I Am So Not Happy!

FROM THIS:

TO THIS:

So the morning started out okay. The installers arrived, they prepped pretty quickly, they removed the baseboards, they were ready to go. They started opening cartons of boards, and one of the men started nailing with a specialized nail gun. This is bamboo. I stayed in my studio and worked in there for the most part.

I realized the gun was not making noise. One of the men came to the doorway and states they have a problem. It appears the nail gun had burst its seal. They would have to find another gun. I did mention this is a specialty gun, too, didn't I? After many phone calls, they locate one. Off they go.

Okay-fast forward to 12:30 pm or there abouts. They are eager to get caught up with the job. The nail gun is working nicely. I am spinning away, thinking that I hope they do a nice job instead of a fast job. Then I notice the nail gun is not making noise.

So after I finally get up enough nerve, I ask "What is the problem now?" It appears the flooring company did not mill the boards correctly. At some places there was a teensy gap that was noticeable. And they had to stop before going any further and a supervisor had to come out and look at the problem. In the meantime they dry fitted some of the boards and it was the boards, not the leveling of the first row.

So a long time later the supervisor arrives, takes several photos, talks to the guys, barely looks me in the eye as he apologizes, and assures me the mill will have to expedite the correct boards, and they will have to inspect the boards to make sure this is not going to happen again. So now I am looking at another 10 days of waiting while my house is all torn up.

But sadly, they have to tear up all the work they had already done. Including the barrier cloth was rerolled and put in the trailer. So I did ask what they were going to do with the torn up lumber, and they said they take it back to the store. They put it away until they work out what they will do with the mill people. Then probably it will be tossed in the dumpster. What a waste. I think they could be used by someone for other projects. The unused lumber goes back to the mill.

Anyway, enough of a rant. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it. So just move on. SIGH!

Life Goes On-Doesn't It?

O.K. I understand that creating chaos is good. I understand changes are good. But I am tired. I declared yesterday an official rest day. I did not do anything but rest. Oh-I did a load of laundry. I took out the trash last night for this mornings pick-up. But those are mundane every day chores that have to get done. Oh-yeah-I did the dishes last night. I only did a little knitting on my traveling sock. I could not think to do the lace on the sleeve of the sweater.

I did a crappy job of painting on the hallway. I will have to go back and fix that. Of course, I am realistic that the installers will pretty much make a big mess and I will have to do touch ups anyway.

I have to feel for the kitties. At first when I started moving the furniture out, Noodles freaked. He would walk into the living room and look around and look at me. I assured him we were not moving, and that this was only temporary. When I started painting, they stayed in the studio, which is pretty much as normal with the clutter and smells, etc. Night before last I left the doors open in the extra two rooms where everything is crammed in. When I went to look for Baby yesterday morning, she was nowhere to be found. Until I peeked in the extra bedroom and there she was on top of the pile of coats. Yesterday Noodles sat in my lap pretty much the whole time I was sitting in the one chair I have left in the living room.

So they will freak out tomorrow when the installers arrive, start making lots of noise, and they are strangers. I am sure they will hang out with me in the studio. I have a plan to watch a movie and spin. I want to finish the yarn I started ten days ago before the insanity started.

I have a few chores to do today, but I am ready to get this job finished. I am still getting seed catalogues, and that puts me in the mood. Only 24 more days until Spring arrives! I really do get outside and start cleaning the yard in late March. I am not going to go crazy this year. I only have one big flower bed I want to make. But I think I am more into the maintenance part of the yard this year. I want to plant some dye flowers, too. But otherwise, I am not going to put in vegetables like I did last year. That was pretty much a bust. The potatoes did the best of everything. Oh-the early Spring lettuces and spinach did well, too. Maybe I can do that much. I like my early greens.

So, I have to get moving to get the chores done. I have to get the recycling box out to the street. Have a good rest of the week. I am glad I did not commit to the Olympics this year. I got interrupted with this floor deal. Maybe that's my commitment instead of the knitting. Talk at ya later.

We Are On The Downhill Now!

Don't ever, ever get too glad that it is not doing something wintry outside. Because as sure as you think it, the world will plunge into an abysmal snow/ice mess. So..... quietly each day I thank God that the light is changing again. There is a feeling of "something" in the air that is promising. The bird songs are changing. There is just a different "feel" outside. Yes, it is still February, and yes, we still have two more months of uncertain weather. Yes, there is promise of maybe a sprinkling of snow tonight. But my hope is still there, with my faith that this will soon pass.

On the other side-where have I been. Right here in the house tearing everything up and making chaos. I have finally decided-it only took 18 months-to put down flooring in the living room and hallway. I finally took the plunge and a deep breath and called for a measurement and estimate of cost. I put in my head a budget, and when it came in under that budget, I ordered it. I am also saving about $250 by tearing up the carpeting myself and the tack strips. My friend CF says, "Well, as long as you have about a week to wait for the flooring to come in, why don't you paint?" That made sense.

