I was wrong to be hopeful about the weather for gardening this past weekend. It was windy and freezing. However, we are hardcore and did it anyway. I was really regretting purchasing bag-your-own topsoil for the garden when we had to go in the car to get warm in between bags, but in the end it was worth it because we saved some money.

Gardening is hard work! I think we did a lot in two days. We got rid of all the weeds in the front flowerbed, tilled, added topsoil and even got around to planting two euonymus bushes. They're teeny now, but we decided not to spend the money on bigger bushes when these ones will grow. We put mulch around our bushes, but the other half of the front garden where the flowers will go will have to wait until Saturday. I'm thinking of getting some full-sun annuals for the front for now, and then deciding next year about a long-term perennial garden. I took some pictures, but it was totally overcast, unfortunately.

Continue reading "Bad Weather for a Long Weekend"

I woke up today to find my kitten has gone insane. See the crazy lines coming off the cat here? Those lines are radiating from Pippa now. Because she crazy! She turned 10 weeks old yesterday and all her kitten energy exploded this morning. I don't think she understands our laws of physics because she's running horizontally across vertical surfaces. Also, I'm astounded to see how much she's grown in the two weeks she's been with us. At first she was so fine and delicate but now she's gained weight; she's sturdy and very, very fast.

Alex's birthday on Tuesday was a big success. As it turned out he loves his new mattress. He also loves his new bike, which is blue. Unfortunately the weather around here has sucked so we haven't gone for a ride yet, but I'm hopeful today will remain clear. He scored some other loot, too, like games and headphones for his DS, a book he's been waiting for and a hefty gift certificate for Amazon.ca and can't wait to shop online.

About a week ago I started knitting the Pomatomus socks. Clever pattern, that. Not particularly difficult although it's very easy to make a mistake if you're not paying attention. I've been alternating working on sock number one with the baby blanket I should have finished 2 months ago, so neither is growing very quickly. I've just finished the gusset on the sock and neared the halfway point on the blanket. I'm still not feeling the knitting, so when I do knit it's slower than I'd like. What I really need is something absorbing to put in the dvd player. Pictures to come; I've gotten very lazy about unloading the camera.

The forecast for this weekend was originally supposed to be 72 hours of straight rain, but since I first checked it has shifted. Right now we've got rain scheduled only for tomorrow, but I have faith that will clear up, too. That's because Jeremy miraculously has the weekend off and I've declared it to be Gardening Weekend. We are finally going to try to tame our abysmal front garden. I've done nothing but complain about it to anyone who will listen for weeks, and tomorrow we're finally going to do something about it. It's horrifying; there are more weeds than anything else and these aren't your typical weeds. These are huge, man-eating dandelions. There are other weeds too, and they look equally mutated and frightening. The constant rain has done nothing but fortify these things and I'm sure the neighbours think our place is an eyesore. More importantly, I think our place is an eyesore, so much so that I'm rather ashamed of it. We don't have much to spend and we don't really know what we're doing, but tomorrow we're going to the nearby garden centre and throwing ourselves at their mercy.

Alex turns twelve on Tuesday. Natalie is coming over today to bring his birthday gift from her and my mom. It's a big one, she's got to tie it to her car to bring it over. When he sees it he could be extremely excited or very confused. Hopefully he won't be disappointed.

It's a mattress. What twelve-year-old kid doesn't want a mattress for his birthday?

Personally, I think it's a great gift because it means I don't have to go out and buy him a mattress. He needs one pretty badly, the old one is just awful.

We're getting him a bike. This will be Alex's third bike. The first one he grew out of before he learned to ride it. Alex has short tendons in the backs of his calves and this combined with the fact that he is a little clumsy and has trouble compensating for balance means it takes longer for him to learn. His second bike was stolen from my parents' garage, in the middle of the day, just as he was getting the hang of it and could glide without help. That was frustrating. Now we're trying again, we have a shed in which to store the bike, and I have a good feeling he'll be riding around all summer long. The only problem is that with Jeremy's hours the way they are right now, I have no idea when we'll be able to pick up the bike. I'm hoping we'll be able to get it by Tuesday, but it might have to wait until next weekend. In the meantime he can enjoy his exciting! new! birthday! mattress!

