So....patterns make a difference!!!!

 

OK, I've been making the PI Shawl with Knit Picks Harmony needles US 5. I think the gauge is just perfect. So tonight I spent the whole evening swatching out Chart A of Clue 1 on the Goddess Knits Anniversary Mystery Shawl. The Knit Picks Shimmer yarns is the TINIEST bit thicker than the Alpaca Cloud......barely even discernable. So, I figured that, of course, same yarn thickness, same needles. NOT!!!!!!!!! Lesson learned!!! I could see NO pattern whatsoever in the swatch and I saw other shawls using Chart A and it has a very pretty swirl to it. I think I am going to swatch again using US3s.

I feel like I just wasted a whole evening......and my hands hurt like hell from using the short Balene circs. BUT, I guess it's not a wasted evening if I learned something!!!!!

I hate PI Shawls..........but I love my jeans!

I was just heading off to bed and realized that I really did need to post today.
First, I tried on my size 5/6 jeans and I was able to actually get them on, button them, AND zip them. (Notice I didn't say anything about BREATHING). But, a few weeks ago I couldn't get the snaps together, so I'm thrilled!!!!!!

Jim and Richard put in the second exhaust fan in our bathroom and it seems to work great. Jim is really happy with it.........but the real test will be in about 10 minutes when he takes his shower. Hopefully this will help with the mold and humidity in that bathroom.

We bought Mom a cell phone today. She lost hers a week or so ago and with the new budget in place, we were able to do..........and thrilled to be able to do something like that for her. She's wonderful and I wish we could do more.

I saw and made up sheets for each one of our creditors today. As the bills come in I want to try and log it and then put it in the file to be paid on the certain day.

I finally figured out how to cast on for the border on my PI Shawl. GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!
It is THE MOST HORRIBLE LACE EVER!!!! I got about 30 rows done and had to rip them all out. I don't think I'm going to be speaking to my PI Shawl any time soon!!!!!

The Shawl Body is DONE!!!!

At 9:10pm on June 19, 2008 I ****FINALLY**** finished the body of my very first lace project....my PI Shawl! YEAH!!!! Now I'm going to have to figure out how to start the edging. I'm going to start reading up on it tonight and probably start the edging in a day or so....or ten. LOL! I'm sooo happy the body is done. I

YEAH!!!!! The LAST round of patterned stitches DONE!!!!

I can't believe I'm getting close to being done with this shawl! I just finished the last stitch of the last round with patterned work. Now I have 4 rounds of plain knit stitch and then I start the edging. That would be 596 ROWS of edging.

Tiny setback

It all went well with no snags (pun intended) except after I was all the way done and starting to knit with the working yarn again I found that I was 1 stitch short on a repeat. I one's y had tu pull out two rows of the one repeat and found the forgotten/missed yarn over.

YEAH!! Last row!!!!

DUUUUUH!!!!

OK, I'm so stupid that I had to pin this all in place so I could run and look up SSK! I couldn't remember if I was supposed to slip as if to knit or purl! UG!!!!That just shows how long I've been working on "mindless" projects!

oh yeah! more fun than I can stand!

Repairs!

I'm fixing the 8 rows that dropped on my PI Shawl. It ****SHOULD**** be a quick and easy fix.

