I have been lost in a desert of orange and red Dale Baby Ull for 40 days and 40 nights, or at least a week and a half. I keep telling myself that it will really speed up once I finish the body - and I have about 20 rows to go (5 rows is good for an evening). Sigh.
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June 2006
June 29, 2006
June 23, 2006
TGIF
Well I certainly intended to post more this week - so much for best intentions. This was a good week, primarily due to one really exciting thing - we got a home equity loan! We bought Casa dePinkPurl in 2002, and have steadily (slowly but steadily) worked on the house bringing it up to a respectable domicile. This poor house had several strikes against it. It is a little cinder block ranch style home, built in 1951 as an affordable house marketed toward returned servicemen and their new families. Much of Mountlake Terrace is covered by these small block homes. Our house had been a rental for more than 20 years, and it showed. The roof was bad and did not fall within the building codes at all (hard to see when there is snow on the roof each time you visit/inspect the house). The one plumbed wall (central between kitchen and bath) was soggy, moldy, and the texture of a baked pudding. The electrical is aluminum, the windows are single pane in metal casings that have rusted to the point of bubbling. Most of the electrical outlets had no covers and some didn't work. The pipes leading to the shower head leaked. The toilet leaked - across the floor. The carpet is at least a decade old, the linoleum probably is too. Everything had been given various paint treatments by someone who would resemble Christopher Lowell on Meth.
Four years later the roof is new, as are the gutters. We re-plumbed the house with copper, and replaced all the walls in the bathroom. The toilet was repaired (the first day - and that is a whole 'nuther story). The central wall has been re-done and fitted with cable and new outlets. All outlets have covers, almost all of the walls have been repainted. You have seen what we did to the dog-room, I'd like to do the same to our bedroom.
In all, it is a much nicer house to live in. Except for the windows and floors. The windows barely keep out the cold (especially the broken one in the dog room). To open them for cross ventilation we have to round up our two cats and put them in a room with their food and litter boxes - we do this every night during the summer, and much of the spring and fall too. They hate it and they hide when they sense it's time. Our cats are definitely indoor-only, the windows swing out from the bottom and there is no reliable way to screen them - so it is what we have to do. The carpet is hopelessly filthy first from years of uncaring renters, more recently from 16 doggie feet that get dusty and muddy and - well lets leave it at dusty and muddy. No amount of cleaning (professional or otherwise) will get the carpets truly clean - and even if it did they would just get dirty again. Carpets and multiple dogs do not go together. The linoleum fares much better, but was already horribly damaged when we moved in. I can clean it with a scrub brush, down on my hands and knees, and it still looks pretty bad.
All of this is nearly in the past. This loan is earmarked for new windows (double pane, argon gas in-between the glass, low e glass, and best of all SCREENS), and flooring (laminate through the central areas, linoleum/vinyl in the kitchen & bath), and surgery for one of the dogs (hopefully minor). In addition the last bit of bad credit I have hanging over my head will go away.
Life is good, cheers!
June 19, 2006
A list will have to do.
Words just aren't coming today. I have started and erased half a dozen blog entries. I am at a loss, I don't think I have a funny story or anecdote. The best I can give you today is a list of unrelated things.
I have gone to the gym and worked out on 13 of the last 19 days.
One month ago I could manage 2 minutes on the elliptical trainer, yesterday I did 24 minutes.
I cleaned the grill this weekend and binged on bratwurst (Saturday) and steak (Sunday), both accompanied by grilled corn on the cob.
BLING and I returned to the marsh across the street from the Meadowbrook Community Center. We spotted a Spotted Towhee (BLINGs first), and saw a heron catch something to eat. Today's picture of Lupine was taken by BLING on our walk.
I applied for a job that I did not get. I'm bummed, I would have been great in that job.
The City Council should be reappointing me to the Library Board tonight, but who knows what will happen. You truly can NEVER count your eggs when the CC is involved.
There are three babies due in my family, and I'm knitting for one of them. I may knit for two but I'm not knitting for all three - and that is just the way it is.
The Dale of Norway sweater is about an inch farther along than it was last week. I am so far behind I am sure the math agrees I can't possibly finish on time. Yet still I have hope.
That's it, uninspired but nobody has drama every day. If the CC doesn't reappoint me expect drama tomorrow.
June 14, 2006
June 12, 2006
More of the same
We have had a The 4400 and The Closer marathon at Casa de Pinkpurl. Much knitting has been accomplished, even though it doesn't look like it. I would like to finish the body by the end of next weekend, giving me a week for each sleeve and a week to sew it up (EEKsteekEEK).
What else is new? We joined a local gym and have been going faithfully. On Saturday BLING and I met with a personal trainer who has us on a program where we do only cardio and stretching (but I like the fancy machines - pout), increasing cardio time by 10 minutes every week until we are doing 60 minutes 5 times a week. They have assisted suicide in Oregon right? Oh well, it simply has to help us shed this weight. I'm tired of being the fattest girl in the room. I want to feel light and fit. I want sweater patterns to cover my size automatically. Nobody else is going to do it for me I suppose, being a princess just isn't doing anything for this particular issue dangit. I wonder if I will still be a princess when I'm no longer fat.
June 08, 2006
Proof of sweater
Not bad for 4 days (evenings) work huh? I flew through the blue and green band, and the blue and yellow band, but the peach and tomato red are killing me. The colors are close together and it's harder to sense where you are in the pattern. I find myself doing a lot of counting (1,1,1,2,2,1,2,2,1,1,1). It would seem that I curl my toes in rhythm with the colors, right toes for the red in my right hand, left toes for the orange. I'm glad I don't have a third color, something would cramp for sure.
Kim - thanks for the E sticky notes, they are marking my row on the pattern!
June 05, 2006
I love the smell of Baby Ull in the morning
Yee-Haw - I have a new project to obsess over! My cousin is having a baby, a long waited for and very much wanted one. To celebrate this little one it is time to bust out my new stranded knitting mad skillz (ooh look at me) and turn out a Dale of Norway pullover for the little kiddo. I wish the picture were clearer, but you'll have to trust me when I say it's highly detailed and fantastic. I cast on Saturday evening, and have made it through all the color changes at the bottom and am into the tomato red/peach trunk. The baby shower is on July 8th; I am in a Knitting Olympic style mindset and full of confidence. Pictures of the actual knitting soon - stay tuned.
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