Enough already

It's been snowing lately here... so much so that schools have been closed left and right... We've been shoveling out for what seems like weeks now.. there is nowhere left for the snow to go.. We've been lucky here in Malden. Our landlord has been coming by and helping us (mostly me) uncover the car and get spaces plowed out. Over at my mom's it's a different story. She lives on a corner and on a walk to school route in my hometown. So even though her sidewalks are plowed constantly and look great, there is a HUGE pile of snow on the corner of her street and the intersection of the street that leads to the school itself. The pile is so big that you can't see if anyone is coming when turning onto the main street from her driveway. Hopefully the city will come by and make the pile smaller so that it's a bit safer for everyone but until then we all need to be really careful in that area. Her street is not the only one like this. There are quite a few like this.. How do I know??? Well for the past 2 Monday afternoons I've been volunteering in the Mayor's Office and answering the phones. The phone calls that I get are sometimes funny... like the little old lady that wanted to talk to the Mayor himself.. about the snow and how she lives on a Dead End street and they have nowhere else to put the snow. I forwarded that one to the Exec Asst. I also get people who need birth certificates for their kids.. I transfer those to the City Clerk's office.

Done Part Two...

I did it. I made it to the end of the lace sock. Once again I had a small issue since I needed more yarn than what was in the ball that I had. Trying to remember if I had cut anything off the ball when I started for the Fourth time, but I doubt that I did. Thankfully I had thought ahead and found an extra ball on Ravelry - in the same dye lot - for the second sock since the very first ball I used got a bit shortened when I had to rip out the entire sock the first time and I was worried that something like this would happen. So to help me finish the first sock I had to use the ball of yarn that I had rerolled - rewound? - and find the section of color that I was currently using and go from there. It came out really great.

Here are some pretty pictures for you ..

I totally love the details.. So many people have asked if the lacework is actually a cable. It's not. It's just the way that the pattern went.

I'm jonesing to start the second sock.. but I'll wait till tomorrow.. It's probably going to be a(nother) Snow Day and it's already getting pretty late.

Time for bed.. maybe before I start the second sock I'll make myself some check off charts since this was a nightmare of a pattern to follow and it was written completely wrong in many many places. My notes are all over the pattern and I need to streamline them somehow or there will be major hairpulling, screaming and screeching going on otherwise. Plus I'll already know how many times I need to do the repeats and where I need to go in the pattern to get it all done correctly the First time... or so I can hope.

Done

Stick a fork in me... I'm done...
Today was the funeral.. it was small but poignant and went well.. the girls attended and they did great. Took them to the Funeral Home with us and I made sure to show them Great Grandma and tell them that she is sleeping now and that she was a beautiful lady that I will tell them more about someday. I also showed them the DVD movie that my brother put together in tribute to Nana. They really liked the section with Baby Mommy in it. We moved on to the church for the Funeral itself. That went really well. Anna was very quiet and thoughtful during the ceremony. Lily at one point would up with my SIL, Brother and their kids since I presented the Gifts along with my Cousin Jen as the only Granddaughters of our Grandmother. Anna wound up with them too after Communion.

On our way to the cemetary, we wound up witnessing an accident on the highway. There was a car that swerved to avoid our procession (we had just gotten onto the highway) and wound up making other cars swerve and a van wound up going up a snowbank in the fastest lane and flipping on it's side. I still am shaking a little after seeing that happen. When we arrived at the cemetary we had to all take a collective moment to catch our breaths and talk about what we had seen before continuing on with the burial.

Once that part was over we all started gathering roses and other flowers to take home with us. I made sure to grab a red rose and started asking those that might know where approximately my Dad is buried so I could leave him the rose. My brother wound up helping me figure it out and gave me a nice hug of understanding and even asked if I felt ok enough to drive to the restaurant that we were having lunch at.

Lunch was loads of fun.. We sat five of the six (6) little girls at a table mostly to themselves. My SIL and Lee sat with them. My brothers and one of our male cousins (there are 5 boys and 2 girls in the grand kid line up for Nana and Papa) sat at a table that was at the opposite end from the kids and the rest of us (my 2 aunts, uncle, mom, cousin Jen, her daughter, my Nana's niece, her husband,daughter and myself) at the table in between. Lily joined us at one point but then wound up playing with the rest of the kids once they had mostly eaten.

We talked, reminisced about Nana and generally relaxed after the stress of the past couple of days.

Once home I got word of the death of a good friend of mine's mother. I didn't enjoy making the phone call to my mom to let her know since we are friends with the family. That funeral is Monday morning and I hope that I can make an appearance to be supportive to my friend and her very extended family.

I think that I might be turning in early tonight.

