It's a white frosted world....

...and my 100th post! Yesterday morning we woke up to a clean white blanketed world. Roads were not too bad - we got about 4 inches of snow over night. It appears that we have some more on the way this week. Here are some pictures of our snowy white world...




















Frosted and white - all the dirty snow has been covered up. A beautiful start to the week.

I have been judiciously using my shoulder - there are just some things that you need to use both arms for, and work is one of them. While I can knit - I have been coming home and resting my shoulder so the healing process continues to take place. The doctor told me to do some very gentle range of motion exercises - so I am trying to do them diligently. Teyani sent me the names of some of the holistic things that her husband took and did to work towards recovery of his injured shoulder. I have been out to my local health food stores to pick up some of them. I also have been using a heating pad intermittently during the night - this is helping tremendously. I think it keeps my shoulder from "tightening" up at night.

It is exam week - so it is study central here. This is one thing I do not miss from my school days. Exams really stressed me out - I am glad that my kids, for the most part, are not stressing too much over the exams.

I sent out my packages for my Special Swap partner, Kim, yesterday. Thanks to Lynne for organizing this great swap!! I am looking forward to our travel theme for the next two months. I have been toying with some ideas. I think I have narrowed it down, but I need to do a little research to finalize my decision!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

You can't keep a good knitter down!

Or a so - so knitter either! I went out to SnB last night - it was the last Thursday of the month and that is the night that we are all working on our "block a month" squares - this is the afgan I am knitting for DD#1 to take with her when she heads off to the University of Michigan in the fall. So, rather than sit home and feel sorry for my disgustingly pitiful self, I determined that I would at least go to Friends for the evening. Before long, I had my knitting needles out and found that I could knit a bit. Nothing dramatic now - just simple stockinette on some bed socks I am working up. Who could use bed socks more than the most pitiful person in West Michigan - me! Are you about ready to smack me yet? I know I sure am!! So, as long as it is not complicated - and I don't move my arm too much. I CAN KNIT!!

This is a very good thing because I am feeling much less sorry for myself.

I want to take a moment to thank all you amazing blogging friends out there for all your words of encouragement and support. It means more than you can ever know to have read all the comments you have all left for me. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart... it feels good to have so many friends - in so many places!

On top of everything that happened this week, of course work suddenly got busy. Go figure, right? I have enlisted my darling daughter #2 to go in tomorrow to help me put the VOLUME of paper work in order and get things in over night packages to go down to processing.... thank goodness for children! It will only cost me a new pair of jeans!! A good trade off!

Tomorrow night, some friends of mine are having a "Tapa's" party. I am not quite sure what I am bringing - but it will be a nice evening. Good friends, great conversation, music, food, and yes, a glass of wine or two. I am really looking forward to this! The last get together they had was one I attended with my husband - I had a great time, he did not. I am going to relish the fact that no one will be nagging me to leave.... ahhh, the simple things in life.

We have another storm rolling in - what is it with this? This week in the 40's - sunshine and meltingness - now another 6 - 12 inches of snow are on their way. I am sending "Grace" away for the winter!! LOL

Have a great weekend all - you are all the best!! Oh - and I will have my package out for my Special Swap tomorrow - my wrapping helper is home!!

Graceful, thy name is not Kat

Hey everyone. Lent has begun and who'd of thunk I'd be giving up knitting! Yesterday, on a morning that the sunrise was gorgeous after a beautiful starry night - think no clouds - I headed out to work, on a mission to purchase some "paczki's" for the Tuesday morning sales meeting - Fat Tuesday - eat sweets in preparation for giving them up for lent, right?

Well, close your eyes and imagine this - I get out of my car and begin the walk behind my office building to the "Wesco Gas Station" where the office staff SWEARS to me that the best paczki's on earth are. So, as I am walking - briskly - imagine me hitting a patch of ice - very thin - very, very slippery ice. Are you putting 2 and 2 together? If I did not hurt so much I'd be laughing right now - so I hope you all are! While my feet seemed to be sliding in slow motion - my fall to the earth was not slow by any means. Can you see me? Face down on the parking lot? I mean flat on the ground! I jumped up so quickly - I amazed myself, praying that no one had seen me do the "swan dive" onto the black top. My knee was killing me, my hands were skinned up, my wrist was not feeling too pleasant either. But, I continued on to purchase the damned paczki's (and I am not even Polish - sorry to all of you lovely Polish readers out there!) and bring them back to the office. I headed to the bathroom to wash the parking lot grime off my hands, clothes, shoes, coat - what I really needed to do was head back home and start over!! My knee was a bit skinned, my hands looked like they were going to have some nice bruises too! But, nothing looked broken and nothing was bleeding - maybe not so bad after all. AND - no one saw me fall - this must be a good omen.

