Entries Tagged 'Homelife' ↓

I don’t have any spectacular plans for ringing in the new year tonight – a quiet Caturday night with my felines will do just fine after all of the driving I did for Christmas last weekend.

Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve! I’m wishing the best for all of us in 2012.

there is so much going on this summer, and i have so so so many things i keep meaning to write about and share photos from, but i have this sort of block in my head about blogging. i’ve been working for two this summer at work (my boss has been on maternity leave, but the end is in sight) so it’s tough to come home and want to do more web work, ya know? it’s not like i’m turning off the computer altogether when i get home – i’m still twittering and facebooking, but it’s not mandatory work like this whole business of updating a blog is.

but, anyway, as i said — the end is in sight and maybe one day soon i’ll get better at updating. i do so love to share my photos here – and it’s a good record of the awesome things i do and the awesome people i know and the awesome experiences i’ve had. life is good, it’s just really busy at the moment.

and even though i have a million other things that have happened in the last few months that i want to share (eventually), i’m going to start with the most recent, most exciting news at the moment:

jason bought a house.

i get to be in this photo because he’s sweet and, at the end of the month, i’ll be moving in with him. it’s a really nice, cute house with lots of rooms for guests and rock band and kitties and bird feeders (in the yard). we are very much looking forward to what will go down when my two kitties move in and meet his kitty.

the previous (and only) owner of the house had lived here since the mid-1950s, so that gives us a good feeling about the joint. he was about 90 years old and moving into an assisted living home. he couldn’t take all of his furniture, so we opted to keep a couple of pieces that he would’ve otherwise gotten rid of – the highlights include a couple loveseats, an extra bed for guests, and (i’m especially excited about this) a sewing machine (because as much as i love web, i will always love crafting by hand – expect updates on attempts to quilt sometime this winter) (first i need to finish a couple knitting projects…).

not including the frozen pizza we made on friday, i made our first dinner in the house last night. i like the kitchen a lot – it needs some aesthetic updating, but it’s large and it’s going a good work triangle going on. the funkiest thing in the house is amana radarange instead of microwave, though. i’m sort of weary about using it, but i suppose we’ll add that to the list i’m going to title as such: “someday-future-house-projects-that-we-need-to-prioritize-but-right-now-lets-focus-on-just-moving-in-and-getting-settled-and-enjoying-the-new-digs”.

the night that jason closed, we went to see cloud cult play at orchestra hall. i think that could be another post of photos entirely. it was a beautiful show and a fabulous ending to a very notable day, so the ticket is the first thing that has been hung on the fridge.

as much as i daydream about having clothing lines outside, the neighbor’s grapevine is covered in these little metallic bugs that i’m sure would also cover my drying laundry. so instead the clothing line poles will hold my bird feeders. i haven’t seen any little birdies on them, yet, but i’ve seen them across the backyard on another neighbor’s feeders. i have seen two little rabbits and a squirrel, though. jason saw a deer a couple nights ago, too. nature! i love it and i want it to be in my backyard.

chives that have flowered = no longer edible, right? does that whole don’t-eat-after-it-flowers thing apply to all herbs?

tomatoes that i’ll be excited to pick and cook or can in the next month. there will actually be a lot of tomatoes on four little plants.

i don’t know much about rhubarb, but i know it makes good pies. is it too late in the season for this stuff? do i need to cut it back for next spring? is this really rhubarb or is it just that weed that looks like rhubarb?

there is so much about this house to be excited about! mostly i can’t wait ’til after moving is all done to get into the front flower gardens and clean it all up in preparation for next spring! because digging in the dirt doesn’t cost money (until you realize that you don’t have all of the proper tools…).

i raked my garden today.

apparently there are a few things choosing to stay alive in this little pile of dirt, which is odd since nothing much wanted to stay alive during the whole summer.

maybe next summer i’ll only plant heuchera. this plant was the least work, for sure. it’s like a hasta, but not annoying.

more lantana next year, too.

