What I did on my Summer Vacation....

Do you all remember having to write that essay during your first week or so of the new school year? I do. We never took any vacations though, so I never really had anything exciting to write about.

Anyway, I had a pretty good time on my vacation. First off it was mostly a working vacation, because I had a lot of things that needed to be done around the house, but I did through in a couple of fun things too. I asked around to find out what a "Honey Do" list is called when you make it up yourself and the predominant answer was "Crap that just needs to be done." So I worked on that and surprisingly I got a lot done. Here's some of the "crap" that got done:

1. My Dad and I changed the starter on my Car.
2. I cleaned up the basement storage room by putting in a few more shelves. Then organized the tools/paint/household items onto those shelves. Plus moved some of the stuff (mainly Xmas ornament/decorations & misc. tools) from the outer basement area into the storage room. I'm trying to clean up the whole outer area, but that is going to be slow going. In the process of all this lifting, I forgot the warning 'lift with your legs, not your back.' I ended up straining my lower back and was out of commission on Tuesday. I was going to rest it on Wednesday too, but I forgot to tell my mom (although I thought I did) and she came over at 8:30am to help me paint the kitchen.
3. So we painted and re-arranged the kitchen. I have to go back and do a lot of touch up on the trim, because I couldn't bend very well with my back hurting so much. And frankly, it needs to be touched up anyway. I also realized why I've never painted any of the other rooms in my house. I HATE painting. If I had painted before I moved in, it wouldn't have been so bad, but trying to move everything around to paint behind things was a real pain in the ass. We also sorted out some dishes that I didn't need/use. Some went to goodwill and some (extra plates and bowls) went to the basement storage room. I figured if I had fewer plates/bowls/glases, I would HAVE to do dishes more often; We'll see. I would really like a dishwasher, but that's not in the cards right now.
4. I borrowed my brothers power washer and washed the house. Of course I dropped the stupid thing and broke the hose quick disconnect. I bought a new one at Lowe's but I still couldn't get it to stop leaking. I was really upset, especially when I told my brother and he said "Man, I can't have nothing good around you." Honestly, this is the only thing of his that I can remember breaking!! Except maybe his Tonka Truck Semi-car carrier, but that was when we really young, and I'm sure it was his idea to lay on it and push my feet against the wall to zoom across the room. And it still worked afterwards, it only bent a little. Anyway, I told him repeatedly I would buy him a new one if he wanted, but he said not to worry about it, he would tear it apart and see if he could figure it out. I mentioned it in front of one of the guys here at work and he said he had the same problem and it has something to do with the washer have pipe threads while the quick disconnect has hose fittings and the two are not exactly 100% compatible. So I have to remember to tell my brother that.
5. Then my brother and I changed out my screen door, which was broken. That was kind of interesting. The instructions were a bit lame, but for the most part it covered everything. We put the old door out beside the trash can, and it was gone the next day. Not sure if the garbage company took it when they emptied the trash or someone else, but either way it's out of my hair.
6. I did some general pick-up & put away type cleaning on the rest of the house. It needs more, but the weather was getting hot and frankly I was tired of CLEANING.

In between some of the cleaning, I had a little fun.

1. I went to my 20th Class Reunion. Go Decatur Raiders Class of 1989! It was fun seeing all the old faces (LOL!). Surprisingly I didn't have too much trouble identifying anyone. (Except Paula. Sorry, she was half way across the parking lot and everyone knows my eyesight is crap! But as soon as I said the wrong name, I new that it wasn't her and corrected myself.) We had a great turn out too; 25 people were able to come along with a fair number of spouses. We only had a class size of 44 to begin with. There were a few people we were unsuccessful in finding and we also invited a few that moved away before graduation, but that we all still remembered and wanted to see.
What a good looking group!

We also had a family style picnic the next day. OMG! was it HOT! There was a small breeze, but by the end, I was wiped out. Thanks to Julie's quick thinking, the kids enjoyed a nice water balloon fight after lunch.
2. I laid out my Ocean quilt blocks to see which way I wanted to sew them together. And I decided I wanted to do them using a modified "quilt-as-you-go-method." I am going to sew the 5 rows together and quilt each row then put the whole quilt top together.

