Princess Mommykitten

Events fully deserving of a "Hey Nonny-nonny"

2012-02-14T18:55:00.004-07:00

The sink and dishwasher are working again and dishes were washed last night.

The Hey Nonny-nonny (because "Huzzah" isn't celebratory enough) comes from the fact that a plumber wasn't used. I called one yesterday but upon getting his voice-mail decided to call my dad, who's about 900 miles away, just to see what his thoughts were. After a couple times of "uhm.. it would have helped if you gave me that information earlier" since I didn't know what symptoms were important and what wasn't, we came to the conclusion that it was a simple clog between the disposal and trap and something Son and I could handle.

While I was getting the safety inspection for the car the Kidlets cleared out the cupboard, and washed everything off when it was time for it to go back in, and got a flashlight and drain-pan ready so everything was set when I got home. When I was ready to get started (which took a little longer than getting the stuff ready) I called dad and with him on the phone Son and I took off the, fortunately just finger tightened, affected pipes and sure enough there was a big clog and everything worked great after that.

So, my dad's a genius, my kids are awesome helpers and I didn't have to pay for a plumber. I like this outcome a whole lot better than what I was expecting.

What I feared has come upon me

2012-02-12T21:40:00.002-07:00

Actually, I'm pretty happy with having managed to go two-and-a-half years before running into a maintenance problem I couldn't handle (or wait for my parents to visit and dad to handle). Plumbing and electricity are far beyond my abilities though and this is a plumbing issue. For some reason the main sink has begun to drain into the dishwasher, making both of them unusable.

Having poked around to the best of my ability, and crying a little, I've come to the conclusion that crying and calling for help are pretty much all I can do. So, I quit crying, put in an e-mail to the church administrator ( who's a wonder at getting the best work at the best price) and will call her tomorrow, and made some rum "fortified" spiced chocolate to drink while watching the cartoon "Dai-Gata Defenders" and working on various knitting and crochet projects. Hopefully we'll be able to get everything running again soon, since it's hard to feed kids when you can't wash dishes, and I can't say I'm thrilled at needing to pay for the help but at least it's available and I can.

Yay! I survived

2012-02-07T19:19:00.003-07:00

This was my first full Tae Kwon Do class as I missed half of last week's class doing the paperwork to enroll the five of us. Being a full length class isn't why I'm so thrilled though. I mean really, my physical fitness may be nearly non existent but I'm quite confidant of my ability to do a full class with our regular teacher. The thing is he wasn't there. Apparently, I found out afterwards, he'd hurt his back at work and wasn't able to make it. Instead, the dojo's Master was there and when he had us start class with running I knew things were going to be rough. And they were. He got a lot of teaching packed into an hour class though and I have to admit that while I might prefer a more relaxed pace I certainly wouldn't have the same feeling of accomplishment that I now get to enjoy.

Shh! Don't tell anyone I only bought this bottle a week ago

2012-02-01T20:01:00.003-07:00

And look how far gone it is. Oh, you thought I drank all that? The truth is that I'm not the least interested in drinking vodka. It is the cheapest and easiest method of extracting essential oils though and the space in the bottle represents pumello, clementine, and coffee extractions that are processing as I write. If I had my absolute preference, I'd have a distilation unit. Since I don't know how to make one, or have a safe place to use it, this will have to do.

How do I love the Kindle Fire? Let me count the ways.

2012-01-29T20:34:00.004-07:00

Hopefully though no one is counting the number of incredibly cheesy blog titles I use.

Anyway, shortly after getting the Kindle Fire, a Christmas gift from my in-laws, I told them that it ranked right up there with the yarn winder, another Christmas present, they got me when John and I were dating. This was very high praise as I still use the yarn winder often even after twenty years which is pretty amazing for a plastic mechanism, and a feat I'm quite sure the Kindle won't equal. Now that it's been a month I am, if anything, even more pleased with it.

I don't have a lap-top or smartphone so had been considering a tablet of some kind for awhile. There had been a lot of discussion about the relative merits of various e-readers on the Ace of Spades HQ, a blog I read a lot, Sunday Morning Book Thread and with the release of both the Fire and the NookTablet I pretty much decided that e-reader was the route for me. Eldest Kidlet got a NookColor from my in-laws for Christmas last year so I was actually planning on getting either a second one or a NookTablet, to take advantage of the fact I already had an account, when I went to Wal-mart. The readers were all similar enough that I actually ended up praying about which one to get and, although I suppose it may just seem like confirmation bias, I am sure this was the one for me.

Cue raptures 3, 2, 1, The Free Books! Squee! Enlargeable fonts! Double squee at least! Finally able to knit/crochet/whatever and read at the same time which approaches the perfect activity in my world and for which there are not squees enough. The reading area I created in my room last winter, and used twice, is used almost every evening now as I rotate through my various needlework projects or watch anime on Netflix instant streaming. I now read my Bible in the morning, with a through-the-year e-Bible I actually paid a couple of dollars for but like a lot, and read a small devotional called Daily Strength for Daily Needs that was in the public domain. After that I check the weather with the free Weather Channel app, my e-mail with the free Yahoo! app and FaceBook with an app whose price I bet you can guess. After walking Hank and getting breakfast ready I check my blogs and, more to the point, my blog lists since my blogs are mostly there as a way to store the lists of blogs I read. I've even found that the durable casing and sealed battery, something I foresee as being a great nuisance sometime in the future, means the Fire can be used while soaking in the tub( me, not it, of course) which was something I had figured would be impossible.

So, does that mean I'm writing this on my Kindle? Sadly that is the one major flaw. While the Fire is quite sufficient for commenting on other blogs and I can write a post title, it will not pull up a keyboard in the body section of Blogger. I also can't find a way to write a comment on my own FaceBook wall, although it is possible to "like" or comment on someone else's post. The only other, minor, complaint is not really the Kindle's fault but my own. I. just. can't. stop buying books. In fairness, the Kindle does give me another pricing option and the ton of free books means there is a chance that if my book budget doesn't go down I'll at least have gotten more books for the cost.

Mommykitten as Mastermind

2012-01-28T18:32:00.002-07:00

Son has a habit of picking a word and then saying it at random intervals for several week or months after which he moves on to a new equally random word. This annoys me. A lot. In the last six months or so we have been treated to exclamations of bacon!, tomato! and, most recently, spleen! and I have become quite tired of it.

About a week ago I came up with the perfect counter attack. Every time I hear spleen! and it's not used correctly in a sentence Son has to go look on Wikipedia, yes I know that won't work for everything but it's a start, and find me a new and interesting fact about the subject. He's decided that spleens are actually very cool and under known organs, and his continued research has led him to decide that he never wants to use kidney! as his word as they are decidedly not cool, just disgusting. Considering that this is a child who never wants to do research projects I feel very crafty for getting him started. Who knows, maybe he'll develop an interest in medicine. Even if he doesn't though, we'll both have gotten some interesting facts such as the 1X3X5X7X9X11 mnemonic for the anatomy of a spleen.

Introducing Hank the Re-gifted Puppeh

2012-01-27T17:18:00.005-07:00

About a year ago I started thinking that it might be time for our family to have a dog. John had always been very adamant about no dog messes and we'd moved a lot until fairly recently so a dog had just never really been in the cards. I wasn't in any real hurry since I figured that getting a dog fell under the category of "important decisions best not made within a year of a loss", but the idea was in the back of my mind.

Last summer I finally told the kids what I was thinking and that probably I'd look in earnest after Christmas. The kids were surprisingly uncertain, particularly Middlest Kidlet who likes her grandparents dogs but isn't fond of dogs in general and a certain neighborhood dog in the specific. Over time they warmed to the idea and this fall Littlest Kidlet was telling her Sunday School teachers that we were in the beginnings of a dog search when they told her that our search was over. Their high-school senior had a dog they'd gotten from a shelter a couple of years ago. They all liked him a lot but between school, work, and the volunteer fire department their son just couldn't do justice to the attention needs of such an affectionate puppeh.

In a remarkably short time we had a "getting to know you" visit and by the end of it dog nervous Middlest Kidlet was asking if we could take him home, and Hank was asking if he could stay with us. In a couple of days he came to our house, with bed crate, food and all necessary supplies which were certainly a big selling point. Now I'm typing one handed as I scratch his chin so it's pretty clear he's fitting in well.

ETA: picture is courtesy of Son who, along with Eldest Kidlet, has been growing his photographic, video, and computer knowledge immensely the last couple of months.

Still here

2012-01-26T16:20:00.004-07:00

AVI, of Assistant Village Idiot (on my sidebar) was recently encouraging me to write again since it's been quite awhile. My problem is that, even though I do indeed still have posts running through my head, those ideas are more personal/political than I'm comfortable sharing here. I've been considering putting them on my political blog but haven't yet been brave enough to do so.

He suggested that I write about homeschooling, which I think is going well, but my thoughts aren't coherent enough to have much meaningful to say. I am glad we have decided to homeschool for several reasons and intend to continue for the foreseeable future but don't actually "have a post" about the subject even after a semester.

Froeliche Sankt Niklaus Tag zum Alles

2011-12-06T00:47:00.003-07:00

I hope I've got that right.

The slippers are tucked by the fireplace with care, with certainty that Mommy is soon to be there.
The Son stayed awake(ish) so he could help too, and fill up those slippers with good stuff to chew.
Pomegranates and Rollos fill all the spaces, not filled with little chocolate Santas in their places.
Now I must also to bed get right quick, in the off chance my slippers be visited by St Nick.

Happy St Nicholas day. May it dawn bright and cheerful.

