Joan's Special Day

I present The Wedding Stole.



Oh. And that's Joan and her husband, Scott, proud parents of the bride.

We're off to see the Lizard

(with apologies to Betty, from whom I stole it, and to Liz, who really is called Lizard sometimes, but on your wedding day, you're not Lizard)

Joan's Special Day is almost here. The family is gathering, all of us making our way to Chester, some of us there already, some of us ready to leave in about 40 minutes. One of us doesn't have a whole heck of a lot of things to copy today, so she's wasting lots of time. Facebook can be accessed by Crack.

I've been knitting 7+ hours each evening trying to finish The Wedding Stole. I haven't done much of anything else for the last couple of weeks. (Like that's such a stretch.) I make stupid mistakes and keep making them when I try to pay attention to whatever's on tv (my current favorite is "My Name Is Earl". Even after this marathon knitting (thousands of beads, I tell you, thousands), I still have a good 15" to knit. It just isn't going to happen.

You see, I started the thing by following the pattern directions and knitting the first 15" without beads. They're only supposed to be on the very ends of the stole, and it just was ugly. So I started the full beading, it looked much better, and I decided to cut off the part that wasn't beaded (the middle of the thing was on a provisional caston so I could pick up and knit in the other direction when I finished the first half). That wasn't a particularly enjoyable job, but I managed to pick up the stitches at the beginning of the beaded part and start off in the other direction.

So. Yeah. It's going to be shorter than I'd like, I'm afraid. I have a couple of hours to knit on the way to Mom and Dad's house, but that only equals a couple of inches. I've gotten faster at "uploading" the beads, but each pattern repeat takes over an hour to complete. That's 8 rows.

I ran out of beads. I'd bought a ton of them in Key West in April and again in June but used them for a scarf or two and for A's socks. I'd bought them for Shipwrecked, the knitty.com shawl I plan to make at some point in my lifetime. I bought clear beads, silver-lined, black ones, and red ones to go with the yarn I had custom-dyed for the shawl. I ordered what I thought were the same beads on ebay, and they came really quickly, but they're the wrong color and size. I'll use them for something else. I was starting to panic last week when I had enough beads to get through a few more repeats, so I called Beads of Distinction in Key West and ordered another 50 grams of beads. They're just gorgeous. The owner only charged me $5 for shipping, but he shipped them out that day by Priority Mail, insured. $10. I'll buy more beads from that dear man!


This isn't a good shot, but it's about all I could get. It's hard to photograph that color yarn with clear beads. I'll get more at the wedding.

We've been looking at used cars. I insist on having a Toyota; I've had three Camrys over the last 20 years and love them. We debated getting an older one with many miles on it but a cheaper price, a newer one with fewer miles and a much higher pricetag, then decided that we might as well buy a new one while I still have a semi-decent income. Once we move to Florida, the car won't get nearly as much mileage put on it as it does now, and there won't be any mountains to cross, either, so we're looking for a new Prius. We might even buy one this weekend. Tom plans to start trips to Florida hauling stuff down and I'll have to have a car then.

Jennifer and the kids should already be in Chester; she was leaving right after school yesterday. They'll start back home tomorrow after the wedding so the kids won't miss more than one day of school. It's going to be such a wonderful weekend!

Someone is coming to look at the house on Sunday. We'll close on The Cat House toward the middle of next week. We'll be house- and car-poor until our WV place sells, with only a few thousand available to tent the place, tear off the deck, and fix the pool and a/c. Tom might rob his 401k next year to start more work on the house. Once the place over here sells, we can (more or less) finish The Cat House. Let's just hope that's soon; one more winter here is enough!

I'll leave you with some photos of The Cat House. If you have a weak stomach, be forewarned. It's not pretty.

So, what's new?

I don't really want to have to write this, but it's too much to hold inside. I don't want to jinx anything. I'm horribly superstitious.

On Friday Tom called the lawyer in Florida who'll handle the closing down there to see what was going on. The lawyer hadn't heard anything, so he checked with the auction company who told him that the bank that owns The Cat House has not approved the sale. Even though we were told two weeks ago that it HAD approved it. Now we're waiting on pins and needles. I so much hate not having solid ground under my feet.

Tom called the woman who originally listed The Cat House and hired her to be our go-between, as the bank will only communicate 1) with a real estate agent and 2) by fax. Love their customer service. We'd been told before the auction that they're notoriously hard to deal with. The only thing that we can think of is that, because they're located in southern California, they have no idea what two years of heat and humidity can do to a house that's sitting idle. (Add in the feral cats and it's really ugly.) In CA they can let a house sit forever without deteriorating. The agent is going to emphasize to them that the house is almost at the point of no return, and if they want any money out of it, they'd better let it go now. They must be owed a large part of the last appraisal which was over $340,000 and don't want to take that big a loss. If they keep on like this, they'll lose everything there. They'll have to sell it as simply a piece of land and someone will have to tear down everything and haul it away. I don't think too many people will take pricey burden on.

So we're in limbo again. We've refinanced our WV place so that we'd have cash for our place in the Keys, but at a higher interest rate and higher monthly payment. We wouldn't have done that if we thought we wouldn't get our place in the Keys.

We'd hoped to leave for Florida Saturday night after Last Train Home plays in town and spend the next week down there lining things up. I need a week in the Keys. At our place.

We didn't have frost until yesterday morning (which was also my sister Betty's birthday--happy birthday, Betty!) which is so unusual in our area. We almost always have frost by the 22nd of September, at the very least the first of October. Not that I'm complaining; I've enjoyed the reprieve. Have I mentioned lately that I hate cold weather and that I hate having such short days and long nights?

I've knit more on The Wedding Stole. It's looking so nice (even with the holes from places I've dropped stitches and can't figure out where they go). Less than three weeks now. I'm sort of half done, but I don't like the area where I followed the pattern and only placed beads on the selvedges. It's just too plain like that. I think I'll attempt to pick up the stitches where I first started the beading and use that as the starting point for the other half. I just don't like the plainless next to the sparkly beads.

Yesterday I received my copy of Mercury Falls by Rob Kroese (see and click on suitcase over there to the right------->) and started reading it. He's been compared to Christopher Moore which leaves him big footprints to fill. If you like funny, literate, insane novels, then you'll like these guys.

I'm hungry. It's too early for lunch, but I'm hungry.

Long time no post

Wow, I've been lazy. I've had a lot to say but I've been too lazy to actually put it into words and do the typing.

We are nearing the closing of the refinancing of our current place so we can set the closing for our place in the Keys. We're pulling out most of the equity to pay cash for The Cat House and fix the pool (priorities, you know), the a/c, and rip out the carpet and master bath and closet, pay for insurance (which will be exhorbitant, but what can you do), and have the electricity and water turned on in our names. After the place in WV sells (and the sooner the better) we won't have a mortgage! We should have enough to do a lot of the renovations we want.

Meanwhile, our '99 Camry has decided that about 230,000 miles is pretty much enough and is threatening to throw a rod or a bearing, so we can't drive it much. It's been a good car; we've had it for a couple of months over three years and have put a lot of miles on it. We'd replace the engine if we could find one cheap enough, but the only one available, it seems, is $4000 including labor and already has over 200,000 miles on it. The car isn't worth that much. For now I'm driving the truck to work. Nice because it's more comfortable and has a cd player, but it's so big and I'd rather drive something much smaller. Maybe after the houses are taken care of we'll be able to get another used car.

Several people have come over to see the property in the last couple of weeks, but no offers yet.

I've been knitting The Wedding Stole sporadically; it's probably almost half-done. I wish I'd started the heavy beading at the very beginning because it looks so pretty, but I didn't, and I'm sure not going to sew them on. I like the yarn (silk and cashmere) and it was so cheap ($6) on ebay. I'll use much more than that in beads. Since we're be heading to Big Pine Key as soon as we can close, I'll be near Key West and can go back and buy some more beads. I know I could order them, but this way I know what I'm getting. The wedding is Nov. 7, so I have to get cracking. I should be able to do a lot of knitting in the car, although on the way down we're leaving after a Last Train Home show and will drive the first 8-10 hours in the dark. I hope I can sleep; if not, I've got Twilight and the laptop.

B2 is loving kindergarten. The kid just lives life large in all ways. He's Mr. Confidence, Mr. Charisma, Mr. Alpha Male. He's quite a character. He spent two years being civilized in Methodist pre-school (they went into the "sintuary" for singing) so public school has been no big deal for him. He simply doesn't see the need, though, to practice his writing and counting and reading. He just tells the teacher "I don't want to do that." No anger, no yelling, he's just very sure that he doesn't want to do it. J asked his teacher if it's interfering with his learning; she said that he's very bright and is picking up all the concepts. Once he's got it, he's done, thankyouverymuch.