I continued on through the day - sitting at my desk and working away. The worst was over right?

By noon I could not lift my right arm - at all. It was most comfortable next to my body - not moving. I started to think something was very wrong. As the afternoon progressed, the pain increased - I am no wimp and have a fairly high tolerance for pain. By 2PM I classified the pain as "30" on a scale of 1-10 when I called my family doctor. The phone nurse told me, "go directly to the ER, do not pass go, do not collect $200.00" So, I managed to put my coat on and headed out to the hospital.

Thank goodness I did not break anything. But, they fear I have torn my "rotator cuff" and I have a goodly amount of fluid on my knee. I sit here before you with my right arm in a sling, pumped full of Motrin - avoiding the Vicodin they also prescribed because it
a. gave me nightmares

and

b. made me dizzy and nauseous!

I go back to see my doctor next week - how am I going to make it without knitting for the next few days!!! AARRGGHHH..... stay tuned to see how this progresses!

Virtual Me?

Okay, while reading Lynne's blog today - I about died laughing - until I went to My Virtual Model myself. Hmmm, can you say diet?



Here I am in all my virtual glory!

I put clothes on her to hide the hips and thighs!! Please notice there is no rotating allowed here like there is in Virtual Model World. They also did not have an option for "big round boo-tay" either - so she is not very realistic!! LOL Now, for the "more mature" button - it needs to be more mature! Nose wider? What are there any other choices? Stop by and see what Virtual Lynne is doing - maybe Virtual Lynne and Virtual Kat should start a Virtual Knitting Group. They can discuss the pros and cons of virtual existance! Imagine it - in the virtual world there is no laundry to do. Just point and click to get a new outfit!! Also, loosing weight would be just a click away - vanish those hips for an evening!! Also, having a bad hair day? Non-existant in Virtual World - just click on another do and away you go!!

There might be some merits to this Virtual World - hmmmm, bring me another Virtual Cinnamon Roll....

LOL. Have a great evening everyone!! Oh, and if you go make a Virtual You, drop me a line so Virtual Me can come visit you!!

Sunday Sunset

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend - it was snowy yesterday, but we had some sunshine today. At least enough to have a sunset this evening.


It was a pleasant ending to a lovely Sunday. I went this afternoon to knit squares for "Warm Up America" - this had been postponed from Super Bowl Sunday due to the weather. As you can see, we have a good amount of snow out there. The great news is that we are supposed to get RAIN next weekend. Can you say flood? I am not so thrilled about that prospect!











It was nice knitting with the SnB group today, but I really wanted to work on my Bloomin' Feet Socks! Here is a photo of my progress... they are coming along beautifully. And, I have a conference call this week that should afford me at least an hour of uninterupted knitting time!



I think that they are turning out nicely... don't you?

Have a great week all! Stay warm and dry!

Snowy Saturday

Hello everyone! What, you say... snow again??? I am just shocked at how much snow has fallen over the vast majority of the midwest and beyond in the relatively short month of February. The weatherman tells me that we are supposed to warm up next week though - warm up into the upper 30's that is. So, melt all this snow and we should have floods by next weekend. I am not sure if I should start on the ark, but stay tuned for updates here!

Not much knitting this week - but, I am happy to say that I am at long last caught up at work!! Yipee!!!!! This week also closed the chapter of filing my tax return with my "husband". Funny how money can motivate a person to suddenly be nice, isn't it? The return from the federal government came in on Friday - so, of course, Kyle called me NUMEROUS times during the day - frantic to get these funds. He was less that happy that I was working in Muskegon and Spring Lake all day. I am amazed at what I ever saw in this person - he certainly is not what he was when we met. Or maybe he was, but he somehow managed to "hide" his true self. I met some friends last night after work for a drink and some unwind from the week time - unfortunately Kyle showed up as well - sometimes I would like to just drop off the face of the earth. Did you ever feel like that? For as large as Holland has gotten, it still is a small town - darn it all! I don't want any "sympathy" for the end of this relationship, nor do I want to discuss it with anyone. Does this make me weird?

