Adventures of Jamie

2009-09-04T10:44:00.001-07:00

Progress

Yesterday the cabinets went in! There are a few problems with them, and a field supervisor should be out sometime to check it out. The paint is damaged on one of the upper cabinets. One of the other ones has some damage from nails not going in straight when attaching the backs during manufacturing. Also, for the big set of three drawers looking head on, the installer only put one handle on each drawer instead of two. It looks fine, but I am not sure if when they are full, if there will be too much stress with only one handle.

And the floors are mostly in! Matt ran out of glue yesterday, but more is on the way. Hopefully it will get here in enough time to finish today. His brother is coming over this afternoon to make a template for the countertop. Not sure if that will have to wait now because of the cabinet problems. I hope not. Time will tell.

We were hoping to be able to paint this weekend, but not sure if that is going to happen. Matt needs to repair a lot of walls first. I am a little bummed because I want to get it over with. Steve is not so secretly thrilled to not have to do something this weekend. We still have plenty of cleaning to do, and we can start putting some of our things back in the kitchen in the mean time.

2009-09-02T09:55:00.001-07:00

Week One

We are little over a week through the kitchen renovation. Let’s review, shall we?

First there was demo.

Then plumbing.

And more plumbing.

And more plumbing.

Then patching.

And paint samples (we are thinking the one in the upper right).

And floors! Aren’t the awesome? So, so awesome. Awesome, right? Yes.

We are sick of eating out, but this week a ton of progress is being made. The end is near! Well, at least the halfway point it near.

We can’t say enough good things about AriCo Plumbing. Very conscientious and professional. Same thing goes for Matt, our friend/neighbor/contractor. So glad he started his own business this year.

2009-08-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Here. We. Go.

Floors came last week. Kitchen starts one week from today. This will both suck and be awesome at the same time.

2009-08-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

Seattle!

So my little seester Schmadie is turning 30 in a little over a week. As part of her present, my mom took us on a girls weekend to Seattle. We live in different parts of the country (Champaign, Columbus/Dallas, Tucson), and Seattle was almost equidistant for all of us to get to. Weird, I know, but true. We had a fantabulous time.

Saturday we went shopping in downtown and went to Pike’s Place to check it out and eat $60 breakfast. Glad we went early, because the place was a madhouse later in the day. Awesome flowers and produce. Lots of crap interspersed because it is near the cruise ship docks. If I lived in Seattle I would go when they opened to get what I needed if I were in the area, but would be super annoyed the rest of the time. Too many tourists. I felt sort of bad contributing to that. In the afternoon as the others were catching up on beauty sleep, I walked around a little more downtown. Got some stuff for me and Steve at Columbia. The Fluvog store was having a sale. I ALMOST bought a pair of shoes for $39, but realized that I was going to buy them because they were $39, not because they were particularly awesome. The ones that were particularly awesome were $250. Eh.

Flowers around town were kick-ass. After living in Tucson, I forget that things grow.

Sunday we went to Bainbridge Island. I had fun taking funny pictures of Katie’s windswept coif and general silliness. I think that people were getting annoyed because I kept saying “ahoy! I’m sailing!”

This picture cracks my shit up.

On the island we went to a great yarn store, Churchmouse Yarn and Tea. We also went to Blackbird Bakery, where Katie got gluten-free herbed rolls and became very excited because they were awesome and tasted like bread. She is now creating an altar with brochures from the island and our ferry tickets and including a tip jar for people to fund her move to live there permanently. I thought the best part of the island were the public medians and sidewalk flowerpots that incorporated squash for the foliage. So smart, and tasty!

Sunday night we went to a restaurant called the Pink Door. It is owned by former circus performers. When we walked in, there was a bleach-blond, dread-locked, bespectacled, fishnet wearing woman hanging over a table of diners by a piece of fabric doing some sort of Circque de Soleil thing. I am not sure if it was good or bad that we had reservations to sit outside. Fun from a distance, but probably slightly intersects my feelings about people eating at strip clubs.

Anyway, all in all a great weekend.

2009-08-03T10:43:00.001-07:00

It’s still grand, even the second time around

Weekend before last, my dad came to visit. It is summer in Tucson. If it isn’t covered it burns, if it is covered it sweats. We decided that it would be good to take a trip to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Dad has never been, and we always get into these habits of living somewhere and then moving before we get to experience it all or share all of the cool shit with other people. We are planning on being here another 5 to 7 years but felt it was now or never to go up there with him.

We went to Sunset Crater until it just looked like lava, went to the Grand Canyon until it just looked like a big hole in the ground, went to the Lava Tube until it wasn’t refreshing anymore, and drank “train shots” at Altitudes until the asshole and his wife (who was sweet) sitting next to us got too annoying (at least to me and Steve) and we had to leave. All in all a good trip.

2009-07-22T16:23:00.001-07:00

What we’ve been up to

As usual, I am slacking on the posting. But not for lack of activity. I’ve been crafting for people having babies.

We’ve been camping.

And biggest of all, we’ve been (planning) remodeling. Burst galvanized pipe under the kitchen cabinets last month. The whole kitchen needs to be replaced. Cabinets, counter, backsplash, flooring in the kitchen and living room. Here is what we had to live with for three days to dry the place out.

Now we wait. It will be 6 to 8 weeks before the materials all come in. You didn’t think we were going to make this easy, did you?

2009-04-06T11:06:00.001-07:00

Making Some Stuff

Three months, huh? I’m really on top of things.

I don’t want to get into a long list of what we did, or where we went, or any other crap like that because really, who cares. People want pictures, not spouting off about senseless crap. Well my friends, I can hardly deliver on the picture front either. You would think that my sorry ass would have some super awesome pictures from my super awesome new Nikon cool pix camera that my mom got us for Christmas. That would make sense. Did I take a lot of pictures? Yes. Do I have the motivation to download them to the computer? No. This may have to do with the fact that Steve just HAD to have a Mac Mini, and this is where all the pictures are kept, but it is constantly not hooked up because he uses his work laptop all the time, so it is a pain in the patootie to hook everything up, and his response is that if we had iPhones I could take pictures and upload them to Blogger. Problem solved. He forgets to mention the part about the remaining 10 months on our Verizon contract, that I don’t want to spend $400 on phones, and that AT&T sucks.

Good thing I have my trusty regular phone to take pictures with. So here are a couple of things to share. People are still popping out the kids. I made this owl vest for Seth at work. His wife had a baby boy last week. The vest was for a 1 yr old, but I tried to size it down to a newborn. Not sure how big they are so not sure if this will fit. It is cute though…..even if it fits for about 3 minutes.

The next creation is carrots! I did not knit these. I can not believe that after just throwing some seeds in haphazardly, we actually have carrots. You are supposed to put them in rows and thin them and stuff, but I am considering the first time we plant anything the experimental phase (I don’t want to read up on how to plant or care for said plant). Yes, the experts are right. They should be in rows and thinned to get a greater yield. Go figure. But we still got about 12 carrots this year, plus the runts that Rey gets to eat. In your face Master Gardeners! I roasted these last night but we are not going to eat them until today. All those carrots cooked down to almost nothing. Hopefully they taste good.

2008-12-29T13:32:00.000-08:00

Belated Holiday Greetings!

I got a white Christmas and was able to play in the snow with my nephew, Jake. Hope you got everything you wanted this year.

2008-12-15T08:36:00.000-08:00

You Can't Make This Shit Up, People

And yet, Mr. Blagojevich, 52, rarely turns up for work at his official state office in Chicago, former employees say, is unapologetically late to almost everything, and can treat employees with disdain, cursing and erupting in fury for failings as mundane as neglecting to have at hand at all times his preferred black Paul Mitchell hairbrush. He calls the brush “the football,” an allusion to the “nuclear football,” or the bomb codes never to be out of reach of a president.

2008-12-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

What we won't do for our pets......

The morning before the big surgery.

On the Saturday before Thanksgiving I happened to be at the right angle to see something weird growing in Rey’s mouth. I got him into the vet, and they said it looked like he had a cancerous tumor in his mouth. They scheduled him for surgery the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to have the tumor lasered out and biopsied. I did a little research over the weekend and read that if it is the type of cancer that our initial vet thought (the worst type, of course) that it spreads quickly and the more you cut away the better. The regular vet said that if the tumor came back as positive for cancer that he would have to have half of his top jaw removed. They seemed unsure what they were dealing with, which made me uncomfortable. I decided to get him an appointment with the surgical specialist to get a second opinion. They are our emergency vet and I have been really impressed with them.

So on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Steve brought Rey to see Dr. Roy at the Veterinary Specialty Center of Tucson. She said that it didn’t look good, but unlike our (now previous) vet, she did a chest x-ray and felt his lymph nodes check if it spread. I guess that if it is in the lungs that there is not use in doing surgery because it is too late. Anyway, it had not spread, so they decided to remove the tumor on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (must have been a popular surgical day) and biopsy it and also do an x-ray of his jaw to see if it had gotten into the bone. We were told best case, it is nothing, worst case he will have to have a small part of his jaw removed. So, so glad that we got a second opinion. Not only are the specialist/emergency vets completely awesome and thorough and competent, but they are cheaper, too! Our vet was going to charge $850 for the surgery, and the specialty vet charged $900, but that includes his visit and the x-rays.

Rey was in and out in one day for the laser surgery and was good to go for the weekend when we went to visit Kali, Shawn, and Kalden in Albuquerque. The x-ray did not show it spreading to his bones, but the Dr. said that if it is a malignant melanoma, that it doesn’t really matter because there will be nothing that they can do. We also learned that his teeth were filthy (we know that) and that his cracked canine on the other side is slightly infected and needs to eventually come out. She said he wasn’t in pain, so we decided that if the biopsy came back ok, then we would schedule him in a couple of months to have the teeth work done. If it came back as bad, we wouldn’t do anything. If it came back as slow growing cancer, that will require part of his jaw to be removed anyway, and they would do the tooth work at that time. Basically his teeth were too dirty to do bone surgery unless they are cleaned first. I guess the bacteria on them would be problematic with exposed bone.

Last Wednesday we got the results back for Rey. The cancer is/was a melanoma…the worst kind…but for some reason he has a very rare type that does not act normally and he has a 90% survival rate if we removed part of his jaw. I guess that the cells were not dividing like a normal melanoma, which is very, very lucky. So, last Friday he went in for surgery. Dr. Roy removed a portion of his jaw bone, including nasal cavity, from between his middle teeth to past his second molar on his right side. They also removed skin from the inside of one of his cheeks to graft over the hole. In all he has 150 dissolvable stitches.

He also had his cracked canine on the left top removed. The doctor didn’t charge us to have his teeth cleaned, which is nice. That saved us some money. During our consultation, she said that the change to his appearance will be minimal and that the only side effect will be a little breathing problem in the one nostril where the nasal cavity will be gone. There is a 10% chance that the cancer has metastasized, but she feels good about it. After Christmas we will go to talk to an oncologist at a different vet to get information about an experimental vaccine that supposedly kills any remaining cancer cells. They are not sure that this will be necessary in this case. We’ll have to see how much it costs.

On Saturday we were able to pick up our boy. We were really, really nervous to see him. Dr. Roy was right! We could barely notice the difference. He is swollen and has a fentinol pain patch and is on doggy ibuprofen and antibiotics for a while, but you would never know. I took him on a normal walk this morning and have already caught him chewing on tiny rocks in the house. We will go in for a follow-up on the 19th to discuss the results of the biopsy from the bone and tissue that was removed. Hopefully this whole thing ends up being a close call and Mr. Stinks makes it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the oldest dog.

One day after surgery. It is the left side of this picture where the top jaw was removed.

2008-09-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Ideas?

Anyone know what to do with a giant squash/zucchini mutant? We planted our monsoon garden with seeds form native seed search, and this is the crazy shit we are getting. It's like the attack of the killer tomatoes, but green. It also makes people exhibit extreme shyness, as shown by my friend Jessi. She used to be so outgoing, but the mutant has done her in.

2008-09-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

Technology has got the best of me

I have been trying to post the sweet kayaking video I have from our trip, but for some reason, it is transfering from the camera to the mac as a .jpg. Anyone have any ideas? I am sure that Steve knows how to fix it, but that may take a while.

So to keep things moving along, I have posted pictures form the trip on flikr.

For those who are intersted in the details, here you go.....

The trip was three days and two nights. There was a local couple in their late 50's/early 60's, another local couple in their late 20's, and a guy from NC in his mid 30's. Our guide was also local and in his mid 30's. It was a fun group.

The first day we met at about 8:30 and went over to where we were putting in, and packed our stuff and packed the boats and learned about kayaking. Then we paddled for a while and stopped for lunch on a little island. It was maybe 1/2 square block in size, but we still saw a momma deer and to babies in the brush. They must have swam. It was pretty far to another piece of land. Kind fo a sucky mom if you ask me, but maybe they like swimming. Really, who am I to judge.

Then we kept going for what felt like forever, probably another 3 hours or so and got to where we were camping on Stuart island. It was cool because you can see Canada, and border patrol helicopters, from our camp site. The border patrol reminded us of Tucson. Not exactly what you are looking for in a vacation, but oddly familiar at the same time. We camped at the same place both nights so we didn’t have to keep unpacking and repacking, which was nice. That night we ate and drank a lot of wine and went down to a dock and splashed our hands in the water and saw the bioluminescence. It looked like the water was full of sparklers whe you agitated it.

The second day you are supposed to paddle around the island, but we were all tired and hung-over so we decided that we would take a little hike on the island and do a sunset paddle instead. The guide stayed back to have lunch ready for us when we got back and we all took off for about 3 hours. The island was much more inhabited at one time. At first I was dreading going because I thought I would get sunburned....seems I forgot that there are trees in most parts of the world. It was great walking in about 70 degree weather with shade.

We got back and ate lunch and then some people played cards and steve and I went down to the docks to take a nap in the sun. I guess we are getting thin blood. At about 5 we ate an appetizer (warm brie with sautéed apples, cranberries and walnuts)and then went on the sunset paddle.

The last day we got up early because we had to work with the tides. At about 4 am the wind was rally howling and was pulling off our rain fly. When we got on the water to head back to San Juan Island, the waves were about 3 feet tall. I thought it was awesome because the front of the kayak was slamming into the waves and water was splashing everywhere. Steve didn't like it so much in the back because some of the waves were going completely over the boat. We were only in that for about 45 minutes until we got on the other side of an island. We later found out from our guide that it was a pretty dangerous situation. I still think it was awesome.

We were ahead of schedule coming back, so we stopped on the little island again for lunch, and then it was only like 20 minute or something to a different harbor where we were getting picked up. We went back to town and we checked in to our hotel and took showers. The rest of the younger people were taking the ferry back that night, so we met up with them at a bar while they waited to leave. Then we went to dinner at a nice place where I had made reservations. I am sure the food was good, but we were a little too tipsy to really pay attention to what we were eating. Probably not wise when your meal costs $100. Oh well.

Anyway, that was it in a nutshell.

2008-09-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

It took a car, a plane, another plane, another car, and a ferry to get to this little kayak, but it was well worth it. I hope to download pictures tonight and get some of the details up here for everyone to puruse. This picture is courtesy of one of our trip companions, Kirsten. Don't we look so Sporty Spice?

2008-09-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

This is why I hate doing yard work in Tucson. I had a little run in with a century plant. All this from a teeny weeny pin prick. I guess I can say that I put my blood, sweat, and tears into the yard and not be exaggerating.

2008-09-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

What I did on my Labor Day vacation

Well, I didn't pull weeds. Not that it wasn't needed. We just wanted to do some things that were non house related for once. Whoever said that owning a house was awesome is a big fat liar. I know that I should be grateful, starving kids in China don't have houses, blah, blah, blah, but when you have water leaking from somewhere on your roof and THROUGH the cracks in your newly painted cabinets that took three months to finish, and said roof leak can not be found one the outside, you start thinking that those kids in China kind of have it ok, especially with all of the CG Olympic fireworks to watch.

Anyway.....Saturday I finally bought a memory card for the camera after two years and we went to Mt. Lemmon. Sunday we went to the store to get some last minute outdoorsy things for the upcoming kayaking trip, and a couple of the neighborhood girls came over for knitting and various TJ's chips and dips. Today I went shopping with a friend, then we went over to another friend's in the neighborhood to celebrate labor day. I only took pictures of the exciting things. The following photo essay is a brief yet delving visual of our Mt. Lemmon excursion. Enjoy.

2008-06-26T14:52:00.001-07:00

IT'S RAINING!

There is lightning and thunder and everything! I think the last time it rained was in February. It is not technically the monsoon because the dewpoints are too low, but you could have fooled me! YAY! The shit in my yard will live to fry another day. Want proof?

2008-06-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

Let's pretend like nothing happened.......

Hello to all four people who read this! Actually, I know it is a few more, but you know how I always like to look on the slightly dim side of life. I am feeling a little pressure to post. We have done a lot of things lately, but none of it has been documented by the shitty camera. BUT, today is your lucky day because I just happened to take a picture with my phone on Sunday.

Can you guess what that is? It is a watermelon! At the time this picture was taken, it was the size of a lemon. Last night I checked on it and it was the size of a bigger lemon. This is evidence that you can indeed have a garden in the desert. We also got a couple of yellow tomatoes and a pepper out of it yesterday. We planted a square foot garden in early May. Way to late to get a lot of the tomatoes, but we are good on the melon/squash front. Too late for the peppers, too. Even though we effed up the planting schedule, the whole process is so easy that we are going to become the ultimate dorks and try to start growing all of our own produce. Big, big plans people!

We were spending the equivalent of $22 a week on the CSA. Although I fully support CSA's, by having our own garden we will get more of what we like and at the same time be a little more environmentally friendly because the food will be coming from our yard and not Phoenix. Down with Phoenix!

2008-06-02T15:00:00.000-07:00

This thing on?

I am debating ending the whole blog thing. Life is busy, and although I should be documenting it, I am essentially a lazy ass.

I also feel like no one really looks at this thing anyway.

SOOOOOOO...I am taking a vote. Yay or nay? Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

2008-03-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

Laziness, 100; Motivation, 0

Ok, well that is not totally true. Things have been moving along, just not on the blogging front. Since the last time we saw our heroine (moi), A visit from dad, the gem show, and a crapload of yard work has taken place.

Dad came for the gem and mineral show, which was awesome. I got a whole flat of zeolites for only $40! Put that in your nerd pipe and smoke it. In addition to some other things like pyrite and aragonite, the "good" aka "I didn't find these" mineral collection in the front room is coming along nicely.

Besides shopping for a box of rocks, dad also fixed our non-venting bathroom vent. Fortunately, I have a picture of dad in action. unfortunately, it is the only picture I have of him from when he was here.

In other house news, spring is springing and we are planting. Part of the dad projects was getting the drainage away from the house. Dad figured out the piping situation. Steve dug a little drainage area. I pulled a gagillion weeds this past weekend and planted some sedum and bulbine.

Rey helped by catching the baby horny toads in his mouth and relocating them to other places. This was followed by us yelling "release!" and putting them back where they belong. Our dog is a pervert who likes to have lizards wiggle in his mouth. Moving on.

I also planted some sort of something that I can't remember...delphinium?...in gigantor planters we got from Costco. Pretty sweet.

Another sign of spring is the oklahoma redbud is blooming. yay!

