Just another weekend post

Yesterday ended up being a ridiculously busy day, and it totally started out in a Murphy's Law sort of way. As I was getting out of my car at work, at the ungodly hour of a quarter to sunrise, sans caffeine, and juggling my large purse (mom-bag), my even larger coffee cup, and my soda, I fumbled my keys, and while trying to recover them, ended up dropping my soda. Sodas don't lend themselves well to 4 foot falls onto asphalt. And so there I stood, in an absolute shower of sticky soda, getting sprayed from head to toe, and soaking wet. What do you do? I cursed, picked up the now empty can, and slogged inside trying to figure out what to do about my situation. Too late to drive all the way back home for new scrubs, and no way I was going to be able to wear these, I went diving in the closet, hoping to find something at least relatively matching and in a size that might fit.

I managed to find a green top and green pants-- not the exact same hue, but close enough, and only one size larger than I usually wear. So, looking all wrinkled and frumpy, that's how my day started.

Then it just got better as I came home and got to mow the yard in triple-digit heat. Not so bad, except for every time I took a break to drink some water and sit in the shade for a few minutes, the darn thing wouldn't start back up. What's usually a 45 minute to an hour job ended up taking about 4. But it looks better out there, and I'm not going to lose a small child in the overgrowth now. :) Seriously, it's hard to keep the yard trim and neat when it rains every day after work. And true to form, just after I finished mowing, it stormed again.

In other news, I also have my first 'real' transcription job, and had to get it done yesterday, too. The transcription part isn't difficult at all, it's getting my templates set up so that they are identical to what the doctor is used to having. This isn't going to be a permanent gig, but if it works out and I do a good job, there's potential there for it to turn into one eventually. The girl that does the transcription for our office is on vacation this week, and so they've asked me to do it for her, instead of waiting for her to come back. I'm not looking to take anyone's job from them, but I'd really like it if they'd consider me for an in-house transcriptionist instead of sending out all of the reports. I could have a much quicker turn-around time-- same day even. Keeping my fingers crossed.

And finally, not really feeling like making a huge production over dinner, and yet absolutely starving, I made a big pot of chicken soup, using up some leftover rice from dinner earlier in the week and some other veggies we picked up at the produce store. It was warm and delicious, and a perfect dinner, despite the heat outside. There's just something so yummy about a big pot of homemade soup. And I'm thrilled that J agrees.

Today we're going to head up to Michele and Thomas' house to hang out for a little while and throw some ribs on the grill. I had to call my Dad to get instructions on the proper method, of course. No one I know can make ribs as yummy as his.

And finally, we're in the final week of preparation for J's birthday. I can't believe my little baby is turning 4 already! I know every parent says that every year, but truly-- where does the time go?

Instead of a big birthday party, we decided to take the money we would have spent on decorations and invitations and food and renting a place (since our house just isn't big enough) and we're going to the Nick Hotel in Orlando for a few days instead. The parents will be meeting us there, as well as the nephew and my sister. There's so much to do on site that I don't know if we'll end up going to one of the theme parks, or just enjoying ourselves there. Either way, it'll be great.

Spring bug

I still owe a post about our vacation, baby sister's graduation, and all the other stuff we did while in Tn, but since I haven't uploaded any pictures from my camera, it'll have to wait a little longer.

Instead, enjoy this post, void of pictures, where I simply ramble about everyday stuff.

Ever since we returned home, I've had the urge to clean and organize the house in a way that I haven't in years. Seriously. Years. And I never really realized how much of a pack rat I could be until I started emptying out my closet.

And since I'm feeling quite ADD at the moment, let's talk about the closet. But before I tell you about the closet, I have to tell you about my crafting area. You see, I never do much in the way of crafting because I lack the space to spread things out. We don't own a single table, aside from J's little folding kiddie table, so it makes it difficult to do things like cut out fabric, or attach a ball winder and swift in any sort of decent fashion. If I want to sew, I have to place the machine on a tv tray, and cut everything out on the floor. Not ideal at all. Then add to that, the fact that when I'm done, everything has to get returned to their respective closets and cupboards. It's hardly worth the hassle most of the time.

That's when it dawned on me that my closet would serve as a perfect small craft area.

The Layout: Our closet is a large walk-through closet. You have to walk through it in order to get to the bathroom on the other side. On each long wall are the usual clothes bars and shelving that you find in any closet, and right through the middle is just an empty walk way. One side has sliding glass doors to conceal the contents and the other is just an open area with the bar and shelves running along the top.

The problem: I hate cleaning out closets, and I'm no good at getting rid of things, even when I know that they're useless to me. Hubby is even worse than I am. On my side (the side with no doors) there were clothes ranging in sizes from 22 all the way down to 8. Probably 95% of the stuff taking up space in there will never ever be worn again. Hubby's side-- pants ranging from 30s, all the way to... ahem... he doesn't want me to divulge, but let's just say 'larger'.

