Sick People

It's that time of year again.....SICK TIME.  :(  There's viruses swirling all around us.  So far we've had the stomach bug and some fever/cold virus make their homes inside our home. The kids had the stomach bug first, a few days apart.  One was just about finished with it when the other started up!    Brian is the latest victim, with his first stomach bug in I don't know how many years.  Both kids have had the fever thing this week.  I'm the last (wo)man standing. Which is unusual, because I'm usually the partner in bed with the kleenex/advil/bucket/voodoo charms to ward off whatever's going around.   And I'm knocking on every wood surface that I can reach right now.

We've bleached.  We've lysol-ed.  Changing toothbrushes, encouraged the washing of hands in hot water USING SOAP.  Short of setting the house on fire, I'm not sure how much more we can dis-infect.  I think that we should write off January as a bit of a lost cause and start over again in February.  Who's with me!!

French Toast Fever

Brace yourselves!  It's a New England storm warning!  The storm to end all storms!  They're predicting more than two feet of snow in our area.  Better get all the ingredients for french toast (gotta get the milk and bread, gotta get the milk and bread!)  and don't forget the toilet paper.  :)  This reminds me of an old Bill Engvall routine..."There is a snow warning in your area!  Go to the store, buy bread, horde gas....if you are an elderly American you will not survive this storm."  :)

We've had a good year thus far concerning snowstorms, so hey, whatever.  We've got plenty of gas, food, batteries and flashlights, and (hopefully) entertainment.  Well, I've got plenty of knitting,  so bring it on.

Wired for Sound

I got my hearing aids last week, and so far here is what I've observed....

1.  I don't like hearing my own voice constantly.  I'm told that will fade with time, but for now it's slightly annoying.

2.  At first my ears were BIONIC.  I could almost hear someone putting quarters in the washing machine down the hall with the door closed.  But loud noises were shocking, the first time the doorbell rang at work I almost jumped to the ceiling!

3.  They're  cute and tiny:

And unless I tell you about them, you won't notice that I'm wearing them.  The purple part goes behind the ear so all that's visible is the clear wire.  And unless you're specifically looking for it, you're likely to miss it.

I have a strict rule (for now), either in the case or in my ears.  I also took them out and showed them to the boys, because I knew that they were curious.  And now they're not...and therefore less likely to touch them.

4.  Nobody's been able to sneak up on me since I got them.  This used to be a serious problem since I'm such a jumpy person.  But I can HEAR behind me now.  The first time I heard a conversation behind me was walking into Target last week.  A father was chiding his two daughters for not wearing hats in the cold weather.  I almost cried because of it.

5.  The volume level on the TV and the radio in the car has gone down substantially.  When I first turned the radio on my "normal" volume, I was shocked at how loud it was.

6.  And best of all....I can hear my boys.  Especially Sean, who talks softly in the backseat, asking for music or telling me about Minecraft.

So all in all, it's not so bad.  It's a bit of an inconvenience but worth it thus far.

That Neverending Cleaning Thing

The Craft Room Cleanout marches on.  The floor is finally clear, but every surface is littered with stuff.  I've got all of my knitting needles tossed into a laundry basket, which is kind of pointless since they're all poking OUT of the basket.  I've put aside a bunch of yarn from leftover projects and single, lonely skeins (Looking for love on Match.com) that I'm putting to use in a new yearlong charity project.  I'm going to make hats and mittens for the local Youth and Family Services outlet, and donate them at the end of the year.  And man, do I have unfinished projects, a lot of cross-stitch stuff mostly.  Some baby blanket squares that just need to be sewn together, then donated.  Some things require more work, but many are just a couple of hours away from being a work in progress to a finished object!

two things I learned at Christmastime this year...to avoid excess stress, upload pics throughout the year instead of all at once and WEAVE IN YOUR ENDS, DAMMIT.

But now it's time for another game of:   Finish or Frog?

This damned, damned sweater.  I started it in March of 2012...at the wedding of my brother in law in Pennsylvania. Literally....I was working on it in the church during rehearsal.  All that's left is button and neck bands, and short sleeves.  Why is that, you say?  The sleeves have too many stitches to do them on double-pointed needles and FOR SHAME I have not yet taken the time to learn the Magic Loop method.  From what I understand it will take a Youtube video or two and I'll be good to go.  So....laziness?  It stays in the "finish pile."

