Good Grief!

Good grief...the 17th of August was my last post? Argh. Two weeks. Two weeks of serious busy.

It all started out innocently enough, day 'one', going over to the old place and cleaning out most of the remaining 'stuff'...sweeping the floors, dusting the blinds, hauling a folding lawn chair around with me and sitting down in each room, making a list of things that needed to be done in each room...that kind of day.
It didn't stay innocent though.

I was informed that the floor guys would be there in 10 days to refinish the floors in the two bedrooms, hallway and living room. Let's all say it together, 'ACK!'. again? ACK! ok.

Granted the master-bedroom just needed the ceiling painted...cool.
The second bedroom needed the ceiling painted, the cove and base trim painted AND the trim around the windows and doors...ok..cool..
Then the closet area outside the second bedroom, that ceiling and cove and base trim as well as around the doors.. ok, cool....
The hallway...ceiling painted, cove and base trim painted as well as both pocket doors and trim AND the walls...is it still 'cool'? (I think not)
The living room. The big 'groaner'...this room has remained fairly original in that the trim is the original and has been painted a million times, at least, and I tried, I really did, but I was running out of time...I sanded the cove and base trim as well as I could, painted the ceiling and all that trim and around the windows AND the walls.

Did I mention that I still had Gracie two of those days? no? So, basically I did all that in 8 days, they were very long days you can be sure but yeah, 8 days. I would have felt like superwoman except I was pretty much exhausted...It really is easier said/written than done, just takes a few minutes....

Then I hit a brick wall. I've spent this past week at home whilst the floor dudes are over there and I'll be taking this weekend as a holiday weekend before I start in again...oh...next Wednesday.

Guess what? all those rooms I just worked on? The base trim all has new quarter-round that needs priming, filling, sanding, and painting. That's a LOT of down on the floor work and I tell you, those floors get hard really quickly...even with the 2 little stacked rugs that I take around with me, you know, as a 'barrier' between my 'mature' bones and that floor.

I've had plenty to do here, what with catching up with cleaning and laundry and...and...oh yeah, that cooking dinner business.

Gracie started school, (you can click on photos and get the 'close-ups)

she's in Pre-K, half days and since the school is less than a mile away I pick her up on my days.

This has been fun. Watching her walk out of the school, they have to line up against a wall and raise their hand when they see whoever is picking them up. The first day I picked her up she walked out and she's looking around but doesn't see me and it hit me...she's looking around but she's not really 'seeing' anything, you know? (she got that from me...) So I sat there and just watched her, it took a good 5 minutes before she actually 'saw' me although she had 'looked' in my direction several times. Heh.

She also got her ears pierced right before school started, her decision and her choice of earrings? They're tiny pale pink sparkley ones...very pretty.

She was kind enough to allow me to take her photo, it was hot that day and she really really wanted to take her shoes off so I got 3 photos snapped quick like. I just love those little black shoes, they're so sturdy!

The dress...I first saw this dress on her when we were in Stillwater and it struck me as a bit odd, and I asked Deidre where it came from....well, she had taken Gracie to a resell shop one afternoon and pretty much let the girl pick some school clothes out, this child chose all retro stuff, seriously. The fabric is a woven affair and very soft. (even on the inside as she informed me)

That day I picked her up and while I was watching her it hit me that the style, which I had thought a bit odd at first, actually suits her perfectly. This is her favourite dress. The colours are lovely on her and watching her move around...well, it really is just perfect. She chose well. How amazing is that? I still can't do 'that'. Perhaps I should take her with me next time I'm forced into shopping for something to wear....

We're having a holiday weekend...Labour Day.

Monday is also Conor's 10th birthday! I can hardly believe he's 10 years old...4th grade in school. They're throwing a big party for him on Saturday, inviting the whole family and all the children (Deidre's side of the family is HUGE) and he knows I love him but I'm just not feeling up to being around that many folks (sure, go ahead, call me a poop-head, I've been called worse) so they're coming over Monday, we'll cook out and have a good time, just more on the quiet side. I'll bake him a cake...I have a castle cake mold which is pretty cool, he's admired it before...and I'm thinking chocolate cake....

Knitting? I'm on square #3 for the Miner's Blanket Project...no photos at the moment..it's Thursday night and it's dark outside...next post and I'll try and post sooner than 2 weeks...but please, no one hold their breath...I'll try.

Happy Knitting to All and continue to make good times.

Feeling Charitable?

That is one of the things knitterly types are famous for,eh?

This will be a very brief post, just popping in real quick to let you all know about some good causes...

First off....Ms.K is wanting to make some comfort blankets for the families of the trapped miners. Check her post out here.I know I'll be making some squares for her, she's actually saving me from 'washcloth hell'...just kidding, can one have too many? Don't answer that, and just so you know...I've not knit that many these last however many weeks....(3)..I know, just pathetic. There's already a line forming if you'd like to whap me a good one. I know.
I'm REALLY looking forward to knitting these squares though.

Next...Julie's 'Light the Night', read all about it here, and yes, I donated and hope if you are able to...even just a little bit, because we all know about that 'every little bit helps' business, right?

And...Norma. The Red Scarf Project,...knitting red scarves and raising money to help out wherever and however it's most needed...again, yes, I have donated and please, again, if you're able to, it does indeed all add up. Just look at the numbers.

These are three VERY GOOD CAUSES....


That's it folks, it's crazy busy in my little neck of the woods, still not totally unpacked and have just started working on the old house...getting it 'user friendly' for Mom...


