Mary, Mary, quite contrary...

I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures... I was using my daughter's camera, which only has an LCD screen (and I need new glasses). Guess what I'm going to do with all of this?

Pots, plant food, rocks and soil! It's transplanting time! I have no idea where I'm going to put all these pots until they can go outside though. I may hold off on transplanting most of the herbs until later.

Cilantro on the left, basil on the right.

Crazy tomatoes (three viable, I think) and chives.

My poor drowned parsley, although one plant is doing well, and a few others are starting to sprout!

In other news, I'm still not finished with the baby sweater, because it has become my "at work" knitting and I don't bring it anywhere else. The curtain hasn't been touched either. Last night was report card night at our house, and it took up most of my spare time. Tonight is swimming for the kids (and probably gym for me, since I skipped yoga class today - I can already hear Rob going, "WHAT????" LOL)

Weirdest thing happened to me this morning. I had a sudden bout of dizziness, the room spun for about 5 minutes, and then my head exploded and the world was right-side up again. Needless to say, with a somewhat nauseating migraine, I was not about to contort myself into a pretzel for the amusement of others. So no yoga today. I feel bad though, since it was our last class in this session :( I'm hoping we'll start up again, but if we don't, I may have to find myself a class nearby.

Someone asked me last night what the most Canadian thing I've ever seen was. I have to admit, a few weeks ago, during our most recent snowstorm, I saw a guy in a pickup truck stop at a red light, climb half-way out of his truck, and clear his windshield with a hockey stick. I only wish I'd had a camera to capture the moment :)

In other news, there's something wrong with the ABS on my car. It's been engaging at odd moments, sometimes while I'm not even braking... so my car is in time-out right now, and I'm driving Jeff's until I have the money to fix mine (again with all the unexpected expenses cropping up at once! What's with that?) If anyone has any ideas or knows what's going on, lemme know :)

General Update...

I did end up going to the gym last night, and it was pretty great :) I did 15 minutes on the upright bike (Rob calls them upwrongs, and I roll my eyes every time he does it) with only a little muscle pain, then I moved on to the weights. I was about 40 minutes in when my head exploded (return of the errant migraine), so I ended up leaving. Had some lovely sushi for dinner (yay, sushi!) and then went to class. We've moved on from the civilizations that influenced the creation of the French language to the history of French literature, and I'm having a great time :)

Didn't get any knitting done yesterday AT ALL, which is kind of frustrating, but today, I knitted the two sleeves onto my baby cardigan (and I now have a recipient in mind), and I'm in the home stretch (i.e. raglan decreases). Whoever designs a raglan sweater to be knit bottom-up needs their head examined *sigh* But it is adorable. I will show pics once it is finished :)

The plan for this evening is to work on Rob's kitchen curtain (not MY kitchen curtain) and to get some laundry done. This will all be after I do groceries, since there's nothing left in the house for the kids to take for lunch. I think it's time I transplant the sprouts... Most of them are doing alright, but the tomatoes are going gangbusters and they're getting so tall they're starting to lean over and grow horizontally ;) I'll have to pick up some little pots and some soil and stake them up. Or am I doing something wrong and it's not normal for them to tip over when they become top-heavy with leaves? The basil is going nuts, but is still small, and hasn't produced any true leaves yet. The cilantro, on the other hand, is full of true leaves and needs more space :)

I had a brilliant idea at around 12:30 last night (did I mention that I slept like crap again?). I have a bit of leftover wood (1/4 inch something or other) from the bookshelf project, and I think I'm going to use my drill to screw it into the wood of the window sill to support the plants so they'll all fit on the sill. It's a brilliant plan. Really.

I had to convince myself this weekend NOT to start a pair of socks. I had told myself that learning to knit proper socks would be my reward for finishing Rob's blanket, but I'd like to get the babt cardi and the curtain panel before I start anything else. (gasp, I know...) I'm kind of bummed that I'll be losing my knit night this week (I have a Friday night shift at the store... I'm also missing the ceilidh being thrown by one of my coworkers, and I really wanted to go to that). I can't change my availablility again though... I've already knocked off Sunday afternoons...

Rob actually drove to Missouri on Sunday to have brunch at the Ayerston Cafe (can't find any reference to it online, so I may have the name wrong) on Route 66. That's about a 6 hour drive. Each way. For brunch. He once drove me to Mineral Springs, WI (3 hours each way) to get a pasty for lunch. I voice no opinion... I'll leave that to you guys.

Oh, by the way.... 23 days until I'm in Chicago :D

Frustration, thy name is clutter!

