My Olympian

Saturday was Pie Girl's first swim meet. She started lessons last summer. I was a horrible mom and didn't get her into swimming lessons until she after she was already 8 years old. But luckily she has a lot of her dad in her and she really took to swimming. She didn't have any fear or reservations about the water. If the teacher said to try something, she would immediately do it. When we would go to the lake with the kids, her dad would spend a lot of time telling her of things to try like diving to the bottom of the lake or swimming out to the buoy and swimming down its anchor line to the bottom of the lake. There was a lot of talk of the bottom of the lake.



So when I was looking at what sports the kids would like to do this summer I knew Pie Girl has loved swimming and our local Aquatic Center has a summer swim team. I signed Pie Girl up. She was ecstatic and I was worried. The children have to swim the length of the pool without stopping and I didn't think she would have the endurance yet to do that because she has never had to. So I then signed her up for private swimming lessons. She had a blast! After listening to me lecture her about how she is not there to talk she is there to listen and then do whatever the coach said, she has swum her little heart out. She has been going to 3 swim practices a week that last just over an hour. Add that to the 1-2 sessions with the private coach and she has really been dedicated to this new love.

But she has been worried about the swim meet. She has never even seen one and had no idea what to expect. She kept worrying about having to swim in the deep end and going off the diving board. She wouldn't listen to me or her dad that she wouldn't have to do either.

Saturday dawned bright and early. The swim meet is for the summer swim team is only between the teammates. There is no other team that comes and considering that this team has over 150 kids that was a great plan. It started over an hour late and then her first race came up: 25 meter freestyle. Then it was over and Pie Girl had not raced. Turns out they forgot to call her name. This left her in tears and worry that she wouldn't be able to race. Never fear, the next race came up and she was called: 50 meter freestyle. She did wonderful the first 25 meters. She didn't stop to adjust her goggles. She didn't wander out of her lane. Then she turned at the end of the pool to come back and she swallowed a lot of water. This completely threw her and the last 20 meters was very hard but she didn't stop. She kept going looking half drowned but determined. I was very proud of her.

Her last race was a few minutes off so her and a couple from her division made up a cheer for their purple team. "Give me a P! Give me a U! Give me an R! Give me an P! Give me an L! Give me an E! What does that spell? PURPLE!!!" They did this a couple of times and then one of the coaches suggested changing the word they spelled to winner and say 'What does that spell? PURPLE!!!' She thought this was the greatest joke. "Get it mom?"

The next few races flew past and then her last race was called and she got into the water to get ready. The 50 meter backstroke. This is her race. She has not learned to breath well with the freestyle so she cannot just throw herself into it but that is not the case with the backstroke. She was solid and focused through the entire race. There was no problem turning at the halfway point. She didn't slow down at all. She was able to complete the race flying high. She came in last but I could not be more proud of her. And I do not think I have ever seen her so happy as when she came out of the locker room. Her eyes almost disappeared in the grin on her face.

Garden of Hail

If you remember my lovely post from a while back, you will know of the desolation hail has already brought to my tender young plants. Well, I still live in Idaho and we had another hail storm yesterday and I immediately ran out to find out what it did to my plants this time. I found everything covered in hail and slightly beaten but it didn't destroy my plants as bad as last time.



My potato plants have just started to come up (we planted them kinda late).



Isn't it cute?!? I love these plants.

Mr. Edge is very proud of his pepper plant. It has a wee little pepper started. We are just hoping the kids will leave it alone long enough for it to grow to full size. Duder Man has already picked the green tomatoes and hid them in a bathroom drawer. (I don't know why.)

Warm Hands and Warm Hearts

As many of you know I am a medical transcriptionist. I sit at my computer in the cold, dark basement trying to peck out a living typing radiology reports. Well, it is COLD down there. Even in the heart of summer I am freezing and my fingers start to cramp up from the cold and sometimes I have to sit on them for a while to get the feeling back into them before I can proceed. Now, this is not a whining/venting post. This is another show off post of what I knit to remedy the problem. Fingerless gloves.



These are knit using Malabrigo sock yarn. I am obsessed with Malabrigo and their sock yarn is worth being obsessed about. I even have actual socks in the works using this yarn, but that is for another day.

The colorway is called archangel and it actually changes colors in different lights. The pattern is Fingerless Mitts with Cables by Helene Wallin.

They are fast and fun and look great with my lilac bush. :)

A Stitch In Time

I finally have several projects I need to share with the world. First, I have a pair of socks!!!



I totally loved knitting these socks. They have a fantastic pattern that is a ribbed pattern so these are extra flexible.



The color is to die for and I ran around showing everyone my sock.



Then I washed them and they shrunk. THEY SHRUNK!!!!

I didn't take a picture of the shrunken socks. I didn't have the heart to record that disaster. They were knit with yarn that is supposed to be superwash, which means that it is not supposed to shrink in the wash. I have since realized that no knitters actually believe that it really keeps things from shrinking. I am finally now a real knitter. Oh, the lessons we learn.

Well all is not lost. The socks actually fit Pie Girl okay and she is very proud of them. *sigh*

As a final memorial to my lost socks I give you this picture of the gorgeous heel.

Garden Massacre

I have finally put my garden in after 3 years of dreaming about doing it. I had finally found a technique that I thought would work best with my lazy self. I love gardens but can never remember to weed daily or weekly. And if the sprinklers didn't reach the plants then you better forget about watering. But like I said, I finally found the technique that seemed to be suited to me. The Square Foot Gardening you start from scratch and buy your soil, boxes and seeds. It only cost me $600 (yikes!) and we had it planted the first week of June. Next thing that happened was the Idaho weather.

We have had a week and a half of storms and wind and brutal hail. Mr. Edge laughed at my concern for my plants. He thought is funny that I thought hail could actually harm my plants. Well, the laugh is on him because I was right! Look at this destruction!




This is my sad little tomato plant. My cucumbers were totally decimated! All that is left of them are shreds. But...despite the trauma that happened to my transplanted planted my seeds have done wonderful!!




These are my radishes! Aren't they cute?!? I am so thrilled that I have something that is actually growing.

Tomorrow, I will post some of my latest finished knits as well as some that I am currently working on. The first picture is of my littlest one playing with her toes in the grass and I couldn't resist a picture. This is her as well as I asked her where her toes are.



Yes...she needs her hair cut. :)