It's a good thing I'm a slow weeder

2011-07-06T20:38:00.003-06:00

While weeding around one of the maple trees, that's going to have to be moved since it's planted much too close to the house, I came across this flower and decided it was so adorable I needed to look it up before removing it. It's a recumbent plant so the flowers on their delicate stalks look rather more graceful than the picture, courtesy of "Bramblejungle" on Flickr, shows and when the flower is closed there is just the tiniest hint of coral at the tip of each bud. I counted the petals and looked it up at this site which is a visual search engine and one of my new favorites.

It turns out that this is the scarlet pimpernel, which strikes me as being very cool for no reason that I can really explain. Although A Modern Herbal says that pimpernel are found in all temperate climates, my best guess is that it is not native to our yard as the only other place I've found it is another flowerbed and all the native/volunteer plants have a much more even distribution throughout the yard.

I survived the 4th 7-5-11

2011-07-06T20:19:00.003-06:00

Don't get me wrong, I really like the 4th and certainly want my children to enjoy the celebration. The survive part is that this is our first Independence Day "on our own" and that was a little harder than I'd expected it to be since I was just thinking in terms of it not being the first one since John's death.

Christmas and Independence Day were always John's favorite holidays, I think because they gave him a chance to share both anticipation and a certain amount of pageantry with the kids. Last year we went to the house of one set of friends for fireworks on the 3rd and then to lunch and watch the municipal display with another set of friends on the 4th so we didn't need to think about much except what to bring to add to the snacks, which is probably just as well as I'm sure we were still in shock since it was only a couple of weeks after John had passed away.

I do think this year went well. I read the Declaration of Independence to the kids, we listened to patriotic songs on the computer, had a strawberry/blueberry trifle for dessert, watched the municipal fireworks with another family in the neighborhood, and then walked home and set off our own. All in all a successful day an done I'd like to see repeated in the years to come. I'd just not realized until about half-way through how much John's excitement about the holiday had always supported my own and, with the fact that I'm kind of focused on getting things ready for our up-coming trip, how much quieter I needed the whole experience to be.

We have roses! 7-3-11

2011-07-06T20:02:00.008-06:00

We have bright, wonderfully scented roses now.

This is a more mature example of the type of rose Son and I planted about a month ago. The image is from moonnurseries.com and is of a hot pink "double knock-out" shrub rose.

We ended up removing the two original rose bushes next to the garage as one was a non-blooming climber and the other had some sort of blight that was destroying the buds.

I had only meant to get three bushes, one for the main flower bed and the two for the garage but apparently there was a two-for-one sale in the catalog that I hadn't noticed while purchasing. We found places for five of the bushes by putting three in the center bed, instead of the intended one, and the sixth one we ended up giving to the neighbor across the street who is adding to their landscaping as well.

Sunburn! 7-2-11

2011-07-06T19:43:00.002-06:00

I took the kids to the river yesterday after VBS and let them wade/swim for nearly three hours. Everyone got a little pink but for some reason Eldest Kidlet and I got rather more sun than the others. I suppose the fact that we're the two most likely to stay in doors may have something to do with it as the others were all a light toast color to start with while this is the first time I've had my swimsuit on in almost two years and the younger kids like to tease Eldest Kidlet that she must be a vampire since she avoids the sun so much.

I'm also going to count the trip as an hour of science since we did much observation and discussion among the playing. We observed and identified a female black swallowtail, the iridescent blue bands on the lower wings being the indication of gender. Watched tadpoles in a boggy area as well as competition for a burrow between two crawdads, the challenger being the winner and claiming the burrow from the defender. We also discussed how the bed of a river impacts the rate at which the water flows, as was demonstrated by various fast shallow or slow deep stretches we came across, and how a tsunami is formed at sea by the same general dynamic.

The change in the children is dramatic. Before if they had a question and I said, "Well let's go look it up" their reply was almost invariably,"No, that's okay." Now, they make absolutely certain I don't forget to look up the things we saw as soon as we get home. They're also pulling out the various informative books that they've gotten at book fairs and such but never gotten around to reading and going through them of their own free will. I'm so thrilled to see an excitement and hunger for learning that I have long enjoyed but feared my children would never know

Now I'm nervous! 6-30-11

2011-07-06T19:32:00.003-06:00

I just handed in the kids withdrawal letter to the school administrators and we are now officially homeschooling. Everyone at the office was very nice and relaxed about the whole thing, so that's not why I'm nervous. Also, I seem to be unusual among homeschooling moms in that I have no doubt of my ability to teach my children, so that's not the cause of the nerves either. I do know that I have a lot to learn as I teach them, but am looking forward to the opportunity of understanding as an adult concepts that eluded me as a child. Honestly? I'm at a loss as to the cause of the butterflies. Even so, they're quite emphatically making their presence known.

Where to start?

2011-07-06T19:26:00.004-06:00

There are at least half a dozen post I've started to write in my head over the last week and none actually made it to the keyboard. It's not even that I wasn't sitting here. I was. I just didn't write things as they happened and then the moment seemed to be lost.

I'm mostly writing this post to alert the reader that the emotion or ideas expressed in any of the following posts are the product of the moment in which the given event occured and I'm no longer anxious, glum, etc.

I've also decided to put the relevant date, as nearly as I can remember, in the title line just for this post dump.

Gulp!

2011-06-23T19:59:00.002-06:00

Tuesday and Wednesday I attended my second-ever homeschool conference. The first was in PA when Eldest Kidlet was either an infant or not yet born so it's been quite a while in between.

I'm very proud of myself on two counts. The first is that I bought absolutely nothing on the first day, confining myself exclusively to attending lectures and gathering information. The second is that I took all four kids with me the second day. Actually, they were wonderfully behaved even with attending two lectures and spending several hours on the sales floor. Of course the bribe of a book or art project for good behavior probably didn't exactly hurt.

The "gulp" in the title is that we've gotten the curriculum and are really going to do this thing. Something that makes it a little less scary is that the kids are already showing more interest in what they're going to be learning than they did at any time last year. I just checked the accuracy of that statement with Eldest Kidlet and she says she's "More excited for this coming year than for all the previous years combined."

It's hard to believe

2011-06-16T01:07:00.002-06:00

But today makes one year since John passed away. Fortunately I have the day pretty solidly planned so I won't have much time to think about it. I probably won't mention it to the kids either, although I'm not sure about that.

Change!

2011-06-08T07:57:00.002-06:00

There are some major changes going on at la maisson Mommykitten.

Cosmetically, Son and I have been removing many of the bushes planted by the previous home owner and replacing them with berry bushes, roses, and flowers. I'm also removing much of the volunteer clover to make room for flowers and this makes the neighbors happy as well. It's been a lot of work but will be well worth it if most of the plants survive.

The other major change is that the kids have voted and all would like to try homeschooling for a year. It's something I've been thinking about for a while, but several converations lately have brought the issue to a head. It's not that there's a problem with the teachers, bullying, or poor grades. It's that everytime one of the kids asked about current events, and I tried to explain what was going on, it became quickly apparent that they didn't have the background knowledge necessary to understand the explanation. I could understand a little of that but my going-into-eighth-grader hasn't had any of the international geography and history that I did in seventh grade, and won't until ninth grade. Son has had music class all six years he's been in school and doesn't know who Beethoven or Motzart are. Neither of the two oldest spell well and yet spelling instruction stops after 6th grade. The math and science instruction are respectable but now that all the kids are getting mostly A's they will not be challenged any further, and I know the two younger particullarly can be stretched quite a bit since for them getting straight A's is simply a matter of turning in their homework.

All of that is a long way of saying that the older kid's knowledge foundations need shoring up in some areas while they are being encouraged to stretch themselves academically and the two younger one's need to be challanged to make the most of their academic gifts. This simply isn't possible in a standardized public, or even private, school setting no matter how dedicated the teachers are, and I would like to reiterate that I have no complaint with the teachers just the pace at which concepts are introduced.

Well, we've certainly got the "April showers" part perfected

2011-04-27T19:51:00.003-06:00

I just hope the "May flowers" part works out as well, particularly since I've planted quite a few and don't want them to go to waste. I've also planted peas from seed and lettuce, broccoli, and sweet pepper shoots. Once things are a little less soggy I hope to get some pictures to prove I planted them. For my birthday I placed my first ever seed catalog order for some berry bushes, flowers, and groundcover plants so there should be quite a few changes in the landscape. My goal is to move away from the formal beds that were in place and make them into a mix of edible plants and wildflowers that will be easier to care for, and replace the kitchen herb garden I had in Colorado.

I'm so ashamed

2011-03-27T21:22:00.008-06:00

And I think that's why I've had such a hard time writing this last week. I didn't want to admit that I'd started a couple of new projects without finishing any of the old ones. Now that this has officially become a needle-work blog that didn't leave me much to talk about. In my defense, the first picture is of what will eventually be the inside of my winter purse so it's mostly a continuation of an existing project.

I have less excuse for the second project, although I've been contemplating a jammie holder since Christmas time when I bought the complete Weldon's Practical Needlework series. I would like to mention that I did finish it, in case that counts in my favor. There's no excuse at all for the last project. I went to cast on a ruana I'd been thinking of for the last six months and it morphed into the origami shrug experiment that I'd only been considering for a couple days. It's particularly experimental as my first plan was to use a rectangle and I don't know if starting with a triangle that becomes a rectangle will work right or not.

Hey! Confession is good for the soul. I'm not sure I want to mention the filet curtains I've started to crochet though.

Yep, I still hate the wind

2011-03-24T18:12:00.002-06:00

About the only reason I was looking forward to moving to Missouri was that I figured, admittedly with no evidence, that the wind would be minimal here. It's a good thing there are a lot of nice things about Missouri that I hadn't known about because the wind here is pretty intense when it gets started.

Yesterday was very windy and by the end of it I was a very tense and grumpy mommy. Needing to go chase down the recycling bin, and scattered contents, didn't exactly improve my mood. Ours was the only bin to blow away, and the only one without the lid on so I'm thinking there may be some connection there.

