Just Bullets Today...

Lots going on at Chez Serenity these days:

• We are finally back in our house.  YAY!    Okay, so I miss the apartment a bit and still run over once a day to use the internet (better than ours) and the pool.    But, we are sleeping in our house.   Most of the rooms are done.  The last of the furniture was delivered on Friday.   There were some glitches.   The a/c did not work in the living room (fixed).   The satellite TV worked for a day and then died (fixed).   The only outstanding thing is the leak in our roof.   As part of the re-contruction we had the vent in our kitchen changed from circulating to venting.   Now we have a leak around the roof vent, causing water to come in through our dining room ceiling (Summer in FL, it rains every single day, really hard, but not for very long).   We are hoping to hear from our contractor later today with a repair plan.

• T2, our youngest, my baby, started college last week.   College!  Even now, a week later, I am stunned by the fact that I have two sons in college.   We are not yet in a position to give him a car. He is not only at a different school than his older brother, but in the other direction from home.   That means that I drive him and pick him up.  So far it is going well.   He LOVES college and I found a very nice coffee shop to knit/surf/blog from each day.   Hubby's car is paid off early next year.   At that point, I will get a Prius, and T2 will get my car.   I am looking forward to that.

• Do you remember my talking about running away from home a few months ago (more about that here)?    The men were grumpy so I took my toys (aka knitting) and ran away to a the Sew & Quilt (& yarn) Shop, where I was, as usual, welcomed with humor and affection.   While visiting the other day, one conversation led to another, and it looks like I will be teaching my Simple Comforts Wrap sometime in late September or early October.   How cool is that?    I will post the details when we have them.

• Two kids in college and a wake-up call (i.e. house fire), have us looking hard at our spending habits.    We are committed to not replacing much of the stuff that we lost in the fire and (gasp!) not eating out so often.   With that in mind, T2 and I came home yesterday after school with the intention of virtuously eating lunch at home.    While he made the veggie pizza (we are doing Meatless Mondays), I made iced tea.    Unfortunately, the tea pitcher burst as I was pouring in the boiling water.   I now have third degree burns on my belly and second degree ones on my leg.   T2 had me wrapped in wet towels and at our local ER in a matter of minutes.   They sent me home with creme, bandages, and instructions to rest and apply cool compresses.   Yesterday was pretty bad but I am in considerably less pain today (None, if I don't move, so I move rarely and carefully).    T2 pointed out that it would have been less trouble and expense if we had just gone to Panera.

Nirvana Knitting

No matter what I do to this photo, it does not quite reflect what it was like sitting by the river this afternoon.    While a lovely lady taught T2 to swim, I was able to relax on a covered patio, knitting, and enjoying the breeze..    Even the whoosh of the cars going over the bridge was soothing.    These last few weeks have been grueling    It is moments like this that get me through.

Our house is once more ready to be our home.   All of the work is done and most of our new furniture, etc. has been delivered.   We thought we would be in sooner (the keys were handed over two weeks ago) but not one delivery has gone simply.   Sears brought the wrong cord for the washer (the right one was brought back the following week), the refrigerator was delivered broken (we had to pick out a new one and wait for delivery), Ashley Furniture delivered most of the living room furniture (which is very pretty) but forgot the accent chair (OMG, did you want an accent chair?), and brought us full size headboards for our son's twin beds (Dealing with them has been a nightmare.   Apparently, "customer service" is not really their middle name.)    We still do not have a delivery date on those.

We have been to IKEA (two hours away) four times in four weeks and still managed to forget to buy bedroom curtains.  That's our bad.   It turns out that moving back in is way harder physically and emotionally than we anticipated.   We are tired, sore and brain fried.

Thank heavens for peaceful afternoons on the river.

Solitary Knitting

Simple Joys
Patons Grace
Aquifer

I love Hubby and the boys to distractions, but, I am so, so happy to finally have the apartment to myself.  T1 is home from NJ, so he and T2 took my mom out shopping today.   Hubby is at work.   This is the first time I have had the apartment to myself since before T1 went away (six weeks!).

What have I been doing with my alone time?   I slept in, read for a while and enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee on the patio.   Then, I knit.   Then, I took pictures of my knitting.   Now, I am writing about my knitting.   Once done here, I am going to go eat fish tacos (that only I like) and very possibly read about knitting while doing so.   Yes, folks, this is the perfect day.

Now, prepare yourself for an Andy Rooney moment.   Do you know what I hate?    Well, nothing really, but I do seriously dislike not being able to find something that I know I have.    During the photo portion of my lovely day, I wanted to pin out and photograph my in progress Simply Exquisite Shawl (thinking of changing that to the Phoenix Shawl since it rose out of the ashes) but couldn't find my blocking pins anywhere.  I know I have them.  I used them the two times I pinned and photographed this same shawl (I am actually working on three samples but am only photographing one for the pattern).   In an effort not to let this glitch derail my day, I used embroidery needles to pin it, but I really am going to have to find those pins.

What you see here is my Simple Joys shawl.   This will be my sample.   The one I wear out to be seen. I know it does not look all that impressive but it is early days yet.    I love Patons Grace.   It is awfully nice for a not high end yarn.   The mercerized cotton washes and wears well and some of the colors are really outstanding.   It really is perfect for Florida summer knitting.