So Much To Do

Holy smokes, it has been so long. I apologize to my faithful follower. My justification is valid, I promise. My darling husband, the love of my life, left for basic training on April 29. Before that we spent a bunch of time cramming to get the house put together before he left. Since then I've been staying with my folks while the drywaller is in there making a mess. So, it's relatively justifiable, at least I think so. I have a ton of things in the works, a handful of Etsy custom items, so it has been kind of fun. I'll post some pics later, but for now I'll leave you with a skein of yarn I dyed about 3 weeks ago.

The Damage

I dyed a skein of yarn in the morning before the destruction and mayhem began... Coleus. It's waiting for reskeining and I'll post a picture then.

Photos of the damage done yesterday...

Here are my new stairs.

Apparently they *almost* didn't get done "in time" and he almost called me to tell me not to come home last night. But he got them done. The first thing he said was, "We made a lot of progress, it's looking really good." So I said, "That means you ripped a bunch of things out." He didn't argue.

That's my son peeking from the upstairs set of stairs onto the main level. The other pic is my daughter in the kitchen while I was on the stairs. Obviously we don't have risers yet. Ds was a little cautious coming down the stairs this morning. First he called me to carry him down because he wasn't sure what to think, but then he traversed by himself.

But oh, man... you should SEE the DUST!

I can't understand why it's everywhere. The dining room just isn't that close to the stairway. I suppose it's between the living room and kitchen, but still. Dust EVERYWHERE. And I'm not real excited about it.

We've got a couple piles of debris as well. This one is in the addition, it's the sheathing, etc. from the outside of the house. We have to use the other door because there's too much in the way of the door.

And this one is in the basement. I'm particularly not excited about this one. If you walk down the stairs into the basement (directly below the see-thru stairs) this is on your left. It's what is left after he got ahold of the block wall with a cement saw and maul.

This just scares me because there's no longer a door at the top of the stairs so no way of keeping the kids on the main level. Our stairs go down and turn to the right, so this is right to the left of the landing. They could just hop right off into that. I doubt they will, but if you're a mom you understand. Moms have unreasonable fears all the time.

So that's where we're at. Dh just got home from drill, he said he mopped everything last night, so all this dust was just lingering in the air and settled while we were sleeping. That makes me feel a little better at least. :) He has already cleaned off the dining room table.

The additional space will be nice when it's done, and boy... will I be glad! I think I need some knit therapy. I got a great big bag in the mail yesterday from a mom on DiaperSwappers I'm trading with. I'm knitting her and her girls some slipper socks and she made me a knitting bag. I need to fill it with yarn and go someplace for some knit therapy. That'll make me feel better. Actually, I don't have time for knit therapy, I've gotta hit the sewing machine. 4 diapers to make by Friday, that's my goal. They don't take long, I've just gotta convince the kids that sewing is a good idea. They seem to like my attention. :)

Why I'm Not Home

Call me crazy. I'm not at home, I took the kids and left to my parents' for the afternoon (and evening). I think I'm a pretty reasonable person, and think I have been a very supportive wife lately. Our house is under some major construction and my darling husband has been doing most of the work himself. He's a busy guy. If you've been reading long you know he's a firefighter, which he does on top of his "real" job. So he's busy. He's also a carpenter and does residential remodeling for said "real" job. He goes into people's homes, tears out ugly and icky things, and replaces them with pretty and nice things. This is where the conflict comes in.

I'm a saver. I'll admit it. I prefer "saver" over "pack rat", because I'm not quite to pack rat level, I get in moods where more things end up in the trash, but reusing whenever possible is important to me, for budget and environmental reasons. Dh isn't a saver. He's a thrower. "What is this, I don't know, I'm just gonna throw it and pretend like I've never seen it if she asks." Part of this I think is because he's used to doing what's easier, and he doesn't foot the bill. And there's something to be said about the price of labor, it often costs more in labor to have a guy reuse a door in a new location than it does to put a brand new one in because reinstalling a used door is labor-intensive. Well, labor is free in our case, materials are what we're paying for, which really is beside the point. The only way this is relevant to why I'm not at home is because he's a carpenter and used to ripping people's houses apart and they're okay, and even excited about it.

Me... not always. I was okay with him waking me and the baby up early this morning with noise. I dealt with him ripping man-sized holes in every level of my house.

I even quietly went out to our (detached) garage and found the fan, opened up windows, and ventilated the house when we couldn't breathe from all the exhaust from the gas powered cement saw. I got a little frustrated when I was sweeping up 40 years worth of dust that fell out of the ceiling into my living room after he tore the drywall out (overhead in the picture above), but the last straw was when he started ripping the stairs off. Yes folks, ripping the stairs completely off to rebuild the stringers. With 2 small kids home. See, when you're working on someone else's house, you communicate with the homeowner on what is going on. They're given a schedule and the lead carpenter tells them what's going on. "So, Mrs. George, this week we'll be breaking holes from the house into the addition so we can get things prepped for the electricians. Oh, they'll be here next week." The problem is, Mr. George is both lead carpenter AND homeowner. This means the homeowner is fully apprised of all aspects of the project, but many of these details elude Mrs. George. Why, might you ask? Because she's busy caring for 2 small children, working part time, trying to run her own small business, and frankly just can't nurse a sleepy baby while hanging siding.

