Mother, my sister Kathy, and myself went to Knoxville yesterday to see Jim and Allison and the Quads. Reagan is walking now, and to my delight, we got to see Zachary take three steps in a row for the first time. I am going to be in the middle of canning tomatoes today, so I need to get off the computer and get over the stove.

My summer hiatus is almost at an end. I have been canning veggies and roasting chilis so we can have yummies this winter. I can always rest when I go back to work. haha
My GrandQuads are thriving and gorgeous. Reagan is walking now. Jim says she gets to tickled at herself that she windmills her arms and knocks herself down. I haven't been to see them this summer except for the birthday. I am going to go this weekend if all goes well.
More grandmother news. Clay and Carey are expecting again in February. I don't know if it was planned or oops but it will be welcomed and loved. Hope it's a girl. Reagan needs another girl cousin.

One Year oldhttp://harrisquads.blogspot.com

My Grandquads are now a year old. Jim and Ali gave them a huge party and almost all of the family was there. They are so adorable and happy. they almost never cry. If you want to see how it went, harrisquads.blogspot.com is where all the action is. Clay's wife, Carey, has given me my grandmother nic name. She calls me Grammy Pammy. I said the babies would shorten that to "GranPa". A gender change, huh? As long as they call me, they can call me anything. Tyler was at the party too. He even let Clay and Carey come. He is growing so fast and is so adorable.

On a personal topic, I have been spinning and knitting. I have almost finished my dye exchange project. It grew up to be a hexagonal wall hanging or a small throw. I have done some dying as well, and will start spinning soon. Gotta finish the socks first.

A Year Old

My son Jim has reminded me that I have not posted since March. Ooops. I procrastinate really well don't I?
Tomorrow I am off to Knoxville for the quads 1st birthday. It doesn't seem like a year in some ways, in other ways it almost seems longer. I don't have any recent pictures of Jon ZReaTom (Jim and Allison' word for all four at once). To see them click on the link or go to harrisquads.blogspot.com. It is well worth it. Allison writes a truly interesting blog. Is there anything she CAN'T do? I have yet to see it.
Clay, Carey, and Tyler will also be there. I will be covered up in grandchildren. I can't wait. I will have pictures next time, which won't be long, promise.
Next time.

Tyler

Since I am on spring break I have time to spin (a lot) dye, relax and just indulge in whatever I am into at the moment.

I indulged myself with a trip to Evansville to see Clay, Carey, and my newest grandson, Tyler. He is precious, adorable, beautiful, alert, and an all around great baby. Of course most of you know that he also has CF. So far everyone is coping really well. Tyler has to have enzymes before every meal so his body can access the nutrients in his food. His skin tastes salty because his body has no pathways into the cells for sodium. This was a symptom of CF that I didn't know anything about. Other than that and a need to burp him often, he is great. Well, he is great anyway. And adorable. He is just beautiful. Clay and Carey are good parents and take excellent care of their wonderful baby.

Here it is O mentor of in your face colors

HI everyone,

I am trying to post pics on the new version of this blog. Mostly because Sandy wants to see how I am doing. Not a bad thing. This is Blue Jean Baby. Lynne dyed it and I am thrilled to have ended up with it.

Hope I haven't messed up!

Hi everyone,
I just changed to the New Blogger and I hope it is for the best. I also hope everyone can still get here. I finally got my new pc. It is a Gateway with Microsoft Vista. It is fast, pretty and has loads of storage. It also has a CD/DVD burner and ports for my memory sticks. Now I just need a really good printer.
I will close for now, as I want to see how the new blogger thing works.

