Menopause, hot flashes, lack of sleep and knitting

Ah yes, menopause. It is hitting me in waves lately. Heat waves, as it were. Working the graveyard shift, I get to lay down at about 9am. That's after the boys are fed and on their ways to DHS. I sleep for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours and wake up drenched in sweat, heat radiating from my core. Hubby, sweet thing that he is, suggests that I take a cool shower or dip in the pool. Surely that would cool you down. I snarled, no it won't work. You should try; my fangs bared, I growl, "no, trust me, it's from the inside. standing in the pool will NOT work." Then one night, the dear man reached over and felt my hot, sweat soaked skin. (No, not amorously; rather to see what all the ruckous was about with the hot flash). "OMG!" he exclaimed; you feel like a furnace. "Yeah, I TOLD you so......" Never was a dip in the cool refreshing pool brought up.
Anyway, yesterday was a day when the hot flash racked my body, sitting me straight up in bed at 11:30 am; I had fallen asleep around 9am. Hubby snuck out the door to work his noon to 9p shift.....personally, I think he slunk away a little early, just to escape the snarling and growling from my lack of sleep.
Unable to sleep, I decided to surf the net in search of learning to knit info. I have been an avid crocheter since I was 8 years old (thanks, Grandma Till!!), but knitting has always eluded me. I don't have the patience to watch someone and do what they do. We usually both end up frustrated and I give up. Reading the directions is like me trying to read Greek....uh, yeah, I don't get it from a 2-D picture. I have a couple of really cool EASY knitting patterns I want to make. So, I stumbled to You-tube. There are instructional videos to teach you almost anything you want to learn. I found the basic knit and purl stitches, plus the cable cast on required for the first attempt; The Garter Ridge T-Top from e-patterns central. I made my test swatch, no holes and no problem. Didn't even rip it out, as the son expected me to do. Like I usually do when I don't like the way something turns out. I proudly bound off and showed my little 2 x 2 inch creation to my boys. "That's nice, Mom." I am very happy that I was able to learn this! Can't you show a little more enthusiasm at my accomplishment? Uh, nope!@
So then I progressed to the 89 stitch cable cast on. Almost gave it up, as it took me 2 1/2 hours to get it right......10 stitches was a breeze! I perservered, frogged, tried again and again. Finally, all 89 little buggers were on the needle. Garter stitch for 10 rows. Easy, peasy. Then came the purl stitch. I forgot. Oh no, what will I do? Lion Brand has lovely photos and diagrams to jog the memory. Ah yes, there it is!!! Not as difficult as you were trying to make it.......DUH moment set in.
I am well on my way to the front of the sweater. I am still very excited that there are NO HOLES! Keeping my fingers crossed that my luck holds...So, if it were not for the hot flashes and onset of menopause, I would not be unable to sleep and needing something new to attempt, in order to stay awake until said hot flash passes. Perhaps I will be able to de-stash a bit with this new little twist in my life. Guess we'll find out soon enough!!!!

More FO's!!!!

Yea! I finished the Hearts and Gingham Nap sack I started in April 2008. The great nephew that it was originally for is wayy to big for it, so I had to make it for a friend at work. She was due Oct.22. but had a beautiful little boy on Sept 30. If the kid had been on time, I would have been done in time!
This was fun to make, but I hated putting it together. The string took about 2 hours to weave around the outside. Hope Johanna and the little guy like it!

finished projects

End of September. Hard to believe the month of September is almost over. This year seems to be flying by faster than usual. In my absence from the blogging scene, I have been working, fighting a cold, abscessed tooth and crocheting! Yes, I have finished a few things:

