Lona, this one's for you :-) ... and for Brenda too if she checks in.

I posted this to the Sonlight message board this morning, in response to my impending demise as a poster there. I wanted to make sure you saw this, Lona, in case you didn't check in at Sonlight today; I'm sure it will get buried quickly ;-).

Waving good-bye :-) ...

---

As my subscription is about to come to an end ... I figured I should "officially" say good-bye.

I didn't realize, until now when I received my subscription renewal, that last year someone (some angel) paid for another year for me. Wow. I'm so grateful, and I can only hope you read this and know how much I appreciate you. I couldn't figure out why I kept "being here" when I knew I didn't have enough purchases.

I started coming to the Sonlight Forums in 1999 (sporadically before that) and it has been a huge part of my life, especially when my children were young, and when we were moving around. Many of you won't know me now because I've been doing more lurking than posting recently. I've learned SOOOOO much here. I even finally went and purchased a (what are we calling them, a Whitney Houston? ) ! Which I LOVE, btw.

My kiddoes are in school now for this year; I'm not done homeschooling "for sure" (in particular for my son) but right now they are in the place that God wants them. It has been a very good thing overall (although not problem-free). My eighth grader has had her information night for high school; has picked her courses, and is pursuing admission to an enriched program. My 7th grader continues to want to be a teacher (how many homeschooled kids have this dream ?) My fifth grader is doing well, although is getting rather lazy in the school environment where expectations are fairly low (yes, he's a boy).

My subscription still isn't in the budget, so it is with sadness that I bid you "adieu". Almost a decade here ... wow. Is it ridiculous that I will grieve this loss?

Blessings to you ALL! Enjoy the great community here. If there is anyone who wants to stay in touch off-line, please pm me before the end of February.

Karen

For those who need to know what a "Whitney Houston" is; just ask ;-). The best purchase I've ever made, though, bar none.

Suspect appendicitis ... will this stop?

Quickly, and I hope you check tonight mom ... Kev took Iain into Picton with bad stomach pains today, and they've sent him to Belleville for suspect appendicitis. Sorry I don't have time to call ...

I'm headed up to Belleville while Kev prepares service for tomorrow. I'm supposed to be playing guitar, but I guess that might not be happening now ...

This is truly bizarre. Our family is being hit hard ... although as Claire just said, at least this is a normal illness, not like nec. fasc. :-D.

EDIT ... Iain is home ... probably not appendicitis. The surgeon (who did not look impressed that he was called in) said if it is appendicitis, it will get worse and to come in then. His white blood cell count is elevated and he had no explanation for that. So hopefully we are done!

How Many of Me?

This is just for the US, but it's sort of fun. How common is your name in the United States? I happen to know of only one other Karen Stenhouse in Canada; she is in Calgary and is related by marriage to Kev. Stenhouse is a quite uncommon name.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Grade 8 Parents' Night at PECI

This past Thursday night, Kevin and I took Alison over to the high school for the grade 8 information night. It was terrific! Kevin and I are very big on going to school in our own community. Many, many parents we know send their kids off to Belleville for high school. There are Christian and Catholic high schools, plus the "specialty" schools (arts and dance, IBS, etc.) They have significantly more more resources (supposedly). And the high school in Picton has a bad reputation for quality of academics.

And yet I am privileged to know a number of substitute teachers, who tell me that PECI is their very favourite school to sub in within the district. One friend actually felt "unsafe" in a school in Belleville (supposedly one of the best). We learned last night that PECI has the largest library holdings in Prince-Edward Hastings; that there is more scholarship money available to graduating students here than in any other area school as well. Kev spoke at length with the principal, who upon hearing his name, responded with "OH! So you're Kevin Stenhouse! It's good to meet you; I've been praying for you. I'm a UCB listener." Ken also informed him that the reason he took over as principal two years ago was the incredible community support and relationships that the high school has with business, industry. He said EVERY DAY there would be a phone call from a local business owner, offering finances, words of encouragement, or jobs for students.

I love that Alison already knows a significant number of the students; through 4H, church, and theatre, she has friends through Grade 12. I love that one of her 4H leaders works at the high school; that one of our church friends is a special resource teacher there and also subs in the library, and that the music teacher is one of Kev's good friends from County Theatre Group. I love that her old junior youth pastor is now the Campus Life staff for PECI and is very involved with the students, and I love that he has a Bible study on site for the teachers and has great attendance. I love that 25% of the teachers are "county kids" themselves, who come back to invest in the community that they grew up in. As well, the staff are YOUNG and very energetic and inspired ... I've heard that since Ken has taken over there has been a real turn-around in morale and vision, and I was privy to that last night.

