Archive - May 2008

Very Cool

Look what my Mother’s Day yielded for me:

A new laptop and a beautiful vase made by Boo and Pumpkin Girl! The laptop is ready for Wifi, though sadly, we don’t have a wireless router for the other computer. So right now, it’s still only for playing the pre-installed games.

Boo and Pumpkin made this vase at our homeschool group. Our fearless leader Tami, casually suggested that the other moms take our toddlers to the park while she worked on the week’s project with the older children. They came back brimming with secrets and when the day arrived, they were so pleased to present me with their homemade gift. I think I like it better than the laptop! Now if only Philip will keep it filled with flowers.

Later in the day, I met up with my friend Shanti at our local yarn store. We had lunch, knit some and then she gave me a lesson on how to use my new drop spindle. It was much easier to learn in person and look!  I made yarn!

How cool is that?

So, um…

About those Mother’s Day cards.  The ones I bought early and had all ready to go out in the mail?

Right.

Well, first, there was Monday’s All Day Headache.  And Tuesday’s fever, followed by Wednesday’s fever and discovery of the staph infected knee.  And Thursday’s excursion to the doctor for confirmation of another round of scarlet fever.  And Friday’s (that’s today) search for my favorite yarn catalog which also yielded the aforementioned cards, safely tucked under my desk calendar.

They’re not really going to make it to California before Sunday.

Did I mention my daughter, lying pitifully on the couch for 2 days?  And Boo’s needing twice daily applications of ointment on his knee?  And the chart on the white board so I don’t forget everyone’s antibiotics?  And a husband who has been at some meeting or another every night this week?

Because I really did mean to get those cards in the mail on Monday.  You know, before the migraine, staph-knee and scarlet fever.

Somehow I think I’m in the dog house anyway.

It’s No Fun Unless Everyone’s On Antibiotics

It all started about 2 weeks ago. The weather was nice and Boo was spending a lot of time riding his scooter with his posse. It was only a matter of time before one of them wiped out and this time it was Boo. Fortunately, he was wearing his helmet, which now bears the scars of his crash instead of his head. Unfortunately, he was wearing shorts but no knee pads. He came limping home, and one of his buddies wheeled his scooter home for him.

It wasn’t that bad, really. A couple of band-aids for each knee and one for each one of his hands. He was sore but ok.

The rest of the week was colder and he was wearing pants again, his band-aids fell off and he kept riding his scooter. All was well.

Until last Friday when the weather was warm again and he was wearing shorts. We had just settled on to the couch to start school and I turned to Boo, who was holding the books and saw his knee.

In a word – eeeww!

One of the scabs was clearly infected. It was raised and pus-filled and surrounded by red. I asked him if it hurt and he said only if you touch it. Apparently there’s this lever on his scooter which is used to raise and lower the handle, and it hits Boo on the knee when he rides. Instead of that particular spot healing like the rest, it kept getting reinjured. I managed to get him the last appointment available that day, which was good, because of course, it was Friday.

The nurse and the doctor had entirely too much fun at his expense – exclaiming that while that wasn’t the grossest thing they’d ever seen, it was pretty darn gross. The doctor poked it until it oozed, then pried the scab off. She swabbed it for a culture, then gave him Bactroban ointment and instructions on what to do if it looked worse over the weekend. I even got to fill out an injury report!

All was well.

Monday night Pumpkin Girl started not looking so good. Tuesday morning she skipped her ballet class and by that afternoon had a 102.3 temperature. Wednesday her ears hurt when she swallowed, which I know from personal experience can actually mean a sore throat. By the evening she had the tell-tale signs of a scarlet fever rash. Philip promised to get up at the crack of dawn to get her an appointment for today.

Meanwhile, the nurse had called to tell me that Boo’s culture had grown staph and that he needed to go through a round of antibiotics. Lovely.

Pumpkin Girl kind of freaks out at the idea of having her throat swabbed, so she lucked out that her fever, rash and very obviously painful throat all pointed to scarlet fever. Again. The doc didn’t even bother swabbing her, just sent in the prescription.

