the view belongs to everyone

the view on my desk as of today:

Chris went all over to find those Quatchi figures. There was much McDonald's eating. :/  My husband is a strange man sometimes.

enjoy the sun!

sheena is a punk rocker, me too!

So the time has slid by like butter on a hot plate yes?

Some recent highlights:

-Chris got some contract work (while he looks for a permanent place) with his old company! Hurrah! I now know we will be fine when he retires. I am lucky enough to truly enjoy my dude's company. Although stuff does get done more when he is at work. And the kitchen stays cleaner.

-Speaking of the kitchen.. why did I choose WHITE FLOORS? We've had a gorgeous spell of weather here which leads to little doggie foot prints. Good thing I have awesome floor mops* at either side of the room.

-We went to Canmore this weekend with the aforementioned company for their belated Xmas party. Nice!

-I've been baking and knitting and painting my nails with great regularity. Not all at the same time. I don't have that kind of skill set.

See? A nice sweater! Spud and Chloe sweater yarn and it's completely washable. NICE!!


And a lovely scarf. This is knit out of a merino/silk blend I spun up. It was fun and very, very simple. Great TV knitting.

-Chris had a quick trip out to the Island after his Grampa passed away. It was very sad, but he really loved seeing all his awesome relly's and goggling at the green grass. As always much love to you all out there.

-My Mom and Dad are in Vegas AS I WRITE. Moms' cancer treatment is done for now, and she was feeling a little perkier so off they went. I hope they are having a fabulous time.

-My back pain is still here, but since we have been treating this like a fibromyalgia case (which bites but WHATEVER. I am so frikken tired of being tired and in pain and all the symptoms fit so there!), the pills I am taking to help with my sleep has reduced it to being able to be managed with OTC stuff! Go Me!

-Jake turned 18. I cannot have an adult child. I AM NOT GROWN UP MYSELF!

-My hair is in a short bob right now. I'm trying to decide if I wanna chop it all off again. Really, it's just a matter of time right?

-I realise that I only like to blog when Chris isn't home. Blame him for the lack of posts.




*awesome floor mops? kitchen towels on the floor you scrub around with your feet. lazy is as lazy does.

so much ink.. so little skin.

When you spend your life following the rules, and you still get a kick in the goolies.. GET TATTOOED!! At least this seems to be Chris' new mantra. He was unfortunately laid off on Dec 9. It was a total shock for him (and me!) and seems to be a poor choice on his (former) companies part, but it is what it is. Happy Christmas assholes! So he just up and decided that FUCK THE MAN was kinda appropo.. and VOILA! I seem to have forgotten to take pictures of Chris' other side. It's the same as Big Red, but it's blue!






My reasons aren't nearly as shazam worthy.. I am an addict. Plain and simple. But ain't it just sweet?


This year promises to hold lots of challenges*, new beginnings and who knows what else. It should be.. interesting. To say the least.


*my little tiny baby turns 18. gulp.

all was calm

all was bright. Happy whatever you celebrate ya'll!

The girl is crafty like ice is cold!

I recently had an old old* pal get in contact with me who I hadn't seen in oh.. close to 15 years. Our kids used to play together when they were wee. In fact they are only 9 months apart. Of course she went on to have 2 more and I opted for dogs. Bad ones. See?







Anyways.. she had the occasion to come to town and we hooked up for an afternoon of catching up. Which entailed laying on my new bed and picking up right where we left off. Funny thing friendship, the true ones really hold on. We fell back into familiar patterns and it was like we were in junior high. Facebook can be used for good see?


I have been having real sleep problems lately. I have excellent sleep hygiene so am a little stressed about it. I picked up some melatonin this weekend, and haven't quite found the right dosage yet. The search continues. Any good remedies? Speak up!


We also picked up a new coffee system. You know how much I LOVE my coffee, but after about um.. 3 or 4 years of pulling my own shots, I am tired of it**. So we went with the system we had been looking at before buying our last one. We weren't convinced it would still be around but it is and OMG. Where have you been all my life Tassimo? What with your perfect cup of coffee and teas, and hot chocolate and lattes and espressos and..




