Not Related, But We Are Still Sisters

Some of you may know that I am a member of a group on Ravelry called Sisters Knitted & Crocheted in Christ. Basically we are a group of knitters and crocheters that pray for each other and share common interests. We make prayer squares for each other. They are the same concept as prayer shawls, but on a smaller scale. (For those who aren't familiar, when one makes a prayer shawl, they pray for the person who is receiving the shawl.) These squares can be made into an afghan, a shawl, a scarf, a bag, or whatever else the recipient decides to do with the squares. These are the squares that were made for me. Each one is just as special and treasured as the gal that made it for me. My goal is to make an afghan out of them eventually.

Dad's Obituary

For those who didn't see my dad's obituary when he passed, I thought I would post this here for you.

Robert M. "Bob" Baker

Baker, Robert M. "Bob" CLIFTON PARK Robert M. "Bob" Baker, 84, entered into eternal rest on Monday, December 12, 2011 at his residence surrounded by his loving family. He was born on April 3, 1927 in Troy, N.Y. and was the son of the late DeRoy F. and Ella Elizabeth Stedman Baker. Bob was a graduate of Mechanicville High School class of 1945 and was a graduate of Simmons School of Embalming and Mortuary Science class of 1964. He was a World War II U.S. Army Veteran. He was a lifelong member of the Mechanicville United Methodist Church. Bob was a NYS Licensed Funeral Director who served families for 36 years at the Gordon C. Emerick Funeral Home in Clifton Park and previously he was employed at the Dunn Funeral Homes in Mechanicville and Stillwater for 20 years, he was also the owner of Mechanicville Monument Co. until closing the business in 2006. Survivors include his loving and devoted wife, Grace M.. Crumling Baker whom he married on September 10, 1966; his loving daughter, Alice (Darrin) Nash of Schenectady; one sister-in-law, Rita Baker of Stillwater. He is also survived by several nieces and nephews. Funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, December 15, 2011 at the Gordon C. Emerick Funeral Home, 1550 Route 9, Clifton Park, with the Reverend Virginia Deyo, Pastor of the Mechanicville United Methodist Church, officiating. Calling hours to which relatives and friends are invited to attend will be held Wednesday from 6-8 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial with Military Honors will be in Hudson View Cemetery, Mechanicville. At the request of the family memorials in Bob's memory may be made to the Mechanicville United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 429, 7 N. Main Street, Mechanicville, NY 12118, Eddy Heritage House Nursing Center Activity Fund, 2920 Tibbitts Avenue, Troy, NY 12180 or to the Community Hospice of Saratoga, 171 Lawrence Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. Arrangements have been entrusted by the family to the Gordon C. Emerick Funeral Home 1550 Route 9 Clifton Park, New York 12065.

Life Seems To Get In the Way...

Last year I posted that I was going to start to post more. Life just gets in the way sometimes. Over the past few months, a lot has happened in our lives. The biggest thing that has been the hardest to deal with is my dad's passing. Mom and I took care of him at home for a month. Dad passed away on December 12, 2011. Life just seems so empty without him here. I still have the urge to go ask him for advice about my car. Call him when there is something good happening. Wanting him to see me sing in church choir.

Christmas was hard without him here this year. It was his favorite holiday. He loved to listen to Christmas music and would often start to listen to it during the summer. I didn't even feel like doing anything for Christmas this year. We didn't put up a tree, we didn't exchange gifts...none of that seemed right this year. Darrin and I did go out to dinner with Mom, to the same restaurant that she and Dad would always go to on Christmas. Darrin and I went to Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day service at church. Other than that, we just stayed home and I finally picked up my knitting again. I had been working on a dishcloth the night that Dad passed and it stayed on the needles until Christmas Day, when I finally got up the courage to finish it. I know that seems silly, but it was just so hard to pick up those needles and start knitting again. I have finished about 40 dishcloths and have almost finished an afghan since then. I have also crocheted about 10 prayer squares for friends that I pray for and with.

Over the past year, I have kind of pushed my emotions aside. It was easier not to deal with them. Rather than deal with the passing of our 2 cats, I blocked those feelings so I could move on. It was horrible to do that, but I felt that I had to. Winters are always so horrible for us. Last year we lost 2 cats (Bandit and Sasha), and went to about 7 funerals. This year, our neighbor passed away about 2 weeks after my dad. All of the grief didn't hit me until about New Year's. It still hits me in waves. I will be fine one minute and crying the next. Sometimes a song triggers it. Sometimes it is a Bible passage. Sometimes it is a photo or a memory. These days, I just let those waves hit, and deal with it now rather than push it aside until later. Some days I am fine, then there are others where I am a sobbing mess and the slightest thing will make me cry. I will make it through this. It might take me a while, but I will make it through.

