Updates

PUPPY update!!

So....a week or so ago we finally had some contact with the rescue organization. And then this week we professed our love of the little gal to them and asked if we could get some confirmation of our applicant status. We were told that we were definately at the top of the list for the puppy we wanted and thanked us for our continued patience. Hopefully in the next 2 weeks we can start the adoption process. Yay!!!!!! We have a really real chance of getting the little girl we wanted. Woohoo!

Keep your fingers crossed!

KNITTING update:

Well I have been doing a little knitting, but not much. I have a really bad habit right now of abandoning projects for new ones. Very, very bad. My knitting group asked the other night how many sweaters etc. I have made. My mother (who knows me so well) amended the question to: "well how many are actually finished". More than I would like to admit!

As soon as I bought the book Fitted Knits, I immediately ordered the yarn for this project:

I allowed myself to swatch, but am trying to hold off starting the thing.

On my Silverton trip during Mother's Day weekend, I had bought that beautiful Great Adirondack Silk/Merino yarn. There are about 675 yards and I have been racking my brain on what to make. Enter the Clapotis, I can't believe I am finally making this thing. You will no doubt remember a year or two ago when it was THE thing that bloggers were making.

Due to my yardage, I am not making this as wide as the pattern calls. I think it will end up being a lovely and soft scarf. This yarn is so yummy to work with. And the pattern is brainless, which I completely appreciate right now. There was too much pattern and color changes in my Multi-Colored top. I needed a break! And it is kinda fun to unravel that stitch down the row.

YARD update:

Here are a couple blooming pictures for our yard right now:

Pretty poppies

Peonies

Love-in-a-mist

Transformation

Oww, oww...oww. That is me trying to move. This weekend was quite a doozy, but such a productive one!

It all started Friday evening by turning the soil in our raised beds. With my strong muscles, I was able to do one bed by myself. (Boy did my arms pay for it the next day!). Saturday was spent doing some more shopping (oops!) and planting some of the beds. Sunday concluded planting of the beds and transforming our patio. This is the main cause of my pain. Most of the day was spent crouched, digging ALL of the plants/weeds that had sprouted in every available crack. I am amazed at how sore I am from doing that all day. Looks like I need to get out and garden a little more often.

Anyways, here is the transformation. Below are a couple pictures from when we moved in and this winter. Notice all the interlopers on the patio:

Now check it out!

We still can't believe how different it looks, and the patio looks so much bigger now! Pretty cool.

Today was spent planting blueberries and a transplanted rhubarb and putting together some new acquisitions. Because we bought a BBQ, we needed to get patio furniture!

We were also able to do a little identifying in our yard. There are some beautiful peonies and poppies just starting to bloom. Mint plants were also discovered, along with some scallion type onions. But one of the coolest discoveries was this:

We couldn't figure out what it was, so I dug up one of the plants. Once it was scraped and odor tested we were pretty sure we knew it. A quick perusal on google confirmed our suspicions. It is horseradish - and a whole lot of it! This yard continues to surprise us. Whoever started it planted so any things. We love it!

I hope everybody else had a great holiday weekend as well. As usual, I don't really feel like returning to work. The weather has been beautiful and all I want to do is sit in our yard.

I promise to post about knitting stuff soon, because I have been doing a little. But I am just so excited to share our yard with people. Hope I didn't bore you!

Carried Away

I love owning a home! And not just because I get to go shopping and buy things for it (although that is fun too - I'm a born shopper). :)

Last weekend we bought two important household things for the summer. A lawnmower and BBQ grill. Yay! Here is my hubby with the new power mower:


BBQ is not assembled yet, but I can't wait for my husband to start grilling a couple nights a week. Yummy.

The weather here in town is supposed to be quite nice this weekend. And we get three days of it too. I love holiday weekends. For the first time in forever, my husband and I actually have 3 days together. The nature of his job usually has him working on holidays. But we get this one and I am very happy about that. We have two lovely raised beds and I hope to plant our vegetables.

We went to Lowe's tonight just to look and left the store with two full carts of stuff. We are planting:

Sweet Cherry Red Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Yellow Pear Tomatoes, Duke Blueberry and Chippewa Blueberry.

Green Beans, Zucchini, Carrots and Cantaloupe.

This is just too exciting!!

Our jungle continues to grow. We hope to tame a small section of it this weekend. Namely that patio that you can barely see through the plants growing in the cracks!

But lookey what I see:

Our figs are getting big

And our apples and grapes are growing.

We will have one heck of a produce department in our backyard and I love it! Stay tuned for planting details this weekend. Enjoy the holiday!

Tagged

by Rox

RANDOMNESS
Here are the rules… Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. Then those tagged need to tag 7 others.

1. I sometimes wish my life was a musical. I am often walking down the street and have a desire to break into song.

2. I breathe deeply, apparently very loudly (according to co-workers).

3. I have a lazy left eye that floats upwards when I look to my right.

4. I worry a lot. Especially when my family travels.

5. I love Disneyland and that youthful magic that it brings up in me.

6. Playing the piano fills me with such joy that it is hard to describe. The same for listening to beautiful music. Especially Mozart.

7. I love to scare myself by watching scary movies. I didn't sleep for a couple nights after seeing The Ring.

Anybody up to it? Consider yourself tagged!

Whoa

Wow it has been quite some time since posting. At least I have knitting things to share this time!

First off - the dog. To make a long, frustrating story short: we found a puppy and have submitted our application to the rescue organization. There was some sickness with the puppies and they have been moved around organizations/foster homes. We have sent several follow-up e-mails to check in on the status but have received no word. I am trying to be patient. We believe they are Beagle/Boxer mixes and she is a sweet girl. We wait.

I have finally returned to some knitting! An old project has been resurrected. The Multi-Pattern Top from VK. The back had been completed sometime ago and I am now making tracks on the front:

Over Mother's Day, some female members of my family traveled to Silverton. There we visited a wonderful yarn store, The Purl District. We made the shop's day as 3 of our party bought large amounts of yarn for projects and I just bought one really expensive one! I picked up this beautiful skein of silk/merino from The Great Adirondack Yarn Company. 675 yards of pretty pinks, greens, oranges.

I also discovered Fitted Knits, which I immediately fell in love with. There are several projects I want to make and I think this book is the cause of my recent surge of knitting old projects. Must clear out the old before the new.

Things have been going great with us out here. Work is good and I can't express how much we love our house. The spring weather is finally showing itself and driving my husband outside. This weekend we hope to go out in search of a lawn mower and barbeque. My husband has been borrowing various mowers from family members, but we need to do it too often for that!

I hope to start planting vegetables soon in my raised beds.

For those of you who saw the movie Shaun of the Dead and enjoyed it, I highly recommend seeing Hot Fuzz. Funny, funny stuff. And if you haven't seen Shaun of the Dead, go watch it!