Aloha!

Just wanted to say - aloha! Before we take off for Maui!!

I have made one demand for this trip - and that is, as soon as we touch down in Hawaii, there will be NO talk about work from hubby!! I really thought he would quit his job this week...they are killing him with covering the 2 areas since April...

Oh yeah, my almost-5 year old grandson thinks we are going over there to get married...cause that is what his Mom and Dad did...

Christmas Around the World Knitter's Swap Questionaire

1. Are you religious? Sort of - altho do not attend church often - born and raised Catholic
2. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider yourself a Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced? I guess I would consider myself intermediate - been knitting of and on since teenager I guess - so too many years to count - over a quarter of a century!
3. Do you have any other hobbies besides knitting? Reading, travel, cross stitch
4. Favorite color(s)? Darks greens and plums, corals
5. Do you collect anything? I wish I could say no - collect too much - dust bunnies! Balleek china - antiques - knitting things
6. Are you allergic to any fibers or animals? Very allergic to cats
7. Do you have any pets? Right now we are down to one dog only
8. Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate? Coke!....tea
9. Cookies or Sweets? cookies
10. Do you knit socks? yeppers
11. If not socks then what? (tell us about your favorite knits) Anything I might finish - scarves, baby things...
12. Do you put up a Christmas tree? If not then what do you do? Most definitely! Wish I had big enough house to put up more than one so I could put out all my tree decos!!!
13. Favorite holiday treats? Christmas cookies
14. Favorite holiday smells? Snow...Christmas trees...cinnamon...
15. Do you celebrate Christmas in a traditional or unconventional way? Please elaborate. Traditional....I dont think the family would change....Christmas Eve mass (depending on work schedule) and on Christmas Eve we open certain presents (i.e. from friends, and the kids open their presents from each other) Christmas Day is all the rest of the presents and then a big cioppino dinner (which is an adapted tradition from hubbies family - should be done on Christmas Eve but since we so often work Christmas Eve it has become a Christmas Day dinner)
16. What are your favorite holiday traditions? These questions are hard ones! When the kids were little they would get new sheets and pj's for Christmas Eve and would use them that night...hiding the pickle on the three and seeing how competitive grown kids can be
17. Finish the sentence: “For me Christmas is all about....” Family and friends
18. If you were a Christmas ornament you would be…….? Something made out of Waterford....a star??
19. What was your favorite gift you've ever received? Or given? My favorite gifts have always been books....the frustrating thing as a kid was how quickly I would devour them....
20. When do you start your Christmas? Depends on the year and the mood and how busy work is...
21. Do you send Christmas cards? Do you make them or buy them? Yes I still send them..,.buy them after Christmas for the next year - takes forever to pick them out!
22. What is your favorite Christmas dish? Tie between date nut bread and gugelhopf
23. Carolers are at your door. What do you do? Listen and enjoy and wish I oculd carry a tune!
24. When do you open presents? Christmas eve or Christmas morning? See #15
25. Do you celebrate with family or friends or both?Mainly family but some years both

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was our 34th anniversary. Wow. Who would have believed that? I know most people would not have taken bets that we would have lasted this long - I think most people were betting on a year or two!

I was trying to think of how to describe it all in one word - fun? yes, but...interesting? defintely, but..Challenging? absolutely, but...Finally decided on - ADVENTURE!

And that it has! We have lived in how many different places? Both sides of the country. We have traveled to where? Raised 3 challenging kids of whom 2 are raising their own challenges....and we are still adventuring on together....WHOO- HOO it has been a ride!

So how did we spend the day? At our rental - seeing the miracle that Pacific Tub & Tile worked with the tub - awesome job!!! AND came in under estimate!! Even better.

Then hubby thought he could fix the leaks in the sink without having to replace entire vanity and sink....well, we fixed 3 out of 4 leaks....all day process too.

Had dinner at the only place we seem to eat at any more down there - Abalonetti's on the wharf cause we love their squid.

Today and tomorrow is the HArvest Wine Festival that we will be enjoying...jsut wish it would be cooler...

Step One

Well, step one in fixing up the rental is underway.

"The guy" is supposed to start the refinishing of the tub and surround this week.
Gonna cost us a heckofalot more money than we expected tho....cause he has to remove the 'paint' that 'someone' apparently put on the tub (same as the paint in the bathroom sink) before he can start the refinishing process. So it is an extra step to pay for - and it takes more time. Hopefully he is up to MiracleMethod standards...

Did I post about that? Becuase we were so pleased with the work they did on both bathrooms at our house, we looked on their site to find a franchise in the area of our rental. And there was one listed....turns out they use their location description very freely and they dont actually go to the area they advertise. So I sent them a not-so-happy email about their misleading advertising...also sent the home address a not-so-happy email about the misleading advertising. Big surprise - I havent heard back from either one!

