I'm back!

Have you missed me?  I feel like I pretty much fell off the radar lately!  And it's mostly because I had a new experience:  Being a mom, while being sick.

Turns out it's not all that much fun.

And really, it was just a sinus thing.  But the "just a sinus" thing seemed ten times more exhausting when an energetic 6 year old was running around the house.

Being sick while having kids was, strangely enough, one of my bigger fears of being a mom.  What would I do with the kids when I felt sick?  What about when I needed naps, and they didn't?  What would we all do?

Thankfully, I have a very understanding husband, who was ready to take on kid-duty pretty much all of his non-working hours.  That was really helpful.  He also didn't complain about having an increasingly messy house, which also helped.  The problem was, that the mess never stopped growing.  So now that I'm feeling better, I've got some catching up to do!

At any rate, I highly doubt I'll blog about every sniff and sneeze, but I was glad to get through my first time being sick with a kid.  Though I didn't like it, I'm now more confidant I can do it again (as long as Dave is home).

If it hadn't been for the glitter....

Isaac and I went shopping yesterday to stock up some clothing basics.  After doing all the reading lately on the rising prices of cotton, I thought it would be more fun to buy clothing on clearance now, than buying it full price after costs go up later.

Anyway, I like to buy t-shirts and undershirts at Walmart, so as I was looking through some of their sale items, I came across this t-shirt almost bought it immediately:

I think it might have been the pink glitter flaking off from around the words that stopped me.  Which, in hindsight, was probably a good call.

Parking Question.

I went to the mall today to go to the Apple store, because my computer had been on the fritz.  Actually, it was my charger, but that's another story.  Anyway, as I was driving through the ridiculously crowded parking lot, looking for a place to park, I found a few empty spots, but they all had a sign similar to this one:

Image Credit

And wondered to myself, "Do I qualify?  I'm an expectant mother, it's just that my expected child is 6.  But the sign does say, "Expectant," and not "Pregnant."  Perhaps I should get closer parking for awhile.  After all, all the paperwork that comes with expecting a child through adoption is awfully tiring..."

Note: I am mostly kidding, and to be clear, I found parking a half a mile from the entrance, in a normal parking space. :)

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

I forgot to wear green today, but I'm sitting on a green couch while I write this.  Does that count?

My knowledge of St. Patricks Day can be mostly summed up in the color green, parades, and drinking.  However, I read an article today that explains the story of the original Saint Patrick, and it's worth the (short) read!

"If you ask people who Saint Patrick was, you're likely to hear that he was an Irishman who chased the snakes out of Ireland.
It may surprise you to learn that the real Saint Patrick was not actually Irish—yet.....

Click here to read the rest of the story about the real Saint Patrick!

Now maybe I'll go find something green to wear.

I'm a knitting machine.

I've liked knitting for a long time, but have been especially into it lately, for one particular reason.  When I had cancer, I was given 3 hand-made hats by Knots-For-Love.  I remember getting those hats, and feeling relieved that I would have something to cover my head with when my hair all fell out.  It was so comforting.

My hats from www.knotsoflove.org

Down at the cancer treatment center, they collect hats to give out to patients who are going through cancer treatments.  Currently, the vast majority of the hats are cotton hats, hand-made by a previous cancer patient, and are great for summer.  However, sometimes it was nice to have something warmer, so to that end, I've started knitting hats to donate to the cancer center.

It's been really therapeutic to create hats for others who will be going bald. I found thick, soft yarn, and they were fun to make!

This one is made out of a thinner yarn, but still very soft.

Some of them I've made more detailed, others of them I left more plain.  I know I had days where I felt like wearing more decorative things, and days where I just wanted to try to blend in and chose more plain ones.

If anyone in Des Moines wants to make hats, I'd be happy to collect them and take them to the cancer center.  If you don't live in the Des Moines area, you could make and donate hats through Knots Of Love.