I did it

2011-03-21T22:21:00.003-06:00

I got Eevie a harness and let him take me for a walk this afternoon. He seemed a lot calmer after exploring for half an hour or so. At that time he managed to ooze out of his harness when I tried to get him out from behind a bush I couldn't get to but was content to let me immediately pick him up and go inside.

I also let Son get a BB gun, but he only gets to use it when I'm watching, in fact it will live in my room, or at the house of a friend who also has one. Royal Rangers has a badge for BB guns, which he finds a lovely intersection of something useful and that he wanted to do anyway.

What I didn't do was finish clearing the flower beds as completely as I'd thought as the side beds are longer than I was originally thinking. By the time Son and I had removed six barberry bushes there wasn't any room in the trashcan to do the final long side so I think things will work out well as long as I don't forget or give up.

Inspiration and execution

2011-03-19T19:58:00.002-06:00

This is the beginning of the wall hanging that I mentioned here.

Instead of the three panels of the same motif in different textile forms, which would be too narrow in this case, this will be one of two identical edge strips with a wider floral center. I'm considering having the brown be the base color of the center panel and the design in lighter shades of the colors on the side panels. The colors are a very good match for the existing paint and fixtures as well as the floral arrangement that I added. It's going to take me awhile to finish this since I'm working on it around all the other projects.

Eevie has spring fever

2011-03-19T09:28:00.004-06:00

One of the reasons John chose Eevie at the rescue was that he didn't "dart", try to escape, every time a door was opened. Lately though we've really had to watch him and he's still gotten out a couple of times in the last couple of days.

Whenever he gets out he wanders around sniffing everything he can before we manage to coax him close enough to catch. Once returned indoors he walks through the house "mrowing" and sniffing around the doors. It's as if his nose is telling him things that he has no way to interpret and it's making him sort of nuts. I feel sort of sorry for him, since he seems so confused and unhappy. I'm even thinking of getting him a harness and leash so he can be outside in a safe way, something I've never done with any other cat. Still, can't help hoping this is a temporary rather than permanent condition.

I'm very proud of myself

2011-03-17T20:47:00.003-06:00

No, not because of the cyclamens. That's just a handy flower picture that I took in January or so. I'm proud of myself because I've gotten all the front flowerbeds, five in all, pruned and cleaned for Spring. The fact that it took multiple days but I finished anyway is why I'm particularly pleased.

Where'd all the paragraphs go?

2011-03-16T21:18:00.002-06:00

The title pretty much says it all. I both double-spaced and indented the paragraphs on that last post and Blogger refuses to show them. In fact, the last several posts have been beset by this problem and I have absolutely no idea why or what to do about it.

Alas, poor shower

2011-03-16T20:57:00.008-06:00

Yeah, that's completely out of context, given that I prefer baths and thus don't know the shower well. In fact, if I were having a house built, I would never have sprung for the separate shower, sunken tub, or walk-in closet since I consider all of those a big waste of space. That being the case, my tendency to anthropomorphize things lead me to believe that the shower would, or perhaps should, feel humiliated for now being used as a yarn drying station. Oh, and the cat does have a thing for the built-in seat, so I guess yarn drying isn't it's sole use after all.

The reason I'm abusing my shower this way is that my other option is to wash and dry, outside in iffy MO weather, twenty skeins at a time once summer gets here. In CO this wasn't a problem since I had whole months with little concern about precipitation. Locals claim that should be the case here in July and August but I don't want to be stuck with a huge pile of yarn if that doesn't work out, which has been the case the two summers we've been here. Also, twenty wet skeins are really heavy when they have to be carried downstairs. Hanging each one and then attaching the weights gets old pretty fast as well, especially knowing that it has to be done a couple more times.

I didn't wash my yarn for the first ten years or so that I spun, but I tried it for reasons I can't remember and have never looked back. There's a surprising amount of controversy about whether adding weights to the wet yarn is good or simply stretches and distorts the fibers. I prefer the way my yarn behaves after it's been weighted and figure it's not my problem what anyone else does with theirs, as long as I'm not using it at least. If I used other people's handspun frequently I'm sure I'd find myself developing opinions as well.

Yarn, yarn, yarn, yarn, yarn ,yarn, yarnity, yarn

2011-03-15T21:05:00.005-06:00

This is all my yarn. Okay, no it's not. It's all my yarn that isn't in the bookcase on the other side of the room or currently involved in a project of some kind. So it is most of my yarn. I like having it out and available as inspiration for projects. They're also a good reminder that I already have ten pounds of yarn and should probably look through that before buying more.

I'm quite proud of the bags on the floor, since I made them. As the picture shows, they are color-coordinated to the skeins they hold and sized based on my general use of those colors. I do foresee a potential problem if my color preferences change dramatically, but they're a lot better than the opaque containers and bags that the yarn was in to start with.

The yarn wall represents twenty years of spinning. Most of the handspun is a good deal newer than that, but I just recently washed one of my first skeins and that has to be at least twenty years old.

Well that wasn't particularly pleasant

2011-03-04T20:17:00.002-07:00

This is the first time that I've ever heard tornado sirens during bad weather and I have to admit that it was a rather unsettling sound. It took me a minute to realize what I was hearing and I probably wouldn't have recognized it at all if there hadn't been a test about a week ago. I'm not sure what the criteria is for sounding the sirens so I don't know exactly how bad the weather was. I don't think we had any hail here, although I heard there was some further south, and the electricity stayed on which is certainly the best outcome in the situation.

You're very welcome

2011-03-01T21:36:00.004-07:00

I just got a card from mom telling me how much she likes her vest and that she got a lot of compliments. This is always very gratifying, and particularly in regards to completely original projects that I was a little nervous about.I put up a different photo of the vest than I have in the past since I wanted to show a closer view of the colors and stitch pattern, and there wasn't a picture of it yet on this page of the blog.

Speaking of vests, the right half of Peggy's vest has become the left since she said it didn't matter much to her what stitch I used and I decided I liked the purl side of the work better. Of course I decided this after using a three-needle bind-off, which means a thickish seam, to finish the first half. This meant that I had to put everything back on the needles, turn the work inside-out and bind off from the knit side. The measurements are close enough that I'm fairly confidant of everything working out. The only way to know for sure will be to finish it and let Peggy try it.

Soon my name will be in lights!

2011-03-01T21:06:00.005-07:00

Well, relatively speaking anyway. One of the side-affects of having the camera up and running is that I have been updating my Ravelry project page fairly consistently since projects with pictures are much more interesting than those without. A side-affect of that is my checking at least once a day, and often multiple times, to see how many "views" my various projects have gotten. These numbers often won't change for several days to a week but they can change rapidly as well. I suppose it depends on if a particular project gets a lot of "buzz" for some reason.

There is the option of linking a particular project to any of the groups that a Raveler is in and, of course, more groups linked equals a higher chance of getting views. An example of this would be my "Half-circle thistle shawl" that I linked to twenty groups and have recieved 479 views, 25 "favorites" and six comments in the last app. two years. There is a, fairly new, tab at each project for the viewer to click if the description has helped them in any way and I have three "helped" as well.

Interestingly the shawl pictured above, a half-hex from a pattern by the same designer, has gotten three "views" and one "helped" in the week since I listed it and I haven't linked it to any of my groups. One of the views and the "helped" came sometime today and, since I didn't link it, I have no idea how the other Ravelers have found it. I suppose the most likely way is that they followed a link to one of the other projects, from there to my general page, and then to this specific project. It will be interesting to see if that particular shawl starts to get a lot of interest or if this was a fluke.

Foothandshoes

2011-02-27T18:39:00.002-07:00

Since gloves are literally "handshoes" in German it seems like footgloves is just as good a name for this item as toesocks which is, I believe, the correct name. Eldest Kidlet refused to wear these when my mom got them so I said I'd take them even though, or perhaps because, they are nothing like what I usually wear. In my case they're for night wear and it turns out there's a couple of problems with this. One is that, just as with gloves and hands, they don't keep the feet as warm as a regular sock. The other difficulty is getting the darn things on. Think gloves on half paralyzed hands and that gives a decent idea of the chore it is to get every toe into its proper slot, and only its proper slot. Even though I'm still contemplating trying to knit Japanese style sandal stockings I seriously doubt I'll end up trying to make toesocks.

Nothing to see here, move along

2011-02-26T17:03:00.004-07:00

It's a good thing I put up so many posts when I did. It's also a good thing that yesterday was a snow day. I ended spending most of it in bed with sinus "stuff" that made my head hurt and the room swim if I moved too fast. I was a little worried it was the flu since there was a cough and lung congestion involved. Since I'm about 90% better today I'm pretty sure it was just sinuses.

I got to spend a couple of hours curled up in my new reading nook as well since I got lamps a couple of weeks ago. I need to get a picture of it so Dad can see it since he and Son put the furniture together. The only thing missing is the wall hanging I want to make. I'm thinking of repeating some motif in three different forms of needlework. Right now I'm in the "collecting ideas" stage as I try to decide on which motif and media I want to use.

I -still- remember

2011-02-23T20:45:00.004-07:00

So, this is the nearly completed right half of Peggy's vest and the purse that got me started working on it. Unfortunately, it's difficult to get good measurements for the vest while the work is still on needles as short as I've chosen so I may well get done with this half and find that I have to start over. That's always the price paid for trying something new though so I'm pretty well prepared to deal with the possibility. Mostly I'm just happy that, even with the tightness of the knitting in the purse and the weight of the vest, my hands are still in working order. It's actually a big deal because it's very unusual for me to ba able to do so much work, and spend so much time on the computer, without having to take a lot of down time due to pain in my hands and wrists.

