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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

A blur

That's what this weekend was.  We've been super busy: we made an offer on a condo!  And it's been accepted!  The condo is about 2.5 times larger than our little crackerbox house, and it's clear on the other side of town.  My commute to work will be about 20-30 minutes, instead of 45-90 (yes, if the weather's inclement it takes an hour & a half {!!!} to get home, mostly because everyone else drives like a Nashvillian).  "Oo, oo, what is this stuff falling from the sky?!?!"  I need an Abrams tank. 
Our new home has 3 bedrooms & 3 bathrooms; there are stairs down to a finished basement which has one of the bathrooms, plus one large & one small closet, and a covered patio.  This 30' x 12' room will be Disco's den.  The master has its own bath, and the front bedroom (my office/craft room!!) has a bath in the hall.  We'll have a fireplace, dishwasher, washer & dryer, skylights, a little dining room (more of breakfast alcove, really).  There's a covered deck off the living room; the Plaidman has already started talking about screening it or maybe enclosing half as a Florida room & screening the other half -- it's quite wide.  The flies in the ointment are pretty obvious; who know we'd have to pony up some much money on the front end?  There are only about a gazillion fees associated with the loan application itself.  And then there's this: I hate to move.  I hate it with a burning passion.  Since the Plaidman & I became permanent roomies, we've moved all of 4 times.  Since 1975.  That works out to (scribble scribble) once per decade.  And until this last move takes effect, we'll have lived exclusively on the west side of Nashville.  I'm psyching myself up for it.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Eat to live

That was always my Mom's advice.  I've got to pat my family on the back, because this week there's been a terrific effort to make up some healthy & tasty dinners.  The crock-pot has been in use, as well as our large stockpot.  We've had 16-bean soup, with country ham for flavor, of which I've carried some to work for lunch.  Last night we had a concocted soup of andouille sausage, kale, and potatoes & seasonings -- but not the seven-spice powder we'd just bought at the World Market in West Nashville.  It was delicious.  We also bought some tahini & chick peas; I see hummus in my future.  The Plaidman got a little snippy about the questions & comments I had re: the 16-bean soup -- maybe I should just back off!  But he often leaves out any seasoning, or adds it with such a light touch that it has no effect on the flavor.  He knows I don't want my food really spicy hot, but can't seem to grasp that moderate seasoning adds savor.
So, now I'm thinking of Thanksgiving, and we always have to decide whether it'll be turkey or ham for dinner.  There's just the three of us, and no room to entertain anyone else, so it'll have to be one or the other but not both.  I think it was last year that I cooked a turkey breast in the crock-pot, with a lot of garlic and sage and .... other stuff that I wish I'd written down somewhere, because that turkey was memorably yummy.  We had a sandwich or two out of the leftovers, but still had plenty left that weekend.  I decided to put it back into the slow cooker, with kale and carrots and more garlic and .... more stuff that I wish I'd written down, because the resulting soup was EPIC.  And will likely never be repeated. 
I've been knitting a little at night, working on Nancy Bush's Estonian Lacy Shawl and some rather plain socks, just K2P2 ribbing but knee length.  I dug my wooly warm mistake rib scarf out, and have been enjoying it the last couple of days.  This weekend I've got some vacation time, and will try to get the Gramps Cardigan closer to being finished.  When I tire of working on that, I'll wash & block a couple of FO's.  Should be fun, as one is lace but I've no blocking wires.  Sounds like I need to invest in them.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

To Knit or not to knit

I haven't started holiday knitting.  I rather think I'll give it a pass this year--I've got enough on my plate right now, why would I add any more stress?  But I still troll thru Ravelry for quickie accessory patterns!  I have no idea how many fingerless mitt or cowl patterns I have in my library there.  I want to knit ALL the things!  Just got the new Knit Picks catalog yesterday, those rotten enablers are tempting me to try the Fox Paws pattern...must look away!  The designer used Knit Picks Palette.  The catalog has a 150 color pack for just (gulp!) $419.oo  and change.  See, the Fox Paws doesn't require any stranded or intarsia knitting.  It's fabulous color shifts are worked with increases and decreases only!  So I could probably manage it, provided I was willing to knit nothing else until it was done.  And I want it soooo much. 
I ordered a book from Interweave, and re-upped my subscription Sigh! in spite of really being a bit peeved about not being able to download some of their freebies.  I've thought about getting Vogue Knitting too -- but right now I'm trying not to add too much "clutter" to the tiny homestead.  We've had roofers out with estimates, and selected one about a month ago.  Of course, then we had the wettest October in living memory, and nothing could be done.  Our roofer's gotten backed up, since they couldn't work much at all in October.  No one wants to be on a roof in a storm, unless that's the only part of the house not underwater!  So now we're just "hanging fire" while we wait on a roof, and trying to figure out other ways to tidy up the tiny house before we sell the sucka.  Speaking of which, I had an interesting discussion with a loan manager at the bank, and now I'm really pumped and ready to buy a house (actually, a condo -- the Plaidman just can't "do" yardwork anymore).