I finally have something to post that isn't about the house! I finished my Frost Cowl. It took forever, because my knitting mojo decided to take a vacation. But I think it's back now. I'm thinking of starting another baby blanket pattern; I have an idea already, and I'd started a swatch ages ago, but I think it's in storage with the rest of my life. So I need to start over. Or maybe a good sketch will work for submitting the design to Knit Picks, so that I don't have to make it twice...
And I'm also going to teach Angel to knit socks. She picked out some sock yarn, and I got her her own set of DPNs. She was a little disappointed when I told her she needed to learn with DPNs first. She thought she'd be able to use a circular, not understanding that they don't make circulars short enough for child-size socks. I told her that once she has a good grasp of knitting with DPNs, I'll teach her to do Magic Loop. First I need to teach her to do ribbing. She still doesn't understand purling, but that's because she gets tired of it too quickly. Maybe she'll be able to tolerate it as ribbing. We're going to use Silver's Sock Class, but adjust the numbers to fit a child-size foot.
A little update on the house: we're getting very close to being able to move in. We have electricity, and water, and heat. So now we need to get the finish work done, and the kitchen floor in, and the carpet in. And the appliances in. And...I think that'll be it. Then we can finally get all our stuff out of storage and into our new place. It's been a long four months. I am so ready to be in our own place.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Still here
I realized that I haven't blogged in quite a while. Which is probably due to the fact that I've discovered Netflix streaming. I've been rewatching some of my old favorites, including the entire series of "24", and really enjoying it. Just last night I watched Die Hard With A Vengeance. Gotta love a good shoot-em-up movie.
Anyway, we're still here. In my father-in-law's house. I'd hoped to be moved into our own place by now, but no such luck. We've been waiting on the electrician. The builders can't finish the inside work until there's heat, and the heating guy can't get the heat going until there's electricity. Oh, the plumber is also waiting on electricity. And the electrician has been out of town for two weeks. He's back now, and the plan is to meet out at the house this afternoon. I'll call him in a little while just to be sure that that plan is still good.
I had been looking forward to possibly spending Thanksgiving in our new house, but even if we're moved in by then(which I doubt) we won't be there for the holiday. Hubby's dad has a vacation house in Spearfish, SD, and it's been decided(not by me or the kids, but oh well) that the whole family will spend Thanksgiving there. It's a great house, and there's plenty of room...but when you get our family (5 people) together with Hubby's dad, his sister, his brother, his aunt(and maybe uncle)...it's going to be crowded. Yippee. So I'll have to spend my favorite holiday in a crowded house, with people who love to gossip(always makes me wonder what they're saying about me when I'm not there), and no chance of escape. Oh, and all the adults will probably get wasted too; this family consumes copious amounts of alcohol anytime they're all together. Hooray and happy Thanksgiving.
Sorry, I'm being all sarcastic and complain-y. Better go find another good shoot-em-up to cheer me up.
Anyway, we're still here. In my father-in-law's house. I'd hoped to be moved into our own place by now, but no such luck. We've been waiting on the electrician. The builders can't finish the inside work until there's heat, and the heating guy can't get the heat going until there's electricity. Oh, the plumber is also waiting on electricity. And the electrician has been out of town for two weeks. He's back now, and the plan is to meet out at the house this afternoon. I'll call him in a little while just to be sure that that plan is still good.
I had been looking forward to possibly spending Thanksgiving in our new house, but even if we're moved in by then(which I doubt) we won't be there for the holiday. Hubby's dad has a vacation house in Spearfish, SD, and it's been decided(not by me or the kids, but oh well) that the whole family will spend Thanksgiving there. It's a great house, and there's plenty of room...but when you get our family (5 people) together with Hubby's dad, his sister, his brother, his aunt(and maybe uncle)...it's going to be crowded. Yippee. So I'll have to spend my favorite holiday in a crowded house, with people who love to gossip(always makes me wonder what they're saying about me when I'm not there), and no chance of escape. Oh, and all the adults will probably get wasted too; this family consumes copious amounts of alcohol anytime they're all together. Hooray and happy Thanksgiving.
Sorry, I'm being all sarcastic and complain-y. Better go find another good shoot-em-up to cheer me up.
Friday, October 21, 2011
We have a house!
The house is here! It's finally here!
It arrived on Tuesday, but they didn't get it set on the basement until today. Looks pretty good so far, doesn't it? There's still a bunch of work to be done. The builders need to finish the roof and siding, and build temporary steps to the front door. It seems there was a misunderstanding about the master bathroom; there's no shower, and there was supposed to be one. So they'll take care of that too. I have a bunch of light fixtures to wire up; pendants for the kitchen island, chandelier for the dining room, bathroom lights, and ceiling fans for the living room, library and all the bedrooms. I'm going to do that myself, no matter what anyone else says. We need to put in the kitchen and dining room flooring; I might not do that all by myself, though. Hubby is being a butt. He thinks we need everything done "professionally". And of course, there's a lot of painting to do, which I can definitely do on my own. Anyway, we also have to have a plumber hook up the plumbing, and an electrician to get electricity into the house. And then there's the septic system and the geothermal heating/cooling system. And after all that, we need a garage. I'm hoping the carpenter will let me help with that.
So...it might be a couple more weeks before we are able to move in. But it's getting so close! I'm so ready to be in our own place and using our own stuff. Being a guest in someone else's house for this long is exhausting. Even if it's family. Or maybe because it is family...
