Happy New Year!!!

I just finished knitting an Ipod Hoodie for Emily's Ipod and figured I'd post while it was in the washer felting.

There have been a lot of ups and a lot of downs this year, but, by far, the changes that have occurred over the last year have been for the better. Here are some that I can think of:

• I got to spend another year as Jim's wife....who could ask for more?????
  
• Emily moved out (now we get along much better because of it)
• Christopher got stationed here.
• Christopher married a lovely young lady,
• That lovely young lady gave us a BEAUTIFUL granddaughter.
• Jeffrey came home from Iraq Christmas Eve.
• Richard got confirmed.
• Jim's mom and I got closer.
• I cut off all ties with my mother.
  
• I got to spend another year with Jim.
• Tory came back home.
• Tory came back home.
• Tory came back home.
• Jim's meds seem to be helping him.
  
• Richard is 'getting it' when it comes to integrity and maturity.
• My therapy has made leaps and bounds.....quite a few breakthroughs
• I have really progressed in my knitting....I never thought I'd knit lace...but it's so easy!
• Grandpap Jim turned 100 years old!
• We got rid of the van and got a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid....I LOVE IT!!!
  
• Jim and I are reconciled with Diana....I now consider her a friend.
• Phoebe recovered from the brink of death......literally.
  
• Greg got stationed far away.
• Our yard got fenced in!
• We got cupboards and a sink in the garage.
  
• We got Franklin Butthead Tomcat (aka Frankie, Frankie B.)
• Emily graduated!
• Emily started college!
• We met (just yesterday!) Jeffrey's girlfriend...I really like her and she has a sweet 2 year old daughter.
• ALL of our children made it here for Jeffrey's homecoming and Christmas.
  

That's all that I can think of right now....but I know there are many more things......my life gets better every day...........I am now married to the man of my dreams and learning how to become a 'normal' person and not a crazy bitch that flies off the handle at the least little thing. I want normal SOOOOOO badly!!!!

Now for the bad things that I can think of:

• My beloved Brenda Miyamasu passed away. That is by far one of the saddest events in my life
• Rich and Tory's grandmother June passed away....it was what she really wanted though.
• Christopher is having to deal with the ramifications of being in a war zone for a year and a half. He's having a rough time of it.
• Jim has been battling depression this year....it completely overwhelmed him over the summer. He's on meds and he says he's feeling better.
• Phoebe's illness cost over $800 and almost killed US!!!!!

Isn't it wonderful that I can think of so many GOOD things and only a few BAD things????? Brenda's death far overshadowed every good thing for quite a few months. She was the most wonderful person I've ever met and I truly love her with all my heart. She was someone who I aspired to be like, she was someone who had class, she was someone who CARED and she was someone who loved.
I miss her so much.
OK....time to stop before I start crying harder.
Happy New Year.

Less holiday Drama is still DRAMA!

I swore that NO MATTER WHAT that there would be no drama (on my part) about ANYTHING this Christmas.
I apparently forgot that I had kids!!!!

OK, so things are all stirred up anyway because Jeffrey is coming home from Iraq on Christmas Eve! We are so excited and thrilled.
AND, that we were able to get Emily down here for a last minute visit. She has been on her semi-best behavior......I know she's really trying.

So the first thing that happens is I find out on the 23rd that Chris and Sarah made different plans for Christmas Day and no one told us. The last thing that we heard was that they were hosting the dinner. We've talked to Christopher daily and he never said anything to us. When I called to tell Sarah about Jeff's flight she asked if they could come over on Christmas Eve to do presents because they had other plans on Christmas day that didn't involve us. I was VERY VERY hurt that no one told us. All this time I thought that with Jeff coming home Christmas Eve and getting Emily down here that for the first time is several years all 5 of our kids would be sitting down together with us for a holiday meal. I don't care that they made seperate plans.....they are a family now....but it REALLY hurt me when Christopher said "Well, I don't know why you even expected to see us on Christmas Day because we never said we'd see you!"
I guess I was wrong in thinking that we were still part of his extended family.

