Hutch and (not so) Useless Closet

Just a quick photo post about this phase of new furniture. :)


Before the hutch. But try and imagine it with a Humphrey Bogart picture on the right, and CDs and DVDs on the shelves.


Delivered! Isn't it pretty?



Now fully set up and packed.


And now with doors closed and dog bed in place.


Not so useless closet anymore!


Stupid hallway; it's impossible to get a good picture without doors and such getting in the way.

Demolition and Archaeology

When the family came up for Family Weekend in late May, Mom and Dad decreed that we'd spend some time tearing out the old rotten deck in the back yard in preparation for doing more fun stuff to the yard in July. So bright and early (okay more like 9:30), out we went to do some demolition.


Or more appropriately, Dad did the demolition, and Mom and I watched and did what he told us to.


The tree had grown so much since the deck was built that it had grown around the deck, making it very difficult to get the deck out. Yet another reason, besides the poor construction and the fact that it was rotting, for us to get rid of it.


Look at all the stuff that was under there!


Raked up and all pretty.


Look! We even have a step!


Temporary arrangement, with bricks on the still in place supports, and six sidewalk blocks at the bottom for something to step out on.


And a rotted deck with various and sundry crap from underneath ready to head to the dump!

The archaeology of the day comes from what we found underneath the deck as we were raking. Here is a list:

• Pine needles
  
• Leaves
  
• 2 bouncy balls
  
• Tennis ball
  
• Hackey sack
  
• Work pencil
  
• Ball point pen
  
• Butter knife
  
• Disposable cups and drink bottles
  
• Plastic bags
  
• Plastic forks
  
• Child's plastic clip-on earring
  
• Plastic beads
  
• Newspaper
  
• Gold hair elastic
  
• Rotten wood
  
• Scrap drywall

So, what can these artifacts tell us about the previous residents of this house? Well, there was obviously a younger child living here once (beads, earring, bouncy balls), and the butter knife indicates some clumsy person like me (I would totally do the same thing). But the telling part is the rotten wood from the replaced boards of the deck and the scrap drywall. These things tell me that the people who replaced the boards and put that extra layer of drywall on most of the house were too lazy to take the scrap to the dump. And I'll admit it, that bothers me a little, especially since scrap drywall that's been sitting under the deck in the elements for at least three, if not more, years is hellishly hard to pick up. This lack of foresight just really bugged me. But the drywall and other nonsense is mostly gone, and soon we'll have a much better backyard to spend some time in.

The errant blogger returns

There's some laundry beside me on the bed (I'm using Mike's laptop, which has found a semi-permanent home in the bedroom), more downstairs in the washer to be hung up, a useless closet to be vacuumed for dust, and dinner to get started soon, but I'm on vacation, so darn it, I'm gonna blog for a bit.

And now I can't think of a thing to say. Or rather, a way to string it together coherently, so you'll just have to take the randomness for what it's worth.

So Mike doesn't have gout. He may have rheumatoid arthritis (waiting on test results). He definitely has an appointment with a specialist who may be able to help him, because this has gone on for far too long. We scared ourselves last night looking up rheumatoid arthritis (the line about joint destruction within 1-2 years wasn't helpful), but really have to wait for some kind of real diagnosis to really get our feet under us again. In the meantime, we'll just keep doing what we're doing, and hopefully regain some sense of normalcy soon.

Priest and I just came back from a restful week in Calgary. Priest was a good houseguest (only one accident, and it was vomit, and therefore excusable), but seems to have developed a great fear of... everything. I think it may be the fact that our schedule has changed since Mike's feet swelled up, and then we had lots of house guests, the kite scared the bejeebez out of him, and then I trucked him down to Calgary. Today he will barely go outside for the wind. But he's still happy. Hopefully he settles down again soon.

While in Calgary, I went for a reiki treatment and a biofeedback treatment. I won't go into the details of the appointments here, because quite frankly you'll all think I'm a raving lunatic if I do. The end result, however, is that I have more energy right now, and I'm feeling like I'm starting to heal.

Today I bought a buffet and hutch. I actually managed to get the one Mike and I had picked out a year ago, which really surprised me! Now, granted, it was on clearance, and has a small crack in it, but the salesman gave me the number for a wood repair/restorer that can apparently work miracles, so I'm happy. I am also on the hunt for new living room furniture. Mike would like something that reclines. It must be good for me to knit in. And comfortable. And the cushions can't move when you sit down in it. I am recreating Sheila's search for the perfect reading chair, except I'm trying to finish it up before I head back to work next week. Wish me luck!