I am going to treat myself today - I am going shopping for a camera! I am excited to take this "leap" into modern technology! Watch out for new photo heavy blog postings!

So, I am heading out to find a camera - then I am stopping by my LYS to finish up my "Special Swap" partner's package so I can get it in the mail this week. Then, I am getting together with some friends to play Euchre this afternoon. A day just for me...and I am worth it!

Have an awesome weekend all!

Playing catch up...or the faster I go, the behinder I get

Hello All from white and wintry Western Michigan! I know, what on earth am I complaining about - I don't have 110 inches of snow on the ground like those poor folks in New York State do - it is just that I am hungering for a view of the sun - you know, a small reminder that it still exists! There has been grey clouds with snow flakes falling from them for what seems like an eternity - or at least the past 30 days, or so my weather man tells me. It makes for dreary days - not so great, as I am sure you can all imagine!

So, I believe I am over my ailment - this is a very good thing. I truly appreciate all the kind comments from all of you - 2 days off from work was certainly unexpected and it has made me so behind, here on Tuesday a week later I am still struggling to catch up! I find myself thinking about the story from the Bible - you know the one when the earth stood still for 3 days - this would work wonderfully for me right now - 3 days = 1 and I might be all caught up! So, while I know this won't be happening - I press on to get as many things as I can finished in the hours alloted in each day. If you have sent me an email recently - be patient - I will get an answer back to you sometime this week, certainly by the weekend.

I have been doing a bit of knitting - I am proud to report. I am working on my Bloomin' Feet pal's socks - and I am LOVING the pattern. I am doing "Spindle Socks" and the yarn I have selected is working beautifully with the pattern. I selected Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in the most amazing pale pink - the yarn and the pattern were made for each other! I have turned the heel on sock #1 and am about half way to the toes! I shall try and post a photo of my progress - I am throughly enjoying the pattern - it is fun and an easy knit. I hope my pal will love these - I think they will look awesome on her feet! I am also keeping my eyes open for some fun items to include in her package!! I hope to have sock #1 finished this weekend and begin its mate as well!

Okay - I have finished my tea and I need to get back at it - have an awesome Tuesday everyone!

SUPER.....sick

Hey everyone. Are you all surviving the wintry blast most of north america is getting? We have had a goodly amount of snow and the promise of more on the way; frigidy temperatures that dove well below the zero mark - an unusual feat for those of us sheltered along the shores of Lake Michigan; a couple of snow days that made my children sing; and Super Sunday... As you can see it has been an eventful few days here at the Christensen Huis!

Sunday EVERYTHING was cancelled - and I mean everything, from church services to Super Bowl parties - even knitting super bowl parties. With visibilities of less than zero, all of West Michigan hunkered down in their homes to stay warm and cozy. And then it hit....

By Sunday night I was not feeling well - I could not put my finger on it, but I just did not feel great. This was not the harbinger of something wonderful - rather the foreboding of what was to come. I came down with the flu - I will refrain from the gruesome details - suffice it to say that on Wednesday morning when I pulled my feeble body from bed to get to the office, there were 10 less pounds of me. I was so miserable I could not even knit! I am telling you - it was not a pretty sight - no knitting, it has to be really bad!!

Wednesday the schools determined that the kids could again venture out to classes again - and wonder of all wonders, the SUN came out! By the time I left work yesterday afternoon - it was a balmy 20 degrees outside! We are having a virtual heat wave here!!

More snow is on the horizon for the weekend, and still cold temperatures - but the weather man says no more frigidy coldness like we had.

Watch for pictures of my socks for Amanda's Bloomin' Feet Swap - they are still coming along beautifully! I promise to get some pics posted this weekend.

Gotta fly now - have an awesome day all!

In the bleak mid winter...

Blogger (silent) Poetry Reading is happening. Go see Grace's Poppies and get your poems posted. If you post - please leave a comment for her (and me - I'd like to read your poetry as well!).

Here are my contributions... these were my Grandfather's favorite poems. I had them memorized at a very young age.

Fog: Carl Sandburg 1878-1967

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.


Trees: Joyce Kilmer 1886-1918

I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

I leave you in the quiet silence of a snowy Friday afternoon...