68 Degrees,

the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I went for a ride. (Here's where the cycling parts come in to the blog. I don't JUST knit!) I haven't been able to for a while because a.) I don't have cold weather cycling clothes and b.) I can't ride when it's cold because of my asthma anyway.

It was short, because even though I've been using the trainer, it's not the same as on the road. Besides, the trainer is nice and flat and doesn't have the hills we have around here. I used the weather and the fact the mail carrier came early as an excuse to ride into town and drop off the mail. Not only did I get a bit of exercise, I was thrifty! frugal!, and environmentally concious!

I was slow! I didn't ride far! But I went out on the bike and didn't get killed! (In town, people were actually pretty well behaved, just like the country route I usually take. It probably helps that motorcyclists have educated the people in the cages.)

Ah, here's hoping the weather stays nice. My attitude is always better when I can exercise.

P.S. M is much better. He was better by Friday afternoon, but we stayed home anyway.

Sometimes

it sucks to be an adult.

M has come down with something. It's probably the flu, but I really don't know. He's running a fever and has shoulder pain. B is out of town until Saturday. The boys were supposed to go to the grandparents tomorrow and I was going to go meet B. Not now, I'm afraid. We're out the money for the banquet (bye-bye money, it was nice seeing you), which is really the least of it, but if M needs to see the doctor, that would have come in pretty handy.

I'm just feeling sorry for myself. I wanted to spend some time with B (without small boys around) and I wanted to see some of my peers (aka the clergy spouses). I haven't been able to go to the diocesan convention for the last couple of years, and I like to go and see some of the people I never see.

I am just praying that L doesn't catch this. He's been sick enough already this winter.

Big, huge sigh. Poor M--he only gets sick rarely (last time he missed school for illness was two years ago) but when he does, watch out.

The prayer shawl

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Originally uploaded by kateinky.

J received her shawl today. I think that she liked it. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I wanted something that was reminiscent of the autism awareness ribbon and I think that this is.

I'm not really in the mood to write much today. B went to the Diocesan convention, and M is sad about that. We'll be heading up there tomorrow. We (M and I) have school so we can't leave until then.

I'll write more later.

5 years ago ...

L was born, at 11:53 pm in Chattanooga, TN.

Our lives have never been the same. One thing you can say about L is that he is one interesting kid. He talks (incessantly) and is the only child of whom I know that thinks his Furby talks too much. He wants to be a chef and insists on helping cook dinner (yesterday he helped assemble a pizza). He torments his brother and flirts with nurses (a handy skill when you see them often).

L started his life having a hard time. He was born 6 weeks early and had problems at birth (respiratory distress syndrome, swelling, and sepsis). I wasn't doing too well either. By the time we went home (5 days in NICU), he had jaundice and required a bililight. When he finally had his levels go down, we had three days of healthy baby, and then he developed RSV (at twenty days old--three weeks before his due date). After that, we discovered the poor kid had bilateral inguinal hernias that required surgery to repair (which happened at 5 months). Finally, at 6 months we had a healthy (but very small) baby boy.

Now, we have a very active, very small little boy who can swallow giant capsules whole (the day we learned that we practically threw a party) and can open child-proof caps. He will tell you what the difference is between a blood draw and a shot. He is a better bowler than his older brother. He likes to sing and is absolutely adorable in the tiniest cassock I've ever seen (see the January 12 post to see the boys in their cassocks). He has 5 of the 6 Star Wars movies memorized (we haven't let him watch the latest one yet). He likes to be either Luke or Anakin Skywalker. He refers to his father sometimes as "Darth Father." He loves having us read to him. His favorite foods are olives, shrimp, olives, mint chocolate chip ice cream, olives, pizza, and olives. He has a great sense of humor, but you can only laugh when he's trying to be funny, and no other time!

Happy 5th Birthday, L!

Lamp time!

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Originally uploaded by kateinky.

Domino's, home to not very good pizza, has what I think is one of the funniest ads on tv right now. Growing up, I actually remember Dad always telling us to turn off the lights. As you know, electricity is expensive!

Right now things are pretty calm here. I've now come down with the college crud (yep, that's the official name--the doctors around here refer to them by the name of the college since there are something like 12 of them around here), so I'm pretty much dragging. If I'm still sick next week, I'll go in and get checked out. L is over his bronchitis, M hasn't caught anything, and B seems to be holding off catching anything from the students with whom he works.

Since I'm feeling lousy and can't even get on the trainer, I've been knitting when I have energy. I don't have much. I've gotten another 3" on B's sweater which I like knitting, but it is slow going. I started a sock for me (my easy, quick project) and I'm to the toe on it. M's sweater front is getting closer to the neck shaping. I'll be glad to finish that one. I finished the supersecret project (I'm sending it next week) so there aren't any pictures that you can see now. I'll be starting a new supersecret project probably next week, because secret knitting is kind of fun. However, you can see the really pretty pattern of B's sweater.

You shall have a pocketful of memories...and lint.

That is a quote from the book M and I just finished as his bedtime reading, Howliday Inn. Yes, we are reading fine literature, aren't we? He said this to me as I told him good night.

M is a very interesting person (not kid--I think he'll always be a neat person) because he is so interested in everything. He was the only 5 year old on his soccer team that figured out that being with the ball (and the other 9 kids) was not the place to be. It's much better to be defending your goal. He was also the only kindergartener in his teacher's memory (and she'd been teaching thirty years) to always write his number starting with 0. He'd just add another line at the end for 10 or 20 or whatever number he was supposed to be writing. He makes friends where ever we go (which is not a skill that I have). He is fascinated by knights, lizards, and Scrabble (he's beaten me with a little help). He made a 3D city out of paper and scotch tape, because he thought it would be neat.

Lots of what we talk about around here is his little brother, L, who is a special kid with special needs. But M is just special. He's smart, and has a great sense of humor. He isn't afraid to do things that he likes, even if those things might be considered girly (knitting, for example). Even if it seems like all L all the time, M is a great kid and I'm lucky that he's mine.