Toward a more tidy purse

2011-02-23T20:26:00.005-07:00

My finished traveling twill notebook sleeve and a crocheted general tidy.
I called the crocheted tidy "Clannad baglet" since I was watching the anime Clannad while I was working on it. I had considered calling it "Sakura" as well because of the pink color and the five-petaled blossom shape created by the top edge.

Thank you again

2011-02-23T20:23:00.002-07:00

Another appreciation gift. This one is made from soft wool blended with an iridescent artificial fiber called Angelina.

About books then, or not

2011-02-22T22:14:00.012-07:00

I didn't end up getting the camera going today either, though I have a lovely excuse in that Eldest Kidlet had to come home from school at 10:00 since she felt sick. Of course that wouldn't have stopped me except that I had the brilliant idea of getting a copy of a picture of Middlest Kidlet and her daddy for her poster, which on second thought meant I had even less reason to wait until she got home to get my photos.

Son finally decided he did want his hair cut so I took Kidlet's picture with us and scanned it at Walgreens. Since it was going to be a while before it was ready I decided to come home and make dinner before returning to get it. Son reminded me right after dinner just like I asked him to but I wanted to finish something I was working on. I'm sure the result is obvious. I remembered at 9:45 that I needed to get the picture since Kidlet needs it tomorrow. This will work out okay, I think, since now they won't have to walk to school. I'll take them, get the picture, and bring it to her before she needs it.

And how all of that explains my not getting pictures I have no idea.

I'm going to add some yarn pictures for color, and so my mom can see what else I've been working on. I wish that Blogger would let me put pictures at the bottom as well since their position is going to seem pretty random in relation to the post. Although, given that just over two weeks ago I'd never added a picture I probably shouldn't be complaining.

Hi world

2011-02-21T21:49:00.003-07:00

Well I didn't get the camera out today, which turns out to be a good thing since I need to get a picture of Middlest Kidlet for her student of the week poster. That being the case, I thought I'd take this opportunity to do an introduction post since it turns out I never did.

My name is Naomi and my family, after the death of my husband last summer from cancer, is Eldest Kidlet, Son, Middlest Kidlet, Littlest Kidlet, Patches the Guinea Pig, and Eevie the cat. When it's all listed out that way it seems like a pretty full house but I'm actually thankful for the kids as they help me keep going without my high school sweetheart and greatest cheerleader. They're also very helpful around the house and such, sometimes even voluntarily.

I'm an avid needleworker (having started when I was about seven), reader, and watcher of TV(particularly anime and mysteries). I am an anything but avid housekeeper, and anyone reading this can tell that my grasp of correct punctuation and grammar leaves a lot to be desired( although the increased time I'm spending blogging is definitely improving my spelling). If it helps any, John said the flow of my written sentences is almost exactly how I actually speak, so a reader is getting my true voice at least.

The name of the blog comes from the fact that I had looked into blogging from the Town Hall site and one of their questions was, "what is your nickname?". I don't really have an official nickname but John called me "Princess", and "Kitten", and the kids were young enough to call me "Mommy" so I ran them all together and decided it was cute, which is important to me for whatever reason.

I'm never quite sure where to draw the line, in terms of net anonymity, but this seems like a reasonable picture of myself without spilling too many beans. Hopefully there will be pictures up tomorrow, or I could actually post about the books I've been reading instead of just writing about them in my head.

Added critter photos taken by Son last week and Blogger won't let me do a paragraph break to say so.

-Yes- I remember!

2011-02-20T22:03:00.003-07:00

Said in the tone of an adolescent asked about a task they haven't done. In this case the vest for Peggy that I mentioned as my next big project and then promptly went on to do scarves and tidies and any number of other things that weren't at all vest related. It turns out that there's nothing like a technically fairly simple, I very rarely do anything truly simple, but physically more challenging basketweave stitch purse to make a technically challenging but quick to work up new design a lot more attractive. Now the purse is probably about 1/5 done and the vest about 1/4 so I guess it's working out pretty well.

I'll add pictures when I do one of my camera blitzes. The blitzes are necessary because brand new batteries only have about a 4 hour life-span in the camera I actually know how to use. With that being the case, I have to get pictures of everything I think I'll need pictures of anytime soon, upload them both to this computer and Flickr, and get the batteries out again in the hopes that I'll get four to six uses from them. I need to get a picture of the latest thank you scarf, called "Thank-you again" tomorrow so it can go to the recipient so I should have a bunch of pictures to add then.

Here it is

2011-02-17T20:23:00.004-07:00

The sad thing is I don't know why I couldn't get to the picture to start with. The computer shop wasn't able to find anything wrong internally, and had no trouble getting a connection there so they just updated the drivers. Because most of what they did was pretty automated they only charged me half their usual minimum fee which I definitely appreciate. When I got the computer home I plugged it in and it picked up the internet right away. So I pretty much paid $25.00 to get myself out the door yesterday, which meant that I dropped off a forgotten lunch, worked out, got gas, and went shopping none of which I had particularly planned on doing. I also found out that the computer is virus free, which is a bit of a relief since I had gotten a bad script from a site last week. It's good to know that I was successful in removing it completely not just cosmetically.

The best things about Missouri

2011-02-16T19:51:00.003-07:00

Now that I've been in Missouri about a year and a half I find that my opinion about the best things here is pretty much unchanged from when we first moved to the area.

One of the very best things about the town we came to is the wonderful lady in the picture. This is Mary Cooper and she is a charter member of the church that I've come to call our Missouri family. Her intense love of the Lord has made her so lively and sweet, even after facing some pretty tragic circumstances, that I can't help but have my day brightened whenever I'm around her.

Mary's a pretty tough act to follow but I think my next favorite thing about Missouri is all the birds. I'd have to admit that there's a bit of a down-side to this as seeing the telephone wires and ground covered in an avian swarm does give me a bit of a "The Birds" feeling , and I've never even watched the movie. Other than that though, a strategically placed hummingbird feeder in the summer and songbird feeder the rest of the year is a casual bird-watcher's dream. In Colorado bluebirds were a once-every-couple-of-years treat while here they're quite common. Cardinals are unheard of there but can be seen, or at least their car-alarm calls heard, all year around. I even saw an oriole last summer, and the humming birds would have what Son likes to call "wing-to-wing combat" over our balcony. I have really enjoyed seeing an unfamiliar bird at the feeder, guessing what it is, and then checking my guess in our bird-book. When I'm right I get a nice glow every time I see another of the same type and if I'm wrong I've learned a new bird. It's definitely a win-win situation.

The last thing I particularly like about this area is the many varieties of plants and flowering trees that are new to me. Of course there's also poison ivy/oak/sumac, which aren't a problem on the front range, but since I'm not the one who wandered into it I consider it to be a fair trade for the trees that bloom all summer long. There are also many wildflowers , and even a few herbs, that aren't found in Colorado and I like finding these as much as seeing a new type of bird. It is a little frustrating that I still haven't found someone in the area who can tell me what a lot of the plants are. I don't know if I just haven't asked the right person yet or if I'm just unusual in wanting to know about them.

Mah computer's sick!

2011-02-16T11:38:00.003-07:00

Or maybe it's a cable. Anyway, it's not talking to the internet right now and had to go to the shop since I wouldn't even know where to start on fixing it. That means I'm writing this on the kids' computer and can't get the picture of my latest finished project from Flickr to Blogger. It's a knitted lace scarf of handspun wool/silk fiber in a couple shades of green. I made it as a "thank-you" for the mother of a classmate of Littlest Kidlet who has been bringing the elementary kids home when it was so cold. This was particularly kind since it involves going a little out of her way each time and I wanted to give her something nice to show my appreciation.

Aaand they're off

2011-02-15T14:09:00.007-07:00

In the mail that is. Mom's gift, Peggy's gift, Judy's gift, and the other copy of my will and trust documents that are going to my sister and her husband so that some adult knows what to do if something happens to me. Oh, and the thank-you cards did go in the packages as well since that way I didn't have to pay for the seperate stamps. In case anyone's forgotten what the presents look like, and because I'm trying to raise internet awareness of my projects, here's a repeat of the pictures. No pictures of the documents though, that would be boring.

Minor projects

2011-02-12T11:05:00.008-07:00

These are the projects I've been working on around the larger projects so far this year. They are all "purse tidies" made with various techniques. Top left-to-right is an entrelac business card holder made with two types of handspun, a self-striping bag for brush and comb, and bottom left is a notebook sleeve in a slip-stitch twill pattern. The first two are finished and the last needs only the final repeat completed and the end sewn.

I got roses!

2011-02-10T19:22:00.004-07:00

My parents are so sweet. These were on my front porch this afternoon. They smell really nice and I'm very glad Eldest Kidlet brought them in before they froze!

A comedy ?! of, well..something

2011-02-08T18:11:00.007-07:00

The colorful additions to my last couple of posts show that everything did eventually work out all right. It was just 48 hours of *head/desk* moments to get there.

Sunday I decided that I would indeed get pictures of the various projects before mailing them on Monday. To this end I got up and went to get the camera, which is where I met my first roadblock. The camera wasn't where I was sure it would be. In fact, I spent the entire rest of the day looking in one place or another as possibilities came to mind. At about 11:00 p.m. I found a camera, but I didn't recognize it and it wasn't in the camera case I was looking for.

The next day I asked my son if he had any ideas where the camera had gotten to, not that I thought he'd taken it, and he showed me the digital that was in the game cabinet. I recognized that one even less, which meant that the one I'd found earlier was indeed the one I'd been looking for. Yes, somehow a person who hates cameras has ended up with two digitals, both gifts (I suppose in the hope that I would take pictures for the grandparents).

What might next have been an obstacle wasn't, I guess something went right in the process after all. I had gotten a big package of new batteries even though I couldn't find the camera. Son and I had a bad moment after putting the batteries in though, as the camera wouldn't turn on until we opened and closed the battery holder multiple times (possibly due to visible corrosion from the former batteries). There was finally a beep and we were able to see the pictures from our last family trip to Yellowstone so I was feeling optimistic.

