Prayer Request

I have a friend who is currently in the hospital. She waitresses with me at the Tidewater Grille, is in her early 20's, and just had a baby back in April. I ask you to pray for her.
In the middle of the month, Holly went to the hospital with pains in her back and abdomen. Initially, the doctors thought that she had colitis, and she was hospitalized. Within the next few days, they determined that it wasn't colitis, but a blood clot in a vein in her intestines. She was moved to University Hospital in Baltimore, and has been there ever since. She's been on blood thinners, with hopes that the blood clot would either dissolve or be absorbed back into her body. Last night, she went into surgery where they found out that part of her intestines had died, so they cut that part out. Tomorrow morning, they're going back in to see if any more of her intestines have died, before reattaching them to her bowels. Then they're going to try to attack the blood clot. There's been internal bleeding and infection, and hopefully the surgery tomorrow with cure that.
If you believe in the power of prayer, please, please, please include Holly in your prayers.

Third Scarf

And it took me three days to make my third scarf for the Special Olympics Scarf Project.

It wasn't because the pattern was hard, it's because on Thursday, I had to dig out of a snowstorm, so my hands and arms are sore from shovelling, which led to sore legs and back and the desire to go to bed early. This was a pattern from Red Heart.

Second Scarf

I'm proud of myself, it only took two days to make the second scarf for the Special Olympics Scarf Project.

This pattern was from the Lion Brand website, but I added the color changes.

One Down

Well, I've completed my first scarf for the Special Olympics Scarf Project.

This pattern is off of the Red Heart website. I think it's adorable, but I won't make another one with this pattern - it didn't lay as flat as I wanted it to.

Scarves for Special Olympics

I heard about this project a few days ago, and even though the deadline is fast approaching, I think I'm going to do my part to help out (at last count, Maryland has only 44/600 scarves - way short of their goal). So, tonight, after work, I ran to Wal-Mart and picked up yarn. I've always enjoyed doing my part with the band for the Maryland Special Olympics Summer Games, so I think this will be a really terrific thing to do. If you know how to knit or crochet, and have the time, a lot of other states need tons of help. Visit Scarves for Special Olympics to learn more.

The Vet

Today, we took Reggie to the vet. He's lost a lot of weight in the past couple of weeks, so we wanted to get him checked out.

He was very well behaved, and luckily, the blood work ruled out thyroid disease and cancer, but he seems to have an infection. Diabetes wasn't even mentioned (thank goodness), but the herpes in his eye seemed to be what the vet honed in on. He's had it since he came into our lives, so I never think about it. And checking out his teeth was a biggie, too. They look horrible! He's always had bad breath, but I never looked at his teeth until today! The vet said that there's possibly an infection in his eye, and that he might have to get his teeth taken out. Poor baby, but bad teeth would explain him losing the weight, it might hurt too much to chew the dry food we feed the cats. We fed him some wet food, and he ate with gusto. I hope he's feeling better soon.

the curious incident

I finished reading "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time," by Mark Haddon tonight.

I bawled like a baby! It was a really enjoyable book, though, and makes me wonder if my autistic nephew goes though (or will go through) similar thought processes as he gets older.

Valentine's Tags

Had I mentioned that I joined Kandeland's 2nd Annual Valentine's Tag Swap?

I had two sheets of Valentine's scrapbook paper that I cut up and made into soldered ornaments, with vintage wallpaper on the back. With the second sheet, I cut out the corresponding image, affixed it to the tag, and trimmed it. I then hung the ornament in front of the image, so that if the recipients want to remove the ornament, the tag will still look similar.

I am new to soldering, so I'm pretty happy with them. I got them in the mail today!

Another Purple Friday

Well, today, I did it again!

We had another hectic day, traveling around the Baltimore area, playing at all sorts of different locations. Restaurants, schools, grocery stores, Verizon stores, M&T Bank locations, just to name a few. We did a pep rally at the Legg Mason building, and passed this statue on the way there.

I wonder what it's for.

Employee Appreciation Party

Tonight was the Tidewater's Holiday Party (or Employee Appreciation Party). It was a good time, even though I was sick and left early. There was dancing,

drinking,

eating,

games,
and a Chinese Gift Exchange organized by moi. The gift I gave was Flingshot Flying Animals.

I ended up with mugs, cocoa mix, and peanut clusters - yum!

Purple Friday Caravan

In addition to being Dad's birthday (Happy Birthday, Dad!), I had a long day with the Purple Friday Caravan.

We had to report at 6:00, and travelled all around Baltimore in this cool bus.

We visited restaurants, schools, and local businesses. The two ravens, Rise & Conquer, travelled with us, too (but in a seperate vehicle).

I saw Kayla, who used to be in my section, with her daughter, at the two stops at Giant Food Stores in the Glen Burnie area.

The next to the last stop for the band was at the State House in Annapolis.

We played on the steps, which is apparently unusual, because you need permits for that kind of thing. It was also a little historical for the band, going back to when the band was pushing for the Ravens to come to town (you can learn more about this in ESPN's 30 for 30 special, "The Band that Wouldn't Die," on sale here). It was a long, tiring day, but fun, too.

Ravens vs Bengals

Not an exciting game today, but we still came up with a 7-13 win over the Bengals. They were very effective at shutting down Joe Flacco, so, even though we're going to the playoffs as a Wild Card, I'm concerned about how long we'll last.
Our halftime show was our long awaited Guitar Hero Show. We've been planning on doing this show all year, but with the Raven's front office finally getting involved in what we, as a band, do for our shows, it kept being pushed back. We played Iron Man, Carry On/Hush, and Through the Fire and Flames. What can I say, we were awesome!

Happy New Year

For the new year, I think I'm going to attempt something that Tonya from the Tidewater is doing this year, a 365 Project. It's where you take a picture a day for a full year. It's meant to improve your photography skills, but also to chronicle your life. She's planning on getting the pictures made into a book on Snapfish, or some site like that. I've also seen where putting them together on a calender is a popular option. I've decided to start another blog, and post them there, with short descriptions. I don't think my actual photography will get much better, since I'll be either using my phone or my point-and-shoot, but hopefully my composition will improve.