This and that

Saturday's engagement party was almost rained out. We did get a downpour but it did let up long enough to get the BBQ s rockin' and rollin' . After that no one seemed to mind the odd rain drop that fell . Max and Stef were so happy and touched by all the friends and family who came to help them celebrate this with them .

For those wondering about Max's injury , he's healing well . He still has bandages on two of the most severely injured fingers but it looks like everything will be fine ; he may have a little difficulty opening and closing his third finger initially, but time will take care of that . As I said in the last post he was so very lucky it wasn't worse .

The home renovations are coming along well ,the painting is done and now the fun begins . Mike is removing the old flooring and the marble in the entrance . Removing the parquet flooring hasn't been as difficult as we'd expected , so then it's just wait a couple of days till Max can help Mike with the tiling and installing the new hardwood . This isn't something I can help with except for the clean-up . At this point the whole house is topsy turvy despite the fact that we're technically only re-doing the living room flooring , entrance and painting the upstairs hallway . It'll take me at least a week after it all before this house reaches any semblance of normalcy . The only thing that's keeping me sane is the thought of how nice it will all look once this is over .

That and a bit of knitting here and there . Here's one of the Spring Forward socks done . I just love the curviness along the sides . Of course Bingo had to get on on the photo shoot . He's never far away from me , the little mutt !

We had a bit of a scare

yesterday afternoon . I got a frantic call from Max telling me that he cut his hand rather badly with a Skil saw . You can imagine the thoughts that were running through my head till I got to the house which is a 5 minute drive away. I don't think an ambulance could have got there any quicker . I bundled him into the car and drove him to the hospital . He'd started an EMT training course when he was out in Alberta , so he knew what to do to stem the bleeding . He was fairly calm but in a lot of pain , so that ride to the hospital (less than 10 minutes ) seemed an eternity . The triage nurse took him right way and he was seen by the doctor not too long after . He was extremely lucky that the cut was on the palm side of his hand, otherwise he probably would have lost a couple of fingers . Bad enough , but could have been so much worse . We're counting our blessings today.

Casey and Mike are over at his house today doing whatever needs to be done there . He's been renovating the bathroom , so they're without the main toilet and sink . They'll finish up for him . Needless to say he's beyond upset with himself . He keeps saying he should have known better , but a moments inattention is all it takes . I'm just so thankful that it wasn't worse .

Weekend Roundup so far...

We're still getting this hot summer weather with the added bonus of high humidity . Not having air conditioning , warm weather has contributed to some sleepless nights and is making me slightly cranky. I don't do heat well . Thank God we have a pool, otherwise I'd completely lose it .

Mike has begun his summer vacation ; four weeks off from the daily grind . We went out for dinner and a movie on Friday evening . It was a last minute kind've deal , no plans , no reservations , that turned out to be a really nice evening . We discovered a wonderful little Italian restaurant with great food and two musicians providing the entertainment and adding to the ambiance . The movie , Wall-E , was terrific . It was fun , entertaining and the animation was unbelievable . This was Mike's movie pick , guess he's getting prepared for his new role as grandpa (Pepere in French) .

We've no plans yet for a little vacation getaway . Necessary home renovations are on the agenda for the first 2-3 weeks of Mike's time off. We're painting the living room , as well as replacing the carpeting with a new wood floor . We're going to tile the entrance and strip the railings and stairs from the living room going upstairs . We're going to stain the stairway to match the new floor. This is all DIY and in all honesty I'd have to say that I'm stressing out about it all . I'm hoping that the choices we' ve made , as far as flooring and paint goes ,will turn out as nice as we hope . I'd love to change all the flooring upstairs as well , but the budget has limits , what with wedding preparations and all . Last but not least we're changing the windows at the back of the house . They'll be coming to install them on August 7th . If we're still standing after all that , and not completely broke , Mike and I hope to getaway camping for few days . I'm pretty sure that's all the pocketbook can stand .

