It’s time….

I’m on my way down to Philly. Details when it’s over. Wish us luck!

Or The Happy Househooker: How to Keep Your Husband Happy and OUT* of the Bedroom.

[Look people, if you’ve come here looking for baby news or knitting news go home! There’s no baby yet and the only knitting being done around here is ripping. The short row section of the short row pullover to be exact. I couldn’t stand the ends anymore. Thinking I might try a Russian Join, but I’m not sure how to get it all to match up perfectly. Fine. There’s your knitting content. Happy now?]

So yesterday I was bored out of my mind, which is not a good thing for Ms. January One. Being bored out of my mind tends to drive me out of my mind very, very quickly. So to keep the demons at bay, I decided to continuing cleaning. I finished the dining room, aka mail dump location, and started on the living room on Monday. Yesterday I finished the living room – but not without a little attachment fun.

Here I am stroking a cushion with the brush head.

Let me tell you, I worked the furniture over so good it would’ve made the Fly Lady cream her panties.

No position was left unturned…

It was all quite scandalous. The stuffed animals were appropriately shocked…

Well, not really. Here you can see Little George trying to sneak a peak:

And Mr. Cool Red Faux Leather Jacket Bear? He provided the mood music.
Squeeze his hand and he belts out “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Baaabe” by the Love Maestro himself, Barry White.

Want a close up of the action?

Whew! I worked up quite a sweat.

It was worth it though. G was extremely happy when he came home. So happy, *I couldn’t get him off my newly cleaned couch. By the way, that’s the worst part about cleaning. Two seconds later, it needs to be cleaned again.

The living room is all in order again:

Even the monkeys are happy!

Look – can you see it? It’s my first project ever! A four color (trust me on this) slip stitch afghan with a crochet edge – it’s something like 5’x6′ – maybe bigger. Life size BABY!

Today, I might have to bring the vacuum into the bedroom – Sorry – NO CAMERAS ALLOWED!

I’ll be back….

I’m back. Heard from my sis. She’s now a whopping 2.5 centimeters. We’re going to be here all night!

And a disclaimer. It may look to you, from the pictures above, that I like to clean and/or do it often. If you think this, I apologize for misleading you. I can count the number of times the cushions have been off my sofas (for cleaning – doesn’t count fort making – with the kids of course!) ON ONE HAND. And I don’t use all my fingers on that hand either.

The cleaning you see here was a way to stem the insanity of waiting for my sister to have her baby already. That and the fact that things that were once living were beginning to get stuck in the cobwebs. I’m not lying about that, either.

So don’t see my burst of Spring cleaning as anything other than that. Try to remember that Spring only comes once a year.

Hope that makes you all feel better about your own cleaning habits. I think I may knit today. Hmmm. There’s a novel idea.

Georgie, travel maven extraordinaire, just called with some breaking news:

You can now travel with knitting needles when flying across the pond on British Airways. Oh yeah. And you can use metal forks again too.

Just in case anyone wants to knit a nice gift while on the way to toast Charles & Camilla.

Man am I freaking bored today.

[Warning. There is absolutely NO KNITTING content to this post at all. Read at your own risk.]

Something’s wrong with my Internet. I can’t read any typepad blogs for one, so if you’re a typepader, please forgive my lack of comments. (I am getting blogline updates, which is oh so frustrating!) I hate that. And my pictures aren’t showing up on my blog. Which is really frustrating because I changed the place where I hosted my pictures because the OLD place I hosted my pictures completely flaked out on its customers for a little bit. Now the old place is working, and the new place is wonky.

It’s like half the sites are working for me and half the sites aren’t. I was on the phone with Comcast for a little while (can I tell you how much I like their customer service – it’s based in Canada – the people are ALWAYS so nice. Even when you’re yelling at them.) My connection kept going in and out yesterday. I’m registering an IP address, but surfing is hit or miss. So frustrating, because that means instead of spending the whole day on the computer wasting time (not that blog reading is wasting time) I’ll have to continue cleaning my house. I have to keep reminding myself about the attachments. I’m excited about the attachments. Attachments.

Thank you all so much for your kind words about my back. It, like the internet, hears you when it feels like it. But I am on the mend. I may attempt to run today. I think it will be warm enough so I don’t have to worry about stiffening up on the cool down.

No baby yet. This waiting is killing me. I almost went down there today. But I’m holding out for the call.

Typepad people – remember – I still love you!