He's had some trouble with another boy in his class who seems to be a bully. B2 just tells him that what he's doing is wrong and to stop. And the kid does. It's a wonder that B2 himself isn't the object of bullying as he has some health-related issues that really make him stand out in a crowd. He's allergic to grass; whatever body part that touches it first breaks out in a rash which quickly turn to welts and then blister. It's pretty. So the child has to wear long sleeves and long pants with socks and running shoes in the Florida heat. (They're required to wear belts, too, with their shirts tucked in. On a five-year-old. Who outgrows his pants every couple of months.) So he's usually red-faced and extremely sweaty.

He also has a tendency to vomit copiously because he shoves food into his mouth at a high rate of speed. He always had. He is repeatedly told not to do this. Even the kids in his class now yell "B2, don't you dare! Stop that! I mean it!" and sometimes it works. He carries a little garbage bag with him all the time in case he needs to puke. And no one makes fun of him. They love him. They pay attention to his thoughts and generally go along. He's not bullying, I don't think, he's calm and apparently fair-minded.

This was not what we expected, but we're happy with it.

A is in the 4th grade and doing well. She's a broadcaster on their school news show and loves it. Last night she read a story to me and only stumbled over a few big words and she answered the questions in complete sentences and correctly. She's typing quickly and mispelling fewer words (spell-check, maybe? but not in her email. She definitely doesn't spell-check that.) Her emails are longer and more involved. What a difference moving to the poorest county in Florida and attending school there has made for her. She went from one of the highest income counties where the schools are new and pretty, where she had all kinds of trouble with bullies and teachers who said she was so far behind the other kids, to the poor county where things are old but where they try to spend their money intelligently, and she's blossomed. Straight A's. She's made lots of friends. (She was even asked by a boy if she'd "go out" with him. Mommy and Daddy said hell no. As you probably know, going out means hanging around together at school.)

We added a 10' x 10' deck to the back of the house and are enjoying it so much. It's one of those things that we wish we'd done earlier so we could have enjoyed it longer. And it would have been much bigger. Tom and his brother have done a lot of work, mostly finishing little things that they didn't finish when they built the place. A lot of junk has been packed or given away so there's a lot more room so it actually looks like someone lives there, not just stores stuff there.

Life goes on. I finally gave myself permission to enjoy the fall colors, almost too late. We aren't having the intense color that we have sometimes; there was an article in the paper about it that I didn't bother to read. But if it's the last time that I have to endure another fall and winter, maybe I can enjoy it.

We still haven't had frost in either WV or here in the Valley (Shenandoah). That's exceedingly unusual. We usually have a cold snap in the 20s of September then Indian summer, always frost by the first weekend of October, but none so far. Therefore there hasn't been Indian summer. I'm not complaining, just commenting. We didn't bring our plants inside until last weekend; usually we have to do that a good month earlier.

That's the news from this part of the country. At least, what I can remember of it.

Getting ready

Less that two weeks. That's how much time until we know if we'll own The Cat House.

I just bought Tom's airfare. This is the first time that Orbitz has had the best deal, what with that price guarantee thingy where they'll refund the extra if anyone else books the same flight through them for less. Yeah, it's a crapshoot, but since Travelocity and others offered the same fare without the guarantee, I went with Orbitz.

Because I did the booking and because I could.

Strangely enough, it is less expensive to fly out of Charlottesville than either Roanoke or Richmond, on these particular dates. Ch'ville is only an hour from work, while Richmond is 2.5 hours and Roanoke is around 1.75 hours. It's a smaller airport and easy to get to. I've only flown into/out of there once, and while I'm not nuts about flying on a puddlejumper, I'll do it.

It would have cost over $550 to fly from the airport closest to us. So, no.

So things are falling into place. We spent the long weekend working on our deck (which is SO nice to have!) and packing/getting rid of things. It's finally starting to show; rooms are looking bigger and moderately less junky. I've gotten rid of tons of clothes that don't fit or that I'll never wear ever again. All kinds of kitchen stuff is going. Got an extra? Mercy House or Goodwill. Ugly clothes? Same. Nana's table/chairs and china cabinet? Give to Liz. Midge? Joan'll take her in and care for her. (I honestly thought that I'd given her to Joan oh these many moons ago.) Christmas ornaments? Grandkids, whether they want 'em or not.

It's a royal pain, but it's gonna be worth it.

Some maroon stole our for-sale sign that was next to our driveway. WTF? I mean, I know it's West Virginia and people may have a different definition of "fun" than normal people do, but unless it's needed for patching that hole in the outhouse roof, not cool.

Knitting: Ten pattern repeats without too many screwups. They're there, but I'm pretending that no one will notice them. Still going with Spring Tulips (sorry, Elaine!) with markers every freaking 8 stitches. It's the only way I can make it come out even near right. At the end of this week, I'll pick a winner for the pattern contest since I'm using one I'd already come up with.

Wedding Stole pics

The Wedding Shawl. Not this color at all. Can't get the beads to show (so far they're just along the outside edges).


More accurate color. 55/45 cashmere silk lace. I'm heading out to buy a lace needle, something I never thought I'd need.



It's affishul.



Tom, after I hit him with the cast iron skillet.

This week--so far

Can I please have a do-over?

These damn copiers have worn me down this week. They're taking turns being pains in the ass and I'm losing 4 sheets of paper each time one jams--and that's happening every four or five copies. And that's on the good copier. The one that was more or less fixed yesterday. Because I had to call the technician twice yesterday, once for each damn copier.

Bad one fixed, good one more or less worked without jamming too much. But, as fate would have it, the bad one broke down not ten minutes after the repair guy walked out of the school. Output tray one is unavailable, as are stapling and hole-punching. This kind of comes and goes, no rhyme or reason. I've spent today ripping sheets of papers out of the copier's guts, and I am so done. It's time for MY breakdown.

In other news, the cat house will be auctioned in a few weeks. Did I already say this? I don't have the energy to look back. We've had it inspected and are awaiting the report. If it's doable, then we'll bid on it. If not, then we'll have to gather our marbles and play somewhere else.

This is our baby. Our Cat House. It sits on a corner and has only one next-door neighbor. The lots behind these houses are jungle, and I hope they stay that way. There's one neighbor across the road to the south, but their house is diagonal from this one, and there's nothing directly across the street to the front. It's about as big a lot as can be found in our price range. You'll note the lovely green hue of the water in the pool.

So. Once we get the inspection report, we'll decide if we want to bid on it, and how much. Then Tom will fly to Florida to attend the auction. We've arranged temporary financing which will be paid off when our house sells.

Speaking of which, the for-sale sign was put up Friday afternoon and the real estate agent has already had more than 6 calls about it, from people who've seen it and other real estate agents. Today a couple drove up the driveway, so Tom gave them the tour. Our little deck is almost finished; we'll enjoy that. For a while.

Shawl-wise, I'm still persevering perservering working on the Spring Tulips pattern. I've gotten through three pattern repeats without too much trouble. I ended up putting stitch markers (from scrap yarn) every 8 stitches, or one pattern repeat, on each row. The pattern is even starting to show up in the knitting. I'll keep on with this one until it kills me or I finish it. I haven't ended the contest yet; I may still have to resort to something easier.

I don't have photos of the house on this computer, and I haven't transferred them to dvd yet, but once I do, I'll show a few of the cat house and the others we like.

Meanwhile, I think I'll beat up on the copier.


Day 8. 172 left.

I got nothin'

My brain has checked out for the day. I couldn't even begin to come up with a catchy title.

I started knitting The Wedding Stole again last night. I got through 8 entire rows, one who repeat, before I messed up. You see, on that eight row, I thought, "I really should run a lifeline now," but I didn't listen to myself. As usual. Halfway through row 9, I was off by one stitch. One. Stitch. How can one stitch mess things up so much?

I'm trying the Spring Tulip stole on Ravelry, at least, I think it is. It looks very elaborate, but it's just a series of 8 rows of the same 8 stitches over and over and over. I was even starting to memorize it last night. I'm still listening to your suggestions and printing the patterns (when they're free) because I'm fairly certain that I'm going to mess this one up beyond tolerance too.

