12 in 12: Vampire Diary Protector

It's been a while since I did 12 in 12 project updates. The Fishy sweater is still in timeout. I've not fallen in love with other projects, but took the advice of my fellow knitters and did several small projects to get my mojo back. Cue this project.

Knitting a book cover never occurred to me, so when I saw this pattern I knew it was something I'd use. I have lots of books, love practicing my cabling skills and the entire vampire thing was a bonus.

I read a comment about the new Breaking Dawn preview that something like "RAWRR! I'd like to wake up to feathers in my hair from a vamp." and it made me realize why I like these books. Twilight books are fun, but I don't fantasize or relate to them in other ways in my daily life. I never thought of it like "OH! I want vamp feathers in my hair.". Books are a form of escape and many times, I read the book, forget it, pick it back up and read it again and the enjoyment is still there for the exact same book. Enjoyment of the moments of escape is why I read.

This was a fairly quick knit. I've knit the pattern and it said my "cover" should measure to fit a 5X8 inch book. Which it doesn't. My gauge is whack. It measures to fit a 3.5X6 inch book cover. So, I'm going to do maybe one or two more cable repeats, add the inner flaps that hold the cover onto the book and call it a day. I suspect I'm going to be cutting it close to my yarn yardage. Which if I run out, I'll fudge on that and call it a design element.

Go me! Hope your 12 in 12 is going like gangbusters. I'm finishing up a sweater this week and pulling the Fishy sweater back out to try to make some progress on it.

Jesse's Hearing Journey: Finances

As a general rule, I don't discuss finances, but I shared with you all the costs involved with Jesse's hearing aids. So, I wanted to give you an update.

Today, I received our letter from BCMH (Bureau for Children with Medical Handicaps). To which the result was "deny for the following reasons: blah blah blah Ohio Administrative Code, the applicant income exceeds the BCMH financial guidelines.

Which isn't a surprise. The good news is we were approved for Cost Share portion. Which basically means they calculated we need to expend $2,032.52 (in a 24 month period) before coverage from BCMH would kick in for expenses related to Jesse's hearing loss.

Because we are blessed, we have spent $2,020.00 on Jesse's hearing aids alone this year. The money wasn't ours, my sister, dad and an anonymous friend sent me money for Jesse's hearing aids. I will tell you I cried when I opened the envelope from anonymous. It was a note that said "for Jesse's Hearing Fund" and a $100 bill floated out. Who does that? Wonderfully amazing people, that is who.

So, I see a light shining at the end of the tunnel. I'm looking at bills from Jesse's diagnostic testing, $294.10, $254.14, $780.65, and $156.18 that have to be paid. I will be calling the billing department to understand completely how payment from BCMH is worked. I'm not sure if I have to pay the bills and apply to BCMH for reimbursement or if I submit expenses already paid to BCMH and call the billing department and tell them we've met our Cost Share for BCMH and they apply to BCMH for payment. It is all big people stuff and I just need to make a few phone calls and figure it out. Good news is that they will be paid some how, some way. I hate having those kinds of medical bills hanging over our head.

We are blessed. Money is easy come, easy go. My biggest concern is that Jesse has what she needs to succeed.

Jesse is making great strides in her school work. I have absolute faith in her teacher, who is wonderful. For Jesse, the future is good. She has a legion of angels, a fleet of wonderful people and the optimistic spirit to help guide her through life with hearing loss. I'll be over here managing the finances.

Many thanks for all the good thoughts and prayers.

Saturday Cleaning

Saturday is our day of cleaning in the Handy Household. Friday night I asked Jon to bring home the Rug Doctor from Sears, so I could clean the carpets. Saturday bright and early, the kids and I cleaned up our rooms and I sent the kids off to occupy themselves while I shampooed the carpets with the Rug Doctor.

Two hours later, a few cuss words, 2 layers of clothes shed, I finished the three bedrooms. All I had to tackle was the couches. *ahem* Between cats and kids, there had been a few pee accidents, so the couches NEEDED cleaned.

I'm sitting on the floor wrestling with the Rug Doctor upholstery attachment trying to not say cuss words out loud when James walks by asking me questions. I knew I was at the limit of my patience, and I'm not a screamer, so I quickly took a deep breath and had the following conversation with James.

James: Mommy, blah blah blah blah???

Me: James, what does it look like I'm doing?

James: Cleaning.

Me: Does Mommy like to clean?

James: No.

Me: Do you think Mommy can handle answering your questions right now?

James: No.

Me: Then can you keep the questions to a MINIMUM until I get done?

James: Yes.

.........

I knew it was coming. I saw the gimlet gleam in his eye, saw his mouth twitch up and I braced myself for the inevitable question I knew he had JUST thought of...

James: What is minimum?

Me: As little as possible.

James: Oh. So I can ask a couple of questions.

I had to leave the room I was laughing so hard.

Love that kid. Sometimes he is better than rum and coke to get me out of a bad mood.

Preschool and Pee

Flop went for her surgery on Wednesday. (She's fine.) So, Wednesday evening I did the mad dash to pick up the kids from after school care, drive to Dayton in 5pm traffic and pick up Flop before the Humane Society closed at 6pm.

I should plan outings like this more often. Car rides do something to my kids. They open up. They talk about things I wouldn't normally hear because our typical routine is to go straight home and start homework and dinner. We talk, but it is between Bakugan battles, My Little Pony horse corralling, feeding/petting all the real animals and just life in general. So, I know I'm missing vital information at times. Luckily, my kids shared with me during the car ride two important pieces of information about happenings in their life Wednesday. I'm so glad they shared with me.

