Gack!

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted!

Justin has turned one. Hard to believe that it has been a year! These two pictures were taken about 11 months apart - he has changed a lot in that time! The sweater is the same, the modified Hanne Falkenberg Tutti-Frutti that I knit for him. I don't know if he'll be able to wear it much longer!

I finished the Hanne Falkenberg Plisse Monday. Pictures to come soon, I hope.

Howard and I have both changed jobs as our employers cut hours more and more because of the economy. Just couldn't afford to continue, even though we liked the jobs. We are both enjoying the new jobs. We are working opposing schedules, Howard works nights and I work days/swing. We cherish the few hours we see each other. After all that happened last year, I find that I have very low energy levels. I'm recovering, but it has been a haul.

Yesterday was a bad accessory day. I guess. That's the best way I can think to describe it. I lost my pedometer, my sunglasses, the stick on my shawl pin and broke an earring. Hello? What in the world did I do wrong yesterday? On the drive back to the house I was praying that I wouldn't break my glasses to finish the day! I did bang them and need to get them adjusted, but no break. Whew!

My dad was hospitalized over a week ago with a stroke. He was released Wednesday night to a rehab facility.

I'm Sorry!

I'm sorry about the delay in posting -- Howard and I have been leaving at 7 in the morning most days and not getting home until 9 at night. That makes it rather hard to keep up here!

I'm working with some delightful older people, but sometimes things happen that tickle my funny bone.

The other night I was helping one of them as she decided what to wear the next day. As it had been chilly, she had laid out some sweaters to wear. She told me that she wnted the white one with big flowers on it for the next day. I brought out the only sweater that matched the description. It wasn't the one she had in mind. I brought out the only other white sweater -- still wrong. Finally I brought her ALL of the sweaters that she had put out. She pointed to the grey, light blue and cream argyle and said triumphantly -- THAT'S the one I told you I wanted!

I didn't laugh. But it was close! :)

The fire didn't destroy any houses and was out that evening. We stayed away another night, so the smoke wasn't in the air any longer. Well, there was still a slight smoky smell in the air, but it didn't get into our things. That was a big relief!

I'm knitting away on the Plisse. Still haven't finished the first half.

Oh My!

Yesterday, we were doing laundry at Serena's. (We gave her the washer and dryer with the understanding that we could do laundry at her house.) Howard went outside to put something in our car. He was surprised by the neighbor calling out "Hey, be careful, there is a bear in the area!" Sorry, that just ISN'T something that happened anywhere else we have lived! Yes, in upstate New York there were occasional bears. But that wasn't anywhere in our neighborhood, although there were church members who saw them. Our house was too surrounded by many others. We did have deer who slept in our yard (we could tell by the grass) but that was it. In Iowa we didn't even have that. There was an unnerving reality of "you have now changed locations" to that warning! grin

We were driving home this afternoon when there was a sign on the freeway saying something like "Fire on Green Mountain, visible smoke". Okay, we didn't know where Green Mountain was. Kept driving. Got closer to home, we didn't pass the fire. We turned off at our exit and there were so many cars going our way. Hm. Looked over to the foothills and BLAST! We saw the fires. Oh dear. So THAT is the name of the mountain! Bad words. The smoke was blowing away from our apartment, but we knew that could change. Text messaged Serena,"Can we stay with you tonight?" She wrote back, "yes, but why?"

Got home, started packing a suitcase for the next few days. Closed all of the windows, hoping that will keep the smoke from adding its essence to our things. Debate as to whether how many days we should pack for as well as what exactly we should take.

The last we had heard, the fire was 85% contained, with cooler weather and perhaps rain expected. The bad news? As we drove by on our way to Serena's, the wind had shifted and was blowing straight toward our place. But the windows are closed (also good news!)

We bought bookcases today, to replace those which don't fit in the elevator. I don't know if we bought enough, but we bought as many as we thought would fit in the apartment. Tomorrow was going to be a day of bringing books upstairs, unpacking then going back for more. We'll wait to see if the fire is contained before we decide.

Life is certainly interesting!

Bragging Grandma Alert!

Look at what he is trying to do. Just before he turned 7 months, he is working on crawling. Doesn't he look as if he is having fun?




