The view from my chair.

I had to clean my desk the other day. One, it was a complete mess, and no, I didn't think to take before pictures. And two, I had to make it nice and pretty for the new member of the family.

Do you see it? Here's a closer look.

That's my new iPad. It will do about 95% of what I need a computer for(maybe a 100% if I can find/buy the right app), so we sold my old computer and monitor. That way we aren't out very much. After a year on the Dave plan(becoming debt free) we both decided we wanted a toy(bribe). He got a cover for his truck bed. I think mine is a much better toy. I have really enjoyed being portable, I had a desktop before and wanted to use the computer in the living room like DH does with his laptop. His is a computer technician, so it is weird being the one with the new tech toy. First time since I've known him, but it just isn't powerful enough to be his only computer. And he couldn't justify having a laptop, ipod touch and an ipad. Maybe when we're rich. There are some things that don't work to well on it. Frames don't really work so Google reader is a pain and the app I have doesn't jump out to the web page like I want. Still looking for a better app. Blogger doesn't seem to work either. Debating on whether to change to a different blog host or find an app to work with it. So, posting this from Techpriest's computer while he is at work. If anyone has any questions let me know, I love to talk about it! I think I might have to start calling it the Guide, for the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Picture on the wall is my oldest cousin on the left, my grandmother, and me(youngest grandchild). Fairy watercolor is from a swap on craftster. I bought the frame and mat, but have to cut the mat myself, hopefully this weekend. Yarn Harlot calendar. To the right of the iPad is our engagement photo. On the very left is a votive candle holder. In front of that in the middle is a pegasus laying down with folded wings that I made using the lost wax method. To either side is a rocket and pony. Buddha brought them to me.

Did anyone get that? Just two? You guys need to start watching more science fiction.
Thought I would post pictures of my pretty desk while it is still pretty. Pics left to right: friends kids that I'm like an aunt to(though I really need to go see them more often), Uncle Mike, Aunt Diane and I at a cave in Branson(no one else wanted to go), Dad, Mom, DH and I at the car museum in Branson, a dried flower with fairy from a swap on Craftster, me and my brother at his wedding. Crocheted dragon from craftster, unopened geode, fossil fish, salt rock from Hutchinson salt museum, fossil.
Brother's wedding, nephew, dragon egg(craftster), other nephew, piece of art from craftster.

Am I done with Christmas already?

Seems like a few new people have been visiting this here little blog, probably because I've been interacting (commenting) on some new to me blogs. Who would have figured that is the way it works! It is good to get feedback on my blog too. I certainly haven't been serious about blogging, but I'm beginning to think that being serious might be the problem. I seem to make a big production about each post, which just stresses me out. If I just let the words flow without worrying about them being perfect things go much better. Adding depression into the mix just makes getting anything accomplished even worse. So, I'll try to keep things short and sweet but not perfect and see how things go.

I want to thank everyone who has stuck around for so long with such limited posting from me. And with very limited comments on their blogs! You know who you are. Specially Dana. It means a lot to me.

Karla came by today so I can finally show her and her son's Christmas gifts. For her son I used freezer paper to make a stencil and bleach instead of paint. Paint can fade and crack, though bleach is much easier to mess up. Specially with two sides!

Does anyone recognize the quote? It is words of wisdom from Xander on Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. I think he is my favorite character on that show, or Willow, or Oz, well, one of them anyway!

Rose's Wrist Warmers from Doctor Who. I used these notes for making the pattern using worsted wt. yarn. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/firespinner526/roses-wrist-warmers

Very involved cable pattern. There is cabling every row for the inside diamond pattern. Still very fun though. I would like to make me a pair if I could ever get around to it.

This is my leftover handspun I knit it from. Karla is a beginning knitter so I gave the rest to her so she could make a matching hat. Could probably get a cowl out of the leftovers too. I thought of making them for her myself, but really didn't know when I would get to it.

I'm working on posting some of my handspun yarn on my etsy shop. I'll let you guys know when it is done! And thanks for the interest!

What a difference a year makes.