Spinnin Skinny

Hi all. I didn't wait a whole month this time. I don't know if I can even post this as I haven't changed to Google. I am so computer illiterate that I am afraid to make any changes. I know. I am so sad. But the good news is that I am going to get a brand new compputer that has never belonged to anyone else so watch out computer world!
I have even better news. My beautiful little Tyler was born by c-section on Jan. 4. He weighed 4.5 pounds. He did test positive for cystic fibrosis but so far has had no problems. He weighs over 5 pounds now and holds his head up already. He didn't have to stay in NICU very long before he was good to go home. Clay and Carey are doing well but are a little sleep-deprived. (Ya think?) The quads are strokin' !!!! They are just normal little babies and Allison is the best mother I have ever seen. She goes through her days serenely taking care of JonZReaTom (their name for all 4 at once) like she was born to do it. She reads them a story in the afternoon, puts them to bed, and they go to sleep!!!!! Jim was NEVER that easy, but they deserve to have good babies since they have so many.
We have new people at work now. Jenny (my boss) hired an executive chef to be a salad maker. Sound like she has no sense? You would be right. He is an Israeli, and has an ego bigger than any cliche" chef you have ever heard about. He has got to go! If he wasn't such an ass I could like him. I admire his knowledge of food but I can't stand his temperament. Anyway, the work place is all topsy turvy these days. I asked the school nurse if she had any narcotic meds I could have. She told me to go home and drink a Budweiser. She is such a hoot.
If any of you are interested, JonZReaTom have a blog. The name is www.harrisquads.blogspot.com. Allison is sure to post more often than I do. She is so organized! Well I have done my duty to my blog and grands so I am going to go to bed now. Later.

Well here I sit, in Knoxville, on New Years Eve. It isn't midnight yet, but it doesn't matter. I am not celebrating. Jim and Allison ate something that REALLY made them sick. So sick that they called in the Cavalry (that would be me) because they were not able to leave the bathroom long enough to take care of the Quads. So. Here I sit with everyone else in the house asleep and I can't even turn on the TV because I am not going to risk waking anyone. Bummer. But I am enjoying the babies. Reagan has two teeth and is sitting up on her own. For hours yet! They are all incredibly big and have individual personalities peeking out here and there. I love it when they turn their heads to watch me and laugh when I look back. I have been off for two weeks and have been with them three times. It's a record for me. The Wed. after Christmas Jim and Ali brought them to our house. The first long trip away from home. It was splendid to have them there and they were very good for being away from home. I know Allison gets stir-crazy and would do anything to get out more. Jim gets to leave the house to go to work so it doesn't bother him as much. She went 41 days without even going to get the mail!
It's officially New Year now. I guess I will go to bed.

I sometimes feel llike a failure as a blogger. Life gets in my way and I forget all about the keyboard. Or I'm just too lazy, or nothings happening on this end or fill in the blanks and use an excuse that sounds plausible. Thanksgiving was low-key at our house this year. Jim and Allison stayed at home. Who wouldn't with the quads? Mother and I went to Knoxville a week before and stayed all day. The quads are 5 months old now and starting to teethe. I just cannot describe the joy I feel when I am with them, think about them, or talk about them. They could easily become my whole life. Maybe it's a blessing I am 2 and a half hours away from them. Clay and Carey were also there. Carey is rounding out nicely in her pregnancy. Little Tyler Jacob is growing well and doing fine as far as we know. He is still a prime candidate for Cystic Fibrosis but that doesn't alter in any way my longing to hold him in my arms. A woman my sister knows has three CF children. One of her sons when he was young called ut 65 roses. I love that.

For Angi about Horton

Angi wants to know why I named my spinning wheel Horton. She promised to tell if I did. She asked a long time ago and I am just now getting around to it.
I attended Shakerag in Sewannee TN and learned to spin. Kinda. I just HAD to have a wheel and my wonderful Pauly bought me one. I ordered it ( a Lendrum DT) with all the bells and whistles from a store somewhere out of state. It was supposed to be here in three days. It wasn't. I waited and waited and called UPS and the store and they each blamed the other. Naturally. Finally my wheel arrived. Horror!!! I didn't know one single thing about a spinning wheel, I trusted my expert friends to turn me on to the right wheel for me. They did good. I digress, as usual. With trembling fingers and shaking hands I gingerely put my wheel together. In the privacy of my living room I treddled and treddled getting the feel of things. A good friend (Blaine) told me to do that and it was good advice. But there was a clicking noise. Not good. I didn't know where it was coming from so I called Lynne and arranged to meet her with my wheel. She agreeed that the noise wasn't good. so she just got on the phone and called Gorden Lendrum (and impressed the hell out of me) and he said " they let the elephant sit on it." He told her the adjustment to make and sure enough the noise stopped. (it has come and gone again since then). Letting the elephant sit on it made me think of Dr. Suess and Horton. You know, the elephant that sat on the egg for a year or more? Horton heard a Who too, but that is another story. I HAD to name my wheel Horton after that and I don't even like the name. It fits nevertheless. So now you know the rest of the story and Angi, you have to tell me yours now.