More posts coming soon

I still have more to post with photos of recent knitting. I have just really been finding it hard to motivate myself. I did take photos this morning of some of the recent knitting that I have finished. There is still so much more that I need to get done. Hopefully, I will get some knit blogging done in the next few days.

RIP Bandit "B-Nut" April 2006-January 18, 2011

This still really hurts a lot, but I really have to make it through this post. For a while, we thought Bandit had an upper respiratory infection. He had all of the symptoms...the coughing, runny nose, eye goop. We had brought him to a vet the day after Sasha died and they thought the same thing. They gave us antibiotics, but they were concerned with his weight loss. We started and finished the antibiotics. We thought he was getting better. He started doing the hoarse "Mer-ACH" that he was doing before he totally had lost his voice. We really thought he was getting better. The night of the 17th, we brought him to the emergency vet. They got him into the back and thought he had an upper respiratory as well. Until the vet finally got his mouth open and looked at his throat. He had a tumor that was blocking his throat. He started crashing. They put a tube down his throat so they could give him oxygen and give us time to say goodbye to him. We had to put him down. He passed away at midnight. We never knew he was suffering so much. The tumor that he had was an aggressive one. The vet thinks it was a squamous cell carcinoma. From what I read online yesterday since I was so racked with guilt and couldn't sleep and just wanted answers, that cancer, when it is diagnosed, the cat will usually only live 4-8 weeks. Bandit had lost his voice around Christmas.

We are guessing that Bandit was born sometime in April of 2006 and he adopted Darrin as a kitten. Bandit was Darrin's best buddy. Darrin often fondly remembers Bandit as a kitten loving to curl up around Darrin's neck when Bandit was in bed with him. I always remember Bandit having to lay on my chest and do the nose rub territory marking thing on my nose. Everytime he did that we always told him that he was wiping his boogers on us.



He had a knack for getting comfortable...no matter how uncomfortable it looked to the rest of us. Most of the time he was his most comfortable on one of the afghans that I crocheted. He liked to reach out and grip them as well as knead them.








He liked to hang out with his girlfriend, Misty. This photo was taken as Misty likes to call it during her thinner years.




He always used to check on me when I wasn't feeling well. He would also lie on my chest and purr as if he thought that it was helping me feel better. Honestly, just having him there always made me feel better.








This is Bandit on my chest and in the process of starting to booger me. He must have taken great comfort in knowing that we were his.



He enjoyed "bath-time" with Zeus. I guess it was a good thing that Zeus liked taking care of him. Granted with most of the other cats as well as Bandit, he likes to put them in a head lock while he is bathing them.


Of course, Zeus didn't mind having Bandit take care of him.





He would help me blog and like to play FarmVille, search for patterns and talk to our friends on the Grand Am Owners Club, Facebook and Ravelry.


He liked to hog the real estate of the bed and hang out with his family. Zeus is in the back on his back, Sasha is next to Zeus, Bandit is in the front and Monte is next to Bandit.



Bandit liked to cuddle with Angel a lot, along with cuddling with all of the other kitties. Angel and Bandit are a lot alike. I have discovered this over the past few days. Angel never hung around us much until Bandit passed. Last night she stayed on the bed with us for quite a while (she always used to run off) and this morning after I woke up, she went in to check on Darrin.










He took after Darrin a lot. When a siren went by the house, or a strange car went by, he would run to the window and look, or just perk up quite a bit. He even did that when he was sick.








He had such a laid back personality. I really don't remember him getting upset at anyone. He was always there for a cuddle when you needed one. I am really going to miss that. I guess that is why his son, Zeus is staying by my side. Zeus got that trait from Bandit.




This photo of Bandit he is holding my pouch of crystals. For some reason he liked them a lot. The more that I think about it, he was hanging out on one of my knitting bags toward the end. I just remembered that it was where I was keeping my pouch of crystals. They must have offered him some comfort.


These are 2 of the last photos that I got of Bandit while he still wanted to cuddle with me. I was working on the room sized rug that I am making and he just found comfort to sit on it while it was on my lap and I was working on it. He didn't even chase the yarn like he used to. He just wanted to be with me and sleep. These were taken almost a week before he passed.






Again, I am going to sign off with the poem Rainbow Bridge. I know he is there with Sasha and she isn't alone anymore. They are buried side by side in our yard. Just like they used to cuddle. This is the photo that I have on the screen of my cell phone. Just knowing that they have each other and father and daughter are together is a comfort.




Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...

Just remember to give your kids - human and furbaby alike - a hug and a kiss. Tell them that you love them. We never know how long or short they are going to be with us.