3. I went shopping with my mom one afternoon. I had a JCPenney $10 off a $10 purchase that was burning a hole in my pocket. And a 30% off coupon at Kohls. Happily for my pocket book I had a hard time finding anything at either stores that interested me. I actually didn't even use the Kohls coupon.
4. I attended the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan, MI with my knitting buddy Carly. Even though I didn't find anything that really interested me other then some lemon soap and a tape measure, I still had a great time. The one booth I was looking for that always has cheaper millend Socks that Rock sock yarn, didn't have any this year. That company kept all their inventory to take to the Sock Summit in Oregan. Carly said she was sorry I hadn't found anything, but I figured I hadn't been real happy lately with anything that I had been knitting (continious wripping out was effecting me) and I didn't have any particular pattern in mind that I needed yarn for. But like I said I still had a great time looking at everything and talking with Carly. She found some yummy superwash wool for a baby dress. The color was supposed to be Bubble Gum Pink, but to me it looked more salmon-ish. It was very pretty though and I can't wait to see it knitted up. Then we headed to the Grill House for lunch, where we had chicken salad sandwiches on soft pretzel buns (those buns were great!) with a fruit cup and homemade potatoe chips. Oh and we had pita chips and roasted red pepper hummus for an appetizer. It was all very good. It was hot enough the I voted for eating indoors in the A/C which gave us time to re-coup from the festival. And of course, we had to stop at St. Julien's Winery in Paw Paw for a little sample. After sampling 6 different wines, I decided that the Catawba (sweet blush wine) was still my favorite and bought a bottle.
5. And I surprised my Aunt Margaret with a visit. I tagged along with her and my mom to my Aunts' doctors appointment. I took a new pair of socks that I started knitting with along since my mom had warned me it might take a couple hours. She had to have one of those lying down stress tests. They have some kind of new medicine for it that gave her a headache. She asked me to rub her shoulders and neck for her to try to get rid of it. I could have cried. Her muscles are so tight and atrophied. She's recovering from throat cancer. At lunch she told me she's still having a hard time gaining weight. I said it looked like she had put some back on, because her face doesn't look so skeletal (I didn't say it that way to her though). She shook her head and said she just can't seem to get past 97lbs. Man! But she said, with a twinkle in her eye, that if she wears a BRA and her coat she actually weighs 100 lbs. I had to laugh, because really how much does the bra add. Except discomfort and agrevation. :o)

Well, that about covers everything I did on my vacation. Hope you had good week too!

I Have Pictures!!!

I'll start with the oldest first.

I took some photos of the new sewing room after things have been sorta moved in. Now remember I said 'sorta'. There is still some sorting and re-arranging that will need to be done. There is trim that still needs to be put up, yada yada yada.

Here is where I sit and sew.

Here is the fabric STASH. Jeez, didn't know I had that much fabric. If you look closely at the bottom right, you can just barely see an orange tote hiding behind the closet door. That too is full of fabric that needs to be sorted into the rest.

And here is the majority of my yarn stash. I have a couple of bins upstairs with acrylic yarn in them. I have some shelves to build in the closet to the left of the fabric rack above. I wish I had bought another of these pink rolly bins, because they are already getting kind of full. The oak table above the bins will be my cutting table, however I didn't want you guys to see the top of it as I've been using it to sort stuff and it looks a mess.



I finished and blocked my Cascading Leaves Shawl by Vicki M. It turned out so nicely. The color is called Grape Jelly and I used 2 skeins of Knit Picks Lace yarn held together.


I joined a Thrummed Mitten KAL on Ravelry. There are several of us doing them in my South Bend Knitwork Group. Our start date was Dec. 1. I picked out a blue Pattons Classic Merino wool, but couldn't decide if I wanted to use redish roving or white roving. A coworker suggested I alternate them. So I did and here is what #1 looked like.


