While hubby is away...

wifey can be talked into joining him.

So hubby left Wednesday evening for a weekend of quad, ATV, off road riding. Something that I have absolutely no interest in.

Had I gone, I would have spent the weekend in the rig with the fur balls worrying about whether or not I was using too much propane (dry camping) keeping myself from freezing to death while he was out and about on the trail.

Since I could knit at home, that was my option. Little did I know...

Hubby called up Thursday night and start the 'wearing Jenn down so she'll come up for the weekend' process. I had already rented a ton of chick flicks and decided what I was knitting this weekend while I had the house to myself. He says - It's snowing. It's gorgeous. I miss you. Scrat has never seen snow... Help!

I say I'll think about it, knowing FULL well if Hubby finds a cell service area on Friday all my arguments are toast.

Hubby calls Friday. I had checked the weather report (UGLY let me tell you - why do people go there in the middle of winter?) and had my arguments all set up. I haven't driven in the white stuff in 11 years. I shouldn't drive at night if it can be helped, ESPECIALLY not in a storm on unfamiliar roads.

Hubby retorted with come up Saturday morning and go home Sunday (I have to work Monday you know). He hangs up and promises to call again later.

Later...

I really can be a smart cookie sometimes and decided that this isn't a battle I'm going to win. So hubby calls back and I say 'Yes I'll come up in the morning'. Hubby goes 'I love you too, you need to bring this, this and this.' That's Jenn, the pack horse at your service.

So get what I need together and I'm on the road by 11:30. Dogs are ensconced in the car (note to self Oscar has to ride in the front since he gets car sick -UGH) and we are on our way up some of the twistiest roads in Northern California.

I get lost. Apparently Leesville Road is only marked from the other end that I was trying to get to. Thankfully I am happy to stop and ask for directions and I get where I need to be by 2:30 or so.

The camp sight is a giant mud pit. Perfect. Three dogs, 12 muddy paws, one was clean rig carpet. Glad I packed extra towels.

They had just come in from a ride and hubby was thawing. After he could feel his legs again, we got our friends together and headed up to the snow line.

Well to get to the snow line, you have to go through the mud line. Thankfully my car can technically be taken off road (Explorer XLT AWD) but I don't as a rule. If I get stuck I'm screwed, big time. But hubby is fearless and up we go.

Scrat had a blast in the snow. Funny thing about tennis balls in snow. They don't bounce. So Scrat kept barreling right past it (hence the paw prints in the pic).

Ken and Shane and Paul had a snow ball fight, in which you then saw Scrat trying to catch the snow balls.

He finally found one of the tennis balls and just ran around with it.

All in all at the end of the evening Scrat was NOT ready to leave.

We headed back down for dinner and the camp fire. I knit around the campfire, and hubby was the pied piper of the camp ground with the fireworks.

Sunday morning dawns bright and sunny and still cold and they all got geared up for a ride and I headed home.

I wish I had a picture of all the three dogs bundled in the front passenger seat on the way out of the park (camera battery was dead that morning). Totally worth the drive.

Happy New Year everyone. Remember the big rocks, which is what my weekend ended up being.

What day is it again

and why am I at work?

Oh right, work = money = yarn

Well Christmas has come and gone for another year and I have no idea where that year went.

I made one gift this year:

This would be my take on our favorite Harlot's Unoriginal Hat.

This is what happens when I first got to the last three rows and

1. Ran out of yarn
2. Realized I TOTALLY cannot read and missed the cable cross on the first big cable
3. Ripped all the way back and realized I'd have to do my own mod if I wanted to finish it without running out of yarn again.

The yarn is Lion Brand Jiffy Thick n' Quick. I chose it because the recipient made an afghan in the same yarn.

I used size 10.5 US (6.5mm ?) because I didn't have any 10.75 US (7mm) DPNs (heck couldn't find any in the shops till AFTER I finished the frakking thing).

In the end it looks like a schizo gumdrop, but the recipient likes it and it fits. Doesn't get much better than that.

We had a busy four day weekend, which started Friday night with the company Christmas party down in South SF.

Nobody bothered to tell me that dark colors were the choice du jour, so boy do I stand out. But I love that dress. It was my wedding dress for wedding to current (lol) hubby.

A good time was had by all.

Saturday started bright and late. Then we tore up the work surfaces in hubby's side of the new office so we could expand his side to give him more desk space. He is much happier now and spent most of the rest of the weekend organizing everything, while I ventured out amongst the lunatic consumers.

Sunday was shopping, shopping, and more shopping. Mostly for food. Hubby was leaving on a quad riding trip the day after Christmas and it's my job to make sure he has way more food than he and Shane could ever eat in 6 days. They might run out of propane on the rig, but they won't run out of food.

Monday was a day of doctor appointments (a friend is sick and I'm morale support), more shopping and last minute gift buying (happens every year sigh) and more organization on hubby's office. I prepped teriyaki pineapple meatball and pineapple chunk shish kabobs for his trip. Loaded a ton of food. We went to a friend's house for dinner and had a lovely time.

Tuesday was the marathon cooking day from h*. Please note that I am not a chef. I do not want to be a chef. I don't even really like food. I eat because I have to. However I will state that I am getting better in the kitchen, which hubby likes.

Here is how Christmas went

• Pancakes
• Bacon
• Toast
• Gaming briefly
• Find an open grocery store because I'm out of sugar for the lemonade and he won't camp without S'more fixings and I forgot the chocolate - I know the blasphemy - I'm female, I knit, I crochet, I quilt and I cross stitch, how in all that's holey did I forget the chocolate?
• Start prep work for homemade mac n cheese - onions, macaroni cooked, destroy cuisinart grating 2 pounds of Cabot's extra sharp white cheddar (man is that stuff good)
• Call MIL and have her talk me through the roux
• Fill two pyrex dishes with Mac n Cheese
• Start the ham
• Forget about the ham (thank goodness for glaze)
• Start the tri-tip
• Make mashed potatoes
• Carmelize pineapple slices for the the glaze
• Drag hubby in for dinner - which was the ham and potatoes and pineapple
• Stuff hubby to gills then have him carve the tri tip
• Shrink wrap the tri-tip in it's juices in sandwich sizes for his trip
• Do same thing with left over ham
• Make lemonade
• Figure out how I'm getting two batches of lemonade in the RV fridge with 2 gallons of milk, a tri tip, two buckets of crab and corn chowder, a 9 x 12 mac n cheese, one giant tub of macaroni salad, oodles of TJ's Maui Ribs, the shish kabobs, left over ham. Thank goodness for left over canning jars from the apple butter marathon of July.
• Pack all the warm clothes hubby owns plus some
• Load his quilt
• Load extra blankets (they are totally going to freeze)
• Collapse into bed

He and Shane were safely off on their trip yesterday evening. I have the house to myself, mostly - we have a house guest, but she's as into doing nothing as I am right now, and boy I don't intend to cook all weekend if I don't have to.

Just me, my knitting, my dogs, my cats, and as many chick flicks as I can stomach between now and Tuesday night. Maybe a quilt thrown in for good measure.

If any of you want to stop by for a chick knit night feel free. My door is open. Just be warned about the dogs and the cats and the anti cooking protest I have going on right now.

I will leave you with a picture of my darling Smokey Cat. Yes he is all fur and no cat. He weights a whopping 7 pounds soaking wet and no that's not a bad thing. FYI, his front feet are as soft as they look as long as he keeps all the pokey ends in.

Cats on a Cat

Doesn't it seem fitting that a cat would be the model for my first learning sock from Cat Bordhi's new book: New Pathways for Sock Knitters Book One?

Please say hello to Nemo, the newest and cutest feline footwear model on my block. Okay the only one because the neighbor's cats won't come near me and Rasta (Nemo's brother) has a glare that will slice right through you. Besides Rasta was busy warming my side of the bed, while Nemo was helping to keep 'Dad' warm in his recliner.

Nemo is one of two brothers that we have in the feline crew. He loves to be loved, even if he is convinced you are going to eat him when you are finished.

I really don't think this is what his wish to be allowed to play with yarn was supposed to turn into. ::big grin::

A cool thing about Nemo , which you should be able to see here, is that he has extra toes on his front paws. They are actually pretty perfect for filling out this teeny tiny sock.

Also he was kind enough to keep all those claws in during the modeling. No claw snags on these socks.

This is the Little Sky Sock from the aforementioned book. I did NOT use the recommended yarn or needles. I wanted to be able to do it on the needles I intend to use and the sock yarn I want to muck with.

So that said I used size 1's (metal pale green) DPNs and Koigu KPPPM. Yes I am a lunatic. I may make the mate so that my friend's daughter has a matching pair for one of her dolls. But then it's on to the baby Coriolis, because that is THE big sock I want to make out of that book.

If your interested, I made the quilt that DH is under and Nemo is holding down. It's the Pathway pattern on one side (you'd have to see the whole thing to see why it's called that) and an astronomy themed panel with borders on the other side. All in hubby's favorite color - blue.

It took me forever, but DH got what he wanted. A blanket he could tuck under his toes and still tuck under his chin. Let's just say it's big enough for a queen size bed. He is 6'1" after all.

Forever 16 (PIF)

and today he would have been 37.

This is my brother, Robbie. It is the only picture I have of him, and I swiped it out of my senior high school year book this morning.

What can I tell you?

• He and I were 3 months apart in age
• He became a member of our family when he was 2.
  
• He was 6'4" and still doing his beanstalk impersonation
• He had blond hair and green eyes
  
• He hated PE, actually I think school in general, but he was really smart.
• When he played baseball, it seems like he could get from first to second base in three strides.
  
• He adored our nephew Michael and his mother, our sister, Christine.
  
• He was more troubled than any of us ever saw
• He chose to end his life 20+ years ago and I still don't know why he did it, and it's a question that can never be answered.

And yet, to this day I wonder why, what would have become of him if he hadn't made that choice, what our family dynamics would be if he were still here.

We fought like cats and dogs - we were teenagers after all - but I miss him.

He left a lot of pain behind when it happened:

He left his pain here
But he left the rest of us hurting because we couldn't see what was so wrong that death was a better choice than life.

He also left two songs to remember him by - Bon Jovi's Never Say Goodbye and Pat Benatar's Love is a Battlefield.

I'll be playing those today, it seems appropriate, don't you think?

This also seems like an appropriate time to have signed up for the PIF that's been running through blog land.

So in his name:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days. That is my promise. The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Also note that it doesn't have to be a knit item. It can be crochet, quilting, cross stitch, woodworking, whatever you choose as your craft of choice.

Help me Pay it Forward and we'll see how I did same time, same place, next year.

I leave you with my senior yearbook dedication:

There is no greater sorrow than to recall in misery, the times when we were happy. Robert you'll never be forgotten.

Love your sister,
Jenni

Fetchingly Fast

For the first time in my knitting career I have finished something in the time stated in the pattern.

I started it Friday night when I got home from work and finished the pair on Sunday around 11. And by finished I mean off the needles, not all the ends woven in. ::grin::

What do you think?

Yarn is:

Hot Pink from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

Gray from RYK Cashsoft Aran

Now you might be wondering who they are for.

Well I am having dinner with a friend tomorrow night who was kind enough (or crazy) to admire my knitting when she was at my house a couple of weeks ago and I told her I'd make her a pair of fingerless gloves.

I was totally thinking I'd make a repeat of my Mac n Me pattern, but let me tell you those don't knit up fast.

Hit knitty because I remembered this pattern was there.

I also grabbed it's mate for a friend at work that is kind enough to cart my handknits down to another office for me on a regular basis. I started them last night.

I figured if I got the pink pair done by tomorrow Great! if not no worries.

What's even better is they are the same size and I crossed the cables properly.

Speaking of cables. Something else I did on Saturday that I never do. I actually read one of the features on Knitty. I'm sorry Amy but I want the patterns.

However I was dealing with a client issue and needed something to read till he got back to me and hit the web site.

You must read Techniques with Theresa. Her cable article would have saved me a TON of time on the first glove. Woo hoo! No more cable needles for Jenn, which is good since the cat used the last one for a chew stick.

