2009

Ok - so I'm quite possibly the last person to blog about what they want out of 2009. I had a few things going against me... recovering from knitting a zillion (22) gifts for people for Christmas, traveling to the frozen tundra known as Maine then hitting a damn ice patch here in NC almost killing us, and then of course my son's 7th birthday. But now at 11:30 at night before I have to go back to work I'm ready to go!

2009 needs a theme - something to keep me focused on my goals. A few years ago my theme was "Simplify", then there was "the year of Jen", now I think I'll go with "spend and eat nothing" given my current money and pants situation.

Actually, I'm going with "Breathe". While this may seem odd, it makes a lot of sense in my life. First, my life is insane. In the last year, we've given up our 4 cats (tragic), moved from Maine to North Carolina, and completely reinvented our lives. I'm trying to keep everything together and dammit, that's hard to do. So "breathe" is a good mantra for when I'm on the verge of losing my mind.

Second, I'm determined to start running again and doing races. So breathing is important there as well. Third, I'm getting sick of this topic, so lets move on....

My resolutions!

1. Spend more time focused on my kids and husband
2. Lose weight (like you didn't see that coming)
3. Better balance between work/family/life
4. Get back into running and going to the gym
5. Build my businesses, both Etsy and Arbonne

Now most people would say that these goals work against each other, but I think I've found ways to meld them together. For example, spinning class with DH is both time spent focused on him and gets my ass to the gym - hello resolutions 1, 2, 3, and 4!

So here's to 2009! I have hope for a happy, calm, fun year!

What is wrong with people?

Seriously? So last night I was on cnn.com catching up on the national news, and I came across this story. The video made me cry. Any adult who can do that to children has no business being around them. I hope they get jail time. Even the older sibling (who was no older than 4 or 5) who tried to save the younger brother knew what was going on was wrong. How could a parent think it's right?


Then this morning I see this story in the paper. Now I know we don't have all the information yet, but seriously... what is wrong with people? Even in the best case scenario that the child died of natural causes, what made the mother think it's ok not to contact the authorities?

It breaks my heart that things like this happen at all - and that it happens to children just makes it that much worse. It brings out the 'mama bear' in me - I want to help and protect these children, but the best I can do is protect my own!

More Cancer

It seems at least once a year I know someone who gets cancer. Some years it's more than that, but minimum it's once a year. This year it's been more, and yesterday we got the news that someone close to us has been diagnosed. Later this month we'll hear back about that person's bone scan, so we'll know more about the severity.

This familiar and frustrating waiting has me feeling very helpless. We live far from the family, so we can't make meals or visit or anything of that sort. I'm almost afraid to start a prayer shawl since the last person I knit one for didn't make it.

Of course I've started researching this type of cancer and actually know a lot about it since a couple years ago another person close to us had the same type (and is in remission). I find that the more I know, the more I'm able to deal with the bad news and figure out ways to help out.

Getting the news so close to the holidays is hard for me, though I'm sure much harder for others involved. For selfish me, this is the first year in 9 years of marriage that we aren't spending Thanksgiving with extended family. This year has been filled with change, so it would be nice to be grounded again at a big family dinner. We'll be up with family during December, so I'll just have to wait until then.

My heart and prayers go out to this family and others dealing with cancer. And to the researchers trying to cure this awful disease.

Hat Pattern

I've had a bunch of questions about my hats, so here's my basic pattern. Happy knitting!

Super Chunky, Super Easy Hat
Size - fits most
Yarn - Super Chunky or Chunky
Needles - Size 8, 16" circular

Cast on 44. Join in the round.
Rnd 1: K2, P2. Continue rnds of K2, P2 ribbing until the piece measures 7-1/2".
Next rnd: K2, P2tog to end (33 stitches)
Next rnd: K2, P1 to end
Next rnd: K2tog, P1 to end (22 stitches)
Next rnd: K1, P1 to end
Next rnd: K2tog to end (11 stitches)
Next rnd: K2tog 5 times, K1 (6 stitches)
Cut yarn and pull through remaining stitches.
Weave in ends.

Finally Etsy!

Back at the end of August I created an Etsy shop to sell knit items as well as accessories. Unfortunately, no sooner had I set it up and my little one ended up in the hospital. This week I finally put up a few items and have plans to add more in the coming weeks.

Check it out!

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween! I love watching scary movies, I love being scared, and I love dressing up in ridiculous costumes! This year I'm exhausted from traveling and work, but we did take the time to carve pumpkins....

Then the boys got dressed up to go trick-or-treating....

It was a lot of fun!

In knitting news, I knit another pair of fetching, this time for myself. They're one cable short since I was using left over yarn from the other two I knit. I still love them!

And next year I'm totally making some of these projects.... skull hats, pumpkin, morticia's washcloth, or the pirate hat. So much knitting, so little time!

Where does the time go?

I can't believe it's almost Halloween! We've been so busy here - the boys have school and sports, I have work, the boys, knitting and friends, and my husband has been consistently working late on a project the last few weeks. Where did the time go? Soon it will be Thanksgiving and then Christmas and then hopefully some downtime.

We hosted a wonderful Halloween party this past weekend for some kids in Kyle's class as well as the neighbors. It was a blast, but I'm still exhausted from it. And I'm traveling up north for work this week. I'm a little ball of stress with all these activities and lack of sleep.

I've been knitting like crazy! I knit hats for the boys and the neighbors - 6 hats in all!

Two Christmas presents down... way too many to go. I finished these 'fetchings' for my SIL, and did another pair in green for another SIL.

I think I want a pair of fetching as well, but I'm going to use the leftovers from the two pair I knit for the SILs. And I've got a little yarn left over from the liesel, so if I need it I can use that as well - should be pretty!

Happy Halloween!