Thanks for the compliments on the yarn guys. I'll try to work on the Etsy store after we get back from Branson. Leaving on Saturday and back on Wednesday. My parents are going with us and we are all looking forward to it!

Now for something completely different!

When I started having my headache we lost everything financially. Though we were just actually treading water before that, we thought we were fine since we could make the payments. I had to quit my job, so Barry had to close his business down and go get a normal job so we could have insurance. Then one of the cars was repo'd, then we lost the house and moved into a crappy apartment in McPherson. Let's not forgot all the medical bills either. When we moved to Mac we had a lot more breathing room since we didn't have a house payment or big utility bills. Then I finally was approved for disability and received a large lump sum in Oct. '08. We had learned our lesson and didn't do anything really dumb with it, though we did buy more car than we really needed.

Then, about this time last year, Barry asked me to listen to an audiobook(The Total Money Makeover) and see what I thought. He (and me occasionally) had been listening to a talk radio show, the Dave Ramsey Show, the author of the book. All about financial problems. It is kinda like Hoarders, you can say, "At least we aren't that bad!" at the same time feeling bad for them. Anyway, I thought being out of debt, having money in the bank and most of all, having a plan sounded like a great idea.

We had been planning on going bankrupt. We didn't think we had another choice. We had hired a lawyer back when we first moved to Mac that took forever on doing anything about it, now I might thank him! When we decided to follow the Dave plan, since our plan(or lack of plan) wasn't working, we ran our credit to know for sure where we stood. The house wasn't on there which confused us till we realized since it was a 100% loan we had mortgage ins. That was a load off our shoulders. In March '09 we started Financial Peace University, a class put out by Dave Ramsey. Learned everything from how to do a budget to what life insurance to get, it covers a lot. Doing the budget was like getting a $1,000 raise. Made us realize just what we were spending.

Since then we haven't borrowed money from anyone, taken 2 vacations and going on another(one of our debts was a sampler timeshare) with plenty of money, put more money in savings than we've ever had, and payed off about a 1/3 of our debt. Well, ok, we have two big ones(car and hospital) that I'm not including, but they haven't sent us anything in years and we would like to get Barry through his bachelor program and save up the total amount first. Don't wake the sleeping giant until you know you are going to win the fight.

Yesterday we realized that we had all of our monthly bills for Feb. paid by the 3rd. Isn't that grand? March is our 3 paycheck month so we both wanted to see how the budget for March would look. Our extra money going towards debt will be like getting double time and half compared to normal. Plus we are getting a nice refund. We have since changed our with holdings, no sense in giving the government a loan! With all of that we should be able to get the paid off amount to half the original debt. Excluding the 2 big ones, which don't count right now, remember? We will only have the student loan to go.

This is so exciting for us. Every time we pay off a debt we cross it off(we have a chart and a graph!) and it is amazing how fun it is! Maybe we need to get out more... Anyway, getting to pay off 3 at once instead of one a month will be great. Not having to worry about money and knowing we have some in the bank if there is an emergency is so peaceful. Like when Barry had to have his teeth pulled. Money isn't everything but it sure makes things easier. When you have money it isn't an emergency, it is an inconvenience.

We are looking for another place to live. Overall this place has been good to us, but the negatives are starting to outweigh the positives. Moving might slow us down some, but now we feel we have a choice. That means a lot too.

I have lived paycheck to paycheck. Then I got sick and the walls came crumbling down. I wanted to share our excitement and our story so others can learn from our example. I wish everyone could feel this wonderful lack of worrying about money. Think about that, what it would be like not to have to worry about money?

What a difference a year makes.

Hello, Blogosphere? It's me, Faren.

Hi guys, Dana was wondering how I was doing, so I thought I would let you all know that I was still alive.  Last time I posted was in September, time sure does fly, doesn't it?  Still reading all your blogs, just don't have the brainpower to string words together to comment.  