One button. ONE BUTTON AND 45 SECONDS TO HEAVEN.

I have also been knitting like a crazy woman. Well duh. Finished a sweater. Gave it to Miss Morgan (who seriously? I have GOT TO STOP KNITTING FOR) who wore like it was made for her. Cause apparently it was. The bonus? She has a pink Malabrigo sweater FOR MEEE!!!!









A HUGE shawl. Huge as in big ass yarn. Took 2 days. Silly fast.





Random shot of Henry the bear as I was testing out the simple drive on my camera.





Bed report: Like laying in a cloud. Enough said.

















*not that we are old.. we have been friends for a REALLY LONG TIME ok? NOT OLD.
**lazy FTW!

Ain't no rest for the wicked

and money don't grow on trees..
I got bills to pay
I got mouths to feed
ain't nothing in this world for free.


Please Cage the Elephant. You have dominated my mind for many many days.

In other making sense news..


Best. Breakfast. EVER.

1/3 cup quick oats
1 honeycrisp* apple, peeled, cut up.
a mess of cinnamon
splenda to taste (dude or use sugar, I don't care)
enough water to make a soupy mixture.

Nuke for 2 minutes. Splash with milk.. die from goodness.

The bed is here and it is pretty freaking amazing. We did notice that our old feather pillows really have no support now though. Actually when we were at Sleep Country they had these AWESOME latex pillows that were springy amazing. We went looking for them this weekend and I ended up ordering some from The Sears. They should be here Friday. They were on sale. SALE!






I am so super excited. I WON SOMETHING!!! I won a book! From Lemondrop and it's all about/by my favourite MMA fighter.. Forrest Griffin. I never win stuff. How exciting!




In knitting news, I have finished my goblin cardigan, but it needs a block. And whipped out a cute quick little hat. Slouchy! I think it needs a button or 2.




Also, Pickles.. yup still a pest. Max, still a geezer. Max didn't even wake up when the doorbell rang on Halloween. He is sure slowing down. :(





And finally.. this picture cracks me up (like Morgan says) so there.





*I love fall apples. I can't find Pink Ladies right now, but there are other yumtacular options.

It's the little things...

that make it all worthwhile isn't it? For example, my laptop. Since I am lucky enough to live in Canada it has a French compatible keyboard. Cool you think? NO. Since every once in a while I would mysteriously activate it and not be able to use my question mark. Some crazy E with a line over it would appear and I would have to re-boot to fix it. FINALLY I got tired of this and googled it. HURRAY! The internets know everything! I removed that language capability from my keyboard settings and VOILA! (hahaha that's Franch you know) done! No more random stupid characters I don't know how to use.

I have been doing some (in one of my Dad's favourite words) pondering about the state of some things lately and have a few things I need (yes need) to proclaim my love for.






Turner Classic Movies. Oh thank you movie gods for this channel. After the shit show that is AMC tricking me* while watching Aliens/The Shining/all of the horror movies they are showing right now (and a hearty FUCK YOU to them for ruining art. I mean really? Put a speedo on The David next whydontcha assholes?) it is a joy to watch ANYTHING on TCM. This month has been especially fantastic. As my good buddy Bob Mitchum up there will attest to.
-Arsenic and Old Lace
-Terror in the Wax Museum (1933.. oh Fay Wray!)
-too many Boris Karloff movies to count!
Thank you thank you thank you!

My new bed that is coming today. Oh jeebus don't let this be a premature thanking! You all know how wack my back is. It suddenly came to my attention that perhaps.. just perhaps our aging IKEA (8+ years) may be playing into this. I have thought the bed uncomfortable for some time now, but reckoned it was just me. Welp, Chris started to complain about it** and the heavens parted and unicorns farted rainbows and the light was seen. We went out last weekend and bought a new bed. It's coming today! I AM SO EXCITED I COULD PEE. but not in the bed. I have no picture to show you, but it's called Kingsdown. And the model is Beethoven. Ah. So knocking all wood, the sleeping will not result in the hurting (which it has for oh.. say the last 8 months) back anymore.



