Wednesday, December 20, 2006

KNITTING! WEEEEE!

I know that it seems like forever, but I have been knitting again. Stuff with the house is slowing down (until a bathroom remodel. ugh), so I am taking the opportunity to knit again. I don't know how long that is going to last because the yarn stores here have very limited selection, so I have been digging deep into the stash. Here is what I have been doing the last few weeks.

Scarf for my mom's b-day. Merino Frappe, size 15s, Blus Sky Alpaca Opera Scarf Pattern.

Scarf for me. Some sort of green stuff and the other stuff I can't remember the name of right now (Berroco Hip Hop!). Scribble lace from Knitty. It is not as long as I would have liked, but I ran out of green stuff. Size 32s!
Scarf for Joan, who is watching Rey over Christmas. Eight days with a dog, when you don't have a dog yourself, is a long time. She deserves a scarf. Takhi Baby yarn. 100% merino. Size 15s. Needs to be blocked BAD. Not going to happen.

Katie requested some wrist warmers. Sorry about the color. See above reference to crappy local yarn stores.

I also was working on a top down raglan cardigan, but it is coming out to large, which is not supposed to happen with top down raglans, so I am going to frog it and try something else. Sometimes buying sweaters is easier.

I also wanted to include some gratuitous animal cuteness.

Kate.

Roxy.

Rey with his new toy, Shellie the turtle. Rey says "I love Shellie!"

Thursday, December 14, 2006

'Tis the Season

We took a little detour from the normal weekday evening happenings and went for a stroll last night with Rey and our friend Joan through the Winterhaven neighborhood. This is the neighborhood just 4 blocks north of us. Every year they have the streets blocked off for pedestrians and horse drawn carriages to view the holiday (not just christmas....we saw a star of david) lights. Some were pretty good.

Like "The Griswald's".....



And "Blue Christmas".......


But some were just plain bizarre. I know when I think of Christmas, I think of giant purple gorillas. Don't you?



Monday, December 04, 2006

No time for talking. Work is a drag. Tons of stuff to do. I am having to get up EARLY to go to meetings that are in the middle of nowhere at mine sites. These crazy miners start work at 7, and the meetings are soon thereafter, and I live at least 1.5 hours away. Last week I woke up when I was supposed to already be gone. No shower for me. As Steve says, good thing the meeting was at a mine. All these meetings (I have another one tomorrow, yippee!) mean that Steve gets stuck walking Rey. At least I was able to give him a bath yesterday at the wash your own dog place that just opened near our house. Now he smells like dog AND honeysuckle.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

We did it!

We managed to make our very own Thanksgiving dinner. Granted, we had to go to FOUR stores to find half of a turkey breast, but we did it. In the end we realized that the turkey hunt was a waste of time because neither of us really like turkey and got grossed out. But tht was fine because while we were eating dinner, Roxy attacked the plate of turkey leftovers. The sides were good....stuffing, creamed spinach, and some sort of sweet potato thingy I made up.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Wow.

It has been a long time, really. I haven't been paying attention to the blog lately because nobody really reads it. Then my sister Katie said to update it for her. This is for you Katie!

Lots of things have happened since last post, but I guess I should start at the beginning. Camping at Mt. Lemmon was fun, from what I can remember. Lots of food, dogs, beverages, and fire. It was actually relaxing. Our friends let us borrow their hiking tent. Perfect for two close people; very cramped for two close people and their 85 lb dog. The whole thing smelled like dog breath in the morning. We felt bad.



We only have one picture from the trip. It's some friends and the spouses. I am not going to name names, just in case people are in witness relocation or something and don't want to be found. BUT, I can tell you the dogs' names. Rodger and Marly (Rey's new friends), and Rey. Pre-bath. He got a good scrubbing the next day. Mt. Lemmon has a lot of mica in it's rocks, and Rey likes to roll in it. He looked like a giant disco ball by the time we got him home.

Friday, September 29, 2006

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (ALMOST)!

So tomorrow is the big 3-0. Normally I do not like birthdays, but this one is shaping up to be ok, so far. I got my favorite flowers, gerber daisies, from my mom and roses from the gang at work. We just had a little suprise party here at work as well. Tomorrow I am getting my hair cut (yipee) and we are going camping with some friends. I plan on partaking in s'mores and knitting. Could be worse.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

It's been a long time!