At the end of September I was approved for Disability, so in October I went to Chicago to the Diamond Headache Clinic to see if they could help with these damn headaches. I stayed in the hospital for a week.  Had a great view of the lake.  They doped me up with Methadone (which Heroin addicts use to get off it), still had the headache, but didn't really care that I had one. I was totally out of it though.  Techpriest said we had the same conversion three times, once by phone, then by email, then once again by phone just to make sure he was really bored.  The doctor put me on new meds, which helped some.  Went back in January and tried Botox, it helps some people with headache, but not me.  Overall it was a crapshoot.  Medicare did pay for most of the hospital stay, but we were still out a heck of a lot of money for not much of nothing.

There for awhile I wasn't going to knit night, just didn't feel up to driving 30 min each way.  Haven't really been knitting much either.  I have been spinning a lot though.  Managed to spin some sock yarn so I started knitting some socks for me.  This is the first yarn I've kept for myself since the first yarn I spun so long ago (blogged about two posts ago!) I've made much improvement.  Check out my flickr if you want to look at them.  A lot of my yarn I've swapped on Craftster, I've gotten a lot of great stuff that way.  Last Wednesday I did manage to go to knit night, because I wanted to drop off a bunch of yarn for them to sell! Well, hopefully it will sell.  We will see. 

On the animal front, before we went to Chicago our upstairs neighbors abandoned they two cats on the porch.  One was a kitten and one was full grown.  So we decided it would be much easier to find homes for the two kittens and just keep Zoey and Lady, which is short for old lady she acted so old.  She wouldn't jump on anything, wouldn't play at all.  She is much better now so we have to wonder if it was abandonment issues.  

Well, that seems like all my brain can string together, so I better get out of here.  Take care everyone!

S is for Sorry

No, I'm not doing the ABC along, it just fits.   I'm sorry I haven't blogged for 2 months, I haven't even told you all I'm back from New Jersey safe and sound!  That doesn't bug me too much since you should all know by now I am a bad blogger and don't update nearly as often as I should.  

What makes me feel guilty is not thanking Criquette   for sending me a Pay it Forward (scroll down) package.  It felt just like Christmas!  

Clockwise from top: Calorimetry(see pic below) wonderful yarn, torquise(sp?) and pink and dark blue, very lovely and then such a cute cat button to top it off!  Three packets of water flavorings that I keep forgetting to try, even though I've been wondering if I would like them for awhile now.  A pretty bookmark about adopting cats and dogs.  A very cute keyring with two different sizes of paw prints in my favorite color, purple!  Already in use, just like the bookmark.  And a tin of mints with a girl knitting on the top with yarn balls all over, this will be perfect for holding stitch markers after the mints are all gone.  Where did you find them, Criquette?  I haven't seen them before.   

I received the package last Monday(I know it was a Monday, please don't tell me it was 2 weeks ago!) and figured I would make a thank you post real quick.  Yeah, I need to remember that I'm a bad blogger and that just isn't realistic for me.  After a few days I thought I should at least write a short email to Criquette to let her know it got here and that I loved it.   Then we decided to take a last minute trip out of state this weekend and I totally forgot about it.  I plan  (cross your fingers!) to tell you about our trip in another post.   Forgetting to thank Criquette isn't just bad blogging, it is bad  manners.  I'm so sorry Criquette! Thank you for all your time and effort, your choices are all perfect for me!

Only one person took me up on my offer to pay it forward, Ms. Knitingale.  She doesn't blog anymore, and I miss her!  I probably should apologize to her too, since it has been almost a year and I haven't even thought about what to make her.  I will try to get on that.  

Wish me luck,  knowing me, I'll need it!

Lessons

Around here it has been lessons all the time, well, at all the time on the weekends anyway.  

I've now had two crochet lessons on Saturdays at Yarns.  Doing good, don't think I'll go back until(unless?) I have problems with a project.  Right now I'm working on this little birdy.   Finished all the crochet and am just sewing it together.  The only problems I have crocheting is making sure I'm using the right stitch.  I thought I was using single crochet when what I was doing was half double crochet.  Ah, well, it will come to me.  I'm having fun with it, but I can't really watch TV at the same time yet.  