The Plan: I started thinking the other day-- if I cleaned out the closet and got rid of all the stuff in there, we could fit all of our wearable stuff in one side, opening up a whole bunch of space. If I cleared up the side without doors, I could fit a sewing table in there, and use the bar for some of those hanging organizers to store my yarns, fabrics, etc. I could also line the top shelf with bins or cubbies of some sort, and have an actual craft space. Sure, it'd be fairly small, but it's a whole lot better than what I've got now.

So, it was just an idea until I opened up a Joann's email and it contained a 40% off and a $5 shipping coupon. Deal sealed. I'm making a craft room!

In the past three days I've hauled three enormous bags of clothing out of the closet destined for Goodwill, and two more have gone to the shed filled with winter stuff that we won't need for another 8 months or so. I've also packed a box off to my baby sister, which I hope she'll find useful and wearable. If not, she can always pass them along to someone else.

It feels good to declutter and get rid of all that junk, and I'm so glad I found a good reason to get my butt in there and do it.

Today J and I met up with Michele and we did some knitting while J played on an indoor playground, and we also did some shopping. I bought a slipcover for the couch. Yes, it's a fairly new couch, but I've learned that tan microfiber does not hold up well under the stress of a drooly child and two big dogs that sneak up there when we're not home. One of the cushions is lopsided, and not in that butt-print sort of way-- really lopsided, and Kelli has loosened up a seam across the back from standing on it to look out the window when we're not home. So, a slipcover will give us a bit more time with this couch before chucking it to the curb in disgust. I will never buy microfiber again.

But the big thing of the day, and perhaps the greatest mother's day gift I could ever receive is that while I was out having a blast- hubby was home cleaning his fool head off. Seriously. I know. He scrubbed the orange hard water stains out of the bathroom, steam cleaned all the carpets, cleaned the bedroom, and also steamed the couches. It looks almost brand new in here, or as brand new as a house can look when it's full of kid toys and dog hair. Makes me almost enjoy being home.

The garden is growing daily, the flower beds are colorful and full of life, the sidewalks are edged and the yard is clean. I'm almost tempted to invite everyone over, just to prove that I really don't live in a total dump.

Catching my breath

Yes, it's true. Vacation is over for us. We arrived home last night, just in time to catch a few hours of sleep before I had to go to work today. Since then it's been a whirlwind of things to accomplish-- mainly getting the dogs home from the kennel and restocking the fridge a little.

On top of that, we're having to shop for a new washing machine. Ours is on it's last leg. It still washes, but refuses to rinse, so it's pretty useless. Man! If it ain't one thing, it's another.

And this week is "Teacher Appreciation Week" at J's school, so I just had to whip up a little goodie for him to take with him tomorrow for his teachers. I also picked up a couple of little things for the classroom that was on his teacher's wish list. I feel like a bad parent, not having the time to sit down and do cute little hand-made cards and stuff, but honestly, I just don't have it in me. J hates to color, and has no interest in making anything, and it's not worth the fight to MAKE him do it. So, it's homemade cookie bars from him. Good enough, considering I've been on my feet for almost 20 hours straight now.

More upbeat stuff to come, I promise, including some pics from our trip and a brief narrative. But first... a shower and some sleep!

Almost no knitting

It seems like forever since I've managed to update any sort of knitting content. I've been working on the ballet cami that I was supposed to be knitting, oh, about 6 months ago. I'm done with the waist decreases, and starting in on the increases. I'd share a picture, but I haven't got one. Besides, it's an uninteresting to look at purple blob right now. I do have my concerns about this pattern, though. I prefer my clothes to not be clingy. You know, hide the middle parts, etc. Even knit using a larger size than necessary, it appears pretty small and clingy. Yes, I do realize that's sort of the intention of the pattern. If nothing else, it'll look great as a shell underneath something, I suppose. Or I'll find it a proper home if I really won't wear it.

The reason there's been so very little knitting is quite simple. Time. Some days I feel like I haven't got time to even sit down. I'm on the go from the minute I roll out of bed at some ungodly hour (and I'm not a morning person), until my head hits the pillow at another ungodly hour.

Throw in a lot of gardening that needed to be accomplished before the plants died, and an impromptu plumbing job, and that's about all the excuse I need.

Yes, lets talk about plumbing jobs.

Hubby is not the most industrious person in the world. It's not that he's lazy, he's just difficult to motivate at times. He's slow and meticulous, and it takes him darn near forever to accomplish something that I could do in about 15 minutes. So, when he said he wanted to work on the flower beds, the skeptic in me rolled her eyes. But how do you discourage someone from doing something like that?

