Jo Knits!

Good and bad

Yesterday was an awful day, yet after the initial part it became a great day.

I have received my prize from Leslie of a skein of David Daniels Cabin Cove yarn (he'll have an update with new yarn in july). WOW! It is SO soft, it feels like natural yarn if that makes any sense. The colors are softer/nicer than I expected, it is truely a beauty to look at. I spent the evening touching the yarn, it just feels so nice, it is 100% merino yarn but I bet some merinos are softer than other. LOL! I am almost tempted to knit something other than socks with this yarn, it's just so nice but I think I will make myself some ultra soft and well deserved socks! These shall become my "I'm 30 and I'm taking care of myself" socks! I'm taking the day to choose what pattern I use, although I might simply knit basic socks, I like plain vanilla socks especially when the yarn is so nice.

So in the morning I had a meeting with the most awful person I have ever met... she works for the government... and was basically telling me that I'm a spoiled brat and do not deserve any emergency aid at the moment. Well uh... ok... it made me physically ill just to go to the meeting but after it was even worst. The temperature outside was 38 degrees celcius and I am learning that I can't cope with such high temps without getting sunstroke symptoms. In the afternoon I went to see a social worker to see if I had other options to help me out. It's been a really tough day especially since I had to aswer so many questions about Carl, yet we haven't really talked since he left 3 weeks ago. Let's just say that the strong mom I try to be, broke down for the 1st time and it wasn't pretty.

That said, a wonderful little note was waiting for me in my inbox, I got my Ravelry invite! I barely had time to check it out before crashing in my bed but it looks like a ton of fun.

Here's my mom and Zoe showing off the 1st head of lettuce they have grown in their garden. They are spending the summer in a special project growing and caring for their own garden. We've had the pleasure of getting some strawberries, spinach and lettuce and the season barely started. My mom is really enjoying the bond that is being created with this project, it has helped Zoe come out of her shell too.

Of course one kid can't be the only one with a garden, so at home, Lucas is the master gardener of his own garden. He had to show the yarn his master domain. LOL! We are having a lot of luck with out garden, it is growing very well yet we barely care for it. lol!

I have finished two pairs of socks will take pics and show off very soon. Gotta fill up that Flickr account and share for Ravelry. LOL!

p/s: be sure to check out the previous entry, I published it today although I wrote it last week... I forgot to change from draft to publish. LOL!

Post-30

What a great day wednesday (my birthday) was! The whole school where my kids go went to the Granby Zoo. Go meet Toutoune (aka Fatso!) we were born the same year. LOL! I don't remember ever going so it was a great outing. Both my mom and I were responsible for 3 kids each (I had my son Lucas in my team!). It went very well, the Zoo is really nice and I'd love to go back someday to really take the time to see everything. I am happy to say that we didn't lose any kids throughout the day. Boy was I having a hard time coming back by school bus though, I kept wanting to fall asleep like most of the kids. LOL!

In the evening my mom and Zoe went to do their gardening while I took a walk with Lucas. He got me some Timbits for my birthday and it was totally from the heart, what more could I ask for? The 'girls' came home with more surprises, freshly picked lettuce (different kinds) and some strawberries. This has had to be one of the best birthdays I have had, spent most of my day with them and just had a really nice day filled with love!

To celebrate wildly... I started a new project, it is NOT socks! See, I went crazy. LOL! Actually I started two projects, the Montego Bay (it used to be called the Mimi Verylong) scarf and a 4 corners dishcloth.

Now today is a sad day for all of us, the school's last day is always welcomed with mixed feelings. We are all happy to be free of homework all summer but it's tough to leave the teachers that were there for the kids throughout the year. It's also hard to realize that next fall Lucas will start 1st grade and Zoe will enter 3rd grade. WOW! As a simple and frugal gift for the teachers, the kids each painted a wooden box, added their teachers name on it with stickers and filled the box with more stickers. In my opinion teachers never have too many stickers. LOL! Also they each wrote a letter to their teacher on some really nice summer themed scrapbooking paper (gotta love the dollar store!). At the end of the day, I will be giving a thank you card to both teachers, the secretary and the principal. Just a note to thank them, I really think they will enjoy it.

Now off I go, a neighbour is taking me out to lunch. Yippeeeeeee!

Super Jo!

Meet my current favorite project, it is the Icarus shawl, knit in Sea Silk, I didn't work on it for a few weeks but always look forward on picking it up, it's like my 'special treat' knitting. I am still on chart one so it is pretty boring knitting but I really want this to be a finished project!!!

Ever get bad news and then something GREAT happens? Well yesterday a neighbour screamed after me outside and I felt humiliated. Then I came home and opened my emails only to find out I won yarn!!! There was a contest on Femknitzi's blog and I WON! teehee! It made my day, that and later on knowing my neighbour was being dealt with...

Now, I know I must be lucky because I was tagged twice for this challenge. I have done it a few months back but since I want to be as cool as all the other kids, I'm doing it again.

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1- I can not stand eating ginger, it just doesn't do it for me, that said I love Ginger Ale!
2- I need chocolate every day, yet we are out of it... it's been tough. LOL!
3- I uploaded podcasts to my Ipod all by myself today and was a great victory for me.
4- I have trouble making and then keeping friends, I am not a people person but I get lonely.
5- I will read a magazine in one sitting from 1st page to last including each recipe/pattern.
6- I can't read french knitting patterns, I only know the english terminology.
7- I am turning 30 tomorrow and I think I can now consider myself an adult!

If you feel like doing this game, let me know so I can go check out your little 'secrets'.

Today is the last day I spend as a 20-something and I took legal action to make sure that I was my kids sole guardian. It felt good and I was proud to be my superwoman self. See each time Carl left us, I would become this new stronger confident person. Today I made sure I would stay that person, hopefully the kids will like the new mom I am determined to be. That said, turning 30yo feels odd, I still get carded so at least I don't look my age. LOL! For my birthday, I will be spending the day with my son's kindergarden class, sure to make me feel young again... I mean, they insist on calling me "Madame Jo". ACK!

Check out who lost his 1st tooth, it only started moving a day or two before. We got out the special tooth fairy pouch and Lucas finally joined his classmates in the 'loss of a tooth' count they are having in class.

Last but not least, a little personal PSA for Canadians, did you know using a public payphone is now 50 cents!? It is cheaper for me to use my pay-per-minute cell phone for most of my calls.

That's it for today, back to Icarus!

Isn't it ironic?

(deleted for no good reason...)

Here's a picture of the kids taken on Zoe's 8th birthday two weeks ago. It is now the wallpaper for my computer and it makes me smile. How quickly life can change.

I am still knitting like crazy, just don't feel like taking artsy-fartsy pics so I'll just post plain ones over the weekend. Let's just say there's nothing like Fleece Artist/Handmaiden yarns to make life a little happier.