Sisu in the new apartment

This is a pretty picture heavy post so I will apologise in advance if it takes you a while to load. This is our new place in Anchorage, complete with a final picture of a new neighbor who came over while I was washing dishes. Sisu just stared out the window.

Little, homey touches...ignore the clutter.

The hallway leads back to 2 doors on the right and 2 on the left. The one you can see there on the L is a storage closet which is pretty darn big. It could have been a 3rd room if someone was thinking clearly…see the next photo for more of an explaination.

1/2 the bathroom. I am standing about 8' away from counter and there is about 5' to my left! This is a HUGE, freakishly and needlessly so, bathroom

Yes, it is HUGE. You could honestly fit another tub/shower in there with ease. Possibly the argument could be made for handicap accessibility but there are no fittings anywhere and the toilet doesnt have the clearance. Even a new underling who stopped by today made the comment that it was huge. They could have brought the wall shared with the storage room forward about 6′ and created a room, granted, it wouldnt have windows but still. Or they could give me a hot-tub. Just sayin’

This is the room right across from the bathroom and its the perfect size. And it has a big girl bed!

There is a closet without doors off to the left too. Another bedroom, the same size or a bit smaller is off to the right. No need to see a bare mattress and empty dressers!

The perfect place to sit and knit on...

Can someone PLEASE tell me how to rotate these darn pictures in WordPress? They are right-side up in my iPhoto and this is driving me crazy! Either way, I have this beautiful set-up here and I am 1.75″ into the ribbing on my Vail sweater.

...my Vail sweater Swatch. Hooray that I will be knitting on 4's not 1's!! I also get to...

...watch the wildlife go by. Really.

He came by the other evening and I was washing dishes and saw something out of the corner of my eye and I almost dropped my plate. He was RIGHTTHERE next my window eating the tall grass you can see close to the front of the frame. By the time I dried my hands and came around the bar, he was already moving off and this was the best shot that I got of him. Where was Sisu? Looking out the window, not making a sound. She was as baffled as I was. My first moose!

Hopefully soon I will have some more pictures of our new life here in Anchorage. I want to get some shots of Sisu playing at the dog park. She has such fun there and then always sleeps well that night. Hopefully too I can have some pictures of more progress with my Vail sweater as well as something else that I swatched for.

I made a new stalker friend and went over to her house for a knitting group on Wednesday and I had so much FUN! Thank you so much for inviting me and I cant wait for the next one. As much as I miss my knitting group friends back in Pelican, I know that this is going to be a great group of friends too. I cant wait to get to know them all better.

Off the knitting notes…Thanks to not having a car, having a bike is great for my legs and waistline! I can already feel my legs being and getting stronger. It also helps that the dog park is right across the street and Sisu wants to spend every spare moment there. I am challenging myself to 8 miles a day on the bike (has been more every day since I got it…more like 10-12) and 2 miles at the dog park (simple because 1 lap is about 1.25 miles). Add to that the fresh fruit and veggies that I can get at the farm stands and natural market about 3 miles away and I should have to buy some new clothes again in about a month or so.

Darn.

It.

All.

So I have lived here in the Pacific Northwest for 2 years, in Southeast Alaska for 3 more years now and have had my fair share of precipitation at odd/unwanted/constant times but this really takes the cake.  Can you see what I’m talking about in the first picture?  Ok, maybe the second will be a bit easier.  Look at Sisu’s back.

Yes.  Thats right.  It snowed.  Yesterday.  For at least 3 hours.  It was a mix of snow and rain so technically it stuck to the boardwalk but it was that slushy stuff that is dangerous to all, man and beast.  It finished the day by raining for the rest of it so what little we had was all gone.  Our snowline that was about 1750′ was around 500′ when the snow stopped and I cant tell you where it is now because we have a huge fog bank blocking my view.   It looks to be a cold, clear day and I am loving being here already, minus the slippery boardwalk but thats here all year.

In my knitting world, I’ve buckled down and have been hard at work on my Rogue and have gotten to and started my kangaroo pocket in front.  No double knitting for me so I will make it like a flap and join as the directions say but I really must learn that double knitting technique, mainly because it looks so cool.  That and 2 colour Double Shaker Brioche knitting.  I just dont understand the directions about knitting 2 RS rows and then 2 WS rows.  Apparently, after the first, you slide the knitting to the end of the RH needle and knit the RS again and I just cant wrap my mind around that.

