Dy-No-Mite!

I've had the theme song form Good Times stuck in my head since last Thursday, which was the official start of my mini-vacation to Chicago. I had so much fun...good times indeed. Me after 1 martini. I think I'll stick to the beer. Looking a little toothy, don't you think. It looks like my friend is holding me up, no?

Just a cool building, not as spectacular as some of the ones that we saw on the architectural boat tour, but I like the name, and I really find the fire-escape fascinating. Would you rather take your chances in a fiery inferno or try to come down off the top floor of that bad boy?

Holding up the big bean (or the cloud gate) at millennium park Hard work!

On the "magnificent mile." I only bought a soccer ball at Nike town, cause I was all out of money by then.

We had a great time, and I am already ready to go back. There are some really good deals on airline tickets, and a girl can't ever see too much of the city, at least this girl can't. I love urban living and I like to imagine myself as a savvy, sophisticated city dweller, riding trains and navigating busy boulevards...in all actuality I've nearly been hit by a taxi cab and a tour bus, in two different cities. The driver of the tour bus actually flipped me the bird, along with most of the tourists...and there were two different times where I nearly hyperventilated because I missed my stop on trains...and there was that group of senior citizens that I plowed over because I was afraid of missing the subway...and I have no sense of direction when I can't orientate myself toward the mountains...pathetic really, like a babe in the woods. Ah, but I love the thought, and don't they say it's the thought that counts??

So guess what I went and did, I purchased Charmed Knits. I am so excited! I am planning to make a Harry sweater, but I think I'll put a B on it instead. There are also some extremely cute mittens that I want to make, I've never made mittens before, but I can't imagine they would be much harder than socks. But in all honesty, I really just wanted the book for the novelty of owning it. It is so up my alley and all the better that it actually has patterns that I want to make. Now if I can just afford the yarn!

I really thought that I would be running everyday now, but I haven't had much time to spare, so you'll excuse me if I have no progress on my three mile goal. Actually, that isn't totally true. I did run one day in Chicago, and I did a pretty good run, two miles. Let's just not count the fact that it was on a treadmill, with zero grade at a lower altitude! Pretend that it was my best ever, that's what I'm doing.

Zis is vhy ve never, ever mix zee sex vid zee knitting...

I'm sure Freud would have a lot to say, I, however am rendered speechless. (even the camera didn't want to be part of such an embarrassing display)

Before I was born

I am in the throes of planning a family reunion, it is a lot of work, but one of the best things about it is that I get to learn so much family history. I am amazed at the way that our early generation lived and made their way in the world. It is truly fascinating. These people were living breathing humans and with out them, I wouldn't be here at all. I am putting a book together of photographs and I keep being taken aback by the fact that most of these people are gone, and some of them (like my grandmother, most of her sisters and two of her brothers) are still here, just much older. As I look at each picture, I want to know more and I am somehow nostalgic for a time and a place I never knew. Maybe because I can see the resemblance in some of the pictures to me or my kids, or because I have heard so much about most of these people that I feel that I know them. Who knows? But I have to say it is haunting work. What happened after these picture? Were these people happy? Are these babies dead and gone now, and how did they live their lives? The other haunting thing is that I know some of the stories and how things turned out. I look at a picture of my grandmother's sister when she is young and I know that she died of breast cancer, or that my great grandfathers twin brother drown in a stock pond when he was five. What will our children and grandchildren learn and know about us? Will we leave enough behind to put the pieces of our lives together? A little deep, I know. Especially for someone who puts all her photos in an acid ridden shoe box and positively quakes at the suggestion of making a scrapbook. But still, I can't help but wonder.

This is a picture of my great grandmother and her daughters (I think the baby is my grandmother). Doesn't it look all dust-bowlish in this picture? My great grandparents on their honeymoon in 1925

And these are my grandmothers siblings before she was born.

I am leaving tonight for Denver and then bright and early for Chicago tomorrow. I am pretty excited, but I think I might be in some sort of guarded excitement, because I am waiting to make sure that I am out the door before I believe that I get to go...

I am taking the angels rest sock with me, but I doubt there will be much knitting because I will be busy shopping. Yay! Not that the sock will mind, I haven't touched it since the temperature reached the mid eighties and I decided it was too hot to knit. I am still trying to find my other size two needle, but I have a grave suspicion that it ended up in the trash, because the last time that I saw it, it was perched atop a stack of papers and junk that was leaning precariously toward the trash can below it. It isn't too far outside the realm of possibility that it may have fallen over and landed there in the trashcan. Now the question is, do I get a new set of needles to finish the sock or do I reap the natural consequence of not putting it away in the first place?

Ok, I'm off to pack and get out of dodge! See ya when I get back.

Ok. I have been away too long, and now I don't know how to get back to where I was. Recap: Jackson's arm is healing well, he has a cast on now, and he is doing fine with it. He will wear it for two weeks, and then have more x-rays to see how it is doing. B is busy in summer school for two more weeks, and then he will be done for the summer, and it's a good thing too, because we sold our van and we are down to one car, (which means we are also down to no car payments hooray!) and so J has to find alternative transportation until I don't need the car everyday. He is riding the bus now and it is lucky that we have a bus stop near our house so he can walk to it. Mimi is walking up a storm now, and she gets more daring with every step. She even tries to walk down the stairs. Scary...

Knitting news is dismal at best. I have about three inches of one sock and it doesn't look like I'll be making much progress, because I can't do anything else while I am knitting it. I make tons of mistakes if the sock doesn't have my undivided attention...no easy feat (no pun intended haha) with three kids. They may be done when the kids leave for college. I need endless expanses of stockinette stitch so that I can mindlessly knit away. The angel rest sock doesn't fit the bill, but I LOVE the pattern, so I may carry on anyway. It just might take a while. The other problem that I am having with these socks is that I am missing one needle of my size twos. A few weeks ago while I was knitting the HP4/5 socks, I only used four of my five needles and said to myself "I should put that other needle somewhere where I won't lose it." Well, stupidity prevails and I didn't put it away, so guess what? I can't find it. But I did find a spare needle from a mismatched set and used it, and it is about two inches longer than the others and it is made from this really awful feeling aluminum. It drains a lot of the pleasure of making these socks. Someday I will learn the double circular method, or even better, the magic loop, then I will be able to find all my needles when I need them!

We went to Springer and visited the in-laws (including my sister-in-law and nephew from VA) for the weekend and it was great fun, except for the miserable hail storm that wiped out all my mother-in-law's flowers. But check out the clouds that were hanging over head that morning:

Aren't they amazing? If it weren't for my fear of lightening, I might have stood out there and watched them longer.

I know that this isn't a marathon blog, but I have to tell you that I have continued running and I am enjoying it more each day. My goal for the end of the summer is three miles. What do you think? Can I do it?