Celebrate Good Times, come on!

To kick off the celebration of my favorite guy's birthday (which is today) I met friends at Cedar Point yesterday and let him have some time to himself! (Fair warning to future friends: If you leave early, you will be photoshopped in...perhaps poorly...and it will be hilarious!)

That's right, Sweetie was not there. He's not a big Cedar Point fan, so his gift was that I did not invite him. Because yesterday was his birthday eve, I did kindof ask if he minded that I go right after work. I don't remember his answer, but I wore jeans, good walking shoes, and my fanny pack (with glasses strap inside) ya know, just in case. When Amanda texted that a bunch of friends were going, I was powerless to resist!

I didn't ride much, and took fewer pictures. I'm kindof smacking myself for not taking any night photos, since we closed down the park waiting in line for TT2! But I did take pics in line, 

and I pilferred photos of funpix...

Gosh! My friends are way cooler in these photos than I am...I've got my hands in the air and a full, toothy grin the whole time. I love being on roller coasters!

Oh, and Amanda got this video of that last ride, at 10:37pm! You can't really see us, but it's a pretty cool 11 seconds either way! 

Psst...don't tell my family. I'm not sure they support my coaster habit...but the doc said no restrictions after 3 months, and it's been nearly 6...and I've been doing a little at a time, adding in coasters that don't seem too intense, and staying away from the ones that are most likely to dislodge something...I'm looking at you Blue Streak and Steve! Millie's pretty gentle though...and last week, I didn't ride any coasters at all, but I still had a ton of fun with some of my favorite riders and smilers!

Today has already been a little lower key, spending time with the birthday boy, finally moving my daffodils to their proper place...which you can't see, because the bushes are too big with their summer growth...lol!

Knitting on my next pair of socks and summer decor for my office...

and our grandson's baseball game this afternoon! Is there anything as entertaining as first and second graders playing baseball? 

Photo Cred: Tom Apathy Photography (aka Pappy)

Later, we may head to one of our favorite, not Cedar Point, parks for a walk. Last week, we saw a great blue heron,

tons of tiny toadlets,

a pretty good sized snapping turtle,

and dozens of ducklings and other birds of many varieties!

I wonder how many of them would have enjoyed this worm for their dinner?

Summer is really shaping up here, and we are certainly celebrating these good times! I hope you are as well.

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Marching (reluctantly?) Into Springtime

Springtime in Ohio is a fickle thing. Snow, wind, sunshine, mild and freezing temperatures, ice and rain... all the confusing weather messages, and the daffodils and crocuses coming up... Oh, and Amazon packages flying through the air! (Seriously, Amazon. If it is small and light, or flat and light, pop it into the mailbox rather than leaving it out in the open like a cardboard kite!) For what it's worth, the package we almost lost was recovered, and the wind continued through the end of the week!

In the beginning, Spring always seems reluctant to make a commitment. It is normal this time of year to see a clear, blue sky with 70°F on Monday (Hey! I can still write Haiku!)...

then light, drizzle-y snow and wind by Wednesday, building and building until power goes out at work on Friday (power was on at home, so that's where I went for the rest of the day)!

Thankfully, we took advantage of the great weather last weekend to spend some time at local playgrounds,

and going out to dinner with family...

and I had projects to keep me busy when indoors was the place to be! Look! A second Leprechaun!

Yes, I am so thankful for yarn friends (Irish and otherwise) and for warm, hand-knit socks! These two pair are finished,

and the third, companion pair (in pink!) is well underway!

Now that it is Saturday once again, and we are one, full week past the worst time change of the year, I think it's safe to say that we are going to make it through just fine. Whew! I think I'll do some knitting to celebrate! 

I hope that you have not blown away yet, and that you have some great things to be thankful for! Can't think of any? It must be time exercise that gratitude muscle. Think harder...I mean, you woke up this morning, so I am thankful for that! Oh, and you found an entertaining blog to read...lol! But seriously, I am glad to see you here. The world would be a little less bright without you in it. Sooo,

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Well Done, Me!

Last week, I talked about loving each other well, since none of us really knows how long we will have to love. So this week, I thought I'd talk a little about how we value ourselves. Do we take a moment to say, "Well done, Me!," when a task is finished well...or do we linger over the mistakes that made the task take longer than we think it should? 