bad news about the bleeding heart, though. bummer.

now about the rest of the yard…

hopefully most of the leaves will have fallen off the trees in the backyard by next weekend, or the following. then there’ll be a raking party. wanna come?

my other accomplishment today was getting a new floor lamp. my other lamp is all the way across the room —

— which i realized was sort of inconvenient last night, as my eyes were going buggy while i was trying to knit in near darkness.

wow, i’m exciting! i’m gonna go knit.

this is going to take all of my effort. it’s only seven o’clock and i am ready to go to bed. yaaaawn.

anyway.

i was all bloggy with it, until i went yarn shopping at needlework unlimited on tuesday night. i’m working frantically on a gift for a friend, while ignoring a ravenclaw scarf i meant to finish before starting another project. it’s always so much easier to work on projects for other people, though.

i spent too long thinking about color choices and i finally had to get one of the clerks involved. she made my mind up within 10 minutes. then i spent the whole rest of the night not understanding how to get started on this new project. i’ve got it now, though.

meanwhile, my worklife is full of sugar lately.

which is sort of inconvenient since i have two teeth that need to someday be replaced by implants and other teeth that are already giving me pain. i’d like to get rid of this mouth and start all over.

(side note: i think the implants will have to wait a couple years. that stuff is expensive!)

friday was sort of crazy day. the weather here in minnesota is extremely out of character; i think yesterday we even set a record for a new high temperature. i had plenty to keep me busy all late morning/afternoon at work, but i jumped at the chance to get out at 4.

as soon as i got home, i fell down on the couch and fell asleep for an hour or so. i guess that happens sometimes, doesn’t it?

i was a little more interesting on saturday. bertine hosted a clothing swap ( i brought 3.5 bags of my own clothes, and 4 or 5 bags of my sister’s clothes), then sarah and james hosted a birthday party for brett favre.

he’s the reason for the season, y’all.

… and for the sugar overload.

this is james, eating favre cake wreck with a side of cheesy poofs.

after the favre party, i went over to jason’s house. we decided it was a good night for the haunting in connecticut. jason’s favorite part was after the movie had ended: his cat, sio, snuck up and stuck her cold, wet nose on my foot and made me jump about a foot in the air. he actually high-fived the cat.

my tolerance for scary movies/tv shows (ghost hunters is great) gets worse and worse.

today i recovered by knitting my new project in the hammock in the backyard for two hours. it’s just completely weird how nice the weather is. i plugged my ipod into my ears and rock and rolled the stitches away.

i took a few pauses to watch the leaves fall off the branches above me. magical. is this what living in california would be like?

neighbor-dog, ziggy, came out for a visit.

what kind of berries are these?

my hands need a break now. no knitting, no typing. i’m surprised my fingertips are bruised yet.

catch up! catch up! catch up!

i added more plants and cedar mulch to my little flower garden.

carnations!

yesterday i discovered some animal has come along and completely stolen my anemone plant. it was dead anyway, but seriously? that area of the garden is totally ugly now.

bertine had a girls-only clothing swap.

this is bertine’s girl cat, harriet, so don’t worry. no boys infiltrated! (her two boy cats hid in another room.)

i saw some fun puppets from the in the heart of the beast during the annual may day parade.

this banana was not from the heart of the beast, but he was clever. and handing out bananas. like.

these two are married now! that’s another post though. back to puppets!

“year of the tiger” was the parade theme.

can you believe it? seriously. these puppets are so wonderful.

then life was quiet for a little while. i know because i’m going through my flickr photo stream and the only things i posted for a week or two are my photos of the day.

however, during this quiet time, i finally left tcf bank for spire credit union. i’ve been wanting to switch to a credit union for a while since i’m just about ready to think about buying a new car or my very own house or something big like that. i think being part of a credit union will help me with this sort of thing.

i’ve also been spending a lot of time having a big crush on my boyfriend. he’s pretty darn awesome. (he was celebrating cinco de mustache in this photo.)

and, of course, i’ve been petting my kