I'm IN!

Ha! I'm with all the cool kids on Ravelry! I spent all day uploading, annotating, all that. There's very few finished objects on my Ravelry website because there's so many of them. It asks for yarn, needle size, pattern info, yech. I finished some of these several years ago, how can I remember all that? Heck, the brain hurts while thinking of what I had for lunch yesterday, never mind years. At any rate, here are all my finished objects I have specific pictures for, then a group shot of even more. Some have already found new homes, others have been worn out, while others are just gone.

The deck is DONE! Joe the Deck guy did an excellent job, mostly. Construction great, cleanup crap. I have a lot of work to do. So does the Husband. So should the Fry.

And now, for some Friday fun:

Word Search It's fast, it's easy, perfect for Friday!

Cool Picture time, too. The red line is the route we walk Lucky. We usually go clockwise and when it's late, we'll skip the bottom two cul-de-sacs. Along the top is the latest neighborhood addition. Almost all the homes there are done and most are sold. They're lovely starter homes, so clean and clutter free I want to move in. There's one home with a sunroom and lots of flowers, gorgeous.

Last summer, Lucky and I wanted to explore and found a secret valley. It's peaceful and is a great nature walk along a creek. A bonus is if we walk during dinner time, there's always someone barbequing. Good smells, good smells.

It'll happen one day, I'm sure.

What will? Me making my Biohazard handbag. I used this picture:



printed on a piece of graph paper for the symbol. Sadly, no fabric stores has the symbol stamped all over the fabric for the lining. Happily, pirates are in vogue, so there's tons of black fabric with white skull and crossbones as a pattern. Yay!

I don't chat much about the knit stuff lately, do I? Non-yarnies can look away now.

Ok, all the cool kids are signed up or are in Ravelry. Right now, I'm about 315 places away from being 'in'. I've noticed, once a person is in, they... never... blog... again...

::cue the scary music and ghostly sound effects::

So, I finished a lovely cardigan called Boxy Jacket made out of Rowan's Summer Tweed and is from Knit It! Fall 2006. Since Knit It! is published by Lion Brand, so I can'd find a picture from the magazine. I'll have to fix the collar, then model it.

Collar? Yes, the bane of my existance are collars. But, after the Collar Obedience class during Stitches Midwest, I know how to beat it into submission. Once I get the nerve to look at the brown tweed, I'll fix and show off the jacket.

Remember this?


Well, Fry is getting a lovely hoodie jacket made from this:


The pattern is in the latest issue of Cast On, from The Knitting Guild of America, number 40.


Is it just me or is number 16 full of bad colors. Ewwwww.

Friday fun!

The deck is 99% done. Right now, Joe and Hubs is working on the underdecking. Hubs has this crazy idea that the lawn mower and other lawn care items should be dry and rust free. Weird, huh? At any rate, don't you think this BEGS for a party? I think so. Something Halloweeny, I think. (Weeny, ha ha ha!)

There has been some progress on the pond. The cold fronts and promise of rain has been disappointing. I'm waiting for the rain to loosen the clay that passes for soil around here. Then, the cold fronts should keep me from sluicing sweat while digging. When it's this humid, the sweat never freakin' dries. If I don't have to be in drenched clothes, I don't. After about 20 more wheelbarrow loads of dirt, I'll be able to put down the liner.


This pond is displacing a LOT of dirt. Where is it going? Filling in the holes a bored beagle digs. I fill them in, he redigs. It's ok for now, but I can see the little guy needs more exercise. He's the little white speck near his doghouse. Some people, like Frygirl, need to pick up the guy's toys so he can drag them out again.


The brown cardigan is alllmost finished. I'm working on the collar. After that, seaming up the sleeves and sides, then attaching buttons. Yay! I don't know what I'll work on next for sure, but can tell you it'll have COLORS.

A lot of mothers, probably every mother in the world, has a(n) exceptional child(ren). I am no exception. Yesterday evening, after we'd spent ourselves silly on Halloween candy, shoes, and other fun things, Fry surprised me. We were chatting on the way home and I told her, "I'd always had the feeling that I should have done or will do something great, something very important."

Fry replied, "You have, you've done a lot of great things."

"Yeah, personally, but I mean really great, really important." She and I both know I consider her to be one of THE greatest things I've ever done or will do. We also knew I meant something like writing a bestseller/blockbuster, discovering a new universe, or curing cancer. You know, the normal, small goals everyone has.

