It's Official! We've Been Adopted!!

Our vet bill runs as much or more than our Dr. bill, so when this adorable little kitten showed up on our doorstep, I said, "Nope - Ain't gonna happen! We have 3 cats, that's enough!!!" End of story - or it should have been. :-)

We did all we could to find the owners - the kids did the trip all over town and looked, and we found the owner. So, I caught the little bugger once, and was repaid by 4 nice deep teethmarks in my finger. I worked as a vet assistant for years, so I do know how to handle these guys - but when your back-up team disappears all of a sudden, you get in a position that can be unpredictable. That should have been my first hint they didn't want this little guy go. Well, the kitten got freedom and I got a nice sore finger that had to be used modelstitching - deadlines are deadlines with a sore finger or not.

After a while, we got the guy tamed down, and he was sick - terribly sick with a skinned up back and all nasty looking. The kids took him to the owner, who then claimed that he wasn't hers (probably because of his health), so back they came with him. Now what was I supposed to do with a sick baby? Yup - we nursed him all back to health, and our "unwanted" guest became ours - like it or not. :-) DH said under no circumstances would we keep him. We get him well and off he goes to the shelter. HA! HA! HA! DH puts on such a tough exterior, but he's such a softie underneath. I watched him play with the little guy and I watched that little guy charm the pants off DH. He wasn't named right away, since he was so sick, I there was the discussion he might not make it. Especially if it was FIP. That runs in the cat population here - and with him a stray, who knows what he was exposed to. Antibiotics, good food, and love got him back on his feet, and he's a totally different animal now. It appears he just wasn't old enough to be away from mom yet.

He has run of the house, plus the yard and he has a great time wherever he is. And play?! He never wears out. He stalks us, and attacks us, and never stops. The other day I was out shaking out the pink duster, and this thing comes flying through the air out of nowhere and attacks the duster. We finally gave him a name - Frisky. Should be more like ADHD as he never is still! :-) So tell me, how did we live this long without such a bundle of love? And energy? He never stops - so you can just imagine how difficult it is to photograph him. Thank heavens for digital cameras!!

This past week was terribly busy. We had 2 full days to homeschool, and the rest was running. Thursday, the kids had a 2 hour literature class, so I took my knitting along to get a good quite 2 hours worth of work done. Didn't happen. A good friend of mine had 2 of her children in the Chemistry class, so all we did was sit and gab, and walk and gab and just played catch-up for those 2 hours. Then we ate our lunch, visited my Dad at the home he's at, and on to swimming lessons. Surely I could get a good hour of knitting done there. Nope! That place was like a sauna. UGH - we were dripping with sweat (oops - nice ladies don't sweat do they!) by the time we left. Was no way I could keep a nice tension with wet hands.

Friday was an ortho appt. and library run. No knitting at either of these places either. But, one good thing about the library was I got a LOT of knitting books to read. One that I'm really enjoying is "Knit Lit: Sweaters and Their Stories... and Other Writing About Knitting" compiled by Linda Roghaar and Molly Wolf. What a fantastic book! I must search the web and see if Kim Brody Salazar has posted her chain mail items she made for her daughter. I would love to see them. If you haven't seen this book, it's a must read! I also picked up "At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much" by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (Yarn Harlot) and am loving it as well. Another one to add to the library here.

Saturday, we took a long trip out of state to go get a propane heater that looks like a woodstove. It has a glass door with ceramic logs. I know propane is expensive, but it will work nicely as a back-up when we lose electricity - plus the price was right... free!!! It works well, but needs a bit of cosmetic work. Outside of that, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. I took the Granny Square Rainbow Blanket and worked on it on the way. Man, one round is taking forever to crochet now. It's is over 4 feet square, and I'm on the blue. I still need to add the indigo, violet and black for the edging. I was going to do a row of black dc, then a row of sc of each color then finishe off with the black, bt I'm not sure now. Will wing it, and decide when I get there.

Last week I finished the first of DD's socks. It's just a bit loose, but since it should go over another sock, it should be fine. I love the pattern, but I don't like how it just specifies as women's small, med. large, etc. However, if I hadn't been so lazy, I could have figured out what the sock size would have been with the gauge.

I've started the second sock, and if all works out well, I should be done with it in a few days. Then it will be on to DH's socks. His are a whole lot larger with a long leg and wide foot. I've considered making a different color heel and toe for his - as I've wanted to try doing it for a while. The kids didn't want any like that, and DH doesn't care. He says they'll be in his boots, so I can do what I like - no one will see. No one will see? Geeze - makes you really want to make something nice for him, eh? LOL


I also finished the What's In My Pocket Vest for CIC. I'm pleased with the way it turned out - and I've done my first pocket. That's something I've always avoided, as I've never been totally sure how to attatch the pocket. I'm still not all the way satisfied, but it doesn't look bad. The picture is wild though - that red really had a field day with the camera. It really isn't that bright, but more of a country red and it is the same weight as the other yarn, although it looks puffy in the pic.

I had a bunch of those electronic games that came with McD's Happy Meals to send with the vest - and I've read on the CIC website they don't want those kinds of things. My BIL loves Happy Meals, so he saved all the games for me - and now I don't have a home for them. Sigh.... Wonder if they would take them for the children that were victims of the hurricane. They are far from a necessity, so it seems kind of silly to think of sending them. However, it would be something that would keep the kids a little busy.