It's Been A While

October was busy. Here's a few highlights:

Kristin's volleyball occupied 2 weekday evenings and an occasional Saturday per week. She was promoted up to varsity during the second half of September and played every game until the last two games of the tournaments. Her team made it to the 4th round of the tournaments, losing in the district finals.



Trisha's cross country was every Tuesday and Saturday. She improved tremendously through the season, going from 18:36 for a 2-mile run to her best time of 15:03 during the second to last meet. She has plans to run cross country in high school and will only get faster! Run like the wind, Bullseye!!



Getting ready for Blake's big #12 birthday. He wanted a small get-together this year, which was perfectly alright with me. He had a few friends come over last Friday for pizza, cake, and games. The boys had a great time playing with his new Nerf guns. Unfortunately, his cake didn't fare so well. I'm not sure what happened, but when I tried to ice it, the top layer split. Ed said it was too moist. I think I stacked the layers incorrectly. I should have inverted the bottom layer to have the 2 flat sides meet in the middle. Oh well, it still tasted good. And to a group of 11 and 12 year old boys, it was a work of art.



With all the good, there must come some bad. The leaf below was collected while taking a long walk one Sunday afternoon after a particularly stressful week. My biggest stress came from having to have a diagnostic mammogram. I have been having some issues and my doctor thought there might be a slight chance that the cause was breast cancer. Fortunately, the mammogram showed that everything was okay. The doctor feels it was just inflamation. HUGE RELIEF!!!


The second stress that week came at work. I won't chronicle the details but just say that having to work with a dictator sucks!!! This person was leveling a ton of false accusations against me and trying to get me fired. Fortunately, I weathered the storm. After things calmed down a bit, I had a little chat with the Fuhrer and let him know I didn't appreciate the way he treated me. For the moment, he's backed off. I don't know if standing up to him helped, or he's retreated and planning a more covert attack for next time. Either way, I'm laying low for a while.

Now, for the knitting portion of the show:

Some socks in either OSU or UC colors. Since UC is doing better this year in football, I think I'll honor them with this pair.



The Taize shawl. I bought the pattern and yarn during the weekend after the stressful week. Taize is a particular type of liturgical service. I thought it rather appropriate because I was saying prayers constantly that week.



The Cherie Amour sweater.

I got my burgundy shawl finished last weekend. Click here to see photos of the finished work. I very happy with the final results. It is 21 inches long by 59 inches wide. Now I need an occasion to wear it. Hmmm, anniversary coming up next week. Maybe, maybe.

A LYS near my work is going out of business. I stopped by after work and picked up a new book and 6 skeins of Lorna Lace's Angel. I'm going to make the girls each a pair of fingerless mitts. I'll use Fetching again from knitty. I made myself http://www.ravelry.com/projects/katschem/fetchinglast March as a birthday present to myself. They are soft and warm.

Kristin is moving up to play varsity this week. Four varsity players aren't playing at the moment, each for their own reason, so they need a passer. Kristin has been dressing and sitting the bench. She went in for 3 plays yesterday, but will see more play time during the 3 matches this week. She doesn't want to play varsity because she thinks she isn't good enough. I know she is if she can get past her nerves.

Trisha is enjoying her cross country. She isn't the fastest girl on her team, but she is improving with each meet. If she trains more year-round she'll be a strong runner in high school.

Blake is excited about joining a couple clubs at school. He is joining the Magic & Illusion club and the Technology club. The Tech club learns how to make movies and videos. I have a feeling I'm going to be asked for permission to post some stuff on YouTube.

Back to School

Tuesday marked the first day of school for the kids. All the kids woke up early, eager to get to school. Kristin even got up before me and hopped in the shower. She did it again on the second day, but by the third day she had to be dragged out of bed. I knew it wouldn't last, but I was hoping the morning battles wouldn't begin quite this soon. Trisha is always 'Up and At 'Em" for school. She loves school and is always eager to go. She is a little sad that most of her friends are in other classes, but I'm sure she'll make friends among her current classmates. Blake has switched over to the local public school, just as his sisters did after 5th grade. He was nervous at first, worrying that he wouldn't make any friends. After only a couple days, he has met several boys that he says are fun and share common interests. He is also shooting for all As this year. He wants to make this a good year all around.



The Fall sports season has begun. Kristin made the JV volleyball team. Their first official game was yesterday at Ed's alma mater. Kristin's team is half freshman and I was worried it was going to be a total blow-out, but the girls held their own. They lost the first match by about 7 points, won the second match by 3, and lost the 3rd match 26-24. It was very close and exciting. The girls did a great job! BTW, Kristin played libero for the first match. She's the one in the white jersey below.