I wasn't real happy with the mitten. Mainly, because I've never done anything thrummed before and discovered that I made my beginning thrums too fat. I thinned them down on each consecutive row, but then thought how hard it would be to match mitten #2 to #1. And to be honest, I wasn't thrilled with the red, white and blue effect of the alternating rovings. Great colors, but they just weren't doing anything for me. So I ripped #1 back to the row just before I added the roving and started over. I ditched the red roving and thinned out my white ones. Here is what it looks like now, I like this version much better. And I think I'll actually be able to move my hand when the mittens are done. :o)

PS From what I've seen, the thrums are supposed to form those cute little V's, but my first attempt was too fat to form them. They just looked like big polka-dots.

I started making a pair of fingerless mitts for one of my friends for Christmas. #1 is all done and I am just starting the thumb shaping for #2


I tried out a new pattern this weekend for a sock knitting bag by Lazy Girl Designs. (Technically, I think it is meant to be a purse, but let's be real it's too small for a purse. At least for me!) It's cute, but cotton just doesn't drape well. I want to re-design the bottom, so it not so curvy. Of course, you cannot tell that by the picture you are about to see as it is sitting down, but trust me.


I told you I had pictures, but did you really believe me? I think not. Wait, I'm not done yet either. I have one more.

TADA!!! I put up my Christmas Tree for the first time in about 4 years. I know it looks a bit pitiful, but I discovered that I don't have (or at least can't find after much digging) any ornament hooks for my ornaments. I'll pick some up this week and hang some stuff this weekend. Also, I was pleasantly surprised this morning to see that the tree was still standing. As many times as I had to chase Java and Jasmine away last night while I tried stringing those red beads around, I thought for sure that it would have been lying on it's side in pieces this morning.

It Freaking Snowed Last Night!!

Can you believe it?!? I got between 1/2" to 1" of snow last night at my house.
And it was the wet sticky stuff too.
Our controller went home for lunch yesterday and said that in a 4 mile drive he drove through sleet, hail, rain and sunshine.

And the oddest part is that by the end of the week, it is supposed to be back up in the mid 60's.

Added Photos:

These are a little old. I took them when we were putting up the drop ceiling in the basement. Just forgot to post them. This is my brother Ray. Mom was helping too and I took a photo of her, but I must have forgot to save it. I was using the camera on my phone.
I have almost everything moved to the sewing room, just not organized. It's still pretty messy. But I'll try to take photos this weekend to show off.

Playing Catch-up

I can't believe I've been so quiet. Things have been happening, I just haven't felt very wordy this last month.

With my mom's help, I got everything moved downstairs to the new sewing room. God I have too much stuff! Especially fabric! I always "knew" I had a lot, but it wasn't all in one place like it is in the basement. So now I can SEE how much there is. I have decided that for any new projects I start, I need to start using at least 80-90% of the fabric from my stash. It would be much better if I could do 100%, but sometimes you just need a little something that either you don't have or you don't have enough of. I still have a lot of organizing to do, but I actually did some sewing. Luckily I didn't have to cut anything, because the cutting table is piled high with stuff that has to be sorted. But it's a start.

I went to 2 quilting retreats this month. The first was at the Tecumseh YMCA Camp in Brookston, IN. (North of Lafayette) It started on Thursday and finished on Sunday. I checked out a new quilt store in Rossville, called Rossville Quilts. In November they will be having their first anniversary. It was a very nice shop. I was impressed with the wide variety of fabric that she stocked. Most shops you go into, lean towards one type of fabric usually based on the owners preference; whether it's brights or it's thimbleberry/civil war type prints. This shop had a nice variety of both. It was really great because everyone was able to find something that they liked.

I worked on 2 quilts while I was at Tecumseh. Didn't get either of them done, but I made progress on both. The first was my Lillibet's Garden quilt. I was working on the machine appliqued flowers in the center of the quilt. I decided to make it smaller, because it's a king sized quilt and I only need a queen. That means I get to leave off the outer boarder strips with it's many flowers and vines. Yeah! less applique to do. I got all the flowers sewn (12) and I got the flowers and vines appliqued on one section of the center areas, before I got tired of it and switched to my other project.

