Here's one from the Peanut Gallery

Which Muppet are you?

I'm Waldorf and Statler. Now, for those of you who know me, you'll see that these internet quizes simply can't be trusted.

In knitting news, I received 3 sets of steel needles yesterday afternoon. Nothing too exciting about them, other than they came from Goodwill. $20 goes a long way there. H-bomb is the proud owner of 4 new books; 3 Berenstain Bears and 1 Disney Cinderella's Stepsisters.
I'm almost finished with the right front side of her cardigan, and am waiting for the camera battery to charge so I can take some photos.
I like the lace pattern and the yarn I'm using is so soft. The sweater would be knitting up much faster if I wasn't spending so much time outside in the yard.
I'm running out of room for planting and I want to add so many more plants. I need to find some space for 2 third generation plants I'll be getting from my dad, a bleeding heart and lilac shoot. It's kind of neat having something living as an heirloom.

Weird plant part 2

I'm starting to think that it is maybe an asiatic lily. I don't remember planting any in that area, and none of the ones I have planted are sprouting, but weirder things have happened in my yard.

Weird Plant

I'm not sure what this plant is.... Can anybody help? It's growing in a shady spot under two huge Norway Spruces, next to some daylilies. And a tree that's growing through the fence. (We have a few of those.) My neighbor doesn't have any on his side. They're really soft and unscented. I'm planning on letting them grow to see what they do.

Adulthood??

We spent another evening checking out appliances. This time we went to American, after recieving a postcard in the mail letting us know that they were having an employee pricing sale. We had been planning on going there anyway, but it was nice to know that they were thinking of us. And everybody else in Wisconsin.....

We decided on this stove, in black, which has lots of extra features and was somehow priced lower than a lot of the more basic models. My in-laws had lent us a Consumer Reports book, which they had used to look for appliances for their own house, and they had this model circled. I wouldn't have been surprised if there were balloons, confetti and flashing lights over it at the store, it seemed like it was the one we were supposed to buy. So we did. It will be delivered on Saturday, just in time for me to make something for Sunday brunch at SweaterGirl's house.

Since the stove is black, and our current fridge is white, we decided to get a new fridge, too. We decided on this model, also in black, but shiny instead of pebbled. H-bomb likes the idea of water through the door, which I do, too. It will free up a lot of space that is currently being taken up by the Britta pitcher. The fridge won't be available until early May, and hopefully the one we have will last until then.

Buying these appliances has made me feel very grown-up. Even more than when we bought the house. I wonder if this means we'll have to do the adult thing everytime now? Or are there still chances for us to act like kids?

Finished Object

I finally finished the baby blanket yesterday. I had to rip out my bind off, which was a little scary as I don't usually rip things out very well. I'm very happy with how it turned out in the end, so all's well that ends well.

On the appliance front, we've been shopping around and adding to the seemingly endless decisions to make regarding them. We're trying to think ahead a bit and buy accordingly, but it's really hard to think of what we'll need in a few weeks, let alone a few years. So we're still grilling and microwaving our meals.

I cast on for a sweater for H-bomb on Friday. It's "Reid" from the Spring06 Knitty. After starting and frogging roughly 20 times and crying for help, I finally
checked the pattern to see if there were any changes or extra directions that I might be missing. Yeah, a kind of big one. Instead of having the k2tog, they had knit 1. That was leaving me with an extra 8 stitches everytime I tried working the row. I blamed my sisters for distracting me, but that didn't work once they left. But now I'm over half done with the back panel, and H-bomb is very excited to have a very soft new pink sweater. She's already planning the outfit that she's going to wear it with. Not surprisingly, it's her favorite dress.

When it rains, it pours

Not only doesn't our original stove work, the replacement doesn't have a normal plug. It has to be hardwired or something similar. So I guess we'll see if the old one can be fixed and if not, we'll be going appliance shopping! SG is on the case right now, hopefully finding a solution.
And you know what sucks? Microwave cooking.