I was feeling so optimistic that I decided to have Son help me get pictures of items before he went to school this morning. To get started I wanted to upload and check a couple of the older pictures so I sat at the computer and got out the connector cable. I felt physically ill as I realized that what I had was an adapter cable not the one belonging to the camera.

After a bit of muttering and general grumpiness I decided to go ahead and take the pictures, and even let Son take a few of the critters, and just hope that I would remember where the cable could be. Failing a flash of insight I hoped that Radio Shack might carry cables for six-year-old cameras since otherwise our Yellowstone photos were probably toast which did make me sort of sad.

At about 2:00 p.m. today I decided to try the box where I'd found the camera, which is less obvious than it seems since the camera wasn't supposed to have been in a cardboard packing box to start with. To my partial surprise the cable was indeed there mixed in with some of John's old pens and general what-do-I-do-with-this sort of stuff.

Now we'll see what sort of picture taking monster AVI's challenge has created as I use the links between my project page on Ravelry and this blog to let the world know the wonders that are my projects. Bwhahahaha...um..yeah.

Done again

2011-02-05T21:04:00.010-07:00

I was able to finish Judy's scarf today. Staying up until 2:00 a.m. this morning working on it certainly gave me a jump-start. I ended up using a lacy entrelac/modular square pattern that was a combination of my various failed attempts at Peggy's scarf and a pattern from an entrelac book I ordered from Amazon after Christmas. I thought I might need to block this one but it seems open enough, as well as large enough, and the crochet edge seems to hold the shape well. I also don't know if it would be dry in time to mail on Monday with everyone else's items if I were to block it now.

The kids just recently finished their "thank you" cards for Christmas and I'm thinking about just adding them into the various packages instead of stamping them individually. The people getting packages represent 3/5ths of the people getting thank you cards so it certainly seems more efficient to send the cards with the knitting. My only concern is if it would seem rude.

Next up is a side-to-side knitted vest for Peggy based, loosely, on a pattern from Knit Kimono . I've never done a sideways garment before so this will be interesting. Particularly since pretty much everything about the pattern but the general shape has been changed. I need to call and get measurements before I start because I have the feeling that a couple of swatches are going to be needed. Fortunately, the vest isn't a tailored fit but it still needs the length and width to be pretty close to right if it's going to be comfortable to wear.

I was wrong. Yay!

2011-02-04T21:45:00.005-07:00

I did finish knitting Peggy's scarf today and, since I'm not going to block it, I'm done. This is the first time I've made a dove-tail style scarf but, since that's pretty much just a key-hole scarf with two holes in a line instead of just one, it was a pretty basic change.

I'm hoping to mail both mom and Peggy's packages on Monday if it doesn't snow too much. If I were a wise blogger I would have my son get pictures of both the scarf and vest before sending them on. In the highly unlikely event I actually do that, I'll add the pictures to these two posts.

My next main project is a handspun scarf for one of Peggy's sisters who is always very kind and generous to us at Christmas even though she has little of her own. I'm hoping to put all my false starts from the last scarf to use in this one. A savy marketer would also take a picture of this scarf once it's finished. I just need to get my desire to show off to be stronger than my intense dislike of our cameras. Would a rum and cola be appropriate in this situation as well? Somehow it seems unlikely.

One down

2011-02-03T21:28:00.003-07:00

I finished mom's Christmas vest although I am cheating a little as I'm sending her three crocheted buttons and she can choose how many she wants to use and where exactly to place them. Now I'm on to my MIL's B-day scarf which I think I've finally decided on a pattern for. The two ounces of mohair and wool fiber didn't spin up in to nearly as much yarn as I was expecting so I've been trying to figure out ways to add in another yarn, much as I did with mom's vest. Unfortunately, this has led to about half a dozen false-starts and has put me rather behind my hoped-to-be-done deadline, IOW there's no way I'm going to have it finished for her birthday, two days from now, much less sent. I think I've found a lace pattern though that will accomodate the original yarn and still make a significant sized scarf.

Shadow?

2011-02-02T08:59:00.004-07:00

Well, it was sunny here when I woke up. I don't know if Missouri has an official groundhog but I read on I-can't-remember-which-blog that the results for the country was no shadow.

For some reason my attempts to cut/paste the url for this picture are failing. I found it at Bing but the origin is blamcast.net

Poor birdy

2011-01-26T10:03:00.002-07:00

Speaking of birds, we have a large, five pane, bay window that faces our backyard and a sort of greenbelt area. This morning there was a very loud "bang" and I knew that some poor bird had flown into the window glass, which wouldn't be the first time. What was a first was the little ring of white feathers sticking to the glass from the poor thing's impact. I looked and didn't see any birds on the ground, much to the cat's disappointment, so hopefully it will be okay.

Awww, so cute

2011-01-26T09:53:00.006-07:00

AVI of Assisstant Villiage Idiot challanged me to find and post a cute picture. I think the idea is that it increases blog traffic by having something that would show up on a search engine. This particular picture, that hopefully won't disappear, is courtesy of Bill of the Birds and Bird watcher's Digest and represents the two bluebirds my oldest kidlet saw on our own snowy balcony railing yesterday.

Yes

2011-01-25T17:30:00.003-07:00

The answer to yesterday's questions is "yes". Yes, it does work to use the second end of each yarn ball even with three yarns. Yes, it also makes a tangle pretty quick. Yes, a couple of rum and colas, though light on the rum, certainly don't hurt when getting up the nerve to start and yes, I did have to take out a couple of rows due to mistakes but at least there was progress.

That word that means "putting off a task"

2011-01-24T19:49:00.002-07:00

Procrastination. I knew I'd think of it if I got started.

Anyway, the handspun vest I made for mom for Christmas didn't fit. She tried really hard to convince herself and me that it did but before long it became clear I'd need to start again. I'm using the same basic design as for the first but have changed the stitch pattern slightly as well as adding a third yarn to the row repeats.

I worked very hard to from the starting point of the vest to the place where I have to break all the yarns and start on the other shoulder, maybe a third of the entire vest finished. It has now been at least two weeks since I worked on it at all and I'm trying to think of a way to get myself moving again. I'm considering using the second end of each yarnball instead of cutting the yarn, which I think is the cause of my reluctance, but with three different yarns that may well create an incredibly tangled mess.

I wonder if a couple of rum and colas would help me get over my inhibitions or just create a self fulfilling prophesy.

Things I've learned lately

2011-01-24T19:35:00.004-07:00

To start, a couple of episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" followed by five to ten chapters of whichever Dresden File novel I'm currently reading results in really weird dreams.

Second, if you are in the middle of reading an entire series in as short a time as possible and realize that you are missing the next book, which is not to be had at the library, so you order it on Amazon with a couple of other books to get free shipping...it will always take the longest estimated time to arrive even though everything else on the same order arrives immediately.

Lastly, it is not a good idea to used a dagger shaped letter opener on the padded envelope the book comes in no matter how well sealed the flap is. The force needed to pierce the envelope is rather more than is needed to score the edges of the pages.

And the one I almost forgot. The cat who likes to sniff and rub his nose on new books? He will decide that this very special, long awaited book needs his stamp of approval and leave two nice, neat fangmarks on a page of his choosing.

Time gets away from me again

2011-01-11T16:01:00.001-07:00

A very belated "Merry Christmas and happy New Year" to all.

But really, I have a good excuse

2010-10-18T19:51:00.005-06:00

I just realized that it's been over a year since my last post. My computer refusing to let me on to Blogger Dashboard has only been an issue for about two months, which was ironically right about when I wanted to start writing again.

My main excuses are that all last fall and early winter were spent househunting. Beloved and I found a wonderful house the beginning of December and, due to daily phonecalls and a lot of focus by Beloved, we moved in on the 23rd and celebrated Christmas in our new home with my in-laws.

That brings the narrative to the beginning of the year when Beloved started having blinding headaches and noticed a swelling under his left jaw. A PETscan revealed several tumors and he went in for surgery on March 3rd where the surgeon removed three cancerous tumors and a portion of the left jugular vein due to infiltration. Beloved got a month to recover and then started three months of chemo and daily radiation. What nobody knew was that the cancer had spread to his lungs and was growing fast enough that I.V. chemo wasn't able to touch it. Four days after his last radiation treatment I took Beloved to the emergency room because his temperature was climbing. June 16th, after about a week on a ventilator in ICU he passed away surrounded by his parents, friends, and pastors. His funeral was Father's Day after which he was cremated and buried with his older brother in Colorado. Only eleven months after we came to Missouri John had become not just my Beloved but well loved by nearly everyone he had dealings with.

And of course after that my computer quit talking to Blogger and without John I couldn't fix it, but that doesn't seem to matter a whole lot at this point.

Teh Wachel is back!!

2010-10-18T19:41:00.003-06:00

Hooray! Rachel Lucas is back to posting after nearly a year reduced to only tweeting due to having an actual real life.

When the personal becomes the political all the.....time

2009-08-31T09:04:00.005-06:00

The post- before-last is why I finally broke down and started a politics specific blog. It occurred to me after hearing others mourn for the lost, possibly mythical, days of polite and gracious discourse that I knew at least one reason for the loss.

The polite rule for dinner parties and social gatherings was "never talk about politics or religion" and if in doubt speak of the weather or perhaps the other persons health. Well, what do you do when weather is now a religion and health is politics? In fact politics has invaded, or perhaps infected would be more accurate, every part of day to day life.

This brings us back to the post in question. In it I had started to say that when governments ignore the natural laws bad things happen, but changed it to people so as to try to avoid the political. The latter statement is still true, it just avoids the actual point. Which was that a main reason my family was having trouble selling a house was that the market was soft in general. The market was soft not just from the bubble, there had been little actual increase in foreclosures in CO, but because members of the current administration just could NOT restrain themselves from thinking out loud about all the various ways they might fix it without ever making up their collective minds. Just as uncertainty causes volatility in stocks it does the same in any other market as well, and so what should have been straight-forward private enterprise took on political aspects.

