...for holiday memes! Here's the latest, sent to me by Ms. Can't Stop Knitting. It's everything you didn't want to know and didn't bother to ask me about what I do at Christmas! Actually, doing the meme got me kind of excited about Christmas -- we'll be getting our tree next weekend, most likely.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags, baby.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real, especially Douglas Fir.
3. When do you put up the tree? The weekend after Thanksgiving, usually.
4. When do you take the tree down? Some time after New Year's Day.
5. Do you like eggnog? Only if there's rum in it!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? Raggedy Ann (and I still have her)
7. Hardest person to buy for? Daddy.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Jack. He's 2 and he Just. Doesn't. Care.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, a primitive wood set that the kids love.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I'd rather not say in case that person ever read this blog!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story -- "You'll shoot your eye out!"
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Any time I see something appropriate.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I think I've regifted a bottle of wine.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Chili Egg Puff.
16. Lights on the tree? Only if they're the small white twinkle lights that don't blink.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Santa Baby as performed by Eartha Kitt.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home, please. At least until the kids are a lot older.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes, if I sing the song!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither. We have a tall red glass tree topper
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Those Salvation Army workers that ring the bells and ask for donations. They're everywhere and the bell ringing makes me crazy.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like the Victorian style glass ornaments.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? My special mashed potatoes.
25. What's on your Christmas wish list this year? A new wedding band in platinum.
26. What do you want for Christmas this year? A peaceful holiday with friends and family close by.
27. Who is most likely to respond to this? Why, everyone! Who wouldn't want to talk about Christmas and kick the season off?
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
3's About Me
Another email meme that I thought would be fun to answer on the blog.
Three places I have lived: Minnesota, California, North Carolina
Three shows that I watch: NCIS, Top Chef, Dexter
Three places I have visited: Italy, Switzerland, France
Three places I have been this week: Yarn & Fiber Company, Trader Joe's and the pediatrician's office.
Three people who e-mail me regularly: My mom, the Crafty Mamas and Knitting Daily
Three of my favorite foods: mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and broccoli
Three places I'd rather be right now: Emerald Isle, Antigua or a cruise to nowhere
Three people I think will respond: Who knows?
Three things I am looking forward to next year: Rhinebeck 2009, the March bonus check and Emerald Isle
Three places I have lived: Minnesota, California, North Carolina
Three shows that I watch: NCIS, Top Chef, Dexter
Three places I have visited: Italy, Switzerland, France
Three places I have been this week: Yarn & Fiber Company, Trader Joe's and the pediatrician's office.
Three people who e-mail me regularly: My mom, the Crafty Mamas and Knitting Daily
Three of my favorite foods: mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and broccoli
Three places I'd rather be right now: Emerald Isle, Antigua or a cruise to nowhere
Three people I think will respond: Who knows?
Three things I am looking forward to next year: Rhinebeck 2009, the March bonus check and Emerald Isle
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
It's Either Sadness or Euphoria
Remember a few weeks ago, when I got the bad news from my GP about my echo results? I ended up doing a follow-up stress echo to get more information. The news was GOOD. My heart measurements were all normal, both at rest and under stress. My EF was normal (and up 8% from the "bad" echo, so that little dip was just a normal variation, I guess).
The only thing that looked bad was my blood pressure. It was low at resting and bottomed out at 70/35 after the test. Did you know that having a BP of 70/35 will make a lot of alarms go off? There was much flurry and concern, especially when my pressure was still 80/50 after everything else went back to normal. There was also some confusion as to why the low pressure wasn't bothering me in the least, at least until I explained that my resting BP was usually around 80/60. After that got straightened out, they let me leave.
My doctor brought it up when he was discussing the results with me on Friday. He told me, and I quote "It's not good to have pressure constantly that low." Oh, really? Because my pressure has been that low for almost 3 years and I've expressed my concern about that to him at least twice that I can remember. In fact, it started right after they put me on the BP medicine after my heart failure. Coincidence? I think NOT! Seriously, though, I was a little taken aback that my cardiologist and the staff doing my stress echo didn't seem to put together the facts that (1) I had low normal BP before my heart failure; (2) I was put on medication to lower my BP to help my heart rest; and (3) now I have unusually low BP. After I told my doctor how crappy, tired and dizzy I felt all the time, he said "let's try going without it for a while and see how you do."
