Wednesday, March 27, 2013

What's up?



Hi, All!

Spring is springing in the Pacific Northwest, even if there was snow on the ground last Friday. We’re getting a few nice days to break up the rain, so I’m hearing less complaining from my coworkers and comrades. That’s always a good thing.

We’ve had quite an adventure with our cat Milla since the beginning of the year. We took her to the vet because she wasn’t eating, and they discovered a bladder stone and hyperthyroidism. She came though the stone surgery like a trooper, but shortly after getting her staples out, her skin became inflamed ALL OVER. Turns out she had a reaction to the hyperthyroid medication. She’s off that medication and on Prednisone and over the past five weeks and a lot of angst, she’s turned the corner. She was so bad that we thought we were going to lose her for a week or so.  Her skin is now scabbing over (though she’s losing fur with her scabs, so her butt especially is getting bald) and as of this week she’s been acting like the “old” Milla again. We are thrilled and relieved… except for the midnight howling. But she’s calmed down on that over the past couple of days. I think that was just her way of telling the neighborhood that she’s back in town. ;-)

When I haven’t been at work or the vet’s office, I’ve been playing on my iPad or knitting. I started a sweater for me (12 rows down, MANY more to go) and have been working on blocks for a charity afghan with some friends from church. I also found a shawlette design I really like that I want to do soon (and would probably be more weather-appropriate near-term than the sweater). The pattern is in Spanish, too, so that’s been fun to figure out between my 4 years of Spanish 25 years ago and Google Translator. Luckily, the pattern had links to videos for the stitches I’ve never seen before, so that was a HUGE help. I did have to construct a question in Spanish to the designer because the math didn’t add up in my head, so we’ll see what she says. Ravelry is such a cool place!

I also decided recently that I’m going to start scrapbooking our wedding pictures (after almost 5-1/2 years). I got them printed and sorted in order and now I have to gather supplies and get ready for the next evening crop in April (that will be my test run) and then an all day National Scrapbook Day crop in May.  I don’t plan on getting super elaborate with the pages, but titles and journaling take time. And did I mention that I haven’t scrapbooked in over 3 years and had creative block back then? Wish me luck!

I had a couple boxes delivered yesterday that had something besides yarn in them. Since the squirrels have annihilated the cushions of my 11-year-old porch swing, I decided to order a replacement from Amazon.com. This one is all wood and no cushions. One upside - no “umbrella” cover to catch the wind and knock the swing over. One downside - no “umbrella” cover to keep the bird poop and pollen off the seat.  It may be a little while before we get the swing assembled, but we have it. I’m not sure what to do with the old one. The frame and cover are still in good shape, but do I have the ambition to list it on Freecycle? We’ll see, I guess.

I guess that’s about all the news for now. Have a great spring (and summer) until I “talk” to you again!!!

Blessings,
Kristin

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