Penguin Playland!

Last weekend was GREAT! I finally finished knitting Will's penguin:

I think he turned out really pretty well. It was a pretty easy knit. The hardest part was sewing the pieces together. Then I felted him (took 3 cycles in the washer), dried and shaped him, stuffed him, and needle felted the eyes. Then I took him with me to Boston for the annual winter gathering of the Power Science Girls (PSG's) and associates. Will thought he was pretty cool for a few minutes, gave him a nice hug, and then quickly abandoned him for a paper bag and two boxes of tea. I wasn't offended since I recognize this as perfectly normal 16 month old behavior. It got a hug, so that is pretty much the Will Seal of Approval. We took Will and Baby D to see the Penguins at the Boston Aquarium. Baby D slept through most of it, but Will had a great time. Here he is in the gift shop at the end, surrounded by penguins - doesn't he look happy?

Well you might actually say he looks pretty serious, but hey, he is trying to figure out how to get his parents to buy him that styling penguin roller suitcase/backpack (or he is trying to figure out which one of those penguins is the attack penguin - see sign). All it took was him to walk the full length of the store pulling the suitcase and smiling. They were sold. And we won't tell anyone this, but if they hadn't bought it for him I think I probably would have. I just couldn't resist. :-)

At the end of the excursion, Baby D woke up and was in excellent spirits. I even caught a smile on the camera!

Okay, well, Debbie is smiling anyway. Dylan was smiling about two seconds before this (and again about two seconds after), but he really likes to play the serious card for the camera. Trust me, he was happy. Well rested, well fed, and happy!

We spent the rest of the weekend gabbing about life, babies, work, fun, the Patriots (go Pats!), college memories, job propositions, and anything and everything else under the sun. We played Apples to Apples (I didn't even come close to winning). Then Megan, Paul, and I headed up to the farm Sunday for a few nights. We played with the baby goats, watched movies, did some knitting (I finished another pair of mittens) and generally had a good time.

Now it is back to work as usual. I was really depressed the first morning back. I even practically started crying. But now that I have delivered a few babies I am back in the swing of it and happy again. I am probably going to sign a job contract this week and that is VERY exciting. I am starting to think ahead to house buying, moving, living with my cat again, and starting a new job/life. It is a little scary and overwhelming, but incredibly fun and exciting too. I will have to keep you all posted.

Love,

Turtlewoman

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I am working today, but this has given me yet another chance to put things into perspective. At first I was really sad to be away from my family today. Don't get me wrong, I love and miss my family and I am still sad . . . but then I went up to see one of my patients. Her kids are opening their stockings in a hospital room because she is too sick to go home. And this will almost definitely be her last Christmas with them, so they are actually grateful even though their Christmas is far from ideal. And as much as I miss my family today, at least I know they are all home with each other, safe, sound, and relatively healthy.

So as you enjoy your day, stop and take a minute to say thanks for all the blessings in your life.

I am giving thanks today for all of you!

Love,
Turtlewoman

I've got the spirit, yes I do!

I've got the spirit - how 'bout you?

I pulled out my mini Xmas tree and it is up and decorated. I haven't had it out in a few years, so this was kinda fun. None of these presents is for me, I actually just have a tiny bit of my shopping done . . . better than last year anyway!

Hope everyone has a warm and wonderful holiday!

Love,
Turtlewoman

A String of Random Thoughts

First, pictures of Dylan! Finally uploaded from my wonderful and relaxing trip last weekend to visit Dylan, Debbie, and Eric. Here in this first one, Dylan is showing us a pose I call "VSB" - an abbreviation for "Very Serious Boy". He wears this face frequently as he has many things to think about and ponders them quite seriously. He also has a BEAUTIFUL wide-open toothless grin, but it is hard to catch on camera. I am told that Debbie and Eric have a hard time catching it too. However it should be noted that if Dylan ever needs a passport photo his head is the perfect shape (note that you can see both ears). =-)



In the next shot, Dylan is actually faking us out. To the casual observer it would appear that Dylan is calmly drinking breastmilk from a bottle. This is not the case. He is actually pushing the nipple around with his tongue in an effort to ditch the bottle. He is VERY good at not drinking a bottle. By the end of the weekend Debbie and Eric got him to be a little better at actually drinking it too, but as of this picure he was still being stubborn. =-)





Okay, on to the next set of thoughts . . . Goose Eggs. Yep, they are BIG. Definitely bigger than chicken eggs anyway (as shown) although I bet they don't hold a candle to ostrich eggs. So there may be some benefit to the six geese on our farm (but don't hold me to that . . . I haven't actually tasted a goose egg yet) aside from their potential as future down pillows . . . they actually also make better guards than the dog as they are fierce, scary, and will chase just about anyone around the yard if they are concerned.





While we are talking about the farm . . .


There have been several more additions to our goaty family. Pictured here is my dad holding the first set of triplets for our farm. Again they are Boer/Angora crosses. Mom Zoe pushed them out like a champ! Pretty much nothing fazes Zoebo. Their names are Buckwheat, Semolina, and Durham. They are the younger siblings of Barley. Apparently we have switched from biblical names for Zoe's offspring (Zacchariah and Zebediah) to grain names. Hey, I don't name the goats . . . I just post their pictures. Despite that half of the genetics off all of these goats come from my Tankie, I have not yet had the privilege of naming any of them. Since then Pansy has also given birth to Beetlejuice (younger brother to Aphidia) but pictures are still forthcoming. Keep your eyes peeled.