In a personal matter, a couple friend of J and I are renting a house which the owner would like to sell.  This house is fantastic with the master room, 2 small bedrooms and a open room upstairs, a HUGE sitting/living room downstairs along with a kitchen, rather tiny dining area, bathroom and deck.  In the main entry way there is the washer/dryer and the stairs to the unfinished basement.  Instead of being on pilings, this house is truly built into rock.  Seriously, there is a boulder that makes up one sloping side of the basement and a creek that runs thru a culvert down there too.  It has an ocean front and 3/4 of the windows have a great view, as does the porch.  The entire house is completely sound and the couple who lives there wanted to buy it but chose to buy the house and lot right next door.  They had an assessment and inspection done too. And they want J and I to buy it.  And we have been looking for a place.  And I really like the house and can think of only one flaw.  That flaw is that its “up the hill” and down a set of stairs, which kind of cuts down on visitors because most people dont want to make that trek up the 50-60 degree hill.  But thats kind of a good thing because, oh the view we get because of where it is…wow.

There is another house for sale in town.  No view, but it has a little yard and garden and is divided so it could be rented out.  I havent really been in there but to me, light and windows and view are top priority but that garden is so appealing too!

Anyone have any advice or can tell me who the heck I start talking to/getting info from on buying a house?

Somehow, for some reason, the most searched term that brought people to my blog was the phrase “Frosted Window” Since I dont remember typing those words together or posting about a frosted window, I will now and satisfy all those searchers! The picture above is one that I took I think in 2005 or 06 and was the main window in my dorm flat. While the entire thing was frosted over, this section here was the part where Jack Frost did all his detailed work. Though I have seen other frosted windows since then, I have never seen one so pretty again.

Why has it been over a week since my last post? Well friends, its because of travelling and shopping and seeing and moving and settling. I went to Sitka with J and Sisu on Thursday, got there Friday morning, 1 am and then went about our days gathering my things from storage to move them to Pelican because there were few things that I held dear in that unit and there was no way I was going to pay $80 a month to keep them there when I have plenty of room here at the house. Sadly, because of the mass departures from Sitka because of the closing of Sheldon Jackson College (my almost place of employment), the second-hand shops there are over whelmed with supply and without new college students to demand, they are not accepting donations. Anywhere. So I had to trash a lot of things that were perfectly good but had no place in an already full home or things that I just didnt need or want anymore. I am very good about sorting and trashing when I move…lots of practice you know. Have no fear though, I donated a good deal to my old place of employ and the students there will like having dishes and tools to make their Ramen with!

J and I shopped for groceries and you would think that we were the only people who ever went to SeaMart and bought a winters worth of groceries. Yes, I know there are 4 full huge carts. Yes, there are only two of us but it needs to last until Christmas at the very least. Oh, its just over $1,000 and we get a tax break for spending that much all at once? Fantastic! I also got to visit with P and talking with him really helped with various things on my mind…it always does and thats the best part of having friends.

Part of my visit too was seeing the opthomologist and hearing that I needed only a slight change in my contacts but holy cow, how do you see out of these glasses? Sisu got a hold of my already 4 years out of date glasses her first night on the boat and chewed on them quite thoroughly. They are scratched on one lens really badly and have 4 definitive bite marks on the other, not to mention that she loved the give on the plastic ear pieces and I had to boil and file one to make it even wearable for the plastic poking into my ear and head! I have very poor uncorrected vision, an understatement really, because without glasses or contacts anything that isnt 6″ in from of my eyes is quite out of focus. Because of this, my glasses, which I have had since I was 5, have always had to be rather thick and heavy and reasonably, so have my frames. Over the years they have gotten much thinner and lighter but I was never able to get the thin wire frames that I have always coveted. Until now. Imagine my surprise when I was talking to the office manager and she said that they could fit any lens into any frame, no matter the prescription. I made her check because it seemed too good to be true and lo! and behold…it was! I have some fantastic glasses on their way, just made a new order of contacts online and gosh am I glad to have a steady job to be able to pay for all this.

The past 2 days have been all about moving stuff and settling back in so I wont bore you with details but gosh does it feel good to have a freezer full and a well stocked pantry shelf.

Knitting wise? Though I took socks with me, I really didnt knit on them at all. We really didnt spend too much time just sitting or waiting anywhere though so I dont feel bad about wasting any time. I do feel badly that my sisters socks are still 2″ away from being done but those are getting worked on just as soon as I stop typing!