I'm going to do my best to keep this blog at the dinner party level but now I have a venue where can at least express the frustrations growing out of a world where everything is political even when I'd rather it weren't.

Webcams

2009-08-31T08:59:00.006-06:00

We now have webcams on both computers and it was easy. It only took a software engineer and a guy with two masters degrees a couple of hours to get it all running./sarc

Actually, they are pretty cool, we've talked to in-laws, BIL, and my sister and her husband this weekend and the in-laws got to see youngest child's new glasses. The seeing bit does seem nicer than just a phone chat for some reason, although it takes our heavy-duty gaming setup to smoothly update the camera.

Now we wait

2009-08-31T08:50:00.003-06:00

The ranch we were looking at has a contract on it now. Someone who wanted it without needing the basement finished first is clearly a better choice for the seller.

We've decided to wait a bit and see what happens with the market. The trailer we're renting isn't bad, except for no overhead light in the kitchen, and current economic philosophy looks likely to cause a continued drop in prices.

Our CO house is scheduled to close Friday and at this point we're very glad we dropped the price and got it off our hands. Finances are bound by natural laws and when people ignore those laws things go badly. That being the case, we wonder if the house would have sold at all this year if we hadn't made it the steal it was. We definitely would have lost the quick sale bonus and the stress of an unsold house 1,000 miles away would have been at best unpleasant.

Wow

2009-08-15T21:03:00.002-06:00

The owner of the ranch style house in the neighborhood we want to live in is willing to work with us to get the basement finished before we buy. This is important because if Beloveds company moves us again they will only reimburse us for loss on purchase price, not any improvements made after. This bit us with our last house as the thousands of dollars we had put into improvements were completely ignored in the loss protection. Thur the available house is of value to us at a higher price if the basement is finished and apparently the owner, a realtor who took the house in trade as part of another deal, wants to get rid of it badly enough to make it worth his while as well. It would certainly be nice if we can come to an agreement. We'll know more once the owner gets bids on the work we need.

Looking further

2009-08-14T19:01:00.002-06:00

The first time Beloved and I put an offer on a house in Windsor we were turned down. We went on to purchase the house we lived in for the five years before we moved here. We also went on to thank God literally every day that we had been turned down because that house was about 100 yards away from what had been a fairly quiet rail-line but within a short time of our moving to Windsor it picked up activity a lot. If we had purchased that house there would have been trains going by several times a day and frequently at night as well.

In a lot of ways we feel the same way about being turned down for the property we offered on. It has caused us to evaluate our needs and consider exactly what counts as meeting them. There is a ranch-style house across the street from the plot we offered on that looks promising.

Interestingly there is another house for sale in a different subdivision that was clearly built on the same floor plan. Unfortunately for the family selling that house, they're asking for more than the newer version in the neighborhood with a pool and park. We feel sort of bad for them, and a lot of sympathy as well since that's pretty much the situation we were in until we gave up and decided to lower the price. As much sympathy as we may feel, we're naturally much more interested in the cheaper, newer, version with more amenities. Particularly since that one would actually meet our needs better than the one we were going to have built. And if we hadn't been turned down for the land we would never have looked at the ranch.

Aaaand...we have not come to an agreement

2009-08-11T19:41:00.002-06:00

The builder's agent says the builder told her that he would be building at less than cost if he took our offer. When we removed a couple of things and added a little cash he still didn't like it. Beloved was annoyed when it sounded like they were asking for more cash and more items removed and told the agent that having done builder's tax returns he wasn't convinced it was as close to the bone as all that. And that's where things are at the moment since Beloved was driving when the agent called and used that as the reason he couldn't talk further. That was probably wise since driving while talking on the phone and being really annoyed doesn't seem very safe.

One of the strangest things about our time here so far has been that when Beloved gets annoyed the situation abruptly changes in our favor. He has been trying very hard to express his displeasure in reasonable words and tones, and usually succeeds, but somehow people seem to be much more willing to work with him afterwards when they were stonewalling before. The irony of the whole thing is that Beloved has always had a temper and has been learning to control it the entire time I've known him. All this sudden positive reinforcement is startling to both of us and worrisome to him.

I wonder if the take-away from this is that it is OK to let people see that you are displeased and have a temper as long as the temper is clearly leashed?

Making an Offer

2009-08-10T17:40:00.002-06:00

Beloved and I have made an offer on a to-build home. The builder's agent is concerned it's low but says it's worth a try. We're asking the builder to come down about $35,000.00 with the options we've requested. Our real estate agent says she thinks he'll come back with a counter offer and then Beloved and I are going to have to pray about what to answer because until the house actually closes there's the possibility of getting stuck with two payments and the largest loan we could get would pretty much be what we have plus the offer we made. We're asking God for favor, but wisdom and guidance wouldn't hurt either.

House under contract

2009-08-09T20:25:00.002-06:00

Not only is the house under contract but we have a back-up offer. It's amazing what a complete exterior/interior repaint and dropping the price $25,000.00 dollars does. Actually, with the loss protection offered by Beloveds company we still end up OK, they take the hit instead of us. The lower selling price also means that we don't have to worry about USDA recapture since there's absolutely no question of our having made a profit. The closing is for early September which also works out well for us as it means not having to make another house payment on an empty house.

The sermon last week was about being loosed from formerly good things that were now hindrances and both Beloved and I felt a strong re-assurance that the house was taken care of. Thus, neither of us are surprised that things are suddenly moving when not much had been happening for awhile.

So many "lasts"

2009-07-16T17:20:00.002-06:00

Barring what at this point would count as a major disaster, we will never sleep at our Windsor house again. We probably won't be eating or doing anything else besides final cleaning which happens tomorrow. The boxing-up company came in today and the moving van comes tomorrow between 8:00 and 8:30 in the morning. Since I'm staying at the in-laws which is 40 minutes away this night owl is going to have to be up way earlier than I like. We're not leaving terribly early on Saturday, and hopefully will have most of the packing of the vehicles done the night before, so hopefully we won't have to get up very early that day.

I've felt rather sick and lethargic all day and was inclined to blame it on not having any protein at breakfast and then mowing the lawn in what for CO seems like pretty high humidity. Beloved says he felt the same way even though he was at his parents and ate completely different things. He says he wonders if it's that we were much more attached to the house than we realized and are feeling an emotional exhaustion due to the huge change in our lives. He was sweet enough to say that these last five years, and the 14th made five years exactly since we'd closed on the house, have probably been the best in his life which gave me quite the warm fuzzy. I suppose it's possible we just caught some virus or something that made us both run down, but I know that even though I'm not a particularly sentimental person I've been doing a lot of " well that's the last time we/I do _______ here." A lot of it may have to do with this having been our home for nearly twice as long as any other place we've lived and the first one where we had any say at all in how it looked. Knowing that the next place we're going to is definitely temporary and not knowing where we're going after that isn't particularly emotionally satisfying, especially since the house we've grown accustomed to hasn't sold.

Countdown

2009-07-12T21:47:00.002-06:00

On Thursday the moving company comes to box up all our possessions and Friday the boxes go in the truck. A lot of people have said how busy they think I must have been until now but I really haven't. Admittedly, without my MIL I would have been a good deal busier, but since she's been doing the kid packing and making Beloveds lunches there hasn't been much for me to do the last couple of weeks. Mostly I've just been helping as necessary, or staying out of the way whichever seems to work at the time.

That's all going to change now. MIL is still going to be helping, but now we're at the point where I'm the one who has to do a lot of the little things, such as washing out trash cans, that need to be done to get ready. I'm also planning on going through my crafts and a lot of general household items to decide what needs to be given away and I'm the only one who can do that.

I seem to have hit a point where the move is almost a relief instead of scary, although we would much prefer that the house was sold. We've known for so long that we "might" be moving that to actually do so is actually the lifting of a mental burden instead of an increase.

Please buy my house!

2009-07-08T20:55:00.003-06:00

Beloveds company has decided to pay for a repaint of our exterior trim and complete repaint of the interior. It's generally been agreed that the new trim will use one of the shades from the brick facade which probably will look nice. I purposely hadn't wanted the trim to blend with the brick, but since it won't be my house anymore it will be okay. Naturally, the interior will be some neutral shade with white trim as that seems to be the "thing" to do. I have loved my colors and will never regret changing from the all white but, once again, I won't be here so it won't matter. It's a little disappointing to me that no-one else has been able to see the vision when so many guests to my home have expressed how homey and comforting it was. At the same time, if we do have a house built we plan on going with what I think of as a "hobbit house" decor. I'm thinking parchment colored walls and medium wood tone trim, although the upgrade trim provided is white so I don't know how to make that work, with accents of the burgundy, forest, and antique gold. It will have a little less visual impact but for a strong introvert like beloved that will make it more restful when he gets home from work, and that's an important thing to keep in mind too.

Interesting Movie

2009-07-01T22:01:00.004-06:00

Just finished watching Something the Lord Made which is about the surgeon, Dr. Blaylock, and his assistant, Vivien Peters, who performed the first open heart surgeries. Since the assistant was a black man and had started working for the surgeon as a custodian between the two world wars as a way to pay for medical school, which as far as I can tell he never got to, there was an interesting theme about the evolving ways they viewed each other over their thirty or so year working relationship.

My main thought on the movie is that it's a good thing they were researching and proving the benefits of their work before the era of the regulatory alphabet and risk management because I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be allowed now. Even if the government did allow it, and since the first surgeries were on children it seem unlikely, not many places would be willing to assume the risk of being sued.