On Sundays I have been teaching Karla how to knit.  Two lessons so far and she is  doing pretty well.  Her tension is mostly nice and even, not to loose, not to tight.  Though she did decide to redo her long tail cast on when she tried to knit a few! Her first project is a Mark scarf from the musical Rent.  It is really just the original Harry Potter scarf in navy and white.  I've had a lot of fun passing on the obsession! 

Next Saturday (I can't wait!) Ann and I are having our first spinning lesson!  Isn't that too cool? Remember the lady I met inline waiting for the Yarn Harlot?  Yeah, we are finally getting together.  I've been researching online and I think I know what most of the lingo is talking about.  Maidens, mother of all, footman, doesn't spinning have the coolest names for stuff? I have also been looking into wheels, I keep changing my mind but I've definitely narrowed it down to four.  Ashford Kiwi and Ashford Traveller are on the same page. Kromski Sonata and the original Lendrum.  Aren't they pretty?  First I wanted the Sonata, now I'm more leaning towards the Traveller.  I certainly won't buy any until I spin and I do want to go to the Yarn Barn in Lawrence and try some wheels out.  Hopefully the three of us can take a road trip up there soon.  

Last, but certainly not least, I will be teaching a couple of classes at Yarns.  That is just amazing, isn't it?  And just a little bit scary?  Yeah, I thought so too!  Carla(not Karla!) one of the owners will be teaching with me.  She will be doing knitting in the round with magic loop, I'll be doing it with double points.  Two small classes of just the basics and one on a Saturday on socks.  We are even going to the Italian restaurant two doors down for lunch.  I'm fairly excited about that too.

Well, I do have other stuff I want to share, but this is all the important stuff.  I've really enjoyed immersing myself in different fiber pursuits.  It's a wonderful world!

Excuses, Excuses

Yeah, I did it! I figured it out on my own! Yay, me! Here ya go, my excuse for the month of December.

Hey Dana, sorry I just now am managing to write you back.   When I stopped commenting around the blogosphere was because my husband had some health problems.  Since I really don't feel like writing it all out again and I would probably never get you emailed, I'll just copy and paste what I wrote to another friend.
I want to tell you more about the week we have had dealing with DH's crazy lymph node.  He started feeling bad two Thursdays ago, went to the dr.  the next Monday.  He gave us a good antibiotic and told us to come back if he wasn't feeling better by Wed.  Well, he wasn't, so he had DH get a cat-scan.   Couldn't tell what it was from that so we got sent to a ear, nose and throat surgeon in Hutch that same day.   That dr. threw a bomb on us when he said it might be cancer, lymphoma.  To find out he had a biopsy done, just went in with a needle to take a piece out.  Then we had to wait till Friday to get the results, which were inconclusive anyway!  So Friday(same day) he had surgery, the dr. cut a piece out and sent it off to be tested while DH was still on the table.  All they could tell was that it wasn't an aggressive cancer.  So they did rule out the worst case scenario but still didn't know what it was.  The dr. went ahead and pulled the whole thing out and sent it off to be tested.  Went back today and the dr. walked in and told us it wasn't cancer and he was very surprised about it, he was pretty sure he would be sending us off for chemo.  But they tested it all kinds of ways and did not find any malignancies, still don't know WHAT it is, some kind of infection, so they took some more blood for another round of tests.  He is on the mend though, he has felt MUCH better since they took it out.

Since then we managed to handle Christmas, it was nice but more stress.  We have a hearing for my disability on Jan. 24th, so had a meeting with our lawyer about it.  He kinda pissed me off and depressed me at the same time.  Told us we weren't doing what we should have been (why didn't he say something two years ago when we first hired him?), and that chiropractors won't count at all, and they have done the most to help me! Anyway, since then I have been slightly depressed and when that happens I tend to isolate myself without really thinking about it, such as respoding to email or even reading blogs.   My bloglines are really up there.  Things are ok and will get better.  

