adaptation

I like to think of myself as someone who adapts well when hit with a new situation. DD and the babies are in, still sorting thru clothes and things and deciding what to store and what to keep here. Babies came with colds, so sleep hasn't been overly abundant. Just trying to settle into a routine everyone can live with for a while. DH tends to hide out at his pc, then makes the run toward the bedroom at night. BG has been a big help running little errands and helping to entertain the little ones. I gave her the week off 'school' till things settle down a bit more. Truthfully, I don't think I could pull a lesson out of my head this week. (or any other convenient crevice of the body)
Almost done with my Ankh-Morpork swap items. Wish I could have thought of more creative things, but time slipped away fast on this one. Considering they are due to be mailed tomorrow, and all the scurrying with house prep and 2 DDs moving, I am doing well. (I still have hair and it isn't any greyer that I can see)
Kit still won't leave my wool alone. When she couldn't find a skein to swipe, she found my Fawkes socks and ran off with them! She is definately a wool-gatherer. We think she was a sheep dog in a former life.

edited 'cheers and growls' to include pic of Fawkes socks

In the continuing saga..........

Argh. Just when you think you have it mostly together, it comes undone. RoD is as complete as its going to be till DD and babies move back out. Sitting back on my laurels (tuckus really) (ok,ok, its an ever widening franny) and enjoying a little down time logging in my points at Chore Wars, BG comes up to talk with a popsicle in her hands. She off handedly mentions that she had to get it out of the big freezer cause the ones in the little one were all liquid. Now I know what you are thinking. Did I get up and run down to see why? NO. Its amazing how we sometimes tune out the little ones when they chatter at us all day and that's just what I did. Said the appropriate 'mommy' answer.."Uh huh" and didn't think about it. Didn't think about it at all till DH woke me at 5 am and said those awful words "Honey, the fridge is dead". Thankfully, we have been having sub freezing weather here, so everything I could rescue from the warm box in the kitchen went out on the back porch. Called around, found a good deal on new fridges at Sears, went and bought one, then came back to finish cleaning up the mess. Checked the sticky trap we put under there when we saw a mouse in the fall...empty..yeah! Moved the fridge out to find a herd of dust bunnies and 2 dead mice! eewwww! A couple of 15s of cleaning brought me a clean floor and tiles. Now I just had to wait for the new one to be delieverd..the next day. New one was installed with a minimun of fuss and looks great. Now to keep it clean..
Did you notice I mentioned Chore Wars above? Reclaiming the Home on Ravelry started a group. Looked like so much fun, I showed the ladies in my Noodlebug/FlyLady chat and we started our own. I created a list of about 120 items of chores around the house, we claim our chores for time and little virtual rewards and 'gold coins'. Its a great way to track what I actually have done and what I need to do. Another yarn-a-holic and I promised each other we would not buy any new yarn til we reached a certain level of points. Good incentive, huh?
DD#3 is supposed to be moving in here with little ones tomorrow. DD#2 is also moving into their new house this weekend. Hoping to start with a cleaner house before all the confusion starts.
OTN: still the BBS, Bloody Stupid Johnson hat, and swap item for Ankh-Morpork Knitter's Guild swap

Room...ahhh..hmmmm

Well, DH likes it, but just not sure myself. Was in love with the soft brown of the paper, but it has to be sealed. So I got the clear satin varnish they recommend and....
Its a bit darker than I would like, but I guess it does have that 'leather' look we thought it would have. Not sure its the romantic retreat I was thinking....more like living inside a tree or cave. Will have to see when I get bed and decorations in to warm it up a bit.
But first...DD#3 gets to use it with her 2 little ones while they get on their feet again.

Room of Doom walls done!

here is the corner before, cracks and ugly old paint

then finished

update on RoD

The Room of Doom is slowly becoming the Room of Delight. 3 walls done in the ripped brown paper so far, turned the corner and ran out of paper, so dh is ripping more as I speak. The rest of the house is barely managable right now. Just trying to keep on top of the important things like dishes and meals.

lol..just saw the date on the image...looks like I need to update the camera.

More later with final pics

textured ceiling

how to get a texture ceiling:
Option A:
1) open can (this can take up to 10 mins, so be patient),
2) stir gritty thick stuff being careful not to break paint stirrer (option ..get a 2x2 to stir)
3) scoop into paint pan (can't pour...maybe glop)
4) roll special looped roller in texture paint...push hard
5) find a wall scrapper..evenly distribute gritty mess around roller that doesn't roll
6) apply to ceiling using a light touch at first to distribute texture
6a) swear
7) increase pressure on roller to push, shove, roll, and generally spread the grit
7a) more swearing may be in order
8) apply light pressure to even out all the different peaks of grit
9) wipe up floor where excess grit fell
Congratulations. You have just textured 1 square foot of your ceiling!
Repeat 1-9 until 12 x 12 ceiling is covered or until your arm falls off, your neck cramps, or you throw in the towel.

Option B: Hire someone

Room of Doom

Well, all I can say is that it is progressing. We now have a time limit to get it done. Just as we were taking down the ceiling paper, DD called and asked if she and the 2 little ones could move in til she got a job, apartment and generally on her feet. What's a mother to do? Of Course we said yes.

So DH worked away finishing the ceiling scraping. As you can see, the ugly flowered wallpaper is gone leaving these even uglier dark pink painted walls which have another 2 layers of paper under them. So we primed the walls and ceiling white. Then noticed areas where the paper lifted under it from being wet.
So back to scraping! I was so mad. About 1/3 of the walls had to be re-scraped! Thankfully we had bought 2 gallons of the primer knowing we would need them to do both ceilings and walls.
Work was on hold for a few days as DD and babies were here for a short visit before she went back home to pack up the rest of her house.

Walls and ceiling are all primed now, cracks filled.

Next stage is to lightly texture the ceiling to cover imperfections. Then we plan on using the brown paper technique which will hide problems in the walls. Will post pics when it is all said and done.

In knitting news, the Nagini socks have been totally frogged and I will think of something different to use the yarn for. After turning the heel (which was a reverse heel flap, not a tradional short row heel) I found it was 3 inches too long for my foot and...had I added googly eyes.. would have made an interesting snake sock puppet.

I am starting the toe decreases on the BBS for Socks for Soldiers...just in time for the Army to change regulation colors again!

Started the first short row sequence on my Bloody Stupid Johnson hat http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter07/PATTbsjohnson.html

Got my Pratchgan square finished and mailed. Made 3 dish cloths for the January swap, mailed out with a bag of OSU M&Ms and a row counter I made in OSU colors. Received 5 beautiful dish cloths from my swap partner. 2 Gloden Snitches, a PoA (large blue), NY state (white) and my name! (small blue) How cool is that!