To Yarn or Not To Yarn - Is That Really Even A Question?

The one thing that is lacking in my world here is all things yarn related. There are no knitting groups to join, the stores are bit far - I can of course order it, but where's the fun in that? And the other end of it is if these things do exist here, I may just not know where they are. We do have a yarn store in town but it's a little hard to hit, she's only open for 4 hours on Saturday and we are never around. I've gone into a few other knitting shops but nothing really stands out to me, some of them are very blah or they do multiple things which I understand, it's hard to live on yarn sales alone. But if they do more than one thing the yarn is usually a very small display stuck in a corner somewhere which is disappointing to say the least. But things are looking up a bit, there's a nice shop in Port Townsend I can go to when we visit the girls and I found a couple of festivals! I always do the Pittsburgh Fiber Festival with friends, we shop, go  to lunch and then at the end of the day compare what we got good, discussing what we are planning on knitting with it.

I miss that. 

I found the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival on Facebook of course, it looked pretty size able so I Google mapped it - 82 miles. So I'm sure you're sitting there in your smug, yarnless home thinking - "82 miles - for YARN? Each way?". Yup. David was all on board for it and volunteered to drive - since we're still fairly new to the area we try to do a different destination every couple of weeks. We've been to North  Portland, Vancouver, Olympia, Port Townsend, Brownsmead to name a few.  We drove to Hillsboro because I had a coupon for Old Navy, Sauvie Island to see how the duckhunting would be, Vancouver to  check out the Restore and of course the infamous trip to Winlock to lay eyes on the World's Largest Egg.  It's just easier to explore if you have a destination in mind no matter how small or silly it might be. It was supposed to rain but - it didn't! It was perfect weather for a drive. We got there at 9:30am, half an hour after they opened the gates and I was so glad we went early. The first huge parking lot was filled and closed, the next one was 2/3's full - and it wasn't even 10am. The first thing we did was hit the coffee and donut stand to fortify, then off to the races. It was, I believe bigger than the Pittsburgh festival and if you've ever been to that one you should be impressed. David ended up having a much better time than he thought he would - we visited the rabbits first, there were tons of them and most of them didn't even look like rabbits! There was an albino white angora I was in love with, the owner took it out so we could pet it - I can't tell you how soft it was, it was like petting a cloud. They also start at about $150 a bunny, which in our house would just translate into an expensive appetizer for Molly&Rueben so it stayed there.

We looked at goats and sheep, the competition pieces and of course - YARN. OMG, you name it - they had it. I didn't buy a huge amount but I got some really nice lace weight. I stopped buying knitting stuff awhile ago, I have pretty much everything I need or want at this point. When we moved I gave away boxes and boxes of books- with Ravelry I can just buy the pattern instead of a whole book that I just like one or two things in.  Before we left PA I gave a friend of mine's daughter a boat load of needles, books, yarn and some other sundry items - yes, I could have sold it or donated it. But I remember when I first started knitting how much I loved it  when someone gave me anything knitting related - why not do that for someone else? David made a comment that there were no bargains and no, there aren't - because the yarn is specialty yarn, most of it is hand dyed and some of it is hand spun - one of a kind stuff. We stayed about 3 hours, David had lamb sausage for lunch which he liked, then we went to the local Restore to see if there was anything good - there was but nothing that we needed right now. We did get some new wooden drawer pulls (25 cents apiece) to replace the hideous giant fakey gold ones on the cabinet in the dining room so there was that. And then we wandered home, it was, all in all, a good day. 

Stop Right There.

Today while I was cleaning the song "I'll Be" was playing on my Alexa. That song for me is bittersweet because it was very popular right before everything in my universe changed. David will occasionally tell me I'm never really happy, but that's not true - and it's not true for most people. Because if you sit and think about it there were times in your life when you were truly and completely happy and if you're currently at that point I would suggest you hold onto it as tight as you can and enjoy it without worrying about what tomorrow will bring. 

I have to say one of the happiest years was when Jackson was in 11th grade, we were living in the biggest and best house in Maidsville WV with the swimming pool and pastures, the driveway sloped down to the road in the loveliest way. Pearl was in her prime, so healthy and so funny everyday - we hiked almost every weekend. We had so much room to roam around, I had a broken down lawn chair by the barn where I would sit and read while Pearl ran around like her hair was on fire. She had a dog friend named Ginger that came to play everyday til her owner called her home. Jackson was busy with friends, Adam was stationed in Norfolk and we got to see him so often. My job was actually OK, enough to keep me busy but not so much to make me crazy, I looked out from my front yard over the hills of West Virginia.David and Jackson took Pearl hunting, Vincent the cat was a hilarious pain in the ass, 

it was wonderful. 

But then that stupid song started playing all the time, everywhere you went. Jackson hit his senior year and joined the Navy. David decided he didn't want to live in WV anymore and put our house up for sale, my job started to suck lemons. I can remember the day the recruiter drove off with my last child - I just wanted to go get him, just one more year, a month - anything. We packed up the house after that, Vincent crying in the empty room that had been Jackson's  desperately looking for his boy - the day  the moving van drove off  I remember sitting in that echoing living room holding Pearl and crying like the world was going to stop - or maybe like it wouldn't. And I could not stop crying, I think I cried a big hole in my chest or at least it felt like that and that stupid song kept playing. Then we moved to the Poconos and that sucked a lot. But I found a job that I really liked  - I liked it so much we stayed for two years which by the way is pretty impressive if you've ever heard me talk about the Poconos - lovely place to visit bullshit place to live. Then we went back to my beloved WV - and things slowly started improving again. And now we are here. I'm four hours from my family and one from the best friend anyone has ever had in the universe. That's right, it's epic - hopefully you have an epic best friend. I can see the mountains again and better yet, I can also see the ocean whenever I want. So if anyone ever says you are never happy tell them you are - you're  just  smart enough to know you can't be happy all the time and you're grateful enough to appreciate when you are. 

The Pot Roast Diaries

What inspired me to make a pot roast was Kim - she's trying to get her diabetes better under control and they were coming over for dinner. The lasagna was out the door - I do make a mean lasagna but I'm from Long Island so that's not saying much - the ability to work a smattering of Yiddish in conversation, to do some very creative hand waving when excited and cook a lasagna that could make angels cry is just part of your DNA. Unfortunately it's also Carb Overload - Kim suggested we could go out, she said that's sometimes easier because she has the ability to pick foods she can eat - but what's the challenge in that? I recently located my grandparent's cookbook, along with my Betty Crocker New Picture Cook Book circa 1961 so I decided to kick it old school - I'm making a pot roast I announced and I think Kim was a little impressed at potentially  having a Pot Roast Cooking Friend in her address book. 

                                                                               

 I'd already bought heritage baby carrots at Whole foods because they  make me feel fancy andlike  I know what I'm doing because they are so perfect and  colorful - yellow, purple, orange. I went to Safeway on Saturday for the rest of the ingredients and then headed to the meat section. Now, as a vegetarian I do not spend  my free time peeping at the corpse display, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. And then I realized three things - A) I have made it to the age of 58 without ever cooking a pot roast, B) I'm not entirely sure I've ever seen a pot roast and this lead to C) I have no idea what a pot roast looks like. Hmm. I saw some things that looked like what I imagined a pot roast would but I finally gave up and called Kim. She didn't know either - they were broke when they got married and then were vegetarians for quite few years so they hadn't had any pot roast either. She had Stephen google it and he actually said I should look for a pot roast with  A LOT OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE  thereby ensuring, til the day I die, I  will NEVER EVER EAT MEAT. EVER. I found some nice connective tissue marked pot roast - hmm. Connective tissue is a bit pricey in case you've never made a pot roast - but you know what - I was all in by this time so I headed home with my $36 worth of meat riding shotgun. 