And last in the string of things that I have been talking about but not displaying is my knitting! Shown here are my first two attempts at mittens. I am getting better as I go. I was a bit dismayed that they Noro (blue/green) mittens are so mismatched, but I am hoping that their intended recipient (the very artsy Becky) will appreciate them none-the-less. They match a hat I made for her about a year or so ago.



Other projects currently in the works include Will's Penguin, probably a hat for my secret santa, and of course I think I have about three blankets and two baby sweaters in the works that have been temporarily abondoned. I have started to get my stuff into ravelry (well, I got the mittens in anyway) and now that I know how to do it (Flickr is pretty easy really) I will start to keep things in there too!

Well, that's all for now. It is a very snowy day outside and I am enjoying not having to be outside in it. I am puttering about the house, playing with my computer, and I will probably knit later. I may make it out to make gingerbread houses with Tripp, but depends on the weather and what Margaret is up to. She was on call last night, so may need to sleep today.

Also, hope this new holiday themed coloring is not too annoying. Does anyone know how to changed the blue background? I couldn't figure it out with the color editor. I am wondering if it requires knowing code so that you can alter the template . . . not a project I am up for today.

Love,
Turtlewoman

Babies!

Well, I haven't uploaded my pictures of Dylan from this weekend yet, so you are really only going to get to see one baby right now . . . but babies was the theme for the weekend. I had an AWESOME time hanging out with Debbie, Eric, and Dylan. Dylan and I got some good bonding time in, although I never did get him to take a bottle from me. So much for my reputation as a baby whisperer. . . but I did introduce him to the joy of patti-cakes and got to sing him some of his first nursery rhymes so we still had fun. We also got a Christmas tree and then watched Eric struggle through the yearly tradition of the lighting of the house. He did a great job though! And then we all got to relax in front of a nice warm fire. Aside from playing with the baby and yarfing in Debbie's driveway (apparently even though I am almost 32 years old I still can't drink orange juice before going on a wind-y drive), it was a pretty low key weekend and I loved it. I got some knitting done, making my third ever mitten. I am starting to get the hang of the thumbs I think, as they are getting to be less gappy each time. I will have to take pictures and post at some point, but again . . . that involves downloading from the camera.

So meet Frosti! My newest grandkid. We weren't exactly planning to have kids this winter (not an ideal time for kidding in Maine), but Tankie had other ideas. One thing I can say for that boy, he has definitely proven himself as a stud. So all of the goats appear to be pregnant again and yesterday Blossie (aka Blossom) decided to drop kid out in the snowbank. In all honesty, this probably wasn't really her first choice. But seeing as all of the goats were out of the barn for the afternoon and she probably couldn't get back in she did the best she could. So she dropped him in the hay rack we keep near the barn. My parents came home from picking up my sister and heard a god-awful crying. When they went to look, they found Frosti lying in the hay in the snow, shivering and turning blue! It took a little resusciation, but they soon had him warmed up in the barn and he made it through the night! He is SO cute. You can see for yourself:

He is my 5th grand-kid, but he is the first male goat ever to be born on the Life is Goat Farm! He is the first male offspring of Tankie, and he is actually Blossie's first ever male offspring too. And she has had bunches of kids . . . So I guess you could say that Frosti is a little bit of a Christmas miracle (just a little early). =-)

Love,

Turtlewoman

A Formal Apology

To Eric, whom I neglected to mention in my previous post, and who is thinking about shunning me this weekend as a result.

My only defense is that I actually thought you were going to be in DC (don't know WHY I thought that, but I did).

OF COURSE I am also delighted that I will get to spend the weekend with Eric (in addition to Debbie and Dylan, both of whom WERE mentioned in the last post).

And hopefully Eric will feel the holiday spirit, forgive me, and not shun me this weekend when I invade his home and his family. Especially since I have a sneaking suspicion that he may indeed be my ride to and from the train station . . . might be bad if my ride shuns me hmmm? Could make for a cold weekend at the train station.
=-)

Love,
Turtlewoman

Laughing out Loud

Well, sometimes you just need a good laugh. Tonight for instance. I am unbelievably tired. Okay, maybe that is a slight exaggeration as I just woke up for the first time today since I went to sleep around 11 am. But I was on call last night and the ER killed me. Seriously. Killed me. I actually told them at one point "Can you please stop killing me?" They didn't listen. Anywho, at least it was just me getting killed . . . the patients were all fine. =-) But hey, after a night like that, sometimes you just gotta have a laugh. So it was great to read The Underwear Drawer today. Michelle Au is always quite witty and since she writes a lot about living the life of a medical student/resident/doctor I often relate to what she writes. Today's posts, although slightly morbid (and fitting given my night of being slayed in the ED), are hysterical. Check them out, I think you will laugh too. I don't remember writing about people dying as a kid . . . but I do remember that level of feeling so serious about yourself and what you are writing.

The good news is that I get to have next weekend off and I am going to visit Debbie and Dylan! Hurray!

Love,
Turtlewoman