Happy Halloween.

I've had something brewing all week and finally gave up the ghost at 3 pm yesterday afternoon. I most likely have the flu turning into a cold OR it is the result of a Zombie Bite and I'll be shambling about in no time given the current holiday. I told David he needs to go buy Halloween candy as we have none and in my weakened state I could be easily overwhelmed by Angry Trick Or Treaters. Last night Interview With A Vampire was on so I watched that - I remember when I dragged David to see it years ago in the theater he seemed to feel the plot revolved around depressed hair stylists - but we all knew Brad Pitt was in it - what plot?? It could've been 3 hours of bathroom repair, we would've watched! As you can see from the pictures the shawl is complete (not that I haven't been crowing about it all week on Facebook) - I started a pair of socks but frogged it last night as it needs a much smaller DPN for them not to turn into Mutant Wear. Of course I was way not feeling well last night so I might have also been delirious - but what's done is done. You always want to keep going and hope it will fix itself at some point, but I've realized over the years if it's not coming out right at any point - you need to ditch it. It doesn't matter how much you put into it if no one will wear it. Years ago I made a burgundy and white striped poncho out of too thick yarn, I kept going despite the fact it looked suspicious halfway through. When I was done I realized anyone wearing this particular piece of knitwear would immediately be turned into a Horselike Creature - I secretly (and quickly) donated it to GoodWill where I'm sure it's still on the rack for a dollar. I don't think I'll be doing too much today, I was rather hilariously ill yesterday and alone in the office trying to keep track of everything. The fun thing about the medical profession is it's an expected thing that you'll come to work unless you're actively dying. If you're actively dying - you can go home early. Not that you don't get sympathy - you certainly do, everyone feels bad for you - unless you are HOME being sick - and since the medical profession is chronically short that generally doesn't work and everyone ends up being secretly a little mad at you for lollygagging in bed. This rule applies for everything but vomiting - we can cough, hack, burn up with fever, but vomiting is where we draw the line. Since I only had a fever and a little bit of difficulty breathing I went to work most of the day - answering the phone and so forth. I came home took something and then straight to bed where I remain. But I am feeling better - I wish I could get rid of this headache and it feels like it's moving into my chest but at least I'm not throwing up. Kind of like We'll Always Have Paris.

Sew Sew Your Underwear.

One of the oddest things about me - or probably one of the many odd things about me is that I can knit, crochet, embroider, etc - but I cannot sew to save my life. My mother who is quite talented with a sewing machine did attempt to teach me several times - my efforts found her digging thread out from every corner of her Singer before she graciously removed it from my sight. My last sewing go-around was in 7th grade Home Ec (do they still have Home Ec or have they given it some new unisex generic non-insulting name like Domestic Engineering?)

where I spent an entire semester making a wrap skirt. The teacher spent the entire semester taking that wee little thingy and ripping seams out until the fabric frayed - she passed me with a C - not because I ever was able to produce anything wearable, but I think to get me out of her class. After all, there are many people that go through life without ever wearing a wrap skirt and they manage to do alright. Anyhoo, I've bought a couple of pairs of pants that fit really well - but are two or three inches too long. I figured I would just hem them - I actually do have a little repair kit that has rarely, if ever seen daylight but I keep it Just In Case. So for the past two weeks I managed to evenly pin up the bottoms and have sewn, ripped, re sewn, re ripped, screamed, thrown, flung, more thread, more shrieking - and the pants are still not hemmed. That would be when I remembered I cannot sew. BUT today in AC Moores while looking for more thread - I found this fusible stuff that instead of sewing you can GLUE your hems together - I bought two packages because if this works out I could maybe glue myself a fashionable wardrobe - I could be the Versace of Glue!! In other news I am a row and a half away from completing the shawl and slinging it off - when I' m done, I'm done. I keep it for a day or two to take pictures and admire my handiwork, then off it goes to where I don't have to look at it - and someone else does. I'm a little tired, current events have caught up with me and sleep has been hard to come by some nights. Like most things in life, they ramp up, get great, not so great, big explosion, pick up the pieces, go on - repeat as needed. The Cat Pee house is getting it's other floor of carpeting this week, the new water filter is in place, hot water heater works, the rest of the appliances are coming Monday and David thinks we will be in there by the end of October, the beginning of November. I think right now the house has hit that part of the program where it just feels wet and dirty - I swamped out two of the bathrooms - as tiny as they are both times the bucket of water literally turned black with dirt. It's all sawdust and Spackle, our stuff is jammed in a downstairs bedroom, no phone, no TV yet. We're still back and forth as to what we're doing here - renting or continuing to sell it, I think we'll work something out.