My little dogs. Even when they do bastardly things like escape, get into the neighbours yard and cry to get back home, resulting in a nightgowned/sweatpants jaunt before 8am to retrieve said dog. Or when they insist the best place to sleep in on my knitting in progress. Oh my dogs!


Chicken. Cause I love me some chicken.





Bath and Body Works Shea Cashmere hand cream. Seriously the best stuff I have ever used. I can knit or spin moments after putting this on. It's amazing. Moisture with absolutely no greasiness and it smells DIVINE.


Finishing things. For example this hand spun, hand dyed (by ME!) pygora scarfy thing. Mm hm.





Family and friends that eat my cooking without complaining! And the rare picture of Jake!!





In this picture I am wearing the sweater I have worn a billion times but have no real pictures of. This was Thanksgiving when we were lucky enough to have a little houseful of fabulous people over. Kevin (the tall one! who came with his lovely lady Trish. No pictures.. jeeze) and Lane (with Karen and Zoe.. why do we have no pictures of the cutest little girl in the world dammit Chris!) with me in the Kitchen. Great job photo documenting Chris. Really great.




Also I love coffee, salted caramel, my new tattoos, and I hope this goes without saying.. you!


*In my halfhearted defense, sometimes when I check the listings I get so excited to see something I like on, I just GO TO THE DAMN SHOW. Only to be HORRIFIED when the best bits get cut. Or ahem.. SANITISED.

**After her started snoring and he decided to sleep on his side rather than back. You know I bought a box of those breathe right strips, and apparently you only need to buy them not use them, cause he has pretty much stopped after I got those suckers in the house. Who knew?

poor impulse control

Unplanned but thrilled.

smoke 'em if you got 'em

Movies I have watched and loved lately:

-Zombieland. In fact I think I may go see this AGAIN in the theater. IT WAS THAT GOOD.

-Land of the Lost. This was a whim. A total, I think this will probably suck monkey balls, but what the hell its free. WELL SMACK MY ASS AND CALL ME CHARLIE. It's really really funny. Like surprisingly, lolling funny. So that goes to show you can't judge a movie by its shitty source material.

-Infestation. I think this was a direct to DVD kinda deal about giant bugs that take over the world. You never do find out why. But you won't care because this was really a decent little flick! Great acting, nifty (if not slightly lowish budget in some shots) effects and a good time was had by all.

-Pandorum. I thought this would be an Aliens/Doom/Event Horizon rip off. And it was. But in the best way possible. Totally slick looking and more fun than a barrel of insane space monkeys that want to kill you and eat your face.

-Inglorious Basterds. Typical Tarantino (with less violence) and so of course being the screamy fangirl I am... I LOVED it. Great pacing, GREAT acting, beautiful. Well done Q.

The media frenzy we held this weekend was a lovely success! We got rid of maybe half of our CD's and 2/3 of our DVD's. I think people really liked picking over the stuff.. and seriously, A LOT of safeway bags were used. We still have lots left though...

And now the pictures I have been saying are here are well.. here.

















See? My vision came together. Chris was not all about the red rug at first (Him: It looks like a pool of blood. Me; Yeah? And? Him: Oh Karen! Me: The kitchen is the most appropriate place for that innit?) but came around when he saw the prints I ordered. AND OMG WEREWOLF. How I love that image. And I love being right.




I have finished another shawl with the most excellent yarn EVER. Diamond Luxury Yarn cashmere silk.



r

a



Never you mind the yucky looking rug, its a weird old Ikea jobby that has this amazing super power of holding yarn so blocking pins aren't needed. Just LOOK AT THAT SHAWL! It's the same one I knit for my Moms, just for me this time. I love it so hard. I will try to take better pictures in a more flattering situation. Maybe an Xmas party or something.

We have Turkey day coming up this weekend and there will be blood food!

We got the beat

We had an unreasonably hot spell last week. For reals who thinks 34 c is good idea in September? NOT ME. Or the dogs. Poor bastards had a rotten time staying cool. Pickles idea is to stay off the ground as much as possible. Max? He sleeps.











But really? It made for some purty pictures didn't it? I love our big blue sky, who knew I was totally a prairie girl?