And with Bip’s daily antibiotics for VUR, that makes all the children on antibiotics. I’ve made a chart on the white board so I don’t forget. I’m hoping that with Staph Boy already being on antibiotics that Strep Girl won’t infect him, too.

So if you come around our house, don’t be surprised if you’re greeted by this:

Just run for the hills.

H/T to Mary Grace for the sign.

Like I Need a New Hobby

Yesterday was just One of Those Days. The kind where I should have stayed in bed. It started with 2 yo Bip waking with the sun and pouncing on me hopefully. As I opened my eyes, I realized I had a headache. I’m not sure if these waking headaches that I get are true migraines, but they are wicked. The only cure seems to be 2 doses of Exedrin (taken the appropriate amount of hours apart) and sleep. Lots of sleep.

If I was smart, I would close my eyes and go back to sleep. But I never do. Instead, I force myself awake and try to go about my day. By mid-morning my head is pounding, I can barely keep my eyes open and I’m glaring at any child who so much as dares to breathe in my personal space. It’s not pretty.

Thankfully, Philip has a 5 minute commute and can come home for lunch. That’s about as close to a substitute teacher as I can get – and I’m extremely grateful. I was already laid out on the couch before Philip arrived home. I vaguely remember hearing him come in, then the next thing I knew it was an hour later and he was saying goodbye.

Later I napped with Bip and woke up after 2 hours feeling groggy and still headachy. It wasn’t until after dinner that the pain finally subsided and I thought I could get up and venture to the mailbox for a little bit of fresh air.

I’m so glad I did because I had a package and inside was this:

Pumpkin Girl and I have been inspired by the whole Martha Years series, a prequel to the Little House On the Prairie books. Martha Morse learns to spin yarn with a drop spindle and we figured if she could do it, so could we.

So me and my newly pain-free head sat down to figure out how to spin. Um, right. I usually do pretty well with reading instructions and learning something new, but this old-fashioned drop spindle thing has got me flummoxed. We’ve got some lovely girly-girl roving waiting for us to spin (it’s the last picture), so hopefully I’ll make some headway soon. I’m not sure this whole spinning our own yarn thing is really a good idea though- my list of knitting projects is getting longer, not to mention the decades long backlog of scrapbooking, teaching Pumpkin to knit and sew, and some ladder back chairs that need new Shaker tape seats. Sigh. So many crafts, so little time.

Duck Feet!

Here’s the baby booties I was knitting that caused people to start planning baby showers for me.

Aren’t they the cutest things you’ve ever seen? Go on, admit it. This set is going to the grandson of a good friend from Korea. Let me just tell you that I’m not old enough to have friends with grandchildren. My friend Tammy (not to be confused with the Tami that lives down the street from me) just happened to start having children early in her marriage and she just married off her oldest daughter last June. Now her daughter is having a baby. Her daughter Lindsay was my chauffeur for a week when we all lived in Korea and Philip was off playing war games and I had failed to pass the written driving test for my military license. It was Philip’s fault, of course, because he gave me the wrong book to study. (In all fairness, this was the book that was given to him).

So Philip was gone and I was unable to legally drive and of course, this was vacation bible school week, so I was supposed to be driving back and forth to the chapel everyday. Lindsay was very sweet to drive me where I needed to go and didn’t even giggle when I failed the test.

Of course, I got 100% when I retook it.

ANYway – Lindsay is married and expecting a baby, so duck feet booties are in order.

(The pattern for these can be found in 50 Baby Bootees to Knit. I did them in Rowan Cotton Glace in some shade of yellow.)

Let the Ravelry Begin!

If you’re not a knitter/crocheter feel free to skip this post.  I’ll come up with something more interesting tomorrow.  For the knitters out there – I finally got my invitation to Ravelery!  Woohoo!  I’m having way too much fun adding stuff and poking around the place.  How come nobody told me about this earlier?

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