Tangled Threads and Seaweed

Things Are So Wonderful Around Here

I must apologize for not posting in what, the last three... four ... five? weeks.

All is well, in fact I really wish I'd been blogging during that timeframe. Several really good things have happened.  Well, at least one good thing.  I need to set it up for you:

We got the letter on March 3rd from SSI denying Joe's disability claim.  One of the reasons was because he didn't keep going to the doctor, and another reason was because he didn't take the (crappy) pain medication they gave him.  His reasons: first, the doctors wouldn't do anything for him.  No continued physical therapy, no different treatments; he had nerve-deadening shots in his back a couple times but they (doctors) quit doing that when it didn't work one time.  And... the drugs didn't help the pain, but it was the only medication approved by worker's comp.  The drugs made him constipated, and the doctor told him to use more drugs to address that.  Then he couldn't get away from the restroom, so he felt it was better to just not take any of the drugs.  OK. So he copes by walking and sometimes drinking too much.  :)

It was devastating. He's got a broken back with 3 fused verts and nerve damage in his back, legs, and torso, yet he can't get disability.  Of course, he keeps saying he would rather work than be disabled, yet he can't do anything heavily (or even medium) physically strenuous. (his official disability rating has been rated at 42-48% disabled)

Two days later, I swear this is the hand of God in action. Joe got a phone call (woke him up from a nap) with a job offer.  OUT OF THE BLUE.  He's been in the electrical (power line construction) business for 35 years, and had been asked a couple of times to take a leave of absence from the company to go to work for the union. He never did it because he liked building power lines.  The union called, on the 5th of March, and offered him a job - a PERFECT job for him!  He's the utility business rep, and he represents all the union members that work for the electric company that serves our area (Texas Panhandle and Eastern New Mexico).  Its perfect because he knows all these guys, he knows the company management, he taught a lot of these guys in apprentice school, he was on the executive board of the union local office for over 20 years.  Its a perfect job for him.  He has a company car, goes to every group's union meetings and meets with the company management whenever its necessary. He's got a laptop and can work from home, he has a cell phone and is always on call, and he will travel a couple days a week.  He's getting paid really good money, and he is HAPPY! The union business manager also told him he should stay on the hospital board of directors and on the United Way board of directors, so he'll be able to attend those things and schedule his work around that. 

Hope you can tell, I'm ecstatic. The year of poverty/living on one income has come to an end, praisethelord. We could have continued if we had to, but its sure nice to have a cushion again.  And we learned a LOT during this past year, and we are even closer than before.  + + + insert happy dance here + + +

So what else can be happening?  Well, yesterday 3/29/09 was my 1-year sockiversary.  Just one year ago I knit my very first sock.  I'm pretty proud of my knitting accomplishments in the past year.  I've completed 27 pairs of socks, and have 3 partially knitted single socks.  (Yep, there's UFOs in knitting)  My current projects are: Jigsaw Lace (the yarn is koolaid dyed by me - pretty huh?)

Kew (a leafy lace pattern) This is a different one than the one in my last post.... that one didn't work so well with the yarn. The leaves didn't show up, so I unravelled that one and found this yarn instead - I love how the leaves pop in this yarn, its called Lemongrass.

Wasp Woman (longtime UFO since October - one sock is done)

So I'm finishing these 3 pairs up as soon as I can. I hate having unfinished knitting projects. (Quilting UFOs don't affect me this way.... *grin*)

Next month's sock projects on my Ravelry group knit-a-longs: the SolidSocks group color of the month is purple.  In the Sock Knitters Anonymous group, the challenge is to knit an under appreciated pattern OR knee high socks.  I'm not a knee-high kinda gal, so I've been combing through the pattern library on Rav to find a project that's been worked less than 15 times.  Um. Not a problem.  So far I've found over 100 free "underappreciated" patterns and I'm not even halfway through the sock listings.  Of course, I'm going to do a "two-fer" and knit the underappreciated pattern in purple, right?!

What else.... we had a blizzard on Friday.... and it was in the 50's Saturday and high 60's on Sunday!  That's about par.  We already had apricots, peaches, and roses budding out!

Next post, I'll show you the yarn I've been dyeing.  I've been playing with Koolaid, Rit, Dylon, and easter egg dye!  Its a blast, and I really needed another fiber addiction, right?

Its a New Month!

It sure felt good to rip that page off the calendar this morning. I'm ready for some March. I was getting pretty tired of February. Today we have sunny warm weather, which goes very well with March.

I'm feeling a little punchy today. I've got a bit of a headache, and the stuffy nose, but that did not keep me from starting a new sock, or from going to the grocery store.  Which one do ya wanna hear about first?  Sock, right? Me too.

This is Kew, which was published in www.knitty.com in the Fall 2006 issue (its an online knitting mag, you can go get the pattern if you want to).  Its a lacy leaf design. I am enjoying it - I just knitted a couple hours this morning and I'm already to row 12 in the pattern.

It kinda looks like feather and fan but its not, it will be LEAVES. I have a feather-and-fan sock pattern I want to try someday. This is some soft, yummy yarn too. Its called Forest Edge and I got it from www.bbknits.com sometime last year - its from the same dyer that I got The Great Pumpkin yarn from, which I used in the 2 pairs of orange lace Pulsations socks I made for me and for Tara. Very nice yarn!

And here's a daylight picture of me wearing the Eleanor socks I just finished last night:

Yes I'm wearing these today. That's the rule - you wear new socks right away! No saving them for "someday".

I spent $128 at the grocery store today.  It was about time I bought some food. We've been eating mac 'n cheese with alarming frequency around here. Hey, its 50 cents a box at Wal-Mart. That's a bargain! Its very good with picante sauce stirred into it, by the way. 

I didn't really get any great bargains, except pork chops (bone-in) for $1.19 per pound. There were 11 chops in the pack, so I got 3 meals worth for less than $5. I'm fixing 3 pork chops tonight, fried in the skillet, with some mashed potatoes and real gravy. I baked a cake today - don't get excited, it was a mix - and we'll have that for supper too. Joe's going to be pretty excited to be eating some real food.

Some of the other things we'll be eating this week:  I bought a ham steak, which I'm going to serve with gnocchi and alfredo sauce and green peas.  I got 3 packages of ground round, one of which will become burritos.  The other two will go in some skillet casserole dishes. I also got some polish sausage and a jambalaya mix. I have those two packs of pork chops, plus I bought some boneless chicken breasts (got 2 meals worth out of that package too) which I can grill or bake and serve with rice, potatoes, or pasta. And veggies and salad - I got that healthy stuff too, and yogurt and lunch stuff.  There are still a couple things on my list - Joe likes a certain brand of bread and they were out of it, so he will have to go to the other supermarket. I also need contact solution which is tons cheaper at Wal-Mart. But I'm done getting out and running around today. I need to do a load of laundry but that might wait till this evening.

Joe's got a new dive class going on right now, so he's been at the pool nearly every day this week.  He tries to accommodate anyone that can't make it to the first couple of classes - one is classroom and book stuff, and the other is the swimming test and the snorkeling class.  He works around everyone's schedule to get those done. When its time for the regular skills classes, he tries to get them all there together since it takes several hours. He was at the pool all afternoon yesterday and is there again today. I think there will be another "all-weekend-long" class next weekend, then they'll be ready to go to their open water certification weekend.  He takes them to a warm spring near a place called Balmorhea down in west Texas, about a 5 hour drive from here. They will spend all weekend and do 5 dives before they're finished with the class.

OK then, you're all caught up on my exciting weekend. More tomorrow!