FYI, the only reasons I managed to finish those gloves by 11 pm Sunday night were

1. We watched The Wind and the Lion Sunday night and I apparently can do K4 p1 rib in my sleep now

2. Hubby let me knit in bed Sunday morning while he played Jewel Quest on my DS.

3. And Theresa's lovely explanation of cabling without a cable needle. Best one I've seen yet.

Tag - you're it!

Oh my gosh - my first Tag

Rosemary is smoking some really good crack if she thinks I can come up with 7 people to pass it on to. ;-)

THE RULES:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 random or weird things about me - boy talk about TMI

1. I have two separate BS degrees - Computer Science and Physics - and yet I cannot balance my checkbook without the use of Quicken

2. I wear hearing aids in both ears. Both the behind the ear type. One is neon yellow and the other is royal blue. I've had others that were neon orange (dog ate it) and one that is emerald green which is a backup. I intend to go with hot pink and purple for the next set.

3. I can maneuver a 35' motorhome through rush hour traffic on the 101 on a Friday evening in Sonoma County. Please note that it's always a better idea to get BEHIND me rather than squeeze in front of me, as 10 tons of Gross Vehicular Weight does NOT stop on a dime.

4. I can maneuver a jet ski trailer on the boat ramp with the best of the boys. My husband is always getting comments on it by the other guys bringing their boats in at the launch.

5. I can use our tractor (as long as my husband is not around) just as good as hubby to dig trenches, scoop and dump gravel, etcetera.

6. I am deathly afraid of ladders and bicycles, but I will use both when necessary

7. I have a mostly photographic memory, especially for numbers, which makes number one on this list all the more hilarious.

All right folks, Taunya, Shawn, Jamie, KWC, Alison, Leslie, Nathan

Three of you haven't posted in ages and I figure at least a couple of you aren't going to speak to me again after having tagged you, lol. Now is your chance.

Northern Spherechasus Chihuachsund

a.k.a Scrat the Brat and his sidekick Mr. Pitiful.

Scrat is a mutt of unknown origin so we decided to give him a breed name:

Northern Spherechasus Chihuachsund

Can you figure out where it all came from?

Kaji just LOVES him. As in HATES with a passion.

I don't think I've ever seen her ears that flat. She wasn't too happy that I took pictures of him licking her head.

Mr. Pitiful, a.k.a. Oscar the Dog, got a hair cut recently. Isn't he just too sweet? He's 25 pounds (maybe less I need to check) of total Mom Worship, hence the reason he will actualy look at me when I take his picture.

Please, please ignore the spots on the carpet behind him.

DH is on a quest to get me the miracle spot remover I use. Non toxic, doesn't have to be rinsed, doesn't stain, safe for the animals and WORKS. OMG does it work.

We finally had the dinner I scrubbed the house for.

I even set the table. Yes, I am very aware of the fact that the ceiling light, while centered on the ceiling, can never be centered over the table. Ask OCD girl how she feels about that, go ahead. I dare you.

I got most of the prep work done ahead of time.

Chicken marinating in Basalmic Vinegar, Olive Oil, and a spice thing from Tastefully Simple.

Chopped Italian parsley (I THINK that's what the recipe meant when it called for flat leave parsley - I don't have a clue)
Chicken broth
Cannellini White Beans
Sliced onions - which I think should be chopped for this recipe but forgot this time and chopped garlic.

It was all ready to go when the company showed up.

Just throw everything in the pans, heat, cook, toss with spinach and lemon juice, serve. Hope everyone likes it, ply them with wine before hand, so it doesn't matter. All in all have a nice evening.

I showed our guest my craft room while her partner kicked hubby's behind at pinball. We went to Screaming Mimi's in Sebastopol for dessert. And I promised her a pair of my Mac n Me fingerless gloves (see I can squeeze knitting into the conversation without even trying).

Speaking of knitting...

Go check out the latest Knitty.

My friend Rosemary made the cover again.

Luckily I have a TON of Kidsilk Haze and beads like you wouldn't believe.

Spontaneous Combustion....

or so they tell me.

I spent my lunch hour waiting for the local Ford Service department to plug in a little cable adaptor which is supposed to make sure my Ford Explorer doesn't suddenly burst into flames.

Can anyone explain to me why on earth it took the WHOLE hour to plug in an itty bitty cable that I could have applied myself in 5 minutes? No don't give the little female the part when she asks for it. There, there darling, just let us men take care of it for you. Gr.

So I was knitting in public today while waiting for my car.

This is how much of the Harlot's One Row Handspun scarf I can get done in an hour. I only had two rows on the needles when I sat down.

No I'm not a fast knitter. This is a lovely mostly no-brainer for me pattern. All I have to do is count to four and end on a k2. Apparently my brain has a hard time wrapping around the fact that number 3 should be knit tbl.

The yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed in red. Enjoy.

Thanksgiving, knitting and CIV oh my!

Last week was completely uneventful except for Monday in which I dragged my carcass into work at 5 am and stayed on the phone from 5:30 am to 3:30 pm, which led to me losing my voice and staying home sick Tuesday.

Wednesday was a partial day at work, though I ended up staying till 3:30 to try to tie up some loose ends from the marathon phone call Monday. I ran home and grabbed a check for a friend (we scored 8 tickets to the Blue Man Group in Sacramento in January - woo hoo! 4 rows back) and joined the lunatics at Whole Foods to pick up my holiday ham.

Went back home and worked on this:

It's the Multi-directional Scarf I'm working on Noro Silk Garden for a friend of mine as a thank you for all his help on Operation Shop. We would not have finished it when we did without his help and the help of his girlfriend, who I taught to knit as a her thank you. ::vbg::

Things got really fun when it came time to switch to the next skein of yarn.

As we all know, the folks as Noro LOVE long color changes. This can make for A LOT of wasted yarn. At that price no can do bucko. So how to wind the skeins so that there is some flow to the order of the colors?

I think I figured it out and only have to drop about 12" or so of yarn with each skein addition. Here is skein two well on it's way to becoming part of the scarf.

It's going to end up being kind of a reflection of the last skein. Either way, I hope he likes it. He's owned one scarf in his life and it wasn't a great experience.