I’ve frogged my Waterfall socks that were part of the Woolgirl Sock Club first shipment because the pattern was just not doing it for me. I like me some tall socks and dont mind buying more yarn (ha!) but when a pattern is written for a specific skein and then leaves a good bit of leftover (some people have like tennis ball sized leftovers!)…well, lets just say that I dont like waste or leftover when I do my socks.  I even have no problem making a mis-matched toe but have only had to do that once because I am a very good judge (knock on wood).  Either way, I love, love, love the Miss Babs yarn and the colours make me happy and the yarn is so soft and lovely to work with.

I am lucky enough to have spinner friends and there is a couple who lives off the grid just outside of town who raise sheep!  They have for years and have more roving than they know what to do with and I cant tell you how happy it makes me and how lucky that I feel to know them and them wanting to give me/get rid of some roving.  There will be cookies involved in the exchange…maybe even a pie!  I want to spin enough to make felted slippers and because my spinning right now is at the level of thinner singles, most of the time, I would welcome something to felt away my mistakes!  It will take a while but with all the other projects on the needles and in my head, this is a good thing.

As of today, this is my WIP list:

Re-Knitting Rogue (still frogging and re-knitting)

Hat #1 (Noro and Swish in a stranded pattern of my own)

Hat #2 (LS Fat Bunny, just started because I love the hand to this)

Sisters Socks (2″ from end)

Waterfall somethings (I left the cuff…maybe I’ll make true fingerless gloves or maybe socks again)

PNW Shawl (yes, still.  And I still might give it to someone else to finish!  But I still love it and want to work on it)

Work Socks (in the desk at work, only worked on during slow times at work, gen while waiting for a plane)

Walk in the garden socks (own design, last of 3 for Mum)

What I need to start and finish before December 8th?  At least 5 more Stranded hats, 2 Fat Bunny ones and my Rogue.  There is a craft fair here in town that people come out from Juneau for and I would love to sell my work there, in addition to sending some hats to Mum and Jinny so they can sell them to friends/co-workers for me!  I just need to buckle down and give myself a schedule and all will be good.

That, in fact, is my chore for today; to create a schedule for myself that will let me be the domestic goddess that I want to be, not make me a house elf, have guilt-free knitting time and spin to my hearts desire and still get out and up the mountains with J every chance we get.  Wish me Luck and I promise to post more often, much easier now that I will have a routine for day to day!

Never would I have believed on my 16th birthday that in 10 years…

…I would be 2 sizes and over 25lbs thinner than I was then and still dropping (Yeah, from a 16/18 and 200 to a 12 and 175…never woulda thunk).

…that I would be conventionally unemployed but happy (I was going to teach and love it and always do it…too bad I didnt really like conventional teaching).

…that my life would revolve around fish and boats (Um, no).

…that I would be living in the Pacific Northwest again (Born out here, raised in the mid-west, thought I wanted to live on the east coast)

…that I would have travelled and gotten as many stamps in my passport as I have now (London, yes, Singapore and China, no)

…that I would be engaged with a brand-new puppy (because I thought that I would be married and have a child or at least be pregnant).

…that I would be living with “parents” (I thought that I would have my own apartment, beautifully decorated of course!)

…that I wouldnt have a car (No roads will kinda negate the need for one)

…that I would live in a place with no roads and be generally cut off from general population (but I like the solitutde and lack of a rat-race)

…that I would be hunting and fishing and gathering the majority of my daily food (the Little House lifestyle always did appeal to me)

…that I would continue to read so voraciously that I would never consider living in a place without a steady book supply and have library cards to 4 different libraries in my wallet and belong to one what doesnt issue a card all at the same time (this one I should have guess though because even then I read all the time).

…that I would be learning to spin my own yarn (I didnt think that it was possible for ‘normal’ people for a long time, just for the people at Greenfield Village or other historic places…good think that I learned otherwise!)

