Bleuchhhh...

A mothers diary.

Sunday, Mothers day, Elizabeth is sick, she threw up everywhere.
Monday, Mother is sick. Monday night Katherine is sick.
Tuesday, Katherine has eye surgery, thankfully not put off due to sickness last night. Tuesday afternoon, barely squeak home from the Sick Kids hospital when Father starts throwing up.
Wednesday, sleep, LOTS.


For those wondering, Katherine had surgery on both eyes, she is doing well now, both eyes are red and one is swollen a little, it is indeed world war three trying to get her antibiotic/anti-inflammatory drops into her eyes, but is getting easier.
Putting the memory of being at the sick kids hospital, further into my mind however is proving harder.
When nurses are called angels it is true, the nurses at children's hospitals deserve the highest praise you can grab for a person. The doctors are stunning, but the nurses have all the hard work, working one on one with sick children day in and day out must be so hard. I could imagine sometimes it is hard to go to work, but the rewards are phenomenal. The downsides are more than obvious.
Today is my appreciation to Nurses around the world day, thank you for your work. I appreciate you.

Anybody interested in more information Toronto's hospital for sick kids please visit their site.

Im not dead.......

Ok I have been hiding out a little, sneaking a look in at blogs here and there, but not commenting or anything. Thought I should check in and confirm that I am still about.

I hit a turning point today, or at least realized it today, I am actually excited about Katherine's surgery now. It has been so long since I have looked into her face and expected to see two eyes looking back at me.
I think it's about time Mommy got her wish. Her surgery is two days after Mothers day, so that will be my present.

I will be back soon with knitting news and photo's, please bear with me though as I am very scatterbrained still. I am still trying to convince myself that it is the surgery doing this to me, what will be my excuse afterwards.

Concentrate.....

I am having a hard time concentrating, on anything.
I have already knit on four different things today. I have many other things that are calling me to knit on them. I can't settle, I know why, and if the past two weeks is what I will be like until what is distracting me is over, then I have another very long month ahead of me.

We got a date for Katherine's eye surgery.
I have had a long time to prepare for this, but I can't shake it, the feeling of dread follows me everywhere. I thought it was the thought of her having an eye surgery, someone cutting her eye muscles. While that thought does bring up the bile, it is not the thing I finally came to realise that is bothering me.

It's the anesthesia. My baby doll, under a general, lifeless, limp, my little 4 year old sweetheart. The thing that brings light into my life.

I can barely stand it.

I cry on command.

Not gushing, just a trickle.

I know it is only eye surgery, a very simple little procedure. Many other younger children have gone through so much more, we have seen some of that on our trips to the Sick Kids hospital in Toronto. This is still my little baby though. She remains unfazed.


Needless to say there really isn't lots of progress on anything, but little on lots.
Princess waddles along at a snails pace. My entrelac socks are almost done. I started a pair of socks for Katherine in Austermanns step with Aloe. I still have to think of a special something for her for recuperation time, I am thinking of tarting up a topsy turnabout doll
for her doing it in Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty colours . I have done a lot of spinning and dyeing too.

I have also been suffering with the allergies again, I encountered a mouldy garbage bag at the guild hall, it got worse each day and it was after spending a total of about 14 hours there that I figured out what it was that was bothering me so much, I have had sore dry eyes, headaches and fatigue all week. I hope that the removal of the bag will improve things there for me as I have to go back on tuesday for 3 hours.

Overdue

I have had some Princess pictures sitting around doing nothing for a while now, I really should share. I also dragged out the Unst stole and almost did some knitting on it.






























































Trying to get a good photo of the Princess is turning into a chore all of its own.

















I have also joined two more yahoo groups. One is the 88 snowflakes group, 88 crochet snowflakes in a year. I joined last month and have done 8 already, January's that is. I am already falling way behind, I try to do 3 a week, but haven't managed that for a few weeks now. One is blocked the rest are in need.

















I also joined a cross stitch group, Wannietta is doing the mystery x cross stitch from Chatelaine, and it is gorgeous so far, so I decided to go ahead and join too, I got the charts, I got the fabric, I just can't decide whether to get the thread kit or not, it is pricey, and I do already have most of the DMC colours, but the threads with the kit are some pretty looking things. That said I don't cross stitch much anymore, and I can't tell you how many unfinished projects I have waiting in the wings for some attention. I started one at christmas, didn't get far, bought magazine's with stuff I want to do, but so far, not much has been stitched.


In further knitting news....

I tried shadow knitting.




















I do have a side view piccie of that but for some reason blogger just won't get the photo I want, it comes up with the original where all the mess on my stove can be seen, yukk!.
I will get another later and try to post it.

I also finally finished my hand spun fingerless gloves. I will post a picture later maybe, I also finished Elizabeth's socks in time for her birthday.

