A Little Vacation Dyeing and Knitting

I'm on vacation for a couple of days and trying to get caught up on my rest. So I've actually gotten some knitting done and will have pics of finished objects soon. I stash busted my pink kool-aid dyed yarn by making a block for Greensburg. Picture of the finished object coming soon.

A little tired of the salmon pink, I decided that while I was dyeing the 30 grams of cream, I would over dye the pink with blue to make purple.

Here's a before and after picture. This picture is not the best. I was expecting a purple skein, what I got was a blue skein with some purple. I didn't realize how much of the pink skein was actually more undyed then dyed. I'm really pleased with the color though.

It coordinates pretty well with the yarn I have on hand to make a block another block for Greensburb.


As I mentioned I started out to dye some cream remnants since I'm down to my neutral stash. This is a colorway I'd played with before. The colors came out much brighter this time, but that's ok. The skeins will add zip to the blocks.

I considered overdyeing the tan, but the tests just didn't work so it will stay it's current color.

My knitting 15 minutes a day goal is really paying off. I have two more blocks finished for Greensburg. That's 4 total and the yarn pictured above is enough for two more blocks. My goal was 3 more blocks and I think I will get four.

I finished the heel flap on the Mad Weave socks. I'll be turning the heels the next time I sit down with the time to think about it. Probably tomorrow, but maybe tonight. I'm really making progress.

Once the blocks are done my 15-minutes-a-day knitting time will focus on hats. Or maybe golf club covers. Something I can pick up and put down easily.

Found out I'm not going to MN the week of July 9. Sorry to miss out on the knitting time, but happy not to have to be away from home.

It's raining and I feel a nap coming on. You gotta love a vacation day.

Just Bragging A Little

I wanted to add this picture as encouragement for myself that I am destashing. I used 50gms of the yellow cotton to knit the eyelet beannie.

Also, tonight when I got home, after dinner, I knit instead of getting on the computer to talk about knitting. Finished the heel flap on one Mad Weave sock. I'll get working on the other one tomorrow.

That's all the news I have, nothing new cast on yet. However, if it keeps raining there won't be anything else to do, but knit.

Revisiting My Summer Knitting Goals

An excerpt from my previous knitting goals:

"My knitting goals for the summer are to make 3 squares for Greensburg KS, 9 or 10 chemo caps for cancer patients all from my stash yarn, to finish my CTH Mad Weave socks and to finish the brown and black short socks I've yet to start. It kind of sounds like a lot, but summer is 3 months."

I've done two hats and made good progress on my Mad Weave Socks. I've done no more blocks and I'm not sure where the yarn is for the brown and black short socks. They seemed like an easy target at the time. Now, they've moved to the bottom of the pile.

New Summer Goals:
Finish Mad Weave Socks - doable
Finish three more hats - more reasonable (that would make 5, how about 10 for the year?)
Finish three Greensburg squares - doable and such a good cause
Finish - FINISH - golf club covers for Jeff
Knit Marshall's clogs (after the golf club covers without him knowing he had to wait)
Cast on (at least) socks using Loden CTH - I'm thinking the clover rib pattern
I think I'll be traveling (flying) a couple of times in July. Hats, squares and socks make great plane projects so I think that increases my chances for finishing the top three.

Goals for the year (includes above):
Cinder's Fairy Godmother beaded scarf - should be a quick, fun knit just need to make the time.
Cast on and enjoy knitting linen beaded shawl.
Knit a few more hats - they are for a good cause.
Knit the loksins sock pattern probably with co-op sock yarn.
Knit at least 15 minutes a day, not because there is pressure to knit, but because I'm worth it. This may mean keeping a project in the bathroom, but hey, that is "my" time. Was that sharing too much?
Spend less time on the computer talking about knitting and more time knitting.
Really, stop buying yarn. I don't need another thing.
That's 13 goals total, but I'm not superstitious.

I'm terribly behind in my updates. First, I've been so busy at work. In fact, I was so busy I didn't really take care of myself and I got really sick. Antibiotics and all. That was Tuesday and Wednesday. I had vacation scheduled for Thursday and Friday. I was taking pictures at a wedding for sister's friend Nikki. I had to be well enough to do that. It was tough. I made the wedding and I managed to finish another hat.

