(such a) Fickle Stitcher

… in no particular order

The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood (paperback)

 

(click photo for larger image)

Pattern, instructions, beads (black, clear, pearl) and magnetic clasp for Carol Sherman’s Peyote Spiral Bracelet.
$30US Retail Value

 

$25US gift certificate at The Knit Studio, Jackson, Mississippi

 

The Complete Book of Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker

 

One-skein Knitter’s Tote from Eagle Good-to-Go : Pumpkin 9″x5″x5.5″ Two interior sections; one hold a skein of yarn & has closing flap with eyelet through which yarn can be threaded; other holds project and supplies. Features heavyweight drawstring with cord stop and adjustable shoulder strap.

 

Remember, for every $5 you donate for the Walk for Diabetes through the link on the right side bar, I’ll enter you name in the drawing.

I’m trying something to gain sponsorship for the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi’s Walk for Diabetes to be held October 26th, 2008: using Paypal’s donation button. You’ll see it there to the right in the sidebar. For every $5.00 donation, I will enter my sponsors in a drawing for two skeins of sock yarn (see center of photo below). I’m also gathering other yarn prizes, as well as beads/beading projects, and/or other needlework prizes than knitting.

click photo for larger imageThe two skeins of sock yarn (center) are ArtYarns UltramMerino4, 50g each in color 132. Also pictured are three additional yarn prizes:
Classic Elite Yarns’ Alpaca Sox Hand Dyes, 100g in color Peacock (top)
Trekking XXL, 100g in color 100 (left)
Brown Sheep Company’s Wildefoote Luxury Sock Yarn, 50g in color Columbine, SY-16 (bottom)
… more prizes to come!I am lucky. Though I have Type II Diabetus Mellitus, at this point in my life I am able to control it with diet, exercise, and oral medication. It may not always be so. More to the point, I have excellent insurance which provides my medication at no cost and my testing supplies for a small co-pay. Many, in fact, I should probably say most diabetics are not so fortunate, and supplies are expensive! Testing strips are about $1.00 each, and many people must test multiple times a day!

The Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi’s goal for the Hattiesburg walk this year is $50,000.00. Here’s some information from a DFM flyer about how donation monies are used:

Insulin for patients in need ($25)

Educational information for parents of newly diagnosed children with diabetes ($25)

Blood glucose testing strips for patients in need ($50)

Sending a family to Camp Kandu ($75)

Diabetic shoes for adult patients in need ($100)

WE Care 2 backpack for newly diagnosed child and family ($125)

Diabetes emergency box for a school ($150)

Screening supplies for 100 people ($250)

Diabetes Camp for one child ($400)

“Here’s how your donations from Walk 2007 made a difference in many Mississippians lives:

518 patients have received meters/strips, insulin, oral medication
98 schools and school districts received the teacher education training and emergency boxes
45 children received camp scholarships to attend summer diabetes camp

“Putting your donations to work. Our patient assistance program is our largest program in the state. Children and adults alike have benefited from timely donations of lifesaving insulin, oral medications, insulin pump and blood glucose testing supplies.

“It is so important to have immediate help available when you or a family member has diabetes. Things happen–emergencies spring up when you least expect them; someone gets laid off from work or has a visit to the ER, and bills start piling up. The $200 pharmacy bill that the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi pays for a child or adult with diabetes means a family can get through a month without missing their insulin or test strips. Or the $400 that we give to the two summer camps in Mississippi means a child can have a carefree week at summer camp without breaking the family bank. Many families in Mississippi are just making it every month with no room for added expenses. Every dollar counts–all donations stay in Mississippi to help Mississippians live with diabetes here and now!”

I feel very strongly that because I am able to treat my condition easily that I have a responsibility to help those who are not so fortunate economically. And really, it doesn’t matter whether you help me do so or you help in your own state, or even if you don’t donate at all… my primary goal is to raise awareness of diabetes epidemic occurring in our country.

Poor little blog! So woefully neglected!

First it was one thing, then ten others…

Right after my last post, we took a quick trip to Tennessee to visit friends (and yarn shops). We left on a very unusual Mississippi day: a snowy day! For a while on Friday, I wasn’t sure DH would make the trip… not that he won’t drive in snow, we just don’t have the tires for it that we had when we lived farther north.

We got into slush about 25 miles north of our home–and saw four accidents before we got to Hattiesburg, where the slush turned to snow while we had breakfast at IHOP. From then/there until just after we reached the Alabama state line, we felt like we were back in Maryland!