They'll supposedly be done by tonight. If I have to walk on stringers (the part that the treads sit on) to get up to my bed tonight I'll not be a happy lady. You still think I'm reasonable, right?

Procrastinators Never Prosper... Especially in a Snowstorm

We had the strangest weather yesterday. Yes, I know, I live in the Midwest. The weather isn't predictable and often is kind of nasty, especially this time of year. Yesterday was a prime example.

It started out raining in the morning, and turned into sleet and snow pellets. I looked out the window a bit later and it was snowing, only not the soft, fluffy kind of snow, but the heavy, wet flakes that come barrelling toward the ground. It was an angry snow. I looked out again later and it looked like the snow was pretty much done, the sun had broken through and it almost looked pleasant outside. Then it started snowing again and blowing. Swirling, twirling, and COLD.

See, I had to run to the store. I wanted to dye some yarn and get a few other things (like toilet paper, which we were COMPLETELY out of). I also had to return a movie to Redbox. I kept putting it off thinking I'd maybe get the neighbor to watch the kids for 20 min while I ran to return the movie, aah, no, I'll just bring them. So of course I waited and put it off, and by the time I decided I should really go, we were in the swirling twirling freezing cold portion of the storm. If I just would've gone earlier I wouldn't have frozen my little toes nearly off, and I probably wouldn't have had to fight with the car door, which was frozen shut. Good and solid, too. I'm the type that wears flip-flops all winter long, if for nothing but the convenience of slipping them on and heading out the door. It was so cold, I got the kids loaded up and came back inside to change my shoes. That *rarely* happens. Of course I couldn't find both tennis shoes, so I settled for my Keens (mine are lime green), which are also sandals but at least have the toes covered.

So we went shopping, bought brat buns, bread, toilet paper, squirt bottles for holding the dye, and got to the saran wrap. In my head, "Hmm, so 'they' say not to get cheap stuff. There's this, or this. Only two choices? Well, I do have some at home that worked fine last time I dyed. I'll just use that." Check out, run to car, go home. I get myself set up to start dyeing, get out the cling wrap... not enough. Seriously, I was like 6" short. I probably would've skipped the store altogether if it weren't that I wanted to dye up a colorway I had in my head, dh was at work, and I had nothing better (read *funner*) to do. So, I ran over to the neighbor's and borrowed hers. The battery on my camera is charging, so I'll put up a picture later, it turned out okay for my first attempt.

Funk

I'm in a bit of a funk right now. I have a few projects I need to get done but I just don't have any desire to work on them. Plus I need to come up with some new ideas for the March stocking (book theme), but I'm coming up empty. Well, nearly empty.

I did whip out a felted purse for a friend of mine in a few days. Easy fast knitting. I'll post a picture when I get them uploaded. It was some kind of magic pulling it out of the washing machine, seeing it all small. I had checked on it a couple times before, but still. Knowing it was done was exciting.

We have some life changing decisions to make here in the next week or so, so pardon me if I'm a bit on the sloth-ish side. I think I am just being overwhelmed and therefore having a creativity block. I'll still take any creative pants suggestions. I think I'm just going to use the leftover yarn from the felted bag to make a pair of stripey longies for the second pair. Argh, I never posted pics of the first! Well I'll have to get on that when I get home...

Life as it happens

I'm afraid I don't have much to report on right now. I'm in a bit of a funk and it's cold, really cold. Well, I guess it's warmer now, 12F according to the MSN toolbar I somehow acquired. I've been seeing little traffic on the congo and not sure what direction to go. I have a hat I'm knitting for a trade for some wetbags (yippee! no more plastic shopping bags for dirty diapers!) and doing a cat sweater for another customer. So I've got a few things in the gauntlet and I really need to get a few patterns written up. I'm surprisingly excited about the cat sweater. I'll post a picture of the hat I'm knitting too along with the grief it's giving me (well, it's just huge, that's all. I'm duplicating a picture with fair isle designs and either it was knit at a much smaller gauge or out of dk instead of worsted. It almost covers my eyes and I'm about to start decreasing for the crown.)

Speaking of patterns, I'm semi-in-love with this hat pattern I've been working on, "Intertwined". I charted it out months ago and just never got to the actual knitting part. Here it is mostly worked up:

However, it's much too small. Not sure what I was thinking, but I've got to rip it out and reknit on larger needles. Such is my life these days. Anyway, I'm excited about it. I just have to figure out how to get it charted so someone else can duplicate it without spending a fortune on charting software. I have found one free online charting program and once I get the crown figured out I'll probably give that a whirl.