Zoe just had surgery for her hernia and got fixed at the same time.  So, she was abandoned and has two big incisions!  she made us feel really guilty for about two days.  The stitches on her belly she left alone so that scar is healed.  But she just couldn't leave the hernia one alone until I put Fuller Farms Tea Tree Salve on her.  I knew it wouldn't hurt her, but she sure didn't like the taste!  That incision is getting better now too.  

Thanks for checking up on me, hopefully before too long I'll feel like posting something.  Hell, I might copy and paste this up to the blog just to throw something up there! 
Faren

Both Techpriest and Zoey are doing great, though you can still see both of their scars. We actually just mailed out the last two Christmas presents to family in New Jersey, they had been finished for awhile, but I couldn't seem to get them boxed up and mailed.  And no, I didn't take pictures of any of the Christmas presents I made. Or the birthday gifts I made in January.    To distract you from those non photos how about more photos of Nathan from my birthday party?

Karla and Nathan, and below, her son and the little tike!  February 18th is his 1st birthday! Already!  You guys are right, he has gotten big!

My excuse for January??   My disability hearing and the depression caused by anticipating it.  It turns out that since they can find no cause for my headaches, I can't get disability  because of it. Might be able to get disability because of the depression caused by constantly being in pain, but not for the pain itself.   Makes sense, don't it?  

Anyway, I decided to finally mark all my bloglines as "mark as read", cause I figured it would take forever to get caught up on over 800 of them.  Of course, I have read most of your guys blogs, plus the Yarn Harlot's and Crazy Aunt Purl's, but that is all the knitting blogs I've read.  I think I'll start weeding out some of the 150 feeds I have, so it isn't so overwhelming.  

later, gater

Is Anybody Out There?

Hey, everyone, sorry I dropped off the face of the earth for so long.  Thanks to everyone who emailed or left a comment wondering where I was.  It means a lot.  Since I want to finish this post while I still feel like it I'm going to copy an email I sent to Dana.

Ok, apparently I can't paste it, smeggin' thing!  I switched over to a mac so blogger probably doesn't like it.   I'll try to post again soon with a pretty good excuse as to why I've been gone.  Well,  it at least is good for the month of December! 

Till then here are some Nathan pictures from my birthday in November.  

Nathan and his daddy, my big brother.

And Nathan and Grandma, my mom.

Pumpkin Patch

Alright, here is the promised pictures of the pumpkin patch we went to on Saturday before heading on to Greensburg.
The Punkinator: an air pressured cannon on a decommissioned fire truck, will launch a 10 lb. pumpkin a 1/2 mile. Very impressive, you can barely see the pumpkins, just little black dots in the sky.

Mini version, Corn Cannon. DH's Dad and youngest nephew getting ready to shoot. The 4 yr old hit two targets while the 12 yr old missed totally, I find it funny and tease the 12 yr old about it!

See the scarecrow on the windmill and hanging out of the barn window?

Different barn, more scarecrows.

The 4 yr old couldn't reach the pedals, so Techpriest helped. Can't really see it, but these trike bikes have a third wheel in back. You steer by one person pedaling more than the other. As you can imagine, these things are dangerous. You never knew when you would have to jump out of the way of them! I took my life in my hands being this close to them, though I was safer directly in front of them than off to the side!

Even a scarecrow needs to get her hair done. In the building behind her they actually had scarecrow kits, make your own scarecrow!

Barrel ride, you had to watch out for this one too.

The actual pumpkin patch, fairly depopulated.

Techpriest's Mom, Dad, youngest nephew hiding behind him, 12 yr old, and Techpriest on the hay wagon ride.

Aren't we a cute couple? :)


They had some many other things too. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the animals though, guess I was to busy petting them! Pigs, bunnies(so soft!!), cows, I actually forget what else! We all had a good time, about froze for while though!

What a week

• The Harmony needles showed up, they are pretty. But one of the #5's must have a crack at the tip, wool keeps getting caught in it.
  

