I've had a sick kid at home for the past 2 days.  Jake started coughing Saturday and kept us all awake Sunday and last night with his hacking.  He's on a prescription cough medicine that's got codeine in it to supress his cough reflex, but it aint workin'.  Tonight I'm giving him (under medical advice, now - don't be thinking that I'm drugging my child up all willy nilly) some diphenhydramine (that's Benadryl, in case you were wondering) so he - and WE - can get some sleep. 

It's just a cold that he's got; he developed a snotty nose overnight so it's clear that it's a virus that's ailing him.  We just have to let it run it's course, which the school didn't like hearing.  When will he be back, they ask.  As soon as I can be sure that I can send him to school and that you won't call me to come get him because he's ill, I say.  When will that be?  I don't know.  Them asking me that is like my asking them how long a piece of string is.  He'll be back at school when he's feeling better, and I don't know when that will be.

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I got up this morning to find a recently deceased fieldmouse outside my bedroom door.  Polly-olly-olly was out hunting last night and decided that she'd get us something nice.  I told Dave about it when he came home from the gym, and he - remember now, this is the man who proclaims to detest the cat - scratched behind her ears and said thank you, that was very nice of you.  Somehow I think that he's fibbing to me when he says he doesn't like her; he pets her and even feeds her sometimes.  His actions betray his words. 

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I have finished making Christmas gifts for the British family crew.   I'm wrapping them today and putting them aside to give to my bro when he visits next.  He's supposed to be in town next week, and I'm looking forward to seeing him.  I hope that everyone likes what I've made for them; I tried to be very selective and take who they are into consideration when I decided what to make. 

I'm sure they will be some tears when I see my brother and when I talk to mum on Christmas day.  It'll be the first time I've seen K (he's a K too) since dad died, and Christmas will be out first Christmas without him.  Dave said something the other day that really pissed me off (and I told him as much) - I was talking about Christmas being difficult emotionally because of dad's absence he said 'yeah, but only if you let it be'.  That's been his standard response to any and everything to do with dad's death: it's only hard/painful/difficult if you let it be.  That's obviously a statement made by a person who has both their parents and their siblings still living, someone who has no idea how emotionally crippling the death of a parent can be.  I know I had NO idea losing dad would hurt so bad, and I work with people who are dying every single day and am more acquainted with death and grief than your average man-about-town. 

Anyway, I'm prepared for the tears.  As prepared as a person can be, that is.

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I post more JU articles under 'Misc' than any other category.  I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

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I'm knitting JustJohn and his wife some baby beanies today.  One is a lavender color, one is pink, and the last one is blue.  I went and looked at some patterns for preemie baby hats and then went and wrote my own because I didn't like anything that I saw.  I know that they'll be at least a little early, so I made them smaller than the beanies I make for newborns - and I've spent the last couple of hours marvelling at just how small they actually are.  They're tiny, teenie weenie itty bitty things!  I was going to knit the babies initials on the front of them, but that's proving to be harder than I at first thought, so I'm knitting them in plain colors and will embroider on the initals afterwards.  The technique of knitting different colors in a garmet is called intarsia, and whilst I'm proficient at it in larger items, tiny preemie baby hats are just too small for me to manage it.  Besides, I'm good at embroidery and can perhaps put their entire names on the hats instead of just initials.

I'm also knitting Dave a hat and scarf for his birthday in a couple of weeks.  He has this leather jacker that he bought for himself last year that he looks VERRRRRRYYYYY nice in, but he's wearing some old military issue hat with it.  I personally believe that no husband of an accomplished knitter should be wearing some horrible generic hat, so I've taken it upon myself to make him a one-of-a-kind hat and a scarf to match.  The scarf is what's known as a keyhole scarf; it's short and has a slit in one end of it so that the other end can be threaded through it, thus removing the need for a bulky knot. Both hat and scarf are being made in all black 100% merino wool, which is a nice quality fiber.  I like merino wool, it's a practical and sturdy yarn.  It's not like all these thick then thin then thick again novelty yarns that are hell to work with and make you want to cry when you try to gauge your work, no sir.....you know where you are with a nice merino wool.

Speaking of wool, I'm toying with the idea of spinning my own.  You can buy pre-dyed roving (that's a washed, carded and dyed sheeps fleece) online for pretty darn cheap - and by that I mean under $20 - and a drop spindle can be acquired for less than the roving.  I find the idea of giving someone a gift that I have not only knitted by spun myself to be a very attractive thing.  My mum is giving us money for Christmas, I might spend my share on a spindle and some roving - and then return her investment in the shape of a shawl (or other knitted item) for Mother's Day!

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I'm starting to feel blech myself.  That's one of the hazards of being a mom, I find; you're in close contact with sick kids and subsequently contract whatever 'itis' it is that they've brought home.  I regularly get colds, coughs and sore throats from the kids - I even got conjunctivitis once, despite my stringent infection control measures.  I think I'm going to curl up on the couch with my knitting and take it easy this afternoon.

No doubt Jake will have other ideas about that!