And Steve started on the daunting and time consuming task of sanding and repainting the kitchen cabinets, but blogger won't load that picture, so it will have to be for another time. The end.

2008-02-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

Plants, Fish, and Weather Whatnots

We had a nice visit with our friend, JB, this weekend. He came to work on a study with Steve for a few days and we had a good time taking some small hikes and eating out. The best part, though, was with Steve being busy, I was left to my own devices. This usually means trouble in the yard sense. The weather is starting to warm up ever so slightly, but it is still too cold to start pruning things back and planiting new stuff (except of course for a few cacti and succulents I got at Mesquite Valley Growers). Need proof? This was taken mere minutes ago. SNOW!

The cure? Terrariums! I made two little ones for the kitchen......

And then one for the bedroom.....

And then a super sweet one for our friends' housewarming gift.......

They were so much fun to make and the cats can't really get to them, so I am quite pleased.

I also worked this past week on some bathroom art. I ahd an idea in my head and ran with it. I frame was from a mirror I found at Goodwill last week. It was black, so I primed it and spray painted it with a white hi gloss paint. Because there was no glass, I decided to give it a paining look by gluing textured paper to a pices of cardbard and then gluing the other stuff on top. The fish and the collar were both things I found online. The mustache is all me. I covered everything wiht glue at the end to help along the painting look and to attept to seal it from the damp conditions of the bathroom.

I bet you can tell that my inspiration is the guy from the Muppets that throws fish, no?

2008-01-30T19:53:00.000-08:00

What's that you say? Two posts in the same week?

Yes, it is true. I promised pictures, people, and I came through for once. Don't get used to it.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

A shit load of dinosaurs.

In the past month, I have officially made a shitload of dinosaurs if four qualifies as a shitload. My friend, Rich, welcomed baby Georgia (GiGi) in december. I let him pick his present. He wanted a dinosaur like the one i made Kevin's kid. But he wanted a family. Ask and ye shall recieve. Here is the dinosaur family made with Debbie Bliss cotton cashmere and cotton angora yarns. I overstuffed them a bit, but oh well. This is right after I pulled them from the dryer and glued the eyes on. I am not too, too thrilled, but I figured a non-knitter would still appreciate them. I once again used the X-treme knitting dino patterns.

And then because I was in a dino mood and I promised Sarah that baby B wouls get a dino, I sewed another one from a sort of felted cashmere sweater and some actually cool fabric from Jo-Ann. Presto-chango! Viola! Dino-mite!

2008-01-29T09:20:00.000-08:00

Abscess Makes the Fart Go Honda

That is the punch line to a joke that I thought was dumb when I was a kid. Now that I am an adult, I understand it, and I still think it is dumb, but not dumb enough not to use it.

Obviously updating this blog has not been a priority. We have been extremely busy, and still are, but you have got to start somewhere. One of the reasons we were/are busy? We drove home to Chicago for Christmas. Two adults, one dog, a Subaru, and the open road for 27 hours. Although the drive sucked ass it was worth it to go home, see some friends, and get green chile from Hatch, NM on the way back. Best part was the day before we left, it finally snowed.

The snow was short lived and didn’t affect our travels so we were able to stop in ABQ on the way back and see Kali and Shawn and their new bambino, Kalden. Of course, we had to subject him to the wonders of the road and brought him a baby sombrero that we picked up along the way.

More soon. I still have to show you guys the patchwork scarf I made, some knitted and sewn baby things, and new bathroom art.

2007-11-29T12:19:00.000-08:00

CALEXICO!

So Amy and I just were at Ike's to get some hot chocolate to celebrate the cooler weather. On our way back we passed Little Poca Cosa, and who was sitting our front you say? Joey Burns and John Covertino! Seriously. This is my second Joey Burns siting in as many months. I could flatter myself and think that he would recognize me and now be scared that I am stalking him, but I am sure that I am not that recognizable. Nothing like a little excitement in the Old Pueblo from time to time.

2007-11-26T17:47:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving, a few days late

This past weekend was pretty relaxing. It is pretty rare that we have days off and can stay at home. This weeknd was a mix of friends, football, and knitting. We had some friends, and friends of friends over on Thanksgiving. We all split up the Turkey Day duties, so it was actaully very manageable. One of my duties was to make the celebratory Thanksgiving Mobile of Death. I fashioned this out of felt and fabric glue. I also busted out my mad embroidery skills. Making an appearance were a bloody cleaver, a dead turkey, a decapitated turkey, a dead onion, a dead sweet potato, a dead loaf of bread, and rounding out the stuffing trio, a dead celery. Steve was a little fearful for his life during the construction of this masterpiece, but the cuteness took the edge off a bit.

We also had some veterinary fun. We should have seen it coming. Whenever I get a bonus from work, an animal goes down. This time it was Rey. We were playing soccer last Sunday and he cracked and twisted his dew claw 180 degrees. On Wednesday Steve took him to the vet, and $200 later, we have a bandaged foot with a very, very stumpy dew claw. To prevent chewing and licking of the bandaids, Rey needs to wear a sock. This is bad because now I want to knit him socks and he will get beat up at the park. Anyway, Exhibit A and B are said evidence of sock covered dew claw.

Other craftiness has taken place, but I will only show a couple of things for now. In September (on my b-day, actually) our neighbors Jeannie and Matt had a baby. They got this lovely parting gift from us. I think that they are Christine's Booties and a hat from Itty Bitty Hats. The yarn is Cascade suoerwash and Louet Gems.

Then we got invited to a U of A basketball games by our friends, Kate and Jeff, who have little preemie Henry. Henry is doing quite well and has grown out of his hat. I got some of the Lout Gems in blue and made him his own little elf hat.

And finally, the baby borats. They have been in the US for about 2 months, and my slow ass finally finished thier toys. Of course, I have not sent them yet. I suck. Anyway, I present a cordoroy brontosaurous from my new (and free thanks to a Bookman's thing that is compllicated...just know it was free) Sew a Dinosaur book. Notice the Neutrogena lip protector for scale. Also, a little bunny from a free pattern form Wee Wonderrfuls, I think.

I'm outie!

2007-10-09T17:01:00.000-07:00

Marathon

First off, since a lot of you have been asking, Steve is fine after running the Chicago Marathon on Sunday. He finished in just over 3:22. Considering the heat and the problems that others were having, this is an excellent time. True, it is about 30 minutes over what he trained for and would have run if it were normal temperatures, but I am just very, very glad that he came through with no major problems. Steve looked good through the whole race, but he said that after mile 18, things got bad for everyone. He started in the “A” group, which basically means you are one fast individual. The only people before him were the Elite and the Top 100 group. He said EVERYONE was walking at about mile 18/19. He finished looking really good, but had some effects of heat exhaustion and was pretty sick once he sat down outside of gear check. Luckily, my dad saw a cop he knew and we were allowed to get our car right up to where Steve was to load him into the car (a little hairy to have cops stop traffic on Lake Shore Drive so you can get in your car, but whatever works). While we were waiting for the dads to come get us, we saw about 50 ambulances come and go from the medical station. Sirens were constantly going. People were laying everywhere. It looked like a disaster simulation that high schools have for the fire department, but this time it was real. We heard the announcement that the race was shut down about 30 minutes after Steve finished. I think that it was a good call. Despite all of the problems, the Chicago police and fire, as well as suburban ambulance companies that were called in, all did a remarkable job.

Because, thankfully, Steve is doing great (other than puking Gatorade out the window of the car on the way home), here are some pictures.

Katie and Dad waiting for Steve at about mile 3. We already missed him at this point, so we were waiting for the runners to thin so we could cross the street. People were already soaked through their clothes at this point.

Runners on their way to Greek Town.

Steve in Greek Town at about mile 17. He looked great.

Outhouses in Grant Park.

The finish. Looking at him, he looked fine. I only knew that he would be feeling bad because his time dropped significantly from the half-way point.

2007-10-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

This really takes the cake.

You have probably heard me complain about yoga before. I like to go for exercise and stretching reasons, not some sort of spiritual crap. I don't want to learn Sanskrit. I don't want to become vegan (damn cheese haters). I don't want to be inspired to become a fake Buddhist.

Yesterday I knew that I was in trouble the minute I walked in. First, not the regular teacher. I was prepared for the regular teacher's own form of yoga craziness....overly happy, huggy, sings in Sanskrit at the end. It used to make me want to get up, scream, and leave the room. I learned to "breathe through" my anger. No, this teacher was a new form of wacky. We had to all sit facing each other in a big circle because she "loves circular flow." ok. This seemed doable at first until i realized that there would be no privacy when you were literally 2 feet away from the person facing you. I soon realized that this set up gave me a clear view of this doofus three people over who chose not to wear a shirt. This must have been so distracting because it took me about 15 minutes to realize that he was wearing BOXER SHORTS. Who does that? I feel bad for the woman right in front of him because she has to be getting nut sack views the whole time. SO. GROSS.

It went downhill from there. I kept getting distracted. Then we had the sleepy time thing at the end. I much have had bad chi or yang, or some other shit because the teacher insisted that I use an eye pillow. I soon hat itchy eyes and a nose from whatever twigs and berries were in there. An just when I thought I was free to leave, I had to sit though 5 minutes of candle light Sanskrit chanting. LORD! I can't wait for the overly happy teacher to come back.

2007-10-03T12:19:00.001-07:00

Where to start?

I sort of got off the whole blogging kick for a while. Surprised? I didn't think so. I guess I will start at the beginning.

What do you get when you put a bunch of Italians in 1920's costumes in the same room? No, not The Godfather Part II. Nani's birthday! My Nani turned 80 (can you believe it?) and of course had to have a blow out party. Granted, this is normal for my family, so really no one questioned a 150 person themed costume party costing thousands of dollars being held at an authentic location. This is why we eloped.

