For no reason in particular I recently decided to do a treasury. If I can't buy lovely things, at least I can hoard them in an electronic capacity.
January 21, 2011
January 15, 2011
I'm on a button hunt.
I actually finished the sweater I've been making for the last year. WOO HOO! And it totally fits. But it needs eight good-sized buttons (maybe 1.5") and I need advice. I don't want to post a picture because I need totally organic suggestions.
So imagine a long winter-white sweater vest with large cables and a ribbed collar/hem/front opening. What color are the buttons? What sort of texture? What shape? Pretend that there are no limitations, just imagine the ideal buttons. And then tell me where I might be able to get them.
So imagine a long winter-white sweater vest with large cables and a ribbed collar/hem/front opening. What color are the buttons? What sort of texture? What shape? Pretend that there are no limitations, just imagine the ideal buttons. And then tell me where I might be able to get them.
January 12, 2011
It's an it!
To begin, I suppose we should go back to February the 21st of the year of our Lord two-thousand-and-ten. I announced that I was pregnant, but then suspiciously never spoke of it again. Less than a month after that announcement, I no longer had that baby. We lost it at ten weeks. Later in the summer, we lost another baby at just five weeks. All the things you imagine a person thinking and feeling were thought and felt...with one simple reaction overarching: disbelief.
This is what led me to recently comment that "I'm filing 2010 away in the 'to shred' folder and moving forward in the hope that 2011 will be grand." Last year was filled with the devastation of losing two babies, but it did end with a third that continues to exist and is now at 13 weeks.
It was actually the endocrinologist who gave us the news. I saw him because I suspected I could be pregnant, and I also suspected that I might have a very rare problem called Auto-Immune Progesterone Dermatitis. If I was correct on both accounts, I wanted to find out what to do before the hypothetical baby was in any hypothetical danger. Luckily, I was wrong about the cause of my itchiness, and a man who usually has to tell people they're diabetic got to tell someone they're expecting. He was obviously excited about it, although I admit that our reaction was pretty much, "Oh God. Well, alright."
Being an incredibly anxious and paranoid person, I'm still very much uncomfortable with being too blase about it just because we're past the old "danger zone" of the first trimester. If I've learned one thing in the last year, it's that you can't count on anything in regards to pregnancy.
BUT, as a couple good friends point out, that's not a very peaceful or happy mindset. The stress of the last couple of months has lessened. Now I'm a little less Negatron and a little more Optimist-Prime. We've seen and heard the heartbeat. We saw a bean shape at eight weeks turn into a recognizable human just four weeks later. I've been lucky to have minimal morning sickness. I crave sweetness and vitamin C, which has led to a healthier diet than I've probably ever had (unless you consider the portions...). I've even allowed myself to start thinking of names and looking at crib bedding again.
The next thing to look forward to is, incidentally, February the 21st of the year of our Lord two-thousand-and-eleven. We have the anatomy ultrasound scheduled, where they'll measure all the organs, watch the blood flow through the heart, and look for the sex. Five weeks seems like FOREVER away, but by then, hopefully, the it will be a he or she who's basically all put together and just needs to grow. Fingers crossed.
This is what led me to recently comment that "I'm filing 2010 away in the 'to shred' folder and moving forward in the hope that 2011 will be grand." Last year was filled with the devastation of losing two babies, but it did end with a third that continues to exist and is now at 13 weeks.
It was actually the endocrinologist who gave us the news. I saw him because I suspected I could be pregnant, and I also suspected that I might have a very rare problem called Auto-Immune Progesterone Dermatitis. If I was correct on both accounts, I wanted to find out what to do before the hypothetical baby was in any hypothetical danger. Luckily, I was wrong about the cause of my itchiness, and a man who usually has to tell people they're diabetic got to tell someone they're expecting. He was obviously excited about it, although I admit that our reaction was pretty much, "Oh God. Well, alright."Being an incredibly anxious and paranoid person, I'm still very much uncomfortable with being too blase about it just because we're past the old "danger zone" of the first trimester. If I've learned one thing in the last year, it's that you can't count on anything in regards to pregnancy.
BUT, as a couple good friends point out, that's not a very peaceful or happy mindset. The stress of the last couple of months has lessened. Now I'm a little less Negatron and a little more Optimist-Prime. We've seen and heard the heartbeat. We saw a bean shape at eight weeks turn into a recognizable human just four weeks later. I've been lucky to have minimal morning sickness. I crave sweetness and vitamin C, which has led to a healthier diet than I've probably ever had (unless you consider the portions...). I've even allowed myself to start thinking of names and looking at crib bedding again.
The next thing to look forward to is, incidentally, February the 21st of the year of our Lord two-thousand-and-eleven. We have the anatomy ultrasound scheduled, where they'll measure all the organs, watch the blood flow through the heart, and look for the sex. Five weeks seems like FOREVER away, but by then, hopefully, the it will be a he or she who's basically all put together and just needs to grow. Fingers crossed.
January 4, 2011
I've met my match. Damn you, Hot Wheels.
Christmas is a time for traditions. Sparkling trees, nostalgic ornaments, hot cider, lovely gifts, and playing the same songs over and over until all retail workers everywhere begin to bleed from their ears. Also cookies. Spritz, date cookies, rum balls, monster cookies, double chocolate cookies, Belgian waffle cookies, thumbprints, haystacks, Hershey Kiss peanut butter cookies... So. Many. Cookies.
Of course the best part is that my nephews and niece get so excited. I learned how to type in like the fifth grade, but Laura is in first grade and already at about that level. She could operate the DVD player when she was two. And now she has a little gaming system on which she logged about four hours directly after opening it.
Finn is too little for electronics. He almost ate the Christmas tree. You can imagine what his drool would do to something with batteries. And Max is so little that he needed to sleep all through gift opening, which is just as well because the constantly flashing camera would've probably been real annoying.
Sammy received a few sets of Hot Wheels track kits, all of which he insisted that I set up for him. What with missing parts and track that has to be held down in just the right way to keep the cars on course, I was not pleased. I stuck it out for a half hour, and then all the adults were begging the children to just sit and watch a movie. We're horrible people.
Penny was ever so pleased to be reunited with my grandma.
Now it is 2011 and I'm going to say this: I'm filing 2010 away in the "to shred" folder and moving forward in the hope that 2011 will be grand. Now I'm going to knit so I actually have something of substance to share!
Of course the best part is that my nephews and niece get so excited. I learned how to type in like the fifth grade, but Laura is in first grade and already at about that level. She could operate the DVD player when she was two. And now she has a little gaming system on which she logged about four hours directly after opening it.
Finn is too little for electronics. He almost ate the Christmas tree. You can imagine what his drool would do to something with batteries. And Max is so little that he needed to sleep all through gift opening, which is just as well because the constantly flashing camera would've probably been real annoying.
Sammy received a few sets of Hot Wheels track kits, all of which he insisted that I set up for him. What with missing parts and track that has to be held down in just the right way to keep the cars on course, I was not pleased. I stuck it out for a half hour, and then all the adults were begging the children to just sit and watch a movie. We're horrible people.
Penny was ever so pleased to be reunited with my grandma.
Now it is 2011 and I'm going to say this: I'm filing 2010 away in the "to shred" folder and moving forward in the hope that 2011 will be grand. Now I'm going to knit so I actually have something of substance to share!