• Prairie Gumbo is playing Pay it Forward and I thought it was a great idea too! This is the "Pay It Forward" exchange, based on the concept of the movie where acts of kindness are done without expecting anything in return...just passing it on, with the hope that the recipients of your kind acts will pass it along to someone else. Here's how it works: I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don't know what the gift will be yet, and it won't be sent this month and maybe not next month either, but it will be sent within 6 months and that's a promise! What you have to do in return then is "pay it forward" by making the same promise on your blog. Sound like fun? I might knit something or sew or I might even break out the polymer clay!
  
• Last Saturday I met up with Laura at the Newton Beadery to switch my completed afghan for another packet. Very nice store with a very nice lady that talked to us for quite awhile, even told us her name, too. Unfortantly though, I have a mind like a steel sieve instead a steel trap. Laura being the good blogger she is, remembered to bring her camera. Me, I didn't even think to look halfway decent, let alone bring the camera. I should have remembered what the Yarn Harlot said, bloggers are dangerous, they always have their cameras.
  
• I have already finished the second afghan, but no pictures yet. Hopefully soon.
• Tuesday I had an eye app. and had my eyes dilated plus wore contacts for the first time in years. Not good. Besides having an awful time driving the two blocks home my headache jumped way up there to an 8. I didn't even feel up to knitting while I watched tv. The next day got it back down to a 5, but Friday I went and ordered my glasses(that's another story) and wore contacts again to be able to pick out a frame. Went to the monthly knit in that night but had to leave early I was hurting so much. Not long after I got home it went up to a 9. Today it is firmly hovering around a 6. Pretty sucky week.
  

• Techpriest's Dad and nephew are coming for a visit next Thursday, I hope I'm up to it.

That is all I remember that I wanted to tell you, but remember that steel sieve....

Long Time No Blog

Sorry it has been so long since I've posted, over a month! I had two emails waiting for me the other day just to see if I was ok. Seems that Criquette over at Prairie Gumbo, Marianne from Marianne's Knotminding and Dana from Blue Ridge Knittery had noticed I wasn't around much and was concerned about me.

Half of it was I felt more like reading some fan fiction (no, not THAT kind! :)) than of keeping up on blog reading. I do tend to go through phases of what I read online. My husband has been sick with strep AND mono the last two weeks, and though I have managed to not catch any of it, I have been worn out. Taking naps in the middle of the day worn out. I've also been busy doing some volunteering for the McPherson Scottish Festival. Plus, my headache has been a little worse and I suppose I have been a little depressed. There are some signs that I'm coming out of my funk though, so let's hope! I have been knitting though, and even took a knitting class. Actually have a couple of FO's to blog about too. I'll try to get a post up about them over the weekend.

Once again ladies, thanks for emailing, it helped get me out of my funk and back in the mood for reading some knit blogs! I'm down to 268 on my bloglines!

If you like my Nathan pictures you have to see Miranda's Nathan videos, they are so cute. I think there are 4 short videos in all. Make sure you don't miss the one of him blowing raspberries, it is the absolute cutest!!

Things to Squee about

There seem to be a lot of things percolating in my brain that I'm quite excited about, I hope I remember them all!

Tomorrow I'm going to the chiropractor and renting an alpha-stim machine. It uses electrotherapy for pain management. We've been using it in the office and I have had some good results. I'm hoping by using it daily I get some great results! As a side note, my chiropractors (one while I lived in Hutch, and this one in Mac) are really the only ones that have helped me, all the regular doctors ran all sorts of tests, gave me all sorts of pills, that really never did much.

The LYS hooked me and Theresa up and we've been driving up to knit night together ever since. We, of course, have always talked about starting one up in Mac. A knit night, not a yarn store! She got in touch with the county extension office and they said they would sponsor us! Today I went over and finalized plans with them. It will actually be a fiber arts group, knitters, crocheters, cross stitchers, weavers, who ever. We start on Aug 7th, 7-9, every Tuesday!
They are going to put ads on the radio, newspaper, and some newsletters. We get to keep a key to the building(that's how small the town is), and have access to several different rooms. Hopefully we will grow out of the small one! I'm pretty sure there is a frig and coffee pot too.
Isn't that great?

