I am married to the boy I chased around when I was 4 with threats of marriage (yep- I caught him!). We have four kids: two girls, The Big One (10) and The Blonde One (4) and two boys, The Boy (2) and Big B, our 20 year old foster son who is moved out on his own but is still a part of our lives and will always be a part of this nutty family. We also have two giant siamese mix cats you'll hear about- Dr. Pepper and Coca Cola and a totally neurotic, excitable, allergic to the world boxer mix- Sparkle.
I direct an inner city mentoring program for young ladies ages 14-21 and I wouldn't trade my calling for the world!
I ran my first marathon on May 2, 2010 and I'm totally hooked! I like shorter races, but there's just something about being able to say, "I can run a marathon!"
I knit. Alot. Like, you wouldn't believe the amounts of yarn in this house. There's alot of fabric for sewing too, but it has nothing on the yarn. See, here's the thing. I started this as exclusively a knitting blog. And while knitting blogs ALWAYS bleed over to the rest of the knitter's life, I felt like that label was becoming restricting. I have so much more to offer than knitting. Now, before you get your Malabrigo in a twist, let me explain. When I first started this blog, I was at the beginning of a major growing/learning/changing stage in my life. Knitting is where I began to find myself. I had crocheted for years, but it wasn't until I started knitting as well and fell in with the "knitting crowd" that needlecraft really began to become a key part of my life. I got to know a safe group of friends who knit and I discovered I was really, really good at it. For someone with the major self-esteem issues I had/have/will always struggle with, this was a huge breakthrough. I started teaching crochet on the side, and soon after, knitting as well. As I grew and changed and got better at knitting, I grew and changed and got better at life too.
Then I realized I could probably do some other things pretty well too if I set my mind to it. So I set my mind to it.
This brings us to today. Those of you who follow my blog and/or know me in real life have probably seen many of these changes happening in me over the past 6-7 years or so. And I feel like there's so much more I want to share with you all- all these other things I'm discovering and getting good at. It just feels weird to talk about them on a "knitting" blog. Even though I don't have the time and energy to keep up two blogs, I want to be able to write about whatever, whenever. Hence, the decision to change the title and look a bit and start branching out into some other areas of life too.
I struggled for a while with coming up with a new title. Then I was giggling about how the GPS on my phone says "Squirrel Hill," "Squee-rell Hill." Aha! The squirrel factor! Yes. I owe you an explanation. So here goes:
One summer day, when Globug was a baby, I bundled her into the jogging stroller and went for a walk in the woods. In the course of the walk, a squirrel fell out of a tree above us and nearly landed on my head. It wasn't dead, hurt or sick. It hadn't jumped out. It was just clumsy. It hit the ground, looked at us with a startled expression on its face, and scampered off. We continued on our walk and I didn't think about it any farther until dinner that night, when I casually mentioned it to my husband. He responded with something along the lines of, "If I weren't married to you, I wouldn't believe most of the things you tell me like that. It's not normal for squirrels to just fall on people, but things like that happen all the time when you're around." We began to call this phenomenon "the Squirrel Factor." Here are the sorts of things that happen to me as a normal part of life:
- I once started going to a random knitting group on the other side of the city and met a former circus clown with the most off the charts stories of his travels with the Royal Canadian Circus and with the Salvation Army. I was telling Hubby about everyone in the group and he said that while he didn't know any circus clowns, the guy sure sounded familiar to him. Turns out he was a friend of my husband's from high school.
- I routinely find myself calling 9-1-1 for things like car fires and trees falling on moving vehicles. By routinely, I mean I probably find myself calling 9-1-1 four to ten times a year for things like that. The really weird thing about one of the car fire ones (yep, I've actually been one of the first to call in about more than one car fire) is that when I called, they said, "Yeah. We know." As if it was no big deal. And then they said good bye. My husband doesn't remember ever having to call 9-1-1 in his entire life and only sees things like this when he's with me.
- I've known my husband since I was four.
- One time, when I was assistant manager at Claire's, I carded Christina Aguilera. I had no idea who she was. She said something along the lines of, "Do you have any idea who I am?" She was not amused when I said I didn't, nor did I care. No ID, no piercing. My manager wasn't amused, either. I was ordered to take my lunch break and not come back out until I was sent for.
You're probably wondering what sort of things you may or may not see in this blog now. Well, let's make a list, shall we?
- Knitting
- Yeah. There's still going to be alot of knitting. This is good news for those of you who are hanging around here for the wool.
- What you WILL see: Pictures/anecdotes of projects I've finished, projects I'm working on, notable yarn hauls and occasional tips, tricks, patterns and tutorials. Sometimes I'll post reviews on knitting books and products as well and you non-knitters will have to either suck it up and deal with it or start knitting. You'll see me talking about how I think you should knit, because, well, I think everyone should knit. It's good for your soul.