I decided to add eyelets for interest. I found out how difficult cotton yarn can be to work with. It was not the most pleasant experience. I have more cotton hats to knit and I will go with straight stockinette.

I made needle holder for my sister for her birthday. Her's differed from mine in that she has mostly straight needles and some of them very large. Check out that 35 in the lower left hand pocket. It all worked out fine and I even worked in a couple of horizontal pockets for circs.
Not knitting related, but I think these Blackfoot Daisies are looking lovely. They are blooming in a pot in my backyard.
It's a fuzzy picture, but I thought it was funny. Raisins and grapes are very bad for your dog, but apples are OK. Good thing because Baby Girl loves them. We always have to share when we have one. Summer of Socks is in full swing. I got nothin'. A couple of ideas, but nothing on the needles. I don't really enjoy speed knitting. I'm in it for the group support.

Actually I'm still working on Mad Weave but I can't count it toward SoS. I'm at the heel flap and did three of nine repeats on one sock today. 15 more to go if you count both socks. Oh well, it's
only a four row repeat.

Time to walk the dog and maybe do a couple more repeats on the sock.

First FO for June 2007

I hope this is the first of many FOs for June. It's a hat I plan to donate to a hospital for cancer patients or really anyone who is losing their hair as a result of chemotherapy.

It is also my first contribution to the knit for charity challenge for my Yarn DAL group. The hat weighs in a 45 grams. Which means I have 5gms left. I figure that little bit will will make a stripe in a future hat. Regardless of whether I use it to make a stripe or I throw it away. I do consider it stash busted.

I use the http://tiajudy.com/simplestcap.htm pattern. Even though I'm knitting with worsted weight yarn I use the pattern for the bulky. A couple of reasons. First, my gauge is wack. Second, the folks wearing these caps don't have hair so their heads are a bit smaller. It's better the hats run a tad on the small side.


That was fun and it only took a couple of evenings. Good news I found my long cables and connectors, they are in a golf club cover prototype at work. I finished the hat tonight on double points. I forgot that dp are a little like trying to knit with an octopus. Arms flying everywhere as you try to knit. I'm a huge fan of magic loop. But it's good to practice with dp every once in a while.

Knitting at the Drive-In

There aren't many drive-in movies left in the US, but we have one an hour from us in Ennis TX. To kick of the boys summer stay, we went Saturday night to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Wild Hogs. Now I'm going to admit two movies in a row is a bit much for me. I don't really like to sit still that long. However, at the drive-in I wasn't too self-conscious about taking my knitting along. It was a bit of a challenge to knit in the dark. Thank goodness I can knit continental. That really helped. I would occasionally use the light from the projection booth to check progress. Fortunately, in the light of day, I hadn't dropped any stitches.

If I'd had my Denise connector with me I would have finished. I'm down to the decreases and I got stuck with my short circs. I still can't find my long cord and connector so I may have to use double points to finish the hat. Not a big deal, but a tad frustrating. I'm pretty sure I saw it the other day and just can't remember where.

While we watched the Sopranos tonight I knit a fourth repeat on one of the Mad Weave socks.

This picture was taken this afternoon with three repeats done on each sock. I've probably said this already, but I'm really enjoying this pattern. It's just interesting enough to keep me entertained without being brain surgery.

I'm destashing more fabric to make my sister a needle organizer for her birthday. Her's will be a bit different from mine because she has predominantly straight and double point needles. I plan to make the pockets much deeper. I've pulled these fabric pieces together so I can start laying everything out. As you may have guessed her favorite color is purple.

I'd actually planned to get started on the needle organizer this weekend. But we didn't get home from the movie until after 3am. Of course they have to wait until it gets dark, then the first movie didn't finish up until midnight and then we had to get through the next one. Then it was an hour home. It was a long night.

Let the Charity Knitting Begin

And my first project is a hat. Since I have so many hats on the list, I thought I'd intersperse the squares every couple of hats.
So I'm going to get off the computer and start knitting. Pics tomorrow.