This is a cute sweater.  I started it...oh I don't know, two years ago for my niece?  It certainly won't fit her now, and I screwed up royally on the lace bottom.  But for some reason I just cannot bring myself to frog it.  Maybe I'll put button bands on it and give it a good soak, then put it in a pile for gifts.  The only person that knows there are mistakes is me.  Well, now YOU know, but are you gonna tell??  :)

An adorable baby blanket that I started last year.  It's more complicated looking than it actually is, the hearts are pretty easy to make.  What happened with this project is that I started working on other things and didn't note where I was in the pattern......so I'm going to frog it.  Perhaps I'll start it again later, it seems less maddening to do that than try to figure out what the hell I am supposed to do next.

 My 2012 Ravellenic Games project.  The idea is to start a project during the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, and be finished with it by the end of the Closing Ceremony.  There are people out there that start adult-sized sweaters during this time, AND finish!  I chose a shawl, the Marrowstone Shawl to be exact.   Major fail, I got the lace edging done and never went back.  I should've chosen a freakin' hat.  Time to frog, my dear, no matter how pretty the lace is.

Lastly....a pair of plain vanilla socks for me that I started in the old house.  I moved 18 months ago.  (Have you noticed that "Projects for me" always take a backseat?) I'm at the toes of the first sock.  Finish Pile.

And now, instead of "having to" buy a second bookcase, I have room for things!

Apparently, I'm a Secret Agent

So.

I mentioned in my 2014 wrap-up post that I've got some hearing loss.  I'm not losing all of my hearing, just the middle frequency where conversation lies.  This type of hearing loss is called Cookie Bite Hearing Loss.  Let's face it, it's a cute name for something that kinda sucks.

How did I find this out?  Well.....Hubby was telling me like a year ago that I wasn't hearing things that he or the kids were saying.  I got pretty defensive, telling him that he mumbles.  And he DOES, just not as often as I thought that he was.  I insisted that my younger son is a soft talker, and he IS, but not as softly as I think that he is.  And if he's talking to me in the car, I can't hear him over the engine.  I don't listen to the radio in the car a lot anymore, I used to think it was because I enjoyed the silence.  Turns out that IS true, because my brain is tired from trying to parse out what everyone is saying.  And I was starting to stay home from things, to spare myself from not being able to hear anything from the damn background noise.

So when an audiologist was coming to my work for screenings (I work in elderly housing) I said "hey while you're here...." and was blown away when she told me that I had profound hearing loss and "would greatly benefit from hearing aids."  Honestly, I found it devastating, especially on the tail of just finding out that my kidney stones are caused by a disorder.  It was like a big "What NOW???"  I've had some time to mourn it and I've ordered my hearing aids.  They're small, but I ordered them with a "vivid lilac" plastic casing.  Because you know what?  If you are going to have to deal with this crappy thing, you should at least have some outrageous personality about it.  I pick them up Tuesday.

I found this blog, "The Cookie Bite Chronicles."  I recognize myself in all of them (minus the hearing aid ones, but I'm sure I'll get there.) To get an idea of what life's been like, read this post.   All the nodding and smiling.......I won't miss that.

I know that I feel crappy about it right now, but I'm sure that I will feel differently this time next year.  Especially when I can tell Brian that he still mumbles. :)

Buried Treasure

As part of our annual clean-up this time of year, I'm going through the craft room and getting ruthless.   My knitting group is having a "destash" night later this month for tools, patterns and other craft supplies.  So far I've put together a bag and will likely have at least one more.

Every year I have this grand desire for handmade cross-stitch ornaments.  This is nothing new, and I usually fail.  Not so in 2015.  Because........I found ones that I finished in 2006!

Cute Winnie the Pooh ones, from the year my "first baby" was born.  They're still adorable!  And one afternoon of sewing and they'll be a good start for NEXT Christmas. 

And the little girl hanging her stocking, I honestly thought that she was lost in the move.  All she needs is a frame.  

See?  It pays not to get rid of stuff sometimes.  :)