So I asked Sarah if she would mind having Christmas Dinner with us on Christmas Eve so that we could all be together. OK....that worked. Then Tory was pissed about it. She said that she was mad because everything has changed and she wanted it to be like it always was when she was growing up.....open presents in the morning....NOT the night before and then have dinner that day NOT the night before. So I tried to smooth her feathers and suggest that we save back the ham (cuz I know she's the one that LOVES to have the ham) for us for Christmas day and we won't open OUR presents....only ones to/from Christopher/Sarah. Ok...that worked.

Jim and I got Sarapher a kitchen table set for Christmas. Jim wanted to get them more so he got Chris a tackle box and Richard bought him some fake bait and hooks. Richard got Sarah a statue of a woman holding a baby.....it was plain white in the Lladro type fashion. Tory got them some platters to match Sarah's dish pattern........old come to find out TODAY that Sarah doesn't have the ones that she's told me several times that she has....she has a totally different pattern. GRRRRRR!!!!!
Tory and I wanted to make sure that they had a couple of other things so we raided the candy that Diana sent and got some lotions etc. Tory worked to make sure that the stockings looked really nice.

So, we had a nice visit blah blah blah.

They leave. Bridgett and Scotty leave. Chara and Baily leave. Jeff, by this time is pretty lit and wants to go out and find some fun. Tory was going with him to be his designated driver....although my radar felt that she had the same feelings for him that she always did....and I may be way off base....she just seemed to always be right at his side all evening long. Which, I really don't care about. I love them both. She is just as much my daughter as Emily and they are both adults. But they did not grow up as siblings so if they want to 'dance' then that's THEIR business and I really have no feelings about it at all......except to hope that it doesn't cause any hurt feelings or strife/drama in the family.

Anyway, so they are leaving and said that they may not be home until tomorrow afternoon and I said that we had the presents to open in the morning and that the ham needs to be cooked (she had said that SHE will do it). She said....oh......it's ok.....we can eat later and open the presents in the evening. I was NOT a happy camper!!!!!!!!!!! After having to smooth her feathers because SHE wanted it to be TRADITIONAL......GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! I just closed my mouth and walked away and started cleaning the kitchen.
Richard came in and started helping me when they left and he was pretty upset that Tory didn't seem to care about all the extra things that were done to make HER happy and accomodate HER wants! GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!
Well, I told him it was ok......that I think she just didn't realize that she was hurting his/my feelings. (He was really upset and hurt).
And then he drops the NEXT bombshell that Tory and Richard didn't get even a card from Sarapher. Everyone else got something but the two of them. I don't even know what to think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Both kids were really hurt.

So much for no drama.
Hopefully this is the end of it.

Happy Third Second Anniversary!!!!

Today is our third Second Anniversary. And that's a long story. To make my life easier I am just going to copy/paste the email that I sent to the Texas Knitting list.

(disclaimer….long story….as you can see…..and religious ideals presented…….you may want to delete if you don’t want to read either of those! LOL)

Thanks Dawn!!

I dying sick with a cold/flu that my step-daughter was generous enough to share with me! LOL!

She’s 21 and left her husband (we are SOOO thrilled she saw the light) and moved back home with us. She moves into her apartment 2 blocks from us next week. My 18yo daughter is flying down here to so that she can be here when my oldest one redeploys from Iraq on Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning…..the flight times are still up in the air….um, no pun intended.

Our house is packed to the gills…….don’t forget our 3 cats and 2 dogs and my step-daughter’s cat! LOL!!!!

About our anniversary………it’s a weird story and I will try to make it short.

We became neighbors with Jim and Dottie in 1992 when we moved onto Fort Hood. Our kids grew up together and were friends. We moved to a different house, and they did too, but we kinda stayed in touch thru the kids seeing each other at school etc. Dottie passed away suddenly at the age of 43 on Veteran’s Day in ’03. I was on the verge of a divorce at that time also. Little did I know that Jim and Dottie’s marriage was pure hell on earth (we have since found out that she was abusing the kids while he was stationed overseas….like REALLY abusing….like the worst things a parent can do to a child…….and now both kids say the best thing that ever happened to them is their mother dying and their dad and I getting married (stepson is 15, stepdaughter is 21). Of course, Jim had no idea that what I was going thru with David either. One thing led to the next and before I knew it I realized that I had found my other half (sounds nauseating, but it’s true).