Sneaking in Under the Wire

http://www.skeinsherway.com/2007/05/pre-summer-contest.html)

I'm sneaking in on the last day of this great contest. Jeri from our knitting group posted about it.
My knitting goals for the summer are to make 3 squares for Greensburg KS, 9 or 10 chemo caps for cancer patients all from my stash yarn, to finish my CTH Mad Weave socks and to finish the brown and black short socks I've yet to start. It kind of sounds like a lot, but summer is 3 months.

Since I just did a stash rehash, setting my goals was easy. Now to get knitting.

Boo-Yah - Needle Organization

Tuesday, 29 May 2007

Do you ever have one of those days when you feel like you hit it out of the park? Well my whole long weekend has been that way.

I painted my kitchen red with the help of my friend Connie. And check out the pictures from the kitchen in our previous house. I thought I would have to get rid of them because it was blue and yellow, but the red fruit works them nicely into my new kitchen. I finished the painting Sunday between church and extra knitting with the SOWs. That left Monday for other projects.

I have two repeats complete on each Mad Weave sock. I'm feeling really good about that. I've had another project on my mind for a while. So Monday evening, I decided to go through my fabric stash and start putting my thoughts together.

As I opened a box of fabric stash, out popped some left over blocks from a quilt top I pieced together. Since they were from the same quilt top, they coordinated. And they were already cut to size.

I jumped straight into putting together my needle organizer. My original concept was to put some loops of fabric on a fabric backer and slip the needles through. But it turned into pockets and sleeves and it just went together so quickly.

Pretty soon I had it all laid out and pinned together. I modified my idea as I went along and I love it.

Bright and early this morning, my last day of vacation, I got up and started sewing.

The end result is this cute little needle organizer. The tall pocket looking things are actually three horizontal sleeves. The shorter blocks are pockets for double points or other small items.

On the back I put a larger pocket on the bottom to hold my needle sizer, measuring tape, clicker etc.

I didn't close the top so I can stick long, straight needles in the "big" pocket.

The grand finale was hanging it on a plastic hanger with notches so it won't slip off and the hanger twirls so the carrier doesn't even have to come out of it's hanging spot. I can just turn it to find what I need.

Cost - nada.

It's outta the park!

Grrrrrr!

Got a little too big for my britches yesterday. I kitchnered the toe of my sock in public and thought I was hot stuff when I finished without incident. Then I realized I hadn't check to make sure the toe stitches were straight. So the toe of my sock is catywampus (is that how you spell that). Well it means the toe of my sock is crooked - grrrrr. This isn't something I can just over look. I'm going to have to take those stitches out and do it right. Not looking forward to that.

I was waiting for Baby Girl at the groomers when I was crookedly sewing up the toe of my sock. Isn't she cute? We shaved her pretty short because it's summer. Don't know that I would go that short again. But, oh she is so cute with those pink bows in her hair. They came out not too long after this picture. She's too much of a tom boy to put up with them for long.

Progress on Socks and the Kitchen

Alternate Title - It's My Vacation and I'll Knit If I Want To

This is a repeat and a half of Mad Weave from Sock Madness. I really like the way this pattern mixes up the colors of the dyed yarn. My picture doesn't really do the pattern or the yarn justice, but it does show progress.

The pattern is not difficult, but I do need to pay attention to what it says to do. Thank goodness for stitch markers. I've tinked several times because I knit what I "anticipiate " the pattern says instead of actually reading it. Note to self, you aren't that familiar with the pattern yet - pay attention.

At the same time this seems to be going very quickly because I'm doing different things on different rows. It's not the same old, same old.

The pattern is available to all who want it at this link.

http://woolgatheringandmore.blogspot.com/2007/05/mad-color-weave-pattern-now-available.html

This is a fantastic pair of finished socks, that show the pattern off to a great advantage.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/snidknits/512447280/in/pool-sockmadness2007/

Now for the kitchen:

BEFORE

Technically nothing wrong with it, but not my colors.