In kitty cat news, the house is upside-down. Up until now, Cuba and Jonah co-existed without a definite pecking order. They deferred to each other, sometimes Cuba would dominate, sometimes Jonah. Now with Pippa in the mix, Cuba and Jonah seem to want to redefine their relationship. At first they bonded against Pippa. They ignored her and stuck together like glue. Now I think they realize that Pippa is here to stay so they're constantly tussling and taking their frustrations out on each other. I don't mind except that they've gotten a bit rougher than what I'm used to. No one's drawn blood yet and hair is not flying around in a whirlwind, so I'm sure it's all fine and normal.

I do worry a little when they go after Pippa, however. Although watching her right now with Cuba, she's holding her own and I really don't think she has any clue how small she is. She's ballsy. Also, with Pippa I think it's partly about keeping her in her place and partly just good fun. Cuba has taken to grooming her. It's the cutest thing.

This afternoon Astra is coming over with her kids to hang out and meet Pippa. Does anyone remember this baby blanket? It's for Astra's son. I had to rip it down a whole bunch, but now I'm pretty much back to where it was in the photo. I am really going to finish it soon, my hands have actually felt a little like knitting lately.

A couple of weeks ago Jeremy had left for work without noticing we wouldn't have enough cat food for overnight. Right now the cats are on a prescription diet that we can only get from the vet, which would be closed by the time he got home. He called them and they suggested he go into a vet near his work and have them call to authorize the food, and he could buy it that way. So he did. The vet downtown happened to have kittens for adoption, and Jeremy stupidly told me that.

The next day I sent him back to the vet with our camera. That's where this photo came from. The next day Jeremy went in to adopt her, and she came home on Thursday. She's 8 weeks old.

Meet Pippa.

Continue reading "Meet Pippa"

See the lovely Wobbly Tote KAL button in my sidebar? I went to the trouble of making it. I got excited. I even got a bunch of lovely yarns donated to the Wobbly cause by Chelle at Tuesday's SNB. Yesterday I cast on and didn't get too far. I posted about my horrifying experience on the KAL site, here. I withdraw. I honourably discharge myself. Screw that noise, bitches!

Aside from yesterday's attempt at intarsia I still haven't knit much. Why this knitting funk? It's really frustrating me. I just want to enjoy my hobby again, is that too much to ask? I need a positive success. I've gone back to the baby blanket and I will be getting it done...a finished object should bring back all the good, fun feelings of knitting.

Yesterday I had plans with Astra (Littlestar from my comments) and her kids, but they fell through due to a logistical error. A bit disappointing, but we made even better plans for tomorrow. I'll be heading over to her house in the morning for a visit and then some shopping. They live in an old brick schoolhouse-turned-home, and I really can't wait to see it. The rest of the weekend should be fun, too. Our first trip to the drive-in is scheduled for Saturday where we'll see Scary Movie 4 and Silent Hill. The forecast is calling for rain, but I'm holding my breath. It can't rain! Organizing a common Saturday night off from work between us and our friends is like trying to hit a puppy by throwing a live bee at it, and I'll be damned if it's going to rain and wreck my plans. Damned!

Our first party, barbecue and campfire of the year were great. My food turned out just the way I wanted, everyone had a great time, I drank a lot, no one fell into the fire, the kids enjoyed themselves and our guests even bought us breakfast in the morning. It really couldn't have been better.

I got a lot of compliments on our house this weekend. Sure, we still have lots of work to do and it's not perfect, but I'm beginning to see it through more than just my own overly-critical eye. I don't know why it's so hard for me to do that, why I can't just enjoy my home instead of constantly having a running dialogue with myself about what needs work and what needs to change. Sometimes I feel like I should be apologizing for the state of my home, which is just stupid. I'm proud of my house and what we've done with it. I'm doing myself a disservice every time I make excuses for it and I know this is detrimental. I am going to just stop it.

Compliments have always been hard for me to take. I love receiving them, but my first instinct is to deny it and either act the martyr or expose myself as some kind of fraud. Instead of saying thanks and being pleased, I'll put myself down or illustrate that in fact I did not do a good job, I missed a spot here, see? Then I'll point out other faults. I'm going to just stop this, too. Part of this stems from the fact that I want people to be honest and tell me when something sucks, be it my knitting, cooking or home improvements and decorating. Another part is upbringing; I'm supposed to be humble and modest. I know I'm taking modesty too far when I will go to the trouble of pointing out the flaws in my own work. I am cutting this out, now. There is a difference between being constructively critical of myself and my work in terms of wanting to improve my skills, and putting myself down needlessly when someone says something nice.

Anyway, I'm good enough, smart enough and people like me.