Not too much to post today, but I thought I would post a little update since I'm sitting at my computer this morning, knitting and surfing!

First off, I have the 5k early tomorrow morning. Okay, it's at 8am, but that means I have to get up around 6:30am to eat, get ready and drive there. That is really early for me! I don't think my time is going to be anything too great, but I'm still looking forward to being in that group and running! I will post here after the run - maybe tomorrow after - but more than likely Tuesday morning! Also, I didn't do my training run yesterday like I had planned. Instead, my older daughter and I went on a 5 mile hike to see a waterfall (same one I went to before)! It was really pretty, and my legs got a workout from coming up the hill to get out of the trail area, so I thought it was best not to push it and strain my legs before Monday. I will take a nice walk tonight with the dog though and keep up my fitness :-)

Other than that, and cleaning of course, I've just been relaxing and knitting. I picked up a book to read Friday night while waiting for my girl's friends to leave (midnight), and by the time they did, I just wanted to finish the book (2am), so I was rather tired and kind of burned out on reading. I'll probably pick up a book tomorrow, but I just don't want to push myself and take it away from an enjoyable hobbie to something I feel I have to do. Even though I am part of the book-a-week group, I'm up to 35 books already, so I don't think I'll lose ground with that! On the up side, I'm making great progress on my Dad's vest, and I've found another pattern for a shell with beads that I really want to do before it gets too hot this summer! Oh yeah, and if I didn't say it before - I finished my tank and I'm even wearing it today! I should post a picture. . .

On a sadder note, we're still waiting for the doctor's office to schedule my younger daughter's knee surgery. I'm not sure why it takes them a few days to do the scheduling, but they said it does. We'll call again Tuesday to nag and follow up. In the meantime, my husband is supposed to set her up for physical therapy to do with the new knee brace so she learns how much she can do to keep herself in shape while waiting for the surgery. I sure wish it was me and not her :-(

Okay, so originally I said I didn't have much to post - but I guess I did! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

I did it - I graduated yesterday!! I know it's a small degree, but it is a degree. And more important, 3 1/2 years ago I set a goal, stuck with it, and made it!! And if my grade from speech comes out an A (which I have a good chance of it being), I'll have a 4.0!! I am very proud of myself :-)

So, we had a lunch party yesterday afternoon (no alcohol), but I still over-did it on all of the sweets! My fault, I wasn't sure how many people were coming, but I thought there should be two cookies per/person. So my Dad was really sweet and went out and bought more cookies. Well, the original cookies that were ordered were REALLY BIG!! Plus, there was the coconut cake. So, I had half a cookie (which was really worth at least two), a bar cookie, and then the cake. Okay, really just the icing and coconut off the cake, but that's what I usually eat). So, by the time I got home I was so stuffed and such that I couldn't do my run. After a couple of hours, it settled enough and my husband and I did take the dog on a walk so we could get some exercise! And I'm not sure about today since we are going to the Renaissance Faire and I think that might wear me out! But, I've decided to wear my pedometer so I can see how much walking I'm doing and if it's over 3 miles I won't be too sad. If it's under, I may just push myself for a run!

As for reading, I haven't done too much, but that's okay. I'll get back to it. What I have been doing the last couple of nights is play Scrabble with my husband, and while he takes his turn (and he takes a long time to think about each move and the most points - whereas I just play pretty quick!), I've been able to knit quite a bit! I finished the arm cover for my friend (But forgot to take a picture. I'll try to get one at coffee tomorrow), and I've done a few inches on the vest! Maybe tonight I'll finish my tank though. . .