Nana's wake

We celebrated Nana's life tonight... it went pretty well. Relatives that we weren't sure would show came and paid their respects. My brother had compiled a DVD with my Dad's old home movies starting in the early sixties and ending in the mid 80's (we think). It was entertaining to watch and nice to see and be reminded of so many relatives that had already passed. There were so many pictures there too. The minister from my church came and paid her respects to my remaining uncle and other relatives that were there.

The funeral home did a great job on Nana and making her look more like the Nana that we all knew and loved so well. In the words of my cousin's almost 3 year old daughter "Meme looks like Meme again".

Tomorrow will be an even longer day for all of us.. There will probably be some tears shed... and probably plenty of laughter too. But most importantly Nana will be totally in peace tomorrow and reunited with my grandfather, Dad, uncle, her brothers and sisters and parents.

Nana, you were so loved here and you will truly be missed. I really hope and pray that someday I get to be as lucky as you and get to live a life that was full like yours. I just don't want the Alzheimer's diagnosis. Love forever, your little Cherie.

On a more Positive note..

my lace sock is doing well these days.. It is growing steadily as I work on it.. and just think when it is done, I get to do it all over again to make the second sock. Ugh. The gusset has been finished and I'm working on the just knit around and around phase.. though with this sock there is a pattern so the heel stitches are in the knit all the stitches phase and the pattern stitches are still being knitted according to the pattern that I have established till I am within 2" of my toes phase.

It's these pattern stitches that have been giving me fits as of late. So last night at knitting group I made sure to sit in the vicinity of Obi Wan K-nitty (aka Aaron).. and something amazing happened... the Jedi Knitter vibes took over my knitting and the pattern stitches somehow sorted themselves out.. I didn't all of the sudden have extra stitches trying to be part of the pattern like I was having problems with last week. I even brought the sock to work today and got a few rounds of knitting done between customers. Hopefully if no other problems crop up out of the blue, I should have a finished sock in no time and then I will get to do it all again. But this time I'll have my notes and check off lists to help me (hopefully) only need 1 try to get it right and not 4 tries like the first sock did.

Dear Anonymous:

I really don't like your comments.. if you feel the need to comment on something please be man or woman enough to sign your name.. or make one up. Signing something as Anonymous means that - to me- you are a coward, that you don't want to be responsible for your actions/words.

When I feel the need to comment on someone else's blog or post - be it on a board for moms or even facebook - I always sign my name. Even if what I have to say is not going to be met with anything positive in response. I always sign my name and take responsibility for my words. I apologize when I have wronged someone or said something inappropriate. I might even feel deep down that I am correct in my information or opinion, but I try my best to make amends.

I also don't appreciate the timing. I am in mourning and about to bury my grandmother. Talk about kicking a person when they are down.

So Anonymous... I offer you a compromise:

If you come forward and tell me who you are I will not be mad. I will not talk negatively about your actions. I'd be willing to talk it out with you and get to a mutual understanding even if we have to agree to disagree.

If you decide not to reveal yourself, that is fine too. It will be on your conscious that you decided to do this and someday what you have done will bite you in the hindquarters and that is enough consolation for me.

RIP Nana Sarno

My grandmother finally passed today.. I'm ok... really. Ok I'm a little numb but at the same time I feel at peace. She was 96 years old and a feisty lady in her younger days. She had really good baking skills and could make a great Lemon Meringue Pie - though my mom's is just as good if not better. She taught us all sorts of card games such as Go Fish and King's Corner. She loved to dance and would sing as she put on her various lotions each day. One time while I was visiting her in Florida she took me and my Dad to Daytona Beach - my only trip there ever- and we parked right on the beach and even let me sunbathe on the hood of her car. That was quite the experience.

I remember that when I got my driver's license that she sent me a nice keychain that had "New Driver" written on it. I think I still have it somewhere. She always remembered our birthdays and never minded the little kid chatter and silence when she called us or we called her on the phone. I was thrilled when she moved back to MA from FL in 1996. She and my Papa Sarno- my grandfather - had moved to FL when I was 2 and I missed having her around even though she came to visit just about every summer starting in 1979.

She attended my wedding in 1999 and also attended my cousin's wedding a few weeks later but looking at the photos today, we could see that Alzheimer's was already starting to claim her from us even then. When my Dad died in 2001, she was already a patient in a lockdown Alzheimer's unit and we didn't have the heart to tell her that he was gone. Thirteen months later we didn't have the heart to tell her that her youngest son had passed also. Hopefully today when she saw them in Heaven she wasn't too mad at us for not telling her. But she might have been too busy reuniting with my grandfather to be too upset.

Love you Nana... you were a wonderful Grandmother and will be missed.

Madeline Izzo Sarno 5/9/1914 - 1/19/2011