This little Piggy is going to the Hospital

I'd like to know how the average person gets ready for long term recovery. As a knitter my first thought went to "long time to knit stuff". What am I talking about?

Well - Monday is the first week of the new year and it is also the day of my (finally) foot surgery. About 6-7 years ago I had heel spurs removed from my left foot. The Dr did not remove all the calcium build up so that foot still has a bit of a bump in the back but I can walk and that was the main thing. Fast forward to today and my right foot followed and grew a boatload of icky heel spurs. Over the years I also developed a few other problems. Seems I have a bunionette. Doesn't that sound cute? It's not. When you have a bunion its on your big toe. When the little toe decides to grow the wrong way and have its bone stick out, its called a bunionette like its not going to hurt as much. WRONG! That puppy hurts a lot. I've spent many-many years not being able to wear normal shoes.

So- I have heel spurs and a bunionette but my foot likes to overachieve and I also ended up with a hammertoe on my 2nd toe. Are you impressed with my ability to have a deformed foot? Monday things change. I won't go into the details of the surgery but the Dr & I decided to go for broke and get everything taken care of at once. The surgery he is doing on the heel will get rid of all the extra calcium but it means I'll be off my foot for a month. One month of not being able to go to work or do much of anything but sit and knit (and take really good pain killers). Followed by another month of an aircast and not getting around a lot other than to work and home.

So- I've been getting ready for my convalescence. Stocking the freezer with easy to prep meals, getting Netflix set up on the TV instead of instant watch on the laptop, getting a knee walker (a very cool devise!), but most importantly - getting knitting projects into bags with the pattern-needles and everything needed. I may not being blogging the first week of January because I've told myself I won't post until I can make sense talking. You don't want to see what strange and bizarre things come out of my brain when I don't edit myself a bit. Trust me!

If I don't get back here until after the 1st. Have a safe and happy New Year's Eve.

Better than a Wonder Bra

Christmas has come and gone so its safe to post the little baby hoodie I made for cousin's daughter's daughter. (Life can be confusing to post about when multiple generations get together!)

Anyway - This cute little hoodie is made from Mexican Wave yarn by Elle. I used 3 skeins to make the small size of the Divi Hoodie.
Baby's Mom and her Grandma (a fellow knitter) were impressed with the sweater and loved the yarn.
Speaking of the Grandma - she made baby the absolutely cutest dress for Christmas. It was red with a white collar and the yoke was ribbed. The hem was so cute. Many little prairie points. The only problem of the day was that I forgot where I put my camera for safe keeping so I didn't get any pictures of it. Maybe cousin will see this post and send me a digital pic (hint-hint).

Being a knitter cousin knows I enjoy a wee bit of yarn. She brought me a fun present.

It's a Yarn Wonder Ball. It came wrapped and obviously "handmade". The little note on the side explains what this is -

"Different yarns of many colours and lengths are manually tied together to create a surprise yarn ball of wool blends, textures, small amounts of cotton, and surprises. Popular in the 1800's, the wonder ball was given as a gift at Christmas. As the person knit, and used up lines of yarn, small gifts inside the ball would surface. The knitter could not fast forward to see what the next trinket, surprise or yarn would be. The ball of yarn embodied the spirit of giving, as the gift continued to reveal presents, and the knitter produced a lasting gift or either a scarf or wrap."

Here's a better look at the side so you can see some of the different yarns. When I took it out of the wrapping to get a picture I could feel some things inside. I can't wait to get knitting on it and see what is hiding inside. I hope I can manage to hold off knitting it until after my surgery Jan 4th and I can have this as a special recovery present.
If you're interested in this fun little present the paper with patterns inside the wrapping says it came from Threads and More. Their website is: www.threadsandmore.com.au

Not a creature was stirring

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring

Not even Chief or Bert.

The three of us wish you a very Merry Christmas!

There's other people here!

There's a few things - well more than a few things - that really bother me about the public habits of some people. They seem to forget other people are within listening distance or within, well, smelling distance of them and seem to think the world is theirs and theirs alone. They live in a little bubble that they can see other people but other people can't see or hear or smell them.

Take lunch this week. I go out for lunch every day for a couple reasons. It's my chance to escape work for an hour and read a good book. I go to good fast food places and have a routine. Each week I hit Panera's for soup and sandwich. They have great food. I also love Panchero's - fresh wonderful burritos. LeeAnn Chin's - good Chinese. Noodles for Mac & Cheese. Dino's for falafel sandwich, and a few other places. I don't feel guilty about spending extra for lunch because supper is often some ice tea and crackers or something else equally cheap/small.

So - back to lunch. I went to Panera's and got my meal, found a table and sat down. Halfway through my sandwich a lady with a phone glued to her ear sat next to me just in time to say (quite loudly) "Was the stuff that came out of his nose green and slimy?" GIVE ME A BREAK!!! I do not need to hear about someone's nose discharge during lunch. There are several other topics I'd prefer not to listen to during lunch or in public but really - body discharge? What made this lady think anyone in the restaurant would want to listen to this while eating?

Since I'm complaining about people's public habits - we have a few people at work that way over use perfume/cologne. Men and women. You know they are coming before you see them and know where they have been long after they leave. I have very good smell and it is connected to my brain. Strong odors = headache. My "favorite" perfume habit is the bathroom trick someone at work uses. After she has used the bathroom for "those" needs and created a bit of an odor, she feels the need to spray a ton of perfume in an attempt to cover up "that" smell. Let me tell you - perfume and "that" smell do not make a good combination. The perfume does not cover anything up and only makes the entire bathroom smell 10 times worse.

I better quit complaining now or I would come up with a list so long you'd think I was the crankiest person on the planet. So - what's the one thing people do in public that drives you crazy?

Knitting or cats next post - I promise!

Slow boat from China

I ordered something on the internet on Dec 7th. It's still not here. I went on line to check on the progress of the package and was stunned at the timing of getting it to me. Fed Ex Smartpost doesn't seem to be too smart to me.

It left California Dec 7.
Took 4 days to get to Wisconsin (Dec 12)- half way across the country. Where it hung out for a day - must have been taking a little sight seeing tour of the Milwaukee area.
The trip to the Minneapolis area must have been a tough one - it took 2 days (Dec 13-15) to make a 5 hour trip.
Once in Minneapolis my package was so excited to see our part of the country it decided to take advantage of some down time because the web site shows it is expected to be delivered Dec 18!

So to recap it takes 4 days to go approximately 2250 miles and 6 days to go 350 miles.
Something is wrong here!

Any Horizontal Surface

Sunday I put up the ironing board to block some past projects - a couple were on last post. As usual I didn't quite get around to putting it away. The rule in our house is: if there is a horizontal surface it will be covered with my junk or a cat or both. I couldn't believe that all of Sunday the board remained clear.
Monday same thing. The board remained clear.
Tuesday things started to happen. Every time Chief would walk past the board he'd put both front paws up on the board and check it out. He'd then walk away.
Tuesday night he finally found out it was a horizontal surface.

Mom, why didn't you tell me this was a place to sit? - Chief

Yea, fine. Whatever. - Bert

You know I could get used to this. Long - padded. Good to stretch out on. Good kitty rest. - Chief

Well, here it is Wednesday. This new kitty rest is JUST right! Thanks Mom. - Chief

I hate to tell him I'm taking it down tonight. Poor Chief.

FYI - Bert still hasn't figured out its a place to stretch out. Cute but slow.......