Hallelujah!

We all have guilty pleasures.  Mine are bath products, office supplies and of course, yarn.  I am a sucker for places like Bath and Body Works, which is why I only go one or two times a year when there's a sale.  I don't need to elaborate further about my yarn habit, it needs no repeating!  And office supplies....I used to love back-to-school time as a kid because it meant getting a new box of colored pencils and perhaps a Trapper Keeper.  Or notebooks, pretty folders, and perhaps some Lisa Frank erasers.  (I'm smiling just thinking about his)

But do you know what's even better than that?

Unpacking this huge pile of boxes from WB Mason, full of supplies for my new office.

That's right, my new office.  Progress has officially brought me to sitting at a desk at the new place, taking phone calls on my shiny new phone, and meeting with people to have them pick out their new home.  Six people have selected apartments, and I (hopefully) will start signing leases in the next two weeks. 

My last day of work at the other property is slated for July 13th.  It's a Friday.  How appropriate is that???

So, the thing that I've been hoping and praying for for the past two years?  A new job, out of the city and back in elderly housing?  The thing that I have been obsessing, fretting, worrying and basically in the fetal position over for over a year now?

It's finally happening, and it is a beautiful thing.

Angry Birds

An alternate title would be:  Crappy Start to the Day.  :)

I went outside on Wednesday morning to load our usual morning stuff into the car.  As I got to the car, I froze, then nearly dropped everything that I was carrying.  I mouthed silently "What the ____ is going on?  Is that bird ___ all over my car???

Yes, its bird crap.  The car is covered in bird crap.  And by covered, it looks like it was assaulted by a flock of Hellbirds, and my car was the potty break on their road trip.  Seriously, it was awful.  There are no trees over our driveway, so the birds really did just fly over the car.  My neighbor's car and Hubby's car?  Untouched.

I had to get Will to school early because it was Field Trip Day so I had no choice but to drive the thing to get the boys where they needed to go.  And I had to stop for cash to pay for the car wash.  People pointed and laughed everywhere.  After the third time I would wave and smile, I mean, if it was anyone else's car I'd probably find it hilarious.

Boys dropped off, cash in hand, I head to the nearest car wash.  The attendant let out a low whistle when I pulled up and said "Oh man.....what happened??"  You know it's bad when the sight of your filthy car surprises the guy that washes cars for a living.

One quick trip through and my Journey is squeaky clean again.  And I will likely never forget the rotten morning.  However, some people say that if a bird poos on you it's good luck.  If that is true, my car is the luckiest car on the planet!  

Wordless Wednesday: Sean and Strawberry, YUM!

It's Friday...

....and I can still smell the sunscreen that I put on the kids this morning before taking them to school and daycare.  It makes me sad, that there's no "summer vacation" for adults.  Unless you're a teacher.  And from stories that I have heard from teachers that I know, they totally deserve a summer vacation. 

It's also hit me hard this week, realizing that how fast June has gone by, that kindergarten for Will is going to be here before we know it.  I feel like I just went to orientation in March.  Don't blink.  My mind has been racing at night, making mental lists of things we need to do before then, things I want to do this summer, memories to be made, etc etc etc.

Summer colds are just not fun.  Colds in general aren't, of course, but it just feels wrong to have a sore throat and stuffy nose when it's ninety degrees out. 

Oh!  I got my car back.  I had a rental for the first half of the week, while the low oil sensor and tiny oil leak were repaired.  The first time I got the car back, the light came back on and I was pretty peeved.  No more troubles though, and the dealership didn't charge me a dime for additional repairs OR for the rental.  I certainly would bring a car back to them again.

I realized the other day that I have three baby sweaters that I have knitted, and they all need buttons. So what does one do in a situation like that?  That's right, they START ANOTHER SWEATER.  Button shopping can be done later and everything sewn on at once.  I started working on "Baby Sophisticate" at knit night on Wednesday, for my friend Jenny.  She's expecting her third child (and boy) at the end of August.  I picked out this gorgeous red yarn at the Webs Tent Sale last month, I wanted to pick something cheery that wasn't blue.  This sweater is going to be awesome.  Right now, though, it's being persnickety and I've already frogged it once.  Once it gets going though, the awesomeness will shine through. 

Happy Weekend to all!

Charity Knitting Update

Tally:  26 pairs of mittens for Knit for Boston.  How many more can I make by November 1st? Only time will tell.

And I'm shipping a box in the next week to Stitches from the Heart, as per my Day Zero List.
Three small blankets and twenty-five cute lil' baby hats!  I love keeping babies warm.