I/we have absolutely been swamped with work and housework. My parents came to visit over Labor Day. It was really relaxing while they were here, but it was harried up until the time they got here. Lots of cleaning and attempting to pull weeds. The yard was a disaster, but they said that is wasn't that bad. Then they couldn't take it anymore, and bought us an electric lawnmower and a Hula Hoe. Hilarious! But boy, does that Hula Hoe work! We have been de-weeding up a storm! This week, my mom an sister, Katie, are coming, so it begins again.

The monsoons have also stopped, much to the shagrin of the animal contingent in the house. I think they get bored now without all the thunder and lightning.

In knitting news, I have afew FO's for the week. Last weekend, I finished the Lotus Blossom Tank. I made the smallest size (33" and I am 35") in the Southwest Trading Company Bamboo. I like the drape of this yarn, but it is a little rough on the hands. I think that it fits pretty well. I didn't know that this would stretch out so much, so I guess I could have made an improvised smaller size, but that would involve math and thinking and a whole bunch of other things that I don't like to do unless I am getting paid. I did "fix" the rolling of the neckline that so many people have had trouble with. Instead of completing the garter stitch on the front section of the body, I picked up stitches all around the whole neckline (rather than just the sides and back like the pattern) and knit in the round. This seems to have been the trick. I wore it to work the other day, an no one asked if I made it, so I take that to be a good sign! These pictures sort of suck.. Iwill ahve to take better ones outside, and post-shower.

I also have completed a couple of things for guys at work who just had babies. This sweater was supposed to be the "5 Hour Baby Sweater," knitted for Kevin's baby, Madeleine Luce. Five hours my ass! Who are these people who knit this fast? It think it took me 10 hours, and I am a pretty fast-ish knitter. Maybe these people are on speed or meth or something. I should take some of my unfinished objects over to the park sometime and see if they can bang them out for me.

Also having a baby was Brian. Here is a hat for his baby, Dominique. He just started, so I didn't knit someting as awesome (aka way too time consuming) as for Kevin, but I think that it is cuter. Plus, I don't think that a lot of people realize the work it takes to knit something. I hate to spend too much time and money on people who are not family or non-knitters.

I also started on this hat last night. I don't like it. I realized I should have made a hat with cables, but I need something for camping for the big birthday, well, camping. Some friends want to go, so we are going to Mt. Lemmon, and Rey is coming with. Should be interesting, since we haven't been camping in about 8 years. Embarassing for a geologist, I know. I guess there are worse things you could do when you turn 30.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

I am so sad to hear today that Pluto is no longer a planet. Poor Pluto. He was even discovered right here in Arizona at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. I guess we will now have to change it to My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nachos. Lame!

Monday, August 14, 2006

White Trash

So we are the white trash of the block. We have turned into the people who have all the weeds in their yard and the grass growing in the street. It is not that we want to be like this, but nature has turned against us. I tried to be nice. I tried to pull the weeds rather than using chemicals. I spent hours pulling them out. And then it rained, and they came back. I had to get more forceful, so I turned to Round-up. I spent more hours killing them. And then it rained, and they came back. With a vengence. This weekend the weeds in our backyard almost made it to the top of our fence. Our 6' fence. That's when Steve whacked them. And today it rained, and they came back. I give up.

In knitting news, I have FINALLY finished the lace motif (with one extra to add some length) of the IK Spring 2006 Lotus Blossom Tank. I started this version on August 1 during MSHA training, so if I die in a mining accident, you will know why. I had started and frogged two previous times, and this time I had to rip back and redo the fourth lace motif. I am hoping that this fits. It better fit. I have carpal tunnel and am on the verge of a divorce because of this one. Now I am to the stockinette part, so hopefully it should be smooth sailing. Although I just jinxed myself, so I should pack a few bags in case I have to move out.

Monday, July 31, 2006


Somebody Get the Ark!

So it has been raining. Really raining. It is monsoon season, but there has been a tropical storm on top of that, and so it has been raining over an inch every night (like 2 in the morning) for the past few days. Usually the rain lasts into the early morning. This is a problem for Rey because he doesn't get to go on his walks.

The cool thing is, all of the washes are flooding. The Rillito and the Santa Cruz are both flowing bank to bank, and continuously at that. It is also the highest cfs flow in about 100 years. A bunch of roads were closed, and some bridges got washed out. Some of us ditched work for a bit yesterday afternoon to check out the destruction. Way cool.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

GRAND CANYON

It really is grand. Although by our first impression, since Steve and I had never been there, it should be called Holy Shit Canyon. It is monsterous. And awesome. The geologist in me just wanted to run down the trail. But practicality stopped me. We were not prepared to do even the short loop. We didn't have enough water, or the right clothing/shoes, so we decided that we would come back again and be prepared for a hike. Flagstaff was fun. Nice and cool. Sedona was also pretty, but VERY hot. I brought knitting along, but didn't get to work on it because I did a lot of driving. Seems for the best though, because the small mistake on the Lotus Blossom Tank turned into an even bigger one when I tried to fix it, and I had to frog the whole thing. I am going to have to start all over. Grrrr. Enough with the words, here are the pictures......

Friday, July 21, 2006

PARK-A-PALOOZA

Living across from a park has its advantages and disadvantages. Place to walk dog. Advantage. Drug dealers. Disadvantage. Unobstructed view out our front window of the Catalinas. Advantage. Bad Tejano music in the picnic pavilion every weekend. Disadvantage. Except for a few weeks ago when people were playing Cuban Mambo music. That was definitely an advantage.

Sometimes, there is a fine line between advantage and disadvantage. Like just now this morning. I was walking with the park's dog click. They were talking about the neighborhood association and the rumor of a woman, who doesn't live in our neighborhood, with a vendetta against those who walk their dogs off leash. Apparently, she has been taking pictures of residents with thier dogs off leash to "report," and it has been said that she has a "stick that shocks dogs." When I got a better description of the "stick," I think I burst their bubbles by informing them that it was a type of metal detector used for locating utility lines. WEird that she has this, but totally harmless.

Anyway, while we were walking, a guy who looked like Gene Shallot, driving a white Grand Am, started circling the park. At first he was blasting something that sounded like Foghat or an equally bad band. Then he switched to the totally awesome duet between Elton John and Linda Ronstadt...."Don't Go Breaking My Heart." He drove around the park for about 15 minutes, playing this song over and over. We were in histerics by the end, but also starting to get a little creeped out. Finally, a neighbor, John, waved at him. Gene Shallot drove a little futher, turned around, and pulled up to John almost hitting him and his dog. John asked him if he needed directions to somewhere. Gene Shallot responded with "Did anybody ask for your opinion?" and then finally drove away. Now I ask you, advantage or disadvantage?

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Post-tacular.

Well, actually, I am not. There has been a severe lack of interesting things going on here. Mainly just housework....painting baseboards, buying plants, watching plants die in the desert heat. The monsoons started out with a bang. No rain at all this week though. Hopefully they will continue into August.

This weekend the in-laws are coming and we are going to Flagstaff. It will be a nice break from the heat here. A neighbor will be watching Rey. She is a vet tech, and completely normal and nice, but part of me is worried that she will forget about him, and he will be stuck in the house for two days, drink all the cats' water, poo and pee all over the house, and then maybe eat the cats if he is hungry enough. I am so tempted to hire the regular cat sitter to come over to make sure that the dog is not there. Am I crazy? This woman is an adult. She owns a house. She has two dogs. Weird how "licensed and bonded", or lack there of, makes you think differently about a business. Although having a house makes you realize that "licensed and bonded" doesn't mean shit.

We finally got a new camera, so there are no more excuses about not posting pictures. Too bad we can only take 10 at a time with the internal memory, since we are too cheap (at this point) to buy a memory stick. See I am already making excuses.

In knitting news, I have started, frogged, restarted, and may be frogging again, the Lotus Blossom Tank from the Summer IK. The lace is not bad at all. In fact, it is fairly enjoyable. I have made a couple of mistakes, one of which could not be fixed, and hence the frogging. I made another mistake the other night, but I know what it is....I just have to figure out how to fix it. The common thread between the two mistakes is at the time they were made, Steve's feet were touching me. I used to not mind his feet, but now I HATE them because I associate them with screwing up my knitting.

On a sad note, my sister Karen's dog, Max, died last week. Brain tumor. Very sad. Make sure to hug your animals.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

I'm Not Dead

I swear I am not. There has just been a lot of excitement in these parts. Not all of it good. About 3 weeks ago, someone broke into our house while we were at work. They threw a big-ass rock through the living room window in the back of the house. They only took a few electronics things (including our camera, so it is crappy camera-phone pictures once again), but created a GIGANTIC pain in the ass for the next couple of days. Lots of cleaning and laundry. Phone calls. We got an alarm. With glass break.