So, we will be spending our 34th anniversary down at the rental paying off this guy with a huge check, and shopping for the new vanity and sink that we need, and the new flooring...Wowee!!!
No fancy restuarant dinner this year...can you see me smiling??? Neither can I!

I finished a Christmas present for a friend - a knitted present. Do not like how it turned out. It is a kit, which is part of the problem. But there is enough yarn to make 2, so I have started the 2d one, with revisions. And a different approach. Trying to think of what project to take on the plane with me next week. Needs to be something easy but interesting. Guess I could do more scarves....ho hum... some socks....ho hum....But it needs to be small and easy to carry.

Also need to decide on which books to take. And how many pairs of shoes....why do we women need so many shoes but men dont? And I dont pack as many as other women I know, but I dont think I can get away with less than 3-4 pairs. And they become heavy. Well, my clothes packing will just have to be more streamlined....so I say every time before I go on a trip: "I've learned from last time and I wont pack as many clothes". And I still pack too many and dont wear everything that I packed...

I am getting so excited to go - I really need this vacation cause my attitude at work is starting to stink bigtime again. But I am dreading the flight cause I hate flying so much. I jsut do it because it sure beats walking to where-ever we are going!

Mandy's Candy Bag

Here is the cutest little bag to make - a great giftie bag.
You can find it at http://nhknittingmama.blogspot.com - just look for Mandy's Candy Bag

What next?

I am almost afraid to ask that...

So our renters are moving out becuase they have bought a house. I am happy for them. But now will be the first time to rent to strangers. They introduced some friends that want to rent, which is nice of them. And yesterday we went down to meet them.

Now, the couple we rented to are nice kids. But in the 7 years (could not believe it was 7 years!!) we rented to them - they could jsut not get it thru their heads that they were renting and needed to run it past us before they did anything to/for the house. No matter how many times we went over that with them.

Yesterday we found lots of plants - some of which they will have to leave. And they have put down bark over the dirt in the backyard. HAve not kept the bamboo cut back (which the previous renters planted without our permission) as we asked - and a couple of trees overgrown and the front yard a mess. But I knew that from driving by it about a month ago and we planned to take care of those things soon.

What we didnt know what that they redid the kitchen floor.....they pulled up and discarded all the carpeting in the house (ok, the carpeting was pretty old so no big deal - but they didnt quite know as much about taking care of the hardwood floors as they seem to think). And the bathroom floor that was fixed about a year ago (that is a story in itself how we got boonswoggled on that one) needs look into cause it was a very crappy job - especially for how much we ended up paying.

Now, as we were talking with our new renters (yes, we signed a lease yesterday) they asked what we were going to do about the bathroom sink and tub. Now you WOULD THINK the renters would have told us about those issues wouldnt you????????????????????? Nope....the bathroom sink leaks from several places (and it looks like they tried re-painting the sink at some point and doing a horrible job) and the tub is in horrible shape with a broken drain in the bottom.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now we need to re-do the bathroom. No real big problem except for - when???????
It would take at least a week to do it and we dont have a week. Cause of our vacation and all.
To replace the sink we will have to pull out the old vanity cause the sink is set into tile - and that means pulling tile off the wall and re-doing the wall. There is some wall repair to do around the shower tiles too. We are trying to find out about refinishing the tub and tile like we have done here in our house.

Need to pull up the shoddy floor and check to see what repairs need to be done to the repairs that were done. I guess we could jsut then lay down more linoleum in a quick repair...would be nice to tile it for long term, but time wise probably not.

So - between our trip and the new grandbaby and work and school - and them moving in, and what not - where do we fit in the time??? Especially since it is an hour and a half away????
I dont want contractors down there without us, so that isnt a solution either!

Went to the little county fair....and I am sooooo disappointed. The one thing I was looking forward to eating - was not there! Oh well....

Anyone know of a fairy godmother who could wave her wand and fix the bathroom for us???

Summer is birthday time!

The first birthday in June was Owen's and he turned 2.

And then there was mine, and I turned....hmmm, so old I cant remember!

And at the end of July was son John's (See below).

Now, in August was Jack's 2d birthday.

In Sept daughter Katie will have a birthday - and her daughter will be born. First she was Lola, now she might be Kaya....we will see who she actually is when she gets here!

Next, in November, Connor will turn 5 and he will hopefully have a big surprise that involves a little bit of travel to southern Ca (but dont tell him!).

After that in quick succesion - all in December is son in law Earl, daughter Jessyca, and hubby Tom. Then we have a break again until next summer...

My SCRAWL is almost done - I am getting very impatient to try it on!

Have jury duty tomorrow - possibly. Called tonight and I have to call again tomorrow between 1100 and 1300....I really dont want to go to Oakland especially since they wont let you knit in the jury room any more!!!