Now trust me, I have done nothing to encourage another animal of  the feline persuasion to attach itself to me. Honest! I'm having enough trouble with the two I have. This morning I got out of  bed, made coffee and headed out to rehang yesterday's laundry on the line. Something grey and motionless was lying in the sidewalk. I knew what it was before I even got down there. Trust me, I wasn't keen on going over to "check it out" either. These are the times when we women truly miss our male mates. It was a dead, wee chubby field mouse. I'm sure he never hurt anyone. There are obvious signs of a "struggle" in my backyard. My poor little garden frog was face down! And there are torn up bits of soil in my garden. No serious damage, just a few little seedlings. I think the wee guy at least gave a good fight.

Now, what to do with him? And why do the strange and gross things happen to me? Why not the MAN of the house - the dealer-of-all-things-that are dead, that need to be dead (spiders, centipedes, beetles, etc) and anything that I can't lift, open or do myself. Of course he'd roll is eyes at me and say, "What is your problem? Go get a shovel and throw it out! Geez, Amanda!" Which brings another question to mind. Why does he always say that? Why does he always say I'm being ridiculous and do it myself? Hmmm... is it because HE's grossed out and can't handle it either? Is it because he's just as wimpy as I? 

Um, I want my mommy. She's good with this sort of thing! Every time I even think about going out there, I totally shudder! Wish me luck!

---

UPDATE:

I was weeding my garden and much to my chagrin, I found a half-eaten bird! If I thought an in-tact dead mouse was gross, then this tops it! (I had to call my mom for moral support while I scooped up the mouse. She told me "be a big girl now, you own a house!") Just like that greeting card says, "Put on your big girl panties and deal with it!" So, I guess that's what I must do with the bird with it's guts hanging out and entrails strewn throughout my garden..... {shudder}

Me - 2

Him - 0

Check out Joey's dress. I KNOW we can adapt this to fit me. Jamma? How about this lovely dress for me after my surgery? It would feel so nice on my wee bell-ay! PUH -LEEZ???????

Finally! Photos from our training session in April! Sorry for such a long wait. I tried to capture as many graduating moments as I could and my apologies to those that I missed! Unfortunately, many names have left my wee memory. Be sure to let me know so I can label some of the photos. Be sure to email me any stories related to the photos as well! I'd love to share them! :) Very Good! Very Good! Veeeeeerrrrrry Good!!

This year, a friend of mine has asked me to help out with a fundraising event for Camp Quality.

Camp Quality operates 6 camps across Canada for kids with cancer. The camp is non-profit and run by volunteers. The kids get to experience new things, make new friends, create new memories and leave behind their troubles for a little while. This is a place where they can just be kids. They also offer year-round support for the kids and their families. When my friend asked me to help out, I didn't even have to think about it. So many people in my life have been lost to cancer. I'm sure they helped bring me this opportunity to help others battling the disease!

I am handling Venue/Operations. It's a comedy night with a silent auction. Just sounds right up my alley, doesn't it? I'm very excited. More details to follow.

Yesterday while travelling a la subway, a young man was standing near the door. He was peering around the car through slitted eyelids (I think he believed this to be a sexy look.) The way he carried himself told me he thought very highly of himself and his effect on women and it even seemed that he felt he was cooler than all of us on the subway. He had that look on his face, the one that says, "Don't you know who I AM?"

So this guy is standing there, feeling like he's such hot shit and then the train stopped.... And he fell over. I actually burst out laughing!

Well, today Ross is in Washington D.C. This is just a day trip and he'll be home soon. F-I-L came today to pick up that stack of wood that was in my back  yard and 4 bags of sawdust - all from the two trees we cut down in the fall. After he left, I spent the remainder of the day tieing up twigs, stacking wood, and cleaning up a soggy sawdust mess. I am sunburnt. But the work is done. That is all I care about. I rewarded myself with a trip to the beer store! I'm making hamburgers for dinner and flaking out on the couch. Heavy on the flaking out. (Darling husband woke me sometime after 4 am to help him get ready.)

I plan to do some crotch-e-ting by the TV. On my way home from the beer store, Shoppers and grocery store, I compiled a new "wish list". I'll post it later.