I think Spring Cleaning fever has hit me. I actually got frustrated yesterday that there's yarn everywhere. Yes, that's right... My stash had me fuming. *sigh* Granted, the huge pile of dirty laundry that takes up half the house isn't helping. There's laundry, there are dishes (although I did fill the dishwasher this morning), there's junk everywhere... bleh. There's no longer anything gross in my fridge, except the fridge itself, which needs to be emptied and scrubbed to within an inch of its life. It's so bad that I was actually lying in bed last night, thinking about climbing a ladder to clean the ceiling fan in the kitchen (it goes beyond caterpillars... think "no range hood" and see what your brain comes up with).

The curtain is coming together nicely. I'm half-way through the second pattern repeat (I worked a 6.5 hour shift on Saturday, so very little knitting time). I'm loving it, and I know it's going to block out beautifully! The baby sweater is about 2/3 done. I've reached the yoke (lord knows why the designer felt the need to do a raglan sweater from the bottom up, but so be it), brought it to work with me, and then couldn't knit on it, since I neglected to read the instructions, and had to knit the sleeves on at this point *sigh* I'm not entirely sure how this is accomplished, but I'm sure I'll figure it out tomorrow when I bring the sleeves with me!

I nearly killed all my seedlings the other day. I didn't water them (for a whole 36 hours) and they started drying out. I lost most of the parsley and one of the cilantro plants, but everything else seems to have survived my stupidity. I think next weekend I'll have to start transplanting, since the tomatoes need staking at this point and I don't want to lose those!

I slept like crap last night... had a slight headache when I went to bed, and we all know how that goes. Raging migraine when I woke up at 2am, but was too fuzzy-headed to do anything about it. Woke up again at 6ish, stumbled through getting the kids ready for school (thank goodness I had a few burritos left in the freezer! easy microwave lunch FTW!), and then dragged myself in to work. Staring at the computer all day hasn't helped too much, but the ibuprofen is taking the edge off, anyway. I am very much looking forward to picking my new glasses up on Thursday! (they're actually cute... shut up, Rob.) More importantly, I'll be able to see ;)

Tonight, there's school (so much for reading week - I spent the week doing anything but, which puts me behind schedule for my final project - ACK), and since I've been a lazy ass and not gone to the gym once since Rob went home, I'll be going there first. I even have my gym bag in the car with Rob's Schwartz Cycles shirt and the pants I bought, and my gym shoes! So no excuses! (I also have my notebook in there, which is good, because I need to keep track of what I'm doing). It's not all as bad as it sounds though, I did get quite a bit of exercise over the last week... I just haven't done any of it at the gym ;)

My Cousin Vinnie...

No, I don't have a cousin named Vinnie... What I do have is a smart-ass boyfriend ;) Last year, he asked if I'd make a curtain for his kitchen window. I thought about it, had a few false starts, and then gave it up to work on his blanket. I finally found the perfect stitch pattern that's open enough to see outside, but has enough closed areas that people can't see in and it's not girly! So I swatched it up:

(swatch is done in Estelle Cadenza on size 5 Addi Turbos - pattern is a triple chevron lace pattern I found online here)

Each pattern repeat is 2.5 inches wide, so I emailed Rob to ask if he knew off-hand how wide the kitchen window was. Important bit being I said "the" kitchen window. This was his response (in its entirety):

Now, uh, Ms. Vito, being an expert on general automotive knowledge, can you tell me... what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet, with a 327 cubic-inch engine and a four-barrel carburetor? Mona Lisa Vito: It's a bullshit question. D.A. Jim Trotter: Does that mean that you can't answer it? Mona Lisa Vito: It's a bullshit question, it's impossible to answer. D.A. Jim Trotter: Impossible because you don't know the answer! Mona Lisa Vito: Nobody could answer that question! D.A. Jim Trotter: Your Honor, I move to disqualify Ms. Vito as a "expert witness"! Judge Chamberlain Haller: Can you answer the question? Mona Lisa Vito: No, it is a trick question! Judge Chamberlain Haller: Why is it a trick question? Vinny Gambini: [to Bill] Watch this. 

Rob Schwartz:  Because you don’t have a kitchen window. 

*sigh* Aren't I lucky?

In other news, plants are all coming along nicely, and about half the parsley has sprouted (I'll take those odds, considering I thought the entire packet was a dud), and Skye and I went to yoga class today (it was brutal). The baby sweater continues apace.

Mission Improbable...

