Dayton, here I come!

This past weekend I was able to buy my tickets to fly to Dayton, OH for WGI championships! I also got my hotel and rental car. My ticket for finals is bought and I will buy my ticket for prelims/semis when I get there.

This is a bittersweet trip for me. This will be our daughter's last year with WGI/DCI. When our son aged out of DCI in 2007 it was difficult but I knew I still had our daughter to watch on the floor and on the field competing. Now, I will no longer have a child competing in either WGI or DCI.

I'm not totally sure why this is hitting me so hard. I always went to practices and competitions. When we moved to MD and she stayed behind in ME it was difficult to lose that connection with our daughter and the guard world. I no longer had a close connection with the guard world. I guess that must be it.

I continue to work with guards, but I don't have that close connection I felt when working with guards with my daughter and being there like I used to be. I almost feel like I'm grieving for a lost friend. I still have guard there and I can follow DCI and WGI every year, but it's just not the same.

I can't wait to get to Dayton to watch all the shows, but I know I will be a mess of tears once she has left the floor for the last time.

Something warm for a beautiful spirit...

A very sweet mama I met online is going through a rough patch at the moment. She is such a sweet and loving person that I just had to make something for her. These socks were just a small thing I could do to let her know I care and am hoping she gets back on track soon.

I can post this now since I got an email from her letting me know she got them. :o) I hope they will bring her comfort for years to come.

Winter Wonderland...

I woke up this morning to a gorgeous sight - snow! For Southern MD this is a major snow storm and I am loving it. I have missed snow since moving away from Maine and I finally got a taste of it again.

The first photo is of our driveway - it's under there somewhere. :o) The other photo is of a man made creek and pond in our backyard. Everything just looked so pretty. I loved it when the sun came out and everything was all sparkly and glinting in the sun.

I watched the scene from my sliding glass doors all day and we continued to have flakes wafting gently towards the ground. I was in heaven all day watching it. I wish the photos would have come out when we hit sunset. It gave this beautiful pinkish hue to everything and just took my breath away.

I will miss the snow when it melts and is gone, but for now I am enjoying every minute of it!

Why does this always happen...

I know it is partially due to the fibromyalgia and all, but when ever I have a big push to finish something (in this case the winter guard uniforms) I end up getting sick! ugh It's like my body can no longer deal with stress and handle it as well as it used to.

I am well acquainted with stress. I'm a mom of 2 and spent over 24 years as a military wife. I used to handle stress like it was a mere ripple in the water, nothing to be concerned over. Now I just seem to either end up run down and sick or just kind of glaze over it and get by ignoring it.

So, here I am dealing with this crud that is going around and trying to get better. I am doing better than I was a few days ago. But I'm still at the stage where doing things just wears me out. I did 4 loads of laundry, ran the dish washer and wiped down the kitchen counters and I feel like I've run a marathon! What I wouldn't give to feel "normal" again. sigh

Here's hoping this week will be better and I will feel like spinning and knitting again.

Free at last!

This afternoon I finally finished all 12 Winterguard uniforms and the 12 belts that go along with the uniforms. Now, I can enjoy Valentine's Day tomorrow with my husband. :o) I plan to enjoy taking a break for a couple of days and then getting back to my normal routine. My poor spinning wheel probably feels neglected. I can't wait to get back to spinning some - especially the alpaca! mmmmmmmmmmm

Work in progress on the uniforms...

This is the uniform I am working on for the winter guard. You can see photos of the uniform on which they based this uniform here. I explain in that post what they wanted changed. Well, this is the result! I'm pleased with how they are turning out since I had to draft my own pattern form just pictures of the uniform. I got the basic pattern done and have to grade it for each girl and her measurements. So, it's slow going! I have 4 finished at the moment, one is 2/3 done and then I have 7 more to go. My goal is to have them finished and shipped off in time for them to wear them at their next competition.

Flags done!

I finished both sets of flags for the winter guard I'm working with. The first set was just plain purple organza so I did not take photos of any of them. :o) The second set I did take a photo. The design is by one of the staff members. The colors were supposed to be rose and dusty rose silk with gold lame`. The place they bought the material from did not have the rose silk, so she bought a brighter pink.