come down my undies make an instant Hammock, or slingshot or parachute! So I have given up trying to relax in the bathroom anymore. It seems my dear puppy has the bad dog incentive when I sit in the bathroom. Ha look ma I can do all of these bad things, and your pants are around your knees!!!! Today he pulled the spring shower curtain rod down....almost beaning me on the head. I am getting oblivious to bad behavior, like a parent of a screaming brat child. How long are they puppies?? We also have a new potty training method, he taught me....He poops and rings the bell for me to come and clean it up!!! I can just see him mouthing " Good job, mommy".......bababbbabababbaaaabbbababbbabababbababbababa

Puppy Day Care

Is Killer!!!!! This is what day care does for a puppy!!! He is dead to the world, he has not moved. I love how he comes home all scruffy and played out!!!! Now I can knit!!! I am working on the Spider scarf, I am half way done.....hey that's pretty good for me!! We went to the Hotel today to check it out again and I am so excited about it....If you can stay for the weekend it will be a blast!!! I can't wait!!!!

Cutting up

There is a new toy here, Cricut, my intention was to make my own quick signs for Sheep in the City and now I have a monster on my hands. This little machine is awesome. There is no paper safe with in reach. It cuts, it prints, it embosses it vacuums the living room, dusts and more....It is really fun to use. I am in the process of making two journals for the Prayer Shawls that will be at Sheep in the City, you can sit and knit and write a Good will message, on a shawl that will be donated to a Breast Cancer fighter. So it gives me a reason to play.
Tomorrow is Day care for Iggy, he is all fluffly from his bath and he will come back dirty and scruggy looking...playing all day!! I have errands to run. And then another week begins.
I actually started up the car for the first time since Thursday, we went to my brothers/SIL. Their dogs want nothing to do with Iggy, they don't want to play and they snarl and gnash their teeth.....Iggy just doesn't understand. Neither do they!!!!

Unplugged

So we have our first cable casualty!!!! No not cable needles that would be a cheap one, more like an Apple cable $80.00. So tonight I have to venture out to Best Buy, who are holding it for me, to get a new, power cord for my laptop. Iggy was quite proud of his destruction, he showed it to me....
He is losing teeth, and no I didn't knock them out, so now the teething......this is a stage I can do without. Potty training is at a standstill, it is tooo cold for him to go out. He does sometimes, but not always!!!!
I knit on my spider scarf a little last night.
I opened the shop but stayed upstairs it was too cold to stay down there when I have a warm home upstairs, needless to say it was dead all day. I am hoping for a warm up today!!! LOL ROTHFL!!!!!! Warm up???? I have not started my car for three days, which is better than just starting it and not running it for a long time.
Welcome to the Deep freeze!!!!

Baby it's cold outside

BBBrrrrrrrr need I say more???
I feel sorry for Iggy having to go outside potty, but then again I go out with him. Used to be I had to work in this cold and my sympathy to those that still do. Keep knitting it keeps your hands warm.
Iggy lost two teeth, could this be the end to the mouthing???? I would have taken photos but he won't keep his mouth open unless my hand is in it.
I want to spin, right now, unfortunately if I brought my spinning wheel into the living room, I would create a new monster.....I will do it in the shop later today, without all of the hassle. I have a hat idea I want to make. This can be scary???
I am curious how many Wisconsinites will venture out today, to come and shop????? I think I will be making some Chili and putting the "Ring the bell" sign on the door!!!