Aging Gracefully - Nah. What's The Point?

One of the things I love about my job is working with people in my own age group. If I say anything about 8 tracks, fanny packs or Jordache jeans, they not only know what I'm talking about - they actually owned them at one time. We have the same sense of humor, moan about the same things, the heat goes up and down depending on what stage of menopause you're hitting today. We have the Boys too - they're all between 25 and 30, they're fun too, but the majority of our staff is about my age. They take turns coming up to the office to help out and even though I'm looking forward to getting my co-worker back - and hopefully soon - having them visit on a regular basis is nice, I think they enjoy it too. Work has started picking up again - so I'm running once again. The hard part is even though I have help 4 days a week everyone is a Helper Bee which means even though they're getting stuff done, it's not a consistent getting things done. I'm still doing a lot because I'm the only one familiar with the patients and the staff - it's just easier to and faster to do it myself then play 20 questions. David has been moving our stuff up to the Cat Pee House - he takes a load up every day. Claw has been driving him NUTS - every time she sees him lately she has to go Out. Then come In. Then Out. Then In - you get the idea. If he doesn't get up and open the door - she howls and carries on - I don't know which is more hilarious - her Melodious Voice or The Wide Variety Of Death Threats followed by long soliloquies on how much David despises Claw the Cat Friend. And being obnoxious and self centered his rabid raves don't appear to affect her much, she just sits there patiently howling away - she has all night and he knows it.

Today Was A Better Day

It's funny how everything will go ka-flooey and then the next day my ship will start to right. If nothing else, today was a good day. Normally we do our shopping in Dickson City but since that will come to an end soon (it will be too far) I suggested we go to Stroudsburg and join B.J.s since they don't have a Sam's Club and check out the local supermarket - I also wanted to get a look at the clubhouse near our new house. Since the lower level was carpeted this week David brought about a dozen of our plastic bins (we have used the John and Carleen Method of Moving the last couple of houses) - we'll be using the smaller bedroom downstairs for storage for now. I took more pictures - it was pretty exciting because now when you walk through the house not only is the cat pee smell completely gone, you can actually see what the house will look like. The appliances will be coming next week - the stove is in good shape but I'm glad we're replacing the fridge as it looks questionable at best. We're putting the paneling issue on the back burner for now since there's so much that needs to be done - and soon as we need to get out of here to get this rented - that we can put up with the Brady Bunch Ambiance for a little while longer. After I watered the plants we headed down to the clubhouse, there is skiing, tennis and an indoor and outdoor swimming pool - it will be so nice to be able to swim all winter. Since we left WV I haven't been swimming once so I'm really looking forward to that. We talked to the woman who runs the clubhouse for quite awhile and then headed to town. We did join BJs and did our shopping, then checked out the local supermarket - we will not be going to the Weis's on 611, way too expensive! We got home about 3 pm, Vincent waiting rather impatiently for dinner. He feels dinner should appear roughly about the same time he does and is a pest if it doesn't. I worked on the shawl a lot this weekend, knitting is my meditation I suppose - the good news is I only have about 16 more rows, the bad news is the rows have grown to almost a thousand stitches per round. I'm glad I bought the 3rd skein - I had thought it would be too much but I think it will be just the right amount as I had to tie it in about 3 rows ago!

It All Rolls Downhill, Doesn't It?