I've recently discovered that my baby sister is getting married this July 30th. Yesterday, I was worrying about planning such an important event in such a short amount of time. Thoughts were racing through my head of all the things that need to be considered, decided upon and put into action. I called her yesterday to see how the planning was going and to just be "the big sister" and to help her get things under control.

What I had not anticipated was that

1) things to consider had already been considered

2) things to decide upon had already been decided upon

3) she's obviously given it a lot of thought and done a lot of work already

4) she and Rob have both taken on another job in order to pay for  everything

5) she doesn't need my help

#5 was the one I had least anticipated. It sounds like everything is either done or being handled by someone else. I feel like a mom who's little darling daughter has just said, "I can tie my own shoes now, Mommy." Or, "I want to walk to school with my FRIENDS, Mommy."

I was telling Ross how I was feeling and he said, "Who did YOU have to plan all these things? Who did YOU have to plan our wedding? Who's help did YOU have?" Oh, um, me. Then I mentioned how P's wedding was a family affair. Everyone pitched in and had a job. Ross - photographer, Grandma - caterer, Tina - (she had the biggest job as Maid of Honour!) coordinator, home-made wine, invites, centrepieces, getting dishes, moral support; parents - all the behind the scenes stuff like flower pots, set up, arbor, money, driving around to appts, etc, me - I helped with getting invites, making centrepieces, placecards, photos for the guestbook and helping at the house the day of and here's the biggy - CLEANUP!

I'm sure Ross is  right. But I still feel a little bit sad and maybe even a little left out. It's not easy letting go and I don't envy any mom's who have this to look forward to or who have already experienced it.

This crochet wrist-bag pattern is so cute! I love it!

He posted his accident on Random Bytes. I love the little graphic there! I haven't ridden my bike since his accident. I think I'm scared!

Good morning. Isn't it a wonderful morning? Jamma tells me she is P'ing where it says to in row 1 of pat. But I don't get it, because it says to YO right before the P. Which doesn't make any sense. If you do Y.I.B. of the needle, you get this tangled mess, no? I've probably already done like 6" of this, I'm not really thrilled about tearing it out. I could leave it and we could just see how different they turn out? Jamma, take a picture of your shawl in between all your company and busy-ness. lol

Another trip to the emergency ward last night. This trip was only 3 hours. (This makes me sound like a hockey mom! lol) Hubby crashed his bike last night on the way home from work. He's ok. A broken radial head and the knees are fine. No skin, but ok. The road burn and the broken arm are causing the real pain. The good news is, he's alive and he didn't hit his head! And he'll probably need a new bike.

I got a good head start on the Vanilla Shawl-along, though. When you s1 at the beginning of Row 1 and don't on the other end, this gives you one loose end and one end that rolls up. I'm thinking you should either slip on both ends, or knit that slip at the beginning instead. :) I started knitting it because we are going to do a border in crochet anyway!

Um.... *I cast on. I tried the first row. I ripped it out. ** Repeat from * to * * 2 times. ARGH!

I cast on 58 sts. I believe there is an error in row 1.

Row 1:   Sl1 *(YO, K2tog) (K2tog, YO) P1* to last two st. K2.

I believe it should read:

Row 1:   Sl1 *(YO, K2tog) (K2tog, YO) K1* to last two st. K2.

This is where I'm at. In case you're wondering, niece's shawl is done! I'll be sure to take photos. Not to worry. The pattern is here if you're interested! I used a pink Phentex chunky :) Yes, I'm also still working on my Dragon!

I need to start a new support group. CA (Crafter's Anonymous).

"Hello, my name is Amanda and I'm a Craftaholic. I just can't stop myself. I have a problem. And I NEED HELP!"

Join Jamma and I in our Plain Vanilla Shawl-along! We are starting this week. Knowing Jamma, she's already casted on! I'm just getting some laundry on, dishes on, and finishing up a poncho that I made for my darling niece for her 2nd birthday! She's so old!

For me, this knitalong is really a stash reduction project. I'm using up some old yarn that I have had for years!