The above two lapghans were done as a CAL for the group CrochetNChitchat on yahoo. Am sending the blue and black one to my 90 yr old aunt for her b-day. She loves blue and loves when I send her things I make. The pineapple centerpiece is another attempt to fit my kitchen table....not a chance. Only 35.5" across. I'll keep trying. Really love the Elizabeth Hiddleson pattern, though.
The last picture is of my leaf green sweater from Crochet! magazine, May 2009. I didn't like the plain dc stitches, so I did a cross stitch instead. A little airy and light to wear in cooler weather. Now to move on to a sweater coat for me. Too bad I found the Tokyo pattern at Caron.com. May have to make that first:

http://www.naturallycaron.com/projects/tokyo/tokyo_1.html

Jeff and Sam are safely in Arizona, training at Palo Verde nuclear facility. They are loving the change of pace and learning something different. Jeff said the funniest thing was trying to find a hazmat suit that fit sam...she's 4'11" and tiny. Best they could do was get a size XL; she looked like and oompaloompah. I would pay to see that!
I am once again, hoping to be able to post more frequently. There's just not enough hours in my day! Take care and have a great afternoon, my friends!

Long awaited UPDATE!!!

I cannot believe it's been soooo long since I last posted. So much has happened; prepping for our long drive to Washington, DC and Boston, the DiBiasio family reunion, oldest son getting ready for an adventure working in Arizona. Work again has gotten in the way of my blogging. Life seems to be settling into a dull roar, so hopefully I can be more frequent in my posts. I will post pics from our vacation; the boys stayed home. Their girlfriends and they cleaned my house, carpets and kitchen. WOW, it was spotless when we came home from our week away! They did a wonderful job. Now, to keep it that way....gonna be tough as my vacuum cleaner blew up on Steven while cleaning. Washing machine lid switch is burnt out, so jamming it into place won't work. Oh yes, and the pool pump died, too. Luckily, we had the original in the shed that had never been used. It is pumping away and my pool is crystal clear!
I will post about Mr. Bob's and my adventure from home; that's where all the pictures are kept! We did an awful lot in a very short period of time....I think I am finally recovered!!! Hope all is well out in Blog land. I have missed you and will be more diligent with my posts from now on....barring any unforseen circumstances!

Graveyard shift and Russian White Nights

I was just reading my friend, Henya's, blog, Chickenstitches. She was talking about the Russian "White Nights" and how she never truly experienced one, but likens being up with her various 6...yes, Six (God bless her...My three drive me nuts) children, at various times of the nite. Henya finds respite in knitting, crocheting, making stitch markers, as one of her "blessings" is up and about. She got me thinking as to how my graveyard shift is similar. I spend a great deal of time waiting for the lab work to come to me. I have begun to bring small projects to work on during the down time. Then it hit me, I can write on my blog. I'm hoping to be able to do this more frequently, as I have been lax. My dream of miraculously getting all caught up on my far behind projects has yet to happen. I cannot get motivated to work on them, just as I cannot motivate my butt to exercise again. I blame it on trying to adjust to graveyard again. Not true; I have been playing with my new computer, trying to get it just right. I have TONS of storage space on it for my patterns. YIPPEEE! Thank you, Sir Pauly for your hard work! Also my new i-Phone and it's neat applications.
Oh yes, and then there's the chauferring service that I render to my two youngest boys. They are teenagers with driver's permits, but I must be present when they drive. Who would have thought that I would be spending a lot of my free hours trekking them across Ocala and it's environs? I do most of my crocheting, mostly on my EH pineapple centerpiece (8 rows to go, folks!), in the car. That also enables me to miss some of their more inexperienced driving faux pas. Nothing too major. No accidents so far (fingers crossed.)
The point of this post it that I feel as though I am on a forever "White Night". The bright flourescent lights of the lab keep it quite white. I just wish I could be more craft productive like my friend. I will get there, I know I will!

Oh the joys

Of not being in charge! I am quickly adjusting to my night shift schedule. I really like working graveyard shift. It is sooo nice to have my life back the way I like it. I can cook, craft and get my house in order. I have accumulated so many crafting supplies and it is piling higher in my room. I need to get rid of some things and have started to dispose of things I don't need. I am slowly going thru my closet to make room. That means yes, getting rid of clothes I haven't worn in years. I, my friends, am a pack rat. I know it and I am really trying to declutter.

