World-Wide Need

It is times like these that kind of drive me crazy: an earthquake in Haiti, a tsunami in Thailand, an earthquake in China, etc. The pictures are horrifying, the loss is unimaginable, and the news coverage is non-stop. And then it starts: celebrities suddenly crawl out of the woodwork to tell you how to help. They let you know what they are doing, how much they are donating, and to whom.

Even Ravelry, a site I normally love and adore, has gotten into the act. Designers can tag their designs with special tags, and if one purchases such a tagged pattern a designated portion of the proceeds goes to a Haitian relief effort of the designer's choice. A person searching for a pattern can even filter for the special tag!

Before you keep reading, let me be as clear as I can be. I have nothing but the utmost empathy for what people most be going through in those situations. Obviously, I have not gone through a natural disaster of that magnitude. The closest I have experienced is the Missouri Floods of 1993, which was plenty for me, thankyouverymuch. And before you ask, yes, I participated a great deal in the clean-up efforts. I can only imagine what it must be like for people who have lost their entire families, for people who can't find their families, for people who have lost everything they have ever owned, and for people who now literally have nothing but the clothes on their back. Truly, it's unimaginable.

However, what disturbs me about the outpouring of "Help Haiti/China/Thailand/etc." campaigns is that there is a ridiculous amount of suffering and death on a daily basis that goes largely unnoticed by these same celebrities, media outlets, and dare I say it, Ravelry Powers That Be. For instance:

• Approximately 8,500 people die every day of AIDS-related complications
• Approximately 4,500 people die every day because they don't have clean drinking water
• Approximately 2,700 people die every day of malaria
• Approximately 33% of North Koreans are malnourished

These things happen EVERY DAY. These are problems that doctors, politicians (you know, the good ones - they DO exist; I promise!), public heath practitioners, and human rights advocates fight against EVERY DAY.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't give aid to Haitians right now. I'm not saying that they aren't deserving of prayer and compassion. Of course they are.

What I AM doing is imploring you to give aid to other, equally worthy causes every other day. They aren't as sexy, they won't make the news every day for two weeks straight, they won't have star-power backing them up; I can almost guarantee you that. That's kind of what makes the fight so special and meaningful. It's what will make you have so much passion for the cause later.

So, now that I've implored you to help, here's how you can:

My favourite HIV/AIDS sites/charities:

• CDC Factsheet on HIV
  
• Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
• amfAR, The Founation for AIDS Research

How to help with clean drinking water:

• Thirst Relief International

How to help eliminate malaria:

• CDC information on malaria
• Nothing But Nets

Information on North Korea's plight:

• World Food Programme

Today, I am 35

And I got an unexpected gift: Orin actually called me. And I'm really all kinds of conflicted about it. On one hand, I'm really happy about, but on the other hand, I feel like I shouldn't be all "OMG!!! My father happened to remember to call me on my birthday this year!!!! Unlike the past three years!!!! Woweee!" It makes me sad that this is what our relationship has come to.

Neither of us mentioned that we didn't speak to each other on Christmas. Or the argument we had two days before Christmas that led to us not speaking to each other on Christmas. Frankly, I'm shocked as all get out that he called today. And I hate that it makes me wonder what he's up to.

BUT. On to other things. Someone asked me today how I'm celebrating my birthday. So here we go.

Tonight was very chill. Cleaning house in preparation for tomorrow (more on that tomorrow). I got to talk to my sister Laura for a couple of hours. She gave me some much needed dating advice, and we got to make fun of some morons (a favourite past-time of ours). I got to talk to my friend Rachel for almost an hour (while I staked out various corners of Trader Joe's and she saved me from having a breakdown in the middle of said store).

Tomorrow, some of my friends and I will have supper together, followed by hanging out at my place for dessert. This may include knitting, chatting, game playing, etc... who knows. This is also dependent on my ability to continue cleaning and clearing out spaces for people to sit. Oops.

On Sunday, I am taking a knitting class at my favourite LYS, Loop, Alternative Knitting Styles, with my friend Margaret. I will learn how to knit Continental and Portuguese! Margaret already knows how to knit Continental, so she help me fumble through that, but we will both be learning Portuguese knitting together. Then we will be lunching in the city together.

And, that, my friends, is how I am celebrating my birthday. With my friends, with my yarn, and with my LYS.

General Life Update

As some of you know, I've been dealing with some health issues as of late, which should be no big surprise since it is, after all, me. ;)

I've been dealing with some lower GI issues since 28 December. I finally decided to see a doctor last Wednesday. I wasn't able to get in with an MD, but I saw a nurse practitioner, who was very nice. She narrowed it down to five possibilities and did a bunch of tests, not all of which need to be discussed here and now. I'm not a TMI person, but you may be. :) Happily that particular issue seems to be clearing up, which means that some of the more serious possibilities she mentioned last week are probably off the table.

