Birthday photo

Here is my birthday photo, taken Dec, 12.  I turned 61.  I don't feel like 61 but that's ok too.

I've been told that I have to keep the trachea in for quiet a while but am going to the doc on Tuesday to have it change (has to be changed once a month) and will have him tell me why so long.
It is a real pain in the neck. hahahahahahahha  no really it is. :P

I'm back from hospital

Wow, Finally I am here again.  I went in St. Mary's hospital on Oct. 12 for a duodenal switch, which is a weight loss surgery.  Well, something went wrong somewhere, I haven't found out what yet but I will.  I ended up with pneumonia among other things.  Had to have a trachea put in and will have it in until I lose like 150 lbs.  So far I've lost 50 so that is the only plus I can find.
I was in hospital for 6 weeks and was soooo happy to get home finally.  My hubby and granddaughter are taking good care of me so I hope to get a little better each day.  I'm having trouble walking so I have a walker with wheels on it to help me. 

I'd post a recent pic but don't know where my camera is.  So am posting one when I was in intensive care.  Beware it's ugly for sure.
bye for now.  Hugs Patt 

A Jogathon girl

Mia Bella's school held a Jog a thon as a fund raiser.  They held the jog Oct. 1.  Mia Bella ran many laps around the track.  We are sooooo proud of her.  You Rock Mia Bella!!!!!

Mia Bella wrote a note

the other day my daughter kicked her daughter's ball over the fence into the neighbors yard.  The neighbor wasn't home so granddaughter, Mia Bella, asked her Mom if she could write a note and put on neighbors door.  So she did, it's the above photo. 

Isn't that the cutest thing??? Oh and Mia Bella starts kindergarten this year.  Not even in school yet and she can write her own notes!!!  Remarkable.
Oh and she got her ball back too!

Alice in Wonderland

My youngest granddaughter, Mia Bella, had her 5th birthday party.  She had a real fun day.  She told her Mom that it was the best day ever!  Happy 5th Birthday Mia Bella!!

bathroom is done

Here is the finished bathroom.  We all love it.  I think hubby did a fabo job.  He chose everything.  Love it.

bathroom redo

We've been trying to get our bathroom done for 2 weeks now.  Hubby has pulled out the tub and torn down the walls around the tub and then moved toilet over a bit and tore down the linen closet.  Then we had all the water pipes in the place taken out and put in new copper ones.  Now we have the shower pan in place and on Monday will have the marble walls installed.  Then hubby can install the new shower head and all that new stuff.
So yes that means we had no toilet for 3 days and no shower from the first day.  Good thing our park has showers and bathrooms we can use.
Next hubby will paint bathroom and install floor tiles, install new mirror and etage thing and then put door back on .  so one of these days I'll be able to show you an after photo.!!
I've been in bed sick for the last 10 days but am feeling a bit better.

Happy Memorial Day and shed

Keeping all service men and women in our thoughts and thanking them for their service.

So here is our finished shed.  It matches our place now. 

Shed almost done

So the shed is almost finished.  Here it is before tile was laid on the floor or inside painted.
Today they are making shelves and I don't know what all.  They've been out there all morning drilling an sawing and hammering.  Don't know what else they could do to the darn thing. lol

getting a new shed

This is the time of year that my hubby gets the fix it bug.  The last few weeks we've been shopping of items to use to redo our bathroom.  We have put that on hold until the last few items get shipped to us.  So in the meantime hubby and a few homies are tearing down our metal shed and building a wood one.
Here are photos of the tear down and later I'll post pics of the build.

Chemo Caps for kids

If you would like to donate a few hats to charity, here is the link for you:

http://www.patternworks.com/caps.aspx

Patternworks needs our help to collect 1,000 chemo caps to send to Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Dana_Farber Cancer Institure, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  And for every cap they receive they will donate a portion of the yarn sales to the American Cancer Society.

As some of you know, we lost my oldest grandson, Dennis, to leukemia in Jan 2004.  He was only 13 and he was so brave thru it all.  At the time I crocheted him a hat and he wore it in hospital.  So now I'm hoping to send a few caps to Patternworks to help them reach their goal of 1,000.

Dennis Gonzales

we love you

I hope you all can do the same .  It feels really good to donate.

A little something for a new baby

My girls half sister just had her (5th) baby so I made a little hat and booties for  him.  going to make a pair of mitts for him as well.

2nd pair of socks

The photo says it all.  Just now finished this second pair of socks and they are for me.  I'm wearing the first pair of socks I made.  They are so comfortable.  as you can see in the photo, I have all the things I need.  Yarn and books and Starbucks coffee and behind me is my tv and in front of me is my desk and computer.
All the things I need to entertain myself and keep busy.
I've already cooked dinner and it is waiting to be eaten.  Chicken Adobo and steamed white rice.  yummmm

A few photos of my favorite kids!

Impressionist Sky--Malabrigo yarn

Happy St. Paddy's Day everyone.  Hope all is green for you all today

Pictured above are the socks I'm making.  It's 2 socks on 2 circulars and the yarn is Malabrigo in Impressionist Sky colorway.  This yarn is really smooth to work with.  I think I paid $19 for this skein of yarn but I bet I can make 1 pair of adult socks and 2 pair of youth socks with it.  After this pair I'm going to venture out and try a pattern with some design or lace to it. 

