Thursday, April 30, 2009

Mystery Sock

I got my yarn ready for the Mystery Sock KAL. I picked out the yarn and swatched for the project a few weeks ago. My pictures are out of order and the green colour of the yarn is washed out a bit in the top picture.



Today I divided the yarn into two balls and strung the beads on the yarn. All I need is the pattern. I know it uses a cast-on techinique that I don't know yet. I may practice it a bit tonight...but I doubt it.



I will share more about the socks when I know more!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Startitis

I've suddenly got a bad case of startitis. I started a pair of kid socks, started a poncho for PJ, ordered a colour card so I can pick out the colours of the sweater I plan to knit.

Did I mention that I signed up for beaded sock KAL on ravelry with mom. I have even picked stash yarn and stash beads to knit it up with. That starts on May 1.

Serious Startitis.

Shock

We had a bit of a rough week this week.

Tuesday morning after Paul went to work, I was at home getting the kids ready for school and getting myself ready for work, I received a call from the office. It was Hennie, who works for us calling me to me she had just called an Ambulance for Paul.

Paul woke up sometime in the wee hours of the morning with some slight abdominal pain, he got up and took some Peptobismal and went back to bed. A few hours later the pain woke him up again, we poked around in his own abdomen and wondered if it might be an ulcer. He went back to sleep. He got up with his alarm about 6 a.m. and went to work. He tried to eat breakfast but was unable to.

At the office he saw two patients and then hung a sign on the door "To Sick to Work" and he went into the break room. He started sweating profusely and vomiting. We got lucky and Hennie decided to come to work a bit early, when she got there Paul was in real bad way and she called an ambulance and then me. Our office is about 4 blocks from the office and Henine knew that Paul could make it there without the call. That should give an idea of how bad he was doing.

After I got the call, I was feeling pretty shaky myself. I did not say anything to the kids, I did not have any clue what was wrong with Paul and did not worry them before I took them to school. Paul had played hockey on Monday night and when I asked him how his game was he said it was 'rough'. He does not like to play when they hove rough games, it is frustrating to him and leaves him sore. He had a huge welt on elbow where a puck managed to hit him in the small space between his pads. The phone call from Hennie had me wondering if he had taken a hit that damaged his internal organs, I was thinking spleen, which can cause the symptoms Paul was experiencing.

I dropped the kids at school and went straight to RIH (our local hospital) Hennie called all the people booked that day for appointments with Paul and I.

At RIH I learned that the ALS unit is the one that picked Paul up at the office. Not good the ALS Ambulance is for people in big time distress, that's the ambulance with all the life support and the most highly trained emergency technicians.

When the ambulance pulled into the bay at the hospital Paul broke out into a very strange rash. if you draw a line across your chest from armpit to armpit and coloured everything about that bright red and added a ton a little red speckles above that line and including his arms you would have a damn good idea of what Paul looked like. His face was a bit swollen and had small dots on it as well.

He was given epinephrine immediately by the attending MD, the rash clued them in that he was most likely having a severe systemic allergic reaction.

We got lucky and two of nurses up there that day are patients of ours, they filled me in and treated us very well. The epinephrine did the trick and Paul leveled out in a couple of hours. They kept him there for observation until about 4:30 that afternoon and then sent him with an epi-pen in the event something like this happens again.

It took a couple of days and Paul is back to his normal self. We keep puzzling over what may have caused the reaction. He can't think of anything he ate or did differently in the 24-48 hours that preceded his allergic response. A day or two later he remembered he slept on a feather pillow and he does not think he has ever used one before. We have no idea if that would cause the reaction he had.

Everyone around here is safe and well, so don't worry about us. I did get razzed a bit at the hospital there was a nurse on duty who happened to be there when I took Sebastian in a few years ago, was my nurse when I had the abdominal pain in the ER last year and saw Paul come in. When I left the hospital that afternoon, he told me he would save a bed us. Let's hope that bed sits empty for a VERY long time.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Play Off Porn Star

Paul's hockey ream recently played their final playoff game. They decided as a team they would grow porn mustaches for the final game. So Paul grew a goatee for 5 or six days and then the night of the game he cleaned it up into this:

He was going to leave it for April Fools Day but ended up shaving it that morning. It cracked me up.



While we were in CA dad had his train out for the kids to see. He has had it since he was a boy and it is in mint condition. The detail in it is amazing and the thing weighs far more than you might think.



The train is very cool and the kids are still talking about it. Q was just asking more questions about today!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Employees

I think I have come up with a good idea.

