Real simple this week. Tell me what your favorite kind of pizza is. Mine is in the first comment.

I’m so excited! I love swaps, especially those involving kitchen goodies. Over at the Fiber Freaks message forum, we’re swapping kitchen items. While I’m not crazy about soap dresses or towel toppers, I love me some hand made dishies and hot pads. I could even store my plastic bags in the kitchen provided I have an attractive bag holder! So I ordered yarn from Joann’s because I didn’t have the colors requested by my swap partner. I’m making several dishies and a hot pad or two and then will send Kelly the items I think came out the best. The rest will go into my personal kitchen stash. I’ll post a pic of the entire lot before I ship out to Kelly.

I absolutely love the way hand knit or crocheted dishcloths work in the kitchen. If you haven’t tried one, they are the absolute best–they’re sturdier, more absorbent, and tougher than any store-bought dishrag out there. Yes, there is a major difference between a dish “cloth” and a dish “rag.” What you buy in the stores qualify as “rags” because they can’t stand up to the abuse of cleaning dishes day after day.

Another great thing about handmade kitchen cloths is that since they’re made from 100% cotton, they can double as a lightweight pot holder. You can place a casserole dish–straight from the oven–on them and not worry about your table! My MIL has one that someone made from acrylic yarn and last night the pot she set on it melted it and left rings from the bottom of the pot! I immediately replaced the acrylic one with a cotton one I made her a couple of years ago. She doesn’t use her dishcloths on the dishes–she says they look too nice to use that way. I told her that’s what they were made for, but she prefers to keep them looking new by using them on the table for hot pads.

**WARNING** Do NOT use acrylic yarn to make oven mitts or casserole cozies. The heat from the oven or casserole dish will melt the yarn and could cause serious burns! Always use a high quality kitchen cotton yarn (100% cotton) for kitchen items that will be used with any amount of heat.

Today is my dear hubby’s birthday. Del is the most wonderful person in the world and the greatest hubby and daddy a family could ask for.

We’re having angel food cake tonight with berries. Optional for the adults is a blackberry brandy drizzle. Yum! Of course, you can’t have a birthday without ice cream. We still have a tub of vanilla, some chocolate, strawberry, and peanut butter panic in the freezer.

I just wish I wasn’t feeling so rotten (nasty head cold) so I could give Del a proper birthday gift. I guess it will have to wait till this weekend….

I finally posted a pic of Sami’s new haircut in the Super Saturday post. I also updated the “before” picture to one that’s a little more recent than the sweater photo. She looks a lot different with her hair short, but Sami’s still a cute little girl.

Here she’s modeling her new Dora outfit that she helped pick out at Wal-Mart last night. Pardon her messy face; she had just finished her “nacho chips” and hadn’t gotten cleaned up yet. The skorts were too big in the waist, so I had to add a bit of elastic on each side to make it fit better.

1. Groovy :: 70’s word; shake your groove thang!
2. Jealousy :: green-eyed monster; dangerous emotion
3. Watching :: I’ve got my eye on you!; Big Brother’s watching you…
4. Kenny :: Damn it! They killed Kenny! (South Park)
5. Games :: DS; role-playing; Wii; PS2; XBox; GameCube; waste of time
6. Bread :: toast; butter; sandwich
7. City :: Chicago; New York; not the country
8. Stems :: what flowers grow on; broccoli stalks
9. Birds :: tweet; chirp; flap; fly; roost; next; annoying; dirty; loud; pigeons
10. Listener :: cat; best friend; wall

This e-mail is dated March 25 from Micah’s grandfather. It’s great to hear that Micah is doing better!

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your prayers for Micah. It was very scary to see him so sick.

On Tuesday of this past week, his temperature was peaking at 105.5 degrees. On Wednesday morning, we sent out an email appeal to pray. Within 24 hours his fever went down to 99 degrees, his blood counts started coming back up and he gained 2 lbs.

Yes…God still answers prayer.

“And their prayers offered in faith will heal the sick and the Lord will make [Micah] well.” James 5:15

For more information go to Micah’s web site at Pray 4 Micah: Update 10.

Thanks for all your notes and emails. They are so encouraging. At last count we have received over 1,000 emails and have nearly 600 on our email distribution list. Just this week, we heard of prayer groups from as far away as Germany that are praying for Micah. We wish we could answer them all personally, but it is just too much. But we want you to know we read every one, often more than once and praise God for the fellowship we feel together.

Micah’s Family

Thank you for praying for Micah…

Go to Pray 4 Micah for regular updates.

Del and I went to an A Capella concert last night and had a blast. It was hosted by SUNY Plattsburgh, where Del teaches computer science classes. Minor Adjustments, SUNY Plattsburgh’s group, gave us a wonderful concert filled with great music. Two other schools from the area had their groups on stage as well and let me tell ya, these students were rocking! They not only did a great job singing, but they also were obviously having a great time while singing. Some of the songs performed last night are listed below.

