9 months

It's like an overdue baby around here.

I don't do overdue. The nesting instinct kicked in. I scoured the bathrooms, sorted through the piles that have accumulated in the kids' rooms, and sorted through most of the huge mess of odds and ends that ended up in my closet. Most of it is being donated. I am being brutal with my clothes.

I decided that I'd rather have yarn in the closet than clothes that remind me I am much chubbier than I should be. I kept things I loved when they fit, and will love again when I am back in them. Everything else is being set free. Maybe it's the loss of so many things I would really like back that has made it easier to get rid of things I don't love. I also know they will be much appreciated and well used wherever they end up.

Today I will be back over there touching up paint in PeeWee's closet so I can start putting things up on her shelves. I also need to get cracking on Big Brother's room. I am making a run to pick up all sorts of cleaning supplies. I am ready to get the floors all mopped. The bathrooms were all scoured yesterday. It was such a psychological lift. We're really moving home soon! I have to keep reminding myself of that.

I have not picked up needles. My brain is too scattered to actually knit. Which means I should definately knit. I have something fun in mind for my exchange buddy and am hoping the yarn store is open so I can get what I need to get started on her... shhhhh! I'm not telling. I love surprizes for people. I love the idea of something for her home. I want to make something very warm and fuzzy. I did dip into the yarn stash at the house but the perfect thing was not in there. A sweater that survived (even though it was dangling right over the water) did suggest being ripped out to be remade into what I'm planning, but some part of me thought better of this. Too much ick factor there. I am going to use it for something for Big Brother's room- just make sure it's good and felted. He'll probably think it's funny.

The cookie spoke

I love fortune cookies. They just say it like it is....

The best I ever got was 'your everlasting patience will be rewarded sooner or later'. I'm still being patient. I carried that in my wallet for years and wish I had never lost it. It may have disintegrated when I think about it...

The end of the marathon

It has been busy in the flood zone. My One and Only replaced the molding around the windows, patched and sanded it, so it's ready for painting. The baseboards are ready to go in, too. The crown molding is still sitting in the hall. I can't wait until everything is installed.

The plumber is coming sometime next week to install the hot water heater and lundry room sink. If I am lucky, the stove will have arrived and we'll get him to hook that up as well.

The cabinets arrived yesterday- they are so good looking. Some of it was a surprize- the hutch we are putting in pretty much a complete one, except we had picked the color. I had no idea what the knobs looked like but they are really nice. The other cabinet latches are very slick, though they are nothing like what I had pictured. In this case, surprizes are good. I like it. It's hard to believe I am going to have a kitchen again. Or that we will be home very soon. Such a huge relief. And very exciting!

Granny went by and checked out the paint colors- she approved. She asked My One and Only what we were doing with furniture and he just gave her a blank stare. He just knows what is on his list. She brought us a pillow she needlepointed for the house before the flood. I love it! The monkeys are furry!

I have been working on the ugly socks. Determined to finish them. Very slow knitting. But they are remarkably comfy, so I have that incentive to get done. But really... are there uncomfortable hand knitted socks? Even ugly ones?

Wires and paint and the stomach bug

It has been a long eleven days...

Both Granny and GrandDad had birthdays- Happy Birthday Mom and Dad! I think it's sweet they have their birthdays 8 days apart. Granny loves that 8 days when she gets to remind him how he's a year older.

PeeWee had a visit to the cardiologist which was okay. A few issues we need to deal with. I am waiting for them to tell me what's what though. They just tell me to treat her like a normal kiddo so I am. She was hooked up for 24 hrs to a portable heart monitor which was a mess. The cardiologist said we might not get a reading since she might mess with the wires. As anyone with kids or who's ever spent more than 10 minutes with a 19 month old can only imagine, she was delighted that there were little wires attached to her. Once she discovered she could also remove the electrode stickers it was all over. I removed the whole setup and packed it away when she was sticking the electrodes to the carpet. I knew it was a lost cause. The doctor's office hasn't called wanting a redo so I hope they got what they were looking for. As you can see, she was loving the gadget!

