Monday, August 24, 2009

Spare time ?



What's that ? That seems to have been the story around here for most of this summer . The renovations are finally completed , except for a couple of minor finishing touches . We have a brand new bathroom /laundry room downstairs . This room has been a pain in my side since we bought the house . It's an odd shaped room with a lot of wasted space ; the shower stall was so small and difficult to keep clean . This one is much bigger , still stuck in a corner , but at least you can move and with the tile , it's much easier to keep clean . I also have shelving for laundry supplies and another over the toilet for toiletries . There's new lighting , vanity and a tile floor . Can you tell how happy I am with this new room ! It was only 20 years in the making ...


All that's left is the big clean . With less than 2 weeks left to Max's wedding I'm starting to get butterflies in my tummy . We're having family from Maine staying with us over that weekend and we'll be hosting a birthday party / family reunion BBQ on Sunday the day after the wedding . Don't quite know how that happened . Anyways I'm really praying for good weather over Labour Day weekend !


If you 're wondering about the progress on the shawl , it's coming along . There's no point posting a photo as it looks pretty much the same only much longer . With last weeks' heat and humidity which left me feeling cranky and dead tired by the end of the day, I barely did any knitting . It's about 54 inches at this point . I'm guessing that around 72 inches will be a good length . I'll be having a look on Ravelry for guidelines for the finished dimensions later today. I'm trying to have it ready for blocking by the weekend .


And just because I love him so much and this is my blog , yet another picture of Jessey...

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Summer



Summer has finally arrived . It's been hot & muggy the last couple of days , with some spectacular thunderstorms late in the day . Great pool weather ! The late summer flowers are blooming like crazy, the tomatoes in the garden are ripening with the added sunshine . We've enjoyed them in a meal a couple of times this week . Boy were they good , you can't beat that fresh from the garden taste ! I think we'll be expanding our garden next summer . This year we just didn't have the time to take care of a larger garden .






We're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with the renovations . The tiling is just about done , the painting is done and the new vanity and toilet are installed . Now it's just the lighting and vent , new doors , heater , mirror and window coverings . The shower door is supposed to come in early next week . Keeping fingers crossed that there's no more delays . I can't wait to get the washer and dryer back in place so I can catch up with the laundry . I've been doing a load here and there at Shirley's just to keep us in clean underwear and such .






Not much knitting going on here , too hot , too tired . What little knitting is getting done is on the shawl . The deadline looms ever closer . I've knit only another 6 inches or so since my last post . I'd better get a move on !

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

What was I thinking !

Did I say in my last post that I could clean less and knit more during our renovations ? Must of been dreaming in colour or had some funny stuff in my tea . Things have been progressing more slowly than we'd anticipated and by jeez if I gave up the "cleaning" altogether we'd be swimming in dirt . So much for that plan ...








I'm starting to worry a bit because the wedding is just a month away and there's still so much that needs to get done . Aside from that I can't get over the prices of construction materials , thank heavens we don't have to pay the labour costs as Max & Mike are doing it themselves and that we can claim some of the costs in the federal government home reno tax credit . Counting our blessings on that front .








When I have a chance I've been knitting on my shawl . That usually means at the crack of dawn with my first cup of tea . I can't believe it , but a couple of times I actually fell asleep with my knitting in my hands when I was knitting in front of the TV in the evening . This is the progress so far , the last time I measured I'd knit about 31 inches . I've still got yarn left on this ball then , I 'll have to wind up the rest . I'm sure I should get about 60+ inches before I run out . That should be adequate to get a decent sized stole after blocking . The socks are on hold till this is done .







I have to end this post with a pic of our little guy . He's been over to the house a couple of times lately . He's so close to walking on his own . Here he is grabbing onto my legs , wanting me to walk with him . Who could resist that face !? We're still looking for his off button , he's such a lively character ...