Friday, August 31, 2012

Friday Mishmash

So the best thing happened after last Saturday's long run - I found out that one of the women in my running club is a knitter!  Eeeeeeeee!! I was more excited about that than the fact that I'd run a 10K!  Not only is she a knitter, but she's very active in the local knitting guild (which I recently discovered), and she's not a fan of the owner of the local yarn store here in town.  It was a relief to chat with her and realize I wasn't alone in my bad experiences with the bulldozer lady.  And, she recommended another yarn store - it's about 20 -30 minutes south of town, but hey - considering the frustration I feel every time I walk away from the local yarn store, that drive will be worth it.  I'm really, really happy to find a group (you KNOW how I love my groups, be it running or working out or whatever!), and I can't wait to attend my first knitting guild meeting in a couple of weeks!

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Speaking of knitting (oh WERE we??), I finished the pink baby blanket!!!  Woohoo!  My fingers couldn't take much more pokes of those sharp needles, and my hands were cramping up with all the hours I was putting into it.  But it's done, and will be delivered to Coach Dale tomorrow morning - he and his wife became the parents of a sweet baby girl less than two weeks ago!
This pattern is knit on the diagonal...you start in one corner with three stitches and keep increasing each row by two - it felt like it took FOREVER before I got it wide enough to start decreasing down to the opposite corner.  Didn't end up being a fan of this pattern and I doubt I'll do another blanket like this, even though it came out really cute.  Plus, the yarn - James Brett's Marble Chunky - wasn't as soft as I'd like, especially compared to the striped baby blanket that I showed you last week.  But that's the difference between acrylic and merino wool...now I know, and I'll make better choices with my yarn.
 
I decided to girl it up even more by weaving a pink ribbon through the edges - no such thing as too girly, right?  The ribbon is easily removable once the baby is more active, but I liked the sweet touch for now.
Baby blanket #3 is finished!

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I saw this on Pinterest, and while it was captioned "Helping Grandma," it very easily could apply to me:
Seriously, why are there so many buttons?!  And, why do I always hit the wrong ones?

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Roxie had a post the other day about showing gratitude for all that you have by taking care of things (like exercising your healthy body, cleaning your house, etc.) - and it shamed me into deciding to clean one room per day...it's not like I don't have time, but honestly, there's other things I'd rather be doing.  However, living with shedding creatures means that it seems like the house always needs cleaning.  Which gets overwhelming.  So this one-room-per-day thing might make it feel mentally manageable.  I started with my bedroom - even went so far as to clean the cat and dog nose prints off the windows.  Then?  I don't know what happened exactly...I took the curtains down to whack the dust off of them and the room brightened up immensely.  Next thing I knew?  I rearranged the furniture, which was a challenge what with moving a king-sized bed and a heavy dresser by myself.  But I am woman, hear me roar - I got it done, vacuuming and dusting along the way.  Woohoo!  Now, if I were a good blogger, I'd have remembered to take a before picture...as it is, I got a "slightly into the process" shot and then "during" and of course "after" - and the best thing?  My side of the bed is directly under the ceiling fan now, and I'm hoping this helps me stay cool and sleep better.
 
We have plans to paint this room and the adjoining bathroom, but that won't happen until the Christmas break - Jeff likes to paint, but his schedule has him gone too much right now to do any big projects.  I have some new sheets and a coverlet picked out - the walls will be a light gray, and bedding will be white and gray with some blues thrown in.  Should be nice once it's done, but in the meantime, this is a good start toward the change.

Oh, did I mention that Jeff was out of town while I did this?  It's not the first time he's come home to a switched-up house.  Gotta keep things interesting, right?
Almost before - curtains are down, dog crate is moved from corner by the dresser.  I was also in the middle of washing the bedding so the spread is missing.  But the funniest part of this picture is seeing Henry looking in the window - he was sleeping under the bed when I started vacuuming and wisely decided to leave.  Didn't stop him from watching the events from a safe distance, though!
During - I thought about angling the bed (I've done that with a queen previously) but it didn't work for the king.  This was my resting point when I was gearing up to move that dresser to the opposite wall.
After - don't ask me why removing the curtains and just flipping the room makes it look so much bigger, but it feels huge now.  I like it - and now I really can't wait to get it painted and get the new bedding!
 
