Sacre Bleu!

In just over a week, I turn 29 years old, and begin the hard work of making it through my 30th year on this planet. Good heavens. I think that that is a place I don't really want to go right now, as it is full of questions of what have I done with 30 years, why aren't I in this place or that place, what on earth am I going to do for the next thirty, and so on and so forth. I would really rather enjoy the moment, so I will attempt to do that.

This weekend is a long one, and thank goodness, because I really want to kick this leftover cough that has me out of commission for about fifteen minutes to half an hour each night, hacking up a lung or two, and I think I just need to rest. To that end, Mike and I have been doing some tidying/cleaning/chores each day this week when we get home. I may still have to put aside two or three hours this weekend to clean the bathrooms and kitchen, but at least it's not the whole house! We do have some plans, though. There is no yoga, sadly, so we're going to go down and check out the indoor farmer's market instead, to see if any of our favourite sellers are there. All the ones we asked last weekend said they weren't going to be. :( We're also going to order in one night, for an unspecified celebration (can't tell yet), and we're likely going to go to Rona to buy a snowblower before there's actual snow to blow. Mike has requested a turkey dinner one night, to celebrate our first Thanksgiving in the house, which will necessitate a trip to the grocery store and probably a roaster purchase, since we don't have one. I'm considering finally making wontons as well, and possibly bagels. And, we bought this! So we'll probably put that together on Monday, which Mike has suggested be a pyjama day. :) I do believe that our first cookie house deserves a full photo progression and post, so stay tuned!

There's a lot of food in the above plans, I notice. I was complimented on my cooking the other day. Apparently, word of my prowess in the kitchen is making its way through our virtual circle of friends, only one pair of which have actually partaken of it. Of course, if promise of good food is enough to get more of them to come visit... Personally, I feel my claim to fame is being able to follow a recipe and not be afraid to experiment with spices. I'm by no means a gourmet. But I do like good food. Hmm...

I've sent some mail these last few days, and in doing so I've discovered how much I've missed sending mail. This doesn't mean that all of you will be deluged with cards and letters, as my hands still can't handle a whole ton of writing. But we do have a printer now, and there is much tidyness on the dining room table, so you may see more things coming from the house. I make no promises, but I have missed it.

And on a final note, I must link-share something I found on Rampant Bicycle's blog. OMG, do I want some of this! I mean, what self-respecting PIRATE wouldn't?

A variety post

I do so detest being sick. I especially detest the types of sickness that don't seem to get any better, really, just sort of hang around and leave you feeling that, though you have more energy, better is still a long, long way off, and not a word you would apply to your situation.

Daily I go home and turn trepidatiously to the backyard. One day, the big tree in the park behind our house will join its fellows in deciding it's fall, and we'll have to break in our new leaf rake. Multiple times, I'm sure. So far, I live in a state of constant anticipation. We'll see if today is the day.

I had thought that knitting a blanket would be a good way to stay warm during the winter. As it grows larger, it covers more and more of your lap, and doubles as both a project, and a heat retainer. And in theory, that works. If you're knitting a blanket in rows, it works in practice. If you're knitting a blanket in the round, what you really end up with is a little hat. Which grows to a bigger hat, but by no stretch of the imagination will likely be a heat retainer, despite trying. I am midway through colour 2. Pictures of the little hat as soon as I can pull them from the camera.

In other news, tomorrow, Mike and I are going to the NAIT store. I have a sneaking suspicion he wants to take me there so that I get my own hoodie and stop stealing his, but it should be fun anyway. Then to Kingsway and House of Spoons to get something to hang his repro katana from the wall with, and we should have a fairly fruitful afternoon.

And an RIP today. Pale the snail passed away last week. We are sad.

Wedded Bliss II

Pictures speak louder than words. Alas, I can take credit for none of them. They belong to my aunt, my uncle, and the one that did come from our camera was taken by Lisa. Click to enlarge, should you so choose. Enjoy!



Unexpected guests... :)



Gill, looking cold and fabulous!



Probably one of the shortest engagements in history. "Will you marry me?" "Yes, I will."



The moment.



Family photo!



The parents coming down the hill.



Mike looking smashing, and me looking pretty good, if whale-like. And you can save your flames on that last bit for the comments. :) It was a wonderful day.

Wedded bliss

The wedding was wonderful. I really cannot do it justice today, but wanted to post that it was. And because it was wonderful, I really can't complain about catching a cold at it. But I did want to poll my readers who were also guests at the wonderful event and see if they too have gotten a cold. I have on good authority that the bride, groom, bride's mother, bride's father, and bride's uncle caught some manner of virus since that day. :)

For a more detailed account of the day than I can manage right now, as well as some photos, see Gill's blog.