Despite all this prep and running around , there is some knitting on the needles . I'm trying my best to keep up with the SoS and Sock -a -month Kals . I've cast on the Spring Forward socks. This is such a nice pattern . I love it ! I'm also working on a baby blanket . I'm not crazy about the colour but it's what I had in the stash . It won't match the baby's room but it'll be perfect as a little blanket for the car . I've got another one in mind for his room but will get this one off the needles first . The little teddy was a gift from Mallory next door . She's 12 and such a terrific kid and obviously generous too . She's known Chantal since she was about 4 yrs old when Chantal was her dance instructor . Small world...

Double /Double Socks

Yay ! I can finally say that I've completed at least one pair for the Summer of Socks 2008 KAL . With appropriate fan fair I present the Donyale Socks !

Despite the fact that it took me the better part of a month to complete these , it was was an enjoyable knit . It's a great pattern that looks more complicated than it is . The yarn is Elann Sock it to Me and unlike my previous knit with that particular yarn (Crosshatch Lace socks) this time it didn't split like the dickens . Though why colour would make a difference in that aspect is beyond me , this time around it was very nice knitting with it .

Onward to the next pair !

Random Wednesday

We've had such energy sucking hot and humid weather here for the last few days . It's much too sticky to work with yarn but I did finish the Baby Backward Ribs finally , so the decks are cleared for the SOS 08 . It figures that as soon as I join some kind of KAL , knitting time comes at a premium . Two and a half weeks into SOS and I haven't finished one pair yet . Oh well , it's the process , right ...

When the weather gets like this I really don't feel like doing much besides sitting by the pool and reading . I just finished a book from the library by Khalid Hosseini titled " A Thousand Splendid Suns " . The setting is Afghanistan and chronicles the lives of two women Mariam and Laila . It is a very timely and thought provoking book . It moved me to tears in places . I don't know if it accurately portrays the lives of women there , but I assume it does because the author is originally from Afghanistan . I highly recommend it ; it's a book that will enlighten and entertain you . For a change of pace next up on reading list is "The Friday Night Knitting Club " by Kate Jacobs .

Last Saturday we had friends over for a BBQ . One of the quests was this little cutie and her mom . She was quite taken with Bingo , but he wasn't really sure what to make of this pint-sized bundle of energy . Emma is going to be the flower girl at Max and Stef 's wedding next year . She talks a mile -a -minute and has oodles of charm . She's my best friends' grand daughter and I just love her to pieces . I hope I get to have a grand daughter as sweet as her some day .

Still here

No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth or been abducted by aliens . Still here , still chugging along, barely knitting , not blogging . Remember that last post where I mentioned my plans to relax and knit , well life and/or family had other plans . Casey and Chantal were putting in their lawn and fencing their property last week . As per usual that quickly became a family project . I helped just enough to discover new muscles in my body that I never knew I had . Raking and levelling earth can qualify as an aerobic exercise , trust me. Anyway it looks great and everyone is happy, especially Gizmo , she won't have to play in the dirt , she'll have a nice cushy lawn.



Aside from all that , the stupidest/ funniest moment of my week happened last Friday morning . In setting up this scenario , I have to tell you that I have a favourite purse, not an expensive or particularly glamorous one , just a nice little Roots canvas purse. This bag fits all my needs , not too big not to small , not too many pockets , perfect. I spilled a little coffee on it on Thursday , so early Friday morning I thought it would be a good idea to throw it in with the laundry . I double checked to make sure that I took everything out and put it in the wash . Imagine my surprise when emptying the washer to come across my cell phone . Yup , I washed my cell phone ! I'll tell you that laughter was not my first reaction. I've discovered a whole new range of cuss words , the air was blue . You see ,one of the reasons I like that purse was the handy little side pocket for easy access to your cell phone . Emptied the whole purse and never checked the side pocket, DUH ! Everyone in the family thinks this is hilarious , except for me , I'll probably never live it down . You should have seen the fellow at the store , could barely contain his laughter and mentioned umpteen times about not getting the phone wet and not being covered for water damage in the contract . After a little cooling off period I'm taking it in stride , this was a very expensive piece of stupidity , the only excuse being it was early and I obviously was not awake . That's my story and I'm sticking to it ...