The gold chair doesn't go, and I wish I could have it recovered in a more contemporary fabric color, but I have race entry fees to pay and running shoes to buy!  Oh well,  at least it shows off the gorgeous cowl that Janell knitted for me - with our weather being so hot so much of the year, I can't wear it very often, but at least I can still see it this way!
Funniest part?  The cats were so disturbed by this that they refused to go into the room for a full day.  They just sat, looking toward it, and then kept glaring at me (I took this picture while sitting at my desk).  I only rearranged one room - imagine how they'll react if we ever move!

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Jeff and I have 7 miles on tap tomorrow with the running club - it's going to be another hot one, so my number one goal is to survive it.  After that, breakfast with some running club peeps, and then a nap.  Live big, right?  Have a great weekend!

17 comments:

  1. HECK YES that's living big....it's my dream day except for the running :-)
    Im off to yoga sunday and then perhaps I, too, will wrangle a nap.

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  2. I love that huge window in the bedroom. Did you put the curtains back up? I like it open, but that might not be practical.

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    1. I have it pulled up, but there is a pleated shade on the window - I have to have something there at night, for sure. I didn't realize how much light the curtains, which just hung down the sides (and a valance across the top) cut off. Plus when I washed them, I realized how faded they were...amazing how you stop seeing things that you live with on a daily basis!

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  3. So the obvious choice is to knit a new cover for the chair! You could start a new fad - re-up-perling the furniture.

    The new layout looks great!

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  4. We had to downsize to a queen bed because our bedroom is small and its the biggest mistake we've ever made. While we don't mind snuggling, when its time for sleep we don't want to be bothered. We are too close in a queen bed - and I have my lookout for a King to replace it - I think like you I will just make the decision one day and see what Tony says after! Good luck on your run tomorrow - you'll do great!

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    1. We got the king when we moved into this house - it's so nice with the heat! I bet Tony wouldn't mind at all if you surprised him with a new bed!

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  5. I love that baby blanket! So pretty with the little ribbon in it.

    That is some major moving/rearranging! That is a big window too. I was wondering if it woke you in the morning (with light coming in) but I see in comments above that you have shades on it. Love the pic of the cat peeking in!

    I'm off to visit Roxie to get shamed into cleaning a room--er, I mean, into showing gratitude!

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    1. So far the shaming is still working...and my house is looking really good!

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  6. I love your bedroom! It's so big! I wish I could come help you paint. I love painting and I am very fast and detailed with it (waaaaay too much experience). The cheapest and easiest way to brighten up a room!

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  7. I'm jealous of your big bedroom and king sized bed. Our bedroom is ok for size but we have that darn colonial style house with the staircase that won't let us get a king size mattress up the stairs. The cats' reaction to the change is too funny!

    Start that running mantra now... you're gonna rock that 7 miles - it's only 8/10ths more than you ran last week :D

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    1. Hit publish too soon... I LOVE that baby blanket. I know it was a hard one but I love it. If I ever get to be a grammy to a little girl, Ima request one just like that.

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  8. Baby blanket is great! You always make me want to get back to my knitting!

    Furniture movers "R" You! Looks great - and I love the big windows and the pup as peeping Tom!

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  9. The room looks awesome, that baby blanket is amazing and I'm down with the immediately-after-showering nap. Go Shelley!

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  10. I love your bedroom!! We have relatively small rooms, but I love to rearrange them and it's also a great time to clean...I also hate curtains! We don't have any in our house :-)

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  11. I love your bedroom, it's so bright and light.
    I used to clean my house on my day off every 2 weeks but I started hating it more and more. So about 4 weeks ago I started cleaning every Monday night and do an extra thing every 2 weeks on Saturday and it's really working for me.

    Yay for finding a running knitting friend and a knitting group: can it get any better?
    I love the blanket, I'm sure they were very happy with it.

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