So Sunday, when he went out to finish the last of the straggling flower beds without prompting, I was quite amazed, and decided to stay inside and out of his way. Yes, I'm a hover-er.

All of a sudden, from the other side of the kitchen window, I hear a string of bilingual foul words, followed by a loss of water at the kitchen sink. Who knew that the main water line from the well ran directly through that flowerbed? Further, who knew it was only about 2 inches underground?


The hubby has bad karma. He cracked it with a hoe breaking up roots.

So it was a quick run to the hardware store to repair it, lest we be without water indefinitely. Ummm... not an option.

Neither of us have ever repaired plumbing before, but it seemed simple enough... Cut out the broken piece,

(notice hubby doesn't seem very amused)
fit in a new one, some of that blue goo to hold it, and viola! Fixed pipe.



Of course, I covertly made a quick call to Dad while hubby was at the hardware store just to make sure we were on the right track. Thanks Dad! and shhhh... don't tell Wil!

I wanted to show you pictures of the finished flower beds and the veggie garden. They're looking quite lovely! But once again, my morning time has run out. *sigh* maybe tonight, if I get home at a decent enough hour.

Anything BUT transcription

So today was J's second day of school. Thankfully, he still loves it, and still hates me for returning to pick him up. I guess he thinks that if I forget to come get him he can just stay there forever.

I have very few complaints so far about the school. Only two tiny red flags have been raised for me, and believe me, they're really tiny. Today when I dropped him off, he headed straight for the "house" center with the baby dolls and the dress up costumes and the play kitchen. Then he turned to me, pointing to the purses and dolls and told me "I can't play with these. This is stuff for girls only." I don't know if one of the other kids told him that (most likely) or if one of the teachers told him that. I don't believe in gender biasing. As a matter of fact, J probably has more dolls and teddy bears than any little girl in his class. It balances out the side of him that turns everything else into a gun, sword, or laser shooter.

I simply reassured him that he could play with anything he wanted to. There were no such thing as girl or boy only toys, and left it at that. He proceeded to head to the train table, and I made my exit.

Second tiny flag: Today, in a completely random conversation he revealed to me that big boys should never cry. I had to sit and explain the difference between crying because you're really sad or hurt and whining simply because things aren't going your way. I don't think I like the idea of anyone telling my son that he has to be stoic, but have to admit that he is a bit of a whinebag at times.

Like I said, small things and neither of them are things that would prompt me to really worry at all. Everything else about school is going great, and I think he's already learned quite a bit in his two short days.

Today he brought me home Orange Ovals, a cute octopus made of a painted paper plate and streamers, another octopus decorated with cereal, and an owl. Yes, the letter of the week IS 'O'.

The idea behind him being in school twice a week, besides his socialization and freedom from me, is to give me time to do my school work. This was supposed to be a fast sort of thing for me to breeze through. When I quit working when he was 18 months old, I fully expected to be finished by his 2nd birthday, and working from home. Ummm... yeah, we are approaching birthday 4. Thanks for reminding me. I've never been a bad student. And whether it seems like it or not, I DO like doing the transcription a lot. I just keep coming up with other things that I either MUST do first, or want to accomplish with the small amount of free time I have. To say that I'm discouraged about ever finishing would be a huge understatement.

So, in the two days he's been at school, have I worked like mad to push through this last unit before my final? Ummm... negative. I've scrubbed bathrooms down to the corners behind the toilets. I've done umpteen loads of laundry, I've swept, mopped, dusted, cleaned litter boxes. And today takes the cake: I steam cleaned all of the living room furniture. Then I spun about 1/2 oz of some merino I'm anxious to finish. Then, since I only had about 30 minutes before it was time to pick him up, I sat down and knit on the heel flap of a sock.

I keep telling myself that next week will be more productive school-wise. It has to be, or I'm in trouble, and will be left justifying myself to the hubby who has been gracious enough to put off going back to school himself so that I can finish first.

On the upside, J and I did finish digging out (by hand!) the entire garden bed. All 15x10 feet of it. Oh my blistered hands! Now to start our seeds and finish off the flower beds. Sooner or later our house is going to look a little less trashy, I swear.

Fall Cleaning

Most people experience the urge to clean and do all this sort of stuff in the spring, but around here spring simply means that we have an approaching 9 months worth of insufferably hot weather to look forward to. It's somewhat depressing, and in no way sets me in the mood to clean house.

But today- November 1st, still in the 80's but decidedly more fall-ish than the past several months, I'm on a mission, it seems.