My ultimate goal is to paint my living room in the Corvette orange I have had sitting in the middle of the floor for over a year. I have to clean and declutter first.. That will take awhile. It's ok.. With my new schedule, I get home at 8:15 am, feed the animals, sleep til 1pm, and then do what I want. To say there is less stress in my life is an understatement! I feel like jello. It's just nice to know that I can easily fall into my old routine. I was afraid the years added since I last did this would take a great toll. Surprisingly, I can still do it! It's nice to know that I can stretch anyone's two day weekend into 3 days. How? Well, I work Sun- Thursday nites (or Monday - Friday as the VA puts it). When I come home Friday morning, I stay up for as long as I can to squeeze every moment I can out of my day. I don't come home too exhausted to do anything but sleep. Thank the good lord, I am able to enjoy my life!

for those days when I will be too tired, or when I need to nap when the sun is still out, I invested $20 in room darkening curtains. (Royal blue to go with the pale blue or green I want to paint my room.....eventually!) They work really well...my only fear is that now I will not want to ever wake up, thinking it's still dark outside!

They work really well! I only closed one, and it is pretty dark in my room!

I mentioned feeding the animals....here is a couple of family of kittens we have acquired:

It's like a kitty commune. All the moms feed all the kittens at various times of the day. Pretty funny, but all are taken care of. Our dog, Marley (little australian shepherd)

LOVES playing with the kittens. She picks them up like little toys and "plays" with them. We yell at her to drop them, and she gets this look like..."What...they like it when I play with them.....really they do!" The moms don't like it too much; they circle Marley and growl. Marley growls back until one of us breaks up the stand off.

Here are a few things I've been working on. First, my Elizabeth Hiddleson Pineapple Centerpiece:

I am really happy with the way this is coming out. I work on it whenever the boys are driving me around. The next is the tablecenter that is too small for my table: It is too small for my table, but I did find the clear table covers at walmart. The cats will leave it alone!

That's all for now. Time for the NASCAR race from NH....I have on my swimsuit and the clouds are swirling in, and it is raining......

Another long time between

.....my posts. Sorry to have been lax, but in the almost month I have not posted, I have been working at my new job, getting my boys ready for the end of the school year, coaxing Steven to finish his online algebra class, chauffering the boys to and from work and girlfriends houses....oh yes, and crocheting a bit.

First off, the new job is absolutely awesome. Who would have thought that not being in charge of something could be so freeing? I loved my job as a supervisor MOST of the time. It was great when things meshed and hummed and ran well. It was even kind of fun solving problems and making things run right again. The long hours and time away from my family led to more stress. It is definitely nice to know that I still have the skills I attained so many years ago in college; I still have and can put them to use! I do my first night (yes, graveyard) shift on this coming Saturday and Sunday. I CANNOT wait! It is so nice to perform my job and leave at the end of my shift. I get home and can make dinner for my family. Yes, and be there to help with school tasks so the boys can graduate on time.....Oh yes, and home on the days Steven needs to go have his Senior pictures taken. I really do love working the night shift! Almost like you don't work at all.

I have been crocheting some too. Working on varigated squares for an afghan for an exchange. Also these couple of things:This is a wreath/candle ring for a contest. If I win, I get all the entries from the contest. If not, I send it away and make another. It was supposed to be a wreath, but the patriotic bear is too heavy; I didn't have time to get another before I submitted the picture. I decided to make it a candle ring.

The above is a soap sack that I tested for Suzetta of Suzie's Yarn Stuff. I really like this pattern. I finished it in less than an hour. How do I know? I began it when there was 55 minutes left during the 24 hours of Le Mans and finished it before the checkered flag waved. It's an easy pattern and I placed a bar of cranberry glycerin soap (smells lovely!). I told Suzie I liked the pattern, but next time I will add another row of lace to the top.

Oh, I also had time to purchase a new i-Phone. 16G. I really like it, but have to admit, I spend way more time on it than I want to.....but I do have my blog saved on it. Better than a laptop!