Silly boy, power tools are for moms!

William enjoyed helping with the kitchen tear out. 

Kitchen hell, part 2

Boys doing dishes before the tear out began So, if you've been keeping up, then you know some time way back in late 2005 we discovered some water damage from a leaking dishwasher and were subsequently plunged into Kitchen Hell. Life in Kitchen Hell is slow. Slower than you can imagine. Slower than watching food cook in a crockpot (an essential element in the kitchenless household). So here we sit. April 2006. Months after beginning the tear out of the kitchen. A solid month and a half (probably, my sense of time stinks) after gutting it and what do we have? An empty kitchen, unpainted, unprimed. A living room stuffed TO THE CEILING with boxes of cabinets from Premier Cabinetry. Two more boxes of cabinets in our dining room. A sunroom full of boxes of items that belong in the kitchen and the dining table over flowing with vital kitchen items like coffee pot, salt, pepper, cutting board along with boxes filled with essential spices, essential pots and pans and essential impliments. The boxes are under the dining table. The house is a wreck. We can't see the TV in the living room! If you've been to our house, you know we (Ginger) has a TV roughly the size of New Jersey and we can't see it!
Here are some pictures through the process. I imagine the server will not like the sheer number of them so I shall try to be brief. Here's Ginger removing trim.Galadrielle supervising (upper) William removing tile after cabinet was removed (lower)
Wm, Galadrielle (see the floor?) and Ginger (see the nut on the shelf?)

nothing but pictures of Kitchen Hell continued

<-Before during demolishion->

catching up

I have a bet with my friend Mary. We both are so far behind on our blogs that it's embarassing. I, however, "win" because mine was "more" behind that hers. The blogging is good. It helps me remember things. I honestly would never have remember some of the events if they weren't documented. I just scrolled through several months of digital pictures and found "new" things.

If you keep up with this blog, then you're obviously better than me! You will notice that some events don't have pictures. Sorry. Part of it was a problem uploading, part of it was not wanting to put pictures of friends on the net without their permission. But the bathroom was neither. The truth is, the bathroom remains undone! It is still missing window and show curtains. Well, the frosted glass and the clear plastic shower curtain are there, but the expresso, or chocolate curtains I envisioned are not. Our ceilings are simply too high for all the mass marketed stuff. I have not taken it upon myself to sew, but it appears that is where I am headed.

It's over...Oscar Night America

For weeks, almost a month I have volunteered and worked to help this event come to fruition. It has come and gone. And I am a shell. It took more than I can even express to do the little that I did. My brain is a sieve, my family aches to have our regular lives back. Yesterday I forgot how to knit! Today I remembered...and so we begin the countdown to next Oscar Night America...
Thank you to the entire committee and especially my wife and children who did without me for hours upon end and even volunteered in the end!

What's been flying off my needles at a snails pace

So far this year I've knit a bit, but just a bit. In January I listed my first FO's. There is one missing, the little baby hat that I never mailed. For some reason there isn't a picture of it either. I must remedy that...tomorrow. But I did finish the slippers for Max and here is a before felting and after felting picture. Free pattern and WOTA yarn. and here is after
And looking at my photos it appears that I simultaneously finished this Last Minute Knitted Gifts Scarf. I wonder if I'll make another one for Andrea's birthday this year? I'll probably forget by then! and finally, the long awaited Cozy. I started it with my first order from KnitPicks when they just came out with their own yarns. I had ordered a few skeins of this not knowing what it would be. After it decided to be Cozy from Knitty.com, I waited to save my money for the required additional skeins. Eventually I bought them and after many months of on again off again knitting, it is done. This picture doesn't show how I've learned to wear it (a la the model on Knitty), but is the only picture of it I have. The stitch detail is interesting. Knit in Andean Silk it took 8 skeins on size 11 Addis. It drapes divinely :)
It occurs to me that I finally finished the shawl, quickly made the scarf and slippers because I wanted all my needles free lest I get distracted from my Olympic entry. Which I certainly did, but not my knitting. That would be the never-ending Oscars.

Friends and Family in Tulsa

We are very lucky to have both of my parents alive, healthy and living relatively close by. It's a 6 hour drive, but we've done it so long it doesn't seem long at all. This trip I got together with some great friends and former co-workers. And the boys got to go shooting at the range with my father not once, but twice on a quick 3 day trip. How's that for great? Throw in some chocolate cake made by the boys for my dad and getting to see my brother and his family makes it one incredible weekend. May you be so lucky as to have this great a family!

I feel fuzzy (feet)

These are fuzzy feet from Knitty.com. While I was waiting for my copy of FiberTrends felted clogs to show up, I impatiently knitted these in BS winter frost and WOTA. you can see that I doubled the soles. The first felting was a tad loose and these are the pictures. The next felting was a tad over-felted and required a shoehorn to get them on. I won't show you a current picture because these are so wonderful that I wear mine constantly, to bed, to the trash, in the snow, constantly. They are not beautiful anymore, but they wear like iron! I also knit a pair for #1 son, not doubled, out of WOTA and his look like little elf feet. He likes his quite well and I am almost happy that I gave my old pair of slippers and some night gowns to a neighbor who's house burned. I missed my old slippers and then I HAD to make new ones!

I need a break!

Max & Ginger, Diane & knitting, William and J.D., Mickey (phat cat) and Venus de Mittens. Not pictured is Fudge the super Yorki and dearly missed is Blue Angel who died 2/6/06 in a tragic household accident.

After finishing up a little over 24 hours of volunteering with Ronald McDonald House's Rock103 Radiothon, I plunged into Oscar Night America and the annual Valentine Cookie delivery for significant donors to RMH Memphis. But I was exhausted. One evening found all of us in our bed. No one was missing and while I was knitting they were giggling and watching a bit of TV between vying for a spot on the full-sized bed.

Kitchen hell part 1

Here are a few pictures of the first of the kitchen chaos. We tore out a bar and closed in a wall to create a larger closet in William's bedroom. He was an enthusiastic worker.

Laugh a cold, drown an upper respiratory infection

Here it sit, as I have all day, in our bed. Warmed by the laptop and currently wrapped in my just completed Cozy. I have knit, worked on a volunteer project for Ronald McDonald House and watched TV more than any human ever should. I have asked for drinks and even got Ginger to go to Sonic and get me a strawberry shake for "dinner" as I was completely over one more mug of tea or cup of broth. The kids have settled for the evening and have survived quite well with Ginger attending to them so I opened the Yarn Harlot thinking something light would help me sleep. I forget (there's that memory thing) how irreverent and self deprecating, but absolutely spot-on, Stephanie is. So instead of settling in for the evening without knitting needles or computer, I was literally laughing out loud, tears running down my face. Laughter is good for a cold, but not good for the sleeping spouse next to you. Even Fudge (our Super Yorki who shares our bed with 2-3 cats at any given moment) looked at me quizzically and hopped off the bed. So I reluctantly set aside your most excellent writing Stephanie and lull myself to sleep with a big of alcohol and a warm computer. I promise to post pictures of my latest FO's just as soon as I look presentable...or at least am not wearing bed-head, pajamas and the flush of fever upon my cheeks.

My Most Excellent Birthday

I have traveled this earth for a few decades now and find that it is (finally?) not the gifts and celebration that I look forward to, but the fact that I have been given another complete year with the family and friends I love (the rest of you I don't give a whit about, don't think I've gone that soft!)

My dear friend Shannon brought cupcakes complete with Princess rings, flowers and her family to my house today. We had a small homeschool activity, which I botched horribly and she rescued gracefully. Then we shared artichoke pasta and dessert was birthday cupcakes and ice cream. I LOVED the impromptu celebration. Great people that family.