Thursday I spent the day cooking and cleaning. Or at least cleaning upper surfaces in the house in prep for the great fall floor cleaning event (which I managed to put off till Saturday :-) )

Ham was prepped with pineapple and glaze (first part of a pineapple upside down cake works really well for this). I pin the pineapple pieces to the ham with toothpicks. Cover the whole thing and stuff it in the oven till the thermometer tells me it's done. Helps to actually use the thermometer periodically during the cooking.

About an hour before I expected it to be done, the therm was saying 'Yo Lady! This is finishing faster than you thought!'. So I cut up the potatoes and start those boiling for mashed spuds. Started the cranberry sauce (that didn't turn out so well) and the stuffing. I'm a Stove Top girl. Yum.

Put out the good china and dished everything up and told hubby food was ready.

We had a real nice meal. The rest of the day was spent with me crocheting like a demon and watching hubby play CIV IV.

Friday I was silly enough to go shopping. I was looking at a USB card for hubby's new computer case. Got a new charger for my camera. Woot! Didn't find the card he wanted, but I did get a box set of E.B. White stories for $8 from Borders.

Charlotte's Web
Stuart Little
The Trumpet of the Swan (my fav)

All together. We promptly read most of them over the next two days.

Saturday was spent scrubbing the house and getting a handle on the paw prints and the laundry. Found out my steam cleaner is well and truly deceased. Sigh. Thought we were having company this day, hence the cleaning binge. Didn't happen, but my house is clean.

Sunday. Vegged vegged and more vegged. More crochet, more CIV, more laundry.

Still alive

been bogged down with work mostly.

Ugly case that took 10+ hour phone calls two days in a row. Is it any wonder I've lost my voice?

Sigh.

But knitting has been done, camera charger is still lost. I may simply cave at this point and torture myself by hitting Best Buy Friday for a new one (camera that is).

Depends on how much I really hate myself. :-)

Steel can be broken

Very rarely do I blog about work.

The blog is about things I like/love:

Ken
The Dogs
The Cats
The very weird crabs we introduced to the home aquarium
Knitting
Astronomy
you get the picture.

Now don't get me wrong. I adore my job and most days I think I'm good at it. Other days, like today, I'm just wondering how much more I can take before I break. Just decide the heck with it and bail and try to get Ken to let me stay home and bury my head in the sand everyday.

Thankfully we all know that I'd bore myself silly in about 3 to 5 days. I know this for a fact. Hence the reason I went back to work a week early after surgery last year. Boy did the boss and hubby get mad at me for that.

People that know me, know I'm OCD and a huge control freak. In recent months, I have become the lead on two parts of our products with what feels (very important word here) like not a lot of back up. Granted, our staffing rate for our department is the highest it's ever been. But our product is complicated enough that it takes a newbie a good 6 to 9 months to come up to speed enough to venture out into the 'queue' without any major hand holding. So while we have a bunch of people, I feel more and more like 'the go to person' for a number of issues, whether they are in my components or not.

Some of this is my fault. I don't know how to NOT help a co-worker. I don't know how to say they need to take it up with their designated mentor. I don't know that I ever will be able to do so, because helping them helps me learn new areas of the application so that I can broaden the scope of issues I can help with. To say nothing of the fact that knowing more areas of the application will help me get the next title I am pursuing within the company.

I also fully admit to not wanting to share certain areas of my components. Or at least not fully let go of the reins because they are areas that I AM the go to person for. No one else in the department knows as much about it as I do, and I like that.

But I too am learning. Learning that my colleagues want to learn this stuff and to help take some of the burden off. Learning to not take my temper out on my colleagues when all you can do is simply decide that no amount of yelling and cursing and desk banging is EVER going to make that one problem client (or two or ten) actually listen to what you are telling them. Because no matter how right you are, you are still not telling them what they want to hear.

On the flip side though, what does it say when your boss asks you to take a case because they need 'steel' behind the response? Someone that won't back down, but can be firm in a diplomatic manner? Essentially some that knows how to put a spin on the bad news while getting the client to back off.

Most days I don't care as long as they understand that steel can be broken.

Let's hope it isn't anytime soon, because, trust me, it won't be pretty. It never is when steel gives way.

About to cave

I am totally going to have to order a new charger for my camera. This is the ONLY way I'm going to find the one I already have.

Either that or I truly need to swipe Hubby's SLR, which he technically bought for me, but he uses it for the business, so it gets to stay with him most of time. Hmm - same thing is going on with my Tablet PC. Anyone else see a pattern here?

You can tell that the seasons are changing when hubby is open to purchasing new video games. Hubby had a gaming weekend with a couple of our friends since I opted to bail on the house for most of Saturday.

My morning started with my alarm clock (I know on a Saturday!), because I had to start the Pulled Pork BBQ in the slow cooker. Then I crawled back in bed for another hour and half. At which point I knew I was going to be late for Knit Group. But I managed to get there in time to get a real seat. I had fun as always. I actually managed to progress Tuscany to the start of the section with 5 repeats of the chart. Yes I put a life line this time.

Then around the corner to my eye doctor to fix my glasses, which are 9 years old, but now have new lenses. They looked like I sat on them or something, but his guy Steve fixed them right up for me.

Then on the way back to the house and calling hubby to see if he wanted me to go pick up the new game I know he wants. Turns out he was in line at the game store with that game and MANY others in his hot little hands.

By the time I get back to the house, he's already installing and getting tables set up for group gaming.

Back to the kitchen to check the pulled pork. Good thing I like how that stuff smells since aroma filled the house. Shredded the pork and put some aside for hubby and friends for dinner, then started collecting all my cold weather observatory gear.

Actually had car loaded with the food, crockpot, and clothing by 3:15. Woo hoo! I was gonna be on time for a change. This of course after verifying that the gaming crew had an alarm set so they'd remember to feed the animals and themselves.

It was the last docent's meeting of the year. I raffled off a pair of the fingerless gloves I've made and the pulled pork went off without a hitch and everyone loved it. Woot!

Then came the battle for supremacy over the CCD scope. It totally kicked my behind! I fought with it for 2 hours before I was screaming for my fellow docent and CCD expert, David, across the parking lot. Imagine NOT being able to find Andromeda for crying out loud.