Kristin flies, Tory's childish, and Jim's Father's Day Present

Today started off terribly. Jim finally got home from work at 0330HRS and then we had to be up at 0800HRS to see our sweet DIL and granddaughter off to Japan. Starting about the time Jim got into bed I started having nightmares.
We weren't going to the airport to see her off.........but rather my 3 kids were still young and we were trying to get to Kristin's funeral because she had died suddenly. We kept getting delayed and lost and things kept happening to my kids along the way. We couldn't find the town and we were in a strange place. I think it's a jumble of memories of ME going to Korea with the 3 small kids and sleeping in USO lounges across the world (literally) as we made the trip. Plus, I'm so sad about Kristen and Jayden leaving. I am going to miss them so much. She is the best thing that ever happened to my son.....he's a lucky man.
Adding to the Nightmare Jumble is the anniversary of Brenda's death is right around the corner. 10 days from today. It's on my mind a lot. And 'losing' Christopher/Cecelia ....figuratively, anyway. But the nightmare was awful and VERY real. I kept waking up thinking that it had really just happened. It was very upsetting and very distressing. I was upset about it for quite awhile today.
We ran errands after the airport and Tory called while we were out. Then we went home and both of us were exhausted beyond words. She has REPEATEDLY been asked to call before coming over and told that it's not always convenient for her to just pop over. Last time I mentioned that to her she told me "Awwwwwwwww, poor babies." GRRR!!!! She has gotten sooooo pissy with us when we've gone over to her house (prearranged) and she has decided to take a nap. She just ignores the doorbell and the phone and then when she finally answers the phone she's really ugly because we woke her up. Well, she called and said that she saw some missed calls on her phone. I told her that we were sleeping. OK. So she calls back a little bit later and says that she's here trying to get in because she needs her cooler (that she's been asked for MONTHS to take over to her house but she refused because she didn't know where to put it) and that the door was locked. I told her we were sleeping and I would talk to her later. She got pissed and said "Whatever" and hung up on me. Then she called back wanting me to get up and open the door. I told her no....we were sleeping and I would talk to her later. So she called right back but I hit ignore and shut the phone off. She left a pissy message telling me that she really appreciates me not getting her cooler because they really needed it because they were leaving for the weekend in Arlington.
She's just going to having to put on her big girl panties and deal with it. There are times that we are doing OUR thing.......or even sleeping and we are NOT going to run a bus station that's open all hours of the day and night for her convenience. She stays out late....sleeps in, and then comes over here for this or that when we are just getting ready for bed. That's really not working for us and it's going to stop now.
Change subject.
I finished Jim's keychain thing a la Lifehacker. and it turned out great!!!!! It was a total pain in the butt and I never want to make another one, but he loves it and that makes it worthwhile.

Banks and Knitting Groups....

This morning Kristin and I went to Fort Hood National Bank to put her on the account. I called customer service beforehand and asked if I could put her on the account without Jeffrey there. Sure you can....just go into any branch. Yeah right.
That didn't work out so well. I was pissed because customer service was giving out wrong information........which would have saved us a trip. Then Jeff was on the phone and he was pissed because we couldn't do it. So then we were going to just have Kristin hand-carry the sig card to Japan and mail it back, but then they looked up and found out that she had a charge-off at First National for $200ish and they wouldn't add her until that was paid. So she was pissed. So she ended up taking all the money out of the bank and putting it in her account....which Jeffrey is already on.

Then Jim came home early today and we took a nap and had a nice afternoon. We went to Weight Watchers where we both lost just over a pound this week. YEAH!!

Then he went home and I went to Starbucks to meet the ladies that get together on Thursday nights to knit and gossip. I had a WONDERFUL time with them.....I just wish I could remember names!
My PI Shawl had 24 stitch come off the needles and I sat and messed with that. I got it all sorted out and now it's ready for me to repair those dropped stitches. That's the biggest reason I've not touched it in a while.....I knew I'd have to sit and mess with that. But half of the icky part is done........and now I just have to knit those rows up and then finish the darned thing. I only have about 10 more rows (which is like 6000 stitches!!!) left on the body of the shawl, but then I have to do 596 rows of 17 stitches to finish the edging. UG! UG! UG!

Jim just left for work and I'm going to try and knit up those rows before I fall asleep. He has to catch a flight tonight and will be home around 0300HRS.