David made the divorce a living hell. Agreeing to one thing then filing the opposite. It was horrible.

FINALLY, we had date set at the end of August for the court hearing. By that time I was living in Jim’s house (yes, scarlet, but I knew I was going to marry him and I had no where else to live. David had beat the living crap out of me and I couldn’t stay at my house. Our (then 15 year old) daughter wanted to live with him, so he couldn’t live in the barracks…..I was the one that needed to move out….anyway…….) and were planning on getting married as soon as we could.

On Aug 24^th, 2005, the judge swore us in, we testified that we agreed with everything in the decree and he then granted the divorce. Now, in TX you have to wait 30 days after a div to remarry unless you have a waiver from a judge. I didn’t want to wait the 30 days because I didn’t want my anniv to be ‘during the holidays’ as I told Jim…………if it’s during the holidays, then we will never be able to just take off and do something. So the same judge gave me the waiver and we got the license.

On September 1^st we stood with a few of our kids (step-daughter boycotted but has since come around and we are now very close), oldest son got deployed that very afternoon to New Orleans for Katrina duty, second son was in Iraq) and were married by our neighbor who is a minister. The next day my daughter calls me and says “Are you and dad divorced????” I told her of course we were….she was my witness the day before….and I told her that the judge would not have granted me the waiver to marry if I wasn’t divorced….in other words, the courts would not have issued the marriage license if things were not final. “Well dad says that you are still married and that he won’t sign the papers because he doesn’t agree with them” (He’s the king of Passive-Aggressive behavior……he will swear in court that he’s fine with the agreement…..but won’t sign the paperwork…GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!)

That was a whole big ordeal that meant going back to court on Sept 29th and having the judge overrule his lack of signature. I asked the judge then, if I was legally married to Jim and he said yes…in the eyes of Texas you were legally married to him on Sept 1^st.

OK.

Yeah, right!

So on Oct 10^th my new social security card came and we went on Fort Hood to get my new Military ID under Jim’s name. They looked at the paperwork and said that the div date was Sept 29^th and that we couldn’t be married because the marriage took place before the div date. We even had the judge fax them……nope. The federal govt has to look at the LAST date on the div papers and that was Sept 29^th. Finally…..after being there for 8 hours (6 hours waiting for our number to be called…2 hours of wrangling) it came down to them making us get married again…..they would not accept the marriage license from the 1^st. So we drove as fast as we could to the courthouse (30 miles away) and tried to get another license. The same ladies were there and they thought we were joking. Then they told us that they couldn’t give us another license because we were already married. We went around and around with them trying to figure out what to do. They called in the supervisor……….and I have to say that they were doing everything they could within the rules……and that they were wonderful ladies…..and by that time we were all laughing our butts off at this stupid situation……….probably only to keep from crying on my part!!!!!

So, they finally decided to lie to the computer. She HAS to ask the questions on the application (Are you currently married? Are you behind on any court ordered child support? Etc) and if she puts the ‘wrong’ answer in the computer it refuses to spit out the license. So she lied to the computer and told it that we WEREN’T currently married and it spit one out. Then they took white-out and changed the answer to “Yes” and put in parentheses “to each other” and issued it. They thought it was the funniest thing in the world….and they made the whole thing a lot easier. Then I called my neighbor and asked him to marry us again. ROFL!. So he came next door in his sweats while we were running late for the step-son’s football game and did the “Do you” “Do you” thing real quick and signed off on it. My oldest son was back from New Orleans and he was our witness (even though you don’t need one in TX)….so he got to be there for THAT marriage. End of story…right?

Wrong!

Jim grew up Catholic…..choir boy, altar boy etc etc the whole nine yards. I was baptized Catholic and raised Pentacostal. (my mother remarried when I was very young) Even though I was living with Jim while I was going thru the div (I feel so hugely guilty about that…..but, that’s over and forgiven….anyway) God has always been a huge part of my life………even though I rarely attended church during my 20 year marriage to David. Jim left the church when he got married….and turned his back on God as his marriage worsened. He blamed God for all the unhappiness. After we got together I worked on that one. I told him that HE chose to marry Dottie and that God didn’t force him etc.