The other project was a "guild" project. There were at least 8 if not more of us there doing the same quilt. And none of them even looked remotely alike. It is called Mexican Tiles and was designed by Kay the QuiltDiva. Mine of course is kind of on the bright side; go figure. The main fabric is yellow with pink flowers. The center of the flower is kind of turquoise and there are some green leaves in the background. So my supporting fabrics are turquoise, bright pink, light pink, lime green, dark lime green, bright yellow and white for the background. Sorry no pictures yet. It is made up of basically 4 blocks. There is 1 star in the center, surounded by Snail Tails blocks, 80 flying geese and then a 4-patch in a 4-patch block. I got the center star and the 4-patches done while at Tecumseh and finished up the Snail Tail's blocks at my second retreat. I have about 20 flying geese which need the second wing and then I am done with all the little piecing and can start laying it out to piece the whole thing.

I had thought to give it to my BFF McKelle for her daughter Brenna, but Brenna's grandma beat me to the punch. So it will either go into the "top box" or I will finish it for my retreat quilt since it is only a twin size and I don't have any twin beds at my house.

My second quilt retreat was at Camp Fredenswald. It is a menonite camp up near Cassopolis, MI. My Tuesday night quilt group has been going there for at least 10 years now. It is a really nice camp. The beds are extremely hard though. I saw another quilter bringing a 'eggcrate' looking mattress pad, which I am determined to bring next time. As mentioned above, I worked on my Mexican Tiles quilt, but I also worked on a Mexican Stars wallhanging. Carol of Carol's Quilt Cottage was conducting a class on the 3-Dimensional techniques that Annette Ornelas using on her quilts. There were 4 of us doing the Mexican Stars pattern and 1 doing the Victorian Tablerunner and 1 doing the Tulip Bells Tablerunner. We all got the projects pieced, but only 1 of person got the 3 dimensional applique done. And it wasn't me either.

I finally figured out what to do with my toe-up socks that I started when I was camping this summer in Ludington. I have both feet done, but I just couldn't find a cuff pattern that I liked. I tried 4 different ones, including a mock cable that I had been wanting to try, but nothing looked good. I decided last week to just to a simple K3,P1 ribbing. And I love it! I think the variation of the color was just masking all the patterns. The ribbing is so simple, yet it looks great. I had about 1 1/2 inches done on one cuff, when I switched it over to a circular needs so I could try it on. I wanted footie type socks. But it still isn't long enough. I figure it needs to be at least 3 inches if not 4 inches long. When I switched it to the circular needs, I had to switch sock #2 to the straights, because it had been 'waiting' on the circular. So instead of switching #1 back to the straights I just went ahead and started knitting on sock #2. I have about 1 inch done. When it gets done, I'll go back and finish #1.

And last but not least, I decided I needed a change. So I got my hair cut and colored last night. I am no longer blond. I am now a brunette with carmel highlights. I really like it. I stopped by Liz's place on my way home to get a second opinion. She liked it too. It is SHORT too.

This was taken last night when I got home.And this is my 1st attempt at copying what the stylist did. OK, she was better, but I still love it.

Just Things

I wanted to let everyone know that my brother, mother and I installed the drop ceiling in the sewing room on Saturday. Yeah! Pictures will be forthcoming.

I got up at 7ish and remembered that I needed to put the drywall 'repair patch' above the closet door before we could start on the ceiling. So I started working at 7:30 am. Yawn! I got the closet taken care of, then started on the baseboard trim. I didn't get it completely finished, as the door trim will go down to the floor and the baseboard trim will butt up against it. Since I don't have the trim either picked out or bought yet, I wasn't sure it how wide it would be, so I didn't get it quite finished. I can still start moving things down, as long as I don't set things near those spots.

Then I started cleaning up so that we wouldn't be tripping over things. I even moved 'stuff' from in front of the mattress that is for the spare bedroom. The plan was to move the kitchen table downstairs (it will become my cutting table) and [temporarily] put the mattress set in the kitchen. That way once the spare bedroom is cleared out, I can move the mattress set in there by myself to set up the bed. I do have another smaller kitchen table that I bought from my late Aunts estate. It currently resides in my parents garage, but I will need to get it soon, so they can park in there when the snow comes.