Mom, Katie, Nani, and Me. You can see that 1. Nani does not look remotely near 80 and 2. I strategically used my fabulous blue faux fur wrap to cover my 80 year plus disgusting armpit stains.

oh, and the best was one of my aunts, who shall remain nameless, but is a super crabby appleton. Hopefully there really is Karma...she's due. Ok, so she says to me "I really like your costume the best because it reflects your personality the most. Conservative and plain." Beee-atch. You know what is conservative and plain? Wearing the same black flapper dress that everyone else and their mother (really, that is true in this case, everyone was related)was wearing. At least I stood out in the crowd! How is that conservative? Grrrrrrrr.

Sort of all the grandkids. This is going to be one of those pictures that we all end up hating 5 years from now. I cringe when I look at old family pictures with me in them. I had an abnormally long devo stage. In fact, that seems to happen with all of the kids. Hmmm. Maybe it is genetic.

2007-09-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

Just like me, they want to be, cloche to you......

As part of this weekend's endevors, I made a cloche hat. My Nani turned 80 this week and next weekend my family is throwing a Roaring 20's themed birthday party at home in Chicago. I ordered a real vintage dress from ebay (it has armpit stains, ewww. I hand washed it and they didn't come out. I had to change out the water and soap at least 10 times, the water was black almost every time. So gross, but I am wearing it). ANYWAY, I needed a cloche to go with it but I really wasn't into spending any more money, so I decided to make one myself. I had a hell of a time finding directions online, and buying patterns would have been antoher $15. Screw that. I have a winter hat that is a cloche, so I decided to see what I could do....

First I traced the parts of my hat. I figured that to get the right shape, I would need to have four top pieces so I folded the hat into quarters.

Then I made a mock hat out of 60 cents worth of cotton.

It fits!

Then I traced that pieces onto medium weight white felt. I think that this would look good on really heavy felt or darker felt. The white is a little too translucent, but I needed that color for my ensemble.

Sewed it together and added a flower. Viola!

It still needs to be blocked a little. Or ironed. Whatever, it works. However, between the hat and the dress and the blue fake mink that I bought to make a stole, I feel more like Miss Hanagan from Annie than a gatsby girl. Although the though of always having a drink in my hand at this party might not be a bad idea.

I know that only two people read this, but if anyone would be intersted in me making a pdf of my pattern pieces, let me know.

2007-09-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

Week Recap

Last week was one busy-ass week. First off was the annual Arizona Hydrological Society conference. Not only was I *lucky* enough to spend all day Wednesday in a water well rehabilitation class, but then I had two additional days of conferencing. Some of it was good. Other parts made me want to kill myself. The food kicked ass. The comedy troupe at lunch on Friday, not so much. Seriously, who thinks comedy troops are a good idea? I also realized that most people in my field are dorks. Too bad. There were a few normal people, but the were all younger. Maybe there is hope for us all yet. Then again, I would rather have a dork who has nothing better to do spend their time on figuring out our water crisis in the southwest. God knows I would get distracted by knitting or something shiny. Anyway, The conference was at the Westin La Paloma. We used to live up there before buying the house. I had forgotten how pretty Tucson can be when you don't live amongst the thugs and car filled lawns like we do.

Sunday was the baby shower for Kali and Shawn. I was a little nervous because scheduling conflicts only really allowed us to plan the night before, and I guess some during the conference during breaks. Anyway, it went off without a hitch. Kali looks adorable pregnant. I think she now weighs like 10 pounds or something. Of coure I have no pictures of people, but I do have pictures of knitting! Baby Hardeman, aka Baby K, aka Wayne Bo will be sporting this little number come winter.

Pattern: Basic hat and a sweater pattern on Jimmy Beans that I can't remember the name of rihg now.
Yarn: Crap. Blanking on that too. I think it is All Seasons Cotton.
Needles: Again, I suck. 6's?
Time: You guessed it! No idea. I wasn't keeping track because I couldn't post it right away for secrecy purposes. I think that the sweater took 3 or 4 nights. The hat took 2 nights.
Comments: I can barely remeber what I did to make this sweater, let alone comment on it. I do know that I made the arms a few rows wider because I hear that it can be hard to get baby hands through things.

I also made Nautilus from Knitty with the leftover yarn. This was a pretty quick knit. Maybe a couple of nights. I would like to make it bigger next time and maybe with safety eyes instead of gluing felt. Yes, I know he is sideways. I didn't mess wiht things directly after importing, and now I can't rotate it and get it to save that way. Stupid Mac. That is also why the formatting is weird on these posts. Steve says it is the browser. He is wrong.

After all that action, you would think that we would be sleeping in on Monday. Au contrair mon frere. Steve had a race at 6:30 AM. A M! We got up at 4:30 and headed out to Saguaro East. I guess it is the only race in a national park. The could be lying, but I am too lazy to look it up. Anyway, it was 8 miles and Steve said it was the hardest race he has ever run. He did awesome, though. He finished in 50:13 and was 14th overall, 3rd in his age group. Good practice for the marathon next month. Here he is running right before the finish. Those old dudes are just walking. They didn't beat him or anything.

2007-08-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

Austin Part 2 and other musings

Better late than never.

So, as part of “Austin Part 2,” here are some of the things that I got in my former cit-tay. Fabric and yarn. Are you surprised? I also got a shirt from Parts and Labor, but I forgot to take a picture.

The fabric and the Amy Butler Weekender Bag pattern are from Craft-o-rama. Craft-o-rama is south of South Congress, down by St. Ed’s. It is a cute store with a small selection of fabric. All of it is good though. They have classes and sewing machines set up that you can rent to use in house by the hour. The flowery fabric is Amy Butler. The other one is by the guy who rips off Amy Butler, but I can’t remember his name. They are produced by the same company.

We also went to Hill County Weavers. I was completely overwhelmed, and not just because it is the first time that I have been in a decent yarn shop in a while. The prices have gone up a ton in the past two years. My friends were saying that it really has been in the last few months. Really frustrating. Anyway, between confusion and principal, I only came out with three skeins of yarn. One for me, one to make my mom something with since she always gets gypped on the knitting end, and one to make baby things for my neighbor who is due in October.

Speaking of Austin, while I was there I missed the one year birthday party of my coworker/friend Kevin’s daughter Maddie. So, being the retard that I am, I decided to make her a present.

Pattern: Dinosaur by Jennifer Thurston
Yarn: Leftover Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere from the Pea Pod sweater (yay!)
Needles: Size 5 circular, but it is knitted flat and seamed
Time: Started 8/25 finished 8/26
Thoughts: LOVED this pattern. It is so cute that I want to make one for myself. TO make it a dinosaur for a girl, I added a skirt from scraps of cotton yarn I had. The skirt took longer than the dino. I, of course, was thrilled this morning to give this to Kevin. He, of course, was gracious but didn’t seem so thrilled. CRAP.

Speaking of Jurassic, we also tackled the weeds in the yard this weekend. That took FOREVER, but things are looking up. Also bought a couple of ponytail palms for some pots in the front of the house. Things are shaping up. Now all we need is for our new window to finally come in. Drats.

In other knitting news, I have made some cute things for the baby shower that is taking place this weekend. I will have to wait to share until Sunday night. I also am thinking of going to the local Stitch and Bitch tomorrow. A couple of weeks ago Steve and I (well, more me dragging Steve with) went to the local café where they meet to scope them out first. Bad, I know, but I wanted to make sure that the people at least looked normal before I started investing time and guilt into another group. Everything checked out, but we were at a distance.

2007-08-13T19:08:00.000-07:00

Austin Part 1

My trip to Austin this weekend was awesome and way too short. Everything has changed but still is the same.

Friday night I met all of the Weston people for Happy Hour. Michell was nice enough to organize the whole thing. I can't believe how many people came. Pretty much everyone I worked with, including bosses. My friend Marita couldn't make it becasue she was in chicago. Another guy, who shall remain nameless but who's name rhymes with nipple, didn't come because he says that I hate him. Honestly, I used to, but now I don't care. People say he is ok now. Who am I to judge? Although, that really doesn't stop me. Maybe I should still hate him to keep balance in the universe.

Anyway, the rest of the weekend I spent with Sarah, her husband Andy, and Buddy the cat. We had an excellent time. Lots of yarn, fabric, food, baby things (Sarah is pregnant with a Kraut), talking, talking, talking. I'll share my wares later, but here are some pictures. I forgot to bring my camera into happy hour, so very unfortunately, I have no pictures from there. I do however have a picture of Sarah and Andy's awesome living room. Their house is so incredibly comfortable and interesting.

Buddy being non co-operative for his photo shoot. He likes to lick the hair off of his hindquarters, but I love him anywy.

Breakfast with the ladies. There were only three of us, so we had to take turns with the pictures. I love Sarah and Dana, but I hate how skinny they are. I always look like a fat lard next to them. Sarah is PREGNANT and she still weighs less than me. Anyway, Sarah and Dana.

Me and Sarah.

Me and Dana.

TTFN.

2007-08-10T07:02:00.000-07:00

Ants in my Plants

Well, the assholes are back. Two nights ago we went out to walk Rey and saw this along our front doorway. Those are all ants. Eating our pyracanthus.

We have this cedar pellet stuff that is supposed to be a natural bug repellant. Steve dumped somehwere between a ton and a shitload of the cedar stuff on the ant hole. They hated it. Then they made new holes on the outside of the cedar pellets. Sneaky bastards. This isn't over yet.

At least I will get a reprieve this weekend because I am going to Austin. I am a little nervous. I think that I will hate Tucson even more when I get back. At least it is a dry heat here. That is sarcasim, for those of you who can't recognize it. Anyway, I will get to see my friends and will finally get to give Sarah the baby present I made. Sarah, if you want to be suprised 12 hours from now, don't look.