Pattern: Plain Vanilla Shawl from Black Purl Magazine.

Yarn: Berella Country Garden D.K. "The Claire Murray Collection"

Yarn Colour: Charcoal Heather

Yarn Details: 100% Pure "Superwash" Merino Wool, Double knitting weight. 50g balls. This is machine washable! Yay!

Gauge: Using 4 mm needles, 11 sts = 2"

I'm using  8 mm needles.

KNIT-A-LONGERS:

Jamma

Rachel (Yay!)

I met some wonderful people at my Laughter Leader training a couple of weeks ago. Denise and Chloe both live close to me. Denise decided to start up a club in our area at the Annette Library. Denise contacted a woman from our local paper, Lisa, who wrote an article about our new club! So HE is not the only one who can get in the paper!

Enjoy!

 

By the title, can you figure out why? I have pain going down both legs, in my low back, I feel like I have a big heavy water balloon in my abdomen and I'm so tired that one flight of steps seems like 4 and I have to go to the bathroom every half hour. I really don't want to blog or work or do anything. (the moral of this story is "do not go into the pool at work for 2 straight hours during the week that I "have company".) But I am cross stitching a little bit each day and I did finish making Dawn a poncho. Now I just have to sew it together. We all know I love sewing. [heavy on the sarcasm]. Ok, so I blogged. Hi Pam!!  Back to hobbling around - cleaning and doing laundry! Jamie, lets start our knit-along next week!

Knitty still hasn't posted their surprises yet!

Scene: Amanda cross stitching her dragon on the subway. I use a hoop....

Little girl: "Mommy, look! She's making a tambourine!"

Many giggles from her mom, the people around me - and me too!

Woman sitting next to me: "That's a VERY pretty tambourine!"

This morning before work I had some last-minute MD errands to run. You know, cards to send, postage to buy, etc. I went to Chapters to buy 2 gift cards. I ran across the street to Starbucks. I remember how fun it was when my mom bought me a Chapters and a Starbucks gift card - two fun things in the same place! Anyway, I ran over to Starbucks to get two $10 gift cards. The lady rang up the two gift cards, then I ordered a Tazo Chai Latte (Tall). The total was $23.62 or something in that zone. I had some money left over on my own gift card, so I gave it to the lady. She entered it incorrectly - she forced the card through which meant that no matter what amount was on my gift card (around $3), I got my gift cards and my chai latte - for nothing! Su---wheeeeeeeeeeetttttttttttttttt! Isn't that amazing? The supervisor came over and said that when they make an error like that, they absorb the cost and have a great day! Yay! I put my gift cards in the mail and  headed to work, expecting now to be a few minutes late. No! I was right on time!

I had bought a card for someone at work - she had a card for me today too! lol It was a great card with a little mouse on the front holding up dumb bells and it said "You really raised the bar this time!" She bought it for me for becoming a certified laughter leader and for organizing and hosting our World Laughter Day event at the hospital on my own. I thought it was so wonderful to receive a card. Many times we have achievements in our lives that we think no one else notices, and many times they may go unnoticed. It's nice when someone notices and you don't really expect it. :)

Yesterday, our Palliative Unit had an information booth outside the cafeteria and were selling bears to raise money for the unit. I bought a bear and filled out one of their quizzes to win prizes. Guess what? I won! I won $35 in gift certificates to Tony Roma's! Ross and I are going to use them in September - we're going to Niagara and taking our bikes! (By the way, I win almost every contest at work! lol People don't want to enter them anymore because they say I'll win! They're right!)

'Round about 3pm, I met up with another co-worker in the  stairwell. She brought me cookies today! And guess what? They were my absolute favourite and she made them herself! How awesome is that?

I came home, went for a bike ride! We've eaten dinner, more laundry is on and I'm ready for bed! I didn't mention that this morning I swept the floors and vacuumed and did a load of laundry! I have honestly had the best day! And I really appreciate it! Thanks!

Lorice All-Sorts are my Grandma's favourite treat! I think I must make her this tea cosy! Here are the rest of Panda Yarns' free patterns. Awesome!

Here is a Firefox intarsia pattern! lol Awesome!