I made this!

Truly! The Damnabe Shawl is finished! And it's HUGE! But oh so pretty. And in true fashion, I did something nasty to my lower back finding and snipping off the yarn ends as it was spread out on the dining room table, which prevented me from cleaning the bathrooms yesterday. *sigh* If it's psychosomatic, it's completely unconscious, because even though I don't enjoy cleaning bathrooms, I want to clean them! Ah well. Back to the shawl. So. It's done! And since the wedding is out of doors and in a grassy field, I don't think wearing it as to the left here is advisable, so I'm going to fold it in half and wear it as shown below. :) So... the next project. You can see in the background the next in my series of ocean-pallat doilies for the "good china," but those are small and easily completed. I want to do something like this, as I am getting kind of tired of wearing my fleece jacket at work all the time. However, purchasing another project is not in the cards right now. So, I will probably do this, since I've bought the kit already, and have started the second colour from the centre. Of course, I'm a much better knitter now, so may just tear the whole thing up and start again. :) But the nice thing is, no deadline!



The weekend is coming up quickly, and I'm sketching out in my head the things I'm going to say, both in my role as "co-bus entertainer" and "Master of Ceremonies." I find myself feeling a little bit... well, my self-esteem is tenuous right now. Seven and a half days of cafeteria food during fencing camp threw my tenuous hold over my weight gain out the window, and I feel like a whale. It makes me slightly uncomfortable. Good news is, Mike and I are signed up for a weekly 90 minute yoga class. Bad news is, it starts the week after I get up in front of everybody feeling like a whale. *sigh* Alas. But I will survive, and hopefully the weekly exercise, and if I can start walking three days a week as well, will have me feeling less like a blue whale and more like a dolphin by the time Christmas rolls around.

And for those who were perhaps wondering, Mike's mom's surgery went well, and she's recovering nicely. I will keep you posted!

Power of Positive Thinking

Some things in our house are named. We have Ducati (still alive!), Beamer (the replacement betta), Sherman (the 'tank' betta), Zippy (the oto), and Pale (our super snail). Some other things are not named, such as the platies, since we seem to go through them for some reason, and the yoyo loaches, since we can't tell them apart. So I would like you to meet Ernest. We picked Ernest up today at Hole's Greenhouse, our housewarming gift from Mike's mom.

It was important to us to bring Ernest home today. For, you see, tomorrow is a very big day for Mike's mom. Tomorrow, she goes in to the hospital for surgery, and following that, chemotherapy.

If I were not a deist and believed in an intervening God, this would be the point where I would ask for people's prayers. But I am a deist. Nevertheless, I do believe in the power of positive thinking. So, if you have a spare moment in your day and are so inclined, I would be grateful if you could send some positive neural energy towards the Foothills Hospital tomorrow morning, and through the rest of the week.

I think both Ernest and Mom will thank you.

Garden Photos Part 1

Yes, I know it's been near on a month since Mom and Dad came up to assist with the ugly garden. Here, finally, is phase one of the photographs from that weekend.



You remember the lilac bush. I think I will call him... Arnold. Here he is, in full glory, before... We came to the decision that, as lovely and full and green as Arnold was, he just had to go. If we trimmed him back to only a few of the smaller, newer branches, we'd never get lovely flowers again, as we'd have to keep trimming him, and flowers only grow on old growth. He was also planted far too close to the house. In the end, we decided that he had to leave us for that lovely garden in the sky...



Dad asked our neighbour if he would mind taking some plant material to the compost over the weekend, as he had a truck. He said he wouldn't, and later in the evening, came over to see exactly how much material we had planned. That was when we told him about Arnold, and our plans for reducing him to constituent parts in the morning. "With what?" he asked. Oh, a hand saw, some pruners... "I've got something better than that," he said, and went back to his garage to get an electric saw...



"Oh, we hadn't planned on doing it now!" I told him, but then Dad brought out his pruners, they ran an extension cord, and before I knew it, Arnold was being cut apart and piled on the driveway...



Soon, Arnold was looking like something less of a bush...



...and more of a stump, and...



...a pile of deadfall in the driveway. He was soon loaded into the back of the neighbour's pickup, and on his way to the community compost the next day. I have hopes that he will help with fertilizing gardens all over the city next year.

This is the first installment of garden photos. Stay tuned!