Set scene: James has burst into tears because I've forgotten to staple 20 pieces of paper together at work for him. Jesse will spend the next 45 minutes occupying herself quietly during the car ride. Her bomb will come later.

James: Mommy, know how long me and Micah have been friends?

Me: Since kindergarten(?).

James: No! Since preschool.

Me: Buddy, you didn't go to preschool.

James: Where did I go?

Me: Meme's house.

James: Why didn't I go to preschool?!

Me: Daddy and I thought you needed a year to play at Meme's house rather than go to preschool.

James: But, Mommy! All the important things they learn in preschool I didn't learn. I'll NEVER learn them! I'm going to be so behind in school.

Me: ??????

I really wanted to say, "You are in 1st grade, you didn't miss anything you don't already know." I didn't though, instead I turned the conversation to the new rabbits in his classroom.

Through careful extraction, I learned the teacher is keeping bunnies in the classroom because "She doesn't want them to poop in her house." "She loves them soooo much!". I'm not dogging the teacher, it is just in general, I disagree with rabbits in the classroom. Actually, I disagree with animals in general in the classroom. Rabbits especially are typically not equipped with the temperament to deal with 20+ loud kids in a confined space for 8 hours a day. Rabbits are also not physically a good choice for young kids because dropping them could result in the rabbit's back being broken. Rabbits have thin skin that is easily ripped, torn and scratched. Rabbits bite.

BUT! Despite my attempts to persuade James to let me write a note to the teacher offering to help, James doesn't want me involved. James was upset that the teacher wouldn't let the kids touch the rabbits. (It is a mom and a baby). I agree with the teacher. I just wonder what she is going to say if the baby turns out to be a boy and starts humping the momma.

Now onto Jesse's bomb.

Set scene: We've gone through the Chick-fil-A drive-thru for dinner.

Jesse: Mommy, I have to pee really bad.

Me: Can you hold it? We are 5 minutes from the house?

Jesse: Yeah. I already peed my pants today anyway.

Me: WHAT?!!!

James: Sissy, you are wearing the same pants as this morning. Didn't you change?

Jesse: No, I didn't tell the teacher.

Me: When did this happen?

Jesse: At storytime. I left a puddle under the table.

Me: Why didn't you tell the teacher?

Jesse: I didn't want to get a red.

James: *smacks Jesse's arm* You tell the teacher when you have to go and if you have an accident, silly! She won't give you a red. I pooped my pants last year, I didn't get a red.

So, with a sniff of her pants and a note to the teacher, I'm so glad I made the drive with my kids. I need to do it more often.

Flop is recovering just fine from her spay. The humane society, through Dayton Area Rabbit Network (D.A.R.N.) and the Rascal organization provided the spay. Part of the spay included putting tattoo ink on her incision, so that if she gets lost and they try to spay her again, the vet will know at a glance that she's been spayed. White rabbit now has black belly tattoo.

Tunisian Crochet Tester

It all started innocently enough, with a 10+7 formula for a tunisian crochet scarf.

The fan stitch was charming. The hand dye was popping. The white yarn was soft. The melody seemed in tune.

The tunisian crocheter said, "Husband, come and take pictures of my process."

"It is important I impart this vital knowledge to my legion of followers."

Fans, shells, pattern of 5, it was all a formula for success.

A simple design, a pop of a little extra with the color change should have made this project a success.

This is where I tell you color choices make or break this project. In theory, it looked like it was going to work....

But two feet in I knew it wasn't going to work. The scarf looks like it is going to chew my arm off it is so coyote ugly. Don't do what I did. Follow directions. Choose better. Go forth, be (less) bold. I've frogged the monster face and it is in timeout with my fishy sweater.

Guy Knitting

Hey, Mom, what up?

NO! I do not want petted. Jeesh. Leave me alone.

Oh, all right. Just get the spot good.

Snack break!

Go back to your knitting, Mom, and leave me alone.

Fine. I'll play. Gonna totally chew your yarn.

Seriously, Mom, leave me alone. Yes, I see the Puppy. No, she can't come in.

I got important business to attend to.

Guy knitting...this public service has been brought to you by Handy Hooker.

First Day of School

Lots of new happenings in the Handy Household. We are slowly finding our rhythm. J&J both had great first days of school. Jesse has been very zen about the entire experience. She is making friends, and has slowly settled into the morning routine. Jesse is by far a late morning sleeper. School should start at 10am according to her body. James is always up and bouncing at 7am. Jesse not so much. Dragging her from bed does not work, so I dress her in her bed in the morning, then go get a cattle prod. *I'm kidding* I go get a rabbit to put in her bed.

She listens so intently, yet I can tell she is still missing some of the instructions. Not that the hearing aids aren't working, I think Jesse is a visual learner, so seeing is what gets through to her. I relate because in many cases, I do not hear a person talking, I SEE them talking. Literally, my world is full of conversation bubbles. I suspect as Jesse gains reading skills, she too will view conversations as big comic book conversation bubbles.

The classroom and teacher are the same as James from last year. Which we are super happy to have her as Jesse's teacher.

J&J also have a new after school routine, which took James about a week to settle into. He spent one evening walking around the house carrying his baby blanket, wailing, "I hate my life.". Between the new after school care and not having his best friend in his class, life was rough for him. He has since settled in and when I pick him up, he is covered in sweat from running around playing and smiling from ear to ear.

Jesse is just happy as peach pie to go wherever Brother goes. It is also heartwarming that one of their caretakers is a former neighbor of mine. She has 8 kids, we were an 8 kid family, so lots in common. She is just wonderful, so I know the kids are in good hands.

Life is good. We are blessed.