Nesting

So as I type this, only 54 more days until L's due date. I'm starting to have trouble sleeping. I'm also beginning to get tired more often. And the pelvic pain is getting more noticeable. This week I went to the mall and had two instances of people being shocked at my size. L is due in late September and I look like this...
So am I too big? I for certain don't know. I'll ask the Dr. next week what he thinks. All I know is that I feel fine other than those little nuisances listed above.

Getting ready for L to come has been my top priority. We were living with the construction for quite a long time for such small projects...over a month. Well over the estimated time the contractor originally gave Mr. G and myself. He seemed to not really be paying attention to the project, and mistakes and carelessness lengthened the work. The tile and fixture installer, however, was great, and did a wonderful job. We are currently waiting for the last inspections.




If you live in Jersey I recommend looking up Fuda tile if you're looking to renovate. The tiles are beautiful and the employees are great. One employee, thankfully, actually caught one of the mistakes my contractor had made involving the tile and was able to help us solve it before it was too late. Not to worry; he had plenty more mistakes up his sleeve to make up for it....




One of many mistakes...that is not my sink. I mean, it's my sink now, but I didn't pick it. I had a period looking sink picked out. I asked the contractor numerous times to measure and check the sizes of the fixtures. He apparently did not, and my sink didn't fit. Had he checked it as soon as it was delivered we could have ordered a smaller, but still Victoriany sink. He never checked, so the day of the installation the sink didn't fit. He went out to Joe Shmow hardware and bought some sink. He also had the nerve to blame the ill fit on Mr. G not measuring. He did this in front of Mom...Mommy don't play that. She knew that the only reason we'd hired a contractor and not handled hiring each individual on our own was b/c I'm pregnant and didn't want to over burden myself...she interjected, "Aren't you the contractor! Aren't you supposed to do that." Apparently he opted not to blame my husband any more after that...again...only one of many mistakes.

Sorry to go on and on, I could keep going too, it was just not a nice way for him to handle a gig, especially for a pregnant lady. The work went on for so long it bled into Mr. G's vacation...we couldn't go on our babymoon to Lancaster, and spent our 5th anniversary with all the construction going on around us. This was Mr. G's gift for me...



He got me dyed and dried black roses for a Valentine's day before we were married. The flowers were damaged during the construction and have to be thrown out. Here are my replacements drying in the closet. They are beautiful!!

Mom kept me company when Mr. G was at work all the other days of construction. She brought me, or rather, brought L a butterfly cupcake to help us manage:)



It was delicious!!:)


While the work was getting done Mom and I opted to do some nesting and reorganize my sloppy yarn stash so it would be out of L's way. We frogged some stuff I barely remembered knitting, like a thick winter hoodie with pocket done in Lionsbrand done in Chunky WoolEase and Homespun. I'm using the Homespun to make a blanket for Mom.



I also frogged the shawl I'd been making for my mother in law when she passed away. This was knitted in Wool in the Woods Bobcat.




I had to think for a minute a while back about what my mother in law would want me to do with this yarn. I hope to knit a hat and scarf for all three of her granddaughters...my two nieces and L.

Now, neatened up, my stash looks like this.



Mom and I organized it by gage. Yes, there is a lot of it. There is one shelf that has novels on it, another that has knitting and crochet books, and a third with supply containers...everything else is yarn.

Directly adjacent to this new knitting storage is what will be L's playroom/guest room. It was our bedroom and will be again when L and whomever else we end up raising are old enough to be upstairs alone. Today we got the sleeper sofa and glider we'd ordered.



On the knitting front...

I frogged this bugger!

I really like this pattern so far, it's called Kanoko. An earlier pic is on a previous post. I may also be using the Wool in the Woods Bobcat to complete this project. And the Trendsetters Merino VI seen in the pic can be used for something else. It just wasn't coming out right. it was too stretchy in some places, and had no give in others.

I finished these lacy socks. The pattern is something I came up with using two others...

Taken from a previous post...

"Aussie Sock in hot pepper purchased at Yarn Diva. Pattern Step by Step Cheat Sheet for Socks by Yarn Harlot and I added the diamonds using Interweave's Lace & Eyelets book."

If anyone wants to know how I meshed the two patterns let me know; I wrote it all down. These will go to my Titi Fina (Titi is aunt in Spanish) in Puerto Rico. I think she'll get a kick out of them:)

Finally, a picture of a lazy lay about:)

Five years ago today...

