Finally, we're getting a bit of a break. It's been so hot and muggy that it's been difficult to get outside for more than a few minutes at a time to do anything, so what's been getting done has been bits and pieces. A lot of small trash has been getting burnt (bless you, Quentin, my darling hubster!), some small trees have been getting cut down and trimmed up for future firewood, and a few small repairs got done around the house. Two in particular I'm glad are done.
One, we kept wondering why the heck the front door stuck, despite all the things Quentin did to fix it. Turns out that the wall right there between the doorframe and the interior wall between the living room and kitchen wasn't even attached to the flipping floor!!!! He fixed that with screwing some 2x4 to the base of the wall indoors and out to support the wall. No more squeaky hinges, no more sticking door. It's nice to shut the door and have it shut like it's supposed to now. And two, the floor in the kitchen doorway was pretty soft, and we were worried that one of these days, somebody'd step on it and go right through. He took a 3/4" pine board, cut it to short lengths for crossing over the joists, and while we now have to step up a tad to get over it and into the kitchen, it's a lot better than having to worry about stepping through the floor. We did notice that soft spot's pretty bad when Quentin got done, as the floor there actually gaps about 3/8 of an inch in the middle below the board. If we buy this place, the floors are going to have to be completely ripped up and redone with new boards. Period. If we don't, we'll just fix what we have to fix to keep from going through the floors.
The place we like is still for sale, though honestly, things are not going well for us financially right now in that department. We know it will be a long haul to get where we want to be, especially with not having internet at home, so I have to work hard at getting anything done right now. It's tough, but in the next few months, things will get much better for us. Quentin's only got about 11 weeks left until he can apply for rehire, and we're pretty sure that he'll get back in. That means I only have to do all the blasted overtime for about 12 more weeks (because it takes them a week to get the application printed off, call him for the tour/interview/medical, and tell him when he starts orientation again), and then I'll have more time to do the things I want to do. Like needlework and clearing things up around here, and writing and reading and cooking. Soooo many things I don't have time for right now that I'll be able to do again soon. We are both looking forward to good things coming soon.
Tomorrow, Monday, is Labor Day here in the USA, to honor our working-class people. A lot of folks make jokes about it being the day for pregnant women to go into labor, but it is for honoring our laborers. I'm going to have a rough time of it, with knowing I'd normally be at work and instead getting a paid holiday off!
I am getting some knitting done, though. I started a layette set last night during our date night for our neighbors Eric and Bobbi. Bobbi finally had the baby this past week, a darling little girl they named Elizabeth Marie. I'm making the set in a 100% cotton yarn, colourway is "stonewashed denim," which Quentin thinks is looking sweet. It's supposed to be a raglan sweater but I loathe doing seams and am well-known in my family for knitting up things as one piece so I don't have to do the things. Buttons are enough of a pain, and I hate trying to match up decreases and hope they come out right. If I knit the thing as one piece, I don't have to worry about sides and back not matching in length or whatever. And by doing the sleeves in the round rather than flat, not only do I avoid having to seam the things under the arm and into the body of the sweater, I can avoid doing much of ball-winding for them by knitting them to the underarm and then working across the body and sleeves as I go. Work one sleeve to the underarm, add it in, work up the other sleeve the same, add it in, and then just do my decreases per the pattern. It sounds a bit wonky, but it works out really well and also avoids the bulk of having seams in the sweater when it's done. I'm making it about six months size, so that when the whole set is done (sweater, bonnet, booties, and blanket), it will be plenty big enough for little Elizabeth to fit in and still have a bit of growing room. It's an heirloom baby gift, and I do enjoy sharing my stuff with people like this. It's such a joy to see their faces when they open the package and see what's inside.
Sadly, I don't think any of those peach seeds I planted this spring will ever sprout. I'm about to give up on them, as I have had nothing out of them all summer. Not a single sprout. I think I did something wrong, but I'm not sure what. Either that, or I got a bunch of bum seeds out of things, lol. It does happen!!!! So next year is another chance to give it a whirl. And who knows, sometime next spring, they might sprout anyhow.
Cleanup around here has included picking up a ton (it seems) of soda cans that just got tossed on the ground by the previous tenant. Good night but there are a lot of them! I need to find me a grabber thing to pick them and other small items up, because all that bending over hurts my back, and after Friday, it's sore enough. You know it's going to be a bad day at work when you walk in and your boss says, "X-ray two is broken!" and that's where you work. It took four people working our butts off all day to do a job that two people normally can handle. It made for a miserable day, really, and then I stayed over for another four hours for my overtime that I have to pull for three more months (why does twelve weeks sound so much shorter???), though in a different area, thank goodness. And tomorrow, I have off for the holiday, with pay, yay me. I'm looking forward to getting a LOT of writing done, and am finally halfway through Genesis. At this rate, I might get it done by October, haha!
And now it's time for me to dump my email to read when I get home and list a bunch of books and find a bootie pattern I like that will go with the sweater. Sadly, the pattern for the sweater doesn't include a bonnet or booties, so I need to find something that I can adapt a bit to include the mock cable pattern the sweater has going up the front next to the buttonband and up the sleeves. Till next time, it's book time for y'all! (Speaking of books, the Bountiful Farm Cookbook has made it to #30 on the top 100 Free in Cookbooks, yay!) Remember, the freebie books may not be free when you get to them, but when I grabbed them myself, they were. Have fun till next week!
FREE KINDLE BOOK FOR THIS WEEK
That's all I have time to share this week. There are obviously a TON more that I simply do not have time to list right now with only getting online once a week. (You wouldn't BELIEVE how long it takes to put this post together every week with the links, lol.) Have fun, and don't forget to like the farm on Facebook - I tend to share other things on there that I don't put in here!
No comments:
Post a Comment