3rd Level

Everyone in my family has been sick. And now it looks like we are going for round 2. My littlest one (not so little really, she's 11) has a sore throat and fever. Kind of like what she had a week or so ago, only more sore, not as hot. What?!? I am the mother of 3, I kind of thought I had this whole sickness thing down. Sore throat, fever that doesn't wane = strep. But I don't know what to do with this whole coming and going fever thing. And the one thing I hate about up here, is that there are no pediatricians. And the clinic we go to only has walk in hours for sick people. So I get to take my 11 yr. old, unvaccinated against the flu daughter and go sit in a waiting room full of coughing, sneezing, germy people and wait for someone to look at her. I know because I did it last week with my other daughter. Fortunately child #1 has asthma and has been vaccinated against h1n1. Fun.

I found my camera. I just need to look for the cord, I know where it is, I've just not had time to look for it. But I took a picture of my latest spinning. I love it! It's merino/tencel - it's sooooo soft, and it's turquoise/grey and a weensy bit of brown. I'm plying-on-the-fly and I think it's about fingering weight, so I think it will become a special pair of socks, for me.

I also ditched the Pinko the Wave. It's back in the closet. I started the fountain pen shawl from the fall Interweave knits. It's turning out ok, but I'm using a variegated yarn and I really don't like variegated for lace. I wish I had known this before I bought a bunch of it.

Also going to start working on hats and cowls for 3rd Level Alpena. It's a group that works with homeless teens, hopefully to find them food and shelter, especially for the winter. It's sad what's happening up here, around the whole state I'm sure. But what's going on up here is that people who have lost their jobs downstate, are coming back to live with their families, many of whom have probably lost jobs themselves. We have one shelter up here, it has nine families in it right now and I'm not sure how many single adults. There are 100 homeless kids in the public schools, some living out of their cars. I'm going through my closests today, I know I have coats and such to donate. I complain about my kids getting sick, but I am so fortunate that my family has a warm place to live, food, insurance. I really think these things should be a right for everyone, not a luxury.