I'm still here

Just because I don't post often doesn't mean that I don't care. I am usually too tired to care if I post or not. Then I feel guilty so here I am. Went to visit the babies last weekend. They are all doing fine and Thomas is adorable. I had never held him before. They are all growing so fast and changing daily. I don't have any recent pics on the computer, but I'll try to get some soon.
I am back to my day to day boring stuff. I go to work, come home, spin or knit if I am not too tired, go to bed and do it all again tomorrow. I am, however, going to SAFF again this year. I would love to see some of my Twisted Friends there. Still working on SHAWL. I have started thinking of it as an entity destined to show me that I do NOT KNOW HOW TO KNIT! I am going to start a pair of socks out of sheer self preservation. And Horton (my wheel) is feeling pretty lonely so I am going to spin some right now.

Major pet peeve

As most of you know already, I downloaded an AOL thingie. they said (aol) that it was a security issue and that they would not be honoring the old one anymore. so ok, I did the dirty deed and lo and behold my computer is now a total stranger! Is anyone surprised? Much to my chagrin, I was. My address book is still somewhere out there in cyber-space. I still have all of my addresses on paper, but I cannot access them on my pc. They are still ON my pc, I just can't get to them. I have even been to the places that warn," if you open these files your computer will grow teeth, bite off your nose, and refuse to talk to you." Well it's not talking anyway so what? I am not computer-literate enough to fix this so I am going to have to bite the bullet and get live technical support. Oh my God, it is the dreaded telephone again!! I just want to dye, spin, knit, and talk to my wonderful fiber family. I have NOT been that bad a person even tho I still smoke. NOt much now and when Allison gets her eyesight back, the cigarettes go. I promised myself that and God was my witness. Not even I will mess with a promise before the Almighty. I digress. I don't know if my major pet peeve is that my pc won't do what I want it to , or that I am so ignorant that I can't MAKE it do my bidding. I am all GRRRRR!!!! and stress and venting like a pre-erupting vocano. That pyroclastic stuff don't have nuthin on me!!!! Uh, can y'all tell that I am not meek and mild about this? I am in the process of getting a new computer and not one thing on it will belong to anyone but me. (My computer was a gift from my son, and was someones elses before.) Now if I screw up I will KNOW it's me. OK, enough venting for now. Back to y'all later.

I took a day off today and I am resting. Got a Johnny Depp movie that I hadn't seen. The Libertine. Ole Johnny is great as usual but this period movie is distressing. Based on real history of King Charles and the Earl of Rochester. the Earl (Johnny) was a debaucher of the finest kind and eventually died of syphillis. The make-up job that Johnny wore at the end was awsome in its gruesomeness. Is that a real word? Or did I just screw up the spelling again? I am so tired I don't even care. Anyway the movie was interesting and the history was mostly real. I have two more days off and I am not moving unless I have to. Later....

Whew!!!

At long last beginning weekend at school is finished. There are so many activities crammed into every day that it's hard to keep up. F'rinstance, we had two cookouts at the same time in two different places. My feet hurt. Imagine fixing a picnic for 100 people. And don't you dare forget even a fork or napkin. Yeah, I'm tired tonight and I will finally get a day off on Friday. Are we having fun yet?

On the bright side, it finally rained a little and cooled things off and that was nice. Too bad it stopped before the cookouts. (giggle)

I notice my avatar didn't change this time. It's supposed to have a pet pig in it. Maybe it will now, we'll see.