• Dreams by The Cranberries
• Three AM by Matchbox Twenty
• Sugar We’re Going Down by Fall Out Boy
• Zombie Jamboree by Kingston Trio
• Where’d You Go? by Fort Minor
• In My Life by The Beatles
• Seasons of Love from Rent
• Faith by George Michael (prop: Guitar Hero controller)
• Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago? by Rockapella

There were too many songs to remember and list here, but if you ever get a chance to hear an A Capella college group do try to go. It’s different from your typical music concert but a wonderful experience.

As we were leaving the concert, we realized that the precipitation wasn’t a gentle spring rain, but a snow shower! We called home to check on the kids (did I mention their grandma kept them?) and found that it was snowing fairly hard at the time. We did our grocery shopping (took us an hour even though we tried to hurry) and started the drive home. We got stuck behind a snow plow and had to drive slowly, but we made it home by 11:30–to 2 inches of snow on the ground and the cars. Not fun. I thought we were done with the snow, but apparently I was wrong. It’ll be nice when I don’t have to worry about snow getting in my shoes. I was actually able to wear my mules last night to church but couldn’t wear them out because of the snow shower. I’m ready for my sandals!

I finished the first sock for Jenny last night and I must say that I am impressed with my work. I started the toe graft Thursday night and ended up having to rip out the entire toe because of a mistake in the grafting instructions and about 5-6 dropped stitches trying to figure out what I did wrong. I was able to pick up where I ripped down (re-measured to make sure) and finish the sock. The grafting looks absolutely flawless!

Oh, and to avoid Second Sock Syndrome, I cast on the second sock right after finishing the graft on the first toe. I’m a seriously bad procrastinator so I figured I’d take the preemptive step and get the second one started. I’m done with the cuff ribbing already and working the rest of the cuff. I did substitute a short-row heel instead of the heel flap/gusset combo called for in the pattern and found it to look very nice indeed.
If you’re knitting the socks from the pattern found on the Lion Brand Magic Stripes label, you need to download new grafting instructions. The ones in the label are wrong and missing some vital steps. I’ve included the directions below. The first one is what is printed on the label, and the second is the corrected directions. Changed directions are in bold italics

Label Directions INCORRECT

CORRECT Directions

Grafting:Holding the 2 needles parallel with wrong sides of fabric together, thread a blunt tapestry needle with one of the yarn ends and Insert it as if to knit through the first st on the front needle and let the st drop from the needle. Insert the needle into the second st on the front needle as if to purl and pull the yarn through, leaving the st on the needle. Insert the needle into the first st on the back needle as if to purl and let it drop from the needle, then insert it as if to knit through the second st on the back needle and pull the yarn through, leaving the st on the needle. Repeat steps 1-4 until all sts are gone. When finished, adjust tension as necessary. Weave in ends.

Grafting:Holding the 2 needles parallel with right sides of fabric together, thread a blunt tapestry needle with one of the yarn ends and work as follows: Insert needle as if to purl into first stitch on front piece. Insert needle as if to knit into first stitch on back piece. Then follow steps 1-4 as outlined below. Insert it as if to knit through the first st on the front needle and let the st drop from the needle. Insert the needle into the second st on the front needle as if to purl and pull the yarn through, leaving the st on the needle. Insert the needle into the first st on the back needle as if to purl and let it drop from the needle, then insert it as if to knit through the second st on the back needle and pull the yarn through, leaving the st on the needle. Repeat steps 1-4 until all sts are gone. When finished, adjust tension as necessary. Weave in ends.

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As the weather continues to warm up (it was near 60 today), I begin to get antsy about warm-weather haircuts for the kids. In anticipation of Easter (yeah, still three weeks away) I cut the kids’ hair last night before they got ready for bed. The boys each received their standard low and tight military haircut (some habits die hard) and Sami got hers cut into a short but stylish cut. It’s short in the front and comes down into a point in the back. I was surprised by how well she sat while I snipped away at her beautiful hair. I think I cut at least 4-5 inches off!! She’s a cutie and was shaking her new ‘do to show it off. I think she likes it. Here’s the comparison:

Before: 3-18-07	After: 3-26-07

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My Punkymood is puzzled right now because I can’t figure out why I’ve gone 9+ weeks now without a period. I know it’s possible to test negative on a pregnancy test for a while, but I’m not sure what’s really going on here. (My sister tested negative all the way through her pregnancy!) I really need to know 100% one way or another because of these meds I’m on. I really have no idea what they could do to a baby if I’m pregnant and taking them. I’d really rather not find out, either! I’ll keep an eye out for dear old Aunt Flo (okay, she’s only been around here for 17 years) and call the doc if I go another cycle without that visitor. I swear, I’m not on any BCPs to mess with my cycle and Del and I only had intercourse once between my January cycle and when I was supposed to start in February. Um, yeah, 9 weeks is a long time to go between periods, but I’m technically over 9 weeks and have had absolutely no spotting to indicate the start. If anyone has any ideas as to why Aunt Flo hasn’t shown, please throw them my way! (One possibility that I’m not real keen about is perimenopause. I’ve been having hot flashes off and on for the last two to three years along with irregular cycles.)