School's done!!! **YEAH** I made it through and finished with my AS degree before my daughter graduated high school. Barely, but I did it! I'm a little nervous about walking through the ceremony this weekend, but I am looking forward to it :-)

Last night was my first night of feeling little stress (I think as a mother, one can never feel no stress!). Work is now at a peaceful time as well as no homework. I sat down last night, turned on the tv and brought out my knitting. I was able to finish the ribbing on my Dad's vest, but then I got confused on the next part of the pattern. Not only were there not enough increases from the ribbing to the main pattern, but then I found that the number of stitches from the graphs repeats do not match the number stated when starting to do the armholes. So, I sat down last night, figured out the increases and proper decreases, and then checked my work a couple of times to be sure. When I finished that, I decided to pick up my classic book for last month and finally finish that. Oh yeah, and before all of that I ran my 2.1 mile route as well!!! I did very good to start with (my oldest daughter was pacing me on her bike), but then near the end I got a bad stitch in my side (not as bad as the last time) and ended up slowing down in the end. But still, I ran, and it felt good!

So, all in all, it was a great evening!

Well, it's finally Friday! I finished my hardest speech on Tuesday, and I already have my next speech done and ready to go for next week. Now all I need to do is practice, practice, practice. . .

On an upbeat note, my friend's son is doing a lot better. Should recover 100%, with just time and physical therapy. That's the best news. Now as a family they are wanting things to get back to normal and are going back to regular schedules. It's so nice :-)

On a sadder note, the ortho doctor believes my youngest has torn her ACL when she was kicked in that last soccer game. She has an MRI today and is being fitted with an ACL knee brace on Monday. She's a pretty tough kid, so she'll get through it. It's just sad for a mother to see her child hurt. I'm anxious to have all of the tests done and figure out what it truely is and where we go from there.

As for the rest of my activities. . .

I've only run once this week, but I still did my 2.1 mile loop. I hope to run and maybe hike this weekend as well. If all things go well, I'm going to sign up for a 5k over Memorial Weekend.

I haven't read too much since Mother's Day. I did start a new book, but I'm not pushing myself until after school is over. On that note, I have at least 6 books that I've ordered this week that will come in late next week - just about when I've finished my class! Yeah!

Now knitting I have actually done a lot of! It is just such a meditative thing for me to do, and doing a project that progresses as fast as my tank is, well, it's just fun!! And now I've been given another fun project - to make an arm warmer for my friend to go over her cast and protect her thumb. I took all of the measurements this morning, and I have the yarn set to go. Tonight I'll make a swatch, find some mitten patterns to see how I want to do the thumb, and get started!!!

For my best piece of information - my friend's son is out of ICU and on the road to recovery. He may even be released to go home as early as today! The doctor's say it will take time to recover, but a full recovery is expected!

Now, before I heard that information (on Mother's Day), I just wanted to rest and not think about too much. So, my kids were great, they gave me martini glasses (really pretty with dark blue stems), two wine glasses to match a couple others she gave me for Christmas, and an MP3 player. So, I sat down, read not just one, but two books, while listening to music. It was very relaxing and very needed!

Then, after hearing the good news, I felt so much better that I started knitting again as well! I tried to work on my Dad's vest, but the yarn I bought is too thin and I didn't have a good one to add to it. So, more yarn on order for that. Then, I finished a couple of chemo hats for a coworker here and then cast on for a little tank that I thought was a cute pattern!

Oh, and what about school. . . especially considering I have one speech tonight, a new speech next week, and then I graduate!!! YEAH!!! Well, I did practice my speech, but I just couldn't bring myself to do any more work on my second speech while concentrating on this one. So, I did practice last night, but that's about it. Which means, the rest of this week I will be working hard on not only getting the speech written and typed up, but practicing it as well before next week! Yikes!! But I did decide not to do the 5k I was going to do next weekend. I haven't been able to run as much as I would like (but I'm still running), and I need this weekend free for homework. I'm still wondering why I wanted to do a 5k before finishing school?! But, I do still want to do one after - maybe on Memorial weekend!!

My best friend's son was in a car accident last night. Nothing broken, but he's in ICU and unconscious. He is moving and within 24 hours of the accident he is now trying to breath on his own a little. The doctors say that all things considered it looks pretty good for recovery, but in the mean time it's very hard to see this boy, my friend and her family go through all of this. I'm praying for them, and I hope anyone that reads this will pray for him. He's missing his senior prom tomorrow, but we all have the highest hopes of him walking across the stage for graduation next month.

Nothing else to say at this time. I will post when there is good news.