Tonight we indulged in Limerick's Steakhouse at Fitzgerald's casino. Once you get past all the slot machines and hundreds of people, the steak house is quiet and slightly refined. Comfortable but gracious after the lights and noise of the casino, whether it's the high roller's room or penny slots. Max has been wanting lobster for a few weeks so tonight he got lobster Newburg and Ginger and William each had what appeared to be the better half of a cow! I got surf and turf for the first time in decades, honestly. A pleasant time and we were briefly joined by Michael McGee as an added bonus. The boys said the cheesecake was great, but my birthday was already full and sweet so I didn't feel a need to take even a bite.

Knitting Olympics

blogger ate my smarty post so the gods have spoken. I shall be polite. I am entering, no, I have entered the knitting olympics. I am competing on the sweater team and for those of you who know me, that doesn't mean I'm WEARING the sweater. I shall be casting on when the flame is lit February 10th. I am finally going to knit Ginger's sweater. She's picked any number of patterns over the last year and the yarn is sitting in the stash eager to become something. She thinks she wants a shawl collared textured rib. I'll have to swatch and see if the yarn agrees. I would like to hedge my Olympic entry ever so much and say that I reserve the right to alter the pattern to something simpler in the name of actually completing my event. I'm using the Lamb's Pride Cotton Fleece that Denise got for me months ago. Go Team!

Honda Hilton Rides again!

This was Max's first stay in the Honda Hilton. We discovered that not only does it sleep 2 comfortably, it can turn into luxurious recliners for reading or sipping morning coffee while enjoying the view out the front window. We perfected "the flip" (flipping the foot of your sleep mat and sleep bag up and then flipping the front seat back up) for driving without moving much gear around. If we have more than 2 on any outing we'll be back with the Sierra Designs Sirius, but until then, we've enjoyed the decadence of the Honda Hilton. Sunday morning rain began at 2:30. It continued unabated all night and Max knew there would be no further kayaking or comfortable hiking so we pulled out (after opening the "kitchen" to make cocoa and coffee!)

Cane Creek State Park, Arkansas Kayaking

This weekend Maxwell and I had our first "Mommy & Max" weekend getaway. I discovered a sensitive, intelligent, patient and loving child who is thirteen and still comfortable being seen with his mother in public. It was a gift I will always cherish. We have decided to try and make these kayak outings a monthly event. The staff at Cane Creek was fabulous! Check out the beaver lodge. Max got to see the beaver, but I was busy behind the lens and didn't get there fast enough. We got to try out the guide's kayak and enjoyed a peaceful paddle about the shallow "lake". Saturday night we had a wonderful experience at Country Village, right outside of Star City, AR. There were a cluster of shops, restaurants and even a taxidermist! It was so much fun that we hope the take the rest of the family back there when it's a tad warmer...and drier.

Ozark Trail Association first outing of 2006

After a great New Year's event with a few faithful OTA members, we returned to the scene of the crime (Winona bunkhouse) of our first OTA event in 2004 and started 2006 off with a bang! The weather cooperated more than enough, but lunch Sunday I'd stripped down to my base layer! Here's a picture of a couple of maintenance crews that met up for lunch to celebrate Ron Moll's 40-something birthday. The picture of William (sporting his newest hat) and a reluctant and sleepy Alex is included to show that the OTA welcomes kids. This is pretty rare in a trail club.

First FO's (finished objects) of the year

I cast these little "last minute gifts" on after New Years and completed them quickly! The hat William is wearing is the first official FO. The two subsequent baby hats are #2 and 3. I have pictures of one baby hat, but haven't decided on the color for the cord on the 2nd. You can see my excellent gift from Andrea (knittingparents group on yahoo) in the cast on for the baby hat. I LOVE Knitting! I'm joining the Knitting Olympics!! And as soon as I figure out how to add side buttons I'll add them, until then go to http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog to read all about it!

Bathroom Tiling

After months of looking and pricing and almost settling, Ginger found this tile at Lowes. She called me on my cell as I was driving home from New Years with some Ozark Trail members and it sounded perfect. So as soon as I got home we started. Here are a few shots. The new tile is the black and white, the old is the honeycomb white. We're grouting it tonight and I'll probably post a final picture then.