Anyway, after 1 false start and a trip to Lowes, the ceiling went up pretty quickly. Although trying to get back home from Lowes was a bit of the challenge. This weekend was the Apple Festival. We left just as the parade was starting and so got out OK, but trying to get back was a bit of a nightmare.

By the time we got done and my brother left, it was 8:30. God was I so tired! 13 hours of work!!! And my bum ankle was killing me. I actually had to break out the crutches and the big pain pill in order to get to sleep. Although I don't really think it lessened the pain, it just knocked me out. I was hobbling around most of Sunday at work. But I made sure to wear my ankle brace (applied bengay) and took tylenol every 4 hours. By Monday it was better. I still get a twinge every now in then, but it's manageable now.

I had planned to go to knit night tonight, but I'm going away this weekend and need to start packing. I also thought I could get a head start on carrying some stuff down to the basement. Not too many trips though, because I want to be able to enjoy walking around this weekend. Although since it is a quilt retreat, I will be sitting at the sewing machine for most of it.

So Close I Can Almost Taste It.

Last weekend turned out to be a 'comedy of errors' type of weekend as I started working on my basement. Took a half day's vacation on Friday. I planned to go to Lowe's with my list of must haves, then go right home and get lots of work done.

Closet light fixture & bulbs
2 1 x12 x12 boards cut down of course to fit in the Taurus
Door stop trim
Threshold trim

As I was getting ready to leave, I thought I would check my voice mail 1 last time to see if there was anything really really urgent. Instead I got a message from my boss regarding an issue we had been discussing whereupon he told me to just "Chill, Bill". He and I have worked together for 13 years and we joke around, so I know that is what he meant to do, but it just hit me the wrong way at the wrong time. I called him back (because he was on vacation too), got his voice mail and left a scathing reply back that said something to the effect that "I'm probably taking your comment the wrong way, but I didn't appreciate it' and ended with "If you want me to be a bitch, I can be a bitch." Several miles down the road, he calls back, refrains from mentioning my bitch comment and we calmly discuss the original issue and get it cleared up.

So anyway, that kind of put a damper on my plans for the day. I did go to Lowes and get my supplies, however when I got home, I decided I just wasn't in the mood to tink around in the basement. I should have, because you remember my previous post "There Just Nothing like a Good Mad!" I probably would have finished the whole basement singlehandedly. But I decided to put everything off until Saturday.

Saturday morning dawned rainy and dreary. Perfect time to be in the basement getting things done, right? First projects was to get the bi-fold closet doors hung. The instructions were a bit sketchy, so I had to make several trips to the storage room, which has an identical set of doors. Finally all the hardware was up and the corresponding hardware was installed on the doors. I lift up the left door, carry over to the closet opening, set it down so I can get a better grip as lift it into position. I look up to seek exactly where I should move it, but instead notice the HUGE gap between the top of the door and the installed track. I mean HUGE. The closet door frame was 3.75 inches too tall. Hmmm, what's the saying about measuring twice before covering everything with drywall. OK, maybe that is not exactly how the saying goes, but it sure fits. Since time is limited (I have a family reunion at 3pm) I set the closet door aside and figured I'd think about how to fix it a little later after I have calmed down.

Now on to the door frame. Before you ask, it is a pre-hung door/frame, so yes it fits perfectly. :oP It was a freebie door, and it was missing the trim along the inside of the door which stops the door from going all the way through. Appropriately named 'door stop' trim, which I had bought at Lowes. I also needed to install a threshold trim across the bottom of the door, so you didn't trip on the vinyl flooring. I worked on the threshold first. Got it cut (has to be a tight fit) and stained then set it aside to dry. And it fit perfectly too. OK on to the trim. Got the 2 side pieces cut first. Figured I would install them, then measure for the top piece. Went into the storage room to get the pack of finishing nails that I didn't have on the Lowes list because I have some already. I open the pack and wouldn't you just know it. There was only 1 fricking nail left!!!

At this point, I just gave up for the day.