David and I fought the good fight and got the thing working (stupid time change and hard coded software and completely counterintuitive solution - set system clock back TWO hours). Then the score of the evening....

We found the Comet. Better yet I actually managed to image it. Now to get the picture from David so I can post it.

Sunday was errands, laundry and playing with new electric blankets. Mmmmm.... warm beds.... good.....

Even better, the new one is machine washable. No more of this dry cleaning crap where they keep it for a week.

Oh, I also watched 'The Prestige' last night. Good movie. Saw some of it coming, did NOT see the final plot twist coming. Rent it. If nothing else you get to see Hugh Jackman with his shirt off. ::vbg::

How do you solve a problem like Smokey Cat?

Anybody that knows me, knows how much I love animals. Dogs and cats are highest on the list, but I'll take just about anything that is not reptilian (turtles and tortoises excluded) or that has four or fewer legs.

Smokey Cat didn't start out as our cat - okay my cat.

He started out as one of three cats the little old lady across the street from our house had.

She had a caregiver that let her expectant daughter and soon to be daddy son-in-law come stay in the little old lady's house, without asking if it was okay.

Fast forward to a year later, when we were convinced that the son-in-law was selling drugs out of the backyard and the little old lady was scared to be in her own house. We called the lady's son and said do something now, else we involve the police.

Caregiver and extended family were given a leave by date and the little old lady went on vacation to her son's house.

The Leave By date came and I talked the caregiver's daughter into giving me her dog (they didn't take good care of her - left her tied up out front all the time - rain or shine - and I couldn't stomach her leaving with them) who is now enjoying the country life out in Occidental with a doting new 'Mom'.

The little old lady came home and the cats were happy and she was happy, then she had a stroke. :-( She didn't get to come home again, since a facility was the best place for her. However, there were still the three cats, one of whom, Sugar, had been an indoor cat.

Enter the daughter-in-law who refused to take care of the cats and locked them out of the house. She wouldn't let us go in to take care of them and let Sugar be inside where she wanted to be. I fed them all on the front porch until the night hubby and I left to go a movie; it was pouring rain and Sugar was huddled in a ball under the front door overhang looking absolutely miserable.

Hubby called the son the next day and asked permission to find the cats homes then we hit up all of our friends. Sugar got a new home right away. Sixers and Smokey Cat were more difficult because they weren't socialized.

Turns out Sixers was ruled by his stomach and after a month or two started to hang out at our house. Then he started beating up the boys, Rasta and Nemo, so an ad was placed. Sixers is now the sole cat of a lovely home out in Penngrove where he gets to chase mice all day.

That left Smokey Cat. The least social of them all. The one that waited till you were back on your side of the street before he'd approach the food bowl, after coming out of his hiding place under the neighbor's house. The one I was going to win over at all costs.

Now Smokey Cat came under my protection in April of 2003. He became my responsibility that same May. It took me six months to get him to let me touch him before putting the food down.

It took another two months to get him to let me pick him up before getting fed and to not run as soon as I stepped on his sidewalk. Slowly he would follow me over to my house and play with the cat toys on the porch. Very slowly. Did you know that if you crab walk backwards at a snail's pace you won't set off light motion detectors? Neither did I. ::very big grin ::

Now we are closing in on April of 2004 and hubby and I are getting ready to move across town. What to do with Smokey Cat, who now comes over when called (but still won't eat at my house), can tolerate being pet and picked up, is starting to recognize our friends and neighbors?

One neighbor is about to have a baby and won't have time, the rest either don't have time or don't care.

So it was decided that Smokey Cat would come with us. This required stuffing him into a crate on moving day. Gee, think that will completely destroy the trust it took me a year to build? You got that right. But stuffed he was for 8 hours.

Smokey Cat was given his own room in the new house for 2 weeks. And all the other cats (we have four you know) learned that they would not get eaten if they ate their food inside (took Rasta three days to get hungry enough to get over that).

Then came the big day. Almost a year to the day that the little old lady got her house back, Smokey Cat was allowed outside of my new house. Can you guess what happened?

Yep - disappeared for 3 days.

But he came back, and he's been back ever since.

He goes to the vet.

Meows at the back door for dinner.

Comes and says hi in the morning when I'm out with the dogs (and he's the ONLY cat Scrat leaves alone because he nipped that in the bud right away).

And when it goes cold enough, he starts asking to come in for a snuggle visit.

Smokey Cat will never be an inside cat, but he has managed to become a pet and one that we love dearly.

Thanks for trusting me Smokey Cat.

They Fit!

for now anyway.

In spite of all the baby presents I've made this year - 3 pairs of booties and one quilt, this is the first picture I've gotten of the baby actually wearing/using the item given.

Since I am not at all in the habit of exposing other people's children to the weirdos of the internet, no names will be mentioned. If you happen to know who the little mite is, be considerate and don't leave that information in the comments. I promised her mom and dad.

Just know that she's 3 months old, too cute for words and if she lived closer I'd be begging to babysit.

I am working on a present for another baby that isn't due till March. I am currently trying to choose which stitch I want to use, because the first choice is boring me to tears.

Thank goodness my Barbara Walker Treasury Books showed up.

How do you pick just one? Stitch that is, I got the First and Second book in the series.

Big Rocks

and no I'm not talking about the ones that keep appearing by magic in my side yard.

Rosemary has started Monday Musings and her musing for today fits in perfectly with what I intended to post today.

One thing DH and I are going to realize from all the Foster Parent prep (Okay he knew this already - it is I who has trouble with it) is taking care of what matters.

The garage can be a mess, the living room carpet can be desparately in need of a vacuuming, the laundry can be taking over the bedroom, but none of that matters if the big rocks are taken care of. Taking care of yourself, taking care of your loved ones, taking care of your pets (they fall into the previous statement but they like to be acknowledged separately).

That being said, yesterday was a really nice day. DH let me sleep late. Thank you kindly friend Nathan for leaving the DS with Puzzlequest at my house for him to play. I woke up when he was attempting to capture a monster and I LOVE the capture screens. It's Bejewled with a purpose. You have to clear the board of all gems and skulls for a Capture. I don't even want to tell you how long that one took us, but I got it.

