Phew!... Finally I'm Back Online

Yup... for two days now I have been without connection.  For some reason, I think probably because of the wind, we had no access to the internet. I'm not sure that wireless connection is any better than dial up. Dial up is slow that's for sure, but unless you live where connections are really good, I'm not so sure that wireless is any better.  Wireless here is faster but we have lost it twice in the last two months... so it's quite tiresome to go to write on the blog and discover that I can't.... especially when I have a good idea for something to write.... these days that doesn't happen too often.

We are now at a whopping +3 degrees!!! Far cry from those shivering -29 that we got just a few short days ago. while the rest of Southern BC is experiencing severe winter weather we are enjoying a rare pleasure of mid-winter balminess. Both the Daughters are off for a academic and work ethics honours trip for some bowling and some swimming... a good day to have wet hair outside.

I have been working once again on jewelry.

For Daughter #1 for Christmas

For Mother for Christmas

Two more necklaces finished and one more and a bookmark left to go. And I started a new shawl.... yup, I pulled out that eewww bright pink alpaca yarn that I skeined up a few weeks ago and decided to knit a shawl with it and then promptly sell it..... I am using the pattern of an ex-instructor of the Master Spinner Program at Olds college only I'm playing with it a bit.... and so far if you forget that it is god-awful pink then it is looking pretty good.

Still waiting for the contractor.... hmm... starting to get concerned that my renovations won't go ahead before Christmas.... that would really p--- me off. I'm being very polite and I'm not bugging him but it is starting to be a worry...

We I have finally decided on flooring for the house.... I was really waffling back and forth on hard wood flooring or that laminate stuff which I really don't like, but with dogs and cats as a busy part of this household, I thought perhaps that it would be practical.... We've I've decided that neither one of it will grace these floors mostly because hardwood wouldn't stand up to the running back and forth of the dogs and laminate is too.... well I just don't like it. I want quarry tile instead.... or at least something that looks like it...  I've found what I wanted and it's not that laminated quarry tile stuff either. Home Depot carries a lovely product called Allure. They have lots of different designs but basically it is a recycled rubber product that is designed to look like tile or hardwood and believe me it is hard to tell the difference.... originally that is what we had decided to put on our floor but we couldn't get enough of the product in the colour and pattern that we wanted.  I stupid like, had a friend pick it up for me and she didn't get enough of it so it has been sitting in the shed ever since.  We will use it on the parent's place where new flooring is needed through the whole house. In the meantime, I have seen it (the hardwood style) on another friends house. It even has the knot holes grooved into the surface of the rubber so it really does have the appearance of wood. Well, I want tile and so I had a look at the tile.... and it is gorgeous

... so rubber that looks like tile it will be... There is one slight problem... our living room floor used to have carpet and the kitchen floor was built up to be the same height as the carpet was... this means that we will have to build up the living room and the sun room with a half inch of sub-flooring material. All in all, the flooring will cost $2000.00 dollars which will have to wait till after Christmas.

The whole house renovation will soon be complete... I keep telling myself this... but then I keep waiting for the contractor... hmmm....

That's a short update and since the connection on the computer has come and gone twice since I started writing this I'm thinking I should finish now before the whole thing goes ..... and is gone!!!

I'm Pretty Sure It's Not Just Me

I had a few moments this morning after getting breakfast to sit here at the computer and have a read and most of the blogs that I follow, have not put up a new post for a little while or at least have been very sporadic over the last little while.  I'm assuming that there are not too many people who have a whole lot of time these days.  With Christmas coming, I'm thinking that more than just myself are preparing for the season. Although I do have to say that yesterday I didn't do a darn thing for Christmas... I just knit all day.  I worked on my scarf and as a result it is almost finished.

  For over a week though, the beads that I am using for more Christmas gifts, have been sitting on my dining room table waiting for me to get to work....

thus rendering the table completely useless for anything else.  But I will finish that scarf today and then go to work on the beaded necklaces until such time as I can put the whole mess away. Besides the necklaces must be finished this week as one is winging its way through the mail to New Brunswick and another one will be for the NPSW gift exchange... and the others are for the Daughters for their stockings.

Once again it is excruciatingly cold out. -29 this morning, when the cat came in... he was covered in frost and was quick to cuddle up with the wee kitten... (who's not so wee anymore)...