What a week! We went from great, to Eh, to downright scary. The house has been under contract for two weeks - but we were sort of leery as the people were, well, bizarre. They were here multiple times - the RE told us they were here one day for over 3 hours and at one point, they were laying on the kitchen floor with a level. Then they wanted to know if the electric baseboard heat worked - we've never used them because we have an energy efficient furnace but they insisted they preferred electric (heat is heat as far as I know- it's not like it comes in Luxury Heat or Sears Bargain Heat) so they had to come and do that one day. So the inspector comes the other day and everything passed but the septic. The inspector ran the tub full force for about an hour and the downstairs toilet overflowed a bit. Please note that we don't use the bathroom in the basement ( The Prison Bathroom) - it was homemade job the former owner installed and it's been used about 6 times. Also please note very few people run their bathtub full force for an hour but that is neither here nor there. We told the RE we would clear the lines and leave a few thousand in escrow - fair. The next day David opened the front door and there was the guy that wanted to buy the house standing on our doorstep, announcing he needed to measure the garage. Now. David pointed out he'd been to our house many times and the RE was supposed to be with him, not to mention one shouldn't just stand around on other people's front porches. But he did let him measure the garage and the guy started ranting about how his car wouldn't fit - David pointed out that the garage is over 20 feet across - the guy said but he had a VERY big car and then the wife chimed in they would have to add on. Who knows, maybe they fly an Apache to work. They then went to the RE screaming and carrying on about how people that are selling houses should have all the bedrooms on one floor (no, I'm not kidding) and that was that. The funny thing is that morning a guy came up the drive after the Looney Toons left and wanted to know if we would be willing to let him rent with an option to own. And then someone came to look at the house the next day. The Cat Pee House is moving right along, we are leaving the washer/dryer here and I get new ones PLUS a GREAT refrigerator. When we were looking at the washers I saw a fridge on clearance - it was the last one and was marked down from $3600 to $1350 - it even has a wine rack! So we sprang on that too. Work has been a stomach clencher - we started off slow, then were going Great Guns and now we've stalled. So I am reorganizing and trying to figure out what we need to do to get going again. Normally I would just let it roll but with all that's going on everything is larger than life. David took my camera the other day and broke it, Vincent got out last night and refused to come back. it frigging SNOWED and I pretty much hate everyone at the moment. But then of course things start looking up - I fiddled with the camera and fixed it, Vincent came back after a few minutes because sleeping in a ditch is not as fun as it looks, David is at the Cat Pee House because they're installing the carpet and so far (everyone knock on wood!!) we're under budget, my car passed inspection and I got new tires (did I mention it's been a very expensive week?) and I actually started packing a little this morning. We can't pack too much because after moving umpteen times we are seem to following the Spartan Method Of Survival and our attic contents are laughable at best. So I'm sitting on the couch right now, I suppose I should move around - nah.

It Will Always Be The Cat Pee House To Me.

David has moved far enough along to order the dumpster - it's one of those giant ones since he's gutting the entire house. Which incidentally, doesn't smell at all anymore!! Not even a little - if you go in now, all you smell is wood and paint. In order to achieve that effect David has pulled up all the sub flooring, removed the lower half of the sheet rock in the entire house, taken down the paneling, painted over the flooring with an oil based paint to seal whatever smell is left in, removed the wall between the kitchen and the dining room and taken out every square inch of carpeting. Not much. I did a little shopping today but then headed out to the Cat Pee house to load the dumpster. It took me hours, David has been piling up the debris for a couple of weeks now and finally had enough to call. The worst part is it's rained a couple of times which not only made the sheet rock very breakable and heavy, but took the cat pee scent to new heights. I reeked to put in mildly - you truly have no idea how bad you can smell until you spend a couple of hours carting pee soaked sheet rock around - I felt like I had little cartoon stink waves coming off of me. My back is a little sore but I managed to fill the dumpster more than halfway, I don't know who was more surprised - me or David. Pearl spent most of her time whining softly and getting yelled at - she wants you to play with HER and not play in the dumpster which in her opinion has fairly limited entertainment value. We're trying to get in the house by the end of the month, first week of November before it starts getting cold. Er. The temps have already dropped quite a bit and the leaves are very pretty. I'm not sure what to do about my clothes as I don't want to unpack them as I'll just have to pack them again but I'm getting tired of getting dressed in the attic where they're stored.

Vonnegut Revisited.

The hardest part of a house to pack is the attic. Because that's where you store the things you no longer use, but you still want. Our attic contents have dwindled each time we move but we've managed to keep the things that are special to us and get rid of the things that are not. As I started sorting through books I pulled out a copy of Breakfast Of Champions. It's not the original copy I owned at the age of 16 - the one that opened my eyes to the surreal qualities of life, the jaded parts, the fact that no matter how serious it was - it was just a part of life. I read every book Vonnegut wrote and he spoke to me - he voiced my opinions and views, from Slaughterhouse Five to Cat's Cradle. I've occasionally picked up a book here and there as an adult and he still speaks to me, but his views have changed as mine have - I still love him and find Breakfast of Champions - the first one I ever read - the best of his works. It's funny how you forget things, but you never forget books you loved. Ferdinand the Bull I adored, I read A Wrinkle In Time until it fell apart, swooned over Mandingo (oh you did too! Admit it!) and thought I was the smartest person in town when I not only made it through The Merchants Of Venice - but actually understood it. One of the most memorable things I loved reading with my friends was a magazine called Forum - that still cracks me up endlessly every time I think about it. It was a magazine of pornographic stories, real like accounts supposedly. BUT the best was they used euphemisms for every part of the human body - dorky, silly ones which is why when things got boring we would whip out our copy and one person would read - and everyone else would die laughing. For years the phrase "My twin globes of pleasure" would make everyone fall out - you don't want to know. I have no idea how or when we started doing that, but I have to say it's one of my fondest memories. And of course Kurt, I truly believed he had his hand on the very heart of humanity, that he could cut through the chafe and show us all the truth of the meaning of life. And some 17 year old part of me still does.