At one point we figured I better at least throw some clothes on and let the dogs out. So out I went and watched them run around the yard, and I played catch with Scrat (he gets to play every morning with me). Nemo and Rasta (cats) got to spend the day out of doors. The only thing I had on my plate for the day was grocery shopping (little did I know).

After the dogs went out I curled back up with him to watch him play some more and our little girl kitty, Kaji, came in and curled up with us. Hubby and I finally started to make ourselves ready to start the day around 2 pm. And it wasn't being lazy, it was just taking time to relax for a change.

So I hit the grocery store, then I decided I better purge the storage locker, also known as my car. That leads me past the hall bathroom where I see that darling dearest has left the empty toilet paper roll on the seat to let me know we have none in the house. So out the garage where DH is attempting to find the floor again, to scrounge for the Costco TP pack and the new pack of paper towels.

At this point he asks me to find a place to store that stuff in the house. Easier said than done let me tell you. Then I remember the red headed step child corner of the laundry that just gets mindless 'this needs to be out of my way for now' stuff crammed into it. Would be perfect for this bulk stuff, and it's way EASIER than cleaning out the pantry (there's a scary project waiting to happen).

I now have a storage locker full of stuff for Goodwill from that corner and a place for bulk dry goods storage and my vacuum cleaner. Granted I still have to clean out the pantry, but it's not a big rock. I also have a back seat in my car again. lol

The best kicker of the day is getting to end and being able to curl up with the dogs in the Papasan and just veg. I made a fire last night and curled up with the dogs and my DS and Puzzlequest (I'm not nearly as good as he is) and just hung out. Got a bit late, so doggies out for last call then put them to bed.

By this time DH had come in to take a shower and told me Smokey Cat was hanging out by the front door and wanted some attention. So after I put the dogs away I went out and cuddled with him for a bit and decided to bring him for a little while.

He spent a good hour curled up on my lap, even after I fell asleep and couldn't make sure he'd stay in my lap.

Smokey Cat isn't much of a snuggler (see tomorrow's post and you'll understand), and he's definitely not an indoor cat. He has a dog house on the back porch filled with polar fleece and a heating disc I warm up for him when it's really cold, but occasionally he wants more.

The animals are one of my biggest rocks. I love all of them in spite of their complete irreverence for my floors, the fur bunnies in the hallway, the burrs I step on the in middle of the night, or the crabs that keep trying to escape from the fish tank. Even though I know that my house will never be spotless until the day there are no more pets (I sincerely hope that day isn't anytime soon) and no outfit is complete without contrasting fur, I don't know what I'd do without them.

Sunday was a day for big rocks.

PS And with that I got a handle on the laundry the living room got vacuumed, and I might get a chance to start a new quilt tonight.

PPS I have ALMOST finished my first sock for me. 14 more rows and grafting. It's a little big, but I'm okay with that. It looks cool. More pics once I find my camera charger. Gr.

First Remember to Breathe

The decision to become a Foster Parent is not an easy one. But it is something that I have been considering for years, just never got up the nerve to talk to Hubby about it.

Obviously current circumstances changed that, but boy is this scary.

I went to the Orientation last night. There is a lot to do. A lot to ask our friends to do. We need references.

I have to figure out how to lock up all the chemicals in our house (is being able to lock them in the laundry room with a keyed lock enough?). We have to find a way to prevent children from being able to fall into our pond without have to put up a fence around such a small area.

There doesn't seem to be a problem with the number of animals in my house, though some of other people at the meeting may think I'm a little whacked for having so many.

We found out that in order to adopt in the state of California you HAVE to be a licensed Foster Parent first. So don't start the adoption process first then jump on the FP bandwagon. Do both at the same time or the Foster License first. So I did something right by calling the FYCS first.

It seems like there are a billion things to do.

Just remember to breathe.

No pics till I find my stupid battery charger. But knitting (Poncho and Tuscany) has been happening.

The timing must be right

I did it.

I bit the bullet so to speak.

I called Family, Youth and Children's Services today and spoke with a lovely woman about their foster program and what we have to do to get started.

1. You have to go to the orientation. There happens to be one this upcoming Wednesday evening. The next one's not for 5 more weeks.

2. You have to go to the Partnerships in Parenting classes which are 9 weeks of classes one night a week. It started yesterday, BUT, if we make the next 8 classes we are good. So hubby is moving his guitar class to a different night and we are going to PIP classes on Thursdays for the next 8 weeks. This is totally worth missing Grey's Anatomy - the only show I actually try to watch these days ;-)

3. We have to be certified in First Aid and CPR, so I am probably using some of our weekends in November getting those certifications.

Not mention the background check, well water test (I wonder how recent they have to be, because we've had a couple done since we moved in), TB test for us and our friends (maybe, at least the ones that are at the house most often) and the health form.

If nothing gets in the way, we could be licensed by Christmas. After that, I have no idea when we would get a placement. We will also be trying to do whatever we have to do to get setup with the State Adoptions program at or around the same time.

And I don't even want to know if the number of animals we have is going to get in the way of anything. They are my babies too, and they aren't going anywhere.

Also does anyone know of any good meal planning, menu planning, eating smart classes that are available to the general public? I'm going to need it.

Life just got busier, but it's going to be worth it.

PS - We are not giving up on having one of our own, but I am done with procedures. It either happens naturally or not at all. At least that is my current stance on that. My emotions in this area are pretty fluid.

Doors come in many shapes and sizes

and leave it to my husband to pick the heaviest.

Doors can be light. Doors can be made out of glass. Doors can be hollow. Doors can be custom ordered from the factory (I understand the price tags now trust me). Door fittings can be made from scratch.

Let me tell you, I am wholeheartedly sick of doors.

But on the flip side, look at what we did? Ignoring the plethora of paint you can see through that door (need any? - I probably have the color you want), look at that door, and the jamb, and the threshold. All made from scratch (solid birch) or modified by hubby honey and yours truly. Aren't they gorgeous? This from two entirely clueless people that know how to read.

Now these doors are fire doors. What's so special about fire doors? Well to be fire rated it has to take at least one hour to burn through them. Anyone know how they do that?

