Where have I been?

Well. To Denver! La was a flower girl on my 6th anniversary, for my cousin and his new wife. The "ring bear" RJ and La were like peas in a pod - kind of amazing to just happen to find one like that.

We ended up taking a week before the wedding and seeing Denver. Frankly, there is a lot to see there. We went to a bunch of things - Rocky Mountain National Park, the Children's Musuem, Wings over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, lots of family, the Coors brewery, the Rocky Mountain Quilt museum, one of DH's old college buddies, and who knows what else. Although there was plenty of driving, we were using Pregnant Lady Navigation, so there was not much car knitting. Some hotel knitting, though.

While we were in Denver, we found out that my MIL passed away. Dh is the oldest and former guardian, so he was responsible for making lots of decisions, although he couldn't sign anything until we returned. So this week we were brought quickly back to that reality. Here is her memorial web site. Her services were Friday afternoon. 5/6 kids (and their families) were able to be here (one is estranged). The services were nice - I was left with the feeling that all of the kids would be OK. MIL was a feisty one, and she didn't have much, but she tried hard and got the kids what the needed, even if it wasn't all that they wanted - they all probably have stories about the thing they wanted to sign up for, but couldn't - for DH it was JV Soccer, for my SIL it was gymnastics. And they all had stories about being taken care of by the big kids/taking care of the little kids while the parents were out working and the misadventures they had. But for the most part, I agree with DH, that each one of them has what they need to go out there and do well and they'll probably be OK. That was something I hadn't really seen before.

MIL has suffered from Alzheimer's Disease (or some other dementia) for the last several years. She had gotten to a point where there were no good options for her treatment and care - At this point I have some pretty strong feelings about medicaid, medicare, training requirements for nursing home staff, respite requirements for caregivers, and just how difficult dementia can be for the whole family and the patient. So the feeling is (especially by anyone who had been close to her in the last few years) is that she is finally free.

Are you ready for something cute and sweet and completely different?

I got to sew today. Here's a quick sum-up of everything made so far for the whippersnapper. Two of the pants need hemming, and all three need elastic. On the left is an array of recieving blankets for the new baby. 6 seems like a good amount. I probably have ones left from La that I can use too.

And here are the pants for Christmas gifts. For two boy-girl families - one with a big brother and one with a big sister. They just need elastic too. I am thinking about outsourcing the elastic threading to an "intern". I guess the good news is that all of the cut pants are sewn up (the ones for the monkey are currently in use by him as I write). The bad news is that I have a bunch of other projects on the dining room table - I'm going to make more recieving blankets for my SIL - turns out they are good for covering up nursing in public, a quilt that need to be finished, and material I was going to use for easy dresses for the La (but I'm rethinking that). Oh, and I got hand dyed fabric at the Rocky Mountain Quilt museum to make "souvenier" pillow cases for each of the kids. I guess the good news is that none of it is real hard to do.