Pattern: Pea Pod Baby Sweater fom Interweave Knits. It is in one of the magazines, but it is also online in the free patterns section.
Yarn: Debbis Bliss Cotton Cashmere - 4 balls
Needles: #6 Addi Turbo circulars and #6 Clover Bamboo DPNs
Date Started: July 27, 2007 ?
Date Finished: August 7, 2007
Comments: Great pattern. Very cute. I can see making many more of these. I lucked out, too, because I got the yarn called for in the patern on sale at WEBS. I didn't swatch because I was using the yarn called for, and seriously, it is for a baby.

2007-08-05T18:58:00.000-07:00

Loads and Loads

I have been crazy busy with work and with knitting. I have been working on baby things for friends, so i will have to only show bits and pieces until i give them their gifts. I have really enjoyed knitting again. I think it is because baby stuff goes quickly, so you get almost instant gratification. It has also made me want to make some things for myself again. I'll just have to work on affording the yarn first.

Before I get to all that this week, I need to catch up a bit. First off, our trip home. I had a good time with my family. Steve goes to his parent's house, and me to mine, so I don't really get to see him much when we are home, even though we are only about 15 minutes away from each other. Weird, I know. Anyway, while I was home, me, dad, Lorie, and Katie went downtown to try to find a brick that my dad bought for our family at the new police memorial. We looked and looked for over an hour. Couldn't find it.

When we got home, dad looked at the letter, and apparently his brick was in Phase II. Ugh. At least it was nice to be downtown, even if it meant having to see Soldier Field up close. So. Ugly. You deserve to be taking off the historical register, you ugly-ass building, you!

In between reading Harry Potter (which was awesome by the way), I was also able to hang out with my nephew, Jake. He has to be the absolute cutest kid in the world. He is very excited to finally be potty trained. So excited, in fact, that he ripped off his pants as soon as he got in the house. Here are the only pictures I can show that don't involve Elmo undies.

And here in Tucson the monsoon is finally in full swing. Headaches and flooding abound. Even our backyard isn't safe. I understand the whole the-streets-are-the-wash-and-drain-to-the-rivers thing, but come on. We can't have storm drains to do that? This is why engineers are lame. If you let a geologist design the city, it would be much better.

2007-07-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

Things I could have said

I could have said how we had a nice time being at home for a few days last weekend. I could have said that we has some incredible rain the past few days and that I got stranded 2 blocks away from my home with no way to cross the water. I could have said that we got a new Dyson canister vacuum and that is completely awesome.

Instead.....

I am too tired and pissed off to say anything other that FUCK TUCSON. Last night at midnight some asshole threw a rock through our front picture window. They did the same thing to our neighbors across the park last Monday night. I am so glad that we spend all of our time working just to pay insurance deductibles. Good thing we have a new Dyson to clean up the glass.

2007-07-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

Worky, worky busy bee

Again, so busy that I can't even function by the end of the day. In fact, this whole post might not make any sense. I have had to do work yesterday and today so that I can take Friday off to go home for a few days. It sucks ass that I only have 2 weeks vacation. I need to move to Europe. Not only would I get more vacation and free health care, but I can be as crabby as I want and it would be cool because I was European.

Anyway, in between crabbiness, we made our way up to Mt. Lemmon on the 4th. We thought it would be cooler up there, and although it was, it was still 90 degrees. We took about a 1/2 mile "hike" and Rey was done for. He laid in the parking lot with his travel bowl of water between his front paws and wouldn't move. On the whole ride home he had his upper half of his body wedged between the front seats with his face about 5 inches from the air conditioning vents. Poor guy.

Because it was so hot, we just ended up eating lunch and taking a nap. At least the breeze was still cool.

Our view during the nap:

Me and my boy:

Oh, and this week I got a bunch of yarn to begin the 1,0000,00000,0,00,0,0,0,0,0 baby things I have to make in the next month or two. This is yarn enough for three of them.

2007-07-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

Lots of New Things

The past few weeks have been filled wiht new things. Like right now, I am typing on a new keyboard that is connected to a new Mac Mini. Technically, it is Steve's for work, but he is letting me share.

Other new things include a bird bath. Actually, it is more like a bird torture chamber. The bath itself is lovely (thanks to steve's parents who funded this endevor). Unfortunately, since we live in a god aweful oven of a state, water just doesn't want to stay in the birdbath. Steve ran the daily drip line to it so that it gets water twice a day. Too bad that when it doesn't get water, the thing gets so hot that is it the equivalent of hot coals. When water goes into it, and before it evaporates 5.6 seconds later, it is practically boiling. I have not seen any birds come near it. Someone said that it takes a few weeks to get used to it being there. It has been there three weeks. I think that some poor guy landed on it, burned his feet so bad that he could not move, and then got sprayed with boiling water. Come to think of it, there are far less birds in the yard these days. Word must have gotten around.

Included in new things are a couple of sewing projects. I made my first article of clothing. It is the A-line skirt with an elastic waist from Sew What! Skirts. The fabric is an Amy Butler fabric that Steve thought was too ugly for household things, but was OK for a skirt. Curious. Anyway, it took a few tries to get it right. It came out too big, twice. Third time was sort of a charm. I need to learn how to do zippers. The elastic waist seems sort of granny-ish, but the skirt has already come in handy for the heat. Plus, who are we kidding, I am not getting any younger. The girl wo does my eyebrows told me that my skin texture was starting to show my age, and that is all of the samples of face cleanser, night lotion, and masks didn't help, she will really be at a loss as to how to fix my face. Great. She was also appaled that I use *GASP* regular soap and a wash rag in the shower. Guess what? I also use Trader Joe's shampoo and conditioner. THE HORROR!

Today I made a little blanket for a cat basket that we have in front of the front window. Every week(ish) when I clean the house, I get so grossed out when I clean under the basket. There is a ton of hair and pet dander. Barf. I made this to help be a little grossness collector. I figure that washing is better than wiping.

2007-06-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

Craftiness has ensued...

We hosted a going away party for our friend, and Steve's colleague, Keren on Friday night. She is moving back to Israel to be closer to her family. Sad for us, happy for her. It was the first time that we were having people to our house, and we were worried about the seating situation. So, last weekend I went to the used furniture store and got a small club chair. It was ugly, of course, so I bought $12 worth of clearance upholstery fabric and attempted to make a slip cover. I did the whole pin-it-in-the-wrong-side-and-sew thing. After 6 hours, the result was a very misshapen and slightly passable slip cover. I made another pillow to cover up some of the mess. After all that, no one even sat on it. I guess it is for the best. Roxy likes it though.The party was the first time that we were able to see our friends Kate and Jeff. They had a little baby, Henry, at the end of April. Henry was born at 25 weeks, but is doing extremely well. I took the opportunity of seeing them to make a couple of little hats and a blanket. Being the sucky geologist that I am, I forgot to put something in the photo for scale. Each hat is about 3.5" tall. Hopefully Henry gets some good use out of them.

2007-06-09T08:21:00.001-07:00

Way Back When

I have some pictures to share form Steve's parent's visit. I am only three weeks behind! While they were here, in between their fixing the shed and installing a programmable thermostat, we took a day trip to Bisbee and Tombstone.

Bisbee is an old mining town. A lot of the houses were miners shacks back in the day. Some still look like they have not changed in 100 years. Others are remodeled and are going for about $300K. AZ real estate is ridiculous. Here are some Bisbee sights.
Before we left , we stopped at the Copper Queen Branch open pit mine. They have a mine tour of the underground workings, but not everyone was up for that. Still, the open pit was pretty cool.On our way back, we stopped in Tombstone. We had driven through before, and thought it was lame. Steve's mom really wanted to stop, and we are glad we did. Apparently, we weren't driving through the right part before. There is a whole street that is blocked from traffic so that stage coaches and horses can use it. Every where you look there are people in period costumes (even kids!) doing stuff like shopping, drinking beer (can you believe that is a job!), having conversations, hanging out. It was kind of craptacular because it was all so fake, but it wasn't fake at the same time because most of the buildings were from the 1800's. Worth going for some entertainment. While we were there we drank some beer.

And saw a posse.

2007-06-06T16:58:00.001-07:00

ugh.

Things have been really busy around here. Visit from Steve's parents. Trip to San Francisco over Memorial Day weekend. People having babies, people getting pregnant (NO! DEFINITELY not me), people getting married. Pictures to come soon. I swear.

2007-05-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

Miss Poo has lived up to her name!

I just got a call from the vet. She ate. She pooped. She is being a pain in the ass. Time for Kate to come home. Weeeeee!

Oh, and they still have no idea what she was passing, but the new x-ray shows that she is free and clear.

2007-05-17T09:38:00.000-07:00

Sick Kitty :(

Kate had been throwing up a little bit for the past couple of days. Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of stepping in, and cleaning up, mucous and blood. Since this is never good, she had to go to the vet ASAP. She is passing something, they don't know what from the x-rays, but ti is irritating her insides as well as blocking up her whole GI tract with fluid. The X-rays also showed that my attempt to get her to stop eating the weather stripping from the back door was in vain. She had to spend last night and tonight at the vet. she is hooked up to an IV to help hydrate her in hopes that the hydration will help her push through the poop. I went to visit her last night after work. She was all meows when I got there. When she realized I wasn't there to take her home, she started to blow air out of her nose like a bull. She's so cute. Keep your fingers crossed! I need Miss Poo to come home!