They fill the suckers with gypsum (yep sheetrock) which in turn makes them weigh a frakking ton. Okay, that is an exaggeration. Half a ton. 1/4 tops. Really really heavy.

The one on the left had to be cut down since they were 36" doors that had to fit double wide in a 5' space. The means a huge amount of gypsum dust all over everything. Then to keep the door from absorbing water (after you cut it down to the length you need) you have to rout out about 3/4 to an inch of that gypsum to glue a custom cut piece of hardwood in that space.

You make the frame to fit your opening (ideally with some wiggle room for leveling), mortis the hinges, transfer those measurements to the doors themselves (which side is in and which side is out again honey), mortis again.

Then comes the scary part, putting everything in place. We didn't leave much wiggle room side to side for the frame. Based on the door measurements, we had a magic number that everything had to fit within and still be workable without a huge gap between the doors themselves and the doors and the side frames.

We started hanging the doors (small one first) and it hung straight and level (meaning when you open the door and let go it doesn't keep swinging in either direction). Woot! Half way there. Then comes the big 3' monster. Still weighs a ton. Are four hinges enough (better be since that's what we cut for)?

The one thing we forgot to worry about was whether or not they would line up at the top and bottom edge with each other - not just where they meet in the middle with the hardware. Boy did we get lucky.

Again, aren't they gorgeous? Go back up to the top pic and drool over the threshold. That's four coats of poly to make it look that gorgeous. Hubby beveled so the office chairs roll over it like a dream. However, if he takes that dirty hand cart over it again I'm going to scrap it - the cart not the threshold - it's kind of glued permanently to the floor.

Now that took the better part of the weekend, in which the dogs usually get stuck in their room. I just couldn't do it again. Now Oscar the Dog LOVES to be outside - if only to attempt to get every burr on the property stuck to him. Scrat just wants to not be locked in the room and he's not allowed out in the house by himself.

So the boys got to hang with us. Scrat decided to play Jungle Dog (those poor tulips). Oscar attempted to play dead. Or hang with the table saw (until we were crazy enough to actually want to use it).

In case you're looking for Cliff. He LOVES having the inside of the house to himself, and he's allowed out of the room so he was happy as a clam as well. Hmm , how exactly does one know if a clam is happy? But I digress.

All in all, a productive weekend (and my house is still clean!).

On a knitting front. I went to knit group Saturday morning and trudged along on Tuscany. Remember my cute little marker idea. Purple is for a purl row. Seems simple enough, eh? Imagine my surprise when I get to a green marker KNOWING I just knit an entire row. So I tinked back that row one at a time. Then I looked down...

Imagine my horror at :

1. Not having a lifeline
2. Seeing that I have KNIT 3 of the purl rows
3. Knowing there is NO way I can tink back that far.

Susan heard my sigh. Yep. I pulled the needles and ripped the whole thing back.

If nothing else, I have the first 7 rows of the pattern memorized. I have gotten back to the end of the first chart repeat. I am NOT giving up on this. No way, no how.

On the bright side hubby honey actually asked for a pair of dress socks. Regardless of the fact that he doesn't wear dress socks. But make them I shall.

What do you guys and gals think of the Regia Silk in black? Crazy soft and I happen to have some. Now I just need a pattern. Currently thinking about going with Earl Grey. If you have an idea, drop it in the comments. Nothing fancy. My brain is full up on fancy with Tuscany and Palindrome.

Now to talk him into a sweater. Go check out Interweave Fall 2007 page 55. It would look great on him in a nice teal blue or deep burgundy.

Sadness and Joy

Hovering somewhere in between.

Most of the people that regularly read this blog (and let me know they do) know that we have been trying to add the pitter patter of little two legged feet (no not the birds though I want some) to the Villa for a couple of years now. Without success.

There have been procedures and surgeries and more procedures to no avail. While we haven't given up, we may be taking a step back for a little bit to figure out our next course. Foster care is an option, adoption is as well. Being adopted myself and being a birthmother, I believe I have a unique perspective to offer on that front. Perhaps we shall complete the triangle.

So yes I'm down a bit. We had an ultrasound last week for a different situation and it indicated that this month MIGHT be different, so it's doubly hard right now. But on the flip side, I can hopefully get the other situation taken care of before an actual pg gets in the way of any potential treatments.

The joy comes from knowing that I have good friends that are rooting for us. As well as friends that let me play with their children and sometimes let them stay for sleep overs so I get my baby fix. There is a reason I own a portable crib and a ton of quilts and baby clothes and cloth diapers and pacifiers and baby bottles and spoons and bowls and...

Okay, I may just be a little too prepared.

Admittedly it hurts when I find out another family member, colleague or friend is expecting, but I can be happy for them at the same time. Generally because it means I get to make them something.

Speaking of which. I finally finished the booties for my co-worker Phillip and his darling new daughter. She's only 2.5 months old. They'll still fit. I think. I hope. The pattern is really stretchy. We shall see.

Cat Bordhi's Baby Life-Ring Socks in Koigu. Done using two circs (3.25mm I think), worked both booties at the same time. This is the closest I've gotten two items to the same size ever on circs.

Now to get them to him since he doesn't work in my office.

Have a wonderful weekend. My house is clean and neat and more importantly staying that way. We have a friend coming to visit from out of town that will stay in the RV, which is NOT clean, so I have to prep that this weekend. But an RV - even our monstrous 35' Dream Machine - is a heck of a lot easier to clean than a whole house.

All things Italian

or the many ways Jenn really is a sucker at heart.

My husband is half Italian and I love him dearly. We fauxed his new office in Behr's Bellagio Faux technique using colors with names like:

Italian Opera
Luxurious Villa
Amalfi Fantasy (still have to look that one up)
Sunset Riviera

We also fauxed the ENTIRE OUTSIDE of our house last year to make it look vaguely Italian Villa-ish.

Sensing a pattern?

So it should come as no surprise that I got sucked into Tuscany by Ms Amy R Singer. Didn't help that Ms T jumped right into the lace fray with me. Romi would be so proud.