Rocky 4

Today was Iggy's Birthday he is four months and also his first day of doggy day care!!! I dropped him off in good condition at 7am and they told me he would be tired when he got home from playing all day. They told me they would call me at noon to let me know how he was doing. It was about 1pm when I got the call and they said he is doing well, he is play bowing alot and having fun with all the other dogs. I said I will pick him up at 4:30pm. I have to say I missed him, he is a huge part of my routing right now....meanwhile my sump is twirling water in the crock?? What now???? I ask Kim if her crock has swirling water....uuhh no??? So I call the plumber that installed the pump and they said it may be a frozen exhaust pipe. So of course it is frozen!!! So Kim's husband comes over and adds a hose and low and behold it pumped for about 20 minutes...that is one heck of a lot of water.
So I go to pick up my furry cargo and when I walk in there is a dry erase board saying" Welcome Iggy puppy of the day" and on the TV is a video of precious playing with what else.....Dobermans, Rottweillers, Labs, not puppies he's with the big dogs. I said he played with the big dogs.....she said all day!!!! Then she said I have to apologize, Iggy got a puncture wound on his head?? Really how bad is it....well I cleaned it but he was really mad at me and you should put some neosporine on it when you get home. They weren't sure how he got it but, he got it and she didn't see it happen. So out comes Rocky with his play wound. I guess it wouldn't be so bad but he is white!!! He was happy to see me, but I think he is so tired he can't move. He is moaning whenever he moves and he is totally oblivious to my existance. He looks all scruffy and played out....at this rate he may sleep for a couple of days!!!! There was another woman there and she said he dogs come home with doggy injuries every so often, especially when they were new. It's called pushing the limits!!!! He will be OK....

Early morning

This is not Iggy but it could be his ears are huge!!!!
Yes it is Monday!!! Dr visit Monday....most every Monday, I am renaming it Momday!!!! I am sure this is another phantom test we need to have done for Mom.....let's make sure we spend all of the Medicare money we can. Oh well, I have two knitting projects to work on, the leaf scarf which holds my attention and a cowel neck scarf from Dream in Color. A broken rib pattern that is easy and quick and a mindless knitting project. They are both small enough not to load me down while I drag my mom's walker a wheel chair and all my stuff. Today she is having a Stress test....they say it will be 3 hours, we'll see, but poor Iggy will be locked up for the duration. I am fighting off the cold that everyone is sharing, this morning it seems I am doing better than last night, thank you Vitamin C!!! It is day four of my New Years Resolution and I have almost accomplished one, which is I sent out all of my friends birthday cards, so I won't miss anyone this year and the second is to faithfully take my vitamins. I always start out strong, what is the big deal, swallow a bunch of pills.....done. So I am doing Ok with that so far. We had our first Puppy emergency last night. I have pillows on the couch with of course buttons on them, (they used to have buttons on them) so Iggy pup was playing with one of the pillows and then started drinking a ton of water and flipping his head kind of weird and acting like he was gagging???? So I figured it was a string or something. I had to fight with him to open his mouth for me to see the button stuck tight to the roof of his mouth....now this button has two options, down the throat and blocking his airway/stomach some devastating organ.....or out into my hand. He was not sitting real quiet for this operation, me shoving my fingers into his mouth and prying this button which is about an inch across off of his mouth. I got it out and cut all the buttons off of the pillows. It was really stuck up there, but he is fine.
Puppy time is beginning to wear on me, we run to the door every five minutes to pee and it never fails when I pee he wants to go out too....hhhhhhmmmm this poses the penquin walk as I try to pull up my pants to run to the door....Life is good!!!! I am enjoying our bonding but let me remind anyone of you thinking of a puppy....remember the worst!!!! and hope for the best!!!! LOL!!!!! He is sleeping soundly as I speak.....I love when he sleeps!!!! LOL!!!!

Happy New Year "2009"

Wow, another year has zipped by us, it seems the older we get the faster they go. I remember as a kid a year seemed like ages, Summer seemed like a year in itself. We played and played for what seemed like forever, and then back to school which seemed like forever and ever. Why is when we really want things to take a long time they don't. When we want things to go by fast, like a bad month, it drags and drags? I only have one month this year that I would not want to revisit. In a matter of 30 days in June, I lost my beloved Joey and my basement flooded. One month isn't too bad, out of 12? Then if I add up all the really good things that would counteract that bad month, there has been so much more good. Knitted projects? Well, I have found that if I keep it small it is doable for me. I can be concentrating on something and see some shiny thing and off I go...it's that short attention span. i did finish a bunch of projects and no the Alice in Wonderland coat is not one of them....it is my winter project.....
Potty training Iggy.....we have abandoned the Peepee pads because they became a game to drag around the house and chew up. So with the aid of the bathroom carpet which is where I had the pad, and precious Iggy thought he was on the pad, but missed. I put the carpet on the deck, hung jingle bells on the door and he is going potty outside. I am potty trained but he is doing pretty darn good. He eats I take him out, he looks sideways I take him out..I am doing really well. Yesterday I had him out on the deck and a huge hawk perches in the tree.. so now I have to keep an eye on him pretty close, no hawk is dragging my puppy off. I think he will do fine he is catching on to this much faster than the paper!!!!
Well I am going to the Studio to do some dying....silk scarf dying nothing personal. I am looking forward to it. Stay warm and don't eat too much junk tonight and have a Wonderful New Year Eve.