And I simply must post about the backyard, but I need to rescue pictures from various places. Let me just leave you with this teaser: sometimes you can feel a little bit like Indiana Jones in your own backyard. Hee hee...

Tinny energy

Having been awake since three this morning with Mike, I find myself approaching the afternoon sort of oddly. I feel energetic, but behind the eyes, it's not quite right. It's like... electroplated. An image of precious metal, but layered on something more base. But since I only have three hours left in the office (though many more working) before my vacation, I'll take whatever semblance of energy I can get, even if it is not quite right.

Mike is not well, and this may or may not affect my plans for my vacation. I had planned to go down to Calgary this coming Sunday, returning the following Saturday. I may make the trip shorter, depending on how the new prescription works out and what the blood tests reveal. If he can walk even as well as he was walking last week (and that was still not great at all), then I may feel okay about leaving him by himself for a week.

This weekend I rested, we cleaned most of the house, and I mowed the lawn. I also dug out the ugly day lily in the backyard, and discovered both a sidewalk block in the flowerbed (probably to keep people like me with shovels from digging near the gas line running to the garage) and a spruce tree root right where the day lily was. Since day lilies are so tenacious, I spent about 10 minutes thinking that it was a day lily root, and wondering how on earth I was going to dig it up. I am not a horticulturalist, that's for sure!

But I'd best be off. Lots to do, so little time...

Playing with string

Totally instant gratification. Crochet is great for that. And I love the colours!


Blue... Gorgeous blue. It doesn't look like much right now (heck, it really isn't!), but someday, oh, someday...

Guess what I'm going to be doing this weekend?

It's going to be a bright, bright bright sunshiny day...

Well, here I am at work, fighting the third day of a headache that shades to migraine without quite getting there. The smoothie I brought for a snack has turned a very unappealing shade of brown (probably the banana) and is slightly more bitter than it should be, but I'm drinking it anyway, and there is little enough to do in this lull between tournament season and Summer Camp, so I think today I actually will make my preferred early leaving time (as I try to reduce my banked time to more reasonable levels). Waiting at home for me are dirty bathrooms, three more loads of laundry, and the most adorable greyhound who wants to get outside in the sunshine (when he's not using unwound hanks of expensive yarn as toys). But between the headache and the fatigue, both the couch and the bed are looking like more appealing venues to spend the afternoon, as much as I would love to get out into the sunshine too (but it hurts my head).

Also waiting for me at home is yarn. Wonderful, bright blue, soft 100% merino that Priest also loved, and has been knitted through the provisional cast-on (I made it work!) and the first 14 rows of this. Which is not destined for me, but for a friend, and I will have to keep that constantly in mind because I love the yarn so much. *sigh* But it is lace, and I don't think lace and headache will mix well, if I feel I can handle knitting at all today. So if I can, I will work on the blanket instead, or maybe tear back the sock and try that again. Straight knit or straight purl. Yeah, maybe I can handle that.

Knit-Lits

Priest had a great greyhound walk on Sunday, and my body seems to have finally recovered from Provincials, so last night I went out to Knit-Lits at the St. Albert Library. The class I helped teach a few weeks ago has turned into a once-a-week, come out and knit with people gathering. Last week we were four, and this week we were three, but I'm sure it'll grow. So this week I decided to bring my sock. I successfully turned the heel on Tuesday (I'm queen of the world!!!! It feels so amazing to turn a heel), but then the instructions confused me, so Wednesday when I got home, I muddled through picking up the stitches, and working through the gusset decreases. When I headed out to Knit-Lits (the library's idea; every group or program has to have a name, so that's the one they suggested...), I just had to knit the length of the foot.


This is the sock before Knit-Lits, and below is the sock after Knit-Lits.


Now you, gentle reader, are probably thinking, "Ness, that sock looks a little, you know, big, doesn't it?" Well let me tell you something. You are absolutely, positively, 100%...


...correct.

So I'm going to have to tear back, and I'll probably tear back to the heel and pick up the gusset stitches again (maybe this time I will have the same number of stitches on each of those needles), but I need a smaller gauge of needle before I can continue. The ones I'm using now are 2.25 mm. I think I should probably drop down to a 1 or 1.25 mm. But if I go to a yarn store this weekend (for the Blue Mystery Project), I can grab a set.

And now, a photo for Nathan: