Ups and Downs

Lately I feel like life has been wearing me around like an old tennis shoe. There seems to be a rather endless series of ups and downs in most areas of my world with the downs coming out slightly ahead. Here's a few examples:

1. Knitting.

Up: The cooler fall air has sparked the return of my knitting mojo and a strong desire to festoon everyone in the family with bright, warm woolies.

Down: This positive energy seems to only apply to everything that is not my current project. Yes, I am still working on the Sirdar sweater. But it has fallen into that black pit of never ending ribbing that seems to never get any longer no matter how much I work on it. I spend most of my knitting time plugging away while day dreaming about all the pretties that I want to make as soon as the current sentence is over.

2. Kids.

Up: Eldest seems to be really enjoying her new classroom this year. She has a good teacher that is the right combination of fun and strict. She is actually getting her work done without complaint and appears to be doing well. Every day after school she is bubbling over with things she wants to share and no longer complains about how "boring" school is.

Down: This morning, over breakfast (delicious freshly made cranberry oatmeal), she informed me that all I care about is my yarn stash. This was declared while I was making her lunch out of last night's meatloaf (one of her favorites), fresh fruit and one of her favorite treats. It is also worth noting that she was wearing a handknit sweater and was deciding whether or not to wear one of the hats I knit for her last winter. Sigh..the rewards of being a parent....

3. Pets.

Up: Tango's leg seems to finally be working properly in spite of a few accidents during the healing process (little bugger actually rolled off the bed and fell on his hip). He is energetic and happy and seems none the worse for wear despite his summer-long ordeal.

Down: Mr. Cat has been sick again. This time we got him to the vet in the early stages, before he got really deathly ill. But the prognosis is not good. He is elderly and has been sick several times in the last year or two. The vet confirmed that he is in the beginning stages of renal failure. Basically he will keep getting sick and need medical intervention to recover. Each time he gets sick we will have to re-evalute what his chances are of recovery and how much we are willing to put him through. Right now he is responding well to antibiotics but he is so skinny that we are despairing of him getting well enough to get through the next round easily. Poor guy. We want him to be around as possible for as long as we can but we don't want him to suffer needlessly. Its a tough time for everyone.