Saturday, April 23, 2016

Every Day Is Earth Day!

 My new pedestal sink in the hall bathroom.  Perfect size!
 The new flooring in the hall bathroom!  Perfect!
The bedroom flooring.  Perfect!
And now there is a match of the flooring in the bedroom and bathroom.  No more carpet and linoleum!  That was pretty gross!  Now it is perfect!

My neighbors wanted to get new flooring.  She had already replaced one room-the family room-and she wanted all of it to match!  Of course, I don't understand the matching stuff, but I was the recipient of their old flooring.  What a wonderful gift and a wonderful way to recycle the old. 

We had some major hiccoughs along the way with the contractor company.  What was going to be a two day job at their house and a two day job at my house turned into three weeks.  I will not go into that ordeal.  It will ruin the good feelings I have for my clean new flooring.  I am so happy to have that nasty carpeting up. 

So recycled flooring is in.  I have a bit of work to complete everything.  I need to caulk the baseboards and paint them.  Eventually.  Today I am tired and I am just going to look at the pretty new floor.

I am on the toe of the first sock for my friend OSM.  Her house burned and I can't go to California to help.  I can knit socks.  So I am making the prettiest purple socks that can be found anywhere.  The color is gradated subtle-y from deep purple to a dark burgundy purple to purple to lilac to pinky purple.  Really nice dye job.  The colors are in short stripes that make dashes around the foot instead of stripes.  I love it.

I also started knitting a blanket in a striped chevron pattern.  I like it too. 

So maybe my knitting blahs are abating.  I did get the pattern booklet from Shetland for The Fair Isle Fisherman's Kep Pattern.  I am kinda getting excited to start that.  I want to finish the socks first.  Of course, I am thinking of colors and imagining the colors I want to use.  When I get to actual color choosing, it will all be different anyway.  I am thinking I want it made with handspun.  I don't know, tho', I have a whole lot of Shetland Spindrift.  Hmm.....  See how this works.  A lot of thinking and thinking to do. 

I mowed the yard last evening.  This is the period I call creative mowing.  This year I have left patches of bachelor buttons, but they are few and far between.  I don't know why that is.  Some of them have spindly stalks and look sad.  So I guess attrition has reached that population.  The hollyhocks are not doing so well, either.  I don't know why.  The Solomon's seal is doing great!  The irises haven't bloomed yet.  The comfrey is doing exceptionally well where I moved it last year.  It is quite happy.  I noticed the catnip has a bunch of little black bugs on it, and it is also covered with lady bugs.  I can't spray it with the lady bugs there and Noodles eats the leaves regularly.  The tansy is now officially gone feral.  The mugwort is not as thick as it has been in the past.  The lamb's ears I got last year are exceptionally happy.  The Echinacea and the coreopsis are slowly growing along.  I haven't seen my milkweed this year. I don't seem to do well with that.  I had an exceptionally pretty display from all the violets this year.  I know that a list of all the plants would bore anyone to death. 

It is such an odd Spring this year.  I don't know yet how that has affected the plant population. I have something new in the weed world this year growing in the back yard.  It grows thickly and quickly.  When I mowed it last evening, my eyes burned and tears streamed down my face.  My mucus membranes were telling me pepper plants of some kind.  You know that feeling you get when you are processing hot peppers and want to get the seeds out?  That's how my eyes were feeling.

I have gotten about two-thirds done on the second bobbin on the spinning wheel.  I am spinning some pretty blue targhee.  I will probably have enough to do something with when I complete it all.  I think there is close to eleven or twelve ounces of wool to begin with.  I divided it into 6 balls to make three skeins all total.  I'll see how it turns out.  While I was sitting patiently (not) during the flooring ordeal I was able to spin and listen to an audiobook. 

I have a new phone.  So great!  Another computer to deal with.  It is amazing what one can do with a phone!  Mine is just an entry level phone, but it is more than I can deal with most of the time.  I haven't figured out how to access voicemail.  That's the only glitch-so far.

Well-off to knit a toe.  I am taking it somewhat easy today.  I had a restless night, and I awoke tired.  Noodles is so insistent that I feed him and open the damn door-right now!  It is almost time to think about some lunch.  I am eating a lot lately.

Oh-I had the echocardiogram this past week.  I will have to wait until I go to cardiologist to find out the results.  Since he took me off statins, I have been feeling really energetic and almost normal.  Yay!

I am still walking on the treadmill daily-except on the days I do a LOT of yardwork. 

So lunchtime.  Yum!  A piece of chicken is waiting on me.