Cable Heaven and Grandbaby Blackmail

This post is actually yesterday's..........I was too dead at the end of the day to even think straight.
First, I tackled Cable Hell at Jim's computer desk and turned it into Cable Heaven. I wish I would have taken a picture of it before, because it was unbelievable!!! On the floor, next to his desk was this massive tangle of cords, cables and wires.....with an odd router, modem and VOIP box thrown in for fun. UNDER the desk was almost as bad. I took apart every single wire, mounted two power strips and have the router, modem, and VOIP converter all sitting nicely on the top shelf of his desk. Writing it out makes it sound like a 20 minute project........but this took most all day. I also took out the satellite converter box, installed the DVD player, fixed the filing cabinet drawer, had to mod the power strips to mount on the wall (the screw holes were too small for any screws that I had), and worked on Tory (Greg's) laptop to get it running after Richard download some icky malware that totally choked it!
In between all this were upmteen calls to Tory and Jim updating them on the latest goings on with Christopher.
Christopher asked for his poster back that he gave me as a gift. OK, so I had to find it.........and then I ordered another. 2 days ago I called him to let him know that I found it and that he could pick it up at Jim's work. That was not a fun call.....he bitched about "my attitude" which was me telling him that I would not be insulted by him or his wife any longer. That went on. At one point he said "Do you actually ever think before you open your mouth and say things?" Um.....yeah. I told him that I was not being disrespectful to him or his wife......but that he's practically called me a liar and that what he just said amounted to calling me stupid. He told me how I haven't changed one bit because he's talked to Richard and he knows that. Oh, bullshit! He also told me that because of my attitude he had all the more reason to not let me see Cecelia. I told him it wasn't an attitude.......it was just me telling him that I would no longer take shots from him. Taking shots from him will not fix the past......and it won't help him heal.......if that would help, I would roll over, belly up and gladly take every shot fired. But he even said it wouldn't help.
OK. End of 40 minute call.........and I kept my cool and never got upset.
Oh, I cried a little afterwards, but I am trying to remember that he's angry and this is a situation that I can't control, so I need to let it go.
So he stops at Jim's work yesterday and picks up the poster, drops off the pans and the computer module and that was that. An hour later Jim goes into the parking lot and there's Christopher with the hood up. His battery was dead.....dry as a bone. So Jim helps him out with tools etc. About this time Sarah pulls up and just takes over (like Jim is this clueless idiot who doesn't know what he's doing) and doesn't even say one word to Jim.....not even a Hello. So they got the battery out and got a new one and Sarah just dropped him off with the battery and left. It's a good thing Jim was there to take care of it or he would have been screwed. Christopher did go into Jim's office afterwards and thank him for the help. That was nice.
So later I get a call from Christopher saying that I needed to sign onto Hello and he would give me pics of Cecelia. Unfortunately, Hello no longer exhists, so he said he would email them....but that I was not to post them anywhere because Sarah doesn't know that he's sending them. I asked if Sarah has issued an edict that I was to not have pictures.....he said no....but he didn't want to bring it up to her because it was just easier that way. OK, who am I to argue....at least I will get some pics, right.
So later on, he calls again and says that he will make a deal with me. He will send me pictures throughout her lifetime (his exact words) when he starts seeing some money. OMG! He asked me what I thought of that and I told him that it was disgusting!!!!!!! He's such a hypocrite just like his father. The whole reason that's been given for us to not see Cecelia was because I was a terrible mother to him and I'm this horrible, evil person who hasn't changed a bit. OK....I will accept parts of that........but I am working everyday to become a better person. AND, we borrowed the money....paid back a good part of it when he PCSed here.....and told him we would pay the rest. We argued back and forth about it and he kept saying...No...you've paid enough, don't worry about it. Then he came to me (before he and Sarah were even married) saying how Sarah thinks he should get the money back but that he told her that he didn't care and that it was all worked out between us. And then later, after they were married he was telling me how Sarah said that we needed to pay that money back and then he didn't say anything more. Then he told me that we needed to pay the money back because they were having a hard time making ends meet (and later, in the same conversation he says that they are putting $1K [yes, that's ONE THOUSAND!!!] a month into a savings account.....and talked about their upcoming cruise in the Bahamas.
Throughout this, Jim and I had planned on giving him money when we could..........but he's hit the end of the road with me. And with Jim....Jim's ready to strangle him. And I'm just disgusted and sorry that he's so much like his father.
GRRRRRRR.
So, yesterday really exhausted me.....physically AND emotionally.
And I will not be buying any pictures of my grand daughter anytime soon!

Rich left for JROTC Leadership Camp this morning....

He's heading down to San Antonio for the week. He was pretty blasé about going........or at least he was acting like it. The graduation ceremony is next Saturday at 9:30am! UG!!! We are either going to have to spend the night there or we are going to have to leave here no later than 5:00am!
It's pretty scary seeing him in BDUs! Both my other sons are wearing them.........and now here's little Richie.........who is much taller than I am...........and looking all grown up. OMG....that boy has turn into such a fine young man. I can't believe he's a Junior in high school already!!! And he's damned near as tall as his dad! He's such a great kid..........sometimes I forget I didn't give birth to him! LOL! As far as ***I'M*** concerned he's MY young'en!
I'm just so damned proud of that kid I can hardly stand it! He's done so well in school this year..........and he's really matured in a lot of ways. He's a sweet kid with a good heart!