So fast forward to my standing in the paint store with a silk pillow case that I am trying to match. I am terrible about choosing paint. I like the little chips, or sometimes the bigger chips, but on the big ole wall, it is not what I want. So I got one gallon, started on the foyer entry, and I liked the paint a lot. Of course, the sun was shining and it was very pretty. The next morning, all bleary-eyed, I did not like the paint at all. It was so dark. Then the sun shone on it and I liked it again. So I started on the living room. It seemed such a change once I started on the big walls. I finally had to tell myself that "This is it!" and just remember that there will be flooring, furniture, paintings, and it will not be just one big ole wall standing out there.

Well, I am now onto the hallway today. I took a day away yesterday. I went to the spinning guild's meeting. I won the door prize-a cute little cross-stitch picture of two sheep. It will look really cute in my studio room.

My house is a total wreck. I was thinking of Grey Gardens last night. My house is not dirty, or flea-ridden, or in total loss. It is just crammed with stuff that is not in the part of the house that is being remodeled. I retreated to my bedroom with the portable DVD player, and I sat in bed knitting and watched a movie. See where the Grey Gardens idea comes from.

I tried to get a picture of the paint in the hallway or living room. But the color does not come through with my little camera. Just take it from me it is pretty.

It is raining today, really cloudy and dark, but the birds are singing. So I guess I will join them and know that things will change soon enough. Somewhere in all the mess, I have my catalogues that assure me that I can have such a lovely garden this year. I will just progress one day at a time. My floor is in, and tomorrow I will call to schedule the installation. I have a friend that will come tomorrow with a pickup truck and a crow bar. The carpets will be gone tomorrow and I will be ready. We will make a run to the dump to get rid of all the reminders of allergy-laden carpeting, and all the other stuff in the yard that I want to get rid of too.

Have a good week. The next entry should be a little less home-wrecking. It should be full of fibery goodness. The Olympics are not over yet.

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

Knit your hearts with an unslipping knot." -Antony and Cleopatra, William Shakespeare

I know everyone is glued to the Olympics. I had a few tears at the opening ceremony. It was really pretty. The special effects were amazing. It really looked like whales rolling across the floor. And it was really sad when Georgia's team came in with such solemn faces and trying to look okay with everything. It was touching that they got a huge response from the crowd.

Apollo Ono is amazing-he's cute, he's more grown up than the last Olympics, and he is a better athlete.

The moguls were amazing. It just hurts my legs and hips to watch them.

So how's everyone's knitting? Isn't it just astounding how many people are knitting along with this event? How does one relate this to the muggles that just don't realize what a power the knitters' of the world have? I mean-The Yarn Harlot has over 2000 people world-wide signed up for hers, and I have no idea how many are signed up on Ravelry sites. I lost count of the teams.

I know when to stop knitting for a while. Friday night I dreamed I was doing some sort of puzzle thing-like a matching game. It was knitting related. I was stumped at one point, and suddenly this woman with a distinct French Canadian accent said, "Well, you can do a Brioche stitch here, and that will solve the puzzle." and then she performs the stitch. I told her I couldn't see how she did that, so she did it again. It went so quickly and it was complicated what she did. So yesterday, I did not knit one stitch, except for a few rows on the traveling sock while I was in my meeting.

It seems at this moment all my friends are having troubles with parents. I am surrounded by friends who call me to tell me about this, and it just seems everyone is having a problem at the same time.

I also had a dream the other night about some weaving that seemed to be a possibility to me. I have ideas floating around. I just haven't acted on the ideas yet.

So just a quick hello. Nothing too new going on. Have a good and happy day today.

It's Time For Olympics!

I am not a fan of the cold, cold weather. But I love to watch winter sports. I used to cross-country ski-the skis are out in the shed-but I could never accomplish what these athletes do. I found myself in a training session for master rowers in Boston one summer a long while ago. The coaches were Olympic rowers and trainers. So it was tough on me. I am a lazy person, and I do not do well with pushing myself hard to do something that is going to cause pain. I survived it, and I learned a lot about the sport and the people who are serious athletes.

The Olympic athletes I have met, and the master athletes in other sports, are SERIOUS! They train very hard, they work very hard, and they get used to a lot of pain. It is still sad to learn that already one person has died on the luge course today.

I will be there watching the opening ceremonies tonight. I thought the Beijing stuff was a little over the top, but what can one say about a country that is number one in most everything except people skills?

I thought about the different events for knitters starting tonight. I did not join in any group. The Yarn Harlot has gathered a mighty group, as has Ravelry. I decided that it was best for me just to continue chugging along with my projects as I watch the events.