And the proud mama in me (blush) loves that Alison is already on the radar; the high school visited Sophiasburgh last week, and Ken informed Kevin last night that he came back to the school already having identified Alison as a good candidate for the Ventures program in Grade 9/10. This is a goal Alison has; she has a lot of work to do to get her portfolio prepared to submit on March 25th. Apparently there is quite the competition to get in. In the Ventures program, the kids have the same class for 5 subjects, only taking physed, french and an option with the regular stream. By grade 11 they are set to take AP English and other subjects. They also take strings and can become members of the string ensemble, which is a huge plus for Alison who has been taking clarinet only as filler for grade 8 :-).

It is a shame that a lot of the "good" kids get funneled off to Belleville, but the buck stops here. I've already joined parent council, and we're looking forward to some significant family involvement.

Eeek. Must leave to take Alison to work. Not dressed. Oops.

County-wide speech competition today

Alison presented her speech fossil fuels today at the Legion in Picton. It was a pretty dry topic, but she did a great job of the presentation (Claire informed her that she did much better today than she'd done at school assembly ... high praise from a sibling :-) ..). She placed third in her division! High enough to earn a money prize, but low enough to be guaranteed that she will not have to move up to regional competition (to her relief; she really doesn't have the time). Brilliantly, her parents forgot to bring a camera ... *** sigh *** ... however a very kind woman who was visiting took my e-mail address and promised to send a digital photo of the winning students holding their certificates. I'll add that later.

Our "awesome-farmer-neighbour-whom-we-love" Elmer delivered a pick-up full of wood today, so after we got back in from town the kids and I worked as a team, loading the toboggan and pulling it back to the door. Over and over and over again. I did actually reach our original wood supply guy, and he said he would be bringing wood for us early next week ... but since this wood was promised (and paid for) in September I'm not holding me breath. We picked up a gift certificate for a local, excellent restaurant called "Currah's" for Elmer since he was the farmer-angel who plowed us out twice in the last week or so.

It has been SO chilly in the basement these last few weeks; I'm nursing a little fire along and have to go babysit it until it REALLY catches. Hoping for a roaring fire to go along with a relaxing evening ...

Two kids ..

safely went skiing for a whole day without injury. Yippee! And they had a wonderful time ...

Kevin's physiotherapist finally discovered which muscle was primarily damaged during his operation, and has upped his cane estimate to three years. Kev is completely unable to turn his left leg/foot inward, and there are arch and balance ramifications to that. Kev and I walked downtown yesterday and he had a tough time.

Initially February 25 seemed like a fine back-to-work day; much better than the initial 6 months recovery. As it's creeping closer though, there's so much Kev can't do yet, or can do but only by compensating and not doing it properly.

I'm feeling a little mother-hennish. Is that word? Perhaps not, but that describes my worry most appropriately.

Another day, another hospital visit :-( ...

... this time for Alison ... her left ring finger lost an argument to a basketball at school this morning. Her finger swelled up too quickly for her ring to come off, and turned an impressive shade of black, so we headed in to the ER to make use of the ring cutters. They did x-rays, and while the doctor "thinks" she is fine, there was an anomaly that could be either a growth plate OR a bone chip/fracture. We are praying for the former, of course, since the second would require a trip to see a hand surgeon ... at KGH ... or perhaps even CHEO in Ottawa. Heh, heh. No. Her finger is fine. Really. I'm actually quite positive that the swelling is starting to come down. She is supposed to be skiing this Thursday, babysitting on Friday, working at the barn AND presenting her speech on fossil fuels at the Legion in Picton on Saturday. Her life is full, so therefore her finger is just fine :-).

Addition to "My Favourite Sites" in sidebar ...

KnittingHelp.com is the ultimate knitting website, with detailed step by step videos in both continental ("pick") and English ("throw") style knitting. It's great, although I still can't master purling using the continental style. If anyone has any pointers I'd appreciate them :-).

Kevin update ...

Kevin had been put on percocet at the hospital because he has a very inconvenient allergy to codeine and extra-strength Tylenol just wasn't enough. We didn't realize the significance of this until he started to stretch out the time between his meds to start weaning himself. Nasty. He made it down to two pills per day, then the next morning he decided it would be his last. That was this past Friday.