So I am officially heart/BP medication free! Whee! I was a little afraid at first, but now (4 days later), I feel pretty darn good. I haven't felt the bone-crushing exhaustion that usually hits me around noon for a couple of days. I also started feeling a lot less depressed on Sunday, which led me to wonder if the BP meds could have been contributing to that as well. A quick tour of the internet revealed that low BP can cause depression, as well as forgetfulness. I've been dealing with both since Jack was born, so I'm curious to see if the med change will make a difference.
On the other hand, I might just be really, really happy and relieved after 3 years of taking meds that made me feel sick and 3 years of worrying that my heart would never get better. So, I'm withholding my judgment about the effect of going off the BP meds until I've had some time to get used to being a person with a healthy, normal heart again.
Oh yeah, tip to those of you who might have to take a stress echo in the future. Find out before you go in what kind of exercise you'll be doing. It won't make a difference in how hard they push you, but at least you'll be mentally prepared. I was expecting to "ride a stationary bike." I was a little confused when I got into the exam room when I didn't see a bike. It turned out that the "bike" was actually pedals mounted on a table. I had to lie flat on my back and pedal from that angle. When it was time for them to do the echo, the table rotated sideways at a 45% angle. Have you ever tried to pedal a bike on your back while tilted sideways? In the words of the echo technician, "They don't call it a stress echo because it's a walk in the park." No kidding!
The only thing that looked bad was my blood pressure. It was low at resting and bottomed out at 70/35 after the test. Did you know that having a BP of 70/35 will make a lot of alarms go off? There was much flurry and concern, especially when my pressure was still 80/50 after everything else went back to normal. There was also some confusion as to why the low pressure wasn't bothering me in the least, at least until I explained that my resting BP was usually around 80/60. After that got straightened out, they let me leave.
My doctor brought it up when he was discussing the results with me on Friday. He told me, and I quote "It's not good to have pressure constantly that low." Oh, really? Because my pressure has been that low for almost 3 years and I've expressed my concern about that to him at least twice that I can remember. In fact, it started right after they put me on the BP medicine after my heart failure. Coincidence? I think NOT! Seriously, though, I was a little taken aback that my cardiologist and the staff doing my stress echo didn't seem to put together the facts that (1) I had low normal BP before my heart failure; (2) I was put on medication to lower my BP to help my heart rest; and (3) now I have unusually low BP. After I told my doctor how crappy, tired and dizzy I felt all the time, he said "let's try going without it for a while and see how you do."
So I am officially heart/BP medication free! Whee! I was a little afraid at first, but now (4 days later), I feel pretty darn good. I haven't felt the bone-crushing exhaustion that usually hits me around noon for a couple of days. I also started feeling a lot less depressed on Sunday, which led me to wonder if the BP meds could have been contributing to that as well. A quick tour of the internet revealed that low BP can cause depression, as well as forgetfulness. I've been dealing with both since Jack was born, so I'm curious to see if the med change will make a difference.
On the other hand, I might just be really, really happy and relieved after 3 years of taking meds that made me feel sick and 3 years of worrying that my heart would never get better. So, I'm withholding my judgment about the effect of going off the BP meds until I've had some time to get used to being a person with a healthy, normal heart again.
Oh yeah, tip to those of you who might have to take a stress echo in the future. Find out before you go in what kind of exercise you'll be doing. It won't make a difference in how hard they push you, but at least you'll be mentally prepared. I was expecting to "ride a stationary bike." I was a little confused when I got into the exam room when I didn't see a bike. It turned out that the "bike" was actually pedals mounted on a table. I had to lie flat on my back and pedal from that angle. When it was time for them to do the echo, the table rotated sideways at a 45% angle. Have you ever tried to pedal a bike on your back while tilted sideways? In the words of the echo technician, "They don't call it a stress echo because it's a walk in the park." No kidding!
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Potty Training
We are trying to train Jack. This summer, he self-trained for about 3 days at my mother's house when she gave him some "big boy" underpants. After the novelty wore off, though, he reverted to the pull-ups. Since he left daycare this fall, I've done intensive training several times. He usually pees in pair after pair of underpants until I give up. On the other hand, every time he takes a bath, he asks to pee on the potty before he gets in and does it successfully almost every time. So, we know he CAN train, but he seems to want to do it on his own time.