(click on the photo to go to an album of snow photos from that morning)

My friend in TN kept calling to tell us that CNN and the Weather Channel were reporting accumulations very hazardous for driving and specifically advising people not to drive on Interstate 59 — and we kept waiting to reach it, but, there was NO snow, nor even much evidence of it, all the way across Alabama! We thought perhaps it melted before we got there, but the folks we talked to in Birmingham (*had* to stop for lunch at the wonderful Superior Grill, of course) said there was none of which to speak and some even bemoaned the lack.

While on that trip, I finished my legwarmers…

 

helped my friend get started on a knitting project – she’s a long-time crocheter who got “hooked” on a pattern that turned out to be knitted not crocheted! — revisited (and made purchases at) two of the four yarn shops I visted in November, took advantage of the 40%-off sale at Hobby Lobby on needles, book, accessories, and bought some sale yarn there and also at Big Lots and Wal-Marts during our daily outings.

It was quite cold in the east Tennessee mountains, and we had to delay our return trip by a day due to icy roads. Then, once home, it was quite cold here in south Mississippi! This past weekend was two of only about three nice days we’ve had, i.e., not cold, not rainy, since before our trip.

omg… at break time I’d not had coffee–forgot to give Son#1 my JavaWerks card to get it for me–so I walked to Einstein Brothers (tried to stay close because it looked like rain any moment), and just as I got there I realized the students are off for Mardi Gras and thus it was probably closed… it was… too late to walk to JavaWerks, so that meant Starbucks was the only choice… the oatmeal cookie was like a BRICK, and had NO taste, nor did the coffee! no wonder people get the expensive ’mixed drinks’ — the plain coffee is horrible… boooo on Mondays and my poor choice… and I probably walked farther than if I’d gone to JavaWerks!

What else… oh, I won a new BG meter from LifeScan: the new OneTouch Ultra-Mini in pink! There was an online sign-up last fall to ‘win’ one — they had only recently stopped just giving them to whomever came to the website and asked for one, and I don’t remember how many they were going to give away (or even if it said), but I’m betting they gave away a lot… I’m not that lucky! Anyway, timing is perfect because I had not yet mailed off the script from the doctor for strips and lancets for the other meter.

Movies? Yes, in fact, I have seen a couple of good ones. Except for the “bloody violence” in several places, Eastern Promises was quite good. Excellent story, with just enough indication of how the story would unfold, and still a few surprises.

Books? Beside boring and wordy textbook chapters, I’ve got my mind on children’s books by Pat Mora, Vicki Cobb, Gerald Hausman, Kimberly Willis Holt, Loris Lesynski, James Ransome and Will Weaver, the featured authors at this year’s Fay B. Kaigler International Children’s Book Festival. But I did manage to pick up a few 80% off books at Hudson’s on Saturday, including The Big Bad Wolf Tells All by Donna Kauffman. Haven’t read a bit of it yet, so I’m not making a recommendation; it just looked like a fun read… not that I have *time* for a fun read. What I need to do is get some “fun reads” loaded onto my iPod to listen to while I knit on the drive to and from work, and while DH watches weird stuff on TV.

That’s more than enough rambling, and lunch is over. As soon as I get the photos uploaded, the rest of the links to my finished projects (there on the left) will be active.

“I do not want to hate food, because I love it.  But do I love my body more?  What I hate is feeling that I have to take sides between the two.”

 AmyT, Diabetes Mine :12/19/2007

 This is a tough time of year for PWD (people with diabetes). Amy’s remarks, however, reflect how I have felt every since my diagnosis in May 2006. I have little reason to get down about it; I have had good control for over a year. I know that indulging in high-carb food leaves me feeling sluggish and inattentive. Life-long habits are difficult to overcome.

The article linked in the quote above, echos something I said to my sister just a week or so ago . . . that I just wish sometimes there was a pill to meet nutrional (and BG) needs so I just didn’t have to T-H-I-N-K about what to eat! For a person who truly loves the pleasure of eating — not excessively, but choosing whatever appeals to me at the moment — being a PWD is frustrating.

Still, it isn’t the eating out which was ever my real problem, I think. What I ate/didn’t eat at home was the main problem and, honestly, still is, I guess. I’m basically lazy at home. I want to grab something and get back to whatever I want to do . . . like knitting, or beading, or reading, or watching TV & movies with hubby.

Enough whining. Amy’s comment just lets me know I’m not alone. Always a comfort.