Lots more knitting!

I got 30 rows done on the baby afghan today. My hands....and especially my right arm....feels more like I knit about 200 rows!

I also fixed the dog door so that it wouldn't keep getting pushed out from the wall. I figured I might as well do that while I had it apart to put batteries in it now that the cats have figured out that we don't use the autolock on it any more!!!! Phoebe was crying at the back door this morning trying to get in. She kept going to the back door.....then to the dog door, but she wouldn't use it to come in. Dumb cat!

Then I washed the back door windows....the fake french door, the back door and the storm door. Of course, with Richard working in the back yard and coming in all sweaty the storm door window is right back where I started!

I am in a super grumpy mood. Last week Jim and I got into an argument that started about Richard. Terri had said over and over that Jim and I 'need to be on the same page' with rules etc.
So the very next day I find out at 10pm that he's going to his girlfriend's house the next day to spend the afternoon. That's been on the table for 2 weeks now, but he was told that until parent calls parent that it wasn't going to happen. All of a sudden that rule just flew out the window. And Jim, even though he kept telling me during the argument that I *WAS* part of 'the team, told him that he could go.......and don't worry if we don't talk to mom.
So we are discussing that and then he starting throwing shots left and right. What about all the stuff I do behind HIS back. UM.....like what????????????? I *NEVER* do anything behind his back. Oh....let's see....according to Jim I ordered the glasses the the doctor prescribed for Richard and me..........cheapest possible......both pairs for $50 including shipping......and he knew I was going to do that. And don't forget how I made the decision about the Stimulus Check behind his back..........even though Tory was there while the 3 of us discussed it!!!!! Then there was the shot how I NEVER cook and I've NEVER said I'm sorry for the time I was hospitalized because I wanted to kill myself. Um....that was only said over and over and over and over to the point that he told me not to worry about it anymore!!!!!
And the BIGGEST thing about all of this was that 6 months ago this would have been an all out brawl. But I never took the bait and got ugly or starting yelling at him. And it seemed that the more I *WOULDN'T get ugly the meaner he got. To the point where I told him that it seemed like he was doing everything possible to get me to loose my temper and go off on him.

THEN I find out he called Terry and told her that I was sooooooo out of control and ugly and blah, blah, blah. OMG!!!! He's screaming and cursing at me.........and I never said an ugly thing back. Oh, I said things like "if that was a gut shot that was meant to hurt, it worked..........it hurt bigtime" but that was it. I wouldn't get ugly back.
But that's not what Terri's told.
The more I think about this the madder I"m getting about the whole thing.
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

I think I'm going to take a hot bath and then head off to bed.......before I *DO* get ugly!!!!!!!

Lots of Knitting and Guilt Trips

So Emily calls me today asking for money. I am planning on sending out a box in the next day or so and putting what little cash ($10) I had in it for her. We are sticking VERY tightly to the budget and what extra we DID have we used on the Bug.

So she says she needs money and I was planning on talking to Jim about it. Then she told me she needed $1000 to pay for the classes that she dropped last fall because they were too hard etc etc. She wants to go to U of Toledo now and BGSU won't release her transcripts unless she pays first. I knew $1K was out of the question, but I was going to talk to Jim about seeing if we could spare a couple of hundred next payday. At least that was what I was thinking until she said "It's not fair for Dad to have to pay for all my college." UM, hello! She moved out of this house........then she moved out of her father's house because she didn't like this that or the other thing. She doesn't want to have to live in any house with any rules imposed upon her........she wants to live as an adult on her own. But she still thinks she's entitled to a free ride. NOT.
It went downhill from there....especially when she said that it wasn't my money anyway....it was David's and I was taking it from him and it was just extra money for us. blah blah blah.

Finally I told her I was not going listen to this any more and that I needed to go.
End of phone call.

On the knitting side of the house, I've been busting my butt on the Lot's Of Love Afghan. Then I laid it out and really looked at it.....and then looked at the pattern. OMG! I had cast on for the full sized afghan that was to be 67" long!!! There is NO WAY that I could finish THAT in the next 10 days.
So I cast on a modified version of that afghan and it's going to be about the size of a receiving blanket instead of a whole full blanket!!!
I cast on at 5:00pm and worked until 8:30pm and got 19 rows done on it. I am guessing that it's going to take about 200 rows to make it long enough. At 1:15 per 10 rows, that comes out to about 25 hours of knitting. So, if I spend the next couple of days just working all day on it, I should be good. I have 10 days to get it done.

Here's a pic of the huge one, a 3' yard stick, Phoebe, and the smaller one that I started today.

Hibernation: Mystery Shawl in....Baby Blanket out!

So I swatch the darned Mystery Shawl like eleventeen times to find just the right size needs and then on the 4th of July I cast one and got the first unpatterned section done. I was going to do Chart A last night, but I just didn't feel like knitting at all. I've done Clue 1, Chart A enough times now that I know I can easily whip it out in one evening....with plenty of time to spare. But I just didn't feel like knitting....I was tired all day and then Jim and I took a nap at 3:00pm and slept until 7:00pm....which screwed my night all up!

I got up this morning and have busted my butt all day. I moved some railroad ties....by myself because my 16 year old son said they were too heavy for him to move......and we both know that he's a lot stronger than I am!!! So he couldn't say a word after that and moved and stacked the rest of them. Then I cleaned out a dresser in the garage and then fixed all the drawers because they kept falling off the tracks. I wound up all the cords that Richard sorted yesterday and put them in big ziploc bags....then carried them out to the garage and put them in said dresser. Scrubbed the front porch floor, walls, doors, and walkway on my hands and knees.
Went looking for the tire that fell off the VW Bug while it was getting towed here...to no avail.
So I am beat to hell right now. Every part of me hurts like no tomorrow. So I just got out of the shower and I'm going to take some Motrin and start knitting.

Oh yeah....back to the knitting. So early this morning Jim sent me an email from Chris at work saying that we were invited to a co-ed shower for a gal who works with them. I called to RSVP and find out what to bring. YEAH!!!! They already know it's a boy, so all I have to do is finish the Grandma's Lots of Love blanket and I won't even have to buy anything. I told Jim and Rich that between now and the 20th that all I would be doing is knitting so that I could get this thing done.
So it's OUT of Hibernation and the Mystery Shawl is going to have to wait until after this baby blanket is done. I'm so glad it's a boy!!! LOL!!!

1970 VW Bug for a STEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we're trying to do the budget thing and get ahead in the money department, but today we came across a deal that was too good to pass up!!!!!!!!!!

So now I have a VW Bug!!! WOOOHOOOOO! Richard and Tory both think it's a piece of junk, but they just don't understand the mystique and aura of a Bug. It's an icon. It's the definition of "classic."
It's a BUG!!!!!
My first car was a 1971 Super Beetle. This one is a standard '70.
The floor pans are gone.....that's to be expected. The tires are not even rubber anymore. But the body is good and it has an engine and tranny in it. The doors are in great shape.....no sagging and no rust. They got it as a project car and never got around to it. And it has a SUN ROOF!!!!!!! I've never had a Bug with one of those so that's AWESOME!!!!!!
There are a bunch of extra parts in it.....and it's getting towed over here tomorrow.
Clean title......VIN matches.
I can't wait until it's on the road! It's going to be quite awhile, but this one's gonna be a keeper!!!!!