2007-05-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

Weekend Pictures

Ok, I really did do stuff this weekend, and to prove it, here are some pictures of sewing. First off, the office. Steve was nice enough to let me add my craft/sewing table to the room, as well as move the bookcase. The bookcase was looking cluttery, so last month I made some curtains for the middle shelves and hung them with tension rods. Gotta love those Joann coupons! Then the table was looking cluttery, so to dress it up I made a skirt for it this weekend with some Amy Butler fabric. I love this stuff. The only thing I love more is the light fusible webbing that I used to hem the sides instead of actually sewing. Then I used 3M adhesive strips to attach it to the table.
The other thing I made with the same curtain fabric (some sort of Liz Claiborn stuff) was some spring pillow for the sun room. The other pillows are old ones.And of course, the bird update. Look how big they are! The mom leaves more now, so it is easier to get pictures.

2007-05-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

Ugh.

Already I couldn't meet my goal of posting every day. Whatever. Like I was really going to do that. Actually, we had a busy weekend of bowling, planting, sweating (it is already in the 100's), napping, sewing, and yogaing. There would be pictures, but the light is bad in the house at night, and obviously really bad in the yard. Oh, and bird watching. There are TWO babies.They have doubled in size since I took this late last week. It's hilarious seeing all three of them shoved in one nest.

2007-05-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

Work

Today I had meetings all day at one of the mines. I can't say which one, probably, or why, but I took a few pictures of things that were cool that aren't significant, legally anyway. I figured some of you might be interested since not everyone gets to go to a mine.

Here are copper plates. After a long process involving cool stuff like acid, starter plates of copper are set in a solution that has copper dissolved in it. An electric current is run through the whole thing and the copper in the solution sticks onto the starter plates. Each of those pallets are about up to my waist.Here is a SMALL haul truck. The tires are taller than me. I caught this when I was leaving, which is why it seems far away. I have no idea why it was in black and white, but it looks kind of cool.
And the best part.....take a look at my thermometer at 3pm. In May. Blech.

2007-05-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

CSA

Thanks to a tip from Kali, last month we joined a CSA. It stands for community supported agriculture. Basically, a farmer near phoenix has a bunch of different land at different elevations and farms a bunch of different things. Steve goes every Monday to a place near the university to pick up our shares. We never know what we are going to get for the week until pick-up day. This is cool because we have to be creative, but can stink because we can't buy everything we need for the week at TJ's on Sunday because we don't know what vegetables we need to incorporate. At least we are forced to try some new things. On the menu this evening were purple carrots (they taste like regular carrots, but are much more fun to look at)....... .......and Russian kale. the kale was cooked with a yellow onion and garlic, both also from the CSA.

2007-05-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

Sweater? I don't even know her!

Well folks, here is a sweater that I recently finished. I used some sort of cheapo cotton yarn from Joann's. I originally bought it for a sweater for my nephew, but it was a bit too thick and crappy. I decided to try out an idea I had, which was loosely based on the Glampyre mini sweater. At the risk of looking like a lard ass, here it is.

Pattern: General idea of Glampyre minisweater on top, minus the poofy sleeves, plus a k2 yo lace on the bottom. Knit in one piece.
Yarn: Crappy Joann cotton, maybe Peaches and Cream?
Needles: #8 Addi Turbo circulars
Date Started: April 27, 2007
Date Finished: May 5, 2007
Comments: I didn't do a swatch first. I thought that the cotton would shrink, so I made it a little big. It didn't shrink. Next time I will throw it in the dryer. The cotton SUCKED to knit with. I still have a blister on my right pinkie. I think I will make something similar in wool, but with long sleeves for the winter. Also, wasn't sure how I wanted to close it, so I didn't include a button hole. I currently am using a dancing cat pin, but that is so cliche/creepy with a hand-knit sweater. I need to find something better, like stick or a cocktail sword or something. I don't know. Obviously.

2007-05-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Speedy Delivery!

Look what I got in the mail today! Two new bras and an Interweave Knits (complete with a WARNING THIS IS YOUR LAST ISSUE notice). Either this is terribly exciting, or I need to get out more.

2007-05-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

We got up at the butt-crack of dawn this morning for Steve to run a 10K. He came in 10th overall and first in his age group.Normally he doesn't stay around for awards, but his was a Cinco de Mayo race, and Rey REALLY wanted a prize. Reymod Alehandro on his sombrero.Oh, and we have babies! Looks like the dove must have had them a while because they are grey and furry already. You can see one at the bottom left of the nest. Again, I'll try to get some better pictures.

2007-05-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

Am I up for the challenge?

I started this blog to keep in touch with friends and family. Unfortunately, I have been bad about posting consistently. To overcome the hump, I propose a challenge to myself. I am going to post every day through the end of May. The only exception *might* be when we are in San Francisco at the end of the month. I don't know what the internet access will be there. So, let's get on with it then!

We have been busy with the outside, mostly. We spread 5 tons of gravel in the front yard to fill in the bare spots. We also moved about 2.5 tons of river rock to make a dry stream bed in the front and rock borders in the back. Not sure how I feel about the rock borders yet. The eventual plan is to fill them in with gravel and have decomposed granite for the rest of the yard instead of dirt.
Good news is, everything is growing except for the penstamon. I don't know if it is too much water, not enough light, too acidic of soil because they are under the Aleppo Pine? Whatever it is, they are not happy.
We are also battling leaf cutters. Those little assholes are doing a number on our redbud. We have tried diatamaceous earth, flooding with water, flooding with vinegar, and busting up their house. They keep coming back. I HATE them. They are fascinating in and of themselves, but they piss me off when they eat our plants. Steve wants to get a blow torch and burn them. I don't think I will go that far.
In other animal news, we have a vermilion flycatcher somewhere in the front yard. A neighbor pointed him out to me last week, but I have not seen him since. We also have a nesting dove in the pyracanthus in the front yard. I just saw babies this morning. I will have to try to get a picture of them soon.
Oh yeah, and by better half turned 30! He got jokes about being old all day. Payback is a bitch :)

Until tomorrow!

2007-04-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

Spring has sprung in the Old Pueblo!
Palo Verde across the street at the park.

Purple-nurple cactus (not the official name) in our front yard.

Prickly pear down the street.

Ocotillos down the street, but in another direction.

Kate says "Spring time makes me hungry for kitties!" Roxy says "Step off, jerk."

Schnoggle Doggle has allergies, but he is still cute. Spittty tongue and all.

2007-03-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, the moment you all were waiting for…

Finished bathroom! Of course, it took my dad taking pictures, not me. My dad and sister were here last week, and we had a great time. I just had my eyebrows waxed in this picture, which is why my forehead is so shiny. I have no excuse as to why my upper lip becomes non-existent when I smile.

Anywho, my dad took a few pictures of the bathroom. We still need new towels, rugs, and a shower caddy (the Ikea one didn’t clear the showerhead), but you get the gist.

Also, here are some photos of the new yard plantings/Rey in action. Looks sparse, but I am hoping it all grows in quickly.

2007-03-26T11:58:00.000-07:00

IKEA-A-GO-GO

So Joan and I made the hike to Phoenix and went to Ikea Saturday. It was the first time I have ever been there. We got there right when the opened to beat the crowds. As soon as I walked in, I started hyperventilating. It was really overwhelming, and CHEAP! Some of the stuff is crap, but some of the stuff is really good. I got a couple of little lamps for the guest room ($6 each!), some picture rails for the sunroom, and some glass shampoo bottles for the bathroom that match the glass tiles. The big(ish) purchases included a leaning floor mirror for the front room/entrance area,

A craft desk and chair for the office so that I can use my sewing machine without swearing constantly because I have no light or room,

And a couple of side tables ($13 each!) for the guest room.

Before you knew it, we were there for 3.5 hours, including taking a little food break, and I had this weird sense that I couldn’t leave because there was something fabulous that I didn’t buy yet. Good thing I didn’t because we had a very troubling, if not hilarious, time getting everything in the car. The mirror was about 10” too long for the car with the seats down (and I have a Forrester), so we had to have part of the mirror suspended above our heads the whole was home. Good thing we are short.

Between all of the things my dad did while he was here (new light timers, track lighting in the sunroom, laundry room shelving), new plants in the backyard, burying the drip irrigation lines, and some decorating inside, I think that we might be able to invite people over without being embarrassed! The kitchen cabinets are still crap, but those will eventually get done. I don’t know when, but they will.

2007-03-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

Busy Bees.

Again, no pictures. No excuses either. Just pure laziness, in the recharging the battery area anyway. Otherwise we have been busy bees. Lots and lots of yard work. I am not going to fall into the trap of being the white trash weed people this year. Oh no! Three weeks ago, I physically pulled up every last weed in the front and back yards. Unfortunately, you would never know this now. I spent a good 30 minutes yesterday after work spraying those little asshole weeds with Round-up. The battle begins again……

Steve tore out our termite tree, and we got a new Desert Willow from the city for $6.00 to replace it. Awesome. I think it is dead though. It was like that when we got it. The dirt was wet in the pot, but I think they did that to claim it was “alive” when they dropped it off. “See? We watered it!” If it doesn’t start getting buds or something in the next couple of weeks, I am going to be pissed. I know it was practically free, but still.

The big news is we bought new plants for the back yard, including a mandarin tree, meyer lemon tree, and Oklahoma redbud tree. All are in the ground and all have…..wait for it……DRIP IRRIGATION! Steve and I put it in ourselves. A ton (but significantly cheaper than hiring someone) of money and a VERY long weekend later, and we are almost done. We have a 6 zone system, with 2 zones going to the front (these will be completed later) and 4 in the backyard. Everything works. There are some leaks, but it is a galvanized to PVC thread issue, and should be able to be fixed this weekend. We also had an electrician come this weekend to hard wire the control box on the side of the house. As soon as the leaks are fixed, we’ll hook it all up electronically. We are both still sore from the weekend. I can’t even think about yoga.