An interesting bit of trivia I had read recently in a Dick Francis novel was that British surgeons were referred to as "Mr." not "Dr." I wondered at the time if that were the case with American surgeons as well. Although, come to think about, it my sister always refers to her surgeons as "Dr.____" and the ENT who did beloveds cancer surgery is "Dr. Smith" so I guess it should have been obvious. Anyway, the surgeon in the movie made a big deal out of being called "Dr." not "sir" so I guess it must just be a British thing to be called "Mr."

The movie was "based on true events" which can mean a lot of different things as to how factual a given movie is. I found it very enjoyable and certainly a good starting point for learning more about the actual historical facts.

IM

2009-06-29T19:16:00.004-06:00

Being dragged kicking and screaming into this technology age . Beloved just showed me how to IM after IMing eldest daughter this afternoon to tell her to ask me to turn on my phone, which was off due to a doctor's appointment. I've actually been quite proud of deserving the name "urban Amish" ever since I nearly laughed myself sick hearing it on Jeopardy. Heck, until I joined Ravelry I had no use for the Internet except to play webgames. Everything changes I guess.

Since he knows how much wasted time I spend at the computer I can expect to get lots of reminders now that he can IM as well as e-mail. Hopefully they will be gentle, but with only a couple of weeks 'til move day, if his company gets its act together, I have to admit that a sense of urgency is starting to develop.

Of Sausage and Blogs

2009-06-28T15:10:00.002-06:00

A commenter on one of the blogs I follow quoted Bismark as saying that "legislation as with sausage should be ground out and gotten out the door." Since I'm trying to remain apolitical in this venue I won't give my thoughts on the legislation part of that. It did cause me to think though that perhaps blogs fell into the same category. After all, it's neither lack of material or of time at the computer that have prevented me from writing the last couple of months. It's starting to look as though what's preventing me is the desire for perfection and polish in the finished post. This causes said post to remain between my ears for ever. Case in point? I read that quote at least two weeks ago, had the thought instantly and am only now writing this.

I suppose the only cure will be to grind out the writing, get it written, and then edit as necessary. Onward, into a brave new future of writing!

Goodbye, perfection! Hello blogging!

Vive le, uhm... how do you say writing in French?

Well anyway, here's hoping.

Let it snow, etc...

2009-03-29T21:52:00.003-06:00

Well, the appraiser was willing to risk the drive from Greeley Friday. He was just 45 minutes late because he had to shovel his walk and such before leaving. Now we have a third realtor coming to do a market estimate and she's supposed to get here at 8:30 A.M. from Boulder. And did I mention it's supposed to snow again? We'll just have to see if she's as brave as the rest have been. Maybe I'll get lucky though this time.

I didn't need oxygen anyway

2009-03-28T20:21:00.003-06:00

So, there I was, two days after a blizzard, with all the windows in the house open and it was all the fault of my new best friend. Who I seriously hope never to see again. Some may wonder what the name of this unpopular friend would be. The answer is Goof-off!

I swear by Dog and a stack of Bibles that from now on that if I paint I will immediately clean up anything that I spill and not leave it on doors and cupboards for four years to harden into colorful little rock streaks. Even with Goof-off the removal process required hours and a huge helping of elbow grease which is causing me to want to fall over from exhaustion as I write this.

My husband, who took the kids to his parents to confine all potential brain-damage to one family member, kept calling throughout the day to make sure I hadn't passed out or anything. He even offered to come back and help me but I couldn't think of anything for him to do except add some muscle and since he's the breadwinner it didn't seem practical to have him losing IQ points along with me.

Fortunately, I'm done with all that. Now I can move on to: touching up the paint in every room, cleaning every room in a way it's never seen before, and pulling all the weeds that missed the memo that it was too early to grow yet. See, nearly done.

Snow Day!

2009-03-26T22:19:00.003-06:00

Since the short types were already on Spring Break nothing much changed for them when the weather report called for 12"-19" of snow in our area. Particularly since my dad was able to pick them up for an overnight at the grandparents as was already scheduled. I did find out tonight though that they almost got hit twice on the way to his house and the drive took half-again as long as usual. This means we're not exactly sure when the kids are coming home, as it completely depends on the state of the roads.

On the other hand, Beloved had intended to go to work in Cheyenne today but decided to stay home after hearing there was a wreck on the inter-state he takes between here and there. It ended up being a good thing because he would have just had to come home as soon as he got there or risk having the roads closed and being stuck there for a day or two.

Since he was home, and the kids were gone after about 10:30 we watched the next DVD of Babylon 5 from Netflix and caught up another six or so episodes of Bleach on youtube. I also got a lot of mending done which is good because I need to move my work basket as part of pre-sale cleaning and anything in the basket that hasn't been taken care of will probably not be seen again until we unpack it in Missouri. There was also the Appraiser visit, which was really good having Beloved home to talk to him, brownie making, and much shoveling of snow. I helped with that the first time, and hope never to again experience the sensation of snow blowing into my ears, but used the promise of nice, fresh from the oven brownies as bait to get out of helping the second time.

I'm rather curious how much snow we're going to get and if the second appraiser will make an appearance or choose not to brave the roads tomorrow.

Clean Pantry

2009-03-25T21:36:00.002-06:00

Too tired to post, but at least the pantry is clean and has just enough stuff on the shelves to look like there's lots of food in there with lots of room left over.

And finally, the knowledge bit

2009-03-24T21:08:00.004-06:00

The subheading of my blog title is "needlework, knowledge, and the thunder of eight not-so-little feet." I've noticed recently that I've posted mainly about family stuff, a little about fiber stuff, and not at all about books or other knowledge gained. Now is the time to fix that.

In a non-book format most of what I've been learning lately is of a political nature and I really don't want to get into that here as that's not the point of this blog. So, although that has been interesting and often enlightening, it doesn't particularly count, even though there has been much knowledge gained. A lot of the reason there hasn't been much book reading going on is that our library was closed for renovations until a week ago. Usually I would have been going to the used book store or Barnes & Nobel and the like but, with my Beloveds doctor's appointments and the oddness that is life after a cancer diagnosis in the family, it just didn't seem all that important. And then, last week, the library reopened.

I checked out four non-fiction books, one American graphic novel, and one manga from a series I'd never read. This is a fairly common amount of books for me to check out as we get two weeks of check-out and a one week grace period. I tend to treat that as meaning a three week check-out, but I probably shouldn't.

So far I have read two of the non-fiction and the manga and started both of the other non-fiction but put one aside when it seemed too depressing to read right now. My Beloved and oldest daughter have read the graphic novel, a compilation of Conan the Barbarian comics from the 70's so I haven't been able to get near it yet. Beloved has also read one of the non-fiction that I've read. It is titled Problem Solving 101 and was originally written in a push for Japanese school-children to focus more on problem solving skills than plain fact memorization. Interestingly enough, he thinks that the book and the corporate training his company started recently have a common background. I'll have to see if I can get the two oldest to read it in the remaining two weeks. Oops, one week and then I renew...yeah, that's the good library patron way.

Fraptious day!

2009-03-23T22:00:00.003-06:00

I have arrived! Not only did I get my first comment from a complete stranger, at least I didn't recognize the name, but a comment I left on another blog was mentioned favorably in a later post by that blogger! It is a strangely heady feeling to find that people I've never met are spending at least a moment of their precious time reading what I've written.

Spring break at the in-laws

2009-03-22T21:33:00.004-06:00

Spring break has sprung for the short types. Given that getting the house ready to sell is the main focus of the adults in our household, I am so glad to be spending the first couple of days with my in-laws. While here I will be getting a break as well. The times that we spend here are generally as close to a vacation as I come. No chores, no meal planning, little to no responsibility of any kind. Heaven, in other words. I do feel sorry for my MIL though as she is essentially getting six children, even if only for a short time.

This is something that I will miss terribly when we move away. In fact, it is one of the few things I come close to actually being afraid about. I have never raised four children without the support of four grandparents only half-an-hour away if an emergency comes up, and such a situation has arisen a couple of times in the last four and a-half years. The meals my MIL has sent for my Beloveds lunches because "there's just so many left-overs" or my dad picking up the kids from school because the youngest got sick in the middle of the day and I was stuck at the doctor's office. All these are things that I tried not to rely on, although the meal thing I did get sort of addicted to, but were a comforting presence in the back of my mind. I've always said that I can do anything I really need to, and I will manage to do this to. I just don't know how yet.

getting ready to get ready to move

2009-03-21T20:53:00.003-06:00

It was only the first step in getting everything ready to list the house and try to get moved out by the end of June and my Beloved and I are both exhausted. It's a huge blessing that both sets of parents came and helped or what happened today may well have taken a week or more, as well as requiring some money to pay to get stuff hauled away and such. I think I have a plan of action for the next couple weeks. Now I just have to actually do the work.

When we got home from church I was noticing how different the house already looked, and not liking the changes at all. Thoughts of "empty" and"soulless" were going through my mind. Two minutes later the kids came in and there were exclamations of "space", "clean", and such. All I can do is hope that potential buyers agree with them and not me.

Darn that blogging challenge

2009-03-20T23:07:00.001-06:00

I have nothing to say to day, but if I don't write something this may be the end of my streak. So, here I am, saying that I have nothing to say.

My blog keeps me from blogging

2009-03-19T22:45:00.004-06:00

There is probably one single factor that interferes most with getting a post in. That factor is...my blogger's dashboard. My dashboard is wonderful. It has the approximately half dozen blogs that I follow all in a tidy accessible area as well as a listing of recent posts from all of them. Thus, whenever I open my blog I am immediately welcomed into a fascinating world of other people's blog posts. Their commenters are generally great as well and that naturally doubles the time of reading. In fact, for the several months in which I never posted I was still accessing my blog every day. To read other peoples posts. Endlessly. And check for comments. Many times a day. Somehow I never quite found the time to actually write anything myself. It was only with the group challenge that I decided to write about whatever I thought and not worry about how bored a potential reader might be. Upside, I have written for four days straight. Downside, at this quality of writing I'll be lucky if I can even get my family to read. Oh well, I guess what's never writ is never read and this way there's at least something for some brave soul to try to wade through.