The animals were all ok. They put Rey in the bedroom, Kate was hiding under the bed in the guest room, and Roxy jumped out the broken window, but stayed in the neighbors bushes until she saw Steve, and then she came out and wanted to go home.

Other than that, I Have been busy with work. Safety goggles are the biggest fashion faux pas, but boy are they safe!

It has been hot. Really hot. That limits what we can do in the yard.

And I have been knitting again. Finally. Here is the before and after (felting) of what turned out to be a pig. Ray already ripped the ears off. It was going to be a wiener dog, but because I wasn't using a pattern, it became more bulbous. Then it was going to be a elephant, but I got tired of making a trunk, so it became a pig instead. Necessity isn't the mother of invention; laziness is.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Busy

Sorry for the lack of posts. I know all 3 of you are dying to see that bathroom. Well, you will have to wait a little longer. I have been busy at work, most recently this……

Just in case you were wondering, we have been topping out in the upper 90’s. That’s Fahrenheit. Any little waves in the picture are a combination of heat waves and stink waves from me.

This has left little time for house stuff. The bathroom still has to be painted, which is what I need to do this weekend. It has taken a while to get the baseboards situated, and fix the walls to get them ready to be painted. It sort of bums me out to pain, knowing that the walls will be messed up again when we have the tile redone in the shower, but I guess it would be worse to have everything in different shades of white. So tacky!

The plumbing issue from before has been resolved. Apparently, when our Arizona room was built many moons ago, they put the slab right over the clean-out for the sewer. I know when I do something, I really enjoy half-assing it to screw the next people, don’t you?

As a result, the sewer from the house to the street has been backing up for years, and got to the breaking point when we bought it. Yay for us! My dad found the sewer pipe, along with some lovely sewer water, and a plumber was able to install a new clean out and snake the entire sewer line. No more backups in the house, but some back-ups in our financial situation. Why didn’t anyone tell me that home ownership was going to be so totally awesome?

Oh yeah, and to top it all off, we are meeting all kinds of people when we walk Rey. Every person says “Are you the ones who bought the house across from the park? Welcome to the neighborhood. You know, that used to be a rental.” And then they squish up their face. Uh, ok? Looks like I should make a shirt that says “I bought a house that was a rental! Back off or I will turn your house into a rental, too!”

Friday, April 21, 2006

Sewer, I don't even know her!



Details to come, but let's just say we are having some plumbing problems. While I was at work yesterday, my Dad dug a 15 foot long, one foot wide, 2 foot deep trench. And yes, that is pee (and other stuff) water and our sewer line. As my sister, Katie, would say, Eiwee.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Liar No More

Pictures! Finally.

New floors with baseboards. The baseboards had to be glued because of the plaster walls. The smallest masonry bit is 1/8", which is huge, so we opted to glue.

Pissed off cats.

Planted yard. It looks much better than these pictures. I swear. It is also more pokey than it appears.

Rey on the patio. Right now he is sitting on the floor next to me. The cat puffiness is going doen, but I am still keeping him on a leash in the house. He stinks.
Housework and Yardwork and Dogs, Oh My!

This was an extremely busy weekend. I know that I have been promising to post pictures of the floor….and I will. I have even taken some. But we have been a bit pre-occupied this weekend. Because we are complete nutbags, we have added Rey the Golden Retriever to our family. Next time I say that I want a dog, someone slap me. He is very cute, but our life has turned upside down in one day. It is exhausting taking him out, walking him twice a day, brushing him, getting him used to us, learning what to even do with a dog, keeping him behind the baby gate, feeling guilty for keeping him behind the baby gate, and giving extra hugs to the cats while they learn to accept him. He came from a family that adopted him through rescue 3 years ago. Recently he bit their 18 month old, so they decided to re-home him. He is 5. He is actually a really good boy. Once we get over the whole “Holy shit, we have a dog, WTF were we thinking” thing, I am sure we will all be fine. Just look at him!



Other undertakings this weekend were going to my co-worker Alex’s house. He and his wife, Donna, let us take a bunch of volunteers and cuttings from their desert garden. Then I planted everything in the front yard. Exhausting! But it looks WAY better than just rocks. I will take a picture of this as well, but from my track record, I won’t be offended if you call me a liar.

Monday, April 03, 2006

Home Improvement

The floors are almost done! Steve and his parents started them on Friday, and we finished up on Saturday. The only thing left are the baseboards, which is a story for later. I'll post pictures once the baseboards are up. It looks really good, but brings out the shittiness of the bathroom even more. Now I am REALLY anxious to do the bathroom. Only two more weeks until dad comes down.