Do you ever get the feeling

that your house is trying to talk to you?
In addition to the problems of last week and the need for a new roof, our stove decided that it would like to shoot sparks at me while I was cleaning it today. Apparently the grease spatters were its protection. Luckily for us, we have an extra in the garage, for situations just like this. Not really. It came from my dad's Door County condo and has been waiting to be put in the kitchen.

In other news, H-bomb and I worked outside today. I cleaned our garage, while she had a slumber party with her imaginary friends. Then she played outside while I raked leaves from the shrubbery to the street, in case the city decides to pick them up sometime. I ended up digging up more of the yard to make room in the garden. I found a bunch of bricks buried under the grass. I wondered at first why they were there, but then I remembered where I was. It made perfect sense then.... Where else would a person keep their bricks??

I've been making slow but steady progress on my blanket. I ordered more yarn to start some summer projects, but it hasn't been sent yet. Waiting really is the hardest part.

More gardening

H-bomb and I spent another day outside planting seeds and bulbs. We planted sweet pea, hollyhock and more sunflower seeds. We also planted some asiatic lily, ranunculus, gladiola and dhalia bulbs that she picked out with Mema. I've found that the ground is pretty nice in the back corner where the trees were cut down last summer. And the leaf mulch and topsoil have done a lot to improve the clay soil in the other gardens.

I'm thinking of expanding the vegetable garden another foot or so to make room for more veggies. It wouldn't be much, but I'd be able to have another plant at the front of my rows, and less lawn.

Of course, with a bigger garden, I won't have as much time to work on my knitting. And if I decide to take summer courses, I'm not sure that I'd have time to do anything. What a conundrum.

Spring Gardening

H-bomb and I went out to enjoy the sunshine and warm weather. We planted some sunflowers in random spots around the backyard. They're the kind that are about a foot in diameter, so they should add a lot of nice color this summer. And will hopefully bring back the cardinal family that was living in our backyard last summer.
I broke my trowel digging up "pricker things", or thistles if you want to get technical. I have a feeling somebody is feeding the seeds to the birds that live in our trees. Which means I'll be digging them up for as long as we live here. Which means I'll have to make a trip down to Jungs to get some new tools. And I suppose while I'm there I'll have to check out their bare root plants and see what I need. Which means I'll have to expand the gardens. Which means less lawn!

Work avoidance....

Er, I mean, child avoidance..... I took the quiz to find out what kind of yarn I am. Shetland wool.

"You are a traditional sort who can sometimes be a little on the harsh side. Though you look delicate you are tough as nails and prone to intricacies. Despite your acerbic ways you are widely respected and even revered."

I suppose this could be used to describe me. In my head, I'm as revered as the pope.

So, what kind of yarn are you?

Explosions

Well, after 3 hours and 125 feet of cable, our sewer was unclogged on Friday. According to Rooter Man, after mild winters maple trees get really thirsty and will go after water anywhere they can get to it. The Sweater Girl family had the same issue a few weeks ago. Apparently business is booming for the rooter people.

Friday night we headed up to the Dells for the conference. I'm not sure if it helped or not, but I'm glad we went. H-bomb and I decoupaged a candle for Alex when we got there, then headed down to the pool. SuperGeek played water basketball with some of the other fathers while H-bomb and I sat in the hot tub. We tried going down the water slide, but she wasn't a big fan. SG and I thought it was great; neither of us could remember the last time we were on one.

Saturday was full of emotional explosions, starting bright and early at 8:30. The IDCW brought in a speaker from Colorado, Olon Lindemood. He spoke for over an hour, using Care Bears as props. I was hoping that he would throw the things around the room, but he didn't. It's kind of weird being angry at stuffed animals, but I doubt that I was the only one.
Later in the day, we went to a memorial service for the 37 babies being remembered. It was really hard seeing all of the photos of the babies. And listening to the sobbing of the other parents was very difficult, probably because I knew just how they were feeling.
We met Amy and H-bomb down at the pool afterwards, then went to dinner for SG's birthday. There were lots of drinks and steak - dinner of champions..... And after such a long day, it was nice to laugh and smile. And watch H-bomb fall asleep on two dining room chairs.