Old friends and security blankets

2009-03-18T21:07:00.003-06:00

The bamboo fiber I've been spinning has taken me a month or more to finish the four ounces. Even though I love the colors and think I'll really enjoy knitting the project I have planned for it I haven't particularly liked the spinning process. My plan was to put the wheel up once I finished but as I was winding the yarn off I realized that I just can't put it away for what would most likely be several months. Part of it is that I need a low-manual-dexterity activity to offset all the moving stuff I need to do to get the house ready. The other part is that with so much either undecided or completely out of our control I need something familiar and soothing to offset. I hadn't really thought about it before but it's possible that my wheel is my oldest possession. I know that I have several small gifts from childhood but I'm pretty sure that the wheel is the oldest item that I chose and purchased myself.

two blogs and weird games

2009-03-17T21:21:00.002-06:00

Just discovered the problem with having a second, unrelated blog. Had a lovely post going about my new toy, the MMORPG Chore Wars and my plans to get the kids signed up tomorrow, when I realized I was on the wrong blog! I suppose I should be glad I hadn't hit "publish" yet. Anyway, I'm still hoping to talk My Beloved into joining as well since he does a fair number of the chores around here.

Writting Challenge

2009-03-16T20:31:00.003-06:00

A member of one of the Ravelry groups I belong to challenged everyone in the group with a blog to write every day in March. As I rarely check that group, this is the first day I read the challenge. Oddly enough, the reason I haven't been writing isn't that I have had nothing to say. In fact, I have written several posts in my head. I just never got around to putting them on paper, or computer as the case may be.

One of the ideas for starting a post was titled "Blog the Mundane" with the suggestion to blog about something simple like a picture of oneself in ones favorite writing position. The example was, "do you like to blog with your feet up on your desk?" Since there was no picture, I have to admit that I can't imagine using a computer with my feet on the desk. Although, to be sure, that may simply show a lack of mental flexibility that mirrors my decided lack of physical flexibility.

As for my mundane, let's see...The weather was dry and warm, I pulled four bags of weeds in the front flower bed and didn't paint the new supports in the little girls' closet. I put that off for tomorrow and you can't get much more mundane than that.

Catching up

2009-01-30T11:26:00.001-07:00

I noticed that I had a lot of catching up to do from my former posts so here goes.

The commissioned shawl was finished in about a month, blocked quite nicely, payed for promptly, and (I assume) shipped to it's intended owner.

Along with the new windows we now have new paint, and I no longer feel ill every time I see it. Let's just say I learned my lesson about the need to take paint samples outside before choosing colors. I still like the color as it looks inside the garage, but it's a whole lot brighter outside. Fortunately, my husband doesn't hate it. He says it looks cheerful, especially on cloudy days when everyone elses' looks gloomy. Almost makes me wish for more gloomy days here in old CO. Almost, but not quite.

My sister loves her blanket. The colors are perfect, it's soft, wonderful, etc. There's just one tiny problem. Weaving a plaid means lots and lots of ends, all of which are trying to work their way loose again. Need to check w/tri-loom group see if they have any ideas to stop the lil buggers.

Who knew there was such a thing as a "little" cancer

2009-01-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

So. Exactly a week from today my husband will be going into surgery to, hopefully, remove the last traces of cancer from his non-smoking, non-drinking, 34 year-old self. It's a small surgery thankfully, only a slice about the size of a finger taken from his tongue. Amazingly enough, this is a huge improvement over the original estimate of half to a third of the entire tongue.

I have written many posts in my head since the beginning of November when the GP suggested he see a specialist for a sore spot that hadn't healed in several months. Posts about the difference between theory and reality when it comes to not freaking out until the tests are actually run. Posts about trying to tell children about their daddy having cancer,even a little, in words they understand but won't freak them out when all the adults are feeling shocked. Posts about how very glad I am that the man I love didn't wait the year or more that is usual before people seek help for such minor-seeming problems. I just never seemed to find the words to fill an entire post. Or perhaps more accurately, there were too many words and no order to them.

My husband has probably handled things better than I have. He has not only gone about his work as usual, but has also made sure that all the insurance stuff is taken care of. He has spent hours on the phone to make sure everything is in order, and in network. I am in awe of the way he has cared for us while dealing with his own fear and pain.

The prognosis is good and we are very hopeful that recovery will be quick. We also hope to never forget the closeness the threat of loss has brought us. A closeness we may well never have realized without that threat.

3-2-1, and we have Windows!

2008-09-18T08:41:00.003-06:00

Okay, we never didn't have windows, we just have new windows.

After the tornado in May the bottom edges of our two larger windows and top edges of the two South-side windows were chewed up pretty bad by the hail. The insurance adjuster, who on the whole was very generous, felt that only the framing needed replacing. The contractor begged to differ as the design included the frame being welded to the rest of the window, so he ordered new ones which were delivered several weeks ago. Our nice new windows have sat in the garage since as the two disagreeing parties worked things out. On Monday the adjuster and contractor came to the house together for each to try and prove his point to the other and was unavailable I didn't know if all or some of the windows were going in or going back to the factory.

I was going to call the contractor after the kids were at school to see what the verdict was but at 7:30 two trucks pulled up and workmen came to the door. It was possible they were there to replace the gutters, another hail casualty, and when the spokesman said they were the ones who'd replaced the siding that simply told me that they worked for our contractor. The words "and we're here to replace your windows" came as almost a surprise.

Even then I didn't know how many had been agreed on as the South facing ones weren't nearly as damaged. I left to take the kids to school and upon returning found that, instead of the three windows I believed had been delivered, there was in fact a fourth. I didn't want to get my hopes up too high though since that fourth one was to the side which might mean it was going back. Clearly I didn't have any real complaint with that, since I hadn't even known it was there. After all, if the price of getting the other three was returning one I hadn't known about, that wasn't a bad deal. I am happy to say though, that not only are the badly damaged windows replaced, we have a total of four new windows. Every damaged window is gone and in its place is an exact duplicate, just with manufacturer's stickers.

I only have one question left. Does any one know how long I should leave those stickers on? I'm sure they're not like the proverbial mattress tags, but I'd still hate to take them off and find out the information was needed later.

Hey, I know, let's blame the victim

2008-09-18T08:41:00.002-06:00

That's the tack our local news radio, which prides itself on being fair and unbiased, decided to take on the Sarah Palin e-mail hack. While talking to an employee of Politico.com the morning host started making comments to the effect that if Palin hadn't had a private e-mail account it couldn't have been hacked. There was no mention that this was a crime. The host was filling in for the regular duo who are on vacation but it was still pretty obnoxious for a station that prides itself on its even-handedness.
All I can say is that e-mail isn't the only place hacks are involved.

Update: Apparently "blame the victim" is going to be the MSM strategy on this one. There will be no dismay at breaches of privacy, no repudiation of lawlessness, only a "Well, it's not their fault she wasn't doing anything wrong after all" and a shrug. Blech.

Fluffy

2008-09-17T21:48:00.003-06:00

Fluffy the lavender hedgehog. How's that for a low maintenance pet?

adopt your own virtual pet!

Late birthday gifts

2008-09-16T21:29:00.000-06:00

The important thing to know is that the blanket is on it's way to it's new home. The other important things to know are that the birthday it's a gift for was the end of June and the loom it was made on was purchased the week before the birthday.
When my mom asked me a month and a half ago if the blanket would be ready for them to take to my sister on their trip to see her in September I quickly assured her that it wouldn't be a problem. After all, I only had one square of six left to weave and sewing up and doing a crocheted border couldn't take very long. Of course, I forgot to ask when in September, but since everything was going well it didn't seem very important. So, how is it that this last Sunday was spent sewing the last half together and crocheting that border and Monday evening was spent weaving in and trimming ends so that I could take the blanket to my parents this morning? That is a very good question and the answer is, "I'm not sure, but I blame the internet."
This summer I found webcomics and blogs and lost all sense of time. Somehow the day would just evaporate. It would be dinner time and for the life of me I couldn't figure out where the day had gone. My husband likes to tell me that what he has feared has come upon him since he wasn't sure that I could handle high-speed internet with my already poor since of time. I laugh and tell him that dinner 45 minutes late is still dinner. OK, I don't tell him that and I do feel a little bad but I have yet to work out a system by which I can read the things I like to read and still get done what needs done.
The other thing that makes it difficult to finish is that when a project is still in the works it isn't judged on whether it meets its intended function. Large or important projects still catch me with this even though I have been trying to work through, and plan for, this issue. With a small project it's no big deal to take itour if it doesn't work. A large project on the other hand requires copious amounts of tears, chocolate, and occaisionally alcohol, to be faced again and sometimes even those aren't enough.
The good news though is that the blanket, for better or worse, is done and it isn't Christmas yet, which is the deadline my very understanding (because she crochets too) sister set as the time by which she expected her birthday gift. Happy late birthday kid, I love you.

New commission

2008-09-16T21:19:00.000-06:00

I have my first commission in about six months and this one is larger than the hats and scarves I've done so far. A lady that I met at the Rapha brunch a couple of months ago, and whom I had given up on hearing from, Asked me to make a pocket shawl for her mom in Michigan. Of course I'm excited by the project at the moment, since boredom hasn't set in, but, as with all projects, I'm going to have to make sure I finish in good time. That, is the part I struggle with so often. It's particularly important this time as the shawl needs to be done in time to be shipped for Christmas. The color is a pretty red and alpaca's always great to work with so hopefully the enjoyment of the process will help me get to the finish.