gaysknits

i hardly have time...

to breathe anymore!  we were without power for half of this past weekend resulting in a loss of food and good cleaning of the fridge and a shopping spree to restock said fridge.  the guy and i still found the time to install the window we previously purchased in the north wall of the front porch.   this summer is flying by and i have not accomplished even a fraction of my to do list.  part of the reason is the heat. i don't do well in the heat anymore and i just stop working i'm hoping to pick up the pace as fall moves in.   but then again the guy wants to do another beach vacation..but when? this past sunday was pleasant in the early afternoon when we got started so it made the project easier.  we finished by dinner time and after work tonite i dressed in my paint clothes and climbed the ladder to prim the new wood siding.  next up is brushing on the paint which i figure i can do in an hour or so but only after i buy more.  after that  we'll install wood siding on the inside wall and then that will get painted.  we figure we can get the front window installed in an afternoon especially since now we know how to do it!  the door make take a bit of designing and then i'll finish the floor. easy peasy huh?  what am i nuts? like i have nothing better to do.   we are crushingly busy at work giving me hardly a moment to breathe and am working 6 hours  this saturday as well and will still be crushingly busy after that i'm sure.  the fact is that i'm chomping at the bit to do some decorating!  i love decorating!   i hope to let the dragon live out there in summers and free up some of the space in the house.  he is getting bigger and is in need of a new cage again because he gets no space to run around and is rather anti social so he doesn't get out much!  but where to put the damn thing. ah well.  i've been remiss in my blogging of late. i didn't even write anything about my spc for lack of time and inspiration.  the fact that doctor ruth is away on vaca is not helping.   she is my audience of one and if i dare to miss more than a nite of blogging as soon as i walk into my office i hear  "what were you doing that was keeping you so busy that you couldn't write few words to entertain me?"  i have been doing a bit of knitting too just not finishing anything up.  the knitting is the part that entertains me but the final product seems to be what entertains readers so i  can offer no entertainment to anyone it seems! i took a pic of fifi with a good bit of one sleeve done and the start of poppi in purples!  later...love   g

this is the year for...

things to break and the year to buy new ones.  this time last year the a/c broke, then this winter the furnace, then in spring the ceiling fan, then a month back the dryer but it healed itself now the washing machine is on it last legs.  i see no healing in it's future. every time i wash a load of clothes and i seem to do that quite often i find myself hissing and swearing and fiddling with the knob so i'm buying a new washing machine tonite...hopefully.  i plan to hit the sears outlet store and get myself a nice $1000 machine for a fraction of the cost...or i'll go to the regular sears and buy one of the five i've already picked out. it's a tough decision. front or top load, agitator or plate or tumble, tub sizes from 3.2 to 4.5, efficiency ratings, cycles for delicates, heavy duty,  wool, hand wash yikes it's enough to make your head spin. but before i let mine spin off my neck i made a few decisions and printed out a few of my choices so i wouldn't forget when i got there to shop around. the dryer i have now has a bad case of the ugly going on. she is over sized which is a good thing if you are a dryer and she works and dries like nobody's business so even though she is ugly and old and dated and no longer stylish she will be allowed to live in the basement until such time as she decides she wants to go to the home for decrepit dryers or to dryer heaven.  i will not be replacing her unless the sears outlet store has a dryer giveaway tonite then i'll apologize to old faithful and move on! 

a bit later in the evening...

i hardly gave the guy time to put his feet up before i dragged him to the sears outlet.  this is an outlet like you've never seen.  if you've never been there go...go as soon as you might be in the market for an appliance or for anything sears sells.  i did a good bit of research before i went looking for a washer and had an idea of what i wanted...if only i could afford it!  the outlet is selling their appliances for as little as  $200.00 less than the price in the regular sears and sometimes more!!! wow!!! i bought my dream machine for less than the price of the machine i could afford and was willing to settle for.   i didn't get the 10% off i was expecting or the free delivery i would have gotten at the sears store but that's when the dakota came in handy. the guys at the outlet loaded her and the car salesman came over within minutes of my call for help to offload it with the guy and as i speak she is washing my delicates on hand wash mode!   i have pictured for you the maiden wash  of the dirty towels we used to wipe up the floor. this machine has a glass top...it is a top loader for reasons that i won't go completely into but when and if the door latch fails the water will not pour all over the floor even if there is less water it will still be in the machine.  the glass top came in handy though tonite because the three of us and one of the three dogs watched the whole wash cycle..it was better than tv and more entertaining.   we watch paint dry though so we can't be the judge of what is entertaining.  and the good old dryer almost got replaced as i could've bought a matching electric dryer for only $347.00...red ticket item!!! i say that as i kick myself in the ass but as the guy says if the dryer works let it work and they will have good prices and a nice selection when she stops working!  words of wisdom if i ever heard them and i am holding out for a gas dryer anyway!   for those of you in the market for a riding lawn mower check out the prices in the sears outlet and you'll be riding in no time!  now the biggest of my weekend chores has been accomplished!  happy laundering and later...love   g

shop & return & shop...