…that I would be knitting at the level that I do (but considering my genetic background, it had to be there)

…that I would consume yarn so voraciously and desire new pretties so strongly (again, considering the family, it makes sense)

…that I would be so happy and content with where I am in life and where I think that I am going that I would consider myself quite fulfilled and satisfied that I really couldnt ask for anything more; that I would be healthy and strong and have a better self image now than I did then when I forced myself to think that my fat was OK; that I would be loved so much by so many people; that I would continue to be “a loner” but come to understand better the value it holds in never really feeling ‘alone’; that I would be engaged to someone who loves being a homebody too but who brings me out of my shell to socialise with his friends who are quickly becoming my friends too…

There is so much in my life that is normal now that I wouldnt have believed on that day. I still remember my party too…I had an ice-cream cake from Dairy Queen with Garfield on it and friends from school and church there and then the girls slept over. It was fantastic, Thanks again Mum and Jinny! I wouldnt have thought that my life would be so different from what I had loosly planned but I was open to anything and its gotten me here…

…10 years and a tonne of ‘life changes’ later, on my 26th Birthday, I am still open to anything and I know that I have the skills and fortitude to handle whatever comes forth. One would say I have ’sisu’…both literally and figurativly Happy Birthday Me!

Todays knitting comes with a lot of walking. Being back in Pelican means walking a lot from one end of town to another but, Oh My Gosh, does it feel great! A chance to walk all over and not have to think about staying in one place to work. More people to see that I have seen in more than a few days. Different people to talk to and gossip to hear from a small town, and trust me, there is always a lot when you live in a very small town. A store and a restaurant…fantastic.

So, the knitting visited quite a few places in town. #1: The post office. I picked up my intro to spinning kit from Maine Woods Yarn. Oh my gosh. This I went home with right away and had to pull out the fiber and spindle (true to picture on my moniter and the spindle is pretty too). I spun up the darker green batt into this lovely slubby yarn, totally by design of course I have no idea what I will do with it yet but the second batt, the light teal one, is almost perfect. I cant believe how fast I learned to do this. Of course, I think that I am doing it a bit wrong because I cant really draft and when I prep the fiber, I pull it off into long strips that I can just spin without having to use two hands. It works and until I can have someone to show me how to really do it, I am more than happy with my work. I am addicted already and I will place an order with Lisa Souza in the very near future. While at the post office, I also picked up a flat-rate envelope so I could mail my finished socks to my Mum for her Birthday (7.31).

#2 The Lisianski Inlet Cafe. There is a little gift shop in the Cafe and they carry lots of photo cards that locals have created and sweatshirts that *everyone* in SE Alaska has if they have ever visited Pelican and now, they carry my hand knitted hats!!! I had a few to show my fellow knitters and the owner of the shop saw them. She asked me if I sold them and said that no, not really because I didnt have a shop or any done on a regular basis. She bought them all, right then and there for $30, $30 and $20 with a 10% cut for selling them for me. It has to be the best, most invested $72 I have ever earned. I couldnt be happier.

#3 The Library. I knew that there would be a fellow knitter here because the librarian is one and not only is the the most encouraging person I know, she keeps the knitting section so well stocked that even Borders doesnt have as many pattern books. She was thrilled that I sold the hats and so was the other 2 knitters that were there too. I cant wait for winter to come so I can be in town more often for our weekly stitch n bitch. These ladies are such fun and I have never been around other knitters on a regular basis.

All the while, my current knitting project moved around the boardwalk with me. Over 3 miles of walking and gosh did it feel good to move.

This is hella long post but its the journal that I have kept over the past 2 months of everything. Enjoy and I will get back to regular posting after this:

4/26
It has been an interesting and quite busy few weeks here in KnittingFisher land. Both in the knitting department and the fishing/boat world. On Saturday evening, J came “home” to Sitka and helped me pack while watching episodes of “Earth 2”. I used to watch that show after “seaQuest DSV” and even though I wasn’t truly devoted to it like I was to seaQuest, I liked the Sci-Fi adventure aspect. J liked it too and we got thru the entire series (only 1 season was ever made). Thank goodness for public libraries DVD rental ☺

Anyway, we packed and moved my load o’stuff on Sunday and were ocean bound and headed to Pelican on Sunday around 4pm. I brought with me a backpack of clothes for the next 6 weeks and a tote with my camera, pillows, coats, shoes and, of course, my knitting. I kept it to only 3 projects and with one of them almost done and it only being the 3rd full day here, I am hoping that I will have enough to keep my hands and mind busy. The library here is small but a knitter runs it so there is no lack of new knitting reads and she even has the newest Yarn Harlot…Yay! I am limiting myself to the pages that I read so that I can make it last longer ☺ we have been hard at work on the boat and managed to scrape the bulwarks and paint them in a span of 3 days. Well, J did the scraping because “Its my boat” and he was feeling responsible for it. It’s a once in a lifetime of our ownership task so I didn’t feel too bad about him doing it. I offered and he refused me every time. I did give him a really good hand, wrist and arm massage these past 3 nights though. As of today, the boat is ‘Sandalwood Tan’, black, red rails and a almost white-grey wheelhouse. Too many colours for a boat and the tan looks almost flesh colored…not the nicest thing and J really wants to go back to dark grey…my suggestion in the first place.