I had intended to get my whole house cleaned up this week. Has it happened? Hell no. There is considerably more floor and clean laundry than there was at the beginning of the week, but that's mainly due to Zachary being left home alone every so often. Today as Skye and I were coming home from running errands, I looked up at her window and noticed she'd cut a square from her window screen. *SIGH* I really don't know what possesses her sometimes. Zachary must really want his nice new purple bookshelf in his room, because he's actually in there cleaning, unasked, as I type :)

I went and dropped off the renewal application for my passport this morning. They said I should receive it in the mail in two weeks :) It's less than a month before I head down to Chicago for Easter weekend! :D I am so psyched! I didn't end up going to the gym yesterday though, and I'm feeling the lack today. I may go this evening after we've had our eye exams. I made a new friend today at Skye's appointment. Another patient happened to be a new knitter and she was fascinated with the baby sweater I was working on (this one):

(there's a bit more done on the body now, since I just spent an hour and a half on it). She's fifteen years old and only knows how to do 2x2 rib, so I showed her Ravelry, Knittinghelp.com and a few other resources online, and she's very excited now :) (I also pointed her toward Knitting for Dummies, which is how I learned).

I did promise pictures of the two scarves I finished, so here they are. One-Row Scarf in Balitex Ruthy's Fat Yarn (hand-dyed using Jacquard acid dyes by yours truly) on size 10.5 needles (6.5mm):

This one is 4" wide and 32" long. Just the perfect length for short ladies' coat scarf (one that you just tuck the ends into the front of the coat). The other one was a bit longer but was done on bigger needles, so it's all good. This one was knit in Loops & Threads Cozy Wool (Michaels) in Sapphire and Merlot on size 15 (10mm) needles. It's 4" wide and 78" long, and I knit the red at one end, then striped a few times, then the other end was done in blue. I'll see if I can get a better picture of it later.

I'm hoping to make a bit more progress on the apartment tomorrow, since I won't be going out anywhere (so far, there have been errands every day). And I should be able to spend more time at the gym, since I'll be on my own on Friday :) It still feels like the house is empty when Rob's just left, but we're slowly getting back into a routine (the kids notice it as much as I do... I don't think the cats care). Once I've got things cleaned up a little, I'm going to attempt to put up some art around the house. I bought a few paintings last year that I'd like to put up and I have a kit to make a 9-square canvas montage that I hope the kids and I can have a bit of fun with (clearance merchandise FTW!)

The sprouts are all looking great. I think I may only end up with three viable tomato plants. The two sprouts in the fourth square are all droopy and lazy. The chives, cilantro and basil are all going crazy and the parsley is finally starting to come up all over the place. I can't wait until it's time to transplant! I'm still trying to find window boxes. May have to make a special trip up to Lee Valley for those. Spring is definitely here! It's 10 degrees and everything's melty! The trees in our neighbours' yards all have buds on the branches, and my family is making plans for our annual sugar bush outing. YAY SPRING!

Radio Silence....

Sorry for all the dead air around here. Last week sucked, and then Rob was here over the weekend, so I was selfishly offline for most of it :) However, I have updates and PICTURES today!

First off, our weekend. He was supposed to arrive Thursday evening, but events beyond our control conspired against us. The first leg of his flight (Chicago-Toronto) was cancelled, so they put him on a later flight, but it arrived in TO after the last flight to Ottawa left, so he spent the night at the Royal York (poor baby, right?) and then hopped a plane to Ottawa first thing in the morning. We went for breakfast, hung around the house for a bit, and then met up with some of my coworkers for lunch (he's wanted to meet my boss for a long time - they have a lot of common interests... I invited a female along so I'd have someone to talk to once they geeked out on bikes. Not bad, but I should have sat them next to each other instead of across so that A and I could actually talk to each other). Then we hit the gym (YAY) He did follow along and finish everything I did, but I think he was a bit surprised at how much I've been doing. Then we went to knit night and he had a great time, and it ended with a trip to the pub to have dinner and drinks with a friend. Saturday was mostly spent doing stuff around the house, and in the afternoon, we took the kids (+1) to play laser tag. Well, ROB took the kids to play laser tag. I sat in the lobby and knit. I finished the last bind off on his blanket Saturday night. Sunday was spent finishing up things around the house and hitting the gym again, and then taking the kids to my parents for dinner. I left to drive Rob to the airport (which always sucks) and then went back to my mom's for a turkey dinner that couldn't be beat, and now you know what I did all weekend!