Since about two weeks before Thanksgiving, I've been dealing with sacro-iliac pain (that joint in the bowl of the pelvis). I've been seeing a chiropractor and a massage therapist, and things got better for the first few weeks, but then they plateaued after that. The chiro ordered x-rays, and I got the report last week. VERY preliminarily, it looks like I may be dealing with early onset osteoarthritis of the pelvic joints. So that's exciting.

The good news is that my chiro was a physical therapist before he decided to go to chiropractic school, so he's doing some stretching exercises with me, and one of the doctors who I work with has referred me to a PM&R (physical medicine and rehabilitation) doctor at work who is supposed to be very good. In fact, he used to be the team doctor for two of the pro sports teams here in Philly. So I feel like I'll be in good hands even if the final verdict isn't arthritis.

I'll keep you posted on both things, I'm sure.

In knitting news, I took a break for the past week or so because my hands needed it. After doing some SERIOUS deadline knitting as Christmas approached (that Ruffled Scarf for Grandma on those US2s really killed me) and then deciding to crank out a scarf for Mom during the week I was in Missouri... well, I just needed a break. But today I signed up for a test knit. So I'm back in the saddle again. I can't believe I signed up for something with another deadline, but oh well. Wish me luck!

Christmas Day

Because of the blizzard, Christmas Day was put off until the day after Christmas. My grandma was not impressed with this ("in 88 years, I've never had to put off Christmas," to which my mom replied something like "well, then, you're getting a new experience this year, aren't you?"). But my mom and I vetoed grandma, explaining that an 88-year-old woman had no business being out in unsalted, mostly unplowed streets, in single-digit weather. The food we'd prepped the day before would keep one more day.

On actual Christmas Day, Mom and I shovelled the drive anyway, figuring we'd save us some work the next day when Grandma and her partner John actually came over (Mom always moves her car out of the driveway so Grandma and John can park in the drive). Then on Saturday, we had to shovel again (although not nearly as much, which was the point), but since they'd plowed we also decided to shovel part of the street so Grandma and John would be able to turn the corner and zip right into our drive (we're full-service shovellers!).

Once inside, this is what the living room was like. The Christmas tree was decorated, despite Mom's threat to leave it in the attic this year. I think she believed me when I told her "no tree, no presents." One of the dog's, Sasha, made herself at home on one of Dale's (Mom's husband) presents.



















I got a lot of NASCAR haul: a Robby Gordon shirt that I had picked out at Kansas Speedway, Grandma made me a set of Kyle Busch pillowcases (they say Kyle's name and have "18"s dancing across the end in various sizes and M&M's colours), Mom made me a pair or sweatpants with Scott Speed's, Kyle Busch's, and Carl Edward's names embroidered on them, and I got a few Kyle Busch t-shirts Mom picked up (two at Cargo Largo and one at M&M World in Las Vegas).

And, of course, I got a lot of Michael Jackson haul, too. Grandma had saved pretty much every KC Star (the local newspaper) that had MJ on the front page. I got the soundtrack to "This Is It," the 12-month wall calendar, the 25th anniversary "Thriller" CD, and the DVD to HIStory, Part I (I have it on VHS, but not DVD, which Mom noticed when she was here earlier this month).

And I was really happy with what I was able to give, too. The big knitted gifts I gave this year were to the women of the family: Mom got the Shalom cardigan I blogged about earlier, my grandma got a ruffled scarf, my sister Laura got a beaded hat, and my niece got a bag that I did as a test knit (I will be blogging about each of those projects later). But trust me, the men did pretty well, too. I hadn't really planned on knitting for only the women, it just kind of shook out that way!

There were many other gifts (both given and received), but the best of all was the good ol' fashioned sitting around gabbing, both as we opened gifts and while we stuffed our faces. Sharing stories as we caught up on family gossip throughout the year (wait - Harold got married again? when did he get divorced???). The funniest part was when Grandma found out that Mom hadn't told me about Karen.

Mom: She has no idea who Karen is.
Me: I do, too!
Mom: You do not.
John: Do you know where she lives?
Me: Illinois.
John: Does she have any kids?
Me: Yes. Three.
Grandma: See? She knows more than you think she does.
John: And where does she work?
Me: Um... uh....
Mom: SEE? She DOESN'T know who she is!
Laura: Well, I don't know where Min works, but I know who she is!

Welcome to my family, folks.

Blizzard in Missouri!

So I escaped a major snowfall in Philadelphia, only to fly into a blizzard in Missouri, the first since the early 1980s. I knew that the KCMO area was expecting snow, but I had no idea it was a major snow storm!