I still need to get Tweets written up and name that other washcloth. You'd think the dead of winter would be wonderfully productive knitting and designing time, but unfortunately the cold and dark tends to also suck out motivation.

Why it Smells Like a Bonfire in My House

Finally, I fixed the pictures. I think. (2/16)

So here you go, my bonfire story:

We got home last night from my parents' house just before 10pm. I was working on winding down the kids and getting ready for bed when dh decided to start a fire in our fireplace. We have lived in this house since April 05 and have never had a fire. We have had two kids born here, one in the dead of winter, and we've never used the fireplace. It's not because I didn't want to, on the contrary, I would love to have a big fire burning and keeping us warm. But my darling husband has been holding out that someday we'll get a gas insert.

So needless to say, I was surprised when he cleared the candles out and started piling up kindling. He got a flame going and it looked like this:

He went outside and got some logs and it looked like this:

After 20 min or so, it looked like this:

Yes, that's snow. You see, it apparently isn't wanting to draft properly and my upstairs was looking a bit like this:

And these pictures are after I've already opened windows and let it ventilate for a bit. When I went up for these I could actually see without my eyes burning. He was so frustrated, he was snapping at the kids (it was after 10, they were tired and cranky... so was he) and immediately got online to find out what he could do to fix it. Keep in mind now, my husband is a firefighter. Wouldn't it have been nice if the neighbor's called the FD and said it looked like our house was on fire? Not so much.

We have decided to keep it wood burning, because I figure if the world all goes to crap at least we can chop down one of the trees in our yard and keep the kids warm.

So, it smells like a bonfire in here today. :)

Dishcloth Stress

Okay, so I'm not quite to the point of "stress" yet, but I'm getting worried. I knew this would happen... I'd lose steam. So I picked up a bit yesterday and knit 1/2 a washcloth. I've gotta get cookin! I just have so many things I should be knitting right now. Cabled vest, longies (I'm on the second leg at least... bottom up), glittens, bag, and some Christmas presents yet undecided. Well, being busy is good, right? The difficult part is the weekends are full for a couple weeks so I can't just sit around and let someone else watch my kids while I knit all day on a Saturday. :)

I *Heart* My Postal Worker

This is a little late, but I left the post office so frustrated on Wednesday, which I guess isn't a first. The post office is never a "fun" place to go, but this was even better than normal. First off, look at the right side of your screen. See where my "profile" information is? What does it say... oh yea, mother of 2 kids is mentioned, right. Well, to specify I have a son who turned 3 last week and a daughter who turned 9 mos this week. So they're pretty little and oh let me tell you I LOVE carting them to the post office of all places since it's my favorite place to go on a day off.

So we walk in, there's one guy ahead of me in line and 3 postal workers helping people. So it should be quick, right? Then the dreaded happens... when it's my turn one lady goes into the back, leaving 2 postal workers. There's Dan and another-lady-who-shall-remain-unnamed. Guess who opens up? The Unnamed. Now it shouldn't be too bad. I have 2 priority mail packages to send out that are all ready to go (thanks PayPal!) and one box to send off.

It was a scarf for Mandi of Yellow Brick Lane, we did a scarf swap on a board we're on and we ended up eachother's partners. It's knit out of Cascade 220 Heathers and is the Reversible Cable Rib Scarf, a new pattern I'm almost done writing up. (She likes it.)

So anyway, back to the post office. So I walk up to Ms. Unnamed. And she has a reputation. She's ... s l o w ... I mean... ... s l o w . But it's okay. I only need postage on one little box, should be easy. So I hand her the package and say I'd like to mail this First Class (I'm cheap). She says "Is there anything liquid, fragile... blah blah blah inside?" No. "Would you like to mail this Priority Mail? It'll get there a couple days sooner." Um... no. I said I wanted to mail it First Class. (She got it today, by the way.) "Would you like insurance or delivery confirmation?" No. "Okay, it'll be..." I think it was like $2.53 or something. I tell her the others are ready to go and hand her my check card. She hands it back and asks me to sign it. Um... it's signed. "It's faded. I need you to sign it again." Remember the part about me having two small children? Well let's review, one is 9 mos so where do you think she is? Yep, you've got it... in my arms. So I juggle her around and REsign the dumb card. I figure, "Well, she watched me sign it so she can just watch me sign the paper and we'll be good" because I'm irritated with her for making me resign it in the first place because if you looked closely and squinted a little you could still read it. I put the card back in my wallet, zip it shut, and she says, "I haven't run it yet." Um, what? Why didn't you run it, have me resign it, and then just let me keep it? Why hand it back to me, have me sign it, hand it back to her, run it, hand it back to me to put away and then hand me the receipt to sign and hand back to her? Um... seem a little redundant?

Anyway, I know it's stupid but I always think it's completely asinine to have me sign the card in front of them. If it really were stolen, well now my version of Jane Doe's signature is on the back of the card. But, Mandi got her scarf. And in her exact words, "It is so squishy and nice." Yep, I rock. As long as I mail things from home.