Liar No More

Pictures! Finally.

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

Pissed off cats.

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

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

Housework and Yardwork and Dogs, Oh My!

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



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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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. :)

Another Idea

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

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?

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.

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.........

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.

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.

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.

HOOK ‘EM HORNS!

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.

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!

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.

Michael Dell Sucks Ass

So the computer part came…..POSTAGE DUE! Who the hell doesn’t charge postage with the part? Now Steve has to go to the post office to pick it up. The best part is, since we live in the land of Little-Rascal-driving-bike-lane-using old people (not that I don’t love old people, but I don’t love their driving, especially in the bike lane), the PO is only open from 8 to 5. How is someone who works supposed to be able to get there? So now I have to wait even longer to post pictures. Expect some after I retire.

On a less angry note, one of my oldest friends, Claire, came to visit last weekend before she had a conference in Phoenix. I hadn’t seen her in about two years. It was weird being out and about with a friend who wasn’t Steve. We had a good time. Very relaxing. It was also weird realizing that no matter how much you think you stay the same person your whole life, you really are not. I mean, deep down I am the same (I feel I have been “me” since about 5 years old), but much of my views have changed. You don’t realize this until you hang out with someone from your childhood. I have come a long way, but I still have a long way to go.

Down for the Count

So the computer at home is still not operating. We are waiting for a part to come from Dell. I guess it is the power source. Anyway until then, no pictures, other than this one that Marita sent me of her Chicknits Cami. She has this odd knack of making things that fit. I should give her the evil eye! Kidding, of course. Way to go Marita! Sorry for exploiting you to make me look more interesting.

Once I am up and running again, I need to share my haul that I got from Back Door Bead and Yarn Co. here in Tucson. They were having a yearly sale and everything was at least 20% off. For $70, I got one skein of Cascade 220, two skeins of Classic Elite alpaca, and six (count ‘em, SIX) skeins of a dark blue-purpley Manos, and the Summer '05 Interweave Knits becasue I REALLY want to make the Lace Leaf Pullover. Out of control. I also finished the socks, and almost finished a hat for Steve. I say almost because as I was down to the last few decreases, I decided to stick it on his head. Way too tight. I need to frog it all and start over. At least I only spent Sunday on it. I should make another one in the small size for Sarah. Then she can use it as a Migraine-tourniquet-pain-relieving-hat. Also, Steve and I took a paperweight glass this weekend where we got to play with molten hot glass and 2500 degree furnaces. It was awesome, not that anyone would know because I can’t post pictures. We need that piece from Dell! Crappity crap crap.

Socks

I have been making some progress on my socks. One down and half of one to go. It is amazing how much faster you get them done when you use size 3 needles rather than 1s. This is my 2.5 attempt as socks. The first time I only finished one. It didn’t fit (is was way too tight) and I didn’t want to make the second one. The second set was for Steve. They actually fit. This thirdish pair is for me. I like them because the colors remind me of fall back in Chicago (Go Sox!). I have also decided not to call them socks, but foot sweaters. When I told Steve this, he said “Why? Are you expecting these not to fit either?” Ass. He thinks he is hilarious. The joke is on him, though, because they do fit! Although I still can’t get the Kitchner stitch to “work.” I think it is because I sort of knit backwards. Our computer is really broken now, so I have had to use a crappy picture taken with my phone. Oh, and yes, my feet really are that big. Enjoy.

Dirigible

I just saw a blimp! Not just any blimp, either. It was the godfather of blimps. The Goodyear Blimp. I was sitting in my office when I heard a propeller noise that immediately registered as a blimp. I ran outside, and there it was. Right over my head. All blue and yellow. The first time I saw it I was about four years old. It flew so low over my house that it cast a shadow over our entire backyard and I could see all the windows in the gondola. Ever since I have had a soft spot for blimps. Maybe I will get really lucky and see the Weinermobile on my way home!

For some more fun with dirigibles, check this out.

Grrrrrrrr

So we found out last week that Steve’s car is totaled. There are no used Hondas to be found anywhere, so we are going to have to suck it up and get a new Civic. It is so frustrating because we have really been saving since we moved here, and now we have to spend it all on a new car. The worst part is, the new Civics are ugly. Really ugly. They offend my eyeballs. There was nothing wrong with the old body style, and they had to go and change it. Even worse than that, now we can't afford to go to San Diego for Thanksgiving. Sniff, sniff. I think we will just do an overnighter in Sedona, or something, instead so the vacation time is not a total loss.

Almost Famous

On Sunday, before we left for the airport, we went to Sarah’s house and met up with her boyfriend, Mr. Sprockets, and Dana. Here we are (me, Sarah, Dana) in Sarah’s backyard. She has done a really great job with it. The yard was craptacular when she bought the house in January, I think. She has really whipped it into shape. The picture would be great if it weren’t for my bad posture and hair helmet. I am trying to grow it out because it started to look crappy short, but it also looks crappy long. Right now I am suffering through the Frankie Avalon hair helmet stage.

Anyway, we ate some lunch and then stopped at Hill Country Weavers. Here’s what I got.

The yarn on the right is currently being made into socks for moi. The middle Mission Falls is for a hat for Steve. It is actually starting to get colder at night, so he will get some use out of it, especially if we go to Mt. Lemmon. The stuff on the left will be made into a scribble lace scarf, also for moi. Here’s a picture of Roxy wearing one that I made earlier this summer to trade for a necklace with my friend Kali. She is coming here this weekend, so it is safe to post the picture. Suspense is no longer necessary.