Trisha is on her school's cross country team. There meets haven't yet begun. Unfortunately, I keep the scorebook for Kristin's team, so getting to Trisha's meets is going to be difficult. I'm hoping to train another parent on how to keep the books, so that I can go. I feel terrible about missing some of her meets.

Speaking of Trisha, she finished the top of her quilt. We need to buy some fabric for the back and then I can quilt it for her. She did a great job. It measures 48" by 72", a nice size for cuddling under on chilly nights.



I've been trying get my shawl finished that I started in Amy Singer's class. I did a little math and figured I can get about 135 rows out of the two skeins of yarn. I'm at about row 120. My goal is to get at least 2 rows a day finished.

Busy days

It is hard to believe but the summer is over and Labor Day weekend begins tomorrow. Now begins the busiest time of year for me, and my favorite season.

Since I last blogged, the kids have started back to school. Here is Dancer before heading off to her first day in a new school. No longer is she going to the private school of her elementary years. She gets to now experience school in fashionable clothes, walking instead of bus riding, and the extensive resources of a public education. So far, she hasn't shown any signs of home sickness for her old school, but I'm getting prepared for the inevitable. About two weeks into the new school year is when it hit her older sister. Dancer is making a lot of new friends. There are many other girls to hang out with after school, which is a big positive.



VBGirl also has adjusted well to the new school year. To my complete amazement, she has been setting her alarm every night and getting herself up in the mornings. I haven't had to harrass her about getting out of bed. It makes my mornings much more pleasant!!! Both girls are fixing their own breakfasts and totally attending to themselves. I sometimes wonder what aliens abducted the real VBGirl and when she's going to return.



Both girls are busy with their volleyball. VBGirl has had 4 matches already. Her team has a 2-2 record. The games have been extremely exciting. I can tell how much the girls have learned since last year. Dancer has just begun practicing. Her matches won't start until mid-September. She is playing on a team from our church since the public schools don't start sports until middle school. Dancer's other extra-curricular activity is dancing, of course. She will have tap and ballet lessons on Monday nights. She is taking those lessons with her best friend from her old school, Sare Bear. Dancer and Sare Bear have been best friends since pre-Kindergarten. Sare Bear is staying at the private school. It has been hard to separate the two girls, but since her mom and I are friends, I'm sure they will remain friends also.

Dash started school 3 days after his sisters. He is still at the private school and is loving being the only one there. Ed gets him up and off to school after the girls leave and I head off to work. Towards the end of the summer, he began getting anxious to return to school. He was getting bored with hanging around the house everyday. It was difficult for him to see any of his friends because they don't live in the neighborhood and, like us, their parents both work full time. It is ironic that Dash's most entertaining week at home all summer was probably the last.



For the past two weeks we've had a house guest. Two weeks ago, Ed's best friend from college flew into town. The plan was for the 'boys' to go up to Lake Erie to meet another college friend, spend a day or two up there, come back here for a day, and then Tim was going to borrow our camping equipment and tour Ohio for a week or so. Well, as they say, 'The best laid plans of mice and men...' While in Sandusky that Friday evening, Tim encountered a little misfortune which resulting in him being stuck at our house for a while. Even though he felt like he was imposing, he actually helped out by hanging with Dash all week because the girls were back in school but Dash wasn't. Tim and Dash played games and watched videos all day. In the evenings, Tim, Ed and I would sit out late on the deck, eat dinner, and enjoy a beverage or two (or three). Earlier this week, Tim did manage to get away for a couple days, but returned yesterday. We spent one last evening out under a full moon. Today, actually about now as I type this, he is heading back home, provided he was able to get past the airport security without his driver's license. He may need to return later this autumn to deal with his misfortune, but that is still not fully determined.

In a way, I'm going to miss having him around. It was a nice change of routine to have another adult to talk to. Even though I've known Tim for about 18 years, I've never had much of a chance to really talk with him since he lives in California. It was nice to finally get that chance, even though the circumstance that allowed it sucked.



And finally, the tomatoes in my garden are finally ripening. Here's the lastest cache. The pepper are still not ripe and the watermelons are rotting on the vine. My green thumb is a bit brown and mushy around the edges.



Oh, and because of all the activities listed above, not much knitting has happened. With volleyball season upon me now, I'll get a little more in during matches.