Happy Knitting to all and continue making good times.

Wicked.....

I'm here. (I wrote most of this Wednesday, 1 Aug '07)
I must be one very wicked person because there has been no rest for me.
The kitchen is fairly put together...the bedroom partially...and I've been busy with all this stuff, stuff, and more stuff. Boxes everywhere but.....I've also had something else going on...is there something in the air?
Fair-warning...rambling ahead...I'm not seeking 'attention', or even sympathy.
My mind has been full of thoughts though and I was wanting to try and express them through this written language, we'll see how it goes.

It's very much a part of life, death is, when the body no longer is able to function, to house the soul, isn't it.

Richard Earl Harris
16 July 1939 - 27 July 2007

My uncle Richard, my Mom's baby brother.
In my last post I mentioned that he was having a health crisis, he's had several and he's been amazing me for years pulling through some quite incredible ordeals. I often wondered how many more he would be able to endure.
After having spent last Thursday frantically packing, time out from that for 2 hours of closing on the new house Thursday afternoon, then back to the packing, I had called it a day around 10:30 that night, hit the showers and was heading towards bed, it was 11pm and the phone rang. It was my Mom calling saying it was time to go to the hospital for a final farewell. So into some clean clothes and to the hospital we went.

At hospital I went in to see him, he was on life support, pretty much the shell of the man* and knew there was going to be no coming back from this crisis. I wished him well on his journey with love and left it at that.

The doc met with Richard's son and daughter about the next step, Steven's own wish was to let him go in peace.

Richard had several health issues but the major one was diabetes, it had progressed to the point of having dialysis 3 times per week which would leave him drained for the rest of the day. He had had amputation of one foot and partial leg due to complications...and yes, I DID knit him a sock.. handknit socks = love...they do, don't they.
He got around in a motorized wheelchair so that on the days he didn't have dialysis he could be seen on the sidewalks of Stillwater...going to the Harley Davidson store, the church where he was a member, the market, there were many little shops and stores he would stop in to visit with the shop owners...but it wasn't always like that.
When he first started having serious problems, the amputation and he could no longer live on his own...and went into the facility..he was pissed. Our family breeds introverts, we enjoy our alone time and he had had many years of serious alone time so finding himself in a place with so many people he didn't know, having to depend on strangers, having very little 'real' privacy..it just sucked. He was sullen, angry, a real Mr. Scowly...but over time things changed.
He found himself getting used to the staff and really opened his own eyes to what they were offering him and of course, he got to know them.. as real people with families, and....stories. So yes, with time in developing relationships they became important to him, and he really bloomed.
He played Santa and wheeled himself to the hospital on Christmas Eve and handed out gifts to the children. He would also go to the nursery to watch the babies, he loved the babies. He became very involved with his church, asked for jobs, the members got to know him and love him, the new moms and dads would let him hold their babies, he loved this the best.
His appointments with dialysis coincided with another patient's appointments, Joshua, who is autistic, I never did hear Joshua's age but his thing was keys...so Richard started collecting keys, all sorts of keys, different shapes and sizes, put them on a big keyring and always took it with him to give to Joshua to examine while they were there.
He was still, by nature, introverted...we tend to protect that 'little' trait in ourselves, his room was down at the very end of a hall and it was fairly quiet there, he read....a LOT...and other folks living there knew, if they needed some quiet time of their own and couldn't find it in their room, they could go to Richard's room, for peace, for quiet time. He didn't seem to mind at all but the rule was....quiet...be still.

The service was today in Stillwater, in the church where he was a member, and I've got to say it was nice, really nice. We didn't get preached at. People got up to tell 'Richard stories', and no kidding, it just made my heart sing for him, for Richard, because he had been able to break out of that hard, sullen shell and in doing so touched so many people there in his community, and received so much love in return.
They had put together a slide show starting off with an old photo of my Grandmother Grace and Grandfather LeRoy when they were young and courting...on to photos of Richard..the bouncing baby boy, the toddler with long curly hair to the boy, the young man, the father and the Grandfather.

He was 68. Now, I don't know about you but I know that when my Dad continued his journey from this earth he was just a hop away from turning 67... then I think about my own age, I'm 53, so if I live to 67 that's only 14 more years...that's so little time to think of being left, you know? It's kind of silly, I know, because it could happen at any moment...it's all so very brief anyway. This great gathering of souls on this earth...and what a planet,eh? A true song and dance place if ever there was one.

Knitting? I have knit 2 'warshrags', small ones, 33 stitch count, there are days when I haven't had the knitting in my hands at all...
The kitchen is pretty much put away and functioning, and I love it.
We did manage to put the dining table in with the leaf, covered it with a table cloth, put the chairs to the table, that's it, the doors to the dining and formal living area have been closed for now. I'll get to them later.
Bobby put in some metal shelves in my stash closet (I love them) and Gracie and I tossed the stash in....I'll get back to it at some point to rearrange it all, to where it'll make some kind of sense to me.
For now though, there are so many boxes of 'stuff' to put away, I'm still amazed.

All manner of HUGE thank yous to everyone, wishing us well in our new home, with the move and everything. I'm so far behind with everyones blogs, it'll take time and I'll try and do my best in catching up. I've missed everyone enormously. You can't imagine.

Happy Knitting to all and continue with those good times!

*'he's just a shell of a man, if you hold him to your ear you can hear the ocean roar'.....sound familiar to anyone?