When I finished the colorwork portion of the body of this sweater, I took pictures so I could step back and land the appropriate "Well done, Me!" before moving onto the monotonous, monotone of the main color. I did not seek out that place where I messed up the pattern, and had to rip back to fix it, so that place is a bit more stretched and uneven. But most knitters know that those stitches will even out in the blocking, so why kick myself now? I'm past that place, so I moved on...and I did that well.

"Well done, Me!," I said when I reached the length to start the hem ribbing, and I tried it on to be sure...

"Well done, Me, indeed!," I said, even though this pose in the powder room mirror is a little flashy and shows off my flabby arms. 🤪 It's going to fit well, and I'm going to love wearing it, so...Well done, Me!

I hope my grandson had a good "Well done, Me!" moment after his basketball game today too! Even though his team did not have the winning score, they all play better each week, and he is quite the little athlete! 

In this world, we will all have critics, and those fools* will quickly let us know how we don't measure up, because not one of us is perfect. Rather than focusing on those messages, let's be kind to ourselves by focusing on what we've done right. Let's focus on who we are striving to be and live as though that is already who we are!

Remember that you were created in the image of God. He created you and me, and He has prepared us for good works, even though he knows that all of us will make mistakes. Some of us will make bigger mistakes than others, but He continues to love us. Celebrate that as you strive to be the best you that you can be, and don't forget to pat yourself on the back just a bit when you're on track. What's something that you can celebrate about you this week? 

Well done, You!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health! 

*Autocorrect changed whatever word I had used here to "fools," and I left it. Critcs can be fools...

Yarn, Friends and Fun Times

I really thought I was going to fit in a bonus post this week, to tell you all about Woolapalooza #15, but I keep forgetting that I work in an educational setting now. May is crazy in an educational setting, friends! I've made it through...and I only have 2 weeks left in the office until I can play "Summer Break" for a few weeks, yay! But I digress...you stopped by to see the haul, right? Well, here it is!

And I met some new friends...

"Our knit group was the Gazindas, because everything
"gazinda the bag" when we're yarn shopping!"

and I played with established friends, who have been coming here with me since 2010! We'll be Gazindas one day. For now, there's still more brown and blonde hair than gray!

After the shopping, there was the usual lunch and margaritas...wait, where did mine go? Did I drink the whole thing? <hic!> I did...and it was delicious!

At the end of this busy week, after barely knitting at all, our oldest grandson graduated from Kindergarten. While I was unable to attend the graduation, Mr Pretty and I met him at Cedar Point (his parents went home when we got there), and we rode the Mine Ride twice, 

Magnum once, and also the wave swinger and Ocean Motion! Plus the Dodgems with Pop Pop!

It was almost dark when we left, but before that, we took some fun photos, 

and found a tiny duck! 

Whoever left this behind, thanks! Look at that smile!

Ok, am I caught up on the blog now? I think yes. 😁 More next week, to be sure...but for now, I think I'll sit and knit a bit. Any objections? 

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!

Halloweekends, and More!

I know I've said it before, perhaps even last week, but I really love to spend time at our local amusement park, Cedar Point! I was there last Saturday, even while the pre-scheduled blog post was going live! 

Our oldest Grandson noticed that the merry-go-round was running backwards (for HalloWeekends) on our last visit, but we weren't able to stop for a ride that day...😪. So Pop Pop and I picked that boy up and took him again last week, and he rode it twice!

We rode lots of other rides as well, and we stayed much longer than we had planned, because we were having So. Much. FUN!

On Sunday, I spent time with friends and cats, 

and I worked on my Christmas sweater!

Which is good, because I have two more sweaters to knit this month (for the girls), so I've gotta get that cardigan finished! I mean, the boys already have their hoodies, and they love them...

Of course, they also like to pick their noses and make stinky toots! As a coping strategy to being a boy-mom, my daughter has taken to buying me early Christmas gifts...lol!

That's right, I'm knitting a Christmas cardigan, and she bought me a Christmas cardigan! It's a good thing that I'm into Christmas!

Oh! Christmas is coming! I gotta get back to my needles and yarn...the sweaters won't knit themselves, ya know!

Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!