Viruses, Sharp Objects and St. Patrick's Day

This has been a pretty yucky week for both E and I. After our lovely afternoon out at Oak Alley on Sunday, we were visited by the stomach virus apparently making its way around the area. I stayed home on Monday and went home early on Tuesday. E had it a couple of days before I did and then relapsed with it yesterday. Oy!

Then, as if the virus wasn't enough, E sliced his thumb open on the mandolin cutter while preparing a pork roast for the oven the other night. He had to go down to the doctor's office and get four stitches. So for the past two days he's been home not able to do much. I am hoping he was able to get out a bit today because the animals, especially the bird, were getting on his last nerve and I'm sure he was getting on theirs. ;-)

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day and also Sophie's fifth birthday. She's a Peke-a-poo so she's half Chinese and half French but born on an Irish holiday. Poor little thing, I believe she's a bit confused. I made her day better first by trimming the fur out of her eyes so she no longer looks like the lost Beatle. Then I made a point to make sure and play ball with her anytime she wanted to and, believe me, that's a huge sacrifice on my part since Sophie wants to play ball ALL the time. She was thrilled because she had her Daddy home with her all day long, even though he was sick. That just gave her the opportunity to take care of him by snuggling up next to him or making him play ball. Because in Sophie's mind making us play ball with her makes us feel better because it makes her happy. [vbg]

This weekend I plan to launch a new knitting project. I've found a ministry where knitters and crocheters get together and make prayer shawls for breast cancer patients. I have a friend in Virginia battling breast cancer now and I thought this would be a good way to make a difference in the lives of others like her. I put out an inquiry with my local Freecycle group (http://www.freecycle.org) for knitters and crocheters that might be interested in working on this with me. I've gotten a good number of responses. Yesterday I picked up some yarn to begin my first shawl. This weekend I'm going to get the pattern out to those who responded and hopefully the project will begin. My plan is to donate them to the local clinic for newly diagnosed patients. I can't wait to see the first one when I'm done. :-)