ETA: Well, I decided to experiment. I connected to the Internet through that dreaded tool of the populace – AOL. Through a dial-up modem. We’re talking ancient history here people. And guess what? I can get into all the wonky sites. Typepad. The picture site. (No – not that picture site.) So I called Comcast again and guess what the lovely tech told me? There’s a problem with New Jersey. Yeah. Like I needed a cable tech to tell me that. Yo. They’re working on it.

To write about, that is.

My sister’s still pregnant. My back still hurts. At least it’s not STILL raining. Did that all weekend.

I did finish up a huge job on Saturday. I was editing, touching up and preparing for print over 600 photos for a friend. She took them, I fixed them up. It’s one of the saddest things about the move to digital most families are making. They don’t get prints! I shoot digital on my jobs, but the parents would never know it from the end job. They get a beautiful leather-bound brag book filled to the brim with prints. My friend doesn’t have any pictures of her youngest child – they’re all on the computer.

Cara to the rescue. She’ll be getting a box of 574 prints by the end of the week. Suffice it to say, the situation’s been remedied.

But, in sitting at the computer all day Wednesday thru Saturday doing this job – my shoulder felt like it was going to fall off – I think completely unrelated to the back pain – but still exasperating all of it. So when I finished the job on Saturday, I curled up on the sofa and took a nap. No knitting. And yesterday I didn’t knit either – my shoulder hurt too bad. Instead I watched an absolutely torturous afternoon Lifetime movie. (Bad, BAD choice for me! On SO many levels.)

When I finally stopped crying, I cleaned up the dining room in my house. I vaccuumed and everything! I even used the attachments on the vaccuum! (Nothing like spicing up housework with attachments. I highly recommend it.) I’m moving on to the living room today. My shoulder feels a little better – I think I’ll knit as well.

KNITTING QUESTION!
For those who’ve made the Ribby Cardi – what was your strategy for picking up the stitches for the front bands? Every third one? Every other one? I started out once on this and was looking at 400 stitches instead of 99. I’m too lazy to figure this out these days. Thanks for any heads up.

Now that I’m done my projects – I told my sister she can go any time. I’m getting anxious waiting! I may go down tomorrow to help out whether the baby comes or not – the kids are home from school – and my sis is about at the end of her tether.

Have a great Monday!
Love, Cara

Everybody else is doing it…

Just thought I’d join in on the fun. (Thanks girls, for the inspiration!)

Thank YOU for all your suggestions on what to do with my back. I checked out that Rolfing, Juno, and it looked interesting – not necessarily for me, but for Georgie. My back is on the mend. I slept much better last night – which is the most important thing. I need my rest if I’m going to be tackling them younguns pretty soon. (By the way, I closed the contest. Check back for the winner!)

John Paul II. I’ve been thinking about him – as is everyone – and I have to say, being Jewish, I really haven’t thought much about him in my life. He became Pope when I was eight. My one big memory of the Pope is when he came to Philadelphia, where I grew up. For some reason I was in the house of a neighbor girl, Mary Ellen, not someone I was ever close with, and I remember her father on his knees in front of the TV watching the Pope. Praying, with tears in his eyes. The girl’s father was very intimidating and strict and I’ll never forget his humility. It’s stuck with me all these years.

My other anecdote, I guess, is that I have one degree of separation from the Pope. My father-in-law is a Greek Orthodox priest (they can marry if they do so before they’re ordained) and he went to Rome and met the Pope. There is a picture of the two of them in my in-laws living room. Knowing my father-in-law, I would’ve LOVED to have been present for that conversation!

Anyway, just some thoughts for a rainy, dreary Saturday. I have a little bit of work to finish up and then I’m home free. And Georgie will be home all weekend – his meetings were canceled – which makes me so happy! We’ve been missing each other. I’ll get a little TLC this weekend. 😉 And I’m still waiting by the phone on my sister. The call should come real soon.

Speaking of babies, if you get a chance, go on over to Larissa’s. She’s currently relegated to the couch awaiting her babe and while she’s there, she churning out a rather unique pinwheel of her own! Go cheer her on!

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Yeah. That’s how early I was up this morning. Not because of any god damn good reason – because I’m in pain! About ten years ago Georgie was on a business trip and I slept in our big bed all by my lonesome. I slept in a weird position in the middle and it got a little too cold in the bedroom – so I froze like that. Literally. The next day I couldn’t move. My neck and my back between my shoulders was unmovable – and if I tried to move – excruciating.

