tmcknit

McAmish

There are no pictures in this post.  That’s out of the norm for me.  However, Mark and I decided this weekend that we are McAmish (McDermott and Amish).  We helped Don and Amy work on their new house on Saturday (so did Corey, Danielle and Zach).  We think that’s how life should be – just like the Amish – people helping people with no thought of getting anything in return.  Sure, the Amish get paid for whatever they do by way of jobs – some work in factories, or handcraft furniture, or sell their produce……….but…………..as a community, they help each other.

Why can’t everybody just help everybody and not expect something in return, like when the Amish help each other with a barn raising, for instance.  Wouldn’t this world rock more than it already does?

Just thinking…………

Happy Zach-iversary!

Zach spent his first night at our house on our 27th anniversary.  He doesn’t look happy in this pic but that was just one moment in time.  Check out his sleeper.  That’s the sleeper Corey wore home from the hospital when he was born almost twenty-five years ago.  Danielle sent two sleepers and I asked Mark which one we should put on him after his bath and Mark said “Corey’s”, so Corey’s sleeper it was.

We had a great night other than he likes to be held instead of sleeping in his bed.  That’s fine – I told Danielle we need to stop saying he’s spoiled (even though he totally is) and from now on we say he’s just very loved.  Nothing wrong with that.

He had mirror time in the bathroom with Grandpa Mark………..

He had a bath in the big boy bathtub…………

He had cuddle time with Grandma Teri…………

Great Grandma Carol came over in the morning to visit and brought him a teddy bear as big as he is………….

Great Grandma Carol had the teddy bear watch over Zach as he slept – sweetness………..

Oops!!

Oops!! Mark dropped one of his locksmith kits. It’s my job to sort it for him again. He’s worth the effort.

Thanksgiving fun

I’m way behind in posting so it’s time to play catch-up.  This is what we did on Thanksgiving after a big, wonderful dinner.  We all made little gingerbread houses.  It was so much fun.  These kids are all so creative.

I should have used the digital camera instead of my iPhone because the lighting wasn’t so great and a flash would have really helped – but here’s a shot of all five of our gingerbread houses……

…..and here’s Keith with his…..

…..and Justin…..

….and Corey and Danielle, who chose to put their little picture that was at their table-setting instead of their sweet faces…..

…..and this reject is the one Mark and I made.  We made a very pretty one last year so gosh only knows what happened here.

Happy birthday to………..

Happy birthday to two of the men in my life.  Corey and Danielle had a cookout.  For dessert, no surprise here, it was pumpkin pie for Corey and German chocolate cake for Mark.

Socks for Mark and me (or is it I?? or is it myself?? – hmmmm) (Pairs #34-36)

These three pair took forever to make.  The red, white and blue pair – oh did I dislike that yarn.  Until I told myself ok, they’ll be my 4th of July patriotic socks, I just dreaded working on them.  After that, it was smooth sailing.  The middle pair are for Mark .  They were ok to work on except the solid color got a little boring but that’s because I love working with the self-patterning so much.  The other pair – oh my – they were my biggest sock disappointment to date.  They are Paton’s Kroy.  It worked up beautifully.  The pattern is the fluted banister pattern that I’ve always wanted to try and is actually brainless knitting and they turned out beautiful – until I washed and blocked them.  They lost some of their brilliant color and felted just a bit.  We’ll see how they wear but again, disappointed.

Helpful hint – don’t walk away from a photo shoot with cats in the house who adore and covet wool.

**Teri’s 4th of July socks – Regia 5346

Mark’s maroon socks – Regia Stretch 32

Teri’s fluted banister socks – Paton’s Kroy Stripes 56615 Bronzed Berry Stripes**

A beautiful fence materializes in two days

This is Corey and Danielle when we were leaving Menards with a whole bunch of fence.  This was the second load.  Corey and Danielle had already picked up the concrete, posts, screws, etc.  On the back of the truck, you can see we answered the age-old question “Where’s Waldo?”.  Who knew he was hiding on the back of a Menards truck.

This is Mark and Corey working on the front corner.

This is the first beautiful section finished.  The whole fence is finished now.  It took two days of working in wind and rain and cold.  Don’t let the beautiful sunshine in the picture fool you.  It was cold and Danielle and I both have fierce windburns on our faces.  All that is left to finish is the gates, which is the easy part.  We all agreed the worst part was setting the posts.  We also had our first sleepover at Corey and Danielle’s.  Since they only live forty minutes away, we have never spent the night there.  It was a fun and very productive weekend.

Sushi anyone?

