I’m Beautiful Like Me.

This is the awesome yarn TheSockKnitter sent to me for my first pair of socks. I love the colors! Thank you sooooo much, girl. You are too sweet!The MeiMeis I ordered.
Fifteen 60″ circular knitting needles US size 0-15.
I’m going to make so much stuff with these!

The yarn I bought for P.
She wants a Circles to Square blanket like I made for mom’s birthday.
I may take it back for sock yarn, though!

Some shots from Sunergo’s last night. Joy took most of the pictures.

She models Ila’s hat. Looks great!Sonnie’s daughter and Joy were fast friends.
I can’t believe I’m knitting socks!
Thanks again, Sonnie, for showing me the ropes (yarn?!) in magik looping.
I am really enjoying it and really rather be doing that now

Mid-afternoon yesterday, we packed up and headed to Otter Creek again. We weren’t there long, just an hour and a half or so, but it was really nice. The place was packed! Certainly not like going in June on a weekday. The water was still pretty chilly, but it was pleasant to sit on the rocks in the sun. The boy was uncertain about the more swift spots and preferred sitting with daddy on the bigger rock with his feet dangling in the water, as opposed to sitting with me directly in the water.

This little girl and Buddha were super-cute together.

As we were chilling in the creek, I saw B and D waving to me from the bank of the creek. At first I didn’t recognize them or that they were waving at me. They joined us for a few minutes and Husband snapped this rather unflattering photograph of the three of us. B told me that he’s playing football - very exciting. I’ll be sure to see a game or at least a practice. It was great to see them.

We woke up late.

T was in the shower. I just lectured her on Friday about half-hour showers every morning. It’s been weeks since I chewed her out for leaving hairballs in the shower drain. Slightly irritating way to start the day when you really wanted a bath before leaving.

So we waited for more hot water. It wasn’t terribly long, but I wish I had gotten my ass in gear earlier so we coulda hung out with P, her husband and their girls longer this afternoon.

We got there about 2pm. We alternated hanging out in the back yard and in the kitchen, sipping beer while we prepared homemade salsa and setting all the goodies out. P’s hubby grilled dogs, brats, burgers, steaks, chicken and ribs. We ate chips and salsa, potato salad, beans, the whole nine. P and I even managed to steal a few smokes away from the bunch so we could just chill and chat. It’s hot out there, but I had a great time kickin’ it with them.

Buddha was very sweet, but his usual curious self. He didn’t eat much. I think he must be teething again. I spotted another molar coming in on the top left. Last night was another test of my patience getting him to sleep. He gets to this icky point of being completely inconsolable. He doesn’t want to nurse, he doesn’t want to snuggle, he doesn’t want me to put him down, he doesn’t want me to hold him, he just screams and screams. This is the third time he’s gotten like this and it leaves me feeling completely helpless.

T is staying at P’s tonight to watch the girls so P and her man can hit up the movies. After we had been home awhile, I helped myself to the leftovers that P packed up for me to bring home and the boy helped me eat that. He nursed for a bit, too. Later, we shared an ice cream bar. It’s the funniest thing, watching him try to figure out how to lick the ice cream. We’re going to scrub down in the tub shortly to wash off the sunscreen, bug spray, food and dirt and hopefully go to sleep without incidence tonight.

It’s been a good bit since I’ve had an evening to myself at home. I’ve watched just about all of my DVR’d shows and Sunday night television isn’t my favorite. I think I have a few movies I still haven’t seen yet, though. I’m going to continue working on crocheting the Circles to Square blanket for my mom’s birthday. It’s still going pretty slowly, because it’s so hard to get any work done when Buddha is awake. He gets into my yarn, tries to steal my hook and climbs all over me, making it next to impossible to get very far.

Husband is likely going to have a late night tonight. At least we got to spend some time together this afternoon before work, though. It’s nice to see him hanging out with P’s husband, since he gets so very little time to socialize with others. And he’s off the next 2 days, so we’ll get plenty of time to hang out then. Better get it while I can - school in back in session for him today.

