ROAD TRIP!!!

Oh look, some actual knitting content. I have been knitting, in fact, I have been knitting a pair of socks quite faithfully and they are on the home stretch. Same ol' toe up dpn's two at the same time thing. There is a problem though. They look great individually but see them together--yep--they look like two entirely different socks. Fortunately, I'm not especially troubled by that. Nope not at all.


And look at my knitting bowl. Chock full of gorgeous stuff all calling to me but I am trying to be a one thing at a time sort of person--in other words going entirely against my true nature. I started to start a chevron scarf but ripped it back out, put the balls back from whence they came and went back to my socks. I set a pug to guard over my bowl to keep temptation at bay. A present from the Hanger (he is pug obsessed).


My car died last Wednesday, right before a long weekend, of course. In a true, "if life hands you lemons make lemonade" moment I decided that this could mean only one thing. ROAD TRIP!!! So Sunday, I rented a car and took the boy on a totally spontaneous road trip. We went to one of our favourite places, bet you'll never guess, Drumheller!! I loves the Drum! For the record, I also love Dinosaur Provincial Park. We hike, we admire the hoodoos, we go to the Royal Tyrrell Museum, we eat junk food, it's all good. There is something about renting a car and just taking off--it's so freeing. I have this fantasy where I just keep going… drive wherever the whim takes me… find a job in some little diner in the middle of nowhere and start all over… completely anonymous… Holly Cole's song, "Calling You" would be the soundtrack.

I have this other fantasy involves getting a job at the Museum and moving to Drum. The severe electrical storm and flash flood that occurred while we were there might have cured me of that for awhile. I've never seen so much water accumulate so fast. It was still fun except for a few tense moments driving through the rapidly rising water. We elected to get the heck out of Dodge and avoid our usual drive up the badlands to the Bleriot ferry (which probably wasn't running by that point).

7 Random Things…

7 Random things about me. This is really hard. I was double tagged by both Knit Two Together and The ADD Knitter so here goes. "Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog."

1 I am the youngest of 5 girls. Because my Dad could never keep us straight, he referred to us by # if we are all together, he will still call me #5.

2 My Mom passed away when I was in my late 20's. While she was in the hospital, myself and 2 of my sisters were in other hospitals at the same time. I broke my ankle in 4 places, my sister also broke her ankle very badly either the same day or the day after me and my other sister had kidney stones. As an aside, I am deadly allergic to general anaesthetic so any trip to the hospital is kind of scary.

3 I have had the same best friend since I was 7-years-old. I was maid of honour at her wedding and dated her X husband's brother off and on for a few years. Walking up the aisle with him as best man and me as maid of honour was what finally made me see he would never be the one for me. She is coming to visit me this Summer and I can't wait!

4 I spend a lot of money on underwear. More than I spend on yarn. I have an obsession with pretty, lacy, expensive bras and undies. If I get hit by a bus, the EMS guys will have more than just your basic clean underwear to look at ;-D.

5 My father was a world class sailor, he came in 2nd at the Canada games and at the Canadian Olympic Trials. He also use to be an extremely good jazz piano player.

6 My X husband and I attended the same Art College but we actually met in a martial arts class. I would be so entranced watching the instructor throw him back and forth across the room that I could never remember what we were suppose to do when the demonstration was over.

7 I am still friends with the very first guy I ever fell in love with. When we met, he was living in Ottawa and I was living in Vancouver (those long distance things never quite work out) now he lives in Vancouver and I live in Calgary but we talk/e-mail often. Thinking about him always makes me smile.

I am not sure who to tag (and I was about to tag some people who have already tagged me) but how about if you would like to play along, just leave a comment. These are 7 knitters and bloggers I'd love to find out more about though: On Gauge, Indigirl, String Theory, The Natural Bardo, Australoknitticus, The Ex-Nomad, CanKNITian

Hope you will play along!

Not Knitting…

Miracles of miracles, my son is no longer on the team with the football kids. He got switched to accommodate more of their car pooling issues. Works for me. Now he's on the team with the nice parents.