So now it’s my weak spot. Every now and then I get a little cold and stay in one position too long and WHAMO! I’m in pain all over again. I’m up early today because it hurts to sleep. Every time I want to roll over or change positions, I have to wake up and move my whole body at one time. Then you’re up and the wacky, crazy, not enough medication in the world thoughts start and whatever. You might as well get out of bed. Why lay there if you’re just going to suffer.

Before you all start telling me how wonderful chiropractors are, I went to one once. I went a few times actually. I think the guy had a crush on me or something because he seriously started wigging me out. Then I went once and I never went back again. No, nothing I would testify to in a court of law, but I did not feel comfortable. Sort of gave me a bad taste in my mouth as far as back-crackers are concerned. Besides, it’s a total muscle spasm type of thing. If I dig my fingers deep into the muscles below my shoulder blades, I can move my head/neck with no problems, no pain.

I can still knit, so don’t feel too bad for me. I always feel guilty about my pain. My husband’s been in some sort of pain since he was fourteen years old. Literally. He’s had four knee surgeries, hernia surgery and hip surgery within an eight year period. He has the hips of a man twice his age. That’s what the doctors told me. He has the hips of an eighty-yr-old man. My pain will go away. Therefore, it’s not so bad.

One good thing happened to me that I forgot to mention. Mrs. Pilkington gifted me with the most outrageous project book.

The book, Knit An Enchanted Castle, by Jan Messent, has instructions to knit not just a castle, but talking trees, a unicorn, a wizard, knight on horseback, princess in the towers, DRAGON – it’s crazy! I’m afraid to show it to my nephew because he will insist I knit every last item in this book immediately! And the kid never forgets, so I’ll be reminded of it every five seconds. Better I just knit the dragon – and maybe the castle – and surprise him. Thanks Mrs. Pilkington! You made my day!

I’ve been a downer this week huh? Sorry about that. Tomorrow is my sister’s due date. She goes to the doctor this morning. Today is your last chance to enter the contest. Don’t delay! There’s a baby on the way!

Thanks everyone for your comments on my short-row pullover. (Hey! Has anyone out there in blogland actually finished this sweater? It’s not, like, impossible, is it?) I think what I’m going to do for now is pull out all the ends I knit in during the short-row section – and see how the stitches look then. If it comes down to the fact that I have to weave in the ends, then fine. Jen has graciously offered to pour the drinks while I’m doing it – you know so I don’t waste away while it takes me 8 yrs to do…. (PS – head over to her blog and see the great afghan she recieved from some kind hearted knitters!)

During Gilmore Girls repeats, I spent some time with the Pinwheel Blanket – I’ve got a round an half left on the 4th skein. The blanket is basically knit stitch – stockinette in the round – and there was something really comforting about that last night. Margene knows what I’m talking about – she wrote about it today. And I got a nice comment from Genia – who wrote the pinwheel blanket pattern. What a nice lift this morning, especially since I’ve been feeling very bitter-sweet lately, which is tough to take since I’m very much a milk chocolate kind of girl.

My sister’s having a baby. Like any second now. You mean, you didn’t hear? 😉 One of the greatest times in the history of our family. I’m sure you know by now how close I am with my nephew and niece – I love them beyond words. And now another baby to love beyond words. The kids are excited, the adults are a little bit crazed, and as much as I hate it, I’m a bit sad about the whole thing. I haven’t talked about it much here, but Georgie and I have been trying to have our own baby for going on three years. We’ve been through a lot, more than I ever thought, and nothing’s resolved. Some of it, most of it, stems from my own issues, since thankfully reproductive science can help us immeasurably.

There’s a part of me that prays holding that precious new baby will throw me over the edge of my doubts and fears. And there’s a part of me that is just so sad that this isn’t my baby, no matter how much I love her/him. My sister is beyond generous with her children’s time and love – and I am forever grateful for that. Another sad thing, Georgie and I will inevitably be a part for a while. While I’m so happy to be down with my sister’s family helping out, I miss him more than he ever knows. Part of the time he’ll be away in China, so I would be at my sister’s anyway, but that doesn’t mean I don’t miss him any less.

Spring has finally sprung around here – I say with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek – don’t want to piss off any weather gods – and while everything is being reborn around me, I’m dying a little inside.

How’s that for awful? 😉
Thanks for listening. Get outside today. It’ll do you some good!
Love,
Cara

PS – Thanks Secret Pal for the song this morning – just what I needed!!!!