One day he said to me “why don’t we start going to church?” I almost fell over! That was huge for him. Keep in mind he knows I’m pentacostal…..and very anti-Catholic. BUT, even though I had been anti-Catholic all my life, there’s always been something about it that drew me to the Catholic Church. I loved watching Mother Angelica….I loved Pope John Paul II, but was very much against worshipping Mary and statues etc (misinformation that I had been led to believe growing up)

So all this time going thru the div I’m wanting to get back in church too…..but it’s kinda hard when you feel like a Scarlet Harlot! LOL! Anyway, *SOMETHING* kept nagging at me to really investigate Catholicism and see what they REALLY believe. That’s a whole long story in itself, but the ending was that I became convinced of its’ validity and converted….reverted? The chuch welcomed us with open arms and I was confirmed last year.

So we had to get our marriage convalidated by The Church. Which happened on December 21^st, 2005….um….2 years ago today. Soooooooooooooooooo……………..

The first marriage was for the State of Texas.

The second marriage was for the Federal Government.

And the third marriage was for God.

And that’s The Rest Of The Story………

Thanks, all for the anniversary wishes!!!

-Grandma Dawn in Killeen

Lots of changes........

Let's see....I guess the biggest change is Tory coming home and living with us. Actually, it doesn't FEEL like a change.....it just feels RIGHT. Like this is where she belongs. She's a totally different person than she was.....so much the wiser. Isn't it sad that pain is what makes us wiser......we are a pretty dumb species, I guess. Anyway, it's a joy having her here and I'm loving it.
She got an apartment up the street and will be moving in there at the end of this month. She's counting the minutes, I think.....between our 2 dogs and 3 cats and her cat, the poor girl can't stop sneezing and sniffling!

Jeff called and will be coming home on Christmas Eve!!!! I am so thrilled. What a Christmas present!!!! All I need now is Emily, sigh. I miss her so much! I love talking to her on the phone and wish our relationship IN PERSON can be like it is now on the phone. I guess it's better because neither one of us is in the other's face/space.

I am trying to get off the Ambien. I **REALLY** don't want to take it anymore. But, now my sleep is hit or miss and I'm having a terrible time. Friday night I took 2 Benedryl at 1830HRS with .5mg of Klonipin. Jim and I were asleep by 2030HRS! So why did we sleep until 1130HRS that morning????? Then we ate and went back to bed at 1300HRS and slept until 1700HRS! What the heck is up with that????
Last night, I took some doxylamine sulfate and I was still up until after 0300HRS. Needless to say, I didn't make Mass this morning with Jim and Richard.
I got up around 1100HRS and then spent the entire day on a Knitting Marathon. I got 10 rounds done on my PI Shawl!!!! That's 5760 stitches!!!! Now I just have 2 more Chart A's to repeat and then the edging and I will be done. BUT, I'm still only at 48% done! But the shawl part is 71% done.........so 29% of the shawl is the edging!!!!!! I guess that's because there are 576 rows of edging to do.
While I was awake last night I fixed the stitch in my shawl. It turns out that it wasn't a broken ply, but rather a dropped ply!!! Here are the pics.

This one shows how the shawl is being held together by one skinny little ply!!!!!

I didn't pick up both plies when I made the stitch.....lesson learned!!!!

Here's the result of today's Knitting Marathon. I did almost a whole Chart A section!!!

The Saddest Holiday Display at Mochimochi Blog

The Saddest Holiday Display at Mochimochi Blog: "The Saddest Holiday Display Last Sunday I took a walk through midtown to check out some of the big department store holiday displays. On my way up Park Avenue I came across the most pathetic holiday window display I’ve ever seen, at a Duane Reade pharmacy. duanereadexmas You’d wish that Frosty could have at least waited until after Christmas to die."

ptleader.com | The case of the exploding knitting needle

ptleader.com | The case of the exploding knitting needle

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

The case of the exploding knitting needle

By Jan Halliday
Leader Contributing Writer

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Paula Lalish's knitting needle exploded Aug. 1 as she was knitting while being driven to Marrowstone Island from Port Angeles. – Photo by Reuben Lalish

Paula Lalish, a longtime Marrowstone Island resident returning home from Port Angeles on Aug. 1 in her Ford Aerostar, was quietly knitting a sweater alongside her husband, Greg, as he drove. Suddenly, a sound as loud as a gunshot rang out inside the car.