Of course this lead to me not being able to knit on my ginormous blanket* of sock yarn. No way could I have all the wool on my lap. Gross. So I knit a quick sweater (that I have no pictures of) and started a shawl out of cashmere and silk. Woot.




We have done the almost unthinkable and invited a great whack of people over this Sunday to view our new kitchen. Oh and give away all of our CD's and lots of movies. Since we've ripped most of our music to the compy, the actual physical discs have been quietly gathering dust and taking up space. Movies too. SO MANY MOVIES!** So we thought why not give them to our nearest and dearest. So that means I really do gotta finish up the small bits of decor that have been plaguing me.

In other news...

Jake had his wisdom teeth out with no ill effects so far. It was kinda entertaining to see him all sleepy and compliant. But he is a trooper (tough as nails) and there has been a minimum of complaining. For a teenager. Nice how I had to add that in innit?


*Blanket is larger than it appears.
**Many which I have bought at least three times. VHS, DVD and now Blu Ray. NO MORE I TELL YOU. NO MORE.

poor poor pitiful me..

Hey Guise! We're BACK!

Well not really. Poor bloggy. All alone and somewhat friendless. Chris keeps nagging reminding me about you dear blog. So finally, here I am. hat in hand ready to say I'm sorry I've ignored you for so long.

A quick recap then shall we?

End of July. Nothing much to see here. Please drive through.

August. More of the same. Mostly. We DID plan our kitchen reno! The best place to find out about that is over at Chris' blog. He was much more on the ball than I was about recording the whole thing. I however am in possession of most of the pictures! Which I haven't uploaded off the camera.

UNTIL NOW!!!! (duh duh duuuuuuuuuuh!

In fact to prove how meta I am, I took some more pictures of my NEW DESK as I was writing this post. With the post up on the screen! How internets awesome am I? I have never had my own desk before. I KNOW RIGHT? So since the kitchen is you know, kitchen like now, a work space was a good idea! This is what my morning looks like most days to start.



The mug is one I drew when I was in Grade 1. Seriously a relic of my childhood. Magazine for a little light reading (and OMG ZOMBIELAND SOON!*), yarn, coffee and my little terrarium. I am a bit green thumbed challenged you see.







Top view of the rad.

Now I have all the kitchen photos! I think I'll get Chris to do a photo essay of them. I have some teaser shots for you, but we are waiting on a couple of prints for the naked walls (that look so good painted!)** and we are still discussing rugs. Like we bought one, but it was compromise rug. I dunno.. it's not my vision.



Please to be noticing THE DISHWASHER! It is actually on and hissing bits of lovely steam as I took this picture. You know this has been the longest period of my life that I didn't have a dishwasher. I will run that bastard everyday. It brings me joy. Such sweet joy.





TILE!!


So in other non house related news...

Jakey boy has to get his wisdom teeth pulled out this Friday (the bottom ones are totally HORIZONTAL!) at the oral surgeon. I kiboshed the idea of our dentist doing it, and was commended by the surgeon for that decision. So 3k later.. actually our insurance pays for all but about 100 dollars. THANK VOODOO MAN! Go Jake! He pretends he isn't nervous, but I think different. :)

My Moms is having some health issues right now too. I have been trying to knit for her as I am not there, but it's not the same.

Sweater for Moms. Bamboo and silk. Nice!


Shawl of merino. So much fun to knit I think I'm gonna do another one for me.


And I have been doing some knitting for me too..




Hand dyed and hand spun organic merino garter stitch shawl. I love it. Super snuggly.

I have just finished another sweater as of last night but it's blocking out right now. It took less than a week to knit!!!! And I also have a 10 stitch blanket on the go. In fact I'm hosting a KAL for it on Ravelry on the Calgary Knit Club group. Why haven't you joined yet?













*Which reminds me, we went and saw The Final Destination in 3D! The 3D elevated a normally ho hum. somewhat predictable rube goldberg killing movie into AWESOMENESS. Seriously, I was swatting away things and ducking. Oh 3D. I love you.

**If my back wasn't full of fail, I have no doubt I could paint walls for a living. Oh and fuck diamonds, a palm sander is a girls best friend in the painting world.