Big Brother is out of school for the summer! The week of exams was nuts. Without consulting the eternal school calendar I made all sorts of lunch-time plans. Meetings involving busy people who couldn't reschedule any time in the near future. Lots of scrambling to get places on time. Cranky exhaustion. Not pretty. But we survived, and the buzz of the alarm is a sound quickly fading from my memory.....

Not that I am sleeping much anyway. Yesterday PeeWee spent the morning very sick, poor thing! Stomach bug. I spent the morning trying to contain her to a towel or blanket that is easily washed. She felt pretty bad so it wasn't too hard. I felt so bad for her. She seems recovered today though. Big Brother had it a few weeks ago. Hopefully it will bypass the rest of us!

The rest of the time I am not sleeping because I have the to do list for the house repeating itself in my head at odd hours of the night. Must get the dining room painted. #1 on my list. I have been told the cabinets are coming tomorrow, although I have yet to hear from the delivery company. The dining room is where we plan on storing them until they are installed the beginning of June. I got up early and left My One and Only with PeeWee and got to work. (Big Brother was at his grandmother's house.) I put two coats of the red paint on the dining room and one coat of the blue-green on the entryway walls. I love the colors I have chosen! Very happy with the way the house is coming out. I may never have baseboards but I have color! (Back that up- I do technically have baseboards, I got them for Mother's Day. Getting them installed may never happen.)

Built in appliances, sink and all that, are supposed to arrive with the cabinets and next week, the robin's egg blue refrigerator and matching range. How I miss that fridge. I am just not European enough to want to live out of a dorm refrigerator any longer. It's done it's duty and I will gladly retire it to the back room, to be used if we ever have guests.

Not much knitting here lately. I finished the back and one front for the Kool-Aid sweater. I started one sleeve, too. The yarn for the Rockin' Socks Club came too! It's so pretty. I like knitting with the yarn, but that last colorway was so not my style. I am being good and still working on them though. We call them the ugly socks around here. Very slow progress. It's hard to knit something you don't like the color of. The pattern is nice though. The pattern is part of my Aha! moment with cables, so they are definitely worth it.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there. I have had a good one so far. My One and Only brought me these roses and I thought I'd share them with every body. Big Brother and Pee-Wee made me a card- awwww. Nothing like a home-made card for mother's day. My parent's sent an orchid. They do every year and until Katrina I had a pretty good collection of them- actually completely neglected and reblooming. I am glad to start a new collection with this one.

On the knitting front, I got my Rowanette exchange buddy and I am stumped. Not much info was shared on what she would like, so the choies are endless! I am going to dive into the stash and see what I can knit up for home and hearth (this year's exchange theme) Should be fun! And I was itching to start something for the exchange- good timing. Not that I need a new project, but now I have something with a deadline to get working on. I seem to be so much better at finishing things when I am giving them away. I wonder what that says about me.....

Violet?

Yarn on sale is good. Yarn color names can be deceptive. Yesterday the mail brought a nice tidy box filled with yarn. Yarn called violet that's very magenta to my eyes. I like it though and now I need to figure out what to do with it. (Yes- there are two types of yarn there.)

I want to do something with cables... I feel so clever. I figured out traveling cables. Now, I know if I had just been able to read and follow a cable chart I would know this by now. Some part of my brain has to make 100's of mistakes before things sink in. I have made some of the ugliest swatches with messes of stitches all doing things they just don't have a right to do. Things that make you scratch your head as you unravel knitting. Maybe I am discovering a new technique that hasn't turned into a trend yet, but as many times as I have tried fancy cables that combine knit and purl stitches in the cable none have turned out looking like anything you could do anything with. But this morning the knitting gods were smiling on me and it all made sense. It just worked.