At first Paula and Greg thought they had been shot at by a sniper, a knee-jerk response “simply because we could find no other instantaneous way to relate to the combination of deafening report and physical injury,” Paula said.

Then they thought they’d been hit by a stray elk-hunter’s bullet. But it's not hunting season.

Other people have since proposed that it was terrorists or “space aliens” who were responsible for the explosion that made Paula and Greg’s ears ring alarmingly for hours afterward.

But it was weirder than either terrorists, snipers or elk hunters on the loose. Paula’s knitting needle had exploded.

Most of the time, when Greg drives, Paula knits; she’s been knitting during car trips for 35 years. “I knit fast,” she said. So, as usual, she was working fast, her fingers flying as the car sped down the highway. This time she was working with a skein of undyed wool on a big fat number 13 circular needle, the kind with a metal point on each end connected by a plastic cable.

After the explosion, Paula and Greg watched the end of her left index finger turn blue and begin to swell. Both Paula and Greg are emergency responders for the Marrowstone Volunteer Fire Department, part of Fire District 1. “We knew my finger had tissue trauma and needed to be iced and elevated immediately," said Paula.

Just outside of Sequim’s Costco when the explosion occurred, they swerved in for ice. Paula is a harpist, and “my hands are awfully important to me,” she said. Greg and Paula, her finger iced and pointed skyward, searched their car.

No shrapnel had flown, but as they looked for an explanation, Paula discovered that one of her knitting needles was badly misshapen and the metal peeled back. It appeared that what flew out of the needle with such an explosive noise was air under pressure. On closer inspection there appeared to be a white-gray powder inside the needle, presumably a byproduct of the manufacturing process.

As soon as they returned home, Paula said, “I rummaged for a bottle and had a couple of stiff shots and went to bed for an hour.

“It wasn’t funny for a whole day, and then we started joking around."

There were no marks identifying the needle's brand. Paula thinks she might have purchased it in a thrift store.

Paula got on the Internet and called up knitters' chat rooms, posting a photograph of the damaged needle and asking knitters to help her identify the needle, asking if any knitters had a similar experience and if they might know the cause of the explosion.

Meanwhile she was looking at her other metal knitting needles as if they were bombs ready to detonate. She also replaced her exploded needle with a number 13 all-plastic version.

News travels fast on the World Wide Web, far faster than Paula can knit a scarf. Among the more interesting replies was one from the British manufacturer of a knitting needle similar to Paula’s who denied that his company was the maker of the exploding needle. And then there were these two comments:

“The cause of your exploding knitting needle was probably a buildup of static electricity resulting from friction of two diverse materials, i.e., plastic and aluminum, exacerbated by the generation of yet more static by the vehicle (the cause of most travel sickness and the reason why many vehicles have an earth strip connecting the rear of the vehicle with the ground). This explanation comes from a former quality control engineer, toolmaker and steel worker, Sheffield, England."

And this:

“My name is Monika and I post as 'mokey' on www.knittersreview.com, where I found the following link, containing your name: http://www.surfshopcomputers.net/temporary/exploded_knitting_needle.

"This has now started some speculation as to whether or not this is an urban legend: http://www.knittersreview.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19010. Could you please confirm if this really did happen to you? Many knitters want to know. Monika”

“I have a sinking feeling I’m going to end up in the National Enquirer,” groaned a droll Paula, “After all these years of community service, what I’ll be famous for is my exploding knitting needle.”

(Jan Halliday is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous magazines. She's also the author of "Native Peoples of the Northwest: A Travelers Guide to Land, Art and Culture" and other travel guides. See "Jan's Diary" at www.ptleader.com.)