They went to Duluth today, and Daddy seems to be packing him around. I think he's teething again, don't you? grin Well protected from the sun! When Nathan was about this age, we went into a restaurant around Sacramento. The waitress enjoyed being around the 2 children. Nathan grabbed for her apron strings every time she came by. I don't know if she noticed or enjoyed the game -- he undid the tie each time, each time she tied them up again as she left our table. Justin did the same thing today -- like father like son?

Views from our deck

Storm coming in!
As it was raining, we realized there was a double rainbow...
The other side of the rainbow...the railing on our deck isn't really secures, we are on the fourth floor, so I didn't try too many times for this side!
I REALLY wish this one had turned out right -- the end of the rainbow was in the tree next to the building directly below us!

What a week!

This has been a week! Started a new job on Monday, that afternoon Mom found out she needed to be on oxygen 24/7, then I sliced the tip of my left middle finger off that evening! Monday was also our 35th wedding anniversary. That, let me be quick to assure you WAS a positive!

Last night I found out that Ruth Schooley, one of the Knitlist listmoms died Tuesday. Ruth was a great lady. She was warm, caring and knowledgeable. She loved to share what she was learning in the fiber world. When I was upset by something on the list, she had a gift for helping me see the situation in a different light.

Until the finger heals, I can't knit to destress! Yes, I tried. No, it didn't work.

Rocking Chair

We went into a consignment store the other day, and there it was...a little maple rocking chair. Perfect. We snapped it up.

When I was pregnant with Serena, we drove from San Francisco to Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Texas and Arizona to visit family. While we were visiting, we looked for a rocking chair. I love to rock, and wanted to rock my baby. In Iowa, uncles and aunts helped us look. Then Uncle Myron asked if I wanted one they had that he'd refinished. It was perfect. He called it a nursing rocker, low and no arms. As he said, "it has been chewed by a dog on one of the rockers, so you don't have to worry about the baby damaging it."

So we stuffed the chair in the back of our tiny Datsun and drove home with it. The back of the rocker was over the cooler in the back seat, so every time we needed in the cooler we had to tip the rocker.

That rocker rocked both children, and became a knitting rocker. No arms, which was perfect for this body's repetitive stress problems.

Then Serena moved out and took the chair with her. I missed it. She set it so she can look out over her view and rock quietly with a cat in her lap.

So now I have a new to me rocker that is just right for me. It is set so I can look out over OUR view -- withOUT a cat in my lap. For whatever reason, I have been able to start knitting again. Perhaps it is the rocker? Whatever, my Plisse is starting to grow a bit.

Just for fun Howard asked her if she would trade rockers. Her eyebrows went up all the way and she said, "but it is MINE!" Which is almost word for word what I'd predicted. We all laughed.

Oops!

I want to make a quick apology to Howard about my comment about not visiting the Brown Sheep Factory outlet while we moved.

He was very patient last year when we went. He talked with the ladies in the shop, encouraged me to buy and did not try to hurry me along at all. I did not have a concern that he would be difficult if we did go up there.

The reason I thought it would try "spousal patience" is called "logistics." To make that stop we would have either driven both trucks there -- incurring perhaps a mileage charge on my truck as well as additional gasoline expenses OR we could have parked the trucks somewhere, unloaded the car from the dolly, driven up and then back to the trucks. That wouldn't have cost so much in gas, but it would have extended an already tiring trip. I could not justify it in my mind.

So, other than the one point in time when he made an awful face when I suggested it half in jest before time, the decision was mine. I didn't suggest it a we traveled.

You know, I just realized that I didn't even take one photo of the trucks!

Mutterings

Yesterday we celebrated my mom's birthday. We'd originally planned to picnic on Serena's deck, weather and fatigue contributed to going out instead.

When we arrived back at Serena's, the power was off, so the garage door wouldn't open (took us a while to figure out the culprit.) As we were trying to get the door to raise, look what stepped out from the front of the house... I left the little bit of our car in.

Today was a "nibbled to death by ducks" day. I'm hoping tomorrow will be better. For whatever reason in their benighted minds, the phone company decided to turn on our DSL service last Thursday, but did not turn on the land line. The cell phones drop service in the middle of calls even though they show full coverage. Just one darned thing after another.