I spend most of my time inside our tiny apartment. There are a couple of reasons for that: we only have one very small vehicle, I hate traffic and well, I don’t really have anywhere to go. But after not having gone out for quite some time, I was ready to get out of the house today.

My 16 year old niece was supposed to come to our place for a few nights. She was supposed to come over yesterday, but my brother waited until after Husband left with the truck before telling me that he was having car problems (despite the fact that he knew well ahead of then). So, we were going to drive over to his place to pick her up today. But again, they didn’t have their shit together. After much frustration, I finally decided to just go do what I wanted to go do without her and pick her up afterwards.

P called and we planned to meet up later to go to Louisville’s Waterfront Park after she got off from work. But first, we went to Bernheim Forest. I have been itching to get out there for some time now.

I absolutely adore this park. In the past when I have went, we typically drove all the way into the back and spent our time hiking the trails. Now, I have wandered the very front before, but not much. In any case, it’s very interesting and it’s what we did today. The paths are paved and all the trees, bushes, flowers and plants are all marked stating what they are. The place is huge and extremely well-maintained. I took over a hundred photos! Here are my favorites:

And now some photos featuring my favorite people!

This week on July 2, Slugger Field is hosting Stitch ‘n Pitch, a way to bring together two great American traditions, baseball and needle arts.

While there were some aggrevations today, we got out there and enjoyed the beautiful weather and had a great time. I’m sorry that my niece didn’t join us, but there is (hopefully) always next time.

Also, while I am here, let me update on xSO. He had sentencing today. He received 18 months probation and some community hours (don’t remember how many). He’s still in jail, on hold for transfer to the neighboring county. The court date there is currently set for the 7th of July, but it’s unlikely he’ll be transfered so quickly. We don’t believe he’ll be out of jail before Joy comes home. They have been able to visit a few more times, as well and she will likely get to visit with him several times per week, at least until he transfers. I spoke with her today and she sounds well, although a bit tired. It’s good for her to be with that side of the family - it’s larger than my side so there is more for her to do and more people to entertain her.

But I miss her.

Monday, I went to get T from the airport. I left the house at 11:25am to get there on time. Did the usual: park, go in, get a gate pass, pass through security check-point and walk 3 miles to the other end of the airport. Her flight was early, which under normal circumstances would be great, but I timed it to arrive on time, so she had already gotten off the plane and found a bathroom. I was ready to start panicking when she came up behind me. I gave her a quick squeeze and told her to dial her mom to let her know she arrived safely. After speaking to her myself briefly, I confiscated the cell phone. Gave T the rundown of the rules at our place and her restrictions for the first couple of weeks. We collected her luggage and headed home.

Later, we hit the library to get her a card and some books. She’s really into ASL and signed the entire conversation we had. Something she’s passionate about, awesome. We discussed the possibility of her being homeschooled for the remainder of the year. Sounds like something we will do. I grabbed some highschool homeschooling books and she grabbed some sign language books.

Back home, we ate dinner together and T crashed early. Joy asked if she could be homeschooled, too. Husband and I finally concluded that we won’t be doing that again with the girl - she’s just not self-motivated enough and I am not patient enough with her. I wish there were a way that it could work out, but I just can’t see us having any success.

Tuesday, T and I drove to Seymour, Indiana to meet up with my OL buddy, S (aka Monkeytoes). We met at Chili’s, had good food, less-than-stellar service and great company. We must’ve hung out there for a couple-three hours. Afterwards we hit up some outlets that turned out to be pretty disappointing, but S and I took a lot of goofy photos. These are my favorites.

I had a great time meeting her and hope that we can hang out again soon in warmer weather.

On the way home, I started feeling pretty icky again. My throat was hurting (from all the talking?) and traffic was fucking hell. I was so happy to get home. I really missed the boy! Husband made pizza for dinner and the girls chowed down, but the boy threw his small bites across the kitchen. Sigh. He was really hard to get down to sleep last night, too.