Keith, Justin, Mark and myself went to this Japanese restaurant last weekend.  The tables were each in “pits” where you sit on cushions on the floor and your legs and the table are in the pit.  As is tradition, you also take your shoes off before you go to your table.  We had a blast, especially watching Justin with his wasabi.  His face would turn beet red with every bite.  When Keith suggested avoiding the wasabi, Justin said no, he liked the feeling when it got to his stomach.  Keith, Mark and I got the tempura chicken (typical Americans).  Justin ordered this beautiful plate of sushi.

Myself, I like sushi but not the kind with raw fish.  I’m not a seafood fan so I’ve actually never even tried the ones with raw fish.  I did it this night because Justin asked and I usually try whatever the food is that I haven’t tried yet unless it still has eyes in it or repulses me, i.e. squid and roe.  For the record, the brighter orange item on this plate is roe.  Wiki defines roe as “the fully ripe internal ovaries or egg masses of fish and certain marine animals, such as shrimp, scallop and sea urchins”.  Wiki describes eggs as “usually chicken eggs, but also those of other birds and turtles, as well as those of fish”.  It even seems the Wiki definition is trying to scare me, even though an egg should just be an egg.

I ate a piece of the green sushi, which was cucumber.  Mark also tried that one and didn’t like it.  His palate is not adventurous.  He likes a good burger or some lasagna.  I also tried the raw fish one.  It’s not for me – it’s hard enough for me to eat cooked seafood let alone raw.  Keith had already tried the raw previously and is o.k. with it if you can get past the texture.  All in all though, we had a great time.

Shed Fire – 03/21/09

On top of everything else going on in our lives right now, this happened Saturday at my parents’ home.  ~~NOBODY WAS INJURED~~

Click here for more pics:    http://picasaweb.google.com/tmcknit/ShedFire032109#.  Below is the story of what happened.

Mark and I were in our backyard.  I went in to make us a sandwich and when I came back outside, I saw smoke at my parents’ shed.  I said to Mark “is that smoke coming from Dad’s shed?”  Mark started to walk and then ran like hell over there.  He yelled back to me “call 911″.

Dad had been working outside all day.  We had watched him, waved at him, etc. but now we couldn’t find him.  While I was on the phone with 911, Mark ran into this burning shed, filled with smoke and flames, windows exploding, to try to find my Dad.  My phone call with 911 started at 2:06 p.m. and by 2:09 p.m., the shed was fully engulfed.  911 stayed on the phone until Mark found Dad, who had just one or two minutes earlier drove his riding mower next-door to my brother’s house – thank goodness!!!

Roger heard screams – he didn’t know who was screaming or what I was screaming – it was me screaming “Dad”, then telling 911 “we can’t find my Dad” – then saying “I’m sorry” to 911 – then screaming for Dad again – 911 was very nice and said it was o.k.  I tried to stay calm – I knew I had to calmly give the address and our township and “what is your emergency” – but after that I just wanted my Dad and Mark safe.  Roger later asked who was screaming – I told him me – he said “man, you’ve got a loud scream on you”.

When Roger heard the screams, he looked and saw what was happening and came running (with a little fire extinguisher – somehow, later that was an LOL for us all).  It was all too late.  In those few minutes it was already over.  Dad was safe, Mark was safe, our world forever changed.  I couldn’t sleep just thinking that I could have lost them both.  If Dad were in there, he would have fallen trying to get out – he’s not as steady as he used to be.  If Mark had heard Dad in there, I know Mark would have tried to rescue him – that’s my Mark.

So today is a new day – it’s an ugly mess but nobody got hurt.  Something that took my parents over fifty years to build, was gone in minutes.  They will rebuild and life will go on – that’s the blessing – life will go on.

And last but absolutely not least, the firefighters were amazing.  I think there were four departments there – Noble, Kingsford-Union, Hanna and Washington Townships.  This pic is of Richard (left) and his little brother.  Richard works with Mark and these two were just all smiles and cute as could be.  Thanks to all the fire departments and the ambulances for a quick response.  It seemed like forever but looking at the time on the pics, it was twelve minutes from the start of my call to the arrival of the first fire truck.  In rural America, that’s pretty darn good.  More good news – the firefighters were able to save my parents’ home.  It has the obvious damage you will see in the pictures – melted siding, broken windows, but only the outside pane of the double-pane windows broke from the heat of the fire, so there is no interior damage to their home.  Thank you thank you thank you to them all.

Delicious!

Delicious!  But what is it???  This is a ball of all of my scrap sock yarn.  I perused lots of books and websites trying to decide what to make with my scraps that I have collected so far (an overflowing basket, which was screaming “DO SOMETHING NOW!!”).  I decided to make a blanket for Mark and I.  I am double-stranding and making garter stitch squares using a size 8 needle.  As for the yarn, it is one strand of the scrap yarn and one strand of Regia Stretch 1, which is sold as blanc or white but is really off-white.  Below is the first square.