So it’s been really rainy here lately, so of course I decide it’s time to start knitting up winter stuff. For some reason, when the weather turns cloudy and it starts to get chilly, I have to knit. Most people would think it is prime quilting time, but I tend to quilt in the spring and summer and knit in the fall and winter. I’m still going to try to get James’ quilt done before Christmas, but I need new leader cloths for my frame first.
I’m currently working on a watchcap for my DFIL’s birthday on Nov. 1st. I’m over halfway done already, so it shouldn’t take me much longer. After that, I have hats(and maybe mittens) to knit up for the boys, a hat for James(and something else that I’m not saying:) maybe a hat for each of my brothers, and something for my dad and stepmom. I might even get something done for my MIL and SIL, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to get it to them by Christmas. I’m hoping I’ll get all that finished, I’ll let you know how it goes:) I keep telling James I’m going to get some bright red and bright yellow yarn and knit up some caps for the boys, but he won’t let me no matter how much Harry Potter I make him watch:) I found a pattern for the hat Hermione wears in the Half-blood Prince movie, and I’m definately going to make that one for me:)

He finally got a motorcycle home in one piece! The first one we bought him, he wrecked on the way home and totalled it. So I am suitably impressed that this one made it home. He hasn’t gotten much chance to ride it, we need to get it in for a tune up(scheduled for tomorrow). He wants me to learn how to ride. I told him in a couple of years maybe:)

Yes, it has been a long time. But I’m finally back! And I have a new shop set up on Etsy: http://jameswife.etsy.com I don’t have very much listed yet, but I’m working on getting some more on there. With any luck, I’ll be able to post quite a bit:)
In other news, James has finally managed to get a motercycle home without destroying it, so now we have a Yamaha V-star sitting in our driveway. He needs alot of practice riding it:)
And William said his first word! Of course it was “Dada” He loves his daddy:) He’s almost standing on his own, I think he could but he’s a little scared of letting go. He’ll be walking in no time!
Since I have no pictures for you today, how about a little bit of music? This is James’ favorite song by the Clancy Brothers. I couldn’t find the one with the joke at the beginning, but it’s still a funny song.

We went to the wildlife refuge yesterday to fish. Amazingly, we found the perfect spot for crappie. At least, I think it was because we caught 14 of them in 3 hours. We let one of them go because it was just too small. Here’s a picture of the one Joe caught mostly on his own.

He has a bad fishing pole, we got him a better one last night. We had to cast for him, and we had trouble with it.
Here’s my first fish in a long time:

And yes, I dyed my hair. Because it seemed like fun.
We’re planning on going out once more this weekend. Tomorrow we’re planning on going to the museum to look at dinosaur skeletons. Joe loves that:)

I finally got the churn dash quilted and bound! Yay!

This one will be going to my stepmom. I hope she likes it:)

I’m going to try to take a nap now, William has decided he wants to wake up at 4 every morning and I have to get up with him. I’m SOOOOO tired, and I’ll be glad when he gets past this phase.

Yes, I’ve been gone for a while. In that time, we’ve gotten a new van, little William has gotten a new tooth(his first!) and Joe has learned how to spell “bug”. It’s been a busy week! I had my first trip to court yesterday due to an expired driver’s license, and I still haven’t been able to get a new one. Turns out you have to have a birth certificate to get a new one, and a valid military ID isn’t enough! But a birth certificate is less of an ID than a military one! Makes no sense to me…
We also went to a battalion fun day thing yesterday, where I managed to get a couple of really cute pics. The first one is the biggest dog there. He’s only 7 months old (the dog, not the person!) and is a great dane. His owner isn’t small himself, I think he’s well over 6 feet tall!

The next one is the smallest dog we saw there, and this one is full grown! Here she is being held by Joe, who is only 4.

Enjoy the pics, hopefully tomorrow I’ll have a pic of a finished quilt (churn dash just needs binding, and as soon as William stops crying I’ll be able to put it on.)
By the way, my stitch regulator did in fact get here, and it works very well. I need more practice before I can do show quality quilts, but since I’m not planning on entering shows any time soon, that shouldn’t be a problem.

I.V. benadryl works alot faster than regular. Here’s what happened:
I have been having a few health problems, so I went to see the doctor. Yesterday was my follow-up appointment with her. This ended up with me leaving with a bunch of medication(of course) but thankfully no more blood tests yet. One of these meds was an antibiotic called Cipro. So I take it at lunch like a good girl. About an hour later I start having trouble breathing. So I think, “OK, I went somewhere today so I’m having an asthma attack, no big deal.” And, yes, one of the new meds is for asthma. I use my Albuterol inhaler, but it doesn’t work. Half an hour later(by now it’s 2:30 by the way) my face starts itching and I start turning red. Great. An allergic reaction to something. I know I didn’t have any shellfish. I had catfish for lunch but I made it myself and we bought it from a place that doesn’t even sell fresh shellfish. By this point, I can’t take pill benadryl because I can’t swallow it, so I send a text to James to come and get me.
Off to the hospital we go. Which, of course, requires me to get an I.V. so that they can give me meds fast. Huzzah. I hate needles. The first thing they give me is benadryl, really good stuff when you get it that way:) Then Zantac, which believe it or not is an antihistamine in addition to a heartburn drug. The doc gives me a new antibiotic and tells me to stop taking the other one(well, duh) and we get Arby’s for dinner.
As you might have noticed, when I have an allergic reaction, I don’t go into anaphalactic shock, but anaphalactiod shock, which is slightly less dangerous. The difference is, my throat doesn’t close up, even though I have trouble breathing. It is still something I have to go to the hospital for if I don’t catch it in time to take the pill meds, or if it is more than just a minor one. If James kisses me after shellfish without brushing his teeth(something that has only happened once or twice, he’s really careful) then I’m ok with just the pill, but if I actually eat shellfish(or apparently take cipro) then it’s a mad dash to the ER. Yay. I’m gonna go watch TV now…

Nothing finished yet, still waiting on stitch regulator. I have made progress though. I squared up about a gazillion triangles for the 2 bear’s paw quilts I’m doing, and a bunch for the Old Tobbbacco Road quilt at Quiltville.com Here’s what I have finished for that one:

And what I still have to square up:
And I still need 63 more!!! There’s alot of little pieces in this one, but I think it’ll look great, presuming I can ever get it finished.
How about another baby pic?

The little guy is trying to learn how to crawl, but refuses to let me get a good pic of it! He can get up on his hands and knees and rock. For some reason, he doesn’t think he needs to sit up on his own though. I guess moving is more important to him:)

My stitch regulator should be here by next week, so I’m going to wait until it gets here to finish up these quilts. I did finish quilting the baby’s quilt, now I just have to bind it. I’ll post a picture when I get that done. Right now I’m trying to get a few tops done so when I start quilting again, I’ll have lots to do. I probably won’t get much done today, my back still hurts from yesterday(too much bending over the table cutting out leader/enders) so I’m just going to do basic house cleaning and watch some TV:)

Today’s quilting is much better! Still not perfect, but I’m ok with that. This is the 9 patch for the baby, so it’s still sort of a practice quilt. I expect this one to get used to death, and have all manner of gross things happen to it. I’ve only been able to quilt for a few minutes today, I’ll get more in this afternoon.