In between everything, I have been working on a pair of socks for Lorie’s 60th birthday (I am a little late, sorry), and I made myself a purse with the Tiny Happy tutorial. Oh, and we went to a neighborhood doughnut party. Don’t ask. Oh, oh, and the mirror for the bathroom came. Again, no pictures, so I will stop now before total boredom sets in.

2007-02-20T15:27:00.000-08:00

I suck.

I suck because I was on a roll with the whole posting thing, and then the batteries died in my camera, and I have been too lazy to charge them. how lame is that? Very lame.

The bathroom has been done for two weeks, except for a mirror, which should have shipped yesterday.

Because blogs are boring with no pictures, I will stop typing. Instead, I am writing "CAMERA" on my palm to help me remember to charge the camera. I doubt this will help. I do this every month to remember to give Rey his heart worm and flea stuff, and I usually go to the bathroom and wash it off some time during the day, and forget. I don't feel the need to pee, and shouldn't feel the need to pee before I get home, so maybe there is a chance.

2007-02-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

We are the Bears' Shufflin' Crew
Shufflin' on down, doin' it for you
We're so bad, we know we're good
Blowin' your mind, like we knew we would
You know we're just struttin' for fun
Struttin' our stuff for everyone
We're not here to start no trouble
We're just here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle

2007-01-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

Day 9 of 35668542389235441

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, although there still isn't a light in the bathroom. The floor is done and grouted, and the walls are ALMOST done. See, everything is up except for about 15 bullnose tiles. I went to Tile for Less on Saturday to get more. They were out. The good news was, they were getting more in today. I pre-paid for 16 more tile. Tileman, John, went today to get them. Guess what? Tile for Less always gets 8" bullnose. Always. Except for today. The manufacturer sent 6". So now we have to wait for the right size to come in. Whatever, a toilet is in sight. I hope that John can grout the rest of the tile without the bullnose tomorrow. If so, we will be back in business by Friday.

2007-01-27T15:26:00.000-08:00

Tiles Away!

Day 6. They shower area is as good as done. The floor started too. Tomorrow is an off day for John. We did some counting of remaining days (John did not like when I started saying bwahahaha like the Count), and it will most likely be done by Friday. ugh. Six more days of showering at work and holding my pee.

2007-01-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

so. tired. (and we are not even doing the work)

Bathroom progress.......

Day 3, new tub.

Day 4, walls go back up.

Day 5, Tile starts, thank god.

We also got the new cabinet delivered from Restoration Hardware. The mirror is back ordered until the middle of February :(

2007-01-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

Snowflakes and Pee

To prove that it is cold enough for wearing gloves and scarves and hats, I present snow. Sunday night it snowed at least an inch. We didn't notice because we were watching the second playoff football game. WE were only clued in by a break in the game by the weather man. We went out Sunday night so Rey could play in the snow. Here he is making a dog angel.

And smelling a snowman in the park. Notice the real carrot nose. Those were some crafty snowman building people.

The next morning it was neat to see the snow on the palm trees in the park.

While all of that was going on outside, the bathroom was getting demolished inside. Day 1, John did demo. Notice the hole in the wall where a medicine cabinet had been. The people who were selling the house didn't even patch it. They just GLUED a mirror over it.

He also called at about 2:30 and said "So what do you think about a new tub?" Our cast iron one needed help, and we were going to get it reglazed, until he discovered that it had been painted with latex paint (similar to some of the pink tiles). What is wrong with people? Anyway, since we are down to the studs, we might as well replace the tub. A quick meeting with a plumber, and we were running and calling all over town to find a left draining tub. Pain in the ass. Wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have to have it by tomorrow. Steve was able to get one this afternoon, so we are good, but it was touch and go for a while. Now after Day 2, we are officially without a sink, toilet, or tub. For days. Looks like I will have to inaugerate the 5-gallon bucket later.

2007-01-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

Holy Shit!

First off, GO BEARS! Chicago is going to the Superbowl! Last time, I think I was 9 years old. I can still remember Jim McMahon wearing his sunglasses and singing the Superbowl Shuffle. Awesome.

Ok, now that that is out of my system, on to other, less exciting things. First, geological. Last Sunday after the Bears game, Joan and I went to Sabino Canyon to check out the debris flows from last summer's monsoons. Really spectacular, but my butt hust for a while after hiking 8 miles. These pictures do not do it justice. The forest service has cleared most of the debris flows.

But at about tram stop 7......

And then at stop 9. That bit of brick in the middle was the bathroom. We are standing on about 8 feet of debris.

Housewise, here are some before and afters. The hall closet before.

The hall closet after.

I painted it a very bright caribbean blue. I can't remember the color right now, but I got the pain at Ace. It isn't the best paint in the world (although I bought the best that Ace had), but Ace is close and was open, so there. This weekend we got a piece of particle board from Lowe's that Steve cut and painted white, and put it in as a shelf. Now I just need to get some containers to store hats and gloves and scarves. Yes. It does get that cold here.

The big news is that tomorrow the bathroom starts. Now for those of you who are in communication with my mom, PLEASE do not tell her that this is happeneing so soon. She is going to be in Phoenix in March, and wanted to come down here after. We told her she couldn't because the bathroom was being done that week, and that we would go up there for the day. The real truth is that she is bringing her husband with her. He takes up too much bathroom time for four people to share a single bathroom, plus we would rather that he not come here for some other personal reasons. Anyway, mum's the word. Here is what things look like today. Tomorrow will be another story.

2007-01-13T19:59:00.000-08:00

Finally!

So I finally got around to taking some pictures of things I have done around the house. First off, pillows. I made some pillows for the sun room/tv room.......

The front room.....
And the bedroom. This was supposed to be for the bed, but Rey claimed it. It is WAY too big for the bed, so we are better off this way. Plus it didn't cost to much because it is just a slipcover over a crappy Target body pillow.
It is funny how everything looks so much nicer and less hairy in photographs than in real life. If you were here, you would see that everything has hair and grass seeds from the park all over it. What isn't hairy is snagged to hell from the cats using it as a scratching post.

The other thing that I did to liven up the place was make some wall art for the bedroom. I got an old crappy painting from Goodwill for $10.
Then I primed it and glued on a green hand made paper. I then took a blue with brown polkadot paper and cut out a bird shillouette that I lifted from a "Do It Yourself" magazine from Lowe's. Or maybe it was Domino. Anyway, the finished product is pretty good. I want to get some side table lamps for the bedroom that have a chocolate lampshade to tie it all in.

Until tomorow......I have been working on a hall closet transformation that I will share once it's done.

2007-01-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

Bathroom wishes and soap scum free dreams......

My artist (and I use that term loosely) rendering of what I *think* the bathroom will end up looking like. We shall see. Granted, I think it will look slightly different in real life rather than a modified Excel spreadsheet, but you get the picture.

2007-01-08T13:28:00.000-08:00

Weekend fun.

This weekend was actually quite busy. Saturday morning I went to two tile stores and ordered the last of the bathroom tile: the floor tile and the glass accent tile. Then we went to Lowe's and got the shower fixtures and some stuff for Steve to fix the gutters. More money. Ugh. Today I ordered the new cabitent thingy for the bathroom from Restoration Hardware. I am hoping that this bathroom comes out ok. We have been saving for a while, and it needs to be done. At least we are not doing it ourselves. Once the rest of the tile comes in, we will be ready to get going! New bathroom = awesome. New bathroom when you only have one to begin with and have to pee in a bucket in the backyard and shower at work = not awesome (but necessary evil for previously stated awesomeness).

Saturday afternoon I met up with my friend, Lian, and went to the zoo. She had never been, even though she has lived here for a while. She is a kooky kind of gal that I met because she is a Monkey, and I am a Dragon, and she needed a Dragon friend. Well, at least according to Tai Chi John who does Tai Chi (what else?) in the park. More on that later. Anyway, a frolicking polar bear.

Saturday night, there was a benefit concert at the Rialto featuring Calexico and some local mariachi bands. Awesome. Really awesome.

Sunday was early yoga, coffee with Joan, grocery shopping, a little knitting on the socks (they are taking FOREVER!), and a nap that wasn't supposed to be a nap. I'm still tired.

2007-01-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

My apologies to Kali.......

but I have to share this! Our friends, Kali and Shawn, went to Spain and Morocco instead of spending Christmas here (lucky buggers). While in Gibraltar, Kali was accosted by a monkey. It is on her head. On. her. head. Her look of annoyance is more towards Shawn, who decided to take a picture of the incident rather than help his wife. Tough call, but I think I would have done the same thing. I can't wait to see the rest of their pictures when they come for the Gem and Mineral show at the end of the month. Hopefully there are some more animal action shots.

2007-01-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays

Our Christmas vacation started out forlorn, but ended up being fun. We were supposed to go home the Thursday before Christmas and spend the night downtown, go shopping, eat at Frontera Grill, and take the train home. Instead our flight was cancelled, we couldn't get out until Saturday, and ended up taking our extra day in Tucson comparing and contrasting the two rival casinos south of town: Desert Diamond (Tohono O'odham) and Casino del Sol/Casino of the Sun (Pasqua Yaqi). Let me tell you, the commercials are true. Desert Diamond really does have it all. Plus there were Tohono police SUVs out front, which confirmed by assertation to Steve that the Nation has its own government. Awesome. I win.

When we got in Saturday, Steve's parents and Katie picked us up. We went out to eat and then, because we were ready to rumble, to the Bulls game.

Christmas Eve was good. First we ate meat (beef tenderloin) at home, then we went to my mom's side and had more meat (meatballs, sausage, sopresatta, braciolle). I was also able to visit my Uncle Johnny's schnoggle, Missy.

The next morning we had the traditional breakfast at Steve's parents house. Bacon was the only meat consumed. Good thing dad then made lamb chops for dinner later that day. My colon was worried.