Right now it's very patriotic with the red walls, blue painters tape and white wainscoting, but eventually it will just be red and white. I'm seriously considering painting the gold light fixture matte black since we are going for a more rustic look. Worse case it gets ruined. I don't really like it anyway. I have a can of spray paint I'm going to use for a floor lamp on the living room. If that goes well and there's paint leftover...well...

The whole kitchen is red with white cabinets. It's one coating of primer and (so far) two coats of paint. Although there isn't much wall space in the kitchen, it's taking forever to paint because I have to use a small roller for the tight spaces. Connie was here yesterday day to help with the primer and she cut in the first coat of paint. That was an amazing help. My goal today was to get done with the breakfast nook, which I did. I have three more days of vacation and I'm going to split the job up. I get sloppy when I'm tired and that red paint on the cabinets or the ceilings is not attractive. So I have to take it slow.

Greensburg Blocks

I have two blocks done. As you can see they couldn't be more different from one another. But I am just thrilled about using up my stash for a good cause. I have enough yarn for at least one more block. They take no time at all and are perfect knit night projects because you don't have to think much. I don't think Mad Weave is going to be the kind of project I can work on at knit night, at least not until I get used to the pattern, so I will work on the last block at knit night this week.

Speaking of Mad Weave, I still haven't cast it on yet, maybe tonight. I did search out the yarn and pattern this morning and I put it in my project bag so I'm making progress.

I bought a "dust mop" today for the wood floors. The whole time I was looking, I was thinking, "Now how do I make a knitted cover for this? I know I've seen it done." I bought a pretty big one so it's going to take a lot of yarn. But I have another stash secret and that is a giant cone for the peaches and cream cotton. I bought it to make baby sweaters, but I think it might be perfect for this project. Oh and there are the leftovers from the other baby sweaters I've made. Since it doesn't matter what it looks like I can use up left cotton yarn and...DESTASH. I love it.

Rebuilding Greensburg KS A Stash Bustin' Opportunity

But first, Happy Mother's Day.

Although I live in TX now, I grew up in OK just 10 miles south of the KS, so in my mind this is close to home. We had tornados then and still do where I am now, so there but for the grace of God go I.

http://specialstuff.typepad.com/sugar_bunny_boulevard/2007/05/rebuilding_gree.html#comment-69137552

Sugarbunny is coordinating or helping to coordinate Rebuilding Greensburg...Block by Block. You knit an 8" block and send it to El Dorado First Baptist Church and they'll seam them together and provide finished blankets to families.

The good news for me is they specifically requested wool and I have lots of scraps of that.

This is the first crazy combination I put together. I'm not quite half done with the square. With any luck and some knitting tonight I will be able to mark this photo stash busted.

I don't know how much yarn I'm going to need, but as you can see I weighed it all and will know when I finish one square.

I was about to cast on Mad Weave from sockmadness, but this is more important.

Holey Cow!

Yes, that's a hole in my Mad Cow sock. I was several repeats gone before I found this hole. It was the result of a dropped stitch. I managed to wrangle it. It's rigged that's for sure, but I wasn't about to tink or frog back 3".

Since I carried on after darning the hole, I was able to finish the socks. Not too shabby. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. Interestingly, the heel on the second isn't as snug as the heel on the first. I like the feel of the first heel better so I need to go back and take a look and consider adjusting the count down a bit.

This is all the yarn I had left. 30gms of the one on the left and less than 10gms of the one on the right. I'm glad to have some leftover. I really like how the colorways worked out. I want to try to figure out the pattern so I can mimic it in my own dyed sock yarn.

And this picture was taken on our lovely, new hardwood floors. What a nightmare, but finally done.

Finally We Have Real Progress

I'm just going to jump in with the good news. We have real progress today on the floors. We are on our third contractor, but there are real planks of wood nailed down. And we are loving it.

This is what workers look like. They come to your house and they do a project. They get there in the morning and they work until evening. Our previous contractor came about 2pm and left around 4pm or he came at 11am and left at 2pm.

The previous contractor also used my counter top as a place to do math. It's a blurry picture, but it gets the point across. It wiped right off, but come on.

These are workmen's tools. And you know they are coming back to finish the job when they leave their stuff.