I was rather shocked to discover a few days ago that in the downstairs bathroom (with the freezing gaping hole under the tub), my Christmas cactus was blooming beautifully...

I've always noticed that Christmas cactus' like the north side of the house and bloom beautifully there.  When I moved into this house I was dismayed that there were no north facing windows. So when we renovated the house last year the first thing I did was put the Christmas cactus on the window shelf that I had designed for the downstairs bathroom.... doesn't it look lovely?  It's postively inspirational.... and yes it is pink but pink flowers and pink sunrises/sets are ok in my book.

It is not snowing but -29 is pretty darn cold.  As one of my friends said recently.... I went outside and froze my a-- off and then spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how I could get through the winter without going outside... (not exactly those words but I think I've got the gist of it!) So I have resigned myself to trying to keep my feet warm... I have only been wearing s--ks sporadically... today I've hauled out the Crocs and am wearing them in an effort to keep my feet warm... I'm still bootless.... and shoeless... except for a very old pair of warn out runners and a couple of pairs of dress shoes... I have perusing the Sears catalogues in an effort to find some winter boots that will please me... still no luck! Hmm..... the feet are complaining bitterly. I guess I will have to break down and haul out a pair of s--ks!

I have also finished another shawl.... I am pleased to show you all....

This is the same pattern as the one I showed here earlier in the fall but it is made with hand spun yarn as opposed to commercial.... and very pleased I am with it too. I wish you could all see the smile on my face each time I look at it...

So if everyone else is like me then it is no wonder I'm finding nothing new to read on any of my favorite blogs.... what are you doing? Are you prepping for Christmas too?!

Dull Witted Nitwit

That's me.  Somehow -25 degrees this morning has turned me into a sleepy, thoughtless bore. I couldn't think of anything to say yesterday either. Sometimes its just plain hard to write about anything of value or interest. Teapot kept busy all weekend and Daughter #1 was involved with the annual craft fair. Daughter #2 and I stayed at home. She was nursing a sore throat and I was nursing a new scarf.

I found some yarn on Friday the was a lovely variegated but somewhat coarse fibre.... it would make a good scarf for on the outside of a jacket. I also found an interesting spiral scarf pattern in a book that I took out from the public library on Knit Night... I started knitting on Friday but by Saturday afternoon I knew it sucked. So I raveled it back. Daughter #2 said it looked like genetically modified lettuce!! That just made me want to rid myself of it altogether.... then yesterday morning I got up really early and googled scarf patterns and found this one...

Mine is not going to be exactly like this but close.... My colours are not moving from one shade to the next so well, mine has a lot more green and mine will have a blue trim... but quite honestly it is looking pretty good! At least so far....

Still, I feel rather like a dull witted nitwit. And it is cold.... brrr.

Teapot got down under the house since we wanted to deal with the problem of the crawl space before the really cold temperatures come.  Teapot's intention was to add to the insulation down there and then he discovered that there is very little insulation in some places and there were spots where you could actually see day light through some pretty severe cracks. (Not concrete cracks just cracks between the boards).  I figured there was a problem with the crawl space when we had the pump freeze up last year. Teapot did his best to fix the problem then, but this year he did more. With extra insulation and a can of expanding foam, Teapot spent most of Saturday afternoon under the house filling cracks and adding insulation in areas where it needed extra. We will see if it will make a big difference.... but we hope it will. Meanwhile he has dealt with the big hole under thebtub in the downstairs bathroom. Yes, there was a big hole there because of the plumbing for the old shower that used to be in there. When the tub went in the bathroom it covered the hole but not totally. It was left so that the new plumbing could be put in for the tub....  It was never sealed like it had been when the shower was there because the tub was a different shape. With the new insulation that Teapot put there, the bathroom is not cold enough to freeze the buns off a brass monkey from cold air seeping up from the crawl space.

We are no closer to building a shelter for Dreamer now than we were last week which was our intention.  With the insulation taking a whole lot longer than we expected, it just didn't get done. Maybe next weekend if the temps don't drop to -40 degrees, we will get Dreamer's shelter built.

We have agreed that there is another job that is necessary this year. Our old black cat Midnite is getting old old old.... and he still goes out at night... with the temperatures dipping down so low we are thinking that it might be necessary to build him a little shelter too.  I wish he would go into the barn with the sheep but since there is a large door that doesn't really get closed (that way the sheep can come and go as they want) it doesn't really provide a whole lot of warmth.... just shelter. We either have to put a cat door into the workshop or we have to build him a cat house. I am not pushing Teapot to get that one done since there's so much other stuff to be finished.... I may have to keep the wee bugger in on the nights that are -25 or so...