Maybe it was because Pee-Wee was otherwise occupied. She's playing artist today. It's fun to watch her. If we have time later I want to pull out the markers and see what she'll do. I love little kid drawings- loops and scribbles that only a mother can love...

Yarn and children do not mix...

Yesterday Big Brother put a basket of works in progress down on the floor while looking for something and Pee-Wee got into it. Lots of damage in very little time. Oh well. I shouldn't be knitting with such small needles anyway..... And I wasn't sure about those mittens. I think I will just rip it back and pack up the yarn. That's one way to shorten my list of things to finish this month!

Another pair of socks!

Since I have convinced myself we're in the homestretch with rebuilding, Big Brother and I have been cleaning the house. He wanted a new skateboard so he's working it off with a mop. I was pleasantly surprized to find that the sheetrock dust wiped right off of the finished stair treads. They look great. We're back to a no shoes except downstairs rule. And no shoes anywhere after the painters are done. I still need to mop up the dust upstairs, but it's all vacuumed and clean(er). The plan is to be home before June. I am meeting the cabinet installer this afternoon to get things squared away with him. Hopefully we'll have cabinets installed by the first week in June. I've been told I'm getting baseboards installed by My One and Only for Mother's Day. Not going to hold my breath because he's been under the weather this week. But, that would make me the happiest mom around.

The orange socks are done. They are so comfy that I'm wearing them even though I have the A/C running. I think I am going to knit a hat top-down with what's left of the yarn since I have no idea how far it'll go. That way it'll fit whoever has the right sized head. I cast on the Kool-aid sweater. Even though I told myself no more new projects until we're home. I guess I figure finishing two things somehow lets me start something new. I also finished a blue cotton kerchief. Double points for that project- it was leftover yarn. Not sure it'll ever see the light of day but I may use it to keep my hair out of my face aound the house. There's a good chance it'll go into Pee-Wee's dress-up box.

oooooo color

The yarn experiment went well. So well in fact that we went out and got more wool! And found some leftovers. And tried a wool/acrylic blend. It was very fun. Definately a good project with the kids. The colors are so much more vibrant than I was expecting. I think we should have used more Kool-aid with the sock yarn though. I thought we had enough with 5 packets. I like the way it is knitting up though. The areas of white and the lighter colors make it a little easier to look at. Kool-aid makes some bright yarn!
I really can't wait to have a finished project. I need to do a little math, but if there's enough for a loosely knit sweater, I may make one for Pee-Wee out of this yarn. It is so cheery. Just has her name all over it. I am going to have to hide this yarn so I don't start another project. At least until the orange socks are finished.

I have to say my favorite color is the cherry red. The berry blue is a close second. We tried pineapple and mango and they were just about the same shade of yellow.
Then I got a little anxious that the yellow wasn't bright enough and went to the corner store where they only had tangerine. I thought that would be the same color- it was more orange than yellow, but it works. Happy with the results. And I got a 'this IS really cool' out of Big Brother. He wanted to try mixing all sorts of colors. We saved one ball of wool for him to use later. He can knit himself (or Pee-Wee) something with it. A fruity smelling something. The whole place smells like hard candy. But that's a huge improvement over the wet-sheep-covered-with-Kool-aid stink we had for two days while the yarn dried!

Yesterday was a big day for Big Brother, too. It was Tom Sawyer Day at school, so they got to pretty much play hookey on a field trip. It was fun. I brought Pee-Wee and we joined them for a picnic lunch. Then we went off on a driving adventure, passed the lighting store a few times, called Onstar only to find we were sitting at a light right in front of the place. Usually happens that way for me. I wonder if they get a prize for helping the stupidest driver. My brother (Happy Birthday!) has asked me a few times if I really use Onstar. Yes, I do. I need someone to tell me I am where I should be. But- I got the fixtures and the electrician is headed to our house. We'll have kitchen lighting. One step closer to done. Yesterday we had shutters installed in our bedroom. Very finished looking.