Then, my tiny child astounded me. "Mom, it doesn't have to be global to be great."

Wow, huh? Such wisdom from a 12 year old. The women in our family are like onions. We take the layers from our mothers and add our own.

You can't be sick of hearing about the deck, can you?

It's all about the deck these days. These two are the slotted roof going up.


Then, a picture of the pond as it's being made bigger. After the fifth wheelbarrow load, I wondered what the hell I was thinking, messing it up like I have. But then, bigger will be better, right? I've bought a lot of bulbs to plant around, the lazy girl's way of lovely color without lots of maintenance.

Here's a distance shot so everyone can appreciate the lovely railing.

And finally, the gratuitous Lucky shot. He's shaking my hand, isn't he so cute! Gah. I've turned into one of those annoying dog owners. This in addition to those annoying cat owners (read: future crazy cat lady) and annoying worship-their-kid moms. Still, though, don't you just want to love on him? Me personally, I don't, but then, I happen to know he rolled around on a dead baby snake yet again today. Yecchhhh.


I'm on the sleeves of the brown cardigan. Ok, correct that, the first sleeve of the cardigan. With the weather so suddenly cool, it's been tough to stay in the house unless a migraine grounds me. Even then, a Relpax keeps me going, mostly pain free. In the next couple of posts, I'll have to show off the knitted stuff, instead of just the deck. I've found that if I line up chocolate chips and eat only one per row, it's a wonderful bribe to keep going. Until Fry runs by and grabs a couple, anyway.

But wait! There's more!

I'll have to find prior pictures, just so readers will know how good the new stuff really is. The deck is going to turn out better than I'd thought. It'll be like having an entire new room added on, even during mid-summer. Very nice!





Santa-Cali-Gon was a blast. It's a festival of the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon trails' beginning in Independence, Missouri. A lot of craft tents are set up, along with a lot of carnival food (read: funnel cake) Mary invited me, and having never gone, I had to go. The crowds were a bit much, but aren't they always? We had lunch at a great Italian place, and shopped at a kitchen/gourmet store. I love those places. I found a real live chef's jacket (stolen off a fake dead chef, no doubt). I love it. It's not been worn, yet. Sunday, it's forecasted to be somewhere below blistering hot. I'll probably fix something foo foo for my family that day, while wearing the jacket of course.

Speaking of family... We had a family outing with Lucky on Labor day. If the pickup is out of the garage and he's not in there, Lucky is not a happy camper. He loves going bye-bye. Probably because we're usually going to PetSmart, where he can scavenge the floor for spilled food and treats. We walked to a waterfall, saw some deer, then went to a park that allowed dogs. Even when the city provides the bags, people won't pick up after their dogs. If *I* can do it, *THEY* can do it. There's not a whole lot worse than hot dog poo smell.

Fry and I have a new thing to play on the Playstation 2. It's a workout game called Yourself! Fitness. A user enters their weight, age, and takes a fitness test. Then, the 'game' sets up a workout schedule and workout types based on your goal. You can choose what goal you want, or the game will, based on what it thinks you need. So far, it's rather fun and Fry is mostly sticking with it.

Last Labor Day evening, I had the beginnings of a migraine. So, I took a Relpax and an ice pack with me to bed. Meanwhile, Fry was practicing her viola. Her playing is phenomenal. Yes I'm biased, I'll admit, but still. My child amazes me with her talent. I could hear, as she played, how she felt about the song. There was a lilt to Jingle Bells, and her Ode to Joy? She played it slow and carefully, then later confessed, since the song had played at Hubs and my wedding, she wanted every note perfect for us. By that time, I'd pulled the husband into our bedroom, both doors open, to listen to our girl play. She doesn't make a single scratchy 'eee' 'eee' sound while playing, which is a minor miracle to me. Fry is a true talent.

Also in the Fry news, she conned me into going swimming. I loathe cold water, but our complex's pool wasn't too bad once I got used to it. She and I tossed a Nerf football until Lucky and Hubs came over. Pets aren't allowed in the pool area, but Lucky is somewhat potty trained, and is afraid of deep water. He really wanted to jump in after the football, but just couldn't do it. If he'd been more cooperative, I'd have taught him how to drag us around the pool's perimeter while we held on to his leash. He did it enough while walking around sniffing to give me the idea. I don't think the housing association would approve of the endless days required for training.