Jake liked his jumping jack that we got him for Christmas. Here is an action shot. It took 5 of us to blow the stupid thing up in their basement at the house in Michigan. I really want to go to Michigan in the summer. St. Joe's is really cute and they are about a 5 minute walk to the beach.

When we got back to Tucson, all the animals were safe and sound. The girls stayed at the house with a sitter. Rey stayed at our friend's house. He has fun there, but loves to be in his bed at home.

Knitting wise, I made a scarf for Katie and Karen, both of which I didn't take pictures. I forgot my camera in Tucson, hence all of the crazy camera phone pictures. I have also been working on the Hedera socks from Knitty. Slow going, but they fit, and that is all that matters.

2006-12-20T20:03:00.000-08:00

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!"

2006-12-14T11:40:00.000-08:00

'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?

2006-12-04T13:40:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-11-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-11-22T11:30:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-09-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-09-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-08-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-08-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-07-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-07-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

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......

2006-07-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-07-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-06-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-05-03T12:23:00.000-07:00

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!”

2006-04-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-04-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-04-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-04-03T12:17:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-03-28T07:50:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-03-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-03-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

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!

2006-03-08T14:41:00.000-08:00

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.

2006-03-02T13:51:00.000-08:00

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. :)

2006-02-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

Another Idea

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

2006-02-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

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?

2006-01-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

Ketchup, Catch Up, Catsup

I thought I would take this lull in the house drama to finally sort of catch up on the knitting stuff. Although, I just realized that I forgot to take a picture of my socks that I made, but I guess that will make me keep posting. Ok, so these are not in any particular order. For those of you who find this extremely boring, suck it up.

This is from my mom's 50th birthday party. I made the crown out of wired Christmas ribbon that was on sale at JoAnn Fabrics. It is based on the crepe paper crown from Alterknits. I first tried with crepe paper, but either I have ginormous man hands that crush everything I touch, or those with opposable thumbs are not supposed to knit with crepe paper, because it kept ripping and was extremely frustrating. Knitting with wired ribbon is also frustrating, but you can throw it at things when you get pissed and it doesn't rip.

The pattern is the Opera Scarf that is free on the Blue Sky Alpaca website. I used size 8's and Classic Elite Inca Alpaca. I kept sneezing when I knit this. Surprise, surprise, I sneeze when I wear it too.

Felted cloche from the Pick Up Sticks pattern. Cascade 220. Size 11's. The pattern called for size 10's, and because I knit loose, I should have used 9's, but I was being cheap and used 11's that I already had, and it is too wide and too short because I ran out of yarn and had to decrease the crown early. I am supposed to make one of these for each of my sisters. Um.....yeah. That might take a while. Like until next winter. Sorry.

Marzan watchcap the I made for Steve. Size 7 circulars. Mission Falls 1812 wool (best yarn EVER). The pattern is written for a pin head. Literally. Your head has to be like 7 inches around to wear it as written. This had to be reknit once to make it wider, and then ripped back and reknit to make it deeper. At least it fits now.

Scarf for Kali for a trade. I don't want to give it all away. Classic Elite MarlLa on 15's. I bought a bunch of this. I think this scarf will only take 2 skeins. I might make one for myself because I like it so much.

Sweater from Yarn Girls Guide to Simple Knits. Manos yarn. Size 8's maybe? This is ok. Not really my favorite. I guess it will be a Sunday Trader Joe's sweater. I thought that it would get more "filled in" when I washed it, but it is still sort of breezy. I need to take a picture of me wearing it to see what other people's opinion is.

Finally, I have pulled out the Green Machine Blanket again to think about getting ready to start knitting on it some more. I am freaking out about money because of the house, and I thought that I should probably finish this because it is $200 woth of yarn that is just sitting in a bag. Plus, it is sort of housewares, so it will be good for the house, right? That is of course until one of our little hairball cats pukes on it. At least it won't show stains.Phew, that was exhausting. Hopefully I have learned my lesson about procrastination, but somehow I don't think so.

2006-01-16T10:59:00.000-08:00

Tucson, we have liftoff

They actually accepted our offer. Crazy. I am freaking out about affording it, but really, it is not problem at all. If the inspection goes well Wednesday, then we will close on March 1. We will have to spend some money up front for a fridge and an electric dryer (ours is gas, and it will be cheaper to buy a new dryer than run a gas line), and we want to put in a patio. If anyone knows of a concrete guy in Tucson, let me know! We were going to put in flagstone, but I think it will be better to do a stamped concrete patio that looks like flagstone. We have to find a balance between a job well done and cost. The rest of the landscaping may take a while, as well as furniture for the front room. The good thing is, people at work have offered to let us come to their yards to dig up some plants and take cuttings, so we should at least be able to spice up the front a bit. Please keep your fingers crossed just in case.........

2006-01-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

OFFER

We put an offer on the definite maybe house, so i guess it is more like amaybe definite house. The wet noodle submitted the bid today, and they need to respond one way or another by 1pm tomorrow. Here are some pictures. Keep your fingers crossed.

Front of the house Front Room

Kitchen. It has been redone, except those are the original cabinets.

Arizona Room. The laundry room is though the doors.
Bedroom #3. This used to be the garage.
The original two other bedrooms are identical and look like this.
Bathroom. Only one. The pink tile will have to go eventually, but at least it is in good shape.
BackYard. WAY too big. This will take some work.

2006-01-10T10:53:00.000-08:00

No Progress

The wet noodle still has not gotten us a list of additional houses. On top of that, I am freaking out about mortgages and interest rates, and crap like that. I feel like no matter what we do we are getting screwed. I guess to put it in Steve's academic terms, we are having congnative dissonance. See? The word "screwed" is so much better. Anyway, I think the plan is, we are going to look at a couple more houses tomorrow, and if all seems lost, we are going to put a bid on the definite maybe house. After, of course, we look at it again and take some pictures, at which time I am sure someone else will put in a bid, and we will be living in my car. Why did I ever want a house? Oh yeah, that's right, I smoke crack.

2006-01-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

The Search Begins: Part 1

Ok, so this past weekend, faced with our New Year's resolution and the reality that our lease is up the end of March and they need 60 days notice of us moving out, we sucked it up and got a real estate agent. And then we looked at houses. I think we have seen 7 so far, and only one is a definite maybe. All the houses in our price range suck. It makes me sad that two professional people with no kids and very minimal debt can't afford something that has washer and dryer hookups INSIDE the house. I can't imagine what people are going through who are way less fortunate than us.

The definite maybe is across the street from a small park. It is mostly redone, is on 0.25 acre dirt lot, and has central air too, which believe it or not, is not that common in older homes here. The garage was turned into a 3rd bedroom, which is weird, and there is only one bathroom. However, the W/D is inside, which is enough for me to make me want to buy it. Steve wants to look at a couple more houses this week before we make an offer. Mr. Procrastinator thinks there is loads of time now that the market has slowed. I hope he likes the decorating I will do to our carboard box that we are going to have to live in.

We are scheduled to look at a couple more places on Wednesday. Our relator is nice and knowledgeable, but it is like pulling teeth to get her to give advice, recommend, properties, areas, etc. All the houses we have seen have been our suggestion. Supposedly she is going to get together a llist for us tomorrow. I'm intersted to see what she comes up with.

2006-01-05T07:22:00.000-08:00

HOOK ‘EM HORNS!

2006-01-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

We're back!

I had typed this whole thing about Christmas, and then Word closed with an error, and I can’t recover it. Here’s the low down…..everyone had colds; the sun sets at noon back home…this turns me into a narcoleptic; went downtown to eat at Roy’s (Awesome. So Awesome. And very gluten-free conscious for Katie) and shop at Nordstrom and Banana Republic (overwhelming), but on separate days; my nephew can say “wow” over, and over, and over again; Katie and I made Mexican food for Christmas dinner instead of the traditional stuff; didn’t knit. That’s about it. I leave you with these….

The boys, Winnie and Reggie. These are my parent’s dogs, a cairn terrier and a schnoodle, both rescues.

Downtown, kitty-corner from Roy’s. I took this to prove I did something other than sit on my ass.

My grandpa wearing my felted cloche. Both he and my step-mom look like Hummel figurines in this hat. Hilarious.

2005-12-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

Perfect Timing

We finally got the part from Dell, and the computer is fixed! Of course, this is just in time for Christmas, so no real posts until we get home from Chicago....except maybe with pictures from my new, super-sweet Razr phone. Hopefully this Christmas won't be a hectic one. I made it a point to keep knitting to a minimum (only for one aunt...will share later). Last year I made all of my immediate family knitted items. 10 scarves. 1 pair of slippers. 1 "dog" suit for my nephew. I knitted about 30 hours a week for four months. Lace. Cables. Ribs. My brother-in-law lost his scarf before he even got home. Home being two blocks away. Oh well. I have learned my lesson. I plan on doing a little photo montage of all the things that have happened in the last month. Until then, Happy Winter!

Taken with my new phone. I am goign to eat me one of these tonight!

2005-11-16T17:28:00.000-08:00

Suckis Extremus

This morning Steve went to the post office to get the part from Dell. But guess what? It wasn’t the part from Dell. It was our checks that we ordered, that the bank sent to AUSTIN, and then we had to pay postage due because they forwarded them here. The bank manages to send every piece of junk mail they possibly can to our address here, but the checks, not so much. WTF? Needless to say, I think I am going to have to go on hiatus until the computer is fixed. I mean really, who wants to read this? No one. People like pictures and small bits of fluff. That is what makes Reader’s Digest so popular. It should be called Lazy-Ass Digest because no one really reads it (it sucks anyway, even in large print). But, we are what we are. Because of that, no more posting until I have pictures. And boy, will I have pictures. Except, of course, not of me and my sister, Katie, who came to visit last weekend. Somehow we never manage to take pictures together. Now I see it was just foreshadowing.