Two more views

and soon we'll be home. Knitting will resume, I promise, but for now enjoy the pics.

Two of the most important people in my life.





And our view during dinner last night @ The Beachhouse in Bradenton Beach, Fl.

Hopefully this will distract you

I apologize for not being better with my blogging but life (as always) has been hectic. Not much knitting has been going on & right now we're enjoying this beautiful view in Anna Maria Island, FL. Can you hear the sound of the surf?

I promise there will be more going on when we get back & life as we know it resumes.

'Til then, enjoy the view!

5 years later, 4/6/04

After spending 17 hrs in labor, we were presented with our beautiful baby girl. At 10 lbs 11 oz & 22" long she was the biggest baby in the nursery. To us, she was perfect.






Fast forward 5 years & here we are at her school celebrating her birthday with her classmates. Today is our family celebration--the last time Hunter was home for her birthday she was turning 2. You read that right--he missed her 3rd & 4th birthdays, so today is doubly special. Her party is in a couple weeks & the weekend after her party she & I are going to see Disney on Ice, courtesy of Grandma and Papa & Memere and Pepere.

I'm slowly learning that we're not the only ones who suffer from certain "miletone" birthdays. You know how people freak over turning 30, 40, etc? Well, it happens to parents when their children reach certain ages. Five! She is FIVE. That's the end of toddlerhood & the beginning of "big kid-dom" I don't think I'm going to cry when she starts Kindergarten in August (yeah, right! Did that when she started preschool!), but I will feel sad that my baby is growing up. At the risk of sounding trite---enjoy your babies when they're young as they do grow up too fast!

April 5th 2004

This is what I looked like. Ginormous. I was 39 weeks & 5 days pregnant. Roughly a 37 lb weight gain.

I was scheduled to be induced the following day so Hunter & I spent a leisurely Monday by going to lunch at Atlanta Bread Company & then walking. A lot of walking.

We were very anxious & excited to meet our beautiful girl.

Books!

Holly posted a pic of her knitting books so I thought I would do the same. When I started knitting I figured I'd never need to spend money on books because of all the patterns available on the internet. I mean, why would I want to??

I know, it's funny. I laugh when I think about it too!

Not much going on the knitting front. Spring Break is what I'm calling it. I got great news today that a good friend of mine is pregnant & due in October. Hmmm, chilly weather kicks in after October. The possibilities are mind-boggling!

Yarn, glorious yarn

My knit group had a field trip today to Peachtree City, GA (about an hour & 15 min away) to a brand new yarn shop! Sugarfoot Yarns has opened & can I say--what a lovely little shop! I managed to leave relatively unscathed---the artyarns beaded silk kept calling me. Seriously screaming my name. I left with 3 skeins of yarn--Misti Alpaca handpainted sock yarn, Misti Alpaca lace & Malabrigo (Smellabrigo---private joke for the group) sock yarn.

Here's the group after we made our purchases. Afterwards we went to Tuesday Morning for cheap (I mean, inexpensive) knitting books & then to 5 Guys Burgers & Fries for lunch.

Family Fun Day

Yesterday we had Family Fun Day while Hunter's unit is in the field. We got to go out to the range to see the tanks/bradleys doing live fire exercises, check out the inside of various vehicles (m1a1 tank, bradleys, and the new stryker med. evac) & play with weapons (blanks obviously!) Enjoy!

We have SNOW!!!!!

And I LOVE it!!!!

The Wee One donned her snow boots, winter coat, hat, mittens & went out to play. She & Hunter threw snowballs & we made a small snowman.

The only downside of the snow---the daffodils. Snow makes them sad.

Have I turned into a scarf knitter?

And if so, is that bad? Here is Hunter's scarf, or at least 1/3 of it. Right now I'm about 55% into it. If the chilly weather doesn't last here he'll have it when it gets cold again next winter.

The Wee One has a new interest---tennis! My brother Michael chuckled when I told him "there's got to be scholarship potential somehow, right?" He works in higher education (VP of Student Life at an East Coast university) & after a pause said "Stamford--isn't that where McEnroe went??" She is due to start later this week, pics to follow.


I got a little teary eyed this morning reading the obituaries from my home town paper. The widow of a WWII veteran died & this was in her obit:


Rose would often tell the story of how overjoyed she was when some of Gus's Army duffle bags arrived back to the house from Europe, meaning that Gus was coming home soon, and then again when her brother Jim's Marine Corp. duffle bags started arriving home from the Pacific, meaning that he too would arrive home safe.

It made me think of Hunter's deployments when we'd get the official word to stop sending mail. I also remember going to the PO to pick up a foot locker, covered in desert sand (trust me when I say that stuff NEVER comes out!) & feeling the excitement that he was finally coming home.

So this morning I "connected" with a 98 yr old woman that I never knew just for a moment. I knew exactly the joy she felt knowing he was coming home. I wonder if she was a knitter too.

Fiddle Dee Dee!

Gone With The Wind is on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) today. Starting in just a few minutes. I have to say, and those who know me best would admit, it is my all time, hands down favorite movie. Of all time.

I think I fell in love with it somewhere around the age of 8 when I saw it for the first time while spending the night with my Aunt Barbara (my Dad's only sister). She told me how she skipped school to see it in the theater! To my 8 year old mind, skipping school was probably one of the worst offenses you could commit. Skipping school? Insanity!

I was smitten the first time I saw Scarlett O'Hara in that white & green dress at the Wilkes' BBQ. How can you not be?

From that point, obsession took over. I looked forward to it showing on tv (once a year back then & before the age of the VCR/DVR). Immediately acquired a paperback copy of the book which I read. And read. And read some more. All 1034 pages. Or something like that. My father told me he had read it in school & proclaimed it the worst book he'd ever read. Sacrilege!!!! Clearly he just didn't get it!

But Aunt Barbara did. And somehow, my Mom too. The GWTW gifts started somewhere after that. Collector plates. Music boxes. My Mom (and other collectors) kept the Franklin Mint in business in the '80's buying everything & anything GWTW for me. (and the other collectors, for themselves). When I was in college & working at Waldenbooks I would snatch up every book about the movie.

While we're discussing books, let me just say that Scarlett, the sequel----bad. Bad, bad, bad. We won't discuss it further. And the tv movie made from it? Blech!

When I lived in Portland, ME, I made friends with another GWTW freak. Her collection was almost as extensive as mine. I had more music boxes, but she had the Vivien Leigh bio. We would have showings at her house. Bring our favorite memorabilia, have drinks and munches & watch the movie. A box of tissues always found its way to the couch as I pretty much cry for the last 30-45 min of the movie. Scarlett running thru the fog back to Rhett? Yeah, I'm a goner at that point.

The highlight of my time in Portland was the movie being shown at the State Theater. GWTW on the big screen???? We were there 2 nights in a row.

Before my ex & I got married he had to sit through the movie. I should have known it wasn't going to work when all he did was mock the movie.

So 30+ years into my love affair with the movie, I find myself comfy on the couch, knitting project nearby & the Wee One in her room for rest hour.

One of these days she & I will take a trip to ATL to the Margaret Mitchell house (I'm ashamed to admit, I haven't been in all the time I've lived here!) . And in a couple years she & I will have a Mommy & Wee One movie night where I'll introduce her to the movie that has been one of my joys since I was a wee one!