Note to self...

Dear Kari,

I know you have been very busy and lots of "stuff" has popped up during the last week or so. Saying that you need to be reminded of just a few things:

1. There is always a little time to work on Dad's socks. They are almost done. Take them with you so you can get them finished by Christmas. Put them out on your desk, a few rows between kids. They'll be done in no time flat.

2. Hot chocolate is delicious especially at your desk, on a snowy, cold day. See those socks sitting next to your cocoa. It's a good time to put on one of those rows.

3. Bryspun (a really nice plastic) double pointed needles used to knit on Dad's socks should only be used to knit socks and occasionally scratch your head NOT stir the hot chocolate that you were too lazy to go to the cafeteria to get a spoon to stir. You will end up with an interesting sculpture and no needle to knit with....

A Public Service Announcement

A few months back you may remember a post about my health and how I was better, blah, blah, blah...

Well, here's the PSA. Listen to your bodies folks. As busy people we tend to push our health to the back-burner. We need to take care of ourselves so that we can take care of the others in our lives.

On Monday, I mentioned to my doctor that I was having shortness of breathe and I didn't want to make a huge deal out of it, but was there any testing that could be done to make sure that the blood clots weren't back in my lungs again. He said no and scheduled a CAT scan (when you hear that word to do automatically see the Gary Larson comic of the doctor scanning a person with a stiff orange cat - I always do). The scan found three small clots. My heart is ok, but I am now on medication again.

So the moral of the story is LISTEN TO YOUR BODY when it is telling you something is not right.

On a happier note. Ian had a singing part in the holiday program. He also got to do some break dancing. He was so excited.
Here's one of Simon - wearing a head band that I made for my secret santa.
Do you think I can still give it to her OR should I be a good mom and make another?

The allure...

For the most part I like winter. I don't mind the snow or the cold. I have all of the right winter gear. I'll go out. I am someone who chooses to stay in when the weather gets yucky (my definition: sub-zero and lots of snow, ice or slush).

However... I do understand the allure of California, Arizona, and parts south and west when I don't have a choice on going out into IT.

When I got inside I had a serious case of hat head, my gosh -I'm not showing you. Lucky for me I work with kids and their hair is much wilder than mine and they don't care what I look like!

Ahh winter...

I still have one flower blooming in a pot in front of the house. This picture is from yesterday afternoon. This morning it didn't look this good. It was wilted and very frosty.

Isnt' it funny how nature works sometimes?

Crunch, Crunch, Crunch

The tree in front of our house finally lost all of its leaves. We had a ton of fun raking and playing.

Look very carefully. They are waiting to see the whites of the squirrels eyes. (See those little orange dots? Two boys are attached to those nerf guns.)

The hunt was not very successful.

Are you going to throw that stick?

Sometimes I'm a ding dong

I have a confession to make. I was not big on going to the library. My friends all go to the library and love it. I didn't want to join that band wagon. I enjoy going to bookstores and buying books. I love the smell of the paper and ink and coffee. I always make sure that I pick a book that the binding hadn't been broken on because so that I am the first one to actually read it. AND I also felt/feel really guilty going to the bookstore and looking at books, then putting them back on the shelf. The library, yah it has the paper smell, but it's not the same.

I'm getting to the ding dong part, really I am. So I've started using the library. The boys and I go a couple of times a week. We've been checking out books and videos. I've found a new love of mysteries - there are mysteries set in knit shops and with yarn spinners. I've found some that also revolve around quilting, too. I'm really liking the library ( I guess I didn't realize how much I spent on books!). There are even brand new books - I've been the first to read a few!

However I have been waiting for FOREVER for a few books that are a couple of years old - ones that "no one" probably wants. I've been waiting for the email that my books are in. Well, it occurred to me that maybe I was doing something wrong when we were at the library yesterday. I kept adding books and videos to my list and it kept getting longer. I couldn't figure out why there wasn't anything on my holds list.

I figured it out this morning. I have to "request" the item, I can't just add it to my list and expect to get sent to me at the library (ding dong).

Just what the doctor ordered

My cardiologist called yesterday (well my former cardiologist).... I no longer need to be on warfarin. I no longer need to see a cardiologist!!

Let's have a collective "YEAH!!!!!"

The last few months have been trying and kind of hard at our house for a number of reasons. One of them being my health. In May, I spent most of a week at UW Hospital because I had massive blood clots in my lungs and my heart was enlarged due to them. I saw the cardiologist last week and my heart was back to normal and he contacted the "lung guy" and whala. Here I am smiling.....

Now to get through the revisions on that &^j%$ paper.

Have a great day everyone.

ps Contact me if you are in the need for the name of an A-1 cardiologist in the Madison area - I have a great one!