However on Monday night when I got out of work, I stopped at Walmarts for batteries and picked up my nails. When I got home, it was kind of late (I had stopped at a couple other places too), but I decided to go ahead and work on the basement anyway. I not only got the door stop trim installed, I got the frame painted too. I also got the first 2x4 installed for the "new" closet door frame.

Then last night, I worked on cutting the window sill boards (remember the 1x12x12 boards from Lowes?). I didn't nail them in yet, because the are a bit wider than the actual sill. I marked them and brought them into work today. Our maintenance guy was able to cut them down for me. But here is a photo of what they will look like when installed.


The window sill will be approximately 11 inches deep. The area to the right is the main cutoff for water coming into the house. Once the ceiling goes up, I will measure and install a door to cover it up.

I decided to tackle the closet one more time. I figured if it proved to be too much of a hassle, I would just wait for my Dad to get here on Saturday. But, I not only finished up the closet door frame, I got the doors hung too. Woohoo! Woohoo! (FYI, the top area will be covered by a wide piece of trim and you'll never know it's even there.)


I'm planning on staining the window sill wood tonight along with some more trim. I thought I had it all stained, but only the top 5 pieces were done. Dad is coming on Saturday to help me re-install the heating duct that we had to move when we put up the walls. We might start on the trim too, but I can work on that throughout the week. And next weekend my brother is coming to install the drop ceiling.

So see, I am SOOO close to having the sewing room D-O-N-E!!

Getting closer!

My Dad, brother and I installed the vinyl flooring in the basement on Saturday.

I thought we would just take measurements, transfer those to the back of the vinyl and then cut it out. No, that is not how my dad does it. First we had to use rolls of paper to make a "template" of the room, including the closet walls and doorway. Then we took that outside and laid it out upside down of course on the back of the vinyl that was laying in the yard. Then we taped it down and used magic markers to trace around it. Then we cut it. It was an interesting experience, however the backs of my thighs hurt so much from bending over and crouching down. Thankfully my Dad had a pair of those rubber knee protectors, otherwise those would have ached too.

Now I just have to let it "relax" for a couple of days (less if it were warmer) but with the chill weather that we have been having the last couple of days, I have to wait longer. Then I can put up the baseboard and trim. Planning on starting that this Friday night/Saturday morning.

On Saturday, I am going to a Ravelry meet up at my LYS "The Red Purl." Wasn't sure that I was going to be able to go, because my mom announced that we are having a family reunion/picnic at her house that day. But I found out that it doesn't start until 3pm. That gives me plenty of time to visit at The Red Purl.

BTW, I got my car back. I looks so nice and, I don't know if I'm imagining it or not, but it feels like it drives better too. They even vacuumed it! Which it really really needed, because the last time I mowed lawn, I didn't realize I left the windows down on the car and ended up blowing grass clippings in to it.

There's Just Nothing Like a Good Mad!

There just nothing like a good mad to get me working on something. Once, in high school my dad made me so mad I cleaned my room and put away 7 baskets of clothes that had been laying around the room. My mom was confused when she went into the laundry room and saw the stack of laundry baskets. I don't think she realized she had so many!

Anyway, I was seriously pissed off when I left work yesterday. I have a co-worker who never answers a question with a direct answer. It is always a huge production and really long explanation just to end up at "yes" or "no." He just hit my last nerve yesterday.

My first thought was to go out after work and have a drink, but after I ran some errands, I was just to damn hot (as in sweaty 'hot' not steamed 'hot') so I thought I would go home and have my drink in the privacy of my own home. By the time I got home, I just wanted to do something. So I changed in to grunge clothes and headed for the basement (where it is much cooler). Once there I proceeded to finish painting my 'square in a square' blocks on the wall. Here are the photos:

This is the photo I took last Saturday after I finished putting on the 10" squares. I was a little excited about the results and ended up pulling the tape off a little early on my last squares. You can really tell on the blue square in the corner. The light green (3rd block from the left) one isn't so noticeable in this photo. The paint was still damp enough that it pealed the purple off. I had already touched up the purple by the time I took this photo.


These 2 photos were taken last night after I taped off the 4" inner square and sections of the blue and green square that had to be re-done.