I have swatched for a sweater that I want to make with my Jacob handspun fleece. I have gauge, and I did a cable to see how it looked with the yarn. I have not made a sweater in years that requires it to be sewn together in the end. It will be more fitted, and I am trying to deal with that issue as it occurs.

The other night I decided to cast on one of the sleeves to see how it would go. I like to start with sleeves. They are smaller, and more manageable. I did a provisional cast on with a crochet chain. It is the way I learned years ago, and I am changing the pattern to knit the hem in with the live stitch. I like that finish better than a sewn hem. After the picot edge, I tried to see the yarn live stitch, and it was so hard to find and pick up. So I ripped out everything and decided to start over.

Today Knitting Daily has a tutorial with Eunny Jang showing different provisional cast on stitches. So I am trying the one where you use the cable on a circular needle. It was a little futzy at first, and it was difficult to do the first row. Hopefully it will be easier to add the live stitch when I get to that point of the hem.

Tomorrow is our weaving guild meeting. CJE is coming to my house and we will go together. She is a little frazzled, and needs some down time. She needs to be with her "people" that talk the same language.

Last night I had a dream about weaving stuff. I am now more motivated to finish up what I have on the loom. I have a purpose for it now. I like it when I get an idea and it stays in my head and it just percolates and pops and jumps around.

So have a safe weekend. We missed the latest snow mess. It stayed south and dumped on the Ouachita Mountains instead of us. Whew! Hopefully that is it for a good while. One weatherman reported the other night that El Nino patterns can stay around a few years. I don't think I can take this kind of winter every year for a while. I had to explain to my brother about what global warming has done to the weather patterns. And why we are getting such wild fluctuations due to global ocean changes and air flows.

So on with the Games! If you are on a knitting Olympic team-good luck! I hope you win a medal. I am going to just compete with myself. May the Games begin!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my older brother's birthday. He is so happy to finally be 65 and is getting Medicare now. It was a struggle keeping his job and maintaining a positive attitude when the world is getting crazy. But he held on, and now he can finally make plans for retirement.

So Happy Birthday. I know I sent you an email, but this is a nice surprise too, huh?

Guess What? More Snow!

This is that pretty kind of snow-wet, sloppy, fluffy, and sits so prettily on trees and things. Right now there is no ice, so roads are clear-just wet and yucky. I am sure they will freeze tonight, but right now traffic is going pretty good.

This is a shot from across the road and across one end of the ravine.

This is across the road at my neighbor's entrance. Isn't it pretty?

So guess I will continue on my spinning project. The birds are fed and are grazing nicely. No need to go out any more.

I Saw Some Color Somewhere Today!

41 More Days Until Spring!

Yes-more snow is predicted tomorrow. I am not even going to comment on it.

Today I saw my first bluebird and a meadow lark. It was memorable because it is nice to see the colors in this bleak, gray, blah day. The meadow lark was especially pretty with that golden yellow that is the color of goldenrod flowers.

After my company left I did sit down to do my Sunday spinning. But I decided to just go lie on my bed and read. I am almost finished with a book, and you know how mysteries are at the end. I just want to read it until the conclusion of all this mess that has created. Usually then I don't want it to end, but they always do.

I got a cute email from one of my girlfriends today. But for some reason, the picture did not copy over. But here are the words:

National Girlfriend and Sister's Week I am only as strong as the coffee I drink, the hairspray I use, and the friends I have. To the cool women who have touched my life. Here's to you! National Girlfriends Day If you get this twice, you know you have more than one girlfriend. Be Happy! PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR GIRLFRIENDS

It is good to be a woman: 1. We got off the Titanic first. 2. We can scare male bosses with mysterious gynecological disorder excuses. 3. Taxis stop for us. 4. We don't look like a frog in a blender when dancing. 5. No fashion faux pas we make could ever rival the Speedo. 6. We don't have to pass gas to amuse ourselves. 7. If we forget to shave, no one has to know. 8. We can congratulate our teammate without ever touching her rear end. 9. We never have to reach down every so often to make sure our privates are still there. 10. We have the ability to dress ourselves. 11. We can talk to the opposite sex without having to picture them naked. 12. If we marry someone 20 years younger, we are aware that we will look like an idiot. 13. We will never regret piercing our ears. 14. There are times when chocolate really can solve all your problems. 15. We can make comments about how silly men are in their presence because they aren't listening anyway. Send this to all the bright women you know and make their day!!!!!

The picture is an older woman smoking a big cigar, lounging across a doorway with her foot up on the side, and there is some kind of red thing on top of her head. She wears big ugly black glasses.

So have an outrageous week wherever you are. I am going to be home spinning, knitting, or something. I wonder how much it would cost to buy a second home somewhere warm? HMMM! Yeah-right!!!