Traveling scarf

It is with great regret that I need to post, Melissa a Fiber Artist and great mother of three small children, has lost her battle with cancer. Her story is long but her life was short. I met Melissa through another friend, and she would buy fiber to felt from me. She included her children in all of her color decisions she was patient and kind. She had invented Leprechauns for each of her little ones and left them tiny little books or notes from their own Irish friend. She had a creative mind and spirit. I didn't know her really well, but I feel like I did. She was just that kind of person. She painted old windows with Seasonal art, she worked at the Journal Sentinal, she felted, she was a mom and wife. She loved life...she was going to Ireland and needle felted a small leprechaun to take along and photograph all over Ireland. She was going to write a book for children. She was feeling tired and had a checkup only to find out she had stage 4 cancer. Her Dr. told her to go home and get her affairs in order, she refused to roll over and die. She found a cancer treatment center in Kansas and went, and they gave her hope! She lived longer than she was expected to, but not without suffering from blood clots and side effects of treatment. She died at home where she wanted to, with her family. She actually was feeling quite well this last week and started to walk without assistance, maybe it was the calm before the storm, that makes no sense now that I write it, it should be the peace before the end. The sunshine before the dark. When we were knitting the traveling scarf, we hit a little snag and the teams stepped up and covered for another knitter. We then decided to donate the extra Traveling scarf to Melissa, a fiber friend, who was making a journey of a lifetime, a token of our friendship. So when you wear your scarf, know that Melissa shared her love of the scarf as it was hanging on her bed, close to her a gift from knitters that had never met Melissa. Travel well Melissa

Christmas Day

Remember when you were a little kid and you woke up and it was a special day, full of fun and events. You opened your presents and then it was off to the relatives, which totally sucked because you had to leave all of your toys at home, get all dressed up to go see what everyone else got. But the excitement, yesterday watching Iggy and this whole new world reminded me of when I was a kid. It started with him destroying his Peepee pad which is his new toy, (not sure how to stop this) I got a tray to keep the paper down and this is the result of that. So that was Iggy's present, he got to destroy his peepee pad while I took pictures.

Then I did my cooking and loaded the car and off we went to the family, where upon getting there Iggy's cousins were there to meet him. Now he likes to play and they are not real social, but he shares his mom's persistance and keeps trying to play....all day!!! They have a big house and a toy room and Iggy ran from room to room, people were holding him and he played and played and Dan shoveled the back patio so it had a natural snow fence, so Iggy was outside and inside and of course peeing anywhere he darn well pleased ( I warned them he wasn't potty trained) once he made the paper!!!! Yaaahhhh!!!! So I see Iggy running with a white thing and figured it was a toy....uh, no it was a toilet paper roll. That made his day!!! Ode, laughed and thought it was funny!!! This went on and on and on, just running and running and playing and exploring the new surroundings and I was tired of this chasing. Can you imagine what he will tell his friends at Kindergarden???
To him it was the best day of his life so far.



Finally, finally at 6 ish and we were there since 1:00pm, he crashed....and I might add it was only for a few minutes, and it all began again because his human brother came over to add to the excitement.
It was a good day!!!!

I am knitting this hat for me, out of cashmere doubled.....so far this hat would cost $32. I am only this far so it is going to cost much more. I bought the pattern off of Sweater Babe and it is fun to knit. The spider scarf is on hold, till I finish this hat. So I am getting a little knitting done. Hope you had a good Christmas see you Saturday!!!

