Drumroll Please

That's right...two more medals for little KB.

I also have finished all the knitting for my long neglected cardigan. The sleeves are currently drying and I will be sewing them on later today. Then...dare I say it...the cardi will be complete. (I already bought these sweet wood buttons from, of all places, the convenience store across the road.)

I am thinking, since I now only have left the OpArt blanket left (seriously, only one WIP...what is that???), I am going to start the designing of Riley's sweater. That should be a fun one.

For all the knit-like-type-people out there, you may find this interesting. My nan and I are pretty close. We talk at least once a week (she is a snowbird). The other day, I got a call from her completely out of the blue (usually we talk Sunday afternoons). Her first (and only) question when I answered the phone: "What gauge do you get when you knit Riley a sweater in yarn that's a 4?" She had just casted on a sweater and it seemed a little off. So she asks me the average gauge that I use on a sweater for Riley, and we had this long conversation with me converting her gauge based on other items I have made for Riley. Definitely one of our more interesting conversations.

In other news, I finally got my new stroller. Ever since Riley has grown out of his car seat (which was a long while back), I have had a huge hate on for our stroller. It is big, bulky, awkward, and I have to split in two pieces to get it to fit in the trunk, where it then takes up all the space in the trunk. HATE. IT. So I have been looking around for a new one. Wanted a good one, with a basket and cup holder for me, and 5 point harness and reclining for Riley. Those were really my only requirements. I looked around, read opinions, etc., etc. I finally found one the other day that I really liked. I like the colour (red), I liked the look of it, I loved how easily it maneuvered. It was wonderful. (For those who are interested, it is the Bily Kingston Stroller - oddly I couldn't really find anything about it, despite looking high and low, except that Bily stands for Because I Love You.)

It was a fair price ($70, on sale from $110 - go Zellers go), and folds up pretty compactly. It feels very sturdy, and Riley loved the one I put him in at the store. The assembly was pretty easy (the wheels and brakes...that's all...just the wheels and brakes), so it took no time at all, relatively speaking.

Then I noticed this:


Does anyone else notice the phallic nature of the handles? I mean, ok, I understand they were going for a cute "antennae" sort of handle, but come on! Did no one notice this during production? (and yes, I am going to have to knit some ribbed handles...lol...)
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k

Sweet Success

It is amazing how much more I can get accomplished when I have some sort of preconceived deadline. Well, sometimes. But the ravelympics have definitely put me in a "let's get this finished" mood.
My jacket (yes, I still need to get buttons...I guess a trip to Walmart is in order):

My little girl's socks:

I'm thinking that I am going to finally be able to finish the cardigan that has been hanging out on my side there (the brown one that has been just a sad little vest for the last, what, 4 months). I started the sleeves last night. WooHoo!!!
And my medals:






I should be getting the ones for the Sock Hockey event and the Sweaterboard Cross event shortly, considering both were finished yesterday. Just wanna get the one for at least one WIP-dancing, and I will be a happy, happy girl. :)
Not much else going on right now. I went for my ultrasound the other day, and have an appointment with my doctor on Wednesday to see what that revealed. And the end of this week, of course, is my honeymoon. WEEEE!!! I am super stoked about that. 3 days and nights childless with my hubby. And a real wood fire. And a whirlpool bath. And a log cabin.
I can't wait! (Thankfully, Ammy is super excited about getting to spend some time with Granny and Grampa, so she is doing the countdown, too.) Just gotta make it through the cleaning and packing of this week, now...
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k

Ravelympics 2010

Well, with the start of the Olympics last week, so begins the start of Ravelympics. I have actually been making damn good progress with the items I am doing for my team (GO TEAM BKG!). So far, I have finished one toy (Toadstool Rattle for Riley):


My coat is coming along really well (thanks to an unhealthy dose of insomnia):


I have also gotten one sock done for Ammy (to be entered in the Sock Hockey category), and the second one is even cast on already, too!!!

Plus, I have somehow managed to find time to finish off one of the behbeh sweaters I am doing for a friend. I still have to sew it, but it is done and waiting for that.