4/27
Two days into it and the tan has grown on us. So much so that J, after taking one good look at the paint when it was dried that he wanted it ALL that color and started scraping the perfectly good black paint off the hull. That, despite best intentions and working hard on it all day long, took the better part of two days. I just finished painting the entire thing tan and it is looking pretty sharp. I don’t think that I would have chosen that colour if giving my druthers but now that its on and done (3/4 at least), I know that I DO like how original that it looks. I have to put on another coat still but we are fishing tomorrow and one coat is better than none. A friend has the boat next to us and after seeing me lay in the sun yesterday, he pulled out and offered his hammock for my lazing. I jumped at the chance and although it was much cooler today than it was yesterday due to the westerly wind, it was fun to lounge in a hammock. I didn’t do too much lounging though because I FINISHED MY MARIAH!! It looks so beautiful and I would only make one or two changes to it…namely in the hood area. Why put hoods onto a sweater if you cant wear the hood? I pulled it up and J said that I looked like Juggernaut from X-men. There is no shoulder shaping around that area so it just slopes down into one solid piece. Aside from that, I love, love, love it. It fits like a dream and looks so good on. I am going to measure and order a zipper ASAP. I am thinking that I want a black one to contrast with the red instead of a red one to match. A double zipper too so that I can have that cool 2 way thing ☺ I wish that I had it now so that I could wear it out tonight and everyday after this. There is a “girls night” tonight at a friend’s house and though I can’t stay as long as I would normally or drink excessively (like that is fun anyhow!), I am really looking forward to going out. Last night, J had a “boys night” here at the house and there were 8 guys over here playing Halo until midnight! It’s got to be a boy thing. I sat and knit on the Mariah hood from Hades because it was taking so flippin’ long to knit those last 14 inches. I swear, it took me longer to do that hood than any other part of the sweater, including the yoke.

4/31
I have gotten many compliments on the sweater, even without the zipper and I can’t wait to order one and put it in. The summer here is never that warm that I couldn’t be wearing a sweater if I really wanted to, especially out on the boat/on the ocean.

5/1
J has finally told me what he wants for a wedding and it IS a tie and white dress ideal for him. I was in the frame of mind that I could not have that but I understand that that is what is important to him. He really wants and needs that time to showoff to his family and friends. To me, simply because I am here, there isn’t that need in me. If I was home in MI, you can better believe that I would be having a huge to-do. Please note: If you have strong feeling about the special-ness of wedding gowns, please don’t judge me for what I am about to say* I hate the idea of buying a fancy-pants dress that I will only ever wear once. I don’t believe that nonsensical idea that “my daughter will wear it” because no one I know has worn their mothers dress because it was SO dated by the time it was ready to be worn again. No matter how “classic” a dress might be, about 25 years after it was at its height of fashion, it wont still be there. This also goes with the thought that there are no guarantees that you will even have a daughter, that she would get married herself or and she would have the same taste as you. No, for me, buying a new dress for this span of 2-3 hours borders on the absurd and foolish. That said, I would still love to wear one. I will look into renting a dress but there are no rental places in Sitka or Juneau so hopefully I can find a place that will not only rent but also ship it to me. I will dwell in hope. Everything else seems pretty easy to do in my mind. I am going to buy some pots and pot various green plants into them, 3 actually, and then use those with some little Christmas lights to decorate the stage. I want to have flowers in my hair, a small bouquet for me and a boutonnière for

I have been working on my shawl and now that the date has been moved back, I can take a bit more time with it and work on it in the loving caring manner that I wanted to, not feel rushed and stressed about it.