Happy Anniversary, Mr. G. I love you.

7-23-2005, Aurora's Estate Sale, Tomten for Griffin, and Central Park Hoodie

Tomorrow Mr.G and I will have been married for three years. We were going to go away but between my knee injury and all this stuff going on with Aurora's (my late mother-in-law) estate we were unable. So we'll be bonding in the tri state area tomorrow.

Aurora's estate sale was this past weekend. I would suggest that if anyone reading this every finds themselves in the position to have to sell the belongings of someone you cared for to hire professionals if at all possible. This is also a reminder to myself...may I never forget how emotionally hard this was even with help and not do this on my own ever.

The company we hired is called Dusty Old Bags. It's two women and their husbands who come into the home, research and price things, and then conduct the sale. I just sat in the background. The sale was Saturday and Sunday. Saturday I was there with the help of the DOB ladies and their hubbies as well as Mom and Pepper. This was the more difficult of the two days. Some people came in like beasts, throwing Aurora's things around in order to find what they were looking for. Some people tried (and I'm sure some were successful) pocketing things. Loosing whatever dollar or so we would have made off the stolen items wasn't what bothered me, it was just the thought that something my mother in law had used was stolen from within her own house. Some people were very mean, I assume not knowing or caring that there were family members in the house and criticized my mother in law's taste, spending habits ("What kind of person spends so much money on herself," sort of stuff). She did spend a lot of money on herself. She was a shopaholic. She was not proud of the fact, and told me that she wished she weren't that way. It did not make her a bad person, but the way some of those people spoke...There were two girls in particular. Both had the I've-Plucked-My-Eyebrows-To -Oblivion-&-Now-They'll-Never-Grow-Back disease. Wherever you are, ladies, may this message be carried on the wind to you...you're emotional age needs to catch up to your late twenty something but somehow saggy faces! Get thee to a salon to get thy brows done properly! Three fold, man, that's just what I kept telling myself.

Some people said really nice things, ("This lady had great taste," or "This is someone's home and stuff we're going through, how sad.") Those people were like a breath of fresh air and I hope their actions come back to them as well. Kind words meant so much.

So now her house is almost empty. The basement is still a hell hole. I've found so much stuff...pictures, keepsakes, precious documents, but until Sunday I hadn't found very much baby stuff from Mr. Grimm Witch's childhood. Late Sunday night I was tunneling through the ancient grilling utensils, bills from 1987, broken glass, fake flowers, etc and found it. Like some wooden crate out of Indiana Jones, preserved and forgotten, a box of baby shower paraphernalia circa 1974, and three baby books, one for my husband, one for my brother-in-law, and a thin pamphlet dated 1927 for their dad. I also found a heap of slides with cherubie baby images of my b-i-l and husband as well as 8mm films...Disney World, Great Adventure, and all you Jersey kids...there might be pics of Jungle Habitat! I feel a lot better having found that stuff.

So I started this tomten for Griffin - who, by the way, is one of the most beautiful children ever born (aren't they all, though:)

No, I have not finished his ripple blanket, but I'm almost done. It's just the yarn felt so great! The label says Raggi Jarbo Garn. I have to look into this on Ravelry. They had a girlier yet awesomely unbabyish colorway of the same stuff at Stix and I think I'll make his cousin a tomten as well out of that so they can match.

Still working on the Central Park Hoodie.

Moving along.

For Better or Worse

Today is my 2nd wedding anniversary. Sometimes I still can't believe I'm married. I'm a bit shocked I did just because it wasn't in my sights at all. I think if I could travel back in time and show my 21 year old self, or my 17 year old self the life I have now I'd give myself heart failure from the shock of it.
We didn't go to sleep until after 4 b/c we received a late night call from my mother in law. Sadly not unusual. So we're both really tired this morning, but he still managed to make the morning a delight. Aside from being adorable (which he often is) he got me a gift.

I think this makes 57 of them...too many dolls.

Aside from that I've been working on the Zimmermann Surprise Baby Sweater. It's a lot of counting, but really a wonderful pattern just in the knitting of it alone, like solving a good sudoku:)

Pepper and her hubbie are back from Otakon. They brought back some great pics, and a Gir shirt for me!!