I interviewed a whole lot of people and looked at hundreds and resumes. I picked out four people who I really liked and I asked them each if they would like to come and work for 2 hours at the office (all at different times) and see how they might like the job and give them a chance to see exactly what positions I am hiring for and that I would go from there.

One girl worked two hours and I when I asked her at the end of shift if she had a questions, she looked me right in the eyes and said, "Only one." I said, "What's that?" She then asked me, "How do you feel about nose piercings? Cuz, umm, I have been thinking about getting mine pierced and I just wanted to check with you before you hired me."

I have no problem with nose piercings, I think they look great and have seen some very pretty subtle nose rings. I did have a problem with that being her only question. So one was out of the running right away.

One girl called and canceled, upon thinking about the hours it was really a bit more than she wanted to work with a young family to raise at home.

Two of the ladies are really very good. But here is my brilliant idea: I asked staff to make the choice of who we should hire after they worked with each candidate for a two hour shift.

You see, we have been so lucky at work with a great team. After my last hire my team kind of fell apart. So I think the people who do the training and work side by side with the new hire should have a choice. The more I think about the more I think their chances of making the right choice are actually greater than mine.

I think I start to build my team back with letting them take part choosing who they work with. I stressed that they should not sweat it if the the hire they choose does not work out. I hired a girl once who seemed great in interview but when push came to training, she could not add, no joke could not add up the day end. I let her go within two weeks and was back to the drawing board. I am in no way infallible in the hiring department. So wish me luck, I hope to have a team decision sometime Monday.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Dirt

We took the kids dirt biking last weekend and again on Friday. What a blast.



Here are PJ and Sebass on a little quad just right the size for them. They are blowing through the puddles and having a great time.



When we went on Friday Sebass spent a lot of time on his dirt bike and not as much on the quad. I have never seen do as well as he did on Friday, he went at his own pace and just cruized around having a great time. I watched him for a long time and he was using a lot of the techniques we learned in the dirt bike course we took at the end of last summer. Very cool.

PJ and Q have tried the little dirt bike a time or two, but both are more comfortable on the little quad.



I would type more but I am computered out. It took me a while today but I finally read through the 100+ resumes I have had emailed to me and I rewarded myself with too much Zuma time. I finally made it past the 6th level and found level 7 much easier, but I got tired and have not made it through yet.

Okay, totally random post tonight. Sorry about that, a little punchy and tired.

Monday, April 06, 2009

For The Love of Sugar

I think all the kids have fallen in love with Sugar. While were with spending time Mom and Darryl we got a double bonus, we got to spend time with the horses and with family that I have not seen in a long time.



The kids all got a ride on Sugar and they all got to lead her around the training arena. I think they got more joy leading such a big sweet animal around than did riding her. She was wonderful with the kids and they are sill talking about her.



I wish I had more time to talk with Aunt Patricia and with Uncle Ray. It was such a treat to see the both of them. There was so much going on that day that I wish we could have made the day longer so we got more time with everyone there. I feel like I barely had a chance to say hello to Sandi (Hello Sandi!) and to Mike.



In the picture above the kids are playing pick-up-sticks. Who knew PJ would be so darn good at the game, I think we may have surgeon in the family when that girl grows up.



Aunt Patricia, I promise I will make sure that kids are not all grown up next time you see them. Ten years is way to long in between visits. I find that seeing everyone for short a time makes me miss you all so much more now that I am home.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

No Pictures Downloaded

No pictures downloaded on our first family day since coming home from California.

We had tons of fun playing together which was more productive. Q learned how to ride his two wheeler. PJ and Bass got new bikes. We played street hockey for two hours.

I read almost an entire paper back and managed to get Sebastian hooked on Zuma. I have been trying to get past level 6 myself. No luck yet.

Now we are going to watch some hockey and knit.

Post Before Coffee

I realized late last night that if I am to get two posts in this week I am going to have do two in one day. Like we all do after we get home from a trip I have been playing catch-up all week.

I was just beginning to feel caught up on Friday when I got a phone call from Paul at the office. We had one of our office staff give us her two week notice.

It leaves me in a bit of jam to get someone hired and ready to go in two weeks time, but we have been having some issues with staff and change maybe exactly what we need. I feel sometimes that hiring is a bit like buying a lottery ticket; the possibilities seem so bright when you buy the ticket but as you scrap away that shinny silver layer you are really never sure what you are going to find underneath.

I really like the woman who put in her notice, it was just not the best fit for either of us in the long run. I am going to post the job online today and see if I get a different group of people to hire from than when I put an ad in the paper. Wish me luck.

Later today I am going to get my vacation pictures downloaded and post some of them.