I had an early morning appointment with the doctor today. I told her about not being able to sleep, but she refused to give me any prescription. I got a strep test which came back negative, but she still gave me a ’script for amoxicillin and 2 ’scripts for Diflucan (because a YI is inevitable - God, I just hope we don’t get thrush, too). They drew more blood for thyroid panels and also to check my cholesterol. Also told her about the lump in my breast and she felt it and ordered me to get a mammogram and ultrasound. Okay? We can’t afford that! I told her I’d see my ob/gyn and have him check it. Frankly, I think it is just hormones and normal female changes from childbirth, nursing and getting my menses back. So I made an appointment to see him tomorrow afternoon. I will also ask him about something to help me sleep while I’m still nursing. Meanwhile, I also scheduled an appointment for Buddha’s one year check-up. I need to make an appointment with a dentist, too, but I am too damn chickenshit for alladat just yet. Plus, we still have outstanding bills from labs I’ve already had and will be incurring more bills with all these upcoming appointments. The state of health care in this country is depressing.

The boy is in a terrible mood today. He’s really taken to throwing food, but screams like he is starving to death. I figured he might be interested in nursing more, but no, he isn’t. He nurses for maybe 3-4 minutes and then wants to get up and play. He gave Husband absolute hell about a nap this afternoon. They are both still sleeping.

D and I have talked daily since T arrived. We think we’ve found a good solution for getting her homeschooled online. We should know relatively soon, too. I just hafta get some things done, D has some things to do on her end and then get her enrolled. Shouldn’t be too hard. In any case, it’s nice to hear from D so often. I miss her fiercely. And T looks so much like her sometimes, it’s almost like having D here. I just wish my throat didn’t hurt, so I could talk to her longer on the telephone!

I got a phone call from D, my best friend in FL, today. I was in the shower when the call came, but noticed right away the missed call and dialed my voicemail. She said it was an emergency. I called right away. Her husband, W, answered the phone and gave me the low-down.

Fast-forward past all the long, drawn-out details, her second eldest daughter, T will be coming here to stay with us for a while. She is going to arrive on Monday morning, just before noon. I will become an overnight guardian to a hormonal, almost-15-year-old teenager. I must’ve lost my mind.

Husband and I bought the boy the Graco Nautilus today. As we were going into Wal*Mart, I asked Husband if we should leave the boy in the bucket seat or take him out. He responded that boy doesn’t really care for the cart seat. I was suddenly reminded why we were there and said we should keep him in the bucket. He won’t have it much longer…

We had to ask an employee to fetch us the seat from the back. I was nervous that they were gonna be sold out. The lady emerged a moment later, box in arms. I felt exhilirated. We also bought the boy his very first ball. To make it extra special, we bought two - different-sized ones. As we were in the checkout line, I was overwhelmed by Buddha’s impending milestones and felt the need to cry. Husband poked some fun at me, but he’s understanding, too. It’s crazy how fast this past year has went by.

When we got home, we excitedly put the seat together. It’s an amazing piece, really. He will be able to use it for a long, long time (which hopefully will pass slowly!). We showed the boy the seat, sat him in it for a bit and finally strapped him in to make sure the belts are above the shoulder before installing it. He seemed quite content to chill in it!

Also, in the mail today came our new checkcards for our new bank account. We both enrolled for online banking and into the points program. Just waiting on our checks and then we will close the other account for good. I also got $100 from the girl’s dad in the mail today… about damn time!

Unfortunately, I still feel pretty under the weather. I called and made an appointment with the doctor’s office yesterday - I’ll be seen on Wednesday. I’ve got to have more bloodwork then, too, to check my thyroid again. I’m a little nervous that this sore throat might mean my thyroid is swollen or growing. I’m equally as nervous to hear it’s strep throat. If I have to take antibiotics, I’ll end up with a YI and - knowing my luck - the boy and I will both get thrush again. At least I have a ginormous bottle of GSE on hand! Let’s hope it’s nothing to worry over.