Thanks to a friend of a friend, I think that I just found my charity project for next year:  The Pine Street Inn Knit-A-Thon.  Sounds like a really cool project, you make as many 9 x 9 squares and then bring them to Boston in November to join them together for blankets for the homeless.  (Or really, gifts for the newly former homeless)  The Property Manager in me loves the idea, and it's something different.

Same Old Song.

In reference to the last blog:

1.  Leaky toilet may have caused damage to the bath floor, or subfloor, I should say.  There are two doors to the bathroom, and one is a real pain to open and close because of the swollen floor.  Hoping as it dries out over the next couple of weeks the floor will stop swelling and go back to it's regular size.  If not, well....things are really going to suck.  I'm not going to sugarcoat it, it's going to involve ripping up the flooring and (GULP!) cutting into one of our bedroom walls to get at the subfloor and replace it.  Seems like a good time to start re-doing the bathroom like we wanted, right?  No.  No time.  And no money for new fixtures and painting, replacing the ceiling tiles and all that jazz.  Cross your appendages please, dry floor=no destruction of the bathroom and bedroom!

2.  Car continues to overheat.  It appears to only do it when driving around town and not on the highway.  No lights are coming on the dash or anything, the thermostat is just hotter than normal.  Brian found a blown fuse, replaced it and it blew again.  Not good.  Not looking forward to the call from the mechanic today.

3.  Zyliss chopper replaced!  After kindergarten screening yesterday Will and I took a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond to get Daddy a little something for Father's day, and I replaced the chopper for $15.
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Wow, that is a lot of crap to deal with in the past week.  To balance it a little bit, how about I tell you three things that I'm grateful for?

A.  Ran out of yarn while working on my friend Tracy's grandaughter's sweater for her first birthday.  (NO, that's not the good thing.)  It was a hand-dyed wool that I bought two years ago at Webs that I've had kicking in my stash.  It's gorgeous, pinks, purples oranges and yellows, reminds me of a sunset.  I got to the armholes and ran out.  Luckily, I scoured the internet and found another hank of it on Ebay.  It came yesterday and unfortunately is more yellow-orange than the previous two hanks which were more purple-pink.  But I can cut it and use what I need and save the rest for mittens that I knit for charity.

B.  I have a sweet husband who brings a cup of coffee to me every morning while I am in the shower.  He knows that I have a rough times with mornings and has caffeine at the ready.  Coffee=love.

C.  Will and I came up with a really great Father's Day gift yesterday.  I can't wait til Sunday!  Will has also proven that he can keep a secret, I'm pretty proud of him.

So there you have it.  The House of Crafty Mama is experiencing some troubles, but I can still find things to be grateful for.  Not that I had any doubts.  :)

Ballad of Broken Things

It's an old tune, and I certainly won't call it an "Oldie but Goodie."  Things tend to happen in threes, like celebrity deaths for example.. In this case it's broken things in my home.

First, a leaky toilet.  Not gross leaky, clean water leaky.  I went downstairs to switch around some laundry and found a puddle by the bulkhead.  At first I didn't think much of it, we'd had a lot of rain recently and when it's heavy rain we always get a little in the basement.  Then I saw it drip from one of the pipes.  UGH!  We traced it to the yellow bathroom's toilet tank.  Not a difficult fix thankfully, but a pain in the butt nonetheless.

Second:  Hubby was late coming home with Older Child tonight.  Turns out his car was starting to overheat.  Lovely.  And he had forgotten his cellphone this morning.  Double awesome.  He made it home fine and will check it out later.  I'm hoping for OK news.

And the third verse, albeit minor:  Busted my Zyliss chopper tonight cutting up peppers for Mexican Chicken and Rice.  It's actually my third one....this one lasted the longest.  The first one I inadvertently melted in the dishwasher.  The second one I "may" have been angry when I was making dinner and whacked it too hard.  (I'm not saying yes or no, just that it "might have been the case.")  And now this one, may it rest in peace.

Song over now?  Please?  I hope so.

When it rains.....We Knit.

I've got FO's to share!  This weekend was quite knit-heavy, with all the rain on Saturday.  I managed to finish and block the "Kaitlyn" baby sweater that I made for my childhood friend.  It's all done, minus the buttons.  And that's just as much about choosing one of the three sets of buttons that I purchased as it is about sewing them on.  This is so sweet!

The second object:  "Simple Things" shawlette.  My sweet model:

He loves trying on stuff and smiling for the camera.  He also loves picking out things for Mama to knit.  :)  I know that he won't want to do these things forever, so I'm relishing it while I can!

This is my first completed Christmas gift.  Mark the date:  June 4, 2012 aka the earliest I've ever finished a handmade gift.  And there's a lot more coming, a whole Ravelry queue full of 'em!