- What you WILL NOT see: Um. . . nope. when it comes to the yarn arts, it's pretty much all game.
- Running
- About a year ago, I decided that even though I was not, nor had I ever been, a runner (or athlete of any sort, save the Knitting Olympics), I was going to run the Pittsburgh Marathon. Two weeks ago, I did just that.
- What you WILL see: reports from races I run, thoughts about running in general, information on the new northside running community hubby and I are starting up, and general musing about the impact of running on my life and how I think just about everyone should at least try it once because you never know. You might surprise yourself and find a pretty good runner inside like I did. You will probably see occasional product reviews or reviews of races I've run and whether or not I think it's a race you should run. You'll also hear about the Race for Fetal Hope that I'm directing in Pittsburgh in 2010. It's a cause that close to my heart because of my miraculous son and I think everyone should participate in it, whether you're a runner or not.
- What you WILL NOT see: Um. OK, this is like the knitting one. I like running and just about everything to do with it. Oh, I know. I promise not to post pictures of the nasty blisters on my feet from the marathon. You will not see that. I might gripe about them, but I won't make you look at them. Unless you ask me in person about them, in which case I'll happily show you my badges of honor.
- Other sports
- We are a very active family and we enjoy doing sports together.
- What you WILL see: Hiking, cycling, camping, triathlons, swimming, cross fit, weightlifting, and other sports that we personally do.
- What you WILL NOT see: Much of anything about any professional sports. Despite the fact that I'm a Pittsburgher born and bred (you should see my family tree- we've been here a LONG time), I don't care much for pro sports. Yes, I think it's great that the Steelers are friggin' awesome. There is no denying it and I love when there's a win for one of our teams, because the entire city is in a good mood the next day. I might even occasionally say, "Woo." when we win a Super Bowl or Stanley Cup. That's about it.
- Parenting/Family life
- I have alot of kids. And pets. I have three biological children, who will be turning 2, 4 and 10 this summer and a 20 year old foster son (not in the house anymore, but still one of my kids). I have a 5 year old boxer mix and a matched set of 7 year old black Siamese mixes.
- What you WILL see: Me talking about funny things they do, smart things they do, stuff they do to drive me nuts, pictures of them proving they are the best/cutest kids/pets in the entire world, as well as other general parenting and pet ownership stuff
- What you WILL NOT see: forwarded/meme/youtube videos/pics of other people's pets/animals/kids. You will also never see me so much as open one of those when they arrive as my email. They go straight to the trash can, so please take me off that mailing list.
- Faith/ministry
- My job is inner city youth ministry. I love teenagers. I think they are wonderful people in an exciting part of their lives. Young ladies need more adult women who are willing to step up and say, "I remember going through that. It was awful. Let me walk with you."
- I am a professing, practicing Christian and member of a lovely little Presbyterian Church that most of our neighborhood also goes to. We're old school like that.
- What you WILL see: Me mentioning church events, things I'm doing at work with my kids, musing on what I'm studying in the Bible, stuff about school (I'm finishing up a bachelors in Community Ministry with intent to enroll in seminary before too long.) and other things that might have to do with my faith. My vocational calling in life is ministry, so there will be spirituality and faith in this blog.
- What you WILL NOT see: Uber-conservative yelling or judgementalism. I think there is gray area. I think there are things we just can't figure out on this earth. I think science and religion can co-exist. I think God loves everyone no matter who they are and that He tells us to shut up and do the same. I love my uber-conservative family and friends. I also love my Unitarian friends and family. And my Wiccan friends. And my Jewish family. And my Buddhist friends. And my gay dads. And you get the point.
- General Crafting
- I do more than knit. And my husband does alot of building and crafting too. And my kids.
- What you WILL see: sewing, cross-stitch, bike building (hubby) and other various crafts and arts.
- What you WILL NOT see: Plastic canvas. No offense to anyone, but I hate that stuff. I always have. I'd rather watch pro football.
- Cooking
- Cooking is one of those things I didn't think I was any good at until I decided I was going to be good at it. And now I'm pretty good at it. I'm really good at baking bread.
- What you WILL see: Recipes, stuff about eating well/organic/local, me bragging about awesome stuff I made and other such tales.
- What you WILL NOT see: Stuff some people say is food, but I don't believe is food. You know, like Hot Pockets or Cheetos. Shudder.
- Everything else
- I like other stuff too, but in smaller amounts. So I'll talk about other stuff too sometimes. Just not as much as these things I've mentioned here. And this is, after all, MY blog.
- What you WILL see: Stuff I like and find interesting.
- What you WILL NOT see: Stuff I find boring or offensive.