The airlines were still trying to catch up from cancelled flights from our snow storm, so they were offering $500 flight vouchers for anyone willing to "be flexible with their travel arrangements." I called Mom to ask her if I was such a person because we're planning a trip in May which will require me to fly again. She said that ordinarily she would jump at the chance, but since KC was expecting a HUGE snow storm the next day and they had JUST shut down Chicago, I was to get my butt on that plane immediately. As luck would have it, I was among the last of the flights to arrive at MCI before the blizzard hit.

This is what our front yard/driveway looked like, and this is what Mom looks like when she's preparing to go shovel snow. Mind, the snow pics are a bit deceiving because we live at an intersection at the top of a hill. Since it was so windy, most of the snow drifted down the hill, away from us. But, trust me when I tell you that Mom and I still spent a LOT of time shovelling... two days in a row.

Shalom Cardigan

First, an update on me: Here's why the blogging has been sparse lately. I've been dealing with a moderate level of dysthymia lately. It's nothing too serious, and I've back on track with seeing my therapist, who I'd been blowing off with terrific success. Mostly it's just life's little stresses, but they decided to all come at me at once. And, okay, some of them aren't so little.

As I was telling Nancy (my therapist), when it's one huge stressor that I'm handling, I can do that like nobody's business. I know how to compartmentalise that so I can go to work, still socialise, etc. But when it's a bunch of smaller things all at once, it really and truly confounded me. I've been so busy juggling them all that I didn't know how (or have time to figure out how to!) to manage those stressors.

And the reason I haven't blogged yet about the trip to Victory Junction Camp with my mom is because that week was absolutely the best, most carefree week that I've had in the past two months. It was like walking past the store that has their door open and AC blasting on the hottest summer day, and I just haven't been able to get in the right mindframe to give it the blog post it deserves.

NOW, on to the Shalom Cardigan.

*************

After four years of knitting, I decided to FINALLY knit something for me. Enter the Shalom Cardigan (link for Ravelry users only). But I liked the modifications that Ravelry user ishi has done: She added sleeves, the waist shaping was gone, and two more buttons were added. So, once again, Brook to the rescue. She helped me figured out some maths when I needed to redo the pattern to my measurements. Had I been sticking to the regular pattern, I could have figured out the maths myself, but figuring out the maths at the same time as I was taking into consideration a pattern mod was making my head explode.

However, once it was completed and I tried it on it had the unfortunate effect of making me look several months pregnant. But I thought it might just fit my mom. The biggest hurdle (no pun intended) would be her bust since her bust line is larger than mine. But if she would be comfortable wearing it without buttoning it, it might work. So when she visited me the first week in December she tried it on (sans sleeves, since I'd halted progress in disgust when I'd realised it was no longer for me). It was a perfect fit. I wouldn't even had to frog the garter stitch hem to make the body longer!

She asked me to make the sleeves as long as I could with the remaining half skein of yarn. Brook helped me out with that, recommending that I knit one sleeve from the outside of the yarn ball and the other sleeve from the center pull. That worked well, and I ended up having MUCH longer sleeves than I anticipated!

The finished product on Christmas Day (well, fake Christmas Day due to the blizzard):

VJC Trip Recap

Note: This is all just a quick recap. More details with pics to follow in days to come.

Thursday: Picked Mom up from airport. Loop, then Spool. Trader Joe's for road trip snackie snacks. Supper with Sarah, Peter, Sue, Margaret, Brook. Fibre Night. Home.

Friday: Started loading car at 8:00 a.m.. Target for snackie snacks (and five pounds of potatoes for 50 cents!). Hit Charlotte around 6:30 p.m. Hit IKEA - Mom's first IKEA experience, so we supped there, too.

Saturday: Lowe's Motor Speedway (raining, of course). Tour of infield. Met some Richard Petty Driving Experience mechanics. Got to hit the Speedway at 80 mph. Found out if RPDE was there the next day, I'd have gotten a SWEET birthday present five weeks early. :( Went to RaceWorldUSA where MWR is housed where you can watch the cars, engines, etc., being worked on. Met Cristi for lunch and yarn/fabric crawl.

Sunday: Met Cristi again for lunch and yarn crawl. Headed to Greensboro.

Monday: Victory Junction Camp tour/afghan drop. Went to RCR for a stealth visit and an interesting non-run-in with security despite our best efforts (yes, you read that correctly). Met my friends Dave and Carolyn in Fairfax for supper. Decided to overnight in King of Prussia instead of making it back home.

Tuesday: Hit KoP mall where Mom finally found a chocolate-caramel-covered apple. Went to Brook's house where we picked up Brook and Alex and hit The Pop Shop for lunch. Dropped off Brook and Alex, then home where Mom and I cried about what a great time we had and how we'd miss each other. Watching us, you'd never guess it would only be FIFTEEN days until we see each other again for the holidays.