So far I've:
Done three loads of laundry.
Cleaned both bathrooms top to bottom.
Organized J's closet full of toys.
Dusted all the furniture, which means I had to sort and organize all the stuff lying around on top of the furniture. (Honey, this is to be read, collecting from all over the house and stacking your magazines and paperwork in one neat pile for you to sort through tonight)
Cleaned the fan blades.
Swept the tile.
Vacuumed the carpets and the spots on the back of the couches where the cats like to snooze and leave their hair.
Steam cleaned the living room furniture.
Dishes.
And now I've got the curtains down and they're taking their spin in the washer.

Things I haven't done:
Showered
Made it out of my pajamas
Made my child brush his teeth.
Picked up the million stitches to add the ribbing to the baby jacket I'm knitting
Done my self-review for work.


And it's those last two that are keeping me so busy. You see, I'll do just about anything to avoid doing one little thing that I'm not looking forward to, no matter how simple, and no matter how quickly it would go if I'd just sit down and do it.

At least I'll have a clean house out of the deal.

Today

Today J and I met Michele, her husband, and some of her co-workers at the college campus and participated in the Strides for a Cure 5k walk. Fortunately, my family has not been personally affected by breast cancer, and I've always jokingly sworn that it's one of the perks of having a less than spectacular rack, but it was humbling and amazing to see all the people out supporting the cause, many of them survivors, or walking in memory of loved ones. It gave me just the tiniest glimpse into what it must be for Erin and her family to walk in the Heart Walk in memory of their two children.

I hope to do it again next year, and maybe start my fund raising a bit earlier than the last minute, like this year.

The walk was invigorating, and the weather was gorgeous.

Afterwards, we all gathered at the Panera across the street from the college. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones with this brilliant idea, and the staff was overwhelmed with all of us. But we managed to get a bagel and some coffee. After the throngs receeded a bit, we wrangled our way into a booth and Michele and I got a little bit of time to talk yarn and knitting. Thomas, bless his heart, is a patient husband. Thanks for letting us hang out a while and bore you. :) J did well, too. He was a stellar example of a well-behaved 3-year-old for most of the time. His worst habit was popping up over the back of the booth to oogle the folks behind us. Oh well, he's three, they can get over it.

After breakfast/lunch at Panera, J and I came home and started packing up all the stuff in his room. You see, he's not ready to let go of ANY of his toys. Not even the baby toys that he didn't even realize were tucked in the back of the closet. But, I did manage to convince him to place them lovingly in boxes (which I sneakliy sorted into 'go' and 'stay' boxes)to get them out of the way until his new bed comes.

Speaking of new beds... his new one is set to arrive tomorrow via Aunt Wendy's truck. Yay!!!

Obviously, that means that we gave up on the pirate bed idea, and went with the bunks. It'll be a stretch trying to fit a double bed into his little room, even with the paring down of toys, but it's the better option in the long run. Having the bigger bed gives him room to grow, where the pirate bed will be too "baby-ish" in just a year or two.

So, we've cleaned out toys, moved all his furniture, and disassembled his baby bed, tearfully. He's so ready for his new beds, but he's also having a hard time letting go of the familiar. Now, let's be fair, he's never really slept in this bed, so I'm not sure why he's so attached to it, other than the fact that it's always been there. But now that it's apart, he's doing better with it. I think that when the new ones arrive tomorrow he'll forget all about it. And he's super excited about getting to pick out his own sheets. At the moment he says he wants sheets with the planet earth on them. Wonder where I can find those?

Anyway, J wants me to fix popcorn and come "rewax" with him and watch a movie in bed. These are then things I'm going to miss. *sigh*

Growing up is hard.

Long time, no blog

Well, it feels like it, anyways.

Since my last post, life has been pretty hectic. Some of it good, some of it not so much. But we seem to be back on an even keel, I suppose.

Let's see. Where to start.

Wednesday I came home from work to find the shower in the master bath full to the top with (eewwww!) back-flow from the septic tank. Now the good news, if there is such a thing in these matters, is that it was just the grey water and not actual raw sewage. So, I used a small garbage can to bail out as much of the water as I could and resigned myself to the fact that I'd be calling the septic folks in the morning.

Morning arrives and hubby wakes me up to let me know that there's no water in the house again. Yes, the same problem we had the day before we left on our trip. So, now I'm calling the plumber AND the septic people because, don't you know, there's not a company around here that'll do both. Of course not.

As I'm on the phone with the septic folks begging them to please come today and not make me wait until Monday, hubby steps in from outside and says "I need you NOW." Not in that lusty way that you'd like to hear those words, but in that panicky, something's terrible wrong sort of way. Wondering what terrible thing may be waiting for me, I hesitantly step out the front door to find a gloopy glob of what appears to be dead kitten still in it's placenta. Nice.

We suspected that the little stray that's been hanging around might be pregnant, but had no idea she was THAT pregnant already.