Oh, and I'm planning on taking another class at Yarns. It is a Christmas stocking to learn color work. Same teacher I had for Nathan's baby sweater. I really enjoyed that class and learned a lot. I have been wanting to try colorwork for awhile now, it opens up so many new possibilities!

The best thing to squee about? Marianne thinks I'm a Rockin' Girl Blogger!


Since I think she's pretty darn cool it works out good! I'm supposed to pass this on to 5 other Rockin' Girl Bloggers, so let's see if I can narrow it down.

• Miranda: SIL extrodinare, she fits in with my family wonderfully, actually her Mom and stepdad are invited to most of the family get togethers! I'm proud to call her a friend as well as my brother's wife and my nephew mom. She has just started her new blog so to get a sense of her humorous writing style also check out her pregnancy blog and the blog before that! Third time's the charm I guess? I'm so glad she started blogging again!
• Karla: Yes, it is on myspace, and no you can't comment unless you have an account, I'm trying to con her into starting a normal blog. We have been friends for about 13 years now, met in the college jewerly class, boy did we have fun. She has a lot of the same interests I do, Harry Potter, any good fantasy book, 80's teen movies(anyone know who Ducky is?). She is a single Mom of a brand new teenager telling tales of her trials and triumphs.
• Laura at Sugar Bunny Boulevard: I haven't met her yet, but I'm planning on it come Sept 15! She is the heart of the Squares for Greensburg project. I love hearing her enthusiasm for this project! She is a sweetheart and her girls are adorable!
• Farm Mom at Children in the Corn: a great homesteading blog. I haven't commented to much, but I always look forward to her posts.
• Prairie Gumbo: I'm fairly new to reading her blog, but she has been very entertaining so far!
  

People I would pick if they hadn't already been rocked! These are some wonderful ladies!

• Ms. K at The Life and Times of Florence Knitingale
• Marianne of Marianne's Knotminding
• Charity of Knitting in the North
• Phelan from A Homesteading Neophyte

And the biggest thing to make me squee with delight?

THE YARN HARLOT IS COMING TO WICHITA!

Do you believe that? I'm not sure I do! See for yourselves, check on her sidebar click on Harlot on Tour. Sept. 16th the day after the seaming party! A whole weekend of being with fellow knitters! I don't think I can stand it! For those of you non-knitters that read my blog, the Yarn Harlot is kinda like the knitting comedian, that is the best way I have to describe her. Her books are very funny, and I hear her shows are amazingly funny.

I really can't wait!

Hello out there!

Hi everyone, I thought I would just sit down and start writing instead of waiting for something brilliant to come to me. So, what do you want to know about me? Though I really think anyone reading this will know me pretty well.

My life changed dramatically in Aug of 2004 when I realized I had had a headache for a week. It continued and got much worse. I have been living with a headache of vary degrees every minute of every day since then. All the time. It seems to go through phases, whatever we are trying at the time helps for awhile, then it gets worse again. We have tried many, many different things, with many different doctors. Right now, on a scale of one to ten(ten being the worst), it averages about a 5.

I ended up quiting my job of 7yrs, in '05 after struggling for months with the headache being about a 7. I have had a few part time jobs since then, very part time. I never know when the headache is going to get bad.
My husband and I had to give up our house in Nickerson and move to an apartment in McPherson. It has been very nice to live in the same town as he works in, but it has been an adjustment to move away from everyone(ok, 30 to 45 min away, not really too bad). Our lifestyle has been reduced a lot, living on one paycheck. I am trying to get disability, but it is a long, slow road.

I started knitting because it was one thing I could do while watching TV. I used to cross stitch while watching tv, but I would have to look down a lot and then the bag of peas would fall off my head.

What?

Oh, you want to know why I have a bag of peas on my head? Ice helps the headache, and frozen peas make the best ice packs. Plus, with practice you can learn to balance them on your head pretty good. But not while you are cross stitching! So, knitting. Now I have a new obsession. This blog will have a lot of knitting content. I need to tell someone all about it, DH doesn't get very excited about knitted socks....he thinks we could just go to Walmart and get some!

Well, I think that is enough to be getting on with, so talk to you later.