On the positive side, though, we think we have all of the totes out of the garage and stowed away. All of the kitchen boxes that made their way into the apartment have been unpacked. On to the next step -- bringing boxes up out of the garage and unpacking. Forward!

I tried to take pictures last night of our exquisite view. They were either too light, too dark or too shaky to post here. I'll try again later. We have a panorama view of Denver all the way out to the airport. I will figure this out!

long drive

We left our former town this morning around 7:30 and drove over 400 miles today to Ogallala NE. We thought about driving the rest of the way and swiftly decided that would be nuts. Is that the polite way to put it? If we had gone all the way, we would have either have awakened our daughter LATE at night, so she would have had a rotten night of sleep or we would have found a motel there, which seems silly, as we were both tired, hot, sweaty, grimey and ready to stop. So we did.

Stopped at a wonderful restaurant (walked over from the motel.) The waitress went absolutely out of her way to make sure that the food was safe for me. I know that food allergies make it more difficult for restaurants, but it sure makes it difficult on this end too! To have a waitress work so hard so I can safely eat -- priceless!

Right now we are in the motel room, praying that the air conditioning will finally kick in enough that we will feel cool enough to sleep. Right now, despite a shower, I am dripping in sweat.

We aren't going to stop at the Brown Sheep outlet. I'd love to. I really would. But with one truck on limited mileage and neither one exactly "fuel efficient," not to mention the "small" detail of spousal patience, I didn't suggest the stop. Actually, I did when we were originally in process of discussion of the trip, and his response was such that I dropped the idea. sigh I'd love to go, but we would probably spend more in gas for both trucks than I'd save. whine

Whine

Have you ever had a day that went on its way in a handbasket? Today was one of those.

We picked up the rental truck. I somehow misread the size of the truck. I thought we were getting one for a 2-3 BEDROOM house, and had requested a 2-3 ROOM house. Do you see the problem here? We could either have packed most of the furniture or the boxes. Not both.

I just about had a meltdown. I knew it was my fault and it was up to me to decide what to do. Howard was busy with the wonderful friends who were attempting to fill the truck as thoroughly as possible. I called around, there wasn't a truck to be had until Monday.

So, Monday morning we will pick up a second truck in Des Moines, drive it up here and load it with the rest of our belongings. We will each drive a truck out. I just don't see any other way around it. This is not a popular decision with either of us, but...

Lots of soda, water and nutritious snacks. Which will also mean rest stops. grin We will definitely be making a 2 day drive of it (found that out when we realized the tow trailer for the car has a 55 mph limit. ) So, we'll start off first thing Tuesday morning and drive about half way. Then we'll drive on in Wednesday.

Some of Serena's co-workers have volunteered to unload the truck Thursday after work. They are just as grateful as we are that there is an elevator -- we will be on the 4th floor! Others have volunteered to come by on Friday -- a holiday! they are giving up a free day to help us! We are grateful for such generous friends!

Just as I had the truck situation under control, I received another phone call. Howard's hard drive on his laptop has melted down.

Are we having fun yet?

Updates

Before we left for Duluth we drove by some of the flooding in town. We are high enough that we were not affected in the least. People in town had sandbagged for several days, successful in some areas not so much in others.

Justin was teething while we were in Duluth. That means that as we held him we were dribbled upon. Isn't it wonderful that babies are so cuddly that one doesn't care? LOL
This is a WINDY picture of the family in Duluth. A lovely lady offered to take a picture of all of us, so we have this windblown shot. Don't you love all of the sunglasses! This is our immediate family, taken by Stacey. Kim, Nathan, Justin, Serena, me and Howard.

This is the Hunt clan that got together that day, me, Stacey, Kim, Nathan, Justin, Serena and Howard.

See how Justin is willing to play?

I feel as if I'm being nibbled to death by ducks. (Thanks to my friend Dianne for the expression.)

We are almost packed. We are waiting for final confirmation on apartment. Friends are coming in Saturday to load the truck. At this point it looks as if we will leave Tuesday morning. Life is an adventure! I am trying to remind myself of this.