He has a potty chart right now where he can earn a black licorice dog when he's successful. Every single dog was earned at bathtime...until tonight.
I was knitting a pair of socks and half-watching a movie. Both kids were asleep, but suddenly, I heard "Mommy! Mommy!" I thought it was Lily at first, but then I heard "Mommy, pee started coming out and I have to use the potty!" Apparently, he suddenly woke up and had to pee!
I went into the hallway and saw Jack standing in the hall, wearing his blue footie pajamas and holding a black plastic gun. He said "Pee started coming out in a pullup! I need a potty!" He was waving the gun for emphasis. I took him into his bedroom and unzipped him so he could take his pullup off. We went into the bathroom and he sat down on his little potty.
Nothing happened. After a few minutes, I said "Are you done?" "I need a little more time," he said. I said "Would you like to read a book while you're waiting?" and he said "Yeah!" Then he pulled the bathroom stool towards his potty and laid the plastic gun on it. "I'm jus' gonna put my gun here," he said.
I went to his room and came back with a book, which he took and opened. I said "I'm going to go into the living room. Just let me know when you're all done." "Okay, Mommy!" A minute or two passed, and then I heard "Mommy! Come here, Mommy!" I went into the bathroom.
"Where did THIS come from?" he asked, holding up a small plastic dog. "I don't know," I said. "Are you finished?" "No, I need a little more time." I left the room again. Pretty soon, I heard "Mommy, come here, Mommy!" I went back in. "Are you finished?" "No, I need more time. I'm all done my book," he said, handing it to me. I took it and left.
Several more minutes passed and then he appeared in the living room, naked from the waist down with the bottom half of his pajamas trailing behind. "Come look! I peed! I gonna get a licorice dog!" I gave him his dog and took him to his room to get his pullup and pajamas back on. "I felt a pee coming out and I went potty!" he said. "Good job!" I said and turned off the light.
"Mommy?" I looked back in. "What?" He sat up in his bed and said "I need my gun."
He has a potty chart right now where he can earn a black licorice dog when he's successful. Every single dog was earned at bathtime...until tonight.
I was knitting a pair of socks and half-watching a movie. Both kids were asleep, but suddenly, I heard "Mommy! Mommy!" I thought it was Lily at first, but then I heard "Mommy, pee started coming out and I have to use the potty!" Apparently, he suddenly woke up and had to pee!
I went into the hallway and saw Jack standing in the hall, wearing his blue footie pajamas and holding a black plastic gun. He said "Pee started coming out in a pullup! I need a potty!" He was waving the gun for emphasis. I took him into his bedroom and unzipped him so he could take his pullup off. We went into the bathroom and he sat down on his little potty.
Nothing happened. After a few minutes, I said "Are you done?" "I need a little more time," he said. I said "Would you like to read a book while you're waiting?" and he said "Yeah!" Then he pulled the bathroom stool towards his potty and laid the plastic gun on it. "I'm jus' gonna put my gun here," he said.
I went to his room and came back with a book, which he took and opened. I said "I'm going to go into the living room. Just let me know when you're all done." "Okay, Mommy!" A minute or two passed, and then I heard "Mommy! Come here, Mommy!" I went into the bathroom.
"Where did THIS come from?" he asked, holding up a small plastic dog. "I don't know," I said. "Are you finished?" "No, I need a little more time." I left the room again. Pretty soon, I heard "Mommy, come here, Mommy!" I went back in. "Are you finished?" "No, I need more time. I'm all done my book," he said, handing it to me. I took it and left.
Several more minutes passed and then he appeared in the living room, naked from the waist down with the bottom half of his pajamas trailing behind. "Come look! I peed! I gonna get a licorice dog!" I gave him his dog and took him to his room to get his pullup and pajamas back on. "I felt a pee coming out and I went potty!" he said. "Good job!" I said and turned off the light.
"Mommy?" I looked back in. "What?" He sat up in his bed and said "I need my gun."