Finished socks----finally a whole pair

I've already worn them and handwashed them. They are twice as warm and cozy as my store bought ones. I'm gonna have all hand knit socks one day!!

more sock progress

I just finished doing the gussets and am on to the foot and toe of the sock. whooohoooo

Giving 2 socks on 2 circulars a try

Don't know if you all remember or not but for some time now I've been trying to learn how to make 2 socks at a time. I can make one sock on double pointed needles with ease but once I see the first one done , I'm bored and don't make the 2nd one.

I tried doing 2 socks on one circular and I've got a pair part way done but made a mistake and once a mistake is done I can't go forward til the mistake is fixed.

That is going to take some time so I put that away. This photo below is the 2 socks on magic loop or one circular

.

I did make a pair of baby socks that I sold. They were so cute!

And now, here are the 2 socks on 2 circular needles I'm doing. I think I've got it down now. Pretty soon I might be able to make some socks with patterns in them. lol

We Have A Winner!!!!

I just couldn't wait until tomorrow to find the winner so did it just a few minutes ago.
And the winner of the contest is
Jane
Congratulations Jane gurl.
Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!

Thanks to all of you for playing in this contest. I totally appreciate it.
Stay tuned because I'll be having another contest coming soon.

Almost Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is tomorrow. wooohooo. I finished this cloth just in time. The pattern is called Be My Dishcloth. cute huh?
So on the 15th I will take all the entries to the contest and put them in a hat or something and then pull out names until I get to the 14th one and that will be the winner!!!! sounds like fun.
Good Luck to everyone.

New Contest Starts Today

So what do you think of this dpn & circ holder? Pretty and so happy to help you organize your dpns and circulars too. Just right for a Valentine's gift. Or any day gift.

Before I made one for myself, I had a few dpns here and some more over there and some metal ones in a drawer. They were all over the place. Now I know where they all are, in one pretty place. A pleasure to look at open or closed. lol

On Valentine's Day, hubby and I will be married for 17 years. So to celebrate our day with all my friends, I'm having a contest. Here are the rules:

This contest starts today Jan.26, 2010 and ends on Feb.14, 2010. The prize is the dpn holder pictured above. It is worth $35. I'll announce the winner on Feb 15. If you would like to win you have to leave me your email address so I can reach you.

1. Leave a comment on this post for 1 entry.


2. Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment saying so for 1 entry.


3. Donate $$ to any cancer charity or to the Haiti fund for 2 entries. Leave a comment saying you did .


4. Become a member of my knitting group on yahoo . Leave a comment saying you did.
   
   
   

Idea for new contest

I just now finished making another double pointed and circular needle holder using red and white fabric. And I thought that seeing that valentine's day is next month and that happens to be mine and hubby's anniversary, I should do a contest for it. So stay tuned for all the information for it, coming soon.

Success in the dpn holder making

This is my second try and it came out a whole lot better than the first one.

This one is 9 1/2 by 17 when it is opened. There are 12 compartments for double pointed needles and 6 compartments for circular needles.

I have my circular and double pointed needles stashed everywhere. Now it will keep the ones I use most in this holder.

So what do you think? Like it or not like it??

Gotta make something

For as long as I can remember I have this need to make things, to keep my hands busy. Who cares if I make a big mess in the process as long as I am making something. I know my hubby wishes that I get the urge to make a lot of great dinners but that's not happening. I could make him a nice place mat tho. lol

I've got all these fat quarters of fabric laying around doing nothing and I saw this way cute double pointed needle holder and as the lady is charging $28 and $31 for hers I decided to make my own. So far I've got the material cut and the batting too for one. Now just gotta find a clear place on my kitchen table to put my machine and I'll have one made in a jiffy. If it turns out good enough I'm gonna make a couple of them. Could use one as a prize in my knitting group.

Only way to keep the members posting is to bribe them with prizes. lol Will post a photo when I've gotten a couple done.

A Crocheted item

So I haven't crocheted in such a long time. I had forgotten where I put my hooks. But I saw this really cute flower scarf being given away in a contest and I entered the contest but just in case I don't win I figured that I could make one, if I found those hooks.

I looked and looked then just as I was getting frazzled I looked out the window and there was the container with my hooks. sitting in the window all this time. whew

So with my contest winning prize of some lion brand suede yarn in Olive, I crocheted a flower and then the chains, 10 of them. and it was done!! Here it is being modeled by my grand daughters Monica and Olivia, and by the way Olivia's birthday was on the 5th of this month and she is now 12, and Monica's birthday is on the 14 of this month and she will be 15.

Happy Birthday Tina!!

Today is my baby gurls birthday. She's not a baby but she's my youngest. Hope you had a wonderful and relaxing birthday hon. Love Mom

Happy New Year and contest on my knit group

I know I'm a few days late but I'm here now. I just finished my first project of the new year. A pair of wristwarms in the pattern called "Fetching" . I used 100% cashmere yarn in a chocolate brown color. They came out great.

I'm having a 7 day contest in my knitting circle group. For the first 7 days of this year everyone that posts to the group gets entered into the contest. On Jan 8 I will use a random number generator and pick a winner. These wristwarmers are going to come in handy to some lucky member!!