My younger sister, Toppa, has a new pickup! I'm thrilled for her! I've not seen a pickup with only 35,000 miles on it in a long time, unless, like my Dad's, they're a first time owner. Her pickup is very much the same as mine, a Ford with a nice bed topper. It's cuter, though, being white and a pickup-lite, the Ranger model. We have the F-150. I wonder how long it'll take her to get it tricked out with new rims and radio...?

Endless knitting. There are times, about 3/4 the way through a project of plain knitting, that I think, "I could have done this on the machine!" It would look weird if I put it on the machine now, so I'm stuck. I have two projects like that, a Rowan Summer Tweed Bolero out of a chocolate brown, and a circular knit sweater for Fry out of a boucle' and Plymouth Whisper. I have September earmarked for finishing both, because I'm wanting to celebrate October as Socktober. I've tons of sock yarn in the stash and am dying to get started.

The more Fry goes to middle school, the more she loves it. I don't know if this is middle school related, but she's copping an attitude at times. Grrr, because I miss my sweet little Frybaby. Sometimes, though, like this morning, my little angel will be the one possessing my Fry and she'll love her mom. Let's hope that mood stayed with her today.

I get to teach Beginning Knitting this Thursday! This is the best job, although, I do have qualms about starting another group with a yarn addiction. Poor kids, they don't know what they're in for, do they? }:)

What happened to me?

I'm still here, just goofing off or running around. First, the pictorial of what's been going on.

In the first photo, we're looking towards the almost new deck, with the waterfall in the foreground. Next, we see all the rocks from the waterfall stacked neatly in a rock wall. Third, more of a rock wall as more rocks were taken from further down the stream bed. Some of these hadn't been touched in the five years I've had this thing. There were no snakes, the spiders were too few to bother me, but the ant colonies! Yikes! I unearthed at least five. Why am I doing this? When I look down at the pond system and think of how much bigger I could dig it, a larger pond for fish is the first thought. Then, in the billion degree heat, I think I'm an idiot and to put back those rocks. It's cool how they stack up, isn't it? Hubs wants me to get more patio stones to place around the new pond, a walkway all the way around. I know he's thinking less mowing. Good idea, too.



By the time I'm done, my Mom will inherit a new liner for her two streams. The gal has four ponds, all with huge koi. I'd swipe a few of them for here, but I'm not sure if they'd be a snack for Lucky or not. I'd have to make a shelter for them, I think.



You would not believe the junk a family can pack in an eighteen by fourteen space. Especially when they don't need to. Not only that, but anything on the deck that could fall through the cracks, did. Snow, rain, dirt, all that. Yech. The nice thing is, the black stuff on the side of the house isn't really mold, it's black foundation paint. I hauled all the junk out, sorted it in useful/trash order, then let the husband do the bleach and swab thing. It's a role reversal for us. Usually I'm sanitizing after he's cleared stuff. By the time the second picture was taken, the sorting was done but not the swabbing. If there had been mold, there isn't now!



Here's the deck with the posts in place and a lot of the decking on. The under deck, what was supposed to keep the area below dry, has been removed. Lucky actually helped with that by jumping onto the underdeck, then falling through. Happily, this was early last week before the ratty patio table had been cleared out. He's fine. Fry was very upset, but I reassured her that he couldn't be too bad off, considering how he ran over to her and wanted to play. Since then, though, you can't get him near the edge. He'll sneak over and peer down, then scuttles away.



Finally, we have a trench. Hubs is digging this and is in charge of getting everything ready for Joe the Deck guy. Hubs is determined to hide the electric cords to the pump for some odd reason. Running over them with the lawn mower couldn't be too bad, could it?


Joe the Deck guy is really good at what he does. He picks out every board himself to make sure it's just so. He'd been done by now if not for us saying, "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" every so often. You'd think with me having to loiter around the house in case he needs a question answered, I'd have blogged since then. When I had a day off, I took the day completely off and got out of the house.

There's a lot more to blog, Santa-Cali-Gon, family outings with Lucky, Playstation 2 workout game, Fry's viola, swimming pool fun, Toppa's new pickup, knitting endless miles of the same two items to get them done before October, middle school, and knitting classes. Alas, the washer is done and I've got tons of laundry to do before I sleep.