I also got a couple of Interweave Knits magazines, which Kate is checking out. Kate is just going to stay a cat, although I would love to spin some of her fur to make a sweater for Sarah’s bald cat, Buddy. The only finished object I have of late is the bear for my nephew, Jake. I like the bear. The bear is good. I will make some modifications if I make another one. I DO NOT like the sweater, but I figure that he is going to get ketchup or poop or dog spit on it, and they will have to get rid of it anyway.

Houston, we don’t have a problem.

Ok. The computer is fixed. Something about discharging stored electricity or something. I wasn’t really paying attention. I will use this opportunity to post some pictures of the wedding. I have to say that Michell was the most beautiful bride ever.

The wedding was perfect. It was at her cousin’s house in Austin, in our old neighborhood. They had really awesome food from a Mexican restaurant down on south First. Fajitas, chips and queso, Chile relleno, margaritas (Sonoran food ain't got nothing on TexMex). The best damn cake I have ever had, and I don’t even like cake (except for Dana’s German Chocolate). Lots of Texas music. It was a Texas wedding done right.

Weekend, Part I

We went to Austin this weekend for Michell and Dan’s wedding, and had a great time. The bride was beautiful, the groom was beautiful. The food was beautiful! I wish I could share some pictures, but when we got home last night, the computer wouldn’t turn on. Steve thinks it may be a short in the plug. I have no idea. Now I have to see if there is some way to put my picture on my work computer. I guess I need software or something. Again, no idea.

We were able to see most of my friends from work at the wedding on Saturday, which was great. On Sunday we hung out with Dana and Sarah and Sarah’s newish boyfriend, Andy. He is from Germany. He taught me how to pronounce Hefeweizen correctly. Heh Fuh Veights Zen. Now I can speak German. A lot of good that will do me in Tucson. Hefeweizen fria.

We also talked about lederhosen and Deiter’s Dance Party from Sprockets. He didn’t know what that was. When we explained it to him, he didn’t seem so amused. I, however, still find it highly amusing.

There are all kinds of pictures forthcoming. Like the wedding. The yarn I got. And hanging out with the girls. They want me to post a picture of the three of us because they want to be famous to the four people who read this.

Other than that, we went to the trail at Town Lake, drove around, ate some stuff, drank some margaritas. I realized this weekend that I am a paste-y girl with paste-y needs. Paste-y as in pale, not boobie-tassle paste-y. I like shade, and therefore trees. I miss trees. Maybe if I lose a few pounds and learn to stand up straight, I can use the shade from saguaros.

So much news, so little time

I have been very busy as of late. My Dad and Steve’s parents came for a visit. My stepmom, Lorie, was supposed to come as well, but couldn’t at the last minute because of the grandparents. I guess they are now getting to the point where they can not be left alone. We were hoping that after my grandma died this past summer, that Dad and Lorie could have some time to do things together. At least a couple of years. That’s not happening.

Anyway, we did some fun stuff, and I have a bunch of pictures to share, especially for those of you who keep asking for them. Unfortunately, on Monday afternoon, Steve and his parents were involved in an accident, and we spent the entire day in the emergency room. Everyone is ok. My Dad and I were in a different car on the other side of town when it happened. The car is not in good shape. It wasn’t Steve’s fault, and the other driver was cited, so it should get settled soon. Because of that, I had to stay home yesterday to help with calls, drive Steve around to find his car, take out all of the crap from the car, etc.

I am now trying to catch up at work since I had taken Monday afternoon off and missed work yesterday, and have to leave for a friend’s wedding on Friday. I’ll try to post pictures as soon as I can.

Busy

This past weekend was a very busy weekend. Friday I turned 29. It was pretty uneventful, which is good. We ate some sushi (Sushi in the desert? Are you nuts? Yes, and it was delicious). Today at work we had beer floats to celebrate. Young's Chocolate stout and vanilla Blue Bell. Saturday afternoon, I took a glass sun chime class and made this.
The class was ok. Lots of women wearing t-shirts with cats on them. I got to use power tools, though, so that was good.

Saturday night we went to Zooscon Feast for the Beasts fundraiser at the zoo. Here’s a picture of a pissed off elephant. We also saw a pissed off, rhino, polar bear, and anteater, not in that order. There was food from about 20 restaurants there. It was really a fun time. I want to go back next year.

However, the real reason we went was to see Bill Nye the Science Guy. I have been in love with him for years. I even have a picture with him from when he visited ISU, and I uttered the infamous stupid line “You’re totally my hero.” Some people say that I am bordering on stalking, I just think SCIENCE RULES! But, I am no longer sure that my beloved Bill rules quite so much without some post production work. He started out with a scare about global warming, somehow started talking about Bucky balls, his dad being in a prison camp in china and becoming obsessed with sundials, bill and his classmates getting a sundial on Mars when they were under Carl Sagan, and then did a trick illustrating vortexes of air. It was all quite bizarre.

I also started a bear for my nephew, Jake. The parents are coming this weekend, so I need to have it done by then. Pay no attention to the crappy knitting. I am going to felt this puppy! Well, bear.