I've been a busy bee

So. I has been a couple of weeks since my last post but I have been busy as of late.

On the book front:

I got a stack of new books that I am slowly reading. I read quite a bit every day but it seems that as of late, I just haven't been able to interest myself in reading. I haven't quite figured out why that is but there is a stack of books that is getting larger instead of smaller that is waiting to be read. I purposely waited until at least four new books had been released that I wanted before I ventured to the local Barnes & Noble. I have to date only managed to read three of those four books and there are four others that are waiting from previous trips to be read and another two due to be released shortly.

Since my last post I finished Skin Trade, the new Anita Blake novel. It was very good with quite a bit less sex than the previous ones have been. I am not sure that I really like the ending to it though. It may be that I need to re-read it but since S has pretty much the same opinion as me about the ending, I don't think it is just us who are having issues. I haven't checked the LKH forums yet to see what other fans are saying though. Perhaps it is just us. *shrugs* who knows or really cares at this point. I was just happy for another book in the series.

I have also been reading Richelle Mead's Succubus series. I am currently working on Succubus Heat and am thoroughly enjoying it. It is a little slower because I happened to have read the previous two books out of order and now am having to remember two books back instead of one. This is a good series for those who enjoy the paranormal side of things but find that the sex in some of the other series out there a little much.

I feel like there is a third book that I finished but I can't think of it right now. I will check my finished stack and update you if I have finished a third or not.


On the knitting front:

I have finished two pairs of socks. The Masonic Lodge socks for my dad were finished on the 20th (his birthday) and then presented them to him on Father's Day. He was deeply touched that I knit him a pair of socks and that I took the time to put some thought into the pattern and color of yarn chosen. He liked them a lot. I can see them getting a good deal of use.

I finished my Traveling Hearts & Love Knots in the first week of June but haven't gotten a picture up of them yet. Here is a pic of them finished and being "modeled" by my youngest boy Hades.

He makes just as good a background model as his older brother does.

I am supposed to be test knitting some yarn for Abstract Fibers but the skein and I are having some serious arguments about what it is supposed to be. I have tried three separate patterns and not one of them has worked with this yarn. Here is a pic of the yarn. It is the Madras colorway.

I started on of the MIL's christmas gifts this week. I am loving the yarn and the pattern.

On the feline front:

Shadow's sutures are out after 20 days and I took him of the antibiotics at 21 days due to diarrhea. When I had the sutures removed he still had an open wound but it was basically a skin wound and is healing just fine on its own. We are keeping it clean and medicated to help prevent infection but he is able to now head outside should he choose and is no longer confined to one room if no one is home. Overall the house is quite a bit more pleasant without someone in quarantine.

I think that about covers it for now. I will try to post again this week with more book titles and pictures.

Quiet Days and more vet bills

It has been quiet and yet very full days here at our house. The three younger children have been ever so interested in Shadow (my 15 year old cat) as he had surgery for an abscessed bite wound Thursday before last. This last Thursday, he managed to pop about half of his sutures and so back to the vet he went for a whole new set of sutures, more antibiotics and a longer period where he is quarantined in the house and in a separate room when S and I can't be awake or at home to watch him. Needless to say he is not altogether pleased with the situation but we are all managing.

Also my maternal grandmother has been very ill and on hospice care at her nursing home. We knew there wasn't much time left so we have all been mentally and physically preparing for news of her death and travelling to the funeral. Since I thought my mother could use a pick-me-up, I took her yarn shopping and out to lunch on Saturday with S. When she met us at the coffee shop she told me the bad news of grandma's passing and the even worse news that Aunt E has scheduled the funeral to be on Wednesday when not one of the her sisters or her brother can realistically attend. Needless to say my mother and I deeply hurt by this and wish there is some success in changing her mind about this. Although I am not holding my breath I am praying for a miracle.

The cat situation being what it is, I haven't been able to get outside and soak up some of that sun. Instead I have been in the house busily knitting away on outstanding socks. Here are some pics of what I finished and what I am working on.

These are the Absinthe socks I am first testing on myself so that I can figure out the alterations I will need to make so they fit S's feet.

Here is the first completed sock for Dad. The pattern is called Masonic Lodge and I thought they were just too appropriate. He wanted the yarn to be all one color so granite it was...

There is one other sock but I don't have current photos yet for it. Since I plan to finish the pair this week, you will get photos when they are done.

Hope your week is better than mine!