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
What's Under My Couch This Week
It's been a while, but rest assured, I have been cleaning under the couch. Life has just gotten in the way of posting about it lately. This is what I found last Tuesday:
Yoga Ball pum
empty 2 liter bottle of Orange Dry soda
2 small pumpkins (one was slightly squashy)
paper crown liberally decorated with gems by Lily
sucker ball
1 marker
paint brush
toy walkie talkie
2 binkies
2 halves of Jim's favorite yoyo (Jack took it apart)
book of stickers
felt witch hat from the pumpkin Jack decorated on the 18th of October
1 matching pair of socks
a piece belong to Lily's magic set
2 golf balls
Christmas napkin ring
3 magnet blocks and the entire set of cards showing different designs
silk daisy
harmonica
1 penny
letter from MGH reminding me of the date for my echocardiogram
2 Hotwheels cars
toy fishing rod
part to the old vacuum cleaner
cow doll
playdough tool (looks like a jackknife with lots of playdough shaping implements)
party blower
glass suncatcher
1 gigabyte thumb drive
1 card from the Wild Things themed UNO game
1 Good Times token
1 stitch marker
The two golf balls were the inspiration for Jack's latest song called "My Two Balls." Some of the priceless lines from the song "I got two balls" and "Eat my balls" (the second line was sung while he tried to shove one of the golf balls into his mouth).
Yoga Ball pum
empty 2 liter bottle of Orange Dry soda
2 small pumpkins (one was slightly squashy)
paper crown liberally decorated with gems by Lily
sucker ball
1 marker
paint brush
toy walkie talkie
2 binkies
2 halves of Jim's favorite yoyo (Jack took it apart)
book of stickers
felt witch hat from the pumpkin Jack decorated on the 18th of October
1 matching pair of socks
a piece belong to Lily's magic set
2 golf balls
Christmas napkin ring
3 magnet blocks and the entire set of cards showing different designs
silk daisy
harmonica
1 penny
letter from MGH reminding me of the date for my echocardiogram
2 Hotwheels cars
toy fishing rod
part to the old vacuum cleaner
cow doll
playdough tool (looks like a jackknife with lots of playdough shaping implements)
party blower
glass suncatcher
1 gigabyte thumb drive
1 card from the Wild Things themed UNO game
1 Good Times token
1 stitch marker
The two golf balls were the inspiration for Jack's latest song called "My Two Balls." Some of the priceless lines from the song "I got two balls" and "Eat my balls" (the second line was sung while he tried to shove one of the golf balls into his mouth).
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Rhinebeck, Baby!
We had so much fun. I'm already looking forward to next year. If you love yarn and the fiber arts, you really should go. Come on, Rhinebeck 2009!
FRIDAY:
After my cardiology appointment, which went fairly well, I drove home and met up with Lisa of Can't Stop Knitting fame. We drove out to Northampton to stay with her parents. We made it to Webs about 15 minutes before closing but we each still managed to pick up a few items. I was buying Malabrigo chunky for two friends, so I picked up a skein for myself and also managed to reach out and snag some lovely handpainted sock yarn. Of course, none of this came out of my Rhinebeck budget because we weren't at Rhinebeck yet.
The Webs bus was scheduled to leave at 7:30 am. Lisa and I set our alarms for 5:15 am. We were both overly concerned about missing the bus. We each set our phone alarms and then we set the alarm clock in the guest room where I was sleeping. We also got a little panicky and worried it might be daylight savings time. I ended up checking it out on the internet. Afterwards, when cooler heads prevailed, we both realized that daylight savings time always starts at midnight on a Saturday night, so it wouldn't have affected us. As I write this, I also realize that we "fall back," which means that instead of missing the bus, we would have been an hour EARLY if daylight savings time was in effect. All of which just goes to show you how excited we were to go on our trip.
SATURDAY:
After a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts (I run on Dunkin' iced tea), we arrived at Webs well before the bus. In fact, we would have been well before the bus even if we arrived at 7:30 because the bus driver had a little trouble finding us! Lisa noticed a tour bus driving past the entrance to Webs, and speculated jokingly that it was our bus missing the turn. A few minutes later, the same bus drove past going the other direction. Eventually, the girl from Webs who was running the tour went out to the main road, met up with the driver and then rode back with him to give him directions.
