Moving

All my fabric packed!

Yep.

We're moving.

We've been talking about this since the fall. We needed a lot of little things to line up in order to make this happen and just after Christmas, all the pieces fell into place.

We are happy about moving.

We are also very sad to be leaving where we live now.

It's complicated. Life often is, isn't it?

We will stay in the Chicago-area, but we will be moving to a different town.

Our cats are not able to make the move with us, and have actually already been rehomed. And yes, tears did flow (and still sometimes pop up) the day both cats went to their new homes.

No more kitchen floor!

The kids are sad to leave this house, but the girls are looking forward to finally not having to share a room. I'm losing my craft room, but should be able to claim a corner at the new basement to be mine.

We are going to a better school district, but one in which my daughter who is entering high school in the fall currently knows no one.

This move is going to bring a lot of change in our lives. We won't be buying, we will be renting. We won't be living alone either, we'll be living with family (my husband's grandmother).

Things are a bit chaotic at the moment. The house we are going to is getting some remodeling down. Our house is in the process of getting fixed up - lots of new flooring and new painting.

And also, there is a lot of decluttering going on around here. Because I am absolutely NOT moving things we don't need anymore! And really, my house needed it anyway. Even if we weren't moving, we haven't had a proper decuttering in a few years. My house has lost so much weight this year.

Basement carpet pulled up!

Last week preparations here really kicked into high gear! Which just let us know that this is real. It's really real. We are moving.

This is going to be so good for us in the long run. In the short run, it's sad - leaving friends, leaving pets, the chaos of getting the house ready to sell, the chaos of having already started packing somethings, but not others, of moving things to the new house - just deciding what can go today and what has to wait until we physically move ourselves to the new house. But, I know we are doing the best thing we can for our family.

Hopefully soon - like in the next week or two - we can get this house listed.

We'd love any thoughts, prayers, vibes, etc you can send to allow our house to sell quickly and that the move is as painless as possible, that we quickly find new friends and make new connections.

Knitted Hats

As I have been working through my to-do list of things to knit, I had two hats on it for a special friend.

A few months ago, I sold a few knitted scarves to get donations for my Avon Walk (that's coming soon!). I took a picture of all the scarves and put it on facebook. I was pretty nervous that no one would want them, but alas, a few of them sold pretty quickly!

A friend reached out and asked if I could make her a hat instead. Sure!

This is a special friend. We've never met in person. We first connected on twitter - her with brain cancer and me with breast cancer. It's not luck that we connected. I love her and think she's awesome. So I jumped at the chance to get to make her something.

I knew that whatever I made, it had to be soft. And it had to be pretty. Soft because I know from being bald, you don't want something uncomfortable on your head and pretty because I needed the hats to match her soul!

So I worked up these two hats for her. I think they turned out so well - and Miss 11 (who was a fabulous model for me again) tried to sneak one to keep. To be fair, green is her favorite color as well so she was immediately drawn to them.

The hats didn't take too long to work up. But then I forgot to mail them. Then I procrastinated mailing them. I think I finished knitting them in November? And didn't mail them until the end of February? Shame on me.

But alas, they were finally mailed and made it out to their new home!

I loved making them. And I'm so pleased with how well they turned out. I think the green and pink one is my favorite - but I love how the two colors turned out together. The all green hat is the one Miss 11 wanted to steal, so it's possible I will be knitting this again soon!

Busy Fingers

It's a big scarf!

Since the late fall I've been busy knitting lots of wonderful things to send to people!

Most of what I've been working on has been requested - which I love! No, seriously, I love it when people say, hey can you make . Because then I can tell you straight up if I can or can't. And if I can make it, I don't have to worry about if you'll like it or not! Alright, I still worry about if what I'm making will be liked because I'm good at that, but I worry less. 

Anyway, a Harry Potter scarf was requested from me over the summer! I've been slowly, slowly knitting away at it - a little here, a little there. I knit this scarf in the round, over two circular needles. I don't often knit that way so it took my hands a bit to get used to it, but it really works well for this particular scarf!

But I knit it up and sent it off. Even though it was requested quite some time ago, I think it arrived to A during a time of transition for her. And I hope that the timing was good. A was moving from one place to another and this was waiting for her at the new place. I hope it brought a smile to her face and helped with the transition (even though, she wasn't particularly nervous about it). 

{Side note: a big thank you to Miss 11 who happily paused her minecraft game to come and model my knitting for me!}

I also knitted a prayer shawl. This is my standard prayer shawl - I knit for people when I think they could use a hug, a good thought, a prayer. Often times I'm knitting this after hearing sad news from people. It is the reason that while I love knitting this shawl and think it always turns out lovely, I hate knitting this shawl. I never want to have to make this for someone.

And yet, it's something I can do at a time when I often feel like there isn't much else I can do. 

This prayer shawl is going to a woman I don't really know, though I know her daughter. The mother learned not too long ago that she had breast cancer. Naturally, my heart sank when I learned the news from her daughter. And I immediately started to think of both of them - of the whole family really. One person doesn't get cancer, the whole family gets cancer.

They aren't local to me. So there wasn't much I could do - I can't bring a meal, can't go clean. So I sat down and started knitting this.