Anyway, I am waiting for the contractor.... hopefully this morning.... he did say that he would call me and give me two days to clear the sun room before he came.... but I have realized that he has my old phone number.... I will call him today... if he doesn't show up. Teapot is gone for the day..... very reluctantly... he did say he would like to stay home and have a warm morning with me and several nice cups of tea.... I like that idea... I wish he could have stayed home with me too.... oh well, the best thing about Christmas is the fact that he will get to stay home with me.... for two whole weeks... I'm really looking forward to that.....

There's something cozy about a cold winter day with nothing to do but knit.... hope you're having a nice winter too....

I have to go check my head now.... I can't believe I said I like winter......!!!!

A Little Communication Goes A Long Way

I've been working on other things today and though yesterday was a calm after the storm with sunshine (albeit cold temps) today we are back to light snow fall and grey skies. At almost the end of November Christmas is baring down on me with a vengeance and so I have work to do. November means the  publishing date for the PCSW newsletter is near (and I am not putting the link here at this time since I am not quite ready to publish the new newsletter, so it is a page that is unfinished and you wouldn't get to read much anyway).  Still, I have been working on it for most of this grey and cold day.  In addition to the newsletter a friend came by with her resume and was wondering if I would be able to help her with clearing it up and also helping her write a cover letter.  She has been out of the work force for a few years and I was happy to help her though I do have to say that I am not fresh as a Daisy in that area either.  But we worked through it and hopefully she will get the interview... the rest is up to her. Between writing cover letters, and articles for the newsletter, and keeping up my own blog it seems that communication is a large part of life these days and has gotten me to thinking about other forms of communication.

With Christmas hard upon my heels, I am beginning to think about Christmas cards and letters. I have always been a faithful card and letter writer but I find it aggravating at best to spend hours of my time on cards and letters for people and then when I get cards in return, more often than not, they come with a signature that lets me know they are still alive but nothing else. Even worse are the cards that come three days after Christmas that lets me know that they hadn't intended on sending a card at all but felt compelled once they received mine. There seems every year to be more and more of them. Last year I got quite disgusted with the whole Christmas card scene and on principle only sent out five to those who I knew would respond .... and then they didn't. So this year I am turning over a new leaf and not writing cards at all. I will send a quick email to those on my email list and the rest can "suck it..." (very Christmassy attitude isn't it...)!

My friend in FSJ says that this attitude stems from a growly older bitchy thing that happens to those of us that value time and effort and (maybe more importantly) are nearing or have passed the 50th birthday.... I'm 45.... so maybe she's on to something. I think that as we get older we pick the family and friends with whom to continue a relationship based on who show signs that they give a damn about you because they are interested in you as a person and not because of familial bonds or a strange sense of loyalty and that it is reciprocal. (My father calls this the bridge burner syndrome.... because once you lose touch with a person it's usually because there never was a real sense of friendship and then you burn your bridges with them in the end.)  Neither Teapot nor I are really all that clued into family... and I'm not really sure why that is.... I know that I'm walking on thin ice here as some family members follow this blog but its not to say that I am impartial to them but that if there is not a reciprocal relationship then it isn't much worth persuing... I am thankful for those of my family and friends that have stayed in touch with me... it means a lot.... even a short email occasionally is a wonderful way of knowing that they are alive and well and still care about you and vice versa... (and it doesn't count if it is a forwarded email of some joke or cartoon).

Each year I write a long poem about my family (husband and daughters and dogs cats and parents) and how we have been doing over the last year and it has always been fun.  You can see an example here.... I didn't do it last year and that was because there was so much pressure put on us for Christmas, that I just couldn't think of anything to say.... but this year I'm feeling a little more "in the mood" and I think it is because I have shed so many of my hats (as lay reader for the church, school planning council member, secretary for the NPSW, actually I've been sheding lots of councils and groups) that my brain doesn't feel.... how did I put it last year.... oh yeah, like "I've had a bowel movement on my own head and then sat there wondering how that happened". At the end of writing the poem I contact all family members and send out the poem to them or at least give them the blog address so that they can come in here and have a look... some read it but a lot just dump the email because they don't have time to read it or whatever.... they're the ones I just can't be bothered with anymore. (I just read everything I've written here and it makes me sound terrible I know! Oh well, just think of me as the family fire breathing dragon....)!