Either way, if you're interested in getting involved, you can check out the patterns from Knots of Love, as well as some guidelines for making good hats for cancer patients. One of the biggest things is to choose very soft yarn, as your scalp can be extremely sensitive after hair loss.

For an easy pattern, you could follow these instructions:

Size 13 needles (either double-pointed or with needles for working things in the round)
Thick, chunky yarn (should be for size 13 needles)
Cast On 48 stitches
Knit 2, Purl 2 in the round for 4 rows.
Knit in the round till the hat reaches about  6 inches
To finish, knit on double-point needles:
Knit 8, then SSK 2 stiches together, then Knit 2 stitches together.
Knit 1 row
Knit 6, then SSK 2 stiches together, then Knit 2 stitches together.
Knit 1 row
Knit 4, then SSK 2 stiches together, then Knit 2 stitches together.
Knit 1 row
Knit 2, then SSK 2 stiches together, then Knit 2 stitches together.
Knit 1 row
Cut yarn, leaving a generous tail.
Use a yarn needle, thread the tail of the yarn through all 12 remaining loops twice, then pull tight (make sure to pull the yarn from the inside of the hat).  Use the yarn needle to weave in any loose ends.
Decorate as desired, or leave it as-is!

Knitting isn't for everyone, but for those of you who are into knitting (or want to learn!) and want a new project, may I recommend knitting hats for cancer patients!

Today's Exercises in Self-Control.

Today, it was so nice and sunny out that I took Yarbo out on an impromptu walk.  I LOVE sunny days, especially when they come in January.  Actually, I mostly love sunny days in January, because in the summer, I'm not so fond of them.

At any rate.

I was walking along listening to Chris Rice's Untitled Hymn, which I love,  when I just started thinking about how lovely a day it was.  Suddenly, it felt a little like spring, and I wanted to rush home, open every single window in the house, and start cleaning.  However, I had to exercise self-control, because first and formost, I do not think Dave would be happy to come home to find our house 38 degrees.  What feels warm and balmy outside would still be very cold inside.  Although, I still think having the fresh air inside would be invigorating.

As a side note, Yarbo was having such a good time on our walk, and enjoying the relative warmth, that he kept diving straight into the biggest drifts.  We have a kind of weird dog.

Towards the end of our walk, we encountered a HUGE flock of geese across the road.  They looked like they were having lots of fun, honking, flapping about, and such.

Yarbo really wanted to go over and play with them, and I really wanted to let him, but in the end, exercised self control for the second time in 15 minutes, and kept him close to me.  I thought it would be fun to see him run around with them and make them all crazy, but in hindsight, I think I chose correctly.  It's kind of hard to tell in this picture, but those geese were huge, and I'm pretty sure that Yarbo could have easily become a very lean snack for them.

So, here we are.  Lots of self-control and restraint being exercised today.  Warm sunny days in the dead of winter always make me feel like this.  Lucky for me, I don't have to exercise self-control against tackling the organizing project I had planned for this afternoon.

Creepy little cancer cells (don't worry, they're not in me!)

I was looking at Nikon's Small World photography site, which is all about taking ridiculously zoomed in photos of things and you normally wouldn't be able to see with the naked eye. 

A doctor from Scotland took pictures of 2 cancer cells that are in the process of dividing into 4 cells!  I don't know what kind of cancer it was, but it was weird to look at it, while thinking, "creepy little cancer cells like that used to live in my body."  I'm SO thankful to God that they're gone!

Meanwhile, the photo is still pretty cool. Click here to check it out!

Drinking Diet Dew for a good cause.

If you don't know this already, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Even the NFL football players are wearing pink (Go Bears!).  Today, as I was getting stuff out of the fridge, I noticed that our Diet Mountain Dew had pink on it, so I looked at the tag.  Pepsi is donating money directly to different cancer centers, including John Stoddard Cancer Center here in Des Moines!  It goes right to cancer research.

I can't say enough good things about the doctors and staff at John Stoddard, so if you're going to be drinking pop anyway, may I suggest a Pepsi product with a pink tag!