Once we were on the road, the group leader from Webs asked several trivia questions. The winners got prizes ranging from Webs water bottles to pretty knitting bags complete with either the materials for drop spindle spinning or knitting a project! Lisa immediately won a water bottle. I stunk at the questions, so I won nothing. As we pulled up to the fair, the group leader announced that the first three people with birth dates coming up would win $10. Lisa was one of the big winners!
Now to describe Rhinebeck. It reminded me of the Topsfield Fair (for those of you in Massachusetts who are familiar with it), except that almost everything was fiber related. We started out in a big building with a ton of vendors. I immediately bought a skein of silk/merino blend, while Lisa got yarn and a pattern from the same vendor. The crowd was insane. It was difficult to move in and out of some of the booths, and I ended up giving Lisa my skein and some money, because by the time I was done shopping, she was about 10 people ahead of me in the checkout line.
She sent me on a mission to find the Blue Moon booth while she waited to check out. We had been warned that the Blue Moon would sell out in the first hour, and we were both interested in checking it out. She met me at the booth, which was pretty crammed. We each grabbed chose a skein and headed to the checkout line. There were about 4 people in front of the counter, but as we headed to the end of the line, we saw that it went around the corner...and all the way across the giant hall, where it then doubled back. There were at least 50 people in line! We both turned right around and put the skeins down, because that line just wasn't worth it.
I was pleased to see a lot of rug hooking vendors, and ended up buying a punch needle kit, pattern and some wool thread for the project. Because I TOTALLY need another craft to do! I also got some great ideas for my etsy store (I'm working on your pin, Lisa!).
We spent an inordinate amount of time trying to locate the Ancient Threads booth. The Rhinebeck website said it would be located between building 26 and 27, but we just couldn't find it. On the bus ride home, Lisa noticed that it didn't appear in the guidebook we got at the fair, so they probably weren't even there this year!
Here are a couple of "friends" from the fair:
We wandered around aimlessly for about 40 minutes trying to locate the Ravelry meet up as well. We wanted to get our Ravelry buttons because we heard a rumor that some vendors would give discounts to Ravelers (I didn't get any discounts, so I don't know if it was true or not). There was a vague description of the meet up site, and a map with an arrow pointing to nothing. Eventually we banded together with another Raveler and just stood in the general location suggested by the arrow. After a little while, Casey, the Very Nice Man who programmed Ravelry showed up with his brother-in-law, another guy and beer in hand. Several of us immediately used the opportunity to get photos with him, which made him very shy and prompted him to remind us that his wife, Jess, who thought up the idea of Ravelry, would be there soon and wouldn't we rather have a picture of her? Lisa and I just thanked him and grabbed our buttons so we could get back to the vendors.
That's little crocheted Bob in his pocket!
Here's what I bought:
- Decadent Fibers Creme Brulee in a semisolid blue (2000 yds)
- Socks that Rock medium weight sock yarn (3 skeins, I was out of control)
- Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm sock yarn
- Shelridge Farms sock yarn (3 skeins), a Lucy Neatby scarf pattern, and a Cookie A sock pattern
- Briar Rose DK weight in deep reds and blue (1000 yds)
- Spirit Trails sock yarn in semisolid blue
- Some silk/merino blend yarn from a vendor whose name escapes me (blues and greens)
- Creatively Dyed sock in semisolid silver
- a punch needle design, wool thread and punch needle set
- 2 kinds of goat cheese for Jim
- Swedish Fish for the kids
- a Go-Monkey project bag (check out their website)
I might have left some stuff out, I'm doing this from memory. If you have access to Ravelry, you can look in my stash and see everything. Or you can just look at a picture of the whole thing here:
There were a lot of people wearing their Rhinebeck Sweaters. Lisa was wearing her beautiful February Lady, and about 1,000 people stopped us to compliment her. A couple of people even stopped to compliment me on my very detailed Talbot's sweater because they assumed I'd knit it myself. Sadly, I didn't even come close to finishing my Wisteria sweater in time for the trip.
After a long day of shopping, we trudged back to the bus. We were told at the beginning of the day that we had to be back at the bus by 4:00 pm. Lisa and I picked up some apple crisp and ice cream and made sure we were there by 3:45. Some people had such large purchases that they opened the luggage compartment under the bus! We all dragged ourselves into the bus and waited while the group leader took attendance. We had a few stragglers who showed up just before 4. She took the final attendance and one person was missing! The missing lady was apparently traveling alone. No one knew her and no one had a cell phone number for her. The store tried calling her home number and no one answered. Eventually, the group leader left the bus and went back into the fair to have her paged, to no avail. We finally left at about 4:45 without her! We are very curious as to what happened -- my guess is that she met up with someone she knew and decided to go back with that person.