It's a very good thing I spent time crusing the internet searching "percocet withdrawal". We were thus prepared for the tearing eyes, the gastro difficulties and most weirdly, the tremors. I learned the the expression "kicking the habit" originated with the spontaneous kicking associated with narcotic withdrawal. Kev had twitching and tremors of his face, arms and hands from 11 hours after the last pill (around 9:00 p.m.) through until 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning. It was very unpleasant for him, and as I went to bed I was a little apprehensive about flailing limbs and nocturnal injury. It would serve me right; I'm generally the one that elbows him during the night ;-). He refrained from beating on me by having the other side effect ... insomnia :-(.

I have a new respect for those who end up with pain killer addictions. Kevin was only on percocet for a little over four weeks; at no point did he feel any sort of "rush" from them, BUT the effect on your body when trying to wean from them ... well, as I said, I get it now. It's done now though, and he has very little pain in the incisions.

I can't recall whether I mentioned earlier that he has officially switched from crutches to a cane. We had borrowed one using "Freecyle" from a Picton couple for a few months, but will have to purchase one. After Operation No. 1 he was told he would likely require a cane for the rest of his life; the most recent visit to Kingston they modified the plan to "two years". Kev still has no feeling from the knee down to the ankle in his left leg due to nerve damage from the operation and it will be a minimum of two years before the nerves start to regenerate. And when he plays "Moon-Faced Moody" in Anything Goes with County Theatre Group in April and May, it will likely be the first time the character is played using a cane! We do have to find a more interesting cane as a prop, however. Shiny metal just won't cut it!

Kev hopes to try and drive the Honda this week .. he is very concerned about having to take the van into work after the 25th. The Honda is a gas sipper whilst the van is a pig :-). However, we are concerned about his ability to handle the clutch. I'm thankful we live in the country; good quiet roads for him to practice on.

We are still appreciating your prayers as Kev recuperates. Oh, and a funny ... remember the game of "telephone" when we were kids? The first child would whisper a sentence to the next, and the sentence would morph into something completely different by the end of the line? I spoke with an acquaintance yesterday who had received an e-mail to pray for Kevin about two weeks ago. It stated confidently that Kev had a sore on his arm that had become infected, and that he had to go to the hospital to have it stitched up. :-). (She felt terrible that she hadn't called to check on the validity of the e-mail!)

All for now ...

It is finished ... my very first Fair Isle work ...

and it was SO FUN!

Pattern: www.slumberland.org/wp/2006/11/29/pattern-madison-hat-easy-fair-isle-hat-bulky-yarn/

(Sorry .. you'll have to copy the address and paste it into your browser.)

Wool: Silk Road Joe Sharp Ultra (85% wool, 10% silk, 5% cashmere). I used a little more than a 50 gram ball of "Lake" (hard to tell because some of the first ball was unusable and ended up being given a second one) and less than a 50 gram ball of the white.

Needles: I used a 32" 6.5 mm circular needle for the entire hat (Magic Loop method) rather than a 16"circ and transfer to dpns as described in pattern.



Although I knit the ladies' measurements a further 1/4 inch longer than the pattern called for, the hat is still a bit small for me and will be handed down to one of the girls. **sigh** I will knit to a men's length of 7" next time around.

Wow. Stairway to Heaven. This guy is talented.

His name is Stanley Jordan ... stick with this even if you're not a Stairway to Heaven fan, because later in the song he ends up playing two guitars simultaneously (both-handed picking). I've never seen anything like this.

Sheep pics :-) ... and ANOTHER snow day!

First, WillowGarden Kivu ...


By the end of the day she might have more drifting, and I'll change the photo. This little girl is just a sweetheart; a little bit shy so it's a real treat when she comes for scritches. I adore her fleece ... it's quite primitive and such a surreal colour. It positively glows in the sunshine.

And here is Jasmine ...


She has definitely grown up, and looks more matronly than lamb-like now. White sheep look much less attractive in the snow. And her fleece ... yikes. She got her daddy's Texel fleece; extremely dense and quite harsh, of more use to carpet makers than spinners, unfortunately. Spencer's fleece was very dense as well, so I'm really not sure what will happen with her babies.

Colour-wise, Jasmine will only have white lambs. Kivu may throw either moorit gulmoget (like herself) or possibly black. Latifah, our old girl, MAY have had a natural coloured sire, so she could go either way if that is the case.

I have NO idea if anyone is expecting ... I don't expect to see udder development until the last month, so end of February at the earliest. Because I have two first-timers and an old girl, it is quite conceivable that we will no lambs at all, which would really throw a monkey wrench into the 4H season :-).