5/6
The body of the shawl is done and it looks fantastic! I am so happy with it and already getting into the ‘scalloped’ edging. Another person that I ‘know’ from her blog is also working on the shawl and left me a comment that the edging is taking just about as long as the body. I think that I must be doing something right because I am whippin’ right thru it ☺ I am already into the 3rd one of 14…on side #1…there are 14 on the other side too…so technically, I am 1/7th of the way done and I am very excited about that. It is looking pretty too and I have great visions of me in this. I will wear it with my dress, which you can see here (jcrew.com terrace strapless dress). Yes, I gave in and bought a dress but I am glowing because it is simple and pretty and cost me less than $150. I am going to borrow my sisters shoes and my old with be my Nana’s pearls. So I have all the Old, New, Borrowed, Blue bits taken care of and just have the massive headache of the rest of the wedding to deal with. Yes, I know that I said that “everything else seemed easy in my mind” but for heavens sake, I was way off. My Mum asked me so questions about things to do, other set-ups for the wedding and then my head felt like it was going to explode. This in addition to writing the ceremony because we are being very non-traditional and J’s sister R is doing the wedding. I think that we will borrow from other ceremonies but there is still the aspect of putting it all together and making it our own.

So tell me why it is that I am doing all the planning and organizing for something that I don’t even really want to have. Flat out, I am not really interested, nor do I want to have a wedding. I would rather skip the ceremony and have a big party with everyone there celebrating our union. I don’t know if I would regret this in the future/when I get old, but the headache that this is going to be in addition to starting a new job and training for a marathon, I just don’t know if this is going to be worth it all. I wanted to tell our family that we were going to Vegas or Fiji or Hawaii and go to a resort and have the hotel take care of everything for us, just bring the bride and groom. They could come to the wedding AND have a vacation all in one. I would love that. We could have the nice dress, pretty pictures, be original and have sun and surf all without the headaches of normal wedding planning. Yes, it would be a bit more expensive but it would be great to have a vacation like that. I need to tell J that I don’t want all this but he keeps saying, “That’s the girls job to plan all this. Don’t all girls love this wedding stuff and planning?” When I say No, I really don’t, he kinda laughs it off and pretends that I wasn’t serious.

5/21
Yes, it has been a long time since I journaled / blogged. I have actually been busy and none of that time has been knitting. I had to sit down yesterday and give myself some knitting time and it felt so good to work on my sock. I thought that I didn’t have enough projects when I first came out here to Pelican. I only brought a pair of socks, 1st cuff 2 patterened rows before the heel, ¾ done Mariah and 2 more lace pattern rows for my Pacific Northwest Shawl to do the body. Here I am now, at the last 3 days of my “summer vacation” and I am done with the Mariah (minus the zipper), finished the body of the shawl (and managed to knit 13 scallop shells for the edging…ON THE WRONG FLIPPIN’ SIDE of the shawl. Now, I’ve done 5…on the correct side.), and started the gusset on the first sock. The socks really have taken backseat to my other knitting and when we went to Hoonah for this past week, a perfect time for me to knit on them, I didn’t take a single thing with me. I thought that I would be doing a lot more on the boat than I did, more for the sheer reason that the jobs were more technical that I knew, more physically demanding than I could do or, we only had one paint brush ☺ I did do a lot of reading and walking though and it was so good to spend the time with Jamie and work on the boat.

The ride there and back was good and I am finally breaking J of the annoying habit of leaving at 10 pm and then running all night to get wherever ‘there’ is. We get there and he is crabby and tired and then crashes at 6 pm and sleeps for 12 -14 hours. When I make him pull over and anchor up around 12, he gets some dinner, gets to bed around 1:30, gets up around 7 or 8 and then we get ‘there’ later in the afternoon. BUT, the difference is that he is functional until 10:30 pm and we can actually get some of the work that we are ‘there’ to do, done ☺

I cant wait to get back to Sitka and my regular life as it were. I know that I am not the kind of person that can sit around without a job and these past few weeks of not really being productive has been, quite frankly, driving me nuts. The days on the boat have been my life savers and I feel free and useful all at the same time. I cant wait to get back into the routine of a steady job and the satisfaction of a good days work. I am a bit nervous about starting something brand new but, like everything else in my life so far, I’m sure that it will go well and I will become a stronger better person and grow from it. I cant wait!