On the drive home, we played a yarn version of "Let's Make a Deal." The group leader called out the description of an item and the first person to show one got a prize. I won a water bottle and a little kit that included needles, a pattern and a skein of yarn.
It was such a fun weekend. It could only have been better if we'd gone with a big group of friends. I hope we can get more people to go next year!
FRIDAY:
After my cardiology appointment, which went fairly well, I drove home and met up with Lisa of Can't Stop Knitting fame. We drove out to Northampton to stay with her parents. We made it to Webs about 15 minutes before closing but we each still managed to pick up a few items. I was buying Malabrigo chunky for two friends, so I picked up a skein for myself and also managed to reach out and snag some lovely handpainted sock yarn. Of course, none of this came out of my Rhinebeck budget because we weren't at Rhinebeck yet.
The Webs bus was scheduled to leave at 7:30 am. Lisa and I set our alarms for 5:15 am. We were both overly concerned about missing the bus. We each set our phone alarms and then we set the alarm clock in the guest room where I was sleeping. We also got a little panicky and worried it might be daylight savings time. I ended up checking it out on the internet. Afterwards, when cooler heads prevailed, we both realized that daylight savings time always starts at midnight on a Saturday night, so it wouldn't have affected us. As I write this, I also realize that we "fall back," which means that instead of missing the bus, we would have been an hour EARLY if daylight savings time was in effect. All of which just goes to show you how excited we were to go on our trip.
SATURDAY:
After a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts (I run on Dunkin' iced tea), we arrived at Webs well before the bus. In fact, we would have been well before the bus even if we arrived at 7:30 because the bus driver had a little trouble finding us! Lisa noticed a tour bus driving past the entrance to Webs, and speculated jokingly that it was our bus missing the turn. A few minutes later, the same bus drove past going the other direction. Eventually, the girl from Webs who was running the tour went out to the main road, met up with the driver and then rode back with him to give him directions.
Once we were on the road, the group leader from Webs asked several trivia questions. The winners got prizes ranging from Webs water bottles to pretty knitting bags complete with either the materials for drop spindle spinning or knitting a project! Lisa immediately won a water bottle. I stunk at the questions, so I won nothing. As we pulled up to the fair, the group leader announced that the first three people with birth dates coming up would win $10. Lisa was one of the big winners!
Now to describe Rhinebeck. It reminded me of the Topsfield Fair (for those of you in Massachusetts who are familiar with it), except that almost everything was fiber related. We started out in a big building with a ton of vendors. I immediately bought a skein of silk/merino blend, while Lisa got yarn and a pattern from the same vendor. The crowd was insane. It was difficult to move in and out of some of the booths, and I ended up giving Lisa my skein and some money, because by the time I was done shopping, she was about 10 people ahead of me in the checkout line.
She sent me on a mission to find the Blue Moon booth while she waited to check out. We had been warned that the Blue Moon would sell out in the first hour, and we were both interested in checking it out. She met me at the booth, which was pretty crammed. We each grabbed chose a skein and headed to the checkout line. There were about 4 people in front of the counter, but as we headed to the end of the line, we saw that it went around the corner...and all the way across the giant hall, where it then doubled back. There were at least 50 people in line! We both turned right around and put the skeins down, because that line just wasn't worth it.
I was pleased to see a lot of rug hooking vendors, and ended up buying a punch needle kit, pattern and some wool thread for the project. Because I TOTALLY need another craft to do! I also got some great ideas for my etsy store (I'm working on your pin, Lisa!).
We spent an inordinate amount of time trying to locate the Ancient Threads booth. The Rhinebeck website said it would be located between building 26 and 27, but we just couldn't find it. On the bus ride home, Lisa noticed that it didn't appear in the guidebook we got at the fair, so they probably weren't even there this year!