Being the strong stomached womanly woman that I am I swallowed back the bile in my throat, and retreated inside to gather the necessary items of kitty disposal. When I returned to do the deed and actually leaned over to pick up the poor kitten, it squeaked a pitiful little mew and kicked one of it's legs. Holy crap! It's not dead!

I wrapped it in a towel, cleaned it as best I could, and placed it in a box while I got myself and J somewhat dressed so I could take it to my office.

Dr. Carraway was an angel, cleaning up the little kitten and tube feeding it. After hearing my woes of the morning, she agreed that the kitten would be best served staying there where a team of techs could help feed it and keep it warm all day.

Then it was the race back home to meet the septic guy and the plumber. We got all of that taken care of to the tune of several (several) hundred bucks. But the good news is, we have empty septic tanks, a new pressure switch on the pump, and snaked drains. We should have no more plumbing problems for the rest of our lives... or at least until next month.

The kitten thrived throughout the day, and J and I returned to pick it up just before the office closed. I was given tube feeding instructions and we returned home to begin our every 1.5 to 2 hour feeding schedule.

I'll admit that I'm not a good kitty surrogate. I tried my best, and things seemed to be going well up until it's 2 a.m. feeding, but by 4 a.m. it was apparent that kitty was not doing so well. She was sluggish, nearly impossible to wake, cold. She was still alive at 7 when I arrived to work and handed her off, thankfully, to the folks that know what they're doing. They did their best, but poor kitty, who was already guaranteed a home with a number of the girls, gave up the fight just before noon. Oh well, I tried. Still, it sort of broke my heart.

Friday night I went home and slept like nobody's business. I was exhausted.

Shall I continue?

Well, I could tell you about the Fiber-In, and I could tell you about the great time I had with Michele hanging out in Cocoa Village, but it seems such a waste to toss it in almost as an afterthought to this depressing post. Besides, it really does deserve a post of it's own.

Tomorrow, perhaps.

But for now it's time I took a shower and got myself ready for bed. J has his first speech therapy session tomorrow at the butt-crack of dawn and he's even worse of a morning person than I am, if that's possible.

For your birthday

I really did want to get you something. Something nice. Something you really wanted. Sure, it would have been a little late, since I don't get paid until Friday. But still, you would have liked it a lot.

Instead, for your birthday, I'll be getting my septic tank sucked so that I don't have to wade through years worth of sludge in my shower anymore.

Trust me: You would have liked the first gift better. But I'm really thankful for the second. :)

Oh, and one other thing... if ever you think you'd like to buy a house, please come spend a weekend with me.

In all seriousness, happy birthday little sister. You're hardly the sweet little baby you once were, and you're certainly not the wild child you used to be. You're not even the crazy teenager you were just a few short years ago. What you are is a beautiful woman with a bright future and a sweet little girl of your own. I love you. Always have, always will. I hope you enjoy your day.

Spoke too soon

Did I really think that I could get out of town without some sort of major catastrophe?

Woke up this morning to a house with no water. Odd, since we had water at midnight when I was washing dishes and finishing up that last load of laundry. This isn't a new phenomenon in our house. It's happened a couple of times before. Just simply some bad contact points in our pump. And for the record-- this is our second pump-- both have done this same thing. I guess it has something to do with the corrosive salt air. Makes for rich f***ing plumbers, that's for sure. More than $100 later, we have water restored.

But as I'm sitting here reveling in the fact that we have water and I can wash the breakfast dishes and take a shower and brush my teeth, I notice that's it's uncomfortable warm in here.

Check the thermostat-- it's 81. No big deal, thinks I, the plumber was in and out and in and out, and it'll just take a little time for the a/c to compensate for all the door opening. But an hour later, I was still sweating. So I check the thermostat again- 83. WTF?

We'd played with the breakers trying to get the pump running this morning, so I double check all of them, and I check the settings on the thermostat, and there's nothing wrong with either.

So, I call Screw You Over AC Company, who installed this thing, and of course they delight in informing me that I'm 1 month outside of my warranty. Of course I am. So, I'm now sitting here, grumpily waiting for the a/c guy to show up to bill me $80 so that he can probably just flip a switch that I've overlooked.

Current indoor temp? 91.

There goes my vacation budget, and of course, my yarn budget for the fiber-in the week I get back.

That's my luck.

Hace Calor!

It's been just about a month since the air conditioner in my car decided to take a crap on me. Yep, that's the way my luck goes-- it works perfectly all through winter and spring, only to go kaput right at the beginning of inferno season.