He wasn't at practice this week. One of the sad things about anxiety is that it tends to spread. Monday the boy convinced me he was far too tired to play rugby and further more had hurt his knee while playing rugby in gym. The week kind of went down hill from there. Major anxiety issues. Tuesday the mailman brought brand new cleats from Ruggers Canada. So Wednesday, I thought practice would be easy, nice weather, new cleats to show off, it's all good. The boy got ready to go and seemed excited to try out the new cleats; we got up there and he couldn't get out of the car. A big fat tear was rolling down each cheek and he couldn't tell me why. He played a bit at the game today and stayed to watch 'til the end so he could cheer his team, they won.

I guess the good news is I was able to get him into the specialist finally on Tuesday because she had a cancellation. She has him on a much higher dosage of his primary ADD medication and is in the process of increasing the secondary ADD medication which is also used as an anti-anxiety medication. She feels the main reason for the anxiety is that he was on dosages too low for his age and weight and that by bringing his medication levels up, the negative components of his ADD will subside, his ability to function and do well at school will increase and his anxiety will go down. If that doesn't work, I also have a referral to a clinic with psychologists who specialise in adolescent anxiety. Hopefully one of them could help the boy.

The thing with anxiety is people can't see it. Talking to his teachers, they don't get it. They STILL think it's being lazy and irresponsible. Trying to explain to his coaches why he wasn't at practice this week, they don't really get it, although they are trying to.

I can't show the boy how this is affecting me. I know how many knit bloggers are also parents, you guys can sympathise. If I show any weakness it feeds the anxiety. If I get upset, or depressed, any chink that all is not A-OK and things go South. I gotta stay positive, up beat, sunshine and lollipops--if I take the odd break from blogging, it's 'cause I'm having trouble doing that.

Where did the time go?

Had a bit of a downward turn there… weeks went by and and I couldn't find anything funny, or up beat or in any way inspirational to say. Every time I started to write, it went south and it was never my intention to be down and depressing for anyone who cares to read.

And now the weather is better and the rugby fields are lovely and green and things are looking up again, so I'm back.

Ah Rugby…I love the game… but the parents may drive me to drink!

Some of the Dads are such amazing jerks! We have enough registered players for 2 teams. If they had their way, the 2 teams would be: Their son's (who of course are all perfect) on one team and the rest of the loosers on the other. Some clubs do it that way, a highly competitive team and a B team, not ours. These are the same bunch of yahoos who joined their kids up last year and were telling them, "Rugby is just off season practice for Football."

I really don't like the "Football Dad's", gee can you tell ;-D? One of their snotty little blond Stepford wives was talking about the gravel on the field and that someone should pick it up. Then she looked over at me (who was not part of the conversation and minding my knitting) and said, "That could be your job." Seriously. I looked her straight in the eye and said, "Yeah, I'll be getting right on that." and went back to knitting. I have no problem picking up the odd rock, it was her tone.


Hooker, Lock and Prop all rugbyese for ox-like, capable of mowing down anything in it's path. All are in this thing called a "ruck" and also something else that involves a great deal of pushing called a "maul". The boy is in green, black and white.

The boy played two games back to back this afternoon (he's on the team that has all the football kids but I haven't started spiking my coffee yet). He plays, prop, hooker or lock. They won both games and knitting was accomplished. The other club team also won its games.


See? "Still life with rugby balls and sock."

Have received more fibery goodness in the shape of Vespers sock yarn by Knitterly Things in "Sorbet" from the Sweet Sheep sock club. Best of all… I booked a lil' somthin' special for my self. This fall I am going on a knitting retreat. The Make One Emerald Lake Lodge knitting retreat. I am pumped! I have from now 'til the bus leaves in November to get it paid for, totally doable. Emerald Lake Lodge is so awesome and gorgeous. Looking forward to it.

Other than that… you know… the hanger just won't go away. I can't figure that man out. When he isn't driving me insane, he's one of my best friends. We aren't going out but we aren't not going out either. In other words… he's still doing what he does best… hanging.