I also have a passion for jigsaw puzzles. After finishing a 1000 piece that consisted of an awful lot of pink and yellow, it was Disney Princess's, I decided to go for the shaped puzzle again, Katherine in her infinite wisdom decided a year ago that the puzzle I had spent hours, days on, should in fact all be back in it's original single piece form. I put it away, and now I want to do it again, now that Katherine is a bit older and not so willing to destroy many many hours worth of work.
I haven't got very far.

Another meme

Mark the movies you've seen you've seen with an (X). If the total is over 85, you have no life.

(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest*
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane
( ) The Princess Bride
( ) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
(X) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
( ) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(X) Scary Movie
(X) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(X) American Pie
(X) American Pie 2
( ) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
(X) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
( ) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(X) Lilo & Stitch
(X) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
(X) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(X) 13 Going on 30
( ) I, Robot
( ) Robots
( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
(X) KingPin
( ) Never Been Kissed
( ) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
(X) Joe Dirt
( ) King Kong
( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(X) Dumb & Dumber
(X) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
(X) Halloween
(X) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving Christmas
( ) Flubber
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
(X) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(X) The Mask
(X) Son Of The Mask
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Sleven
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
( ) Ocean’s Twelve
( ) Bourne Identity
( ) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(X) Ice Age
(X) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
(X) Independence Day
(X) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
(X) Christine
(X) E.T.
(X) Children of the Corn (He wants YOU Malachi!)
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(X) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds (
( ) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
( ) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She’s All That
( ) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(X) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(X) Ever After
(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(X) The Terminator
(X) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
( ) X-Men
( ) X-2
( ) X3
( ) Spider-Man
( ) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( ) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
( ) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
(X) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
(X) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
(X) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(X) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Base-ketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
(X) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(X) Monsters Inc.
(X) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
(X) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe*
( ) 28 days later (A fabulous zombie movie.)
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 1
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
( ) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
( ) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks: Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
( ) The Matrix: Reloaded
( ) The Matrix: Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
(X) Red Dragon
(X) Silence of the Lambs
(X) Hannibal

I think I got 70 there, so not too bad, I am not particularly a movie buff, so I knew I would have lots of blanks on this. I got this meme from momcast, who appears to like zombie movies, I don't, I love horror movies, but not Zombies, I can't eat braised beef because of a Zombie movie I saw way back when I was a bit of a kid. One of those association problems.

My movie style seems to be things I saw as a kid or teenager and now things I saw with my kids!!! Quite sad, but I have started renting movies again recently, I almost rented blood diamond yesterday but wasn't sure if I would get through the film without lots of tears. I talked to the English laddie at the till, he seemed to think I might well blubber, since that makes it kind of hard to knit I had to pass.

So After all the book talk, I thought I would share what I am reading right now. I love Egyptology, that and Japanese history are my favourite two histories, specifically. I love history, I watch as much as I can get, and read what I can. Christian Jacq's books are amazing, this is the third series of his I have read, and for as much factual history as you can read, you never actually get the feeling of being there, being in the time, the smells, the senses, the people, Jacq's books bring that to you, and they are factual books, these aren't some cooked up fairytales. My other favourite on Egypt is Paul Doherty, his books are also based on real events.

This book arrived in this lot of packages I received finally last week. They all arrived in one day, it was great to have so many boxes sat on the doorstep for me.















As you can see my knitpicks needle finally arrived.

I haven't used it on the precious Princess, I can't think of a break happening again now. Now that I have come so far.

An insertion, completed!!!! Not very good pictures of it, but I want to wait to get a bit more of the centre knitted before I see how it really looks. It's quite exciting.














































I have been reading Jeans blog for a while, on and off, but she recently posted on the HK knitting group that she was back at the Princess after a long break, because of a break!!!!!

She has really jumped back into the fire, and is working on all cylinders getting it knitted up now.

I have taken a little more than a week off the Princess, just to do other stuff, and am working on the Roza socks from interweave magazine. They are supposed to be for Eliz on wednesday, but not looking terribly likely now. I will of course try.


Elizabeth is 9 on Wednesday, can barely believe it, she got her ATV on Sunday and promptly flipped it, I of course did the mandatory screaming fit at Ron, that this is exactly why I didn't want her having an ATV, but she got back on and only ran into one more car......

Book meme

I found this book meme over at Cath's blog, I know I haven't read many on the list but wanted to see how many I had, or was interested in reading. Bold the ones read, Italicize the ones I want to read, and leave plain the ones I am not interested in.


1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) I have almost read all of this series and loved it, although it slowed down in the last few books, I still love it.
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)This is by far the best of Browns book, IMHO
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) Great book want to see movie too...
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)Another huge King fan, read most of his books in my time.
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)The book is on my bedside table, ready to read.
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)Fantastic book, Tandia was almost as good.
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)Awesome book.
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. The Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) 49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy) Isn't this the book equivelant of the Princess shawl?
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) One of my favourite Authors, I love the vampire and witch series.
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell) Haven't read, but just finished watching the entire mini-series on dvd, plan to look for books.
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) Another one on the nightstand.
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)