Saturday, August 26, 2006

Update on Life With Just Me & Bluey

Hi,

I realized the other day that I'm living alone for the first time in my life. I lived with my parents and brothers and sisters till I was 19 and then lived with Joe for 28 years. Thank God for my kitten Bluey. Or I would really be depressed!!

This is not a bad thing I am finding out. I can do whatever I want as long as i don't spend a lot of money. The actual legal process has not started yet so I'm trying to be frugal so I can keep my house.

I realized yesterday I'm going to way too many meetings (i'm in recovery 9 yrs, 10 months). Hiding in the rooms is not a good way to deal with life. Also staying in bed all day when I'm home is not good either. My friends in the program are priceless to me. A wonderful group of women who are all my sisters. Oh yes and then there is my real sister, Mary Beth, who calls me every day. I really love her.

What's keeping me stable these days is trying to stay balanced. To check my balance every day I start with an I Ching reading. Today was 5:Waiting, line 4&5 changing to 34: Taming Power of the Great. I read it to mean wait and save your power until the time arrives to act. The best reminder to myself is to be kind and not put too much pressure on myself to take action through fear of failure. This is a rough time on the psyche, almost like a death, so I have to sit in waiting and heal. I think I can do that.

So I started reading up on Narcissism. This has been an interesting psychological diagnosis that was often lodged on my missing father. So I started reading this BLOG, What Makes Narcissists Tick? (see my blog list below to check it out.) I also
downloaded this person's book that goes with her blog. She is a free lance writer and not a psychologist but it seems like she has the experience of living with such a person. The traits also really fit my husband (soon to be ex). I think reading this stuff is only helping me in one way. It helps me to realize why it was so impossible to reach him emotionally. It was the same way with my father. In time I think it will help me move on from the thought that things could have been different if only I acted a different way. Acceptance is key ...

thanks for listening, sue

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Progress on Sonnet

Hi,

I finished the body of Sonnet today (finally!) I'm thinking about doing the sleeves simultaneously to get finished quicker (or is that just an illusion?!) Here is a shot of the front with Bluey in the way. She's been supervising progress all week, trying to compete with the yarn for my lap. (she's getting bigger)



I'm starting to think about presents. September is a huge month for birthdays in my family and I'm thinking socks. I also want to finish the Jaywalkers before the end of August, but I don't know if I can give them up since they were so expensive (selfish) and are also so beautiful. This is my problem with giving knitting away as gifts. I want to keep everything I make. But I really want to save money this year and I have SO MUCH in my stash. Have I shown you my stash lately? (this is a picture from the spring but the only thing that's changed is about 30 more skeins of yarn!!!)



I'm still perusing the new Fall VK with a section on cool sock patterns (I like the thigh highs!) Also, the little scarf booklet that came with the new Interweave knits. I really want to make the Pam Allen scarf that looks like a tree branch. Looks fun.

Well, I'm still internetless at home so I'm sitting in the Ithaca Bakery with what seems like many parents bringing their freshman to Cornell (it's orientation weekend). The summer is officially over! :-(

take care, sue

Monday, August 14, 2006

Finished Vest and Martha's Vineyard

I was so antsy to finish something that I whipped up this Twinkle Vest (from HolidayVK 2004) with some kitchen cotton from my stash. I like it, it's funky!



It's basically a long chunky cable attached to a seed stitch back with some twisted fringe. I think I finished it in 3 hours.

This weekend my dear friend Liz invited me to visit her at her cottage on Martha's Vineyard. I'm so blessed with good friends who are rallying around me in my time of need. It was my first time on MV and I enjoyed riding the ferry over and seeing all the sites (especially the beautiful houses). We rode bikes and hung out on south beach. We went to Edgartown one night and it was filled with happy, preppy people!!! :-) The weather was beautiful. Check out my crappy cell phone shots of our visit to the Gay Head Cliffs and Lighthouse (and one of the harbor from the ferry).







I hunted down one yarn store in Vineyard Haven called the Heath Hen. They had a lot of summer yarn on sale but I was good and stuck to my Stashalong promise. I did get the new Interweave Knits with the Scarf leaflet. Good stuff in there.

Take care, sue

Monday, August 07, 2006

My New Friend!

Hi,

Since my breakup I've been thinking about getting a cat. Then I decided I wanted a siamese cat, so I saw that there was a siamese mix at the SPCA but when I got there it was like an inmate insurrection!! The cat attendent had this crazed calico scratching her face (a lot of bleeding) and the other cats were hissing at each other. The siamese I wanted to look at was cowering in the corner and as she wiped the blood from her face the attendent said, "I wouldn't pet her, she bites!" As I left even the kittens were fighting! Bad day in the lock-up!!!

So I looked at the local internet classifieds and a woman in Penn Yann was selling pure siamese kittens for a reasonable price. So I drove the almost 2 hours (through gorgeous farmland and lakeviews) to Penn Yann and found her farm. When I walked into her small house there were two kids, five dogs, and two cats each with their own litter. (oh yes and the horses and cows in the back yard). I picked out one of the three girls. Here she is, my new pal, Joyous Blue:



I call her Joy or Bluey, whichever works. I was amazed at how small she is, she's only 8 weeks old. She is not even 24 hours at the house and she's using her litter box and exploring all the hiding places in the living room. I sneezed a little bit, but overall I'm not allergic to her (not that bad).



When I left her to go to work today I left on the new age channel on my xmradio and she snuggled right up to the speaker! I now take back everything I said about people going on and on about their cats on their knitting blogs!



take care, sue