Clogs are DONE!!!!!

Here is a phone pic of binding off the second sole on the second clog.

Here's a pic of the finished item!!! WOOOHOOO!!!! It feels SOOOOO good to actually finish something!!!!!! (And have it actually turn out the way you want!)

Binding off the upper part of the clog

Binding off the upper part of the clog

And life goes rolling along......

So the AC is broke. We are waiting to find out if we qualify for refinancing of our mortgage and then the electricity gets cut off on Tuesday. Jim didn't realize that the cut-off date was before payday and he was going to pay it on payday. Oppps. And that's all it was.....an opps. So we had no power for about 24 hours (he paid it before the guy was even done shutting it off....but it took that long to get turned back on). Jim was really beating himself up about that. But it was an "oppps" and that's all. He forgot. Oh well.
It's back on, that's all fixed and now we are waiting to see about the refinancing. After the whole thing about him just going off and deciding this and that without even letting me know he was even THINKING about other options, I told him things will change. I will be put on the bank account in California, I will be put on the Visa, and I will take over the money/bills. Which is funny....that's one of the things that he wrote me in an email.....that he was angry because he didn't have time etc to take care of that stuff. So I will be taking that over........with him over my shoulder and involved at every step.
First, I'm bound and determined that we are NOT going to live paycheck to paycheck anymore. I found some great budgeting software and I am putting it to use. I also plan on closing our savings account at Bank Of America which has .2% APY (and fees up the wazu!) and opening an ING account which has no fees and 3% APY. There are some other online banks that had slightly higher rates, but ING is well known and the reviews are all stellar.
Of course, I've discussed this all with Jim! LOL!!
Well, Richard has a an appointment to get his teeth cleaned this afternoon and I need to start getting ready for that.

Silly Me!!!!!

And here I thought what we discussed and decided upon what what was going to happen. Silly, silly me. When will I ever learn?????? I got an email from Jim this morning stating that he would be coming home around 1300HRS to spend time trying to find financing for the AC unit. Ummmmmmmmmmmm, huh?????????
So I asked him what this was about and he said that he decided to go with the 4 ton. Oh.
Gee.
So I told him that I thought we talked about it the night before and it was decided that we would play along with how the cards were dealt. He said that *I* decided that (which is bullshit!) I suggested it and he said "That sounds like a plan to me." That's verbatim. So when the soldier emailed me I told Jim that they guy had found another bike. At no time did he say that he still wanted to pursue the 4 ton. I knew he did, but we just don't have the money. He called our mortgage company and they are basically going to refinance the house and pay off some bills in the process. Ok....that sounds like a good deal....especially when he told me that they were just going to add it to the end of our loan. Now we find out that they are totally refinancing it and we are definitely going to lose our 6% mortgage rate.
I didn't get upset (at first) about all this. I told him that I understood why he wanted the 4 ton (the 3 ton is just too overloaded for this size house and we will probably be in this same predicament in a few years down the line) But, I was hurt that we had a discussion and made a joint decision and then he just decided to throw all that out the window and ride off on his own. He then said "Well, I decided I wanted to do it this way because I didn't want to end up in the same boat" And AGAIN, I told him that I agree with him on the decision but that it really husts my feelings that I am not included in ANY of the decision making. All that discussion last night was just wasted air. All he would have had to say to me when I told him that the guy wasn't buying the bike was "well, I would still like to roll some things around in my mind" or something like that. Instead, I am under the impression that the decision is made and that's that. Then I a informed otherwise....after the fact. That's my problem. And I still didn't get upset, I kept telling him that he made the right decision but that I wish he would have included me in it. But he kept justifying on why HE should be the one doing this and how "it wasn't like that in my house when I was growing up." OK, so that one pissed me off and I pulled out my ID card and asked him if he saw his mother's name on it. Oh.....it's not there?????? Then I guess we should be talking about OUR marriage.
I am very hurt and angry about this. He keeps saying that why doesn't everything I decide have to be wrong. And I keep telling him that I support his decision....just not the way he made it. But he's not hearing that.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cooler...

