Tuesday, June 20, 2006

The Invitation

I am thinking about all the invitations I have received in my life..There are some I couldn't wait to participate in...I looked forward to the event with glee, picking out the appropriate clothing, and proper shoes. I selected my jewelry with care, and my make up was applied to perfection. Then some invitation I accepted begrudgingly, knowing I had a obligation to attend for some reason other than my own personal desires. It was a family affair, or a church event, a funeral, a wedding or even a serious business meeting. I rose to the challenge and attended per my moral requirements as a human being. Some invitations gave me great pleasure, and I skipped and sang like a child in anticipation. The final invitation is the test of your character, patience and strength. It wills you to give up all selfishness and invites you to act on behalf of a higher calling. It calls you from outside of yourself, beaconing you to believe in something greater. It causes you to dig deeper into your soul, analyzing your every motive and excuse. It creates in you a longing to strive for a more spiritual you. It escorts you past worldly and material possessions. A spell is cast, and its magic envelops you until you succumb to its power. It promises to teach you love, patience, selfless sacrifice. It seeks to draw you to the edge of your being. Yet the invitation is pure and good- it offers a peace of mind, and thirst quenching sweetness inside your heart. It teaches you lessons of seeing the world through the eyes of a powerful sweeping force. Giving of yourself, you rise to the pinnacle of love, as you realize you are not one, but a joined force- where the circle of life promises you the gift of life once you agree to the invitation. The road will not be easy, but it will make you a person who suddenly understands the true value of challenging yourself outside of your comfort level. The invitation cannot be accepted lest you agree in the spirit of love....Once agreed.....the journey is easy. How fast we run to take the easy road, and make excuses why we cannot help another human being. It doesn't matter that I do not share my heart or my skills....after all, someone else will answer the call. Our forefathers and mothers knew the ultimate sacrifice, to the point of death they gave of themselves.Have I, given back to this great country to which I live? Can I say I have returned all that has been given to me? Answer the invitation today.......and let the journey take you beyond yourself to a place of common ground with those who have traveled before us.The cost is minimal......the sacrifice is light....the invitation is open....Knit one pair of socks for the men and women who have answered the invitation already. One pair of socks is so little to ask...when the reward is a better you.
Kim Opperman~
Socks for Soldiers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SOCKFORSOLDIERS


As you can see this letter was writtne by Kim she's the mom to one of "our" soldiers. She knitted socks for her son and he said that he wished that all the soldiers could have the comfort of hand knitted socks in their boots~~~a casual comment taken to heart by a mom!! A group was born ~~a goal thrown out there~~the knit is on!! Plain black socks for "our soldiers" a little something from home.
If you can spare the time and some black wool/wool blend washable yarn please help.
Off to knit~~

Monday, June 19, 2006

Two in a Row!!

I'm doing good~~two blogging days in a row!! Not that much went on today to write about! One good thing it rained and the horrible humidity is gone and the temp. dropped. Right now the air coming in the window next to me is actually chilly. Turned off the a/c and flung open the windows. The one thing I don't like about having the a/c in the bedroom is having to keep the windows shut.
Today was the usual Monday~~laundry,dusting,vacuuming. Did get a couple new bags finished so that was my crafty thing for the day. Knitted a few rows on the black sock while I waited in the car for ds. Wanted to start a towel but didn't get to it. Almost forgot, did four more rows on the kal~~ no picture so you'll have to take my word for it! I'm pretty sure I know what it is. From what I can figure there's only a couple more rows and it will be finished~~photo then.
For you that read this in IE did you notice that I finally figured out how to get rid of the underlines?? I deleted the new blog ring link I added awhile back and that took care of it. I have no idea why things rearranged themselves though. And scrolling all that way down to get to the posts??? What's with that??? I'm afraid to mess around on the template for fear of losing everything!
Aren't these nice???
Daughters can be so wonderful! She knew I wasn't feeling well so she surprised me with these a few days ago. Nothing like cut flowers to cheer up a room!
I'm tired tonight so I'll quit rambling~~
Off to bed~~

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Many Thanks

Many thanks to all of you that wrote to me privately and left comments here on our loss of Houston. Every one of them was much appreciated. You all are great!
What have I been up to, you ask??? Ok, so you didn't ask but I'll tell you anyway! I'm knitting again!! I've caught the washcloth/dishcloth/towel bug!!! You know what that means,right??? Of course you do~~more yarn!!! Now you know that I can't be knitting these out of my wool/wool blend sock yarn so I had to get some cotton.

Saw a really cute cloth on Dani's blog and I was hooked! She did hers out of a awesome orange that I just had to get! Luckley Joanns had some~so I whipped out that 40% coupon and it was mine.
Did you notice the Chibi?? Lime green!!! Now if I could just find an orange one! One can never have too many chibis!! hmmm, is that spelled right??
Now the finished cloth~~
Cute,huh?? I'm hoping that if I make a few of these up for myself that when I go to get a washcloth for my face there will actually be one in the linen closet. I don't picture KK or ds using these!! They'd better not!
I must admit when I took this with me to knit nite at Lynn's I totally messed it up! I lost my place right when I started working on it and didn't catch it until the end of the evening! Needless to say I did some frogging! Finished it up the next morning.
Now that I'm newly addicted I had to join yet another group! The monthly dishcloth kal on yahoo~~I joined just in time to start the mid-month kal~~and this is what's going on. This was after two days.
What is it?? Beats me!! All I know is those 195 cast on sts. were a pain!
Each day we get a few rows to do~~I was all caught up until I just checked my email and tomorrows came already!
Now it looks like this ~~still not sure!

Feels good to be knitting again! I'm also working on black socks for SOCKFORSOLDIERS@yahoogroups.com 500 pair of black socks is the original goal for the beginning of Oct. A wonderful project for our troops! If you can spare some time and black yarn go check it out!
Let's see what else has been happening?? Working on the yard,planters done,housework just the usual.
We took KK out to dinner Friday night for father's day. He wanted to go then instead of today. We ate waaayyyy to much and then on the way home I had to have an IceCap from Tim Hortons.Talk about stuffed~~and I wonder why I couldn't sleep??
Today the heat was brutal!(Just heard the weather and it reached 92!) KK and I got up really early and went to the flea market at Antique World. We were there a little after 8 and it was already getting hot! Sadly we didn't find any bargains but it still was fun browsing.
Last week I stopped at a garage sale which I normally don't do and what do I see??? A Longaberger basket!!! At a garage sale!!! For $4!!!!!!! I broke out in a sweat my pulse was racing!! Could that be right??? Yes,indeed $4 and it was mine!!! Maybe I'll start garage sale-ing
hmmm, maybe not!!
If you're looking for a project bag check out my site. http://www.picturetrail.com/mzmar1
I keep adding new designs like " Betty does Bingo". Most of them are a one and only so when it's gone ~~it's gone! One thing I've found out through this sewing is collecting fabric becomes just as addicting as yarn~~and that's not good!
Seems I had more to write but it escapes me now~~must be the heat! Thank goodness KK and ds put the a/c in the bedroom this evening! There's gonna be some good sleeping tonight!!
If you have an iPod or mp3 player you really should listen to some knitting podcasts! There are some really good ones out there. Cast On with Brenda Dayne is one of my favorites and she's taking a podcasting vacation for a few weeks I'm going to be lost!! Chub Creek is fun too but if you don't like explicit skip it. With the nice weather I like to sit out on the deck with my knitting and now it's even better with my iPod!
On that note I'm going to leave you with this because I'm
Off to sit in the a/c