Merry Christmas Eve

We are holed up in our jammies, drinking coffee and eatting lots of cookies!!! Tonight we will eat Indian Tacos and watch movies when Mike and Danijela come over. I love Christmas eve more than Christmas itself and it is snowing big huge flakes. Life is good!!!! The only thing missing is a fire in the fireplace. For that I open the window a little and get the Potters fireplace smell with no work associated with the mess!!! My puppy is sleeping next to me while I am writing....my cup is full!!!! Thank you so much for a Wonderful Christmas filled with the joy of friendship!!!! Now I have another old movie to watch.
Merry Christmas

Dear Auntie Lois

Remember those nice bones you bought for me today? Remember my mom looking at them and questioning them??? See what time this is posted?? She now remembers why she questioned those bones. I had them before you see and my mom won't forget why I can't have them....it is 12:30am and I woke my mom up crying!!! Yep....I think I wanted to pass gas and pooped,...... again, my new sheepy mattress is going to be all washed out if I keep this up. My mom caught me though before it was all over. So now mom and I are up and she is wondering if I have to do this again???? Tonight, She is also wondering what she is going to put in my cage so it is soft and warm....and poop resistant. There must be something in those darn bones that make my tummy sick....I bet my mom won't forget this time. Wish I could have done this earlier, I don't know why I had to get sick this late at night? But I feel better now?? I think my mom is a little sick though she is looking rather green???? Note to mom, no denta bones!!!!! Mom and I are going to play now because I am very happy we are both up and she says she can't sleep anyways and can only smell poop!!!! She also mubbled something about not needing to sleep anyway and she likes to wash out poopy stuff and how Iggy poop was just a joke....or not. I don't care, I am trying to figure out how to get my new Christmas bed into my little cage!!!! I don't think she will let me, in case I have a nudder accident!!!! Good night, mom is making that face at me!!!

Snow day

What to do on a snow day...Play in the snow!!!!
Clean house-well for me today I am considering this a day off...so I plug in Roomba and watch Iggy watch Roomba, exercise for Iggy...two things in one.


2. Knit- work on the October is for Spinner scarf, I am on row 102, thank you very much!!!! So with good light I will knit on four strands of black alpaca....can you say go blind??

3. Drink hot chocolate from Germany swap....with marshmallows and or whipped cream....ooohhhhh chocolate whipped cream. Is there an expiration date on whipped cream?? who cares, it's not like I'm going shopping.
4. Nap.....oh wonderful naps.....so this is the plan
Eat, drink knit and nap......awwwww friends it doesn't get much better than this......I love the snow!!!!!! I think I will do it again....mmmmmm tomorrow?????

Iggy POOP!!!

I had a great day!! I had two Christmas Parties to go to yesterday. I had the Miller Retirement party at 11 am, and it was really nice to see all the retirerees, and it made me feel young!!!! LOL. Then, I had the Miller fitters party at the Valley Inn, which was very nice and we ate some more. Meanwhile Iggy was in his pen in the shop with Kim. Kim enjoys Iggy so I felt comfortable leaving him with her and she has had dogs so, she had agreed to doing it. The first party got done about 2:30 and the second one started at 3pm. I had intended to come home and play with Iggy and then leave again but timewise and traveling wise it made more sense to just go from one to the other. I made a call to Kim and asked if she would mind putting Iggy in his cage with the frozen Kong with peanut butter, she said it was no problem. As always I felt very comfortable with Kim and went to the party. Now the shop closes at 4pm, Iggy goes in cage appx. 4pm
I leave party at 5pm get home at 5:30, walk upstairs and it stinks like poop!!! My first thought was Oh man did Kim smell this and did I leave a turd somewhere, undiscovered???? I hear some scrambling and crying for mom, out of my bedroom which is just reeking of poop....I open the door and out comes a poop coated Iggy!!!! He looked fine, but there was poop on his paws, his sides, his tail, and ALL over the door of his cage where he apparantly wanted to get out of and away from the smearing turd. It stunk so bad and I am trying to take of my clothes knowing well we were going to have to give someone a bath. I am trying to corral him so .....bottom line. Iggy poop, got a bath, I scrubbed the floor, cage and whatever else those poopy paws touched. I have to wash his little kennel liner of faux sheepskin, turd encrusted. No I didn't knit last night...I cleaned little Iggy Poop!!! How can I still think he was cute????
Lesson #1, never enjoy a day too much while leaving a loved one at home!!!! Paybacks are a given
No pictures of this one, no time to catch the cute little poopy pup