Only 44 More Days Until Spring!

I LOVE my new sock blockers that I got for Christmas. This is my first try on them, and man!, they make the socks look good after they are blocked! I am sold on them!



Okay! These are the January socks! They are made from Zauberball, and I love this yarn. I did not get a matchy-matchy pair, but close. I did a three-purl spiral around the leg and the top of the foot. I LOVE the way the colors bled into each other and did not create a hard stripe line. The first sock had one hard stripe line when I picked up the gusset and started around the top of the foot again. But the second one still had the softer gray that did not look as hard.

See-not identical twins. But close.

This is my DUH! project. This is my yarn blocker made of PVC pipe that came from a pattern in a very old Spin-Off. If anyone is interested, I can find the copy and give you dimensions. Anyway, I have always had a little difficulty keeping it together, and it is a pain to get the skeins on it and set up. I almost always do this on my deck or my screened porch. You know, for dripping. Well, obviously, it is very cold outside. The last batch I did on the blocker froze. Okay, what to do. So I put it in the bathtub in the hall bathroom, and it is a tad-bit wonky! But it did the job without a lot of mess on the floor, and now I have nice pretty skeins of blue/green/turquoise yarn.

Now this is my February sock(s) started. The pink is my real project that is going to be a gift. I don't think that person reads my blog, so I am safe. It will be a plain-Jane sock whose pattern is in my head. Easy-Peezy-knitting. Should go pretty fast.

The one on the left is from my left-over Zauberball. I thought-just make a pair of baby sockies and then put them in your give-away box. Well, I swear I had some extra red from the second sock I knit for myself. I cannot find it anywhere. So this will probably end up as a Christmas tree ornament. The last choice I would make, but hey! you only have to knit one!

I just had a power surge that blacked out everything for a while. So I will quickly wrap this one up and get it out to the world. Sigh! More snow tomorrow and a bigger chance on Monday. This is one whacked out winter! I am almost ready to move south-er.

I also have a Toyota matrix. My older brother sent me three emails yesterday with concern about the recall. The last I heard I didn't really have to worry. Then last night I found a news report show on cable that really got me worried. So I guess I will make a trip to my local Toyota place real soon. I will keep you posted. One interview last night was with a person from a car magazine. He said that several brands of cars-not just Toyota- have a problem with the gas pedal. He said that yes, it is a problem that needs to be addressed. But all the makers of cars with the problem need to be targeted-not just Toyota. Well, that's a comfort, huh? Sorta, kinda, like the terrorism thing. The bad guys are out there, and you better watch out! I guess it's the old "keep them in a constant fear state" issue that has always bugged me about "them".

We still have patches of snowy-icy stuff on the ground. I did slide down yesterday on the sidewalk ice as I was headed out the door to go to the spinner's meeting. Today is a light rain and it is cold and yucky out.

We had a very good spinner's meeting. I met some new folks. Someone once said that coincidences are a way for God to remain anonymous. Well, I met a visitor yesterday that has my first name, is named after her grandmother(as I am) with the same name as my grandmother, from the same place in Oklahoma that my grandmother is from, and they have Choctaw blood. The stories were almost identical. What do you think about that?

Well, before the power surges again, I am going to finish this out. I got an email of a poster that is available on etsy- Keep Knitting and Stay Calm!

The Sun's Shining!

My poor kitties have cabin fever. They did go out a little bit on Friday during the snowing, but they have not been out since. They go out the kitty door to the screened porch, sniff the air, hunker down and watch the birds, and then come back in the house. This morning they ran up and down the hallway, chirpling, and hissing, and acting like bad kids that are cabin locked.

We probably got about 6 or 7 inches on top of the ice. Nothing has melted yet in the yard. The street is somewhat passable, but there hasn't been any plows up here. I think they are primarily trying to get major routes taken care of.

I think our minds are tricky things. I normally don't go out very much during the week. Maybe once a week to the grocery store. I try to eat out that day also. I go to the knit group on Thursday night if the weather cooperates. But I began to feel "trapped" yesterday. I walked out a little bit during the last coupla days, but really it shouldn't be any different than normal. I guess it is the fact I really cannot go anywhere right now. On regular days, I have a choice, and I generally choose not to go out.

So yesterday morning I decided this was a Sunday like all other Sundays. I turned on NPR and sat down at the spinning wheel. Once my programs were completed I turned on podcasts on ITunes. I finished the blue yarn, and I am now almost plied. Once that is completed, I can skein it, block it, and then fret about what I am going to knit with it.

I did a load of laundry this morning, and that needs to be completed. But I think today is going to be "Finish the plying day". I will try to get out to the store this afternoon after more melting on the street. I am out of birdseed. They are frantic.

Happy Monday! Have a good week.