Then I painted all the centers. This time, I let it dry longer, but I probably could have let it go a little longer, because I had to re-touch up the green and blue squares where a little bit re-pealed up.


And wallah! I have quilt blocks on the walls of the sewing room! I think they turned out so nice.
I didn't actually pick this pattern out because they quilt blocks. I saw this on HGTV. They were recommending that if you have low ceilings, that you paint something along the bottom of the walls. Then when you walk into the room, your eye is drawn down and gives you the 'impression' that the ceilings are taller than they actually are.

Now I just have to get the linoleum down and the ceiling up and the trim trimmed. Then I will be ready to move in. I have the linoleum and the drop ceiling stuff purchased I just have to arrange for someone else to lay the linoleum and someone else to help me install the ceiling.

But it's getting there!

Progress

Well, I'm making progress on the basement sewing room. I revieved a $30 gift card from Lowe's for Christmas from my Mom & Dad. I went yesterday and bought the primer and another sanding sponge. I had 2 cans of blue Dutch Boy paint that I bought to paint the store room, which didn't get used because I used a pre-wallpapered drywall for that. So anyway, as you may remember from an earlier blog entry, I have decided to paint the sewing room purple. I bought the blue paint at Menards, so I took it to Menards to see if they could change the color. And they could. And they didn't charge me which was even better. This morning before I came to work I worked on sanding the drywall joints. I got the 2 longest walls done, which makes me about 1/3 of the way done. Since my plans for New Years day fell through (everyone has the flu) I'm planning on working on the rest of the walls. I will have to apply a little more drywall mud to a few problem areas, but there are not a whole lot of those. Should be ready to start priming soon.

On the knitting front, I mentioned last week that I want to make the Denmark Gefjon jacket by Elsebeth Lavold. While, waiting for my turn at Elisabeths copy of the Knitter's Winter 1998 magazine, I found a copy on Ebay and bought it for $8.50 (plus S&H). It arrived on Saturday. I have been thumbing through it and reading over the pattern. I have to do some practice cabling before I start. And of course I have to buy the yarn too. I can't decide whether I want to use 100% wool or 100% superwash wool. After a bad experience with felting a vest I made, I am leaning towards the superwash. What do you think?

Let's Play Weekend Catch-up

This weekend was a good one. I got lots accomplished. More than I thought I would.

I took Friday off from work to work on the basement again. My Dad, Homer (my friends Dad) and I got the first layer of drywall mud on the walls. It's looking good. I just have some sanding to do before we can put up the next layer. Once Homer left, Dad and I went to work diagnosing the Lawn mower. We discovered that is was NOT a problem with starter, but instead a problem with the ignition switch. Yeah it was a $13 repair.

Of course then I had to actually mow the lawn. My Dad had brought over his self-propelled mulching mower for me to use in case we couldn't get mine fixed right away. Since the grass was so long and I knew my lawn would look like a fresh mown hayfield if I used my mower, I decided to give the mulching mower a shot. NEVER again will I complain about my riding lawn mower. I always thought since I lived in town and my yard wasn't that big, even though it is bigger than most of the yards surrounding me, that I didn't need a riding lawn mower. I even mentioned this spring to my Dad about selling the rider and getting a self-propelled. Well, like I said I will NEVER complain about the rider again. Let's compare the facts:

Rider = 45 minutes cutting time while sitting on my butt with a 42 in cutting area
Self-propelled = 2 hours cutting time, walking behind that damn thing with a 21 cutting area

You do the math!! The reason I have the rider, is because I have a bum ankle from a auto accident. I thought the self-propelled would be good exercise. And honestly it probably would be, but my ankle hurt so bad that night all I did was sit on the couch with the foot propped on a pillow covered by an ice pack. The next time Dad comes over, he is welcome to take that #@!$#@ mower home with him.

On Saturday, I went with to The Potawatomi Zoo with my BF McKelle and her kids Brenna-5 and Landon-2. Yeah I know more walking, but since we walked slowly in deference to Landon, it wasn't so bad. At least that's why I'm claiming we walked slow. :o) Visiting the zoo is much funner when you have kids with you than when McKelle and I went by ourselves (pre-kid years). We saw the animals, fed the ducks, ate lots of popcorn (which I don't normally like, but tasted Oh so good) and even rode the little train around. It was a good day.