On the wedding front, after getting very nervous and having a really hard time thinking more and planning for the Sitka wedding, I had a serious heart to heart with J and realized that I truly didn’t want to have wedding in Sitka. I didn’t want to have to plan a wedding by myself or deal with all the stress that it would involve. J wouldn’t be back in Sitka until the beginning of October and I don’t think that everything could have been planned in that short of time. So I talked to him again about a wedding in Las Vegas being a better deal for all around. My biggest fear is that his mother is going to freak out over the idea that her eldest son is going to get married in “Sin City”. She has made disparaging comments about LV and really was pushing for a Sitka wedding. The good thing is that J thinks that it’s a great idea and his only hold up is that he wants ME to be happy with our wedding, wherever we have it. He doesn’t want me to be upset with not having a traditional wedding with all our friends. The positive side of this, including the fact that J was thinking about me and my feelings, is that I have very few friends in Sitka and my family, who really wants to be there and be involved, will really love the idea of going to Las Vegas for a long weekend instead of going to Sitka for a week in the rain.

6/26
On the road again…rather, on the water again ☺ We left Pelican last night, ran for about an hour and a half before anchoring up and having to fix an oil leak in the engine. The downside of the leak was where it was and how long the engine had been on. It had to cool off and that meant that it gave J time to sleep because he had been up since 3 am fishing. It was 8 pm. I couldn’t sleep however and played a bit with Garage Band on my Mac before climbing into bed about 10. It was the worst nights sleep of our life. J was up battling mosquitoes that I never heard, dreaming about crazy things like putting bottom paint on his feet so they wont itch, flipping on the LED light right next to my head and shoving his elbows into my face. Needless to say, I wasn’t really happy when he finally climbed out of bed and fixed the engine around 5 am. He was also confused as to why I was crabby about the light and elbows and wanted to stay in bed until 7. I did tell him and he did understand and cuddled with me when I got up to his calls of “Tasha, come look at the whales!” It was awesome seeing them, like always and it put me into a much better mood. I did go back to bed for a while though, mainly because I hate taking Dramamine and the ocean swell was something crazy. It was beautiful weather and there was no wind to speak of but the swell was about 7 feet and really close together meaning that we would rise and fall but also get hit with another wave mid fall and get pushed in another direction.

6/28
Yesterday started the move in to what will hopefully be my permanent new place. I called my new boss yesterday afternoon and asked for a key and he said though he would love to give me one, he was leaving town and the person who cuts the keys was out of town until tomorrow (yesterday). Luckily, one of my new underlings was around and she phoned me yesterday at 4 and said, “I have your new key!” I rushed over and got it and it looks, to all intents and purposes that I will be living in family housing, not the main (only) dorm. This is fantastic news! They haven’t had a director living out here so it might be a change for the residents but considering that most of them are staff, I shouldn’t think that there will be many problems. I will find out on Sunday or Monday if this is going to be mine forever but I truly hope and pray that it is. It would be so nice to have a separation from my work, even if I do live there. Another plus of this place? I can have pets here and I have been thinking and talking with J about getting a dog or a cat and we both agree that we want one of either…maybe one of each ☺ Keep your fingers crossed for me and in the mean time, check out my Fliker for some pictures of my summer! I’m going to be moving boxes like mad today but unpacking only a few just in case. I have fully unpacked and set up only to have to move again in 2 weeks and I wont be doing that again.

Cheers!!

Thank you so much to everyone who sent me well-wishes and speedy healing thoughts! I thought that I was superwoman and would be up and back at work on Thursday…Um, nope. I slept more than half that day away and was too sore to be up and moving for more than 30 mins at a time. Friday started much better and I was thinking that I could possibly get away from the couch or sitting down all the time and I did do a bit better. I was feeling “swimmy” (you know the way the movies portray a person on drugs? That wavy, watery, swimmy feeling that the person always experiances? Thats what I mean) And this was without the drugs. Just trying to be normal. Anyway, J made me lie down and while I was hoping to get thru the day without a nap, I ended up sleeping for 3 hours and waking up feeling so much better. Last night I took some more of the “good” drugs and they really space me out and make me want to veg, zone and sleep. I woke up today and was feeling a LOT better and dont feel like I did too many crunches…just like I did just enough to feel. And sometimes feel like something was ripped out thru my bellybutton…naturally Nothing tastes good to me and for the first time in my life, I just dont want to eat anything. Yesterday, J made halibut with Teriakki sauce and mashed potatos and it was the first thing that actually smelled good and I wanted. I had a few bites of both and was done. Today, I had some fruit and an iced coffee and a bit of bagel. I didnt and dont want anything else. Food just is not appealing in any way. Not the best way to lose weight and I will talk to my doctor on Monday.