Just a short blog

Hi I'm Iggy and my mom went to refill her coffee cup...huh...she left her cup here and her computer on!!! So life here is hectic, she seems to think I like this frozen rubber thing she shoves full of peanut butter and some Kong crap.....oh and speaking of crap, it is something I have gotten pretty good at doing, and while I am doing it, my mom hollers, "No, go on the paper" and lifts me up in mid air/poop and off I go to the paper. I am peeing a little better, not so much everywhere, but closer to the paper than a week ago. My ears are up, my mom likes to pretend bite them, and she wonders where I get it from. I do have pretty sharp teeth and love to bite on anything!!! It is snowing really hard today so mom and I are upstairs and she is making something stinky...like shrimp. I am going to get under her feet today and make her go nutz. Just the kind of mood I'm in. Hey if I wore glasses wouldn't I look like Mr. Peabody and Sherman....????? I think I'm kind of a cute poster for Apple computers???? I may have another career, besides being the shop dog!!! Well I am getting bored with this, I may try to chew one of these cords here, or maybe the leg of the couch it is more woody!!! Oh a new one, the breakfast bar stools, nothing like some metal shavings. Later, don't tell on me OK???

Losing it!!!!

So tonight I had to do a little shopping. I lured Iggy into his cage with a frozen Kong, with some kind of Kong juice inside. He was quiet and I left to do some shopping. I am in a great mood, it is cold out and cars are driving by with trees on top, it is snowing a little and Christmas music is playing. I get into the parking lot and wait for a car to pull out of a spot and some ignorant tard, whips in from the other side. I am a tad disgrunteled but not to lose the feel of the Season, I put down the window and screamed Merry Christmas!!!! To which he did not turn around or look back or anything, I did try to find the idiot in the store just to smile and again wish him a Happy Holiday, but in my mind I was thinking what you are thinking at that point. So I get my shopping cart and start to browse and some lady thinks she is going to pull a fast one and take my cart...oh no, lady, this is my cart there are more by the door, thank you.....So now I am looking at something on the shelf and another lady, about my size decides she can look at something on the opposite side with her arse real snug to me...uh uh, I happened to be here first and when the heck did I lose all my rights as a human being. I dig in my purse and find something that I had to get out and put on....a smile on a stick...( I sell these cheezy, paper smiles on tongue depressers).I say excuse me, but I am looking here.....she smiled and as though one more word out of her and I will rip her head off of her neck and put it in my shopping cart...she left and I thought I better too. Two ladies that were watching this encounter, were in hysterics. For goodness sake the aisles are only three feet wide where the heck are two fat butts going??? So now I am done and leave, in the safety of my car listening to more Christmas Carols and am feeling once again in the Holiday Spirit and then.....has anyone heard that drama queen Delilah on the radio????? So here I am driving and huffing at the radio, interjecting more drama than I can handle. Delilah, I would like you to play Happy Hippo, (or whatever the hell that crappy song is,) so the woman says I am playing it for Jimmy and Suzy my son and daughter who are 2 months and 1 year old and I want them to know Delilah just how much their mommy loves them and I hope to have many Christmas's with them and watch them open their presents ( me screaming, shut up!!! the kids are still peeing in their diapers they don't care what the heck song you want to play for them!!!) After about 20 minutes of this lovefest....dorky Delilah says, "I'll see if we can play you a real nice song for Jimmy and Suzy!!" uh Delilah maybe you didn't hear her she wants you to play that stupid hippo song....in sheer exhaustion I turned on some Heavy Metal rock music. This is why I love being home!!!!!

Slow down December

Wow, I am so backed up with stuff to do, not shopping, but business things....the newsletter had to go out the Christmas stocking voting started, bills to pay.....Sheep in the City class sign up began, so I am a bit relieved to have the first week of December go by!!!! So with all the loose ends getting tied up I am watching my crazy Iggy snapping in the air at nothing??? Ok, so he is a tad weird but he is so cute doing it??? He has once again found the shade chords and is obsessed with them. He is so spunky in the morning, it is hard to do anything. He is able to scale the back of the couch and look out the window, with great pleasure. I am working on a little sweater for Kim's class, One pattern , 1000 sweaters. I suggest you sign up for a class if you are interested, before they fill up!!!! The photo is Iggy and Millie at puppy kindergarden. Millie is a brindle Boxer and was so happy to be the "Big" dog for a change, they played so hard. Stud Iggy was the only guy at playtime this week. He of course was so proud and bossy, gotta go he has found my pj bottoms and is pulling them through the house.....it never ends.