I took my Mom and Dad out to eat on Saturday night to Papa Vinos. I had a coupon for a free appetizer that was due to expire on Sunday and we Love their Calimari. And on Sunday, even though I worked, I got lots of knitting done on Monkey Sock #2. I have 1 more decrease row for the gusset and I am hoping to get it done this weekend. Also, I am waiting for my Cookie A pattern to arrive.

I've Picked Out Colors!

Ok, the mudding isn't done yet, but it never hurts to be prepared right? I've had this idea for a while that I wanted to paint the sewing room Purple. Yes, I said purple. I love the color, so I might as well be happy in my sewing room.

So I stopped at Lowes last night to look at trim and paint chips. And I found 3 shades of purple and 1 of green that I want to use. Then I went on line to see if I could find the colors so I could post to by Blog for everyone to see. I wanted to share my joy. And they had this really neat interactive paint program. You select a room from several pictures (I think you might be able to upload one too , but don't quote me on that). Then you choose your colors and they will change on the walls/trim/curtain/bedspread. It was too cool!! So the wall color I chose was Lovely Lilac, with a cream trim called Lunar Tide (in the picture below, it shows up on the bedspread). Then I can add accents (currents, wall hangings, etc.) in the other colors, which are Thistle (Med Dark Purple), Sumptuous Purple (the curtains in the picture below), Lunar Glow (light green table in the picture below) and Iced Violet (pale purple).

In my current sewing room, I have an Armoire/TV Hutch that I think I want to try painting. It is a pressed wood piece, but I found on the internet where if you ruff sand and use a bonding primer, it will paint up just fine. I'm thinking of the either Thistle or Sumptuous Purple for that.

I'm so excited and really can't wait to get started. I put in a call to my Friends Dad to see if he would be available to help with the mudding next Friday, but I haven't heard back yet. It's only been about an hour since I left the message, so I'm not worried yet. :o) I am going to go to a surplus place near my parents house tomorrow to see about trim and Linoleum. Menards has it on sale this week, and I will stop by there tonight to see what they have. Lowe's didn't have ANY linoleum that I like. It was all brown, bricky looking or looked like a rock floor. I would love to carpet the whole room, but with it being the basement and hearing horror stories from others about pipes breaking and all that jazz, I think I want to go with linoleum and throw rugs.

A Basement Revealed

Here's a peek at what I have planned for my basement. I was looking for some old files and found this. I put this together 2+ years ago when my brother and I were getting ready to put up the walls. The storage room is pretty much done and I am currently working on the sewing room now. The future half bath will be out there while. The other side with remain open. I will just finish/insulate the outer walls and put up a ceiling. Then it can be used as a "family room" or whatever

Working Vacation

I will have the next 2 days off from work. But I will still be working. In fact, I will be doing more work the next 2-3 days than I do most weeks. That's because my Dad and I will be putting up drywall in the basement. YEAH!!! I have been waiting for a long time to get this done. When I bought my house (6.5 years ago), it had an unfinished basement.


About 2 years ago my brother and I sectioned off half of the basement with walls to create 2 rooms; one for storage and one for my sewing room(14ft x 11ft). Then my Dad, his friend Ray and I drywalled the storage room last year. Things aren't completed in there, but I got the closet organizer done and the store room is pretty full. Still need to finish the trim and a drop ceiling, but I'm waiting on the ceiling to do it all at one time. Then there was a delay getting the drywall purchased for the sewing room. I have had to do this a little at a time as money and my Dad's health has allowed. So for the next 3 days, I will be working on Drywall. I don't look forward to the mudding and sanding, but the father of one of my friends is going to come and help with that. He was a professional Drywall Finisher, before he had an accident and lost one leg. He gets around very well on his new prosthetic and offered to help if we needed. And since I know NOTHING about drywall except hanging, I took him up on his offer.

I will take more photos this weekend to let everyone know how things are going.