Finally getting around to it.

It's easy to keep up a blog when all you do is sit on your donkey all day. Not so easy when you have too many things on your plate.

Thomas is home and the Quad Squad is complete. God Bless them. I am back at work and feeding all the people that eat like pigs even when it is 90 plus outside. Notice the avatar pet.

I got some really interesting tomatoes from one of our maintainence men today. They are pear-shaped and black at the top. They are supposed to look like that! They taste good but the color is a little off-putting. We are roasting and freezing green chili from our garden. I grew up in Belen, New Mexico and my family just cannot survive without that luscious green good stuff. Or at least we don't think we can, so we go to the trouble of making sure we have it around at all times. I am famous in the fam for making the best salsa to cross a set of teeth. Probably undeserved, but I take praise wherever I can get it.

I have been so busy with the Quad Squad this summer that I haven't been knitting or spinning. Needless to say I am Jonesing badly. I will spin when things settle down at work and I can get some time off. Actually, I have been TRYING to knit a shawl. I have been in the frog pond so long I am getting wrinkly fingers. Lace is so TOTALLY unforgiving. It isn't that hard to knit and yos are easy for me, but counting must be a foreign thing for me. I will finish this blasted shawl even if I have to put my wheel in storage. I am getting really mad now and that makes me a very determined gal.

I am posting a pic of the babiers and then I am doing meds and bed. See y'all later.

Babies on the quilt are from left to right, Jonathan, Zachary, Reagan, and Thomas. In the other pic, from top left Jonathan, Thomas, Zachary, and Reagan.

I tried t post this yesterday. I don't know what is wrong with this site or my pc. Thomas is back in the hospital. His oxygen saturation was very low at his check-up, and they took him to emergency in an ambulance. They don't know why he isn't breathing right but they are doing their best to find out. I am losing my mind. There are already so many people helping Jim out that I can't even go up to Knoxville now. I am going on Friday, tho. I will post when I can.

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. My cable service was down and so was my pc. Well,Thomas didn't get to stay home for even a week. He was rushed back to NICU today, not breathing very well. His oxygen saturation is very bad and no one seems to know why. Maybe he needs another Dr.? I don't know. I am very worried and upset about all of this. I will be going to Knoxville on Friday. Maybe I can get a few answers. Until then, please keep him in your prayers. I don't have enought sense to be rational right now so I will update when I can.

It's time to get up and get moving again. I go back to work on Sunday and next weekend I go to Jim's to help with the babies. And there will be four of them! Thomas gets to come home today. I am so happy to be able to say that. The other three are giving the parental units fits. It seems that they have their days and nights mixed up. How much more fun can one family have? It was 106 here yesterday. Wanna guess how much I love thinking about going back into that hot kitchen? I've been sitting around getting lazy so long that I don't even have any interesting gossip to pass along. I guess I'll close til next time.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home

I got home yesterday, slept well last night and still feel like I've been "rode hard and put up wet". Nothing like babies to let you know how much you've aged. I told Paul last night that if I was offered $500 to spin one ounce of fiber I would have to pass it up. That should tell everyone how exhausted I was. Alllison was so insistent that she and Jim could take care of the three babies that are home. I think that last night proved how hard that could be. I hope anyway. I know that she wanted her house to herself and her family, but reality is that it is impossible for the two of them to manage without help. She even sent her own mother home. I feel so sorry for Jim. He is trying to run the household, take care of babies, and still go to work at the same time. Any bets on how long that can last? My vote is that it is already over. Yes I am angry and cranky. I will get over it.
The babies are delightful. Zachary has colic and is only pain-free if he is being held against a warm, calm tummy. Or in my Mom's case a very generous bosom. Reagan has some tummy issues too, but not as bad as Zachary. Jonathan is a laid back little dude. He sleeps while he is taking his bottle. Very little perturbs him. Thomas is improving and is taking half of his meals from a bottle now. He weighs over 6 lbs. As soon as he takes all his meals from the bottle he can come home. The pictures were taken on their 1 month birthday. Gotta go take a nap now. I wish Jim could.