Now I'm not as big of a wimp as I sound. Sure, it's hot, but I can deal with it. It's J-man that I feel bad for. You know when it's 104 with the heat index outside it's about 50 degrees hotter in the car. That's just inhumane. Add to that the fact that the wind in his face freaks him out and he wants the windows rolled up, and it's something like driving a preheated oven around.

So, as you can imagine, we're not getting a whole lot done, other than sitting on our butts in the house. I've got cabin fever in a bad way. I'm used to being out- trips to the library, shopping, whatever. I hate feeling trapped at home all day, but I can't justify going out unnecessarily when it's this damn hot.

I've had it looked at by two different mechanics now. The first ones were complete morons who couldn't tell a dipstick from a valve stem. I had no confidence in them at all, but hubby insisted that the car go there- that he knew someone that worked there, and he'd treat us right.

Yeah, $1400.00 worth of right, and while a few of the things that needed doing were done- like new brakes, spark plugs, transmission flush, etc. I STILL DON'T FREAKING HAVE AIR!! It was the one and only reason for me deciding to put the car in the shop anyway.

So, idiot mechanic tells us that the compressor is working fine (whew!) but that every time you turn it on, it blows a fuse. We'll need to take it to the dealer in order for them to trace the electrical problem.

I don't do dealerships. I'm afraid if I take this lemon of a car to them I'm going to tell them exactly how I feel about it, and it's probably not in the best interest of anyone for me to do that. I did the next best thing and took it to the mechanic that my dad recommends. Turns out, he used to work for my dealership. Woohoo. Score one for me.

I dropped the oven... er, car off on Thursday, and he worked and worked on it. He kept it overnight and all day Friday. He's found the problem. You see, some moron, and I won't point fingers, decided to try fixing it over and over again by replacing the blown fuse with bigger fuses, and ended up melting the wires. Now I need a new compressor as well as the wiring that's shot. Hmmm... wonder how that happened?

And it pisses me off to know that if idiot mechanics #1 had just stopped when they were stumped and said "You know, we have no idea what we're doing here. Maybe you should take it to the dealership" instead of charging me for multiple hours of service and a few outrageous diagnostic fees, the compressor probably wouldn't need to be replaced at all.

Oh well, can't change the facts now, can we?

So, new mechanic is looking for parts. Apparently they're hard to come by--as if I drive some sort of rare and fancy car. Apparently, they're also quite pricey. Great.

Not much else going on. The mystery stole continues to grow very slowly. I still haven't finished the first clue, and the third has already been released. It's ok though. I've never been the world's fastest knitter.

The housework is piling up. It's not like I'm not home all day and don't do it. It's just that I'm home all day, and so all my work gets undone almost immediately. Trying to clean up after a nearly 3-year-old kid is an impossible task. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever see the day where I don't have crap piled up all around me. Chances are, the answer is no. Dishes, laundry, dog hair, cat hair, litter, aquariums that need cleaning, a lawn that needs twice a week mowings, tile floors that stay clean for roughly 10 minutes after you put the mop away, well water that stains the showers orange. No matter how much work I seem to do, the house persists in looking terrible.

*sigh*

Don't mind me, I'm just irritable today.

Happy 4th

Hope everyone is having a great 4th of July.

A brief rundown of our day for you:

I woke up early this morning, and being the good girl that I am, I made my coffee and set to work on some school work. I won't lie though; the idea of having 2 hours to knit on my mystery stole was incredibly hard to resist. Still, I'm already WAY behind on the school work, and I couldn't live with myself if I spent such valuable quite time on anything other than the dictation.

About an hour into it, J came padding down the hall sleepily and curled up in my lap for a little bit of cuddle time. He's got this new thing where he likes to have his picture taken. Of course, he couldn't have entered this phase while at Disney, or any other time where I might have liked to have taken a decent photo. Regardless, how can you resist?

This one turned out so cute, I might have to use it for everything.

After some good cuddling, we went and woke up Dada and went to get donuts for breakfast. Yeah, I know, you don't have to tell me how incredibly UNhealthy they are. But they're a special treat, and J really looks forward to them once a month or so. We all got dressed, or at least put on shoes with our jammies, and went to the local Dunkin' Donuts. Now, whoever is in charge of doin' the donuts totally screwed up this morning because by the time we got there at 9:30-ish, there were no donuts to be had. Ok, so they had SOME donuts, but they were the nasty maple, cream filled, rolled in coconut, topped with peanuts type. Not a single glazed or even just plain donut in the shop. And poor J... all he wanted was a "pink one with frinkles" and I couldn't make it happen for him. After giving an earful to the poor girl behind the counter about how a place with the word "Donut" in their title could possibly NOT have any donuts, we bought what we thought might possibly pass J's lips, and we sat and ate.