It ain't over til the trim is on, but I really think it might come together this time. We've been through 4 weeks of concrete floors, 3 contractors and we are $1,200 over the original estimate, but it's all going to be worth it in the end. We are actually in the process of negotiating $400 with the second contractor because that's the extra amount we are paying the third contractor to fix and finish the job.

I will say all these contractors came with recommendations. In fact, the guy that recommend the last two feels so bad about the second one, he has offered to pay the difference. I'm in hopes Willie with come through and do the right thing. He didn't spend that much time here and didn't put that much effort into the job. But who knows.

I'm going to try to knit with my injured finger. I have no idea what happened, maybe it was excessive knitting.

12 Rounds of Knitting

De La Hoya and Mayweather style. We had a group of people over to watch the fight last night. I knit on the Mad Cow sock (because I don't care that much about boxing and women are multi-taskers anyway) and added about 2" to the top of the sock. A couple of more sessions with that kind of progress and this baby is finished.

I haven't cast on the Mad Weave like I thought I might, but I'm feeling so good about the Mad Cow I kind of hate to lose my stride.

Sopranos are on tonight. I'm not sure about knitting while I watch it. You kind of have to pay attention, but then again it's available on-demand so I can always watch it again later.

Mad Cow Progress - Finally

I've turned the heel on the second mad cow sock and feel like I'm finally making progress. The instep is always the long, boring part for me. (I guess because I have a big foot.) But now that I'm on the upper part, I have a renewed spirit to finish this sock.

I've discovered I kind of like the short row heel. I don't even mind wrapping and picking up the wrapped stitches. I think I prefer that to having to pick up all those stitches when you do the heel flap. This way when I'm finished with the heel I just start knitting again. I also like the idea that you could do a contrasting heel if you wanted.

The only thing about the short heel that kind of bugs me are the points. From this angle the heel looks a little like a bonnet. For this pattern I did 14 wrap stitches on each side and 14 stitches unwrapped in the middle. I wonder if I only did 12 stitches in the middle if it would stop the points? Probably it would just relocate them.

Some people don't like the fit of the wrapped heel. It works fine for me. I guess because I have a flat foot. No high instep for me. This picture is a little misleading, it actually looks like I have some arch. Must be the angle.

I should have made these notes when I did my first Mad Cow sock, but I didn't so I will document now. Cast on was 66. I did the heel over 42 stitches. 14 wrapped stitches on each side and 14 stitches in the middle of the heel.

I also wish I had weighed the yarn prior to doing the heel and after so I would know how much yarn the heel used. I think it would be fun to use up left over yarn on the heels and toes, but you need to know you have enough yarn. Oh well another day.

This is the latest addition to my stash. Two skeins out 1 skein in. It's Cherry Tree Hill Loden. Yum. I bought a solid so I can knit a lace sock with a leaf motif. One pattern I found in "More Sensational Knitted Socks" really struck me, but it's done on a purl background. I don't know if I have the patience to basically purl an entire sock. But there are lots of other leaf type patterns out there. I even found one in my "Gathering of Lace" book.

While I'm looking for the perfect leaf pattern for the loden yarn, I'm going knit my CTH Nothern Lights into the Mad Weave from Sock Madness. I'm pretty excited about getting into something that's a little tougher than straight stockinette.

All my other pending projects are lace shawls and scarves. Socks and shawls, it's an interesting mix.

Meanwhile Back on the Home Front

When I said I hoped to come home from my trip to wood floors, this isn't exactly what I meant.

This is the plywood subfloor, but it is forward progress.

This is a start on the tile entry (do you call it an entry if its at the back of the house?) Since I couldn't match the white tile in the kitchen, I went decidedly different. This is an 8" travetine (cobblestone noce) that we are going to enhance with an enhancer. The tile is set at a 45 degree angle. No matchy-matchy here. The tile will be in the same color family and value (hopefully) as the wood. It will be a nice transition from the pool. And it will give me that space I need to scream, "get outside if you are still wet." "Don't drip on the hardwoods." "Go through the garage to get to the bathroom." You get the picture.

I do have knitting news. I will write about that later.

Time to Take Inventory

I've been part of the Yarn Destash-A-Long for 5 months now. It's time to take inventory and see where we are. And perhaps to inventory finished objects to date.

