breaking the boredom

So what do you do when you feel bogged down by projects? I can't come as a surprise that my remedy is... casting on something new! Running with my love of the book No Sheep For You, as well as my absolute adoration of my 2 skeins of Handmaiden Sea Silk, Tuscany has made it onto my needles. - Sorry, no picture, my camera and it's batteries were sadly not speaking this morning. I'm on the third repeat row, and can honestly say that this pattern is brilliant. Easy to memorize, simple to do, yet very effective. I'm not a real ruffly type of chick, but oddly, I love knitting lace. This is a great lace pattern for me - not too fluffy and lacy, yet enough interest to make a nice shawl. Plus, the shimmery colours of the Sea Silk - my colourway is a black, silver, brown combination, and I love it. I wear a lot of black and brown, both in the winter and summer, so I'm sure I will get a lot of use from this - especially in the summer when air conditioning makes life hell at work. You know how it is, hot outside, freezing inside.
I'll take some pictures soon - once it starts looking like something.

On another note - my Mom needs more surgery. If you remember back in October, she had some fairly major cutting done to clear some arterial blockage in both her femoral arteries. After a few weeks of recuperation, she was doing great, and all was well. Then her surgeon decided to ultrasound all the major arteries, just to make sure. I agree with this - I mean, if one is blocked, who's to say more aren't? (Mom had a quadruple heart bypass about 14 years ago). It seems her carotid artery is showing some blockage, so she's going for the "Larry King" surgery, as we're calling it. The actual name is a Carotid Endarterectomy, and compared to everything else she had gone through, this is a cake walk. In one day, out the next, and they only keep her overnight because of the risk of stroke. Nice. that's what my overanxious mother needed to hear! There should be a rule that anyone who worries as much as my mother does is not allowed the hear the words "Stroke", Attack" or anything ending with "ectomy". But I digress. She's going in April 19th, and I will again stay with her for a few days. (a good excuse to watch TV and knit all day).

And on a totally random tangent... is it wrong to enjoy "Dancing with the Stars" as much as I do? I mean really! It's fluff TV at it's best, and I'm really not into fluff TV. OK, I watch Survivor and The Amazing Race. Maybe I do like some fluff...