and shop & return & shop and shop & shop again.  that pretty much sums up my saturday!  saturday morning while the young lady was riding horses the little guy and i went to return some globes i bought for a lamp at home depot and we picked out a new globe which was nouveau art glass and it melted as soon as i lit the light so i returned it and bought our second globe choice which by then the young lady was along for the ride and she approved of the second choice globe so we bought it.   the  second stop for the little guy and i was to return two other globes i had bought to lowes and while there i treated myself to these really cool handles for my kitchen cabinets that i've been wanting and admiring and miscounted  the needed number in the store because the little guy was entertaining the sales girl by telling her that the handles were not for his room because he doesn't even live with these people...meaning me...and then he cleared it right up by saying i was just gay...not a relative or anything and so i was looking out for the police the whole time expecting someone had called 911 to say some gay lady had a little blond boy and he didn't even know her!   jeeze kids say the darnedest things.  so we returned again to buy five more handles to complete the project along with a new rechargeable screwdriver to replace the one from the drugstore that lasted only halfway through the job.   the young lady is a heck of a good handle installer by the way!  the third stop for the little guy and i was to old navy to buy a pair of capri pants for me to wear to work but really i look like crap in capri pants except for the one pair i bought at old navy so i bought another just like them in a khaki color but they were the wrong size and i really don't like khaki pants that much so i returned them with the young lady in tow and instead of capri's i bought a black short skirt...cute and it'll work out great for riding the motorcycle huh...again out come the leggings! while we were there the little guy wanted something red as he has decided that red is his favorite color so he picked out two red things...a pair of shorts in bright red and a shirt in a dark red which he thought...against all fashion advice from me and the young lady...looked really good together as he could combine all shades of red in one outfit!  he is four so fashion is emotional for him! he wants his new bedroom painted red but that is not gonna happen so i suggested he have a red bedspread and he added red and blue and black and yellow and...ok so stripes is the look we're going for now!  anyway the young lady scored some tanks in green and fushia and the obligatory black and brown and a black tee and black flippies and i scored a black skirt and ivory and red tanks and a hippie red shirt which i hope shrinks as i do not layer as i must be wierd or something!  so you thought i really had a toad and a lizard in my kitchen huh?  really i do but now i also have these!  today weather permitting me and the guy and the daughter go on a motorcycle run for the pittsburgh vintage grandprix...thunder run!  i love these handles!  they make me smile every time i'm in my kitchen which makes doing the dishes a lot easier to swallow!  i had planned a trip to bonnies knits for some bamboo yarn and a gander at what's on the summer sale rack but one can only shop so much even for yarn!  later...love   g

after...

creamy new paint and evening sunday sky and i am too tired for words!

later...love   g

i'm in the middle...

of my five days off and the only knitting i've done is the the one inch of calmer knitting that i've already showed you. i  really wanted to be done painting last night and i tried to be done but i ran completely out of steam and hardly had enough in me to shower and crawl to the chair to pass out!  i never really wanted a blue vinyl shower curtain with fish on it.  my taste in shower curtains was more laura ashley/shabby chic type flowery prints until i felt the need for something more clean and modern as i was surrounded by vintage/antique dark wood and brocade.  i discovered the heavy gauge patterned clear vinyl shower curtains were my cup of tea.  they let so much light in and for someone as nearsighted and as vision impaired as i am it was a match made in heaven.  when my clear window pane patterned vinyl shower curtain tore beyond repair and needed replaced i went looking for a heavy clear vinyl one with large polka dots in bright colors like green and fuchsia and orange and blue and since i invented the design for this shower curtain in my head...instead i found the fishes and what a disappointment it turned out to be.  too dark to let any light in and too much blue in my green bathroom and lets not forget too...tacky.  my dream shower curtain is white and sheer but really my dogs spend more time in my bathtub than i do just looking for interesting things to sniff and drops of water and soap scum to lick and i feel fairly certain they could do some serious harm to any crisp white sheer shower curtain that was hanging in their way into or out of the bathtub so...no white for me. the fishes...they found another use as a drop cloth and what a fine drop cloth they turned out to be.  i can only assume that leaning with all my weight onto the extension ladder and bracing myself with my shins is the cause for the battle wounds on my legs.  the bruises are from whatever i banged into.  this my friends is a photo taken after i showered and scrubbed the paint off and washed off the dried blood that had been running down the front of my legs!  isn't she lovely.  i'm off to sit on the roof with a weber master series power sprayer in hand or a brush!  later...love   g