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
State of the House
Our house was supposed to be on its way here by now. But it's not. The builder called today while I was out and told my father-in-law that the house isn't done yet, and that it will be at least next Monday before it arrives. Oh, well. I'm disappointed and annoyed that we didn't know this sooner, but whatever. It's really a good thing I'm such a patient person.
Anyway, the site is basically ready. The basement walls have been poured, and the basement plumbing has been roughed-in. The basement floor is still not poured. Because of the oil boom happening in this area, concrete is a hot commodity, and is a little hard to come by. But now that we have this delay, I'm going to call the basement guy and see if he might be able to do it this week or weekend, before the house comes. I'd much rather have the basement completed than have to get the floor poured through a window. Anyway... the dirt has been backfilled around the basement, except the areas right around the windows; we're waiting on the windows and window-wells. There's still a huge pile of dirt in front of the house(or rather, where the house will be when it arrives). I'm going to talk to the basement guy about getting that moved also, since we have the delay.
The local building center tells me our kitchen flooring is in, so I'll pick that up once the house is here. We picked DuraCeramic, but the builders wouldn't put it in; they don't do tilework. The reason for that is simple; bringing a house cross-country on trucks. You don't want to have to worry about whether the tiles, grout, or thinset under it all might crack on the journey. So even though DuraCeramic is not a traditional kind of tile, it was not on their list of options. The nice lady at the building center said that it's so much simpler to put in than ceramic or porcelain tiles, so it shouldn't be a problem for me, since I helped with the ceramic tile at our old house earlier this year.
The light fixtures arrived last week, and they all look terrific. I had ordered ceiling fans for all the bedrooms, the living room, and the library; a chandelier for the dining room, and pendants for the kitchen. Fortunately, I've had some experience changing light fixtures, so wiring them up will be a cinch for me.
We're going to have to find someone to build the floor-to-ceiling shelves for our library. I had thought of doing that myself, but I know enough to admit I'd be a bit out of my depth in that project. I'll settle for helping with it, if they'll let me.
I've got a recommendation for a carpenter to build the garage, so hopefully he'll be able to do that quickly once the house is in place. And hopefully he'll let me help.
So anyway, there's the State of the House report, such as it is. I can hardly wait for the house to be in place so I can get all these big projects done, so I can do the little projects like painting walls and making curtains. I think it'll keep me busy most of the winter.
Anyway, the site is basically ready. The basement walls have been poured, and the basement plumbing has been roughed-in. The basement floor is still not poured. Because of the oil boom happening in this area, concrete is a hot commodity, and is a little hard to come by. But now that we have this delay, I'm going to call the basement guy and see if he might be able to do it this week or weekend, before the house comes. I'd much rather have the basement completed than have to get the floor poured through a window. Anyway... the dirt has been backfilled around the basement, except the areas right around the windows; we're waiting on the windows and window-wells. There's still a huge pile of dirt in front of the house(or rather, where the house will be when it arrives). I'm going to talk to the basement guy about getting that moved also, since we have the delay.
The local building center tells me our kitchen flooring is in, so I'll pick that up once the house is here. We picked DuraCeramic, but the builders wouldn't put it in; they don't do tilework. The reason for that is simple; bringing a house cross-country on trucks. You don't want to have to worry about whether the tiles, grout, or thinset under it all might crack on the journey. So even though DuraCeramic is not a traditional kind of tile, it was not on their list of options. The nice lady at the building center said that it's so much simpler to put in than ceramic or porcelain tiles, so it shouldn't be a problem for me, since I helped with the ceramic tile at our old house earlier this year.
The light fixtures arrived last week, and they all look terrific. I had ordered ceiling fans for all the bedrooms, the living room, and the library; a chandelier for the dining room, and pendants for the kitchen. Fortunately, I've had some experience changing light fixtures, so wiring them up will be a cinch for me.
We're going to have to find someone to build the floor-to-ceiling shelves for our library. I had thought of doing that myself, but I know enough to admit I'd be a bit out of my depth in that project. I'll settle for helping with it, if they'll let me.
I've got a recommendation for a carpenter to build the garage, so hopefully he'll be able to do that quickly once the house is in place. And hopefully he'll let me help.
So anyway, there's the State of the House report, such as it is. I can hardly wait for the house to be in place so I can get all these big projects done, so I can do the little projects like painting walls and making curtains. I think it'll keep me busy most of the winter.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
My Angel is ten!
Today is Angel's birthday! Of course, we've already celebrated, but still, it's good to mark the day. She's going to make muffins for lunch. Would have made them for breakfast, but someone forgot to tell anyone that she'd used up the eggs the other day. So we need to run to the store this morning and get some eggs. She's already opened all her presents, which included an angel figurine from Kitty, a porcelain doll from Princess, two books from Mommy(Indiana Jones trilogy and Star Wars trilogy, two of her favorites), a printer from Daddy, and a computer from Grandpa. She's already more than 2/3 done with the Indiana Jones book.
So happy birthday to my Angel!
So happy birthday to my Angel!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Good things.
The leaves are beginning to turn! I love fall. It's the prettiest season, along with being the beginning of cooler weather.
And look! We have power lines on our land!
And here's the cement truck on its way to pour the basement walls!
Angel's tenth birthday is tomorrow. We spent the weekend celebrating it, as Hubby would be out of town for the actual birthday. Tomorrow, she gets to make muffins for breakfast, and take the day off of school. Because birthdays are holidays in our school. ☻
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Hey, check this out!
My patterns and I were featured on the Knit Picks blog yesterday! They've introduced Freebie Fridays, in which they will release a new free pattern each Friday, with a blog post about the designer. ☻And they started with mine!
Wooooohooooooooooooo!
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