Now, here's the part where I get to eat the big old slice of humble pie. You see, I'm not so nice when I wake up in the morning. Most folks know not to mess with or interfere with my routine before 10 a.m., and I consider not having donuts at a donut shop meddling, so I was not so pleasant.

After getting J to eat half of his not pink or frinkly donut, I got him settled all into the car and just as we were pulling out, some lady yells "Ms! I think you left your purse inside!"

Sure enough, I had. The kind lady had been good enough to turn the found object in to the girl behind the counter, and I had to humbly, and very much looking like an idiot, go in and thank her (the girl I had just finished reaming about the no donut deal)profusely for saving my big green ugly bag for me. Gotta love mornings like that.

I came home and decided the best way to deal with my misplaced anger/annoyance would be to get out and do the yard. It needed doing in a big way, and I'd much rather do it myself than watch hubby do it while fighting back the urge to point out every blade he's missed.

The poor yard got the full wrath of my grumpiness and I emerged triumphant and with a yard nearly worthy of Southern Living's front page... or at least a little less Adam's Family-ish. I even have the blister on my thumb to prove it.

After a long shower, I was feeling human again, so we decided to go out and try again at having a good day.

Here's J all dressed up in his 4th of July garb.




He's so irresistible!

We somehow ended up at Best Buy. You see, I try to be a good wife, and electronics and cars are like hubby's yarn. Unfortunately, his passions are a little more expensive than mine, and so he never gets to indulge. For the nearly 8 years that we've been together the poor guy has dreamed of and saved for a new tv, only to have that money have to go to some other worthy cause like car repairs, or getting a house out of foreclosure (long story, and this post is long enough), or a month of unexpected bedrest during my pregnancy. He's quietly just stifled his little dream and given it up over and over.

Well, it was finally time for him to get his wish. We'd saved and saved, and tucked away here and there, and before one more thing came and took it away from him again, I finally convinced him to bite the bullet and just buy the damned thing.

Before:


And the glorious after!


This is not the permanent arrangement for those who may be wondering, but it works for now. Eventually we'll either wall-mount it, or we'll take the top off the existing entertainment center and use the base to hold the new beast. To be honest, I like it being up high enough to keep the little fingers away.

So hubby finally has the toy he's been lusting after for all these years. He's a happy man, and that makes me a happy wife.

Of course, the fourth wouldn't be complete without fireworks, which we did go to watch. But the weather was terrible for them, keeping the smoke low to the ground and obscuring the view of the show. Oh well. J was so exhausted he had no interest in them anyway.

Ok, so this monster post is drawing to a close. I am picking up an extra shift at work tomorrow and must wake up at an ungodly hour. But before bed, I think I'm going to go veg on the couch and ooh and aah over the 40" of HD LCD (I'll pretend I understand what all that means) goodness.

Weekend Forecast

Busy, with a slight chance of chaos.

My brother and nephew are flying in tomorrow. I'm so excited to finally get to visit with them again. It's been more than a year since the last time we saw each other, and that visit was under less-than-desirable condiditons, so it'll to great to get to have some fun time together. And the kids are at an age where I think they'll really enjoy each other's company.

The reason for their visit is that they have tickets to the shuttle launch on Friday. Originally, I planned to work that day since I didn't have tickets myself, but Dad called me yesterday to let me know that there was one extra adult ticket, and that J-man gets in free since he's 2. Super cool! J's incredible stoked about getting to see the astronauts, and watch the shuttle launch. He ran around the house all evening saying things like "Roger" and "blast off!" and singing the Backyardigans "We're going to Mars" song.

Cute!

And I believe that Saturday plans are in the works for a trip to one of the theme parks.

But honestly, even if we were just sitting on the porch watching the kids run circles around us, it would be a great time.

In other news, the brand new gazebo lasted all of 4 days before toppling to it's death. We had a little bit of rain and wind from tropical storm/depression/whatever Barry over the weekend. Not enough that we felt it imperative to take the beast apart. I mean, we get worse rains and winds on any given day. But, sure enough, about 1:30 on Saturday afternoon, down it came, bending and twisiting every pole. Furthermore, with the very first drop of rain, some of the parts began rusting. What a piece of crap! I called the store we bought it from, and they told me that they wouldn't take it back, even though it was less than a week old, and that I should contact the manufacturer. Manufacturer wants over $200 to send some replacement parts, and so I'm going to have to do things the dirty way, it seems.

I refuse to be put out the amount of money we spent on that gazebo simply because it can't stand up to a 15 mph gust of wind. So, we'll go buy another one, take the needed parts, put the damaged parts into the new box, and return it that way. Yeah, it's dirty, but I don't feel like I'm being given any sort of feasible options. If the structure can't hold up to the elements (and by that, I don't mean hurricane force winds and torrential downpours) then it should not be labled for outdoor use.