I am painting a room in J’s dads house for the BRAND-NEW TWINS!!! J’s step-mom just gave birth to twin boys on Wednesday and my gift to them is a painted baby’s room in a beautiful creamy yellow, seafoam green and this really cool colour called “Inchworm” for the contrasting trim. The moving and stretching is JUST enough for me to feel good and the fact that I am here in the house makes it easy for me to sit down and relax when I get to feeling swimmy again. The family will be back from Anchorage/Palmer the Monday after Easter and the room should be done and fume free by then.

Why fume free? Because the weather has been so beautiful and sunny and warm and I have been able to leave the windows open all day long. Why is it like this? Not because of any weather pattern but because I have needed to be lying down all day! Thank goodness for the windows and wind-blocking houses.

My Lola socks have become my “Sheer Gall” socks. With that stripe of neon green, they just scream impudence to me I started them just as I was starting to have pains and finished them as I was recovering making the name just perfect. I will post pics tomorrow or Monday along with my pattern for them. This brings my “milage” (more like yardage) to 730+ yards down for the LnV marathon. Good thing they extended the date to July 15th…maybe I can establish a goal for myself by then too

J came in Thursday Night!!! It was such a fantastic weekend for me and I feel so refreshed. Normally I feel kinda blah, even after my weekends but today, WOW! I am so ready for the rest of the week. J and I talked about future jobs for me, wedding ideas and dates, and general together stuff. Friday, we went to a party with P and some other friends (YAY! J and P met!) and J actually sang with Kareoke Revolution and then on Saturday, we went to see the comic Kermit Apio. J turned to me part way through and said, “Home-run idea”. He had been a little unsure of going to see a comic because a)it was our last night together for about a month and b)his fishing friends wanted to go out. I agreed to first go to the comic then go out with his friends as long as we weren’t going to over drink. We LOVED the comic, went home to wait for P to call and then ended up going to bed to snuggle. It was a good thing that no friends called. Of course, we work up before the alarm rang at its ungodly hour and talked and snuggled more. It was so nice to just be together. We actually did very little running around and just enjoyed hanging out and being in the room with each other. Yes, we are dorks…boring dorks at that.

And I found another reason why I love this man. I told him about the skein of Cider Moon Glacier in Juneau that I bought and he said, Yeah, I figured you would but I love my socks so I wont say anything. He actually encouraged me to BUY MORE! I think that either he has forgotten the side of the couch that is taken up or he is just being nice for leaving me again. Either way, I have set my goal for the Lime and Violet sock yarn marathon: To knit J 3 more pairs of socks. He has 2 pairs now so I am thinking that I want him to have 5 pairs of handknit socks. Generally, when he fishes he is gone for 5 days or so before them come back in and then goes out again. This process repeats until all the IFQ is caught but either way, if he is out, I want him to think of me Handmade socks would be a perfect way to do this. Warm toes, warm heart and all that. Not only have I become a “Loopy Groupie” but I am going back to buy more. *sigh* Thats OK…thats why I sub instead of taking Fridays off.

I know that mel will get a laugh out of something that happened today. I was sitting with P, chatting about work and life and his new girlfriend over cups of chai and a bagel. We have some pauses and ‘good’ quiet time in anytime that we hang out and he looked at me while I was zoning out in a moment of unknown future contemplation and said, “What is it? You look pensive.” Without a moments thought I replied with, “Damn. I was going for thoughtful.”

Hope everyone has a good reason to smile today. I know that I made myself laugh and then so did P when I got a hold of myself and explained it to him

On the knitting front, I am home sitting again for J’s dad and this means that I have to take and leave a project there for nightly knitting. I chose Mariah and I am well into the cables in the sleeve. At first I was freaking out over the idea of not using a cable needle for the cables but after doing only one row with the needle, I knew that that particular technique would be workin’ for me. So, once more into the breech dear friends. I tried and I think that I have been converted for just about every cables that I will be doing in the future. There is only one that I have come across that I wantthe needle for but since I am writing this in my dorm room and the pattern is at the house, I cant elaborate…sorry! I still love this pattern and love the yarn still. Hopefully I can still say this in the next few weeks as the sleeve gets longer and then I have to CO and do it again!!!!

BTW, If ANYONE knows of a good Celtic knot cable pattern online that is completely independant, please let me know. I have lots of cable patterns but I have a project in my head that needs a knot that starts and stops without having a travelling connecting cable. TIA!