Anytime is a good time to knit

As a mom, I do a lot of waiting. Orthodontist appointment? I knit. Dance practice? I knit. Swimming lessons? More knitting. It's not that I'm patiently waiting because I'm not a very patient person. It helps me to have something to work on while I (im)patiently wait.

As the mother of a couple of budding athletes, I attend stress filled events where my children slide into bases, run through water, get hit with softballs (accidentally), try to tackle people, set picks, etc. It wears on me to see my children test their limits. Knitting calms me. Keeps me from shouting odd and embarassing things like "Be careful, honey!" or "Don't get hurt, Sweetie!" or the ever embarassing "RUN BABY RUN!"

Currently, my favorite time to knit is oral reading time. My youngest needs to spend time reading outloud as part of his weekly homework for school. It is so much fun to sit beside him and listen to his little voice reading. He's quite the kid and likes to use expression when he reads. I tell him he keeps me company while I knit and he takes his job seriously. I'll miss it when he becomes a bookworm like his older siblings.

As a friend/daughter/sister/etc., I often pray while I knit. I've knitted projects for friends and family members that they won't ever receive because giving them the knitted item was not the point. Praying for them was. Spending time knitting and chatting with God about the happenings and needs of others is time well spent, I think. We've had lots to discuss this past year and I have the knitting to prove it!

Michaela the sweetheart

This week's spotlight is our sweetheart, Michaela. We adopted Michaela from This Little Piggy & Me on Valentine's Day in 2010 in a huge snowstorm.  Mumble had been with us for about 6 months and we thought it was time for her to have a friend. Mumble had been alone at her last house and she certainly never played with Pumpkin and Spice (we're not interested in breeding for many reasons). We thought she might be happier with a friend. As we thought this through, we encountered a few problems. First, the rescue we adopted the boars from was no longer adopting out and the Toledo Humane Society rarely gets guinea pigs.  We started looking farther with the understanding that Mr. Cobb was only willing to drive *so* far for a guinea pig. He's a very patient man, but does have his limits and they should be respected.

We had a trip planned to visit family in Cincinnati and thought it would be convenient to adopt on that trip. We contacted TLP&M and started planning. I will go into greater details about the introdution/adoption process on a later post, but we did find out quickly that Mumble was not the sweetie we thought she was and ONLY Michaela would be tolerated. Michaela is a retired lab pig and has number 13 tatooed on her ears. She is a Pink Eyed White and while some may think her scary looking, we think she is beautiful! I wouldn't say it was BFF's on sight, but today they get along very well. Sometime these things take time (and a large cage).

Today Michaela is a happy, loving pet. She is the one who my daughters seem to seek out for snuggles first. She is a good 1000-1100grams. She really likes cuddle cups, tunnels and burrow bags, but by far her favorite place to be is a warm lap!

Diva Mumble

Meet Mumble our 4 year old Diva in the sows' cage. Mumble was one guinea pig we didn't go looking for, but fell in love with her after pigsitting her for a week. Her previous owner had become too busy with high school to give Mumble much time anymore and so we took her in. At that time we had Pumpkin and Spice who were still young and really active. Mumble was a welcome change as she was content to be held and cuddled.

Once at our house it was decided she needed a bigger cage and we started looking for C&C cage materials and Mumble's old cage was put in storage. She had several new experiences that first month with us: Timothy hay, KleenMama's pellets, daily fresh veggies, fleece bedding and room to run. The worst for her was nail trimmings. I admit she still isn't a big fan of them!

Mumble is our smallest guinea pig weighing in at a trim 900 grams or almost 2 lbs. She may be small, but she is mighty! She lives with two other sows and if the other two try to step out of line, she lets them know! Mumble's favorite accessories are cuddle cups, tunnels and burrow bags, all in my regular sizes.