As if doing the floors didn't make us sore enough, we decided to go on a sunset horseback ride. It was fun. Slow, but fun. Sometimes it is good to have visitors from out of town because you do more of the touristy things in town that you would otherwise miss out on.

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

It's Just Like It, But Different.......

And cheaper. Things have been really busy with the house. It seams like we are always fixing something, or buying stuff to fix something. Despite all this, I was able to paint the aloe painting that I wanted to rip off of Crate and Barrel. Now remember, I have not painted in about 12 years. If I were to do this over again, I would do it differently. I like the original one better, but I also enjoy saving $200, which by the way, was promptly spent on new bathroom flooring and dryer vent cover. Ugh.

Theirs....
Mine. It is way darker then the original, but I guess it is a more accurate portrayal of the dead/dying aloe in our yard. Sorry for the bad camera phone picture.

Monday, March 20, 2006

B-R-A-D-L-E-Y

Sweet Sixteen. Not bad for a small MVC team. I don't know if they will make it any further, but now at least people I work with know that I went to a real school.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

News Flash!

For those of you who were worried about a Friday during Lent and St. Patrick's Day being one in the same, worry no more. The good old U.S. Catholicism "special dispesation" has come to the rescue! You can eat corned beef! Or, you can not follow Lent, or go to church at all, like me, and eat whatever the H-E-double hockey sticks you want!

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Where are you Norm Abrams?

We are venturing into the home improvement realm. No sooner did we move in that we decided to spend even more money and make some “improvements.” Today, a crazy semi-retired brotherly duo is starting the patio. Tonight, we are going to get ourselves a Lowes card and do some damage. Currently, we have “stained” concrete floors in the hall, front room, and kitchen. It is really a stained slab. You can see the old glue marks. You also can see every dusty footprint you track trough the house after coming in from outside. So, we are going to put in engineered hardwoods (can’t have REAL ones because of the slab). While we are getting no payments or interest for a year and 10% off, we are going to get a new toilet and sink for the bathroom. The tile around the tub will have to wait until we win the lottery or we go back to medieval times and stop bothering with pesky showers. I can’t post pictures yet because we only have a two-pronged outlet in the office. I guess I will take some and get them transferred to a CD at Walgreens and the post them. Any excuse to go to Walgreens.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Looks Like We Need A Will

Well, we are officially home owners, or glorified rent payers, whichever you prefer. We brought a couple of car loads over last night and really started going through the house. It is not quite as nice as we first thought it was, but it has good bones. It is more of a fix up than we thought, but cosmetic only. This actually makes me feel better because I thought we were being house wusses by getting a nice house. Now that it is just nice on the surface and secretly crappy, it makes me feel better. We will move the rest of our stuff over in the next couple of nights, and then movers on Monday. The cats are already getting a little nervous. They know boxes mean moving. At least this time they won't have to be in the car for 14 hours, but I am sure that Roxy will be a complete bitch about it anyway. :)

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Another Idea

Ok, so I was thinking of joining business with pleasure and embroidering tyvek men on a t-shirt. Too weird?

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

No News is Gnus.

Everything with the house is progressing nicely. We should be closing three weeks from today and moving about a week after that. We went this past weekend to measure the rooms and doors to make sure that our crap, and any other crap that we buy in the next three weeks, fits. It just so happens that it all will fit, so I expect the house to be craptacular!

I have not done any knitting at all. I think it is because I know we are moving, which means that I have to clean the apartment to get our deposit back. This will require all of my mental energy. Nothing is worse than having to take care of a dirty oven when you want to move on! So, this is my excuse for sitting on my butt each and every night for the past couple of weeks. It is also my excuse for not cleaning at all. I mean, I am going to have to REALLY clean in a few weeks, so in all reality, other than clean sheets and a clean toilet (sometimes), what else do we need?

In an attempt to be somewhat productive, I was thinking of being the ultimate cheapskate and rip off a painting from Crate and Barrel by making it myself instead of paying $300 for it. I mean, it is 4 ft x 4 ft, but $300? I can so do it myself. Plus, making things yourself is ALWAYS cheaper, right? Kind of like sweaters. All I need is canvas, acrylic paint, gesso, some brushes, and some sort of time machine to transport me back to my junior year of high school, which is the last time I painted. Fun times ahead.

I can do this...easy, right?