In the end, what I'm trying to say is that a little communication goes a long way.... leave a comment... email from time to time, drop us (Teapot and I) a card with a short note on the fly leaf... it is all good... and you know what?.... that's the best Christmas gift anyone could give me.... I don't need gifts, because a kind word works wonders.... mostly because in this day and age of fast paced lives... a kind word is a gift!

And if you do?... I promise it will be reciprocated...

I Love This Photo

You can go here to see what this APOD photo inspired....

Winter Weather Has Struck In Earnest

I woke this morning to several inches of snow on the ground. And it's cold! Like freezing cold. -15 degrees this morning. Teapot headed into FSJ and I worry about him on the road. There have been several road  accidents this week one of which has seriously hurt a good friend's husband. He is in the hospital in Edmonton with a broken neck and is fighting for his life. We are praying fiercely for his recovery. It is a worry.

The Daughters have headed off to the bus stop this morning and I worry about them too since the wind chill is -30 degrees this morning since the wind is blowing and is quite gusty.

It is a strange morning this morning with snow swirling around and the sky looking deep blue as the sky is still quite dark. Yesterday morning was stranger still with the sky looking like this...

 It almost looked as if a forest fire was burning off in the distance... the old adage kept coming back to me... red sky in the morning shepherd's warning. Well, I'm a shepherd and I took warning. Somehow I knew that temperatures were going down and the snow was coming. Actually, most of BC is getting hit with stormy weather today.

The sheep are in the barn and the alpaca is lying down next to the barn. Honeydew is milling around the feeding boxes and the male alpacas are hunkered down by the side of their feeding mangers hiding out of the wind. Dreamer the horse doesn't seem to be minding the cold temperatures though we will haul out her blanket later today and get her settled too before the temperatures drop again. I wish we had a barn for her. I will just have to take tramp out to her paddock with a bucket of oats today and then I might have a look around the paddock for a likely place to build her a shelter of sorts.... something temporary at this point.

Teapot has just called to say that the road wasn't as bad as we expected and that he is safe at his workshop which is a great relief for me.

It is a good day to spin I think at least that is the plan. I have begun knitting again on my shawl and will continue to spin bison today. Later this evening I will get back to level 3 and pull out the charkha for cotton spinning. I am looking forward to getting the cotton spinning done and get on to the silk spinning. I have also received in the mail the fibre for my 150 hour project in the level 4 course. It is cashmere and you could smell it through the box... quite pungent! But then goat always is... It is going to be interesting keeping everything straight in my mind as I am working on two courses at the same time.... a fairly strange situation. But I am determined to do them both justice.

I have once again changed the look of the blog.... I thought snow for a background would be cool... but I'm staying with the theme of blue and spiders... just in a different way....

CBC radio is on right now and according to them the power has gone off in a number of places all through the province.... I hope we don't lose it here..... I'll be thankful when November moves on....

Before I go for the day I will add a few pictures here of what we are experiencing.....

So I'm off for a winter day.... quiet.... spinning.... knitting.... mmmmm some hot chocolate this morning I think...

Hope your winter day is lovely too....

Startitis Strikes Again

I have a major case of startitis.  I am working on a scarf, a third spool of bison, our bedroom and the poem, a shawl, and then right out of the blue (no pun intended) I got the idea that I should spin this...

Isn't it pretty?....

I love this fibre. It is merino.... well, it's called Optim which I think is merino that has been stretched using chemicals. This particular Optim has a little Tencel blended in for fun. It is turning out to be absolutely gorgeous when spun and looks like this.....

I think I will weave and I mean really weave a scarf with this stuff. I have a very fine heddle for my rigid heddle loom so I think that I will go that way... but then maybe Iwill rent a loom from the guild and use a 4 harness loom.

See what I mean by startitis. I see some lovely new fibre and that's all I've got in my mind..... suddenly all the other projects that I'm working on have drifted away across the universe and here I am with thought of divine blue.....

It all started with this....

I saw this picture on APOD the other day and have been dreaming blue ever since....

I even got out my beads and looked for some blue beads that would coordinate with this to make the blue scarf more appealing.... yeah.... serious staritis.

Why oh why can't I ever get finishitis!