A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

Three and a half hours . . .

In Home Depot! Yup, you read that correctly. We spent 3 1/2 hours in Home Depot yesterday getting the things we need to do the baby’s room. We’ve ordered our wallpaper, bought the stuff to hang it, got paint and primers, picked out a ceiling fan, bought new trim for the walls and all the rest of what we needed.

If I had one customer service suggestion for HD it would be to do something about their floors! They have the hardest floors to stand on for any amount of time. My feet, legs and back were killing me by the time we left!

I did find places to sit for a bit in several departments and I had brought knitting and a large bottle of water with me and they had a Dunkins at the front of the store so I was able to get a muffin for a snack . . . but I was still seriously exhausted by the time we got home. DH had thought I was silly to bring the water with me (he thought we’d only be there 30 min!) We were there so long that I got nearly a third of the baby sweater I’m knitting for a friend’s baby shower next month done while we were there!

As an aside: I have one more reason to be glad we are planning to use Cloth Diapers on Peanut. I just heard on CNN that the price of disposable diapers will be going up on July 15th this summer. If I had to guess, I’d guess that it is related to the cost of crude oil . . . but that is just a guess. I’m so glad I won’t be using them on a regular basis!

DH is working lunch and I need to get moving since I’m going to get some dyeing done today! I’m doing the warm colorway for the Mystery kits (finally) and tomorrow I’m going to do the cool colorway.

Wish me luck!

Gore Place Shearing Festival

Pixie Dust and I are headed off to our first Fiber Festival of the year! Its just a small local one, but it will be her first so it should be tons of fun! We’re meeting up with Moxie when we get there and plan to spend the afternoon.

I double checked with the DR at our recent appointment to be sure she was okay with me going, I can go but I can’t play with the sheepies. I don’t think they have raw fleece at this show . . . I’m allowed to buy it, but I’m not to handle it without gloves on. The ones I already have in the closet are fine staying there for now and if I want to scour I’m to wear my rubber gloves, just in case.

Well, time to get a few things done before we head out. Show report later.

Wow! 2 Years already!

I just looked in my archives and discovered that I missed my own blogiversary! I’ve been blogging for over 2 years now! Where has the time gone?

Sorry I haven’t been around much, I’ve been spending most of my time trying to get caught up. I have to be careful because on the days that my back is feeling pretty good I have a tendancy to try to do too much and then I really, really pay for it the next few days after that. I’m working on learning to pace myself so that instead of trying to get 15 things done in a day maybe I get 7 done, but then I can do another 7 the next day. If I try to do 15 then I can only get 2-3 done for the next couple of days after that . . . and I end up miserable to boot!

Anyway, I am getting caught up. The yarns for the sock kits have been dyed and are drying now. I was going to try to do some of the Mystery Kit yarn today, but we had a meeting this morning that kept us out half the day so I’m going to do some of the paperwork stuff that is waiting patiently in its pile and do the prep to be able to dye. Tomorrow we have a Dr. apt. first thing in the morning, and those have a tendancy to eat up half the day so trying to dye tomorrow is probably out. Friday is looking good for another round as DH will be at work (don’t have to cook for lunch if he’s out) and I should be able to get an early start. Esp. if I get a bunch of the prep done today!

Saturday is the Gore Place Fiber Festival and PixieDust and I are planning to go to it this year (first time) and it looks like Moxie will be there as well so it should be a fun day out. Sunday is my baby neice’s christening so its a mandatory family event, nothing I can do about that . . .

Its unusually warm here today and I’ve had to resort to digging out my one summer maternity dress. Luckily I had bought one on sale a while back and its actually very comfortable. I haven’t managed to pick up any shorts yet and my regular ones would never fit in a million years! The baby is growing fast now, no doubt about it. You can see a difference in my size every few days now and I have hit that point where I can’t see how I could possibly get any bigger, but I know that I will. The book even said its normal to feel that way at this stage so I’m not worried or anything, just doesn’t seem like things could stretch any further than they have! Should be interesting when we go to the Dr. tomorrow to see how much more I’ve gained. Its been 3 weeks since the last apt and I’d bet I’ve gained at least 5 lbs, easily.

Seems strange that there are only (approx.) 11 weeks left before the baby will be here. Still keep reminding ourselves that we really are having a baby and that yes, they are actually going to let us leave the hospital with a child! Seriously, we had a harder time getting the dog, they wanted all sorts of proof that we would be able to take care of him.

The nursery isn’t ready yet. The plan to do the walls last week fell apart so now, theoretically, they are coming this Saturday to work on it. I’ve been told it should be a one day job. I sure hope they are right about that. Once that is done we plan to paint and then wallpaper (only part of) the walls. DH is also going to start working on the furniture as soon as we choose the paint colors for it. I’d like to have the room at least mostly ready by the middle of May if at all possible. That way we can spend June playing with finishing touches and doing things like washing all the baby clothes and loading the drawers etc. I don’t want to worry about trying to do the big stuff when I’m the size of a house (getting there fast), makes sense, doesn’t it?

Okay, we should really have some lunch as DH has to work tonight and will have to start getting ready soon so I’m going to go do some cooking. . .

Feeling a bit better . . .