Here are a couple of "friends" from the fair:
We wandered around aimlessly for about 40 minutes trying to locate the Ravelry meet up as well. We wanted to get our Ravelry buttons because we heard a rumor that some vendors would give discounts to Ravelers (I didn't get any discounts, so I don't know if it was true or not). There was a vague description of the meet up site, and a map with an arrow pointing to nothing. Eventually we banded together with another Raveler and just stood in the general location suggested by the arrow. After a little while, Casey, the Very Nice Man who programmed Ravelry showed up with his brother-in-law, another guy and beer in hand. Several of us immediately used the opportunity to get photos with him, which made him very shy and prompted him to remind us that his wife, Jess, who thought up the idea of Ravelry, would be there soon and wouldn't we rather have a picture of her? Lisa and I just thanked him and grabbed our buttons so we could get back to the vendors.
That's little crocheted Bob in his pocket!
Here's what I bought:
- Decadent Fibers Creme Brulee in a semisolid blue (2000 yds)
- Socks that Rock medium weight sock yarn (3 skeins, I was out of control)
- Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm sock yarn
- Shelridge Farms sock yarn (3 skeins), a Lucy Neatby scarf pattern, and a Cookie A sock pattern
- Briar Rose DK weight in deep reds and blue (1000 yds)
- Spirit Trails sock yarn in semisolid blue
- Some silk/merino blend yarn from a vendor whose name escapes me (blues and greens)
- Creatively Dyed sock in semisolid silver
- a punch needle design, wool thread and punch needle set
- 2 kinds of goat cheese for Jim
- Swedish Fish for the kids
- a Go-Monkey project bag (check out their website)
I might have left some stuff out, I'm doing this from memory. If you have access to Ravelry, you can look in my stash and see everything. Or you can just look at a picture of the whole thing here:
There were a lot of people wearing their Rhinebeck Sweaters. Lisa was wearing her beautiful February Lady, and about 1,000 people stopped us to compliment her. A couple of people even stopped to compliment me on my very detailed Talbot's sweater because they assumed I'd knit it myself. Sadly, I didn't even come close to finishing my Wisteria sweater in time for the trip.
After a long day of shopping, we trudged back to the bus. We were told at the beginning of the day that we had to be back at the bus by 4:00 pm. Lisa and I picked up some apple crisp and ice cream and made sure we were there by 3:45. Some people had such large purchases that they opened the luggage compartment under the bus! We all dragged ourselves into the bus and waited while the group leader took attendance. We had a few stragglers who showed up just before 4. She took the final attendance and one person was missing! The missing lady was apparently traveling alone. No one knew her and no one had a cell phone number for her. The store tried calling her home number and no one answered. Eventually, the group leader left the bus and went back into the fair to have her paged, to no avail. We finally left at about 4:45 without her! We are very curious as to what happened -- my guess is that she met up with someone she knew and decided to go back with that person.
On the drive home, we played a yarn version of "Let's Make a Deal." The group leader called out the description of an item and the first person to show one got a prize. I won a water bottle and a little kit that included needles, a pattern and a skein of yarn.
It was such a fun weekend. It could only have been better if we'd gone with a big group of friends. I hope we can get more people to go next year!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Off to Rhinebeck with a Broken Heart
Well, folks, Lisa and I are heading out tomorrow afternoon! I am as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve. I have snacks, my head lamp (so I can knit on the bus after dark), two projects to work on and a wad of cash in my purse. Lisa's an old hat at Rhinebeck, but it's all new to me.
Sadly, I will not be wearing my Wisteria sweater, although I will bring it along to work on. I am only 20 rows from completing the body, but there are still two sleeves, each of which are cabled at the wrist. I toyed with staying up all night to finish it, but there's a point when you just have to let it go. I'm at that point.
I am going to operate on a cash only basis so that when the money runs out my shopping is done. That way I'll be less likely to go over my budget. I'm going to try very hard to stick to it. Of course, the budget doesn't include any monies spent at Webs tomorrow afternoon. I will be taking a look in the warehouse, of course.
In other news, I got my echocardiogram results this week. I have had some regression since I stopped taking my beta blocker this summer. I will be seeing my cardiologist (who looks like a very cute 12 year old) tomorrow right before I leave on my trip.