Woohoo...busy, busy, busy. :) And loving every moment of it. (Yes, I know that I am going to crash soon...but after a nice 10-12 hour nap, I should be fine again...lol)

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k.

Stones...and not the rolling kind

So it seems that Riley, cute as he may be, will continue with his one step forward, two steps back...at least for a little while.

At his urology follow up at Sick Kids, they ran a new ultrasound on him with respect to his kidney reflux. That is fine. It is being well managed with the medication that he is on, so they are not concerned. We go for another follow up in 6 months, but for the moment, they are positive that he can stay on the medication until he is around potty training age, and will be fine. HOWEVER (there is always a however, it seems), during the course of the ultrasound, they discovered that he has kidney stones. Kidney stones! In a 10 month (or 7 month, depending on if you want to use corrected age) child!

They are guessing that he has developed renal stone disease, which I was diagnosed with about 4 years ago. They aren't sure how, though, since his body *technically* shouldn't have excess minerals and vitamins needed to create a single stone, let alone the many of them that they discovered.

So, in the course of this, they are hoping to use me as a guinea pig. I go for a follow up ultrasound on Wednesday to see if there are any "live" stones currently in my kidneys (which there should be, since there almost always is) and, from what was guessed by my family doctor, they will likely do a retrieval of one of my stones to find out the exact breakdown and hopefully be able to give both Riley and I something to break them down without having to wait for them to pass.

Fun, fun, fun.

At least I have my vacation to look forward to before having to deal with all this ickyness.

And I finally went and got myself a set of the puzzle boards from the dollar store across from us. I think I mentioned this before, but the place across from us has the 10 packs of the foam puzzle boards for $3-4 dollars. Now, I bought a set for Riley to play on, and just bought another set for myself, since they would be perfect for blocking (in fact, they sell in most places for $20-$25 as "blocking mats"). Yep, I'll take em for $3, thank you very much. And hope the cats will leave the blocking items alone.

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k

I Wonder If Winter Looks Different From the Treetops

So the hubby and I have decided to celebrate the fact that *if* February had 29 days this year, we would be celebrating our 6 month anniversary. How have we decided to celebrate? By taking our honeymoon. Yes, that is right. 3 days and 3 nights with just the two of us. We've actually decided that we are going to go up north. I know, I know, why not do the Niagara Falls thing, since that would be just as close and hotels often have the "Romantic Getaway" packages which include a bottle of wine and one dinner. Well, quite frankly, if we wanted loudness and people and more people and all that jazz, we would save ourselves the money and just stay home. Plus, if you factor in the $50-$80 that most things in Niagara cost to do, we'd be spending a whole boatload, or end up staying in our hotel room, never venturing out the whole time.

We wanted something more than that. We wanted something to be remembered (and not in the 9 months later sort of way).

So we are heading up north. We are renting a cabin at one of the all year round places. I'm not one for much outdoors stuff, especially during the winter, but we have decided on a few things that we would like to do. We are going to hit up this sweet Treetop Adventures place on the way up there. They actually take you through this giant trail 40 feet up in the trees. It is all connected by bridges and ziplines. I'm super excited about that. We also plan on going night tubing at one of the places that have the snow tube runs nearby where we are staying.

The cabin that we are staying in has not only a jacuzzi tub but a hot tub on the deck! Plus, they have a huge games room (with pool tables, ping pong tables and an arcade), and they have snowshoe trails that you can go on all around the place (I have always wanted to go snowshoeing...I don't know why, just always have). And three square meals a day are included with the package.

So yes, I may not be a big one for winter and cold, but the hot tub/jacuzzi tub will make up for that. And if all else fails, the cabin has a real wood fireplace that we can snuggle up in front of.

In other news, I have finally got all the yarn that I need for the breeders I know. I have one sweater done already (red one akin to the sweater I made for Riley in green), and plan to do one more blue and one more pink. That should cover everyone expecting during the month. I swear, May was a popular month for copulation. :S

Tis all.
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