I'm not going to go over all my stash again. That's covered in a previous entry. But here is a picture of four items that have been destashed.

Top left is turning (not quite finished) into a pair of socks from Sock Madness. I have one done and really hope to finish that on my current out of town trip.

Top right, turned into a lovely pair of Koigu socks.

Bottom left is turned into an over-the-top-Dr.-Suess-type-way-too-long scarf. I had a lot of fun with that.

And the bottom right picture felted into a mess. The purse I wanted to make flopped big time. Although I don't count it as a finished object, the stash is still busted.

Now there was some stash I didn't even realize I had when I was taking photo inventory. It turned into 9 hats for kids with cancer. I don't find the pic of all of them together at this moment, but they look something like this. I destashed a ton of fun fur and cotton yarn.

Here's a list just for my own gratification:

• 1-9 fun fur or cotton hats
• 10 a super long wool scarf
• 11-12 two pairs of felted clogs for the boys
• 13 Koigu socks
• 13.5 the first of two blue socks.

Not too shabby. I still have enough stash for 3 more pairs of socks. I like the Mad Weave from sock madness and think it will go very well with my CTH stash

But I'm not sure I'm in the mood for more socks. I'm thinking it's time for some lace. A Shetland Tea Shawl from A Gathering of Lace (yarn - got it) or maybe the Linen Lace Beaded Shawl I bought yarn for the last time I was in MN. Yup I could knit this whole year and not buy any new yarn, but I'm not advocating that. In fact, if I have time while I'm here, I'm going yarn shopping.

The GP Bark Park

Since I'm getting no knitting done, my knitting blog has turned into a regular blog.

Today I took Baby Girl to the Grand Prairie Bark Park. It's an off-leash dog park that opened yesterday. At least officially opened yesterday. This is a picture of her playing with a new friend. Sunny is 5-months-old and, if it's possible, had more energy than she did.

It is so nice to have a social animal after years of my two completely anti-social cats. BG thinks everyone loves her and usually they do. She ran and ran and just had the best time playing with the other dogs.

The park is very nice. There's gravel and grass. They have water fountains for people and pooches. And shaded benches for the parents. Thankfully they separate the big dogs from the little dogs. There were some really big dogs on the other side of the fence. And they were really playing.

We stayed for about an hour. I will definitely take her back.

About Ready to Get On With Life

I'm about ready to get on with life. Work hopefully won't be so crazy and come Monday they are going to start laying our wood floors - out of the boxes and onto the floor. This is what our house has looked like for the last week. There's another section of boxes of floors behind where I'm standing, but I think you get the picture.

I'm excited to have found all the beads I need for the beaded linen shawl. It may be time to start stringing the beads. I have another trip coming up to Minneapolis. If I haven't by then finished up the second mad cow sock, then I definitely will on that trip. Then I can move on to some lace. Or at least a sock that's a little more of a challenge.

We Bought the Flooring

Marshall and I were able to decide on a flooring. I got real wood and he got rustic and it's in our budget. We still haven't found anyone to put it down for us. We've considered doing it ourselves. However, we figured we are going to live here a long time so we should make sure we love it. And if we mess it up, who do we call to come fix it? This is the kind you either glue down or it's nailed down. Not really the kind of project you want to cut your teeth on.

Our neighbor across the street owns a construction company and he has a "flooring guy." He's going to have him give us an estimate. Here's hoping we're still friends after the transaction. Whatever extent that may be.

Right now the living room is littered with wood "getting acclimated." 40 boxes of wood flooring. If things were bad last week with bare concrete, it's really bad now with a jungle laying on the floor. I'll post a picture later. It's too dark right now.

I need to keep things in perspective. Compared to two months in the Budget Suites this is a walk in the park (or forest.) It can't go on forever. And I do feel better now that we have the flooring purchased. That was a big hurdle.

I was a big crank yesterday. I didn't want to do anything. I didn't want to stay home, I didn't want to go shopping. I didn't want to get out of bed, but I didn't want to stay in bed. The list of things I didn't want to do just went on and on.