Now T and I don't do lace. We dream of doing lace. We own lace needles. Boy do we (okay me) own laceweight yarn - most of it in Rowan Crack a.k.a. Kidsilk Haze and some Crystal Palace Kid Merino. But we don't do lace.

However I got Ms Singer's 'No Sheep for You' through an awards program at work and we both took one look at Tuscany and the simple chart and decided to forge our way through.

I cannot tell you how many times she has had to restart it (because I don't know), but I am currently on trial 4.

Started it once on Addi's 8 (NOT LACE) with the Zephyr and couldn't decipher the two rules posted with the pattern. Said I don't care and forged on and realized I did care and frogged it back.

Please don't ask how I messed it up the second time. I've managed to block that memory. But think dog on lap, TV on and dog intent to eating Mom's lace needle. Tug of war ensued. I lost, dog got crated, Tuscany got frogged. Okay, so I haven't actually blocked it. Give me some time.

Started it in a yarn I could see better just to figure out the pattern with size 6 Lace needles and low and behold I thought I got it. Used my trusty markers to help me remember which way is the purl side (purl goes with purple), which made a huge difference.

So back to the Zephyr (after stealing the lace needles) and OMG what a difference the lace needles make with that yarn. I am no longer cursing it with every K3TOG I come to.

I am now finished with the first pattern repeat. And I just realized (okay about 8 rows back) that on the black I apparently shouldn't read a lace chart and watch TV at the same time (or have the needled attacking puppy on my lap). Those cute little symbols in the last 8 rows of the chart are NOT K3TOG, but the funky slip 1, K2TOG, PSSO stitch.

Sigh. So the black is not right either, but most importantly here, the Peacock Zephyr is. At least for now.

So if you're a designer and want to suck me in good, just give it an Italian name.

I'm sure I'll give it a whirl at least once, if not a time or four.

In Retrospect (pic heavy)

Last week was a pretty busy week in my household.

The office was almost finished. There were a couple of events to take notice of and some road trips in the works.

Last Tuesday I came home from work early because I wasn't feeling so hot. Perhaps it was fate, but I found this cute little darling attempting to cross one of the busiest roads in town at rush hour.

Her name is Stella and she belongs to Mary, who was smart enough to tag her and chip her. She came home with me after I stopped and picked her up and pissed off a few cars and bicyclist getting to the side of the road before she got run over by something and left a voicemail with her mom.

Turns out Stella gets to go for a bike ride most days but this day Mary needed to go pick up her car and thought Stella was secure in the yard. Such was not the case. But all's well that ends well. Thankfully there was a phone number and Stella was able to hang at my house for a little while till her mom returned my call and came and got her. I love seeing doggies go back home.

Wednesday was gloriously uneventful and the blah feeling from the day before was mostly gone.

Thursday was my wedding anniversary. 4 years to hubby honey. He had guitar class that night and since he'd missed the first three and I got him a new guitar for his class, it seemed appropriate that the first time he used it was on our actual anniversary.

I stayed home and watched Under the Tuscan Sun. Cute movie, total chick flick. Hubby curled up on the sofa with Scrat the Brat and watched the end of it with me.

Aren't they cute?

I love all my dogs, and most people that know me, know that Cliff the Mutt is first and foremost my baby.

But Scrat the Brat is just the best snuggle dog because he'll just curl up beside you and wait till you're ready to do something more exciting like play ball.

Friday I turned 37. I wasn't too excited about this since we are still trying to have kids and the age increase just makes it that much harder.

Hubby got me the most gorgeous dress for our anniversary. Someone apparently told him (google is his bud) silk is the present for four years.

Even better IT FIT! It has to be hemmed (I did some resourceful tucking Friday night so I would trip over the 3" heels) but other than that it's perfect.

So we went to John Ash for dinner.

While it's a lovely restaurant (mmmm Calamari), I have to say my saltimbocca is much better. :-) Thank you food 911 for that recipe.

Saturday dawned early and if you read my last entry you'll see what we did that day.

Sunday is the day Romi is waiting for info on. Taunya and I had made plans to go to the California Wool and Fiber Festival in Boonville. Turns out it's part of the Mendocino Country Fair and Apple Festival.

I don't have any pictures of inside the festival itself. We were WAY too busy drooling over all the yarn and fleece and rovings. You would not believe how soft Yak can be, and dog fiber is truly not smelly. So I guess it's just my dogs that stink.

T and I scored the following:

That beautiful green is my first purchase ever of Zephyr Wool Silk. It's is totally gorgeous and the color is peacock.

However the real find was the Handmaiden SeaSilk in Mineral. OMG that stuff is so very soft it's impossible to describe. All T and I could do was stand there petting all the different colors.

I bought the Peacock Zephyr on the first circuit of the room. I just couldn't help myself and it was only $10 a skein (that's 1200+ yards for $20). Mine, mine all mine.

Second circuit of the room we end up back at the booth with the Seasilk. I was going to get the color Glacier - because is had this gorgeous turquoise with brown and cream, but the Mineral kept calling to me, because it was just so pretty.

T spent forever picking two colors: the Bronze to the left and the Cornflower to the right. The Bronze and Mineral are in the 400 m lengths and the Cornflower was in the 600 m length.

T is making Amy R. Singer's Tuscany shawl with the Cornflower. I absolutely fell in love with the Bronze after it was wound and it turns out T's daughter S, really really liked the Mineral color the best, so a swap was made. I am the happy owner of Bronze and S will probably get a Clapotis out of the Mineral for graduation.

We headed home via Ukiah (I'm sorry but downtown Ukiah is a ghost town on Sunday afternoons) with a stop at Powell's in Healdsburg to satisfy a sweet tooth.

Got to T's house and hung out and knit for a little while and watched her kitty babies worship the sun.

Then I went home and helped hubby honey finish the office for Monday.

Boonville was great. The fair was tiny. Hubby did a wonderful job on my birthday and anniversary.

With the hard part of the office done, perhaps I'll be able to blog on a more regular basis.

As it is I have requested hubby get a house cleaner in to do a thorough cleaning (because boy did we let it slide while finishing the office) since we are having a couple of friends over for dinner Saturday night.

If that doesn't happen I'll be scrubbing the house from one side up the other on Saturday morning.