So here's the finished blanket:

It's on my bed, which is a queen size, and you can see that there's ample overlap on each side. Sorry for the lumpy appearance, I left my comforter and my body pillow underneath. This is Rob being a goof:

(I don't know who taught him to smile for pictures, but I've got to break him of this goofy grin - I'm only partially joking. This is NOT how he smiles when there's no camera around.)

He actually helped me get the last strip at the top attached to the blanket (since I did it in my cramped bedroom and not on the big boardroom table at work or on the folding table at my mom's like I'd done with the rest). And I was right to tell him to bring the BIG suitcase, because the blanket took up ALL of it. He was able to pack a few books and flat things on top of it, but no clothes. (Becky, he brought the first book of that series home for you and the kids to read - I'll bring the rest when I come down for Pesach).

In other news, my "garden" is doing a bit better... it's amazing me how much it changes every day! I still can't get a bloody avocado seed to sprout (I think I've got sterile pits... they are from the avocados I buy at the grocery store), but everything else is sprouting like mad!

There are tomatoes and chives (I pruned the tomatoes this morning, so there are some stubby little stem ends in there):

There are some basil and cilantro sprouts that are doing AMAZINGLY well. They're not slumped over, by the way... I had just turned the tray around because they were leaning toward the sun:

I'll admit that I don't know which is which, as I didn't label them, but I imagine it'll be easier to tell when they get bigger (y'know... they smell and taste completely different and all).

The parsley... well, I kind of overwatered the parsley and didn't notice until a few days later, so I may have drowned some of them. For the longest time I thought I'd killed all of them, but then something really neat happened. About a week after everything else started sprouting, I saw this:

Excuse the over-exposedness... it was really sunny, and it was hard to get down low enough to take this picture (they're sitting on the radiator under my window so they can get some light and heat). Not sure what I'm going to do to get these guys enough sunlight because my windowsill is very narrow, and doesn't have enough room for all three trays... it's also the only one the cats can't get at (and therefore eat all my plants).

I'm still planning on grabbing a rhubarb root somewhere and planting it in a big pot (still need to find the big pot). I wonder if the landlord would give me access to the roof. Balcony space is quite limited and the neighbor uses it too (shared balcony). So that's what I've been up to :) Pictures of the baby cardigan will follow once I've gotten a bit more than two inches of the first sleeve done (I got distracted by the scarves... finished one and I'm in the home stretch with another one).

Is that an avocado in your pocket???

Why yes, yes it is. An avocado was all I had time to grab this morning on my way out of the house. So that was breakfast.

I have made some tremendous progress this past weekend. Look what I've been doing:

Several finished squares (and the big-ass hook I made them with)

Mattress stitching the squares together.

One finished strip.

Several strips connected using a simple chain stitch.

I'm nearly done Rob's blanket. I have two more strips that are already chained together waiting to be chained to this pile, and then two more strips' worth of squares at home to sew into strips so I can finish this thing. My mom said I should crochet a border around the whole blanket. Um... no. Maybe when I get a bit better at it.

I have not had a good weekend. Friday afternoon, I developped a migraine that hung on until yesterday afternoon. As a result, I have been tired, cranky and unmotivated. I nearly fell asleep in class last night (to be honest, I think I was nodding off, but after a few minutes, I was able to move around a bit and get myself out of the zone). I'll confess that I haven't been to the gym since last Thursday, but I just found out that the gym is open until 9:30 in the evenings, so I have plans to get there after the kids have gone to bed.

I bought myself another present this weekend...

I can now do nearly half my exercise routine at home (which is good, because the stability ball is a bit humliating in a public place...) I now have a set of 5 lb. dumbells, a set of 10 lb. dumbells, a mini stepper, a yoga mat, the treadmill and the stability ball to work with. I'm forgetting something, but I can't figure out what, so meh.

You know when two people are tired and stressed, they kind of tend to snark at each other for no reason? Yeah... that's been the last couple of days. And I'm not sure if that's related, but I have had THE worst night's sleep and I'm still bloody exhausted (woke up on the dot at 12, 2 and 4, and had a heck of a time getting comfortable at all). Tomorrow, there will be sprout pictures! Two of my flats have sprouted... the third? Nothing. Now I think the third is all parsley, so it may just be a dud package, or they may take longer to germinate, but I was pretty excited to see all the other seeds sprouting this morning. I took the covers off those two flats and we'll see how it goes this week!

Oh, and for the record?

I may be a wee bit addicted to this pattern... (another One-Row Scarf, this one in Red Heart Boutique Changes... gotta love the sparkly bits).