I'm hoping to lose myself in some yarn for a few hours. I finished my first sock on Saturday, so I'm going to get started on my second sock; I might have just enough yarn to make it.

Still broken

Yep. The toilet is still broken. But it's not the toilet. The toilet is just the most convenient spot for water to come up into our house. SuperGeek said the floor was soaked this morning when he got up. And I was just doing some laundry, when H-bomb started screaming from the bathroom. Yeah, water from the toilet is scary.
So I put in a call to some rooter guy who told me that since we don't have a basement, this repair would be a bit more involved. I'm really hoping that isn't a euphemism for "really expensive." Somebody should be here in an hour, so I will hopefully be able to finish the laundry before SG gets home from work. Why do crazy things happen right before you go somewhere?

You Just Can't Leave Boys Home Alone

Sweater Girl and I went to the knitting group at Lakeside Library last night. We met up with Lee from Stash Dreams. It was really cool meeting somebody face-to-face after reading their blog for so long. Sweater Girl and I left our blogdresses as our contact information. It was a lot of fun explaining blogs to the leader of the group. Hopefully she'll start one so we can read it. She had an interesting idea for a sweater, and I'd love to see how she executes it.
After the group, SG and I went to Benvenuto's for $3 big glasses of beer. We'd never gone out together, and it was fun. I got you next time, tho....
Then we headed back to my place. Complete insanity. Worse than normal. Worse than a house full of half-drunk women at a bridal shower.
Apparently, somebody broke the toilet at my house. Since there were only 3 people who would have been able to cause such a problem, I'm putting my money on SG's hubby.....
We came into the house and were met by the sound of the shop vac. SuperGeek was vacuuming up the water from the floor. Cory was in the family room, or as we like to call it, the West Wing, watching the kids. "It's under control!" The girls were pretty excited to see their mommas and ran around the house showing us what was going on. There's really nothing quite like an 18 month old telling you all about the kitties.
So, the boys left to buy a special plunger and some drain cleaner. When they got back, I was able to get H-bomb in bed. She fell asleep 5 minutes after I started her stories.
The toilet seems to be working today, but I'm a little afraid to test it out. I am hoping that we'll be able to put in new flooring, since the ugly carpeting got all wet. And, thankfully I don't keep any yarn in the bathroom.

Photos

Mema put up photos of Kara's shower on her flickr page.

Phew! What a weekend!

The party went off without a hitch! I was able to see some friends I hadn't talked to in a long time, which I guess makes them acquaintances, but they left the party with promises from me to get in touch with them sometime soon. The food went over well, except for the weird goat cheese/potato things. It is possible I made them wrong, since the recipe was less than clear. That maybe should have been a hint to not make them, but that's just not me. There are no red lights here.
So now I have a nice clean house, and leftover cake and box wine. It's quite nice. If only it could stay this way without any work......
SuperGeek, H-bomb and I are going to the Wintergreen Resort in the Dells this weekend. They are having a conference for bereaved parents, sponsored by the Infant Death Center of Wisconsin.
The conference coincides with the one year anniversary of Alex's death, which is on Sunday. We're not sure what to expect, but hopefully it will be helpful. H-bomb is excited about the indoor water park. She doesn't remember ever going to an "inside swimming pool" and wants to take all 3 of her swimsuits. Yes, she has 3. They range in size from a 2T to a 5, for length. I will be taking my knitting along, and SuperGeek will bring his mistress, Apple.

Speaking of knitting, I don't have much of a stash to flash, so maybe I'll do it next year. All of the other ones I've seen look so much bigger and better than mine. I have stash envy. But I'm ok with it.