So we have an AC unit in the dining room and one in our bedroom. I've closed off my computer room and the front guest room. Richard is choosing to hole up in his sauna/bedroom.....poor kid. I've told him that he can bring all his stuff out here in the cool, but he'd rather have his privacy. I wish we could afford another ac unit for his room, but that would really kick up the electric bill too. (OMG!!! He just came waking thru here with his BDUs on for his JROTC Leadership Camp and the boy looks all grown up. OMG!! Here's a pic!

He's grown so much over this last year. He's turned into such a handsome young man....I'm so proud of him and all the things he's accomplished!!! He's really a GREAT kid!)

OK, so now we are in a holding position about the AC. This house is over 1600sq ft and should have an AC unit larger than a 3ton....which is what's out there. And we've already insulated the garage and added a duct to that, so that's another 450sqft. It *SHOULD* have a 4 ton, but we don't know if we can afford that. So, it's basically a coin toss. There was a posting on Craigslist that a soldier is looking to spend $5K on a cruiser with low mileage etc. My bike books out at over $3000 with an expected milege of 30K for its year.....but it only has 11K. Plus it has highway pegs, cruise control, a windshield, saddlebags, a Mustand leather seat, etc, so it's in the $5K range. If he emails me back and wants to give us $5K for it then we will get the 4 ton unit. If he doesn't then we will use the Stimulus Check to pay for another 3 ton. I guess we're just going to go with the flow of what happens and wait just use the window units until either funds come in.
I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO not ready to part with my bike and with gas prices it would be better if Jim was riding it to work instead of taking the Camaro....BUT, if I'm meant to part with it then that's what will happen.
We really want to get the larger unit because we believe it will be more effecient etc in the long run....but we 1) can't go into anymore debt to do that and 2)couldn't go into anymore debt even if we tried! So, we'll see what cards are dealt and then play our hands from there.

......and the next and the next....

So the AC guy comes out and the compressor is shot. $900. Or a new 3 ton unit for $1500. Or a 4 ton unit for $5500. Jim has always fussed that this AC was barely big enough for this house......that they should have put in a larger unit. So he wants to go with the 4 ton. I have to agree with this as the old AC ran all the time and could barely keep up.
But, we were turned down for financing so we don't know what's next.
Except that he went to Home Depot to get a window unit for the time being.
And the kitchen sink STILL hasn't been put back together because of all the AC stuff going on.
GRRRRR!
On a good note, Jeff called this morning and we had a WONDERFUL talk.

One thing after the next!!!!!

Things have been going really great here....emotionally-wise. I no longer feel like I'm so defective and so broken that I shouldn't even live. This past experience was a real turning point for me. I want to live. I want to be happy. and I want to spend the rest of my life with Jim. I love him more than anything in the world!!!!
Life is good.
Ok, so knitting-wise, the ribbing is done on my Plain Vanilla Sweater and a small part of the body....but I set it aside until the Addi Turbo that I ordered came in. It finally arrived yesterday, so that will be back on the needles.
In the meantime, I started Fibertrends Felt Clogs and have finished one of them and started another. Yesterday I finished the sole and am ready to start the top of it.
Ummmmmmmmm, speaking of yesterday........
So we had the guy with the Caterpillar Tractor come out and level the yard to put the pool in. Great. He worked for 2 hours but Jim paid him for four!!!!! GRRRRRR!!!!! But he's a single dad trying to make a living. That's all well and good, but we are working on getting ourselves straight here too. Plus, I gave him a whole garbage bag of Bailey's clothes for his daughter.....a good $150 worth of clothes. Oh well. It's done and I'm not going to fuss about it.
I had bought watermelon for the guys to eat while they were working outside. After Bruce (the Caterpiller guy) leaves, Jim starts putting the rinds down the garbage disposal and bust the pipe off the new sink. UG!!!! So off to Lowe's he goes.
While he's gone, I notice how warm it is in the house. Now, Jim and I play Thermostat Wars. He thinks he should be COLD to be comfortable and I think we should be financing another yacht for the executives at the electric company. It needs to be just cool enough to not be hot. Well, this time I was hot! But I check the thermostat and found that it was set to 76F which is where Jim usually puts it. OK, so I sit down to knit (with wool, no less) and it's getting warmer. So I check to see if the coils have iced over. Nope. It's the compressor outside! It's overheating and keeps kicking the circuit breaker off. UG. So we were hot as all get out last night UNTIL we went to bed....and I froze all night....especially when he got up. Brrrrr......no blanket and all those fans going!