Asthma has kicked in again (surprise surprise) and I'm on a high dose of prednisone. That makes all of what is happening even more emotionally wearing.

For good news, Justin now has two teeth. The first was expected, the second surprised his parents three days after. The first e-mail said, WE HAVE TOOTH!!!! The second message was a text message saying, "There are now 2 teeth! Didn't know that the second one was coming in!

Ack

Today I fell apart. Cried when talking with someone. I think it is the first time I've cried since all this started. It was hard to stop.

I'm so glad that I'm knitting for someone else during this time. It would be so hard if I saw the sweater constantly. Too much of a reminder of difficult times. This sweater has such strong emotions knit into it, I'm amazed the yarn can handle it! The intended victim's dog died, then her house was hit by a tornado, I had to frog the sweater twice -- THAT elicted strong emotions! and then Howard losing his job. I think it will be finished before we move -- the new project will have different emotions.

We are packed. All but the last things around the house which will be done at the end. Over 2 weeks early, but I feel good about it. Boxes abound.

Oh Fudge

I was quite proud of my progress on Margaret's Mermaid, but still had a niggling concern at the back of my mind. I measured today, with 1/4 of the body knit. Even though I had managed gauge on the sleeves with the same needle, the stress of the last weeks shows on my knitting. I frogged again, and am going up a needle size to be able to knit this correctly. So far I've knit the body 1 1/4 times. I look forward to knitting it completely, correctly and happily!

It is a good thing that I like the way this sweater looks as I knit it, or I think I'd throw it in a corner, stamp my feet and scream! snivel

On the packing front, the house is becoming occupied by boxes. I started a stack in the fiber room while I was working in there, and it kind of grew on me. :) So the two back rooms are stacked with boxes.

I have been nagged by the feeling that we need to be packed long before we need to be gone. In exploring that, I've come to realize that comes from our past

• About a week before we moved from Portland Nathan was hospitalized with croup and asthma for 5 days. The Tooles and Petersons came in the last day and stuffed things in boxes and loaded them on the truck. (That was an...interesting move. We couldn't get the tow trailer lights to work on the car -- the first night we stayed at a motel and the crew from "The Incredible Hulk" got them to work for us! We didn't mess with that connection until we got to Oklahoma.)
• When we moved from Colorado, I went to the doctor for a lump in my throat 3 weeks before we moved. A week later I went back to the doc, and was hospitalized until AFTER the truck had come to get our stuff. Wonderful friends who, in Howard's words, -- I was in the hospital 3 hours away -- "descended on the house like locusts, packed things in boxes until there were no more boxes then stuffed things in trash bags and loaded them on the truck." After they were finished he had to buy clothes and medicines for the journey as everything had been packed. That's all right, we would not have gotten everything to our new house without them.

So, I have precedent worrying me. If we are finished packing early, so be it. I'd rather whine about not having enough to read than not be ready when it is time.

Blech

Sorry, whine ahead. Ignore if you like.



We have had problems with centipedes in this house since we moved in. I've not been able to get on top of the problem. I am sure a lot of the problem comes from the leaks in the bathroom and laundry room when we first moved in -- the crawl space is damp -- a breeding ground for the dratted things.


I don't do well with centipedes. They repel me.


This morning I was packing the kitchen. I opened a cupboard that has the best china. What do I see but a centipede wriggling away. Ick, ick, ick! I did pack that cupboard. I felt that I'd probably not be able to tackle that cupboard later if I didn't do it right then.


Now I'm taking time away from the kitchen, to slow my soul. I really don't like them!


That begs the question, of course...what else will I find? And WHERE?


I will be glad to get out of this house!

packing, packing, packing!

We are packing and packing. Although I see progress, I am still at the point of seeing how much is left to DO, as opposed to how much is done.

I did finish the Velveteen Rabbit sweater, which is quite happily back with its owner. He picked it up yesterday. I think it turned out better than I'd anticipated, I'm not sure for him, as I really am not sure what he thought it would become. He hopes it is now good for another 37 years. :)

I suspect you really do NOT want to see the wall of packed boxes, correct? Nor the spaces where stuff used to be. Didn't think so. Take my word for it. They are both there. More will be gone by Monday night, as the city does a clean-up where you can put furniture etc. out of the curb for others to choose. What is not picked up by new owners is picked up by the city. Gone, out of our lives. Somewhat sad on some things, but freeing.