It turned out lovely. I once read that a shawl is like a knitted hug. I think this often every time I knit a shawl. I hope that it can bring just a small amount of comfort on those bad days, sad days, etc. It's not as great as an in-person hug, but I hope it does the job for the times I can't physically hug someone.

Go Retro Part Two

A bit ago I told you about Retro Fitness and about how I had been going, and loving it!

I didn't tell you about all of it though. So much goodness there, I had to hold a few surprises back.

One thing I LOVE at Retro Fitness is the Cardio movie theater room. Yes. Cardio. Movie. Theater. It is exactly as it sounds: a room full of cardio equipment and a large screen with a moving projecting. Every day they pick another full length feature film and it plays in the room on repeat. You can go in there, run (or, if you're like me, walk) on the treadmill and watch a movie. Or use an elliptical. Whatever your pleasure.

This absolutely helps the time pass and is just so cool! I could easily get lost in the movie and just keep walking.

The treadmills have a coach feature!

Another thing I loved was the equipment had built-in trainers in them. Now, the only gyms I've been in, aren't exactly brand new, so maybe this is standard today but it's not something I've used before. I've been on machines that have built-in programs, but the treadmills here have a built-in trainer, which is called the "Coach". I used the coach several times. You tell the machine what your goal is and how long you want to exercise for. A lovely lady comes up in video and walks you through a program. I did it three times and each time said I wanted the same type of work-out. This training program is neat because it has different combinations and so none of the three work-outs was exactly the same.

I wanted to walk and build endurance (That Avon Walk will be here before I know it!) and was very pleased with it. It starts with some stretching and progresses into the work-out. At the end, the trainer walks you through some more stretching exercises again. It was fabulous! 

I loved my time at Retro Fitness. Of course, now it's March and my time there is over. I'm sad about this.

Overall though, I can tell you, this is what I love about Retro Fitness:

• The space is bright and open
• That staff is helpful and up-beat
• The smoothies are delicious
• The personal trainer blew my socks off and was fabulous
• The machines are new and have great built-in trainers/programs
• I can watch tv easily while working out
• I can watch a movie in the theater room while working out
• Two-thirds of my children are old enough to work-out with me there (not so at the gym my husband goes to)
• Great location right off of Route 64, which is a main road in the area

Miss 11 and I working hard!

Now, with all of that said, I will also tell you, I won't be extending my membership. I will also tell you that I want to. However, we are moving. Yep, moving. I've been hinting since fall we were in the process of making some big decisions. Well, they are made, and we won't be living by Retro Fitness anymore. More on the move later, but to join Retro Fitness (like so many other gyms) you must make a year commitment. And since I know I won't be here in a year, I can not make that commitment. Were we not moving though, I'd be getting a full membership hands down.

I can say I loved my month at Retro Fitness, and if you are in the area, I hope you'll pop in, look around and try it out yourself. You won't regret it!  


 

*As a reminder, I was given my one-month membership in exchange for writing a blog post about my time there. I'm giving it a second post just because I loved it there that much!

Miss Me?

Did you miss me?

Probably not too much, because two weeks ago I actually had things together enough to schedule some blog posts so they were still being posted, but I was down for the count!

A week ago Friday I was doing some stuff and I looked at the kids and said "I don't feel great." 30 minutes later, I dragged myself to bed and didn't get out for more than a week.

In a matter of hours I was a feverish, coughing, sniffling, exhausted person. It was crazy how fast it came on. I thought it was the flu for sure. My husband thought it was the flu for sure.

Monday my sister (who is now sick and I can only feel like I must have shared with her) drove me to my doctor. The doctor thought it must be flu. So she ran a flu test. And a strep test, just in case. Both came back negative. Just some nasty virus I guess. None-the-less, she gave me some good medicine, sent my home, told me to rest and to call her Thursday if I was no better or worse.

Tuesday, I did not feel better.

Wednesday I did not feel better. In fact, I'm pretty sure I mentioned to the husband that maybe we should go to the ER because I was clearly dying.

Um, I might mention here that I tend to get very dramatic while I'm sick. I say things like I'm dying. This is clearly the black plague, and I'll never get better.

Anyway, just when I thought I was going to have to call the doctor and inform her that I was sure I had one foot in the grave because it was that serious, I started to feel better.

Nothing major, but sometime Wednesday night I turned the corner.

Friday I managed to get out of bed just for a bit even - with enough time to wash the sheets, spray down the bathroom and take a much needed shower.

That was of course the night my middle child picked up what I had. She was coughing so badly that she needed to sleep on the recliner. Since I was sick and also still coughing, I slept on the couch so she wouldn't be alone (and so my husband could finally sleep back in our bed - which he was avoiding like the plague).

I'm much, much better now. Still coughing a bit, my voice is still off a bit, and I'm so exhausted. But, I'm sure I'm going to live. I followed-up with the doctor on Monday just to be sure. She said I sounded good, but keep an eye on things and let her know if I start to feel sick again. I still haven't made it back into bed though. Miss 11 has needed to be on the recliner at night, and so I stay by her. Because I know being sick stinks!

I'm sure hoping it doesn't come back. Ever. I feel like I deserve like ten years of no illness at this point.

There was a bright spot in the week. In the middle of the week, I received a Roku 3 player as part of my new membership in the Netflix Stream Team! I can't wait to tell you all about it - and how Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares got me through the week in those moments I was coughing too much to sleep and when I could do little more than lie down.