But I needed some black capris, no I really had to have them for a work thing. So I had to go shopping. Something that should have made the day even better was a $100 gift card from Nordstroms. And...a Nordstrom's Rack. After I went to the big store and bought the pants I had to have, I went to "the Rack" and spent the balance of the card. I bought a pair of black capris, some pajama bottoms and a pair of black sandals for $101.61. This should have made me feel good, but I didn't want to be happy.

I'm happy with my purchases today though. I have a feeling I'm going to be pretty cute at work tomorrow. I'm really glad yesterday is over.

Work has blown pretty bad for the last couple of weeks, but I found out Thursday that I was promoted to director. Pretty exciting news. Not that that solves any of the crap, but like the floors and Budget Suites, it can't go on forever. And it kind of makes it worth it to know you are appreciated.

Yeah, I'm feeling much better today. PTL.

We Almost Got Wood Floors

But as for now all we have is exposed concrete.

The long story:

We moved into this house in August and we love it. We've been fortunate not to have to deal with real issues. We did resurface the pool and put in new windows, but overall when we flip the switch, or turn the knob stuff works.

There are lots of nice details that Linda put in that I would have never spent money on like the chandalier in the dining room. It's very sparkly and I fell in love with it the minute I saw it. Several of the windows have wooden shutters on them and now I "have" to make the rest of the house match. Love the shutters, would probably never have done it on my own. She also put tile in the formal living area and the formal dining area and she has re-done the cabinets. They are white, which I love. At the same time, the carpet in the living room and bed rooms is a bit of a mess.

This section of carpet is in the living room under the window. See the bleached out section and then the section across the top that is just an entirely different kind of carpet. I was afraid there was water damage from the window, but she assured me no. Since we replaced the windows and there was not water damage and since that's Baby Girls favorite pee spot, I figure the owners before Linda must have had a dog. When she replaced that section of carpet, they didn't put a pad down so BGs pee soaked through to the concrete. We are having fun with that.

Baby Girl and the cats added the stains to the carpet in the hallway, and check out those wrinkles. We had those in the living room as well. I guess the carpet just wasn't laid very well. And I guess Linda lived with it for 6 years. She spent her money on pretty shutters and chandaliers and lived with the yucky carpet.

We decided to get wood floors. We had a company come out and give us as estimate. They said they could lay real wood floors (that's the subfloor, the wood, the sanding and the finishing) for about $7/square ft. Now I've dreamed of wood floots for a long time and I should have known that price was too good to be true. We sent an installation date of 4/9. Knowing that BG had pee'd in a corner (although at that point I didn't know how bad it was) I 'd left a message and sent an email asking if sealing the concrete was part of the estimate. I didn't hear back. I didn't think much of it and we proceeded on Saturday to pull up the carpet.

Oh it was stinky. That darn BG had made a mess of it.

Within a couple of hours we were to bare concrete in the living room and the hall. This is what the house looks like right now. The boys ran off to go play and I went to Home Depot to check out stain options that would match the tile in the living room. When I got home, CD called. There was a mistake with the estimate. The guy at the supply house had mis-estimated by half. So the cost was going to double. As I was looking across my barren living room, I couldn't say anything. You know how you usually say, "That's OK." I couldn't even begin to form those words on my lips. Because it wasn't OK. She said they'd been looking for something that would work in our budget and she gave me an item number and said it was available at Home Depot.

The more I thought about it the more I realized that this is why she hadn't called me back or answered my emails. She had a problem and wanted to figure out what to do before she called me. But...couldn't she have at least let me know not to pull up the carpet.

Well, I'm not that keen on what she found. So I'm on the hunt for the right wood floor to fit in our budget. Marshall is being good. We've decided not to rush into anything. We want to make sure we both love what we put down. That's good.

In the meantime, we are looking forward to a tad warmer weather. The bare concrete is chilly on the toes. We are looking for a new resource to lay the floor. And we are living in the formal living room with no TV.

Happy Easter

I can't believe how cold it is this Easter morning. Life has been so hectic it never occurred to me to buy an Easter dress, so I will be wearing pants to church this morning as a result of the cold. I guess in this case this works out in my favor.