I hadn't realized how much NOISE the little freezer made until it found a new home with someone else today. We freecycled it, the people picked up the freezer, a dresser and a trunk.

Last night a bad storm blew through. The weather radio was going out fairly regularly. I have to confess, after the storm moved east of us, I unplugged it. I couldn't stand it any more. I'd almost be asleep and BLAAT! I don't know how yours works, but ours will warble/blat/whatever VERY loudly for over a minute. Actually, the other evening I was going to let it go, figuring that it was a test. After 2+ minutes I decided I should check it. Yup, it was a real storm, not the twice a week test. sorry about that!

Last Monday I got an e-mail from a friend in Denmark, checking to see if we were all right, as she had heard about the bad tornado in Iowa. We weren't affected, but my aunt was. She is in Parkersburg, but the tornado missed her. A tree down, but as far as I've heard, nothing else. Of course, she had to leave for a while as she didn't have services -- water, sewer, gas or electricity. Small world, that I hear about a tornado an hour down the highway from us from Norway.

Moving

Yes, we are moving. No, we don't know where. We do know that Howard's job ends June 30, so that does give us a timeframe.

Scary times!

A motley post

Last week my computer presented me with the dreaded "blue screen of death". Four days later I have it back, still not sure what went wrong, but it seems to be working. We did buy an external backup for it, while I was backing it up monthly, it had been 3 weeks since the last one. The computer people were originally muttering about "wiping the drive", which worried me.

I really do not like packing. It seems that everything we own multiplies, so there is so much more than I think there is. It also takes more room to put it all in boxes, than put tidily away. I only have a small stash of acrylic yarn, it is being used to fill in those odd shaped places that happen when you put books in boxes. There isn't much left to pack of those skeins, only 3 left. Too bad I don't want to use the wool skeins! I might not have enough yarn to complete ALL of the book boxes, but it would do a lot of them!

And I do odd things. I was in the middle of re-reading a series. What did I do? I packed the rest of those books! Pfftp! I really don't want to open finished boxes, that rather defeats the purpose.

I know that one move I got tired of labeling boxes as "books". So I used variations on that theme: "more books", "I'll bet you can guess what is in this box!", "yes, we have a lot of books" and "yes, we've read all of these". You get the idea. I suspect the first 20 or so boxes were regular, but by the time we were at 63 boxes... That was the last time I actually COUNTED the number of boxes of books. It becomes a bit daunting.

I saw a new doctor last week, who changed my asthma medication. The pulmonologist said the next day that 80% of patients do just as well on it as what I was taking before. I'm part of the 20%. I've been wheezing since the change. I've changed back to the other medication, but my lungs have yet to forgive me. The dust from all of the books? Who knows. Whatever, it has certainly negatively affected my knitting! As in, I can't! grump

We are at that stage of life where we are paring down. It is hard to do. We have a lot of books up on PaperBackSwap.com (no, they aren't all paperbacks), there have been items of furniture that have found new homes. But I still feel the urge to pass more stuff on -- slowly. I guess I'll know when it is enough.

Oh Bother

I realized last week that I'd changed gauge on the Mermaid as I knit it. Although I'd almost finished the body, I wound up frogging it entirely. I can't believe that I didn't notice, but it happened. It was way too small for the intended victim, so there wasn't a real choice, there isn't a point in giving someone a sweater that doesn't fit. I decided to knit the sleeves first this time, I finished the second one this morning.

Right now I'm starting on a job of sweater repair. It is a sweater that I believe has come something of a Velveteen Rabbit for the owner. He's had it for 37 years and has worn it every winter. It has held up well, but it needs some help.

New Justin pics

Isn't this a great picture that Kim took? I laughed when I saw it, every time I see it I smile. He looks so happy. I love these pictures. This is a new toy, as he steps on the piano keys below, he plays music. There are many other things that he can do, but the making music seems to be key. (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun.)