And lastly, a quick peek at our driveway this morning. We were short on gas, so Kev (!!!) went out and did a mini blow (just enough to get the van out) and then drove (!!!) into town to pick up more gas and do some insurance stuff. I really, really, really love snow! I do. We're a misunderstood group, us snow lovers ;-).

It has been both a very good, and a very frustrating, knitting day ...

First, the good! I found a very easy Fair Isle pattern and decided It .Was.Time to try something new. I've always been frightened of the concept of stranding. I shouldn't have been! Fair Isle is extremely fun to knit up, and I have been going great guns this evening with it. Alison is concerned because I am knitting her socks right now, and she is concerned about the distracting potential of Fair Isle :-). However, it is a nice change of pace to be working with heavier yarn, rather than fingering weight. Here is what I have so far ...

The colours are wrong here in the evening light ... it's a lovely, rich, greyed (denim-y) blue. I think it's going to look charcoal grey in the post.

Now the bad ... yesterday I looked at FOUR stores to find the right colour of blue. Finally I tracked it down at Rosehaven Farm Store in Picton. The yarn was on the sale table, but is very good quality (wool/silk/cashmere). About two rows before this photo was taken, I started running into broken plies ... plys ...(hmmm, neither look right). In six different places. SO I have to go back to the yarn store, and find out what to do. I'm not happy about expensive wool (even on sale) if I have to reconstruct it regularly.

Oh well, at least the process of learning the Fair Isle was fun! Just hoping I can actually finish a hat at this point :-).

(Edited to add: Feb 8) Rosehaven Farm Store continues to be my favourite place to support. One quick phone call and I received instructions on how to frog back to a woven-in needle (who knew you could do that????), and a free ball of yarn to replace the damaged one PLUS I can keep the damaged one, cut off the weak parts and use the good stuff in case I require more yarn for the hat. PLUS in the middle of fixing the hat, my 24" cable from KnitPicks broke (the cable pulled out of the metal end). I transferred to another cable, made a call to the 1-800 number for KnitPicks, and a package of 2 more cables is already winging it's way to Forty Food Road :-). I'm blessed today by excellent service. Now if only we could get the rest of our wood delivered ... :-).

Update on Kevin ... and county "stuff"

He has had his first physio appointment, and it was a great help. He has a number of exercises he is carrying out, and he is able to bear a little more weight on his left leg every day. He has also been able to straighten his leg a little bit more without crutches (for instance, he can totter about our kitchen now and make a meal without using crutches!). This is good, because he's feeling somewhat on the useless side (although he isn't). For some reason his incisions were hurting last night; I think it's just a "two steps forward-one step back" process.

One of our good neighbours came by and blew out the driveway yesterday in the early afternoon; however we've had much snow, and some wind since, so I will be bundling up shortly and hopefully Kevin can coach me on using the snowblower. Right now both cars have snow banked up in front, and Alison is due to leave for her job at the stable at 9:30. We have to leave earlier than usual because our normal 15 minute route is one of "those" county roads ... named for the family that live at the end, no services, no hydro, inhabited by 700 wild turkeys and as many deer, but unlike most roads here it is very hilly. It is plowed "eventually". So I have to drive out to the highway, out to the Skyway Bridge, then back in Northport Road.

Just so you get an idea ...


Wow ... hard to draw that. Just for interest's sake (tee hee, not sure if anyone actually IS interested, but ...) , I've also drawn on the four access routes to the county (from left to right, blue lines):

1. The swing bridge at Carrying Place
2. The Bay Bridge at Belleville
3. The Skyway Bridge at the Mohawk Reservation/Marysville
4. The ferry at Glenora (pretty cool; this ferry is the only ferry that is part of the Ontario highway system!)

I've added this because last Thursday, we had a flash freeze/high wind warning for the county. A tractor trailer BLEW over on the Bay Bridge (stayed on the bridge, thank God). All the other bridges ended up closed for about eight hours. The only way off may have been the ferry but I'm not sure if it was running either. The cool thing is, when Kev first moved to the County back in the 80's, he actually met seniors who had never been as "far" as Belleville; had never been off their beloved isle. We are actually very self-sufficient here; it's a neat community.

You'll also notice that I've used a winery map here ... and that we are well removed from winery activity in the county. When we arrived in the County, realtors were already selling properties based on their close proximity to the bourgeoning wine industry. As an ex-research chemist who worked with fungicides, that was my cue to look as far in the opposite direction as possible. Now, the County has an ideal climate for grapes ... long, hot, dry summers, which does minimize use of fungicides. But not completely, and I knew that if we were drinking from a well, I wanted bush and pastureland in my backyard, not vineyards :-).

Hoping for some snow photos soon!