I've been pretty down since my doctor sent me the results. People who are diagnosed with an Ejection Fraction (EF) of 30% or greater usually resolve their condition within a year. People diagnosed below that mark have a much lower chance of healing. Since I was at 33% +/- 5%, I could go either way. After leaving my job, I improved significantly and had an EF of 60% +/- 5% (totally normal) last fall. I was hopeful that if I maintained that level for a year, I might be able to stop the medications and resume my normal life. The regression means I might have to go back on my old meds, which means more problems with asthma and all the other crappy side effects I have from beta blockers. Sadly, I've had some slight enlargement and my EF droped to 52% +/- 5%.
I know intellectually that's not a big deal. Technically, I'm still in the normal range, and I have been for the last 3 echos. That's something to be really happy about. There can be variations in EF from day to day that could explain the slight regression.
Emotionally, I'm really fragile right now. I've felt so much better and so HOPEFUL since I stopped the beta blocker. I dread the thought of taking a step backwards when I was so looking forward to coming to an end of this whole episode. I am trying to accept that I may have to take the medications, and then additional medications to counteract the side effects, for the rest of my life. The good news is that I'll be perfectly healthy. The bad news is that this heart problem will be a permanent part of my life. Even though I've contemplated that eventuality for 2 years, deep down I always thought I'd get past this point.
So I'm heartbroken right now (no pun intended). The only thing helping me keep my chin up is the excitement of Rhinebeck. If I had to have bad news, it couldn't have come at a better time.
Anyway, I try to keep my blog light and don't want to make my crappy ticker a regular part of this blog. So that's the way things stand right now, and I have a gut feeling that my very conservative cardiologist is going to go for the cautious approach tomorrow. Guess I better bust out the granny pill organizer again!
BUT...I'm going to Rhinebeck! Wheeeee!
Sadly, I will not be wearing my Wisteria sweater, although I will bring it along to work on. I am only 20 rows from completing the body, but there are still two sleeves, each of which are cabled at the wrist. I toyed with staying up all night to finish it, but there's a point when you just have to let it go. I'm at that point.
I am going to operate on a cash only basis so that when the money runs out my shopping is done. That way I'll be less likely to go over my budget. I'm going to try very hard to stick to it. Of course, the budget doesn't include any monies spent at Webs tomorrow afternoon. I will be taking a look in the warehouse, of course.
In other news, I got my echocardiogram results this week. I have had some regression since I stopped taking my beta blocker this summer. I will be seeing my cardiologist (who looks like a very cute 12 year old) tomorrow right before I leave on my trip.
I've been pretty down since my doctor sent me the results. People who are diagnosed with an Ejection Fraction (EF) of 30% or greater usually resolve their condition within a year. People diagnosed below that mark have a much lower chance of healing. Since I was at 33% +/- 5%, I could go either way. After leaving my job, I improved significantly and had an EF of 60% +/- 5% (totally normal) last fall. I was hopeful that if I maintained that level for a year, I might be able to stop the medications and resume my normal life. The regression means I might have to go back on my old meds, which means more problems with asthma and all the other crappy side effects I have from beta blockers. Sadly, I've had some slight enlargement and my EF droped to 52% +/- 5%.
I know intellectually that's not a big deal. Technically, I'm still in the normal range, and I have been for the last 3 echos. That's something to be really happy about. There can be variations in EF from day to day that could explain the slight regression.
Emotionally, I'm really fragile right now. I've felt so much better and so HOPEFUL since I stopped the beta blocker. I dread the thought of taking a step backwards when I was so looking forward to coming to an end of this whole episode. I am trying to accept that I may have to take the medications, and then additional medications to counteract the side effects, for the rest of my life. The good news is that I'll be perfectly healthy. The bad news is that this heart problem will be a permanent part of my life. Even though I've contemplated that eventuality for 2 years, deep down I always thought I'd get past this point.
So I'm heartbroken right now (no pun intended). The only thing helping me keep my chin up is the excitement of Rhinebeck. If I had to have bad news, it couldn't have come at a better time.
Anyway, I try to keep my blog light and don't want to make my crappy ticker a regular part of this blog. So that's the way things stand right now, and I have a gut feeling that my very conservative cardiologist is going to go for the cautious approach tomorrow. Guess I better bust out the granny pill organizer again!
BUT...I'm going to Rhinebeck! Wheeeee!
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