DH called from work the other day and told me to be ready to go for a walk! We went to an area of trails near here and took a nice long walk with the dog. We haven’t done something like that together in a long while and it was really nice. After our walk we went to a not so near by farm that makes fantastic Ice cream and had hot fudge sundays! Isn’t he the greatest!

Thank you Secret Pal!!!

I got a lovely box from my secret pal yesterday! It was wrapped up so pretty that I almost didn’t want to open it! Inside were a basil growing kit, Chocolates, Peruvian Cashmere yarn, a book of baby patterns from 1946 and some beautiful note cards along with a cute little note from her. Its dark here now so I don’t have any natural light to take the picture with so I’ll have to take it tomorrow. I’m even being good and not opening the chocolates until after I take the picture, how’s that for self-restraint?

Belated Visit

Mom came over today. Actually I went and met her at a nearby mall where we did a little shopping and had lunch. We started in AC Moore, cause you know I need more craft stuff, right? I got a couple of really cute stamps, including one that looks like baby footprints! Its just too cute! They also had Baylene needles and some rosewood needles on sale for 50% off! Couldn’t resist bringing home a few more pairs at that kind of discount. And I bought 3 more skeins of LB Magic Strips. I’m generally not real big on LB yarns, but I made a pair of socks from a skein of it last year and I have to say they have held up remarkably well to a lot of wear, many washings and more than one trip through the dryer (not intentially) and they still look, feel and fit great. While I don’t have a lot of time to knit for myself right now, I was thinking perhaps I can sneak in a pair of socks between other projects. Or it will sit in the stash . . . who knows.

Mom and I came back to my place and worked on getting the rest of the stuff out of the Nursery. We didn’t quite finish but we did make some good progress and I have a couple more days to finish it up before they come to do the walls.

Speaking of the Nursery, Home Depot had some really cute John Lennon wallpaper with the animals he drew for his son and Carter’s makes matching bedding and accessories, or at least they did, it looks like they are discontinuing them from what I can tell. We also went to the baby store and managed to score the matching lamp and the mobile! Originally we were going to go with a Peter Rabbit and Friends Theme, but we were able to find more stuff for this, and it means more to DH and also works for both a boy or a girl. I’m starting to get excited about finishing up the room and having it be ready for the baby, we might even have it done in time! Wouldn’t that be nice?

Well, I think my dinner is done so I’d better go eat . . .

Bummer! (sorry, whining ahead)

My mom was going to come over today, but somethings have come up and she isn’t coming . . . feeling kinda bummed out, haven’t seen her for a month and was looking forward to a visit (not to mention that she planned to help with a couple of cleaning projects

Guess I’m just feeling kinda bummed out and a bit sorry for myself this weekend. Been spending a lot of time home alone lately, more than usual even, and with my back giving me grief its been hard to spend that time doing the things I need to be getting done . . .

Yesterday we spent the day cooking. We first went shopping then came home and made a giant vat (something like 2 1/2 gallons) of his Grandmother’s Sauce recipe, the one he waited 4 years before even teaching me to make! We also made a few trays of mannacotti and lasagna to put in the freezer for later. We’re trying to start stocking up on stuff so we can pick and choose more when to cook. Plan to have the new big freezer pretty well filled with things like sauce, soup and trays of pasta that just need to be baked, before the kiddo arrives. The hard part was I was on my feet for the better part of 8 hours and my back was not the least bit happy about it.

I think it must be the hormones, but I’m getting more and more nervous about having everything ready in time. The nursery is waiting for the Plasterer to come and redo the walls (they have a very textured finish now and we’d like them flat) and it could be a couple more weeks before they can come. Can’t do much of anything else on the room until they do, few more things in there to box up, but since it requires sitting on the floor to sort the piles I can only do a little at a time! DH is going to paint the furniture, I can’t because of the fumes . . .

Yes, I know “logically” that we will likely get done everything that really needs to be done before the baby arrives. Its just that I feel like I need to be doing things to get ready. Yesterday with stocking the freezer helped, knowing that there is some stuff out there ready, even though its stuff we will most likely eat before July, at least I know we’ve started to get the food stuff ready and we’ll cook again later in the month in another big batch . . .

Knitting wise
I’m currently working on a baby hat. I’ve got some K1C2 - Richesse et Soie (Cashmere/silk) that has been in the stash for about 4 years now and I’ve decided to make a baby hat & sock set in pale blue and another in pink & white (since we don’t know if its a boy or girl) because after seeing the silly hat the hospital sent out neice home in I just can’t bear the thought of our baby having to wear one of those! My little one will have a handknit hat from Mom to wear home! And what better, softer material could you get than a cashmere/silk blend? Plus the yarn is a fine gauge and nice and light and since we are having a summer baby the hat will be about the right weight. I think DH may think I’m being a little silly about the whole hat thing, but I just can’t help myself! I can blame this on the hormones too, can’t I?

Inspirations
We had a ton of orders for the Mystery & Sock kits and for the Spring yarns so I’ve got my work cut out for me with the dyeing. I got some done the other day and hope to do another batch today. I do have to try to pace myself a bit as I can’t do 2 days of standing out there for long periods in a row . . . but if I can just make a little dent today inbetween resting then perhaps I can spend tomorrow getting more of it done.

Well, off to get to work, wish me luck!