I hauled out my dutch oven and found a simple, but super great recipe. Did you know if you cook 4.5 pounds of pot roast it takes about 4 hours? I set the timer for every hour since I had to buy two of them so I could keep switching the bottom one out. I added the little potatoes (I used the little ones in stew too, great time saver. You just cut them in half and throw them in - no peeling or chopping), the baby carrots (ditto). Just an FYI, do not waste your money on Heritage Baby Carrots at Whole Foods,  they go in all impressive and showy, then they all turn brownish because they're boiling in meat juice and broth. So I'm sure you're wondering after all this strum and drama how it turned out........ it turned out perfect. It smelled amazing and everyone had seconds and I think thirds. It was fun to really be cooking something that took time and preparation, we had wine and salad- all the trimmings. And now I can add a dish to my repertoire - pot roast which sounds a hell of a lot better than Hot Connective Tissues. 

Exploring Hillsboro

We try to pick a destination every couple of weeks to explore the area, like when went to Brandi's a few weeks ago I booked the later ferry so we could spend some time walking around and eating out. Other times it will be to look at something we need to buy, a local attraction, I may even a have a coupon for a store and we'll go to the one farthest away. This week we went to Hillsboro which is a small city outside of Portland. Kim and Stephen used to live there before they moved to Seaside. David wanted to take the van just in case and I didn't object - if I'm not driving I can be knitting and I'll never say no to that! On the way out we stopped at Sauvie Island as a coworker had told me there's a lot of farms there. We stopped at a  large farm stand, the guy running it was very nice. We noticed a large pig laying under a tree, there was a young man running a hose on it, drenching it. The farmer said it had started eating the rotten apples last night - that will make them drunk.  He was keeping an eye on it til it woke up as he said he didn't want it to accidental wander into the road, but it was too big to move, so there it stayed, snoring away

We looked to see if there was any duck hunting places, boat launches, just doodled around.  Then we headed out to Hillsboro which wasn't too much farther. It is pretty big and much more built up than we had anticipated. It was more like a city! But one of the reasons it was a destination for me was Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, I have not been in those stores since I left Pennsylvania. There are certain things you can only get at those two stores so it was fun shopping there. I stocked up at both and then headed off to Old Navy to use my coupon. After that we headed to Costco - wow.  I mean seriously - Wow. It was early afternoon on a Friday and the parking lot was full, there was not one parking place, not one! And there was an overflow parking lot too - and it was full - and it wasn't even the weekend. Given how packed it was we decided to skip it, we could get what we needed at the local grocery. Back home we went but David only put "home" in the GPS and didn't check the route so we ended up driving through Portland - ugh!! 

I finished shopping this morning, we are having Kim and Stephen over for dinner - in honor of upcoming fall I'm making tofu-loaf for me and then decided on Roast Beef for them. I picked up rolls, broth, headed for the meat aisle - vegetarians seem to have problems identifying different meats. I asked the woman standing next to me but she took the fifth. I called Kim who had Steve google what a pot roast might look like. Apparently a good pot roast should have some good,visible connective tissue on top. Eeww. But I did find it and boy howdy was it expensive! I'll be cooking it very carefully!

Four Months In

So we are heading into Month Four, it feels like it's been longer. David was saying he always feels likes he's behind, that it's not going fast enough. But the way he works is not linear, he goes from project to project. The siding, the windows, the porch, siding, Sheetrock, window, etc... Since we live here he cannot do one thing at a time, a lot of it is done according to when the supplies come in or when we find a good buy.  It's based on need - the bathroom and kitchen hit the top of the list until they were usable, then got moved to bottom when the siding came in. Some of it is based on the weather, right now he's working hard on the outside before the weather changes. We're not sure what the weather will change into, there's signs downtown that say " Snow Zone" but from what we understand what t hey consider a lot of snow is sort of laughable to East Coasters. When we first bought this house Kim and Stephen came out to look, the real estate agent gave them t he code to get in as Portland had been paralyzed by the snowstorm the night before.