Better Homes And Gardens. I'm Addicted.

Lately, I've rediccovered the H & G channel - David will be stopped dead in his tracks as he tries to pass by the tv set and is unable. I have no idea why - I know with the new house on the horizon that would make sense. But there's something vaguely galling about two people yammering on and on about their "budget" of ONLY 30,000 - to do the bathroom. They worry and dither on about coming in under budget and occasionally have to settle for the lesser due to constraints. David can do the entire house for under 15,000. That is the real world I suppose. He has been going great guns daily with Pearl coming along, my work has increased accordingly so I'm leaving earlier and earlier and coming home later. I knew this was coming but I wish it hadn't at the same time. I've only gotten one box packed so far, this weekend I'll definately have to get a move on or I'll be left behind! I mailed off Adam's birthday present, there's a post office in the supermarket across the road from our office, it's slow but serves the purpose.

When The Going Gets Tough, Well, I Knit.

I had a little trouble sleeping last night - nothing bad and not too late. It's the normal time squeeze thing - we have only a few weeks for David to finish the Cat Pee House and to trollop over to Where The Other Half Lives. This is the first time we've moved that I don't have a couple of weeks off to pack and dawdle around and with my long hours the amount of help I can be is very limited. That is neither here nor there because David will tell you when it comes to this stuff my main contribution is to drive him crazy worrying and asking a million questions until he threatens to sell me to the gypsies. I did some shopping yesterday and then stopped by the cat pee house, as you can see David is going great guns. I brought him some halloween decorations but he didn't seem to think that was very helpful. I don't like the actual holiday - the kids annoy me and I 'd rather horse down the candy myself, but I do like the decorations. I also raked half the backyard until I was overcome with gnats and David was overcome with the vast amount of complaining about the gnats - Pearl and I went home. I bought Wolverine so I have all the X Men movies, I spent the evening knitting and have only 30 more rows to go. I also had to buy a 60" circular needle to hold all the stitches so it will be awhile longer before it's done - the final rows are almost a thousand stitches a round so each row can take close to 45 minutes at that point. At the moment I'm sitting in bed with Pearl and Vincent watching Cash In The Attic. I spoke to Adam yesterday briefly, he's busy struggling with decisions these days, I don't ask - I figure when he decides what to do he'll let us know. I suppose I should get moving around a little - I think I'll start packing a container a day to hopefully keep it under control. David has been bringing things over every day he goes but until the carpet goes down there's not much of a point.

Can You Hear Singing? Not Yet.

I've been quite busy lately, haven't I? Work, Bushkill, Liz, buying a house, State College, work, on and on. I sleep good though. I do, my head hits that pillow and out I go. David goes to Stroudsburg daily with Miss Pants riding shotgun, she is having a ball. She peers at the deer and races around the yard. She bounces up and down the stairs and makes a general pest of herself. David has had to take down a couple of walls and sheet rock due to the Cat-Pee-Ness - he said some sheets he's taken down will blow your hair back. But it's breathable now and the carpet will be going down in a couple of weeks after he gets the floors and walls settled. Work has been picking up crazy crazy and now we are hitting phase two where we are no longer nibbling at the edges but are now taking large bites - the established agencies are not happy and we've had a couple Sneaky Pete incidents, patient stealing and so forth. I've managed to steal most of them back - and steal a couple more while I'm there. HAHA. There is nothing like a little subterfuge in the morning, is there? My associate is still down in Pittston for further training so I have Special Guest Stars that come and help run the office as it's gotten too big for me to do on my own - it's fun though because it's like working with friends. The shawl continues to grow, I hit row 100 last night - 624 stitches per row and I have about 50 more to go. Then I will do a pair of socks since I like to do a little pair of socks in between the major projects. It gives me time to think about it. I have to send off Adam's present - I think of it but I usually dilly dally around until it's late. I'm bad like that.