It's a Love/Hate Thing

We've had various work crews going through and around our home now for over a month. It wasn't supposed to take this long, but you know how it goes, one thing leads to another...and five weeks go by. (Not to mention several thousand dollars.)

It's gotten so that the sight of a van with a ladder on top of it pulling into our driveway has become a welcome and dreaded sight all at the same time. So happy to see progress and yet so ready to be done.

As we approach October, I think the end may be in sight. And not a moment too soon.

Whew!

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since my last posting. Too much going on and most of it just isn't that interesting, I guess. It's true, there isn't much excitement in spring cleaning and yard work. How great is it though to see those tiny shoots finally popping up out of the ground in the gardens? I don't know why, but every year it's like some great surprise that winter ends and spring coaxes out this fresh growth. My neighbors probably think I'm a nut when I take my daily stroll around my vegetable and flower beds to see their progress.

One big project that we are finally getting behind us--at least partially--is getting some flooring replaced in our house. We decided to start with the rooms that were most desperate. For a few days we had quite a disaster on our hands--and a great excuse not to cook, but once the guys got the work done, and I had a couple days of top-to-bottom cleaning, it looks so much better.

The painter is in today. How lazy am I to hire someone to paint a 5'X5' bathroom? I so despise painting that it's worth every penny. Once he's on his way, we'll have the plumber by to put back our fixtures, and we'll be done. It's so classy having a toilet sitting in the middle of our garage!

It might be awhile before we get to the rest of the house. It will be hard to psyche ourselves up to go through this again.

Since my days have been somewhat exhausting, any knitting progress in the evenings has been fairly slow. I have cast on a cardigan called Bobbled Braids from the Arans & Celtics book in the Best of Knitter's Series. It is the second or third sweater I've knit from this book, and it's the first time I've ever knit anything with Cascade 220. It seems to be a good basic wool. It does ply out a little, so I have to be careful and watch for loops.

Besides one small error on one of the charts, this pattern is well written. I've done some adjusting in body and sleeve length, but that's nothing new for me. I especially like the method used for making the bobbles on this design. They are made entirely on the right side of the fabric--no turning. I'm almost finished with the piece for the back. Maybe by the end of the week.

Since we were in the mood to spend money last week, we splurged and got a Blu-ray player. Actually, we considered it incentive to get the electronics guru who set up our home theatre system out to our house to repair a problem we were having with the television, and it worked. Now we're back in the movie business, and are Blu-ray movies awesome! We had a great picture before with HD, and this is even better, but the biggest improvement is in the sound quality. You hear everything! We watched Let the Right One In--a Swedish vampire movie--and Doubt over the weekend, and wondered why we ever go to the theatre to see a show.

Those Bleepin' Lights

When I noticed that two weeks had passed since I last posted, I wondered what I had accomplished in those two weeks. Actually, plenty--just like any other mother and wife has accomplished in these harried weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I won't bore you with all the details. Except, I must share my shock and delight about a project I tackled yesterday afternoon--the dreaded outside decorations for Christmas.

Why so dreaded? First off, I'm in MN. It's cold, and there's no way to put up wreaths, garlands, and lights with mittens on, so usually by the time I'm finished, I can no longer feel my fingers, and my toes aren't in much better shape. Secondly, it's those #@)%#$%^#! lights. I test them inside and they work fine, but spend ten or fifteen minutes wrapping them around some garland on the door frame, plug them in, and nothing! Arrrgghhh! But this year, I must admit, it really was smooth sailing. Cold? Yes, but no deep snow to trudge through with a ladder. Light bulbs out? A few, but I found the spent ones right away and had replacements. And just as I was finishing up, snow started to fall. I swear I heard Charlie Brown music in the background--oh, maybe that was my iPod. The good news is that it still appears to be in working order this morning. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I've also been finishing up a few knitting projects. The Cable Guy boopies are felted, dried, and waiting for their suede soles to be delivered by the UPS guy. (Man, those things are expensive!) The matching Norwegian sweaters for my niece and nephew are just about finished--lots of ends to be finished off and some sewing that won't take long. I got the crocheted fringe on a Prayer Shawl finished just in time for the blessing Mass last Friday. Finally, I cast off and blocked the Braids and Bobbles hat, and I love it. Hats and curly hair just don't go together, but as I said before, it gets cold here, so I'm always in search of a hat that works. This might be the best candidate yet. It's warm, but doesn't fit too tightly on my head. I'll give it a test drive this week. Maybe if I have to go outside and fix some of my lights.