All two inches of it.  

We have to get a heating system installed soon, that's a tough one for David. He just wants to do it all himself but there are some things he can't. It's hard for us to price things too, in PA siding is cheap and wood is not - here it's the opposite. Houses are much more expensive, when we bought this we knew we got a good deal, but it was still hard wrapping our heads around paying close to one hundred thousand for a pee infested, sagging home that needed so many renovations. But looking at foreclosures that need the same amount if not more work that go for fifty thousand MORE than that we know we lucked out. And it's all relative, the homes in this neighborhood price out between 2 and 4 hundred thousand, but it's still hard since we're used to buying flips for less than 25,000. But we've doing fairly well with buying things, a mix of new stuff and used, David has also been able to use some of the wood from things he's taken down

We still have a ways to go, the upstairs has been de-stinkified but not much else has been done. We are going to have someone come and refinish the floors, they are in good shape and we got the pee out of them but they do redone before we finish putting in the furniture. We are still back and forth about the kitchen - it's so big!! I'm thinking of putting in a move able island in front of the window with seats, maybe some low cabinets in the back. But for now we have enough storage for the two of us so it will be back-burnered.  David thinks he has at least 4 more months to finish it all the way, it is a true work in progress.

Lucky Number Three

Since this was a 3 day weekend we decided to go visit Brandi and the girls as I wouldn't have to take any time off to do it. Of course I forgot I had been signed up for a 2 day conference Thursday and Friday after I booked the kennel and the ferry. but it worked out - my boss said I could leave a little early on Friday and the place they were holding it was on the way. David dropped the dogs off at the kennel, then drove up to Olympia and picked me up - the ferry was only another two hours so we arrived a little after 5. I had booked the 8:30 ferry, it runs out of Port Townsend which is a beautiful old seaside town but we're usually just straight to the boat - this time we had 3 hours we  to look around. There was a set of stairs that went up the side and up at the top was an old bell tower, you could see for miles from there. As it was around 5 most of the stores were closed or closing - the yarn shop was not quite closed so I darted in there fast! 

I have not bought any yarn or knitting related items for months, it was nirvana for me. I asked the owner if she was closed, she said wellll.......I'll give you til I get these things put away. David started chatting about where we were from and that he flips houses so I got more time than her putting things away, however in my defense I did buy a bunch of stuff so I don't think she was too put out. After that we had dinner in a cornish pastry themed little restaurant - David had bangers and mash, I had a stuffed Portobello and an IPA brew - then off. The ferry at night was lovely with the distant lights, but a bit chilly. Chloe and Delilah were in bed when we arrived -  they were up early - they are three now and so much fun! They're very into Nana and Pop Pop - they call David if he's upstairs as he is still the Favorite. They are both bossy, it's always Delilah's turn - it can be your turn by yelling MYTURN, grabbing the object in question or if needed, shoving the opposing party over while retrieving the object in question, Your turn lasts until the other person yells MYTURN - the turns getting shorter and shorter until a fight breaks out, then it's no one's turn.

Although they do tantrum a bit, for the most part they're very well behaved and a lot of fun. They both sing - very loudly and the songs are very long and meandering, it's like being in a nonsensical musical most days. We ordered in, babysat one day so Brandi could have some time in which no one was saying Mama or touching her or crying......then it was time to go already. It seemed short but we had only been there about 6 weeks ago, although it's much shorter I prefer being able to visit more frequently. We ferried back - and yes, we always make reservations, this weekend especially. the line for the ferry was very long and I noticed on both days I booked they had no reservations left ( I considered rebooking the ride out). We got home late afternoon after a very pleasant ride home, since we had some time before we picked up the dogs there was no hurry.It was a little odd to go to work today, usually I give myself a day between but since it was only 3 days instead of 8 or so, it was not a problem.