Of course, with the new one, we will only place the canopy on it when it's actually in use. Sounds like a pain in the ass, doesn't it? Note to readers: When considering outdoor structures, choose one that is better designed than this thing. You see, the canopy has no vent in the top, which essentially turns it into a kite when the wind gets beneath it. Stake it however you want, a 10x10 kite is going to fly!

J just stumbled out of bed, so time to get the day started.

Randomocity

I feel like a bad blogger. I haven't been keeping up with this blog like I used to, and the stuff that I do blog about is mostly just nonsense and blabber. A lot of the folks that I regularly read haven't been blogging as much lately, either. I'm wondering if maybe the big blog craze is dying out? Either way, I'm not abandoning ship, just struggling to find anything blogworthy to write about.

I've recently joined a round robin poetry group, and I'm enjoying the idea of focusing on writing again after all these years of not writing at all. I've never had a love affair with any of the poems that I've written, but just the process of writing again is enjoyable. And I'm in the company of some phenomenal writers, so it makes me work extra hard not to sound like an idiot.

I've been doing a lot of baking again. There's just something so relaxing about it! I love my KitchenAid mixer. It is, besides the coffee maker, the most used appliance in my kitchen. Jonas loves to help me, too. He's so smart! When I ask him if he wants to help me make dough, he'll say "Sure Mama, I'll get flour, sugar, egg." Cute!

Here's a pic of him helping me roll out some pizza crust.


And we've also taken a detour into the world of sweets lately. I'm not a big candy and chocolate fiend, but I do enjoy it from time to time. Here's J after helping to make a batch of fudge. Obviously, he has more of an affinity for it than I do.


In domestic news, we finally gave in last weekend and bought the gazebo that we've been wanting forever. Actually, it's a screened porch that we really want, but that's serious money. This is a compromise that is much more budget friendly. Wil made it home from work early enough last night to give me a hand assembling it. In other words, he watched J and lifted things when I needed him to. I am most certainly the handyman in this family. It was actually incredibly easy to put together. Just 8 screws in the whole thing. How insane is that? Of course, it might not have been the wisest investment right at the start of hurricane season, but if it blows away, it's a heck of a lot cheaper to replace than, oh, say, a roof. :)



So here it is, in all it's gazeboish glory. Yes, I'm aware that it's not level. Our yard is surprisingly un-level, and so we'll have to work on leveling out a spot this weekend. But it feels good to have it assembled. Today I'm going to work on getting the patio table and chairs cleaned up and dragged around. Maybe I'll get it done in time to enjoy a dinner al fresco tonight. Certainly would be a nice treat.

There's really no news on the knitting front. I'm still stalled in sock land. I'm just not in love with the pattern of these, and they're not the quick and appealing project that socks are supposed to be. Don't get me wrong, I love the result, but any sock that includes a k4tog will probably find it's way to the bottom of my "to knit" pile in the future.

I did do a swatch yesterday for a sweater I think I'm going to try. I'm about 1/2 stitch off on my gauge, but I'm wondering if I should just call that close enough? I'm a terrible swatcher and I admit it. Despite the fact that I KNOW it's saving me a buttload of time and heartache, I just don't have the patience for doing lots and lots of swatching. Bad knitter! No matter, I won't be getting started on the actual project for a while yet. More on that later. For now, I've got a little boy who needs to be convinced that it's potty time.

Spring cleaning, daydreaming

Lately I've been daydreaming about a ton of household projects/renovations that I'd like to start, but I don't really know where to start.

The biggest will be enclosing this tiny little useless porch that's off the kitchen and converting it into a laundry room/pantry to free up space in my kitchen. I'm sure it's going to cost more than I really want to spend, but it'll be completely worth it, I think. I can finally have a kitchen table!

As is, our house is not very storage friendly, and we happen to be the packrat type that have a lot to store. So, we've had to add a cabinet in our kitchen to use as a pantry, since there isn't one. And on top of that, the laundry is in the kitchen, too. Makes for a huge mess in there at any given time, and it frustrates me. I love to cook, and I'd really love to be able to invite friends over for dinner, etc. But, seeing as how they'd have to eat on their laps in the livingroom floor, it's not something I'm able to do.

We'd also like to renovate the guest bath, as it is in serious need. Ahhh, but one thing at a time, right?

For quite a long time we've talked about moving, but with the market the way it is right now, it's just not a good time to be doing such things. So, our best option is to try and find a way to fall in love with this house again, and make it more useable. In the end, even when we do decide the time is right for moving, all the work we put into this place should pay us back. At least, that's what I'm trying to convince myself of.

A friend sent me an email last night inviting me up to visit in PA and I'm having a hard time turning her down. Airfare is cheap right now, so I may just book a flight. :)