Okay, so I've had issues with posting photos. It's been so long since I have done this and I now have a new camera. I think when I loaded the images onto my computer I stored the the wrong size. I'm waiting for my daughter to help me reconfigure so I can actually post knitting. The above is a picture of a tapestry my Hubby and I bought while we were in Minnesota at the Mayo Clinic. I loved the llama's and the women spinning yarn. We had the piece floated and framed and it now hangs at home in the family room.

Knitting content is steady working on clapotis (yes it's a newly cast on project) and working on my Tricoter coat. I also am working on Bug's and Ash's Christmas stockings.

Hello to Lindy in Berkley and Ash in Greece. I love you both! Hi Bug (in case you actually read my writing). I love you too! I really don't like this font, guess I'll play with that tomorrow as well as more photos.

To Greece with Love!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

My middle daughter is currently living in Athens, Greece while studying abroad for her final year of University. You have graced our family for 22 years and have added love, humor, wit, laughter, tears, and a lot of adventure during this time. We are a better family for this. I miss you and I love you. Love Ma

Writing Try Out

My Rockin sock Club package arrived today. I was reading yet another knitters blog and saw a photo of the package and actually felt panic. I thought I had not renewed my sock club for the new year. I'm not a huge sock knitter but I find I do love sock yarn and I have a very appreciative hubby who loves to wear hand knit socks. The Rockin Sock Club choices of color are probably not the best choice for Hubby to wear to work so I usually stock pile this yarn. Still, the thought of having passed up on this club really bothered me. I was so relieved to find my package sitting by my front door this morning. Turns out I'm in for the next year.

I know I haven't blogged in a while, I've had major health issues which I'll write about later. I obviously have to review downloading photos as well. Let's see what I accomplish tonight and hopefully I'll have photos for you plus a give away(sock yarn) if you can correctly identifye one particular photo correctly.

Well, the delay of posting has been a good indicator of how my post op healing has gone. I'm happy to say I'm back on the mend and actually feeling better and can feel my energy slowly coming back. A lot has happened in the last several weeks, a list seems the easiest way to state.

1. Hubby drove back with Bug to pick up middle daughter from university in Iowa City, Iowa. Drove through snow and cold weather entire way to Iowa, packed up daughter's sorority house and previous apartment furniture and headed back to California with hot weather to deliver precious daughter back home for the summer.

2. Oldest daughter and beau stayed with us for two weeks helping me while hubby was gone and resting and visiting with sisters and the rest of us to recharge before heading back home to the bay area.

3. Bug is preparing to take drivers ed test for permit this week. It's hard to believe our youngest daughter will be out on the road.

4. My niece graduates from Wellesley and returns to California to begin her PhD program at Cal Tech. This is my youngest sister's oldest daughter.

5. My oldest sister's youngest daughter is in England on study abroad and she is flying out this week to join her and tour Italy for a few days.

I'm Home!

I'm finally home from hospital and recovering from my surgery. The surgery itself took about three hours in which time my gall bladder was removed due to stones, my liver was biopsied and pending pathology results and finally my gastric bypass procedure was completed. I ended up in recovery for seven hours because there were no beds in the hospital available. Around early evening I finally was wheeled into my room on the 12th floor in a window position with a beautiful view of Sacramento. My first night was pretty wicked but the morphine pump took the edge off. I actually thought I would go home the next day but took a turn for the worse and ended up staying an additional two days. I won't go into detail you don't need to know and my family has already heard all about it. I'm just so happy to be home.

The biggest surprise for me is the once of water in 15 minutes I'm supposed to drink. Prior to surgery I thought this was because it was difficult to get the fluids down but as it turns out it's a limit on the actual quantity of fluid the new pouch can handle so its all about relearning to drink. I already see a slight difference in my blood glucose numbers although while in hospital I still had to have insulin. I'm off lasix and on a decreased amount for my blood pressure meds. I'm so excited about this! My biggest struggle today was getting my pain meds on board for the correct dose and getting enough protein in. I've already had my shot for preventing blood clots and I'm sipping a creamy squash soup fortified with skim milk.

I'm getting a little tired so I'm stopping for today which in my mind is day 1 of my new improved life. I sure love my husband and my kids!

Night Before

I have spent the last two days without eating in preparation for my surgery tomorrow morning. The prep is awe full! I mean, come on people, if you can make advances in medicine, why can't you make a prep in the form of a pill that we can swallow and be done with!!!! There is nothing that covers the terrible flavor of the prep fluids so you end up gagging down the final few sips. Glad to be past that. I can't even think in terms of eating following the surgery because I'm on a liquid diet for 15 days and I'm really trying to make life long changes to how I see and eat food. This means I don't reward myself by thinking of that great meal I can make when I'm feeling better. This surgery should change my life and although I'm overweight I only have about 70 pounds to loose which isn't much compared to the average gastric bypass patient. I'm looking forward to the weight loss but even more so the reversing of the oh so many health problems I have faced these past few years.

I still haven't decided what to bring to the hospital for knitting. Every time I think I have the perfect project I think about the potential for miss knitting and how much of a pain it will be to rip out and reknit. David's sweater will most likely be the project because it will make me feel closer to him when he isn't in the room with me. And I think I'll take my most recent yarn from Sundara's Petals club to start socks. I belong to the Spring section of this club which means I get beautiful yellows, pinks, greens and such.
This is the hat I knit for one of our employees first baby. The feathers scared her at first but as she grew she fell in love with it. The pattern is from the Itty Bitty Baby Hats. I could make every hat in that book!

I'm signing off on this good note and will write again when I am home to recover. I love you David, Malinda, Ashley, and Elisabeth. You four are what make my life worth living! Juan, you have been with us for a shorter time but I love you too. You are the son I never had.

S Plus Two

Two days to go until surgery and I find I have been obsessed with what knitting projects to pack. The average person would worry about all that hospital stuff, not me, knittings on the brain. I can't take my lace project for fear of screwing up which isn't too bad until I have to tink back all those stitches and reknit. I started a new shawl using some cashmere I had in my stash using the eye-of-the-partridge stitch and twisting the slipped stitch. I'm using the common cast on two stitches to start and am making a triangular shawl. Wrong side rows are purl back so I figure this will give my medicine induced foggy brain a challenge, yet easy enough of a pattern that I should be able to knit with said foggy brain. I'm also taking my sock yarn from the petals Spring club. The yarn is the most beautiful Daffodil color of yellow's. I have 400 yards and thought originally I would knit socks but now I'm not so sure. I have enough yarn to knit some type of scarf and I should be able to find a stitch pattern that really shows off this yarn.

Oldest daughter and boyfriend (son to us) came over for celebratory birthday dinner last night and then stayed over. In fact everyone is still asleep. This was a bonus from last night to have kids still here this morning. The only thing that would make this better would be to have middle daughter home to share in the fun. We gave oldest daughter a years pass to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and hope to go along on some of the visits.

Today is the first of a two day prep starting with no eating. Got to go find my knitting needles!!!!!