If I end up knitting something other than one you've suggested, I'll just use the ol' random number generator to chose a winner. I'm not going to put a deadline on it yet because I'll continue to mess them up for another month or so.

Another real estate agent toured the homestead today. We weren't very taken with RE Lady #1. She didn't seem to anxious to get things going. RE Lady #2 said not to replace the carpets, they're in good shape, just declutter and get stuff out of the house. We are having a 10' x 10' deck built on the back of the house, which will make it look a little more finished. We'll still paint, but not a whole facelift. She'll send comps tomorrow. I'm interested to see if her price range is the same as the first one.

I hope we sell this fast. We really want that house in Big Pine Key (one of these days I'll put up some photos so you can just how insane out of touch with reality anxious we are to get started fixing it up. I mean, how long will The Bank allow it to sit there, rotting away, with the value dropping by the second? The asking price dropped $45K during the four weeks we were in the Keys. Perhaps they're getting antsy to move it before they have a real environmental hazard on their hands.

The xerographic module for Bad Copier arrived, but I wasn't notified because no one seemed to notice that big box with Xerox written on it and my name in bold letters on the label. I stuck that sucker into the machine and I've been fighting with the copier ever since. It still wants to jam frequently. It's now making an awful groaning sound as it drags paper through its belly. It was nice and quiet last week for the half hour it's worked this school year. I'm caught up, but I'm exhausted from the battle.

B2 started public kindergarten yesterday. He'd had two years of church preschool under his belt, but I don't think that's equal to the task of molding him into a productive student. He's got his own ideas about how things are run and he is not afraid to insist. Authority figures don't scare him any. He loves the principal of the school, and he was introduced to the in-school suspension teacher and loves her, which really isn't in his best interests, but he doesn't know that yet. His first day went fairly uneventfully, as far as we know so far. He did have a littttttllllleee trouble being quiet while in line, which we expected.

His teacher just happens to work part time at Disney, and she just happens to have the job that B2 aspires to: tour guide on the Backlot Movie tour at Hollywood Studios. I'm sure now that he's convinced it's a match made in heaven. He's quite a talkative child, and I expect him to monopolize many of the school lessons--or attempt to.

A loves her teacher (4th grade) and her year started well. She had a bit of trouble staying quiet in kindergarten, but she's not the chatterbox that B2 is. It amazes me how much she's matured over the last six months. She now writes some long emails that make sense; she's writing a book of stories. She's learned to text (but not how to put spaces between words). She's a whiz at computer games and loves to read.

Forty-five minutes and I can go home. Can you tell how much I want to retire and leave work forever?

2 days down, 178 to go. This year.

Grrrrrr and a contest

The stupid copier is working again. At least, for now it is.

Some plastic roller doohickey fell out of it, but it seems to be working without it.....

If it stops again, I'll just yank its xerographic module and put it in the other machine. Then that one should work.

At least the end is in sight.

Still no progress on finding the right lace stole with beads that I can actually understand and follow. I've got The Stupids again. I don't know why it should be so bad; I stopped taking Neurontin (for the cough, although it worked for that) because it made me feel so thick and slow. I haven't taken ambien since June; that should cut down on the stupid factor, I'd think. Evidentally working with these machines is what's doing it to me, since it didn't seem to be so pervasive during the summer.

I so want to knit a beautiful, elegant, beaded shawl/stole for Joan to wear on her Special Day (her daughter's wedding day). It's not something that's under my control. I have to do this for my own mental health even though it seems to be a total brain drain. Joan's wearing a lovely chiffony-fly-y sleeveless dress (the first or second weekend of November) with front and back v-necks. It's screaming for a light-weight, cobwebby-dewdrops sort of wrap, something that will give her a tiny illusion of warmth without covering the dress too much. Maybe I'm the only one who hears its screams, but it's driving me insane. It. Must. Be. Knit. I don't care if I have to pay for the pattern. I've already bought one (Pampas) that I can't for the life of me understand. So far I haven't been able to knit the two free ones I printed. Somewhere there has to be a beautiful, gossamer dewy stole that I can comprehend.

If anyone links me to a photo/pattern that fits my needs, and I pick it, I'll reward that person with something from my stash. I'm getting desperate here. I don't want to buy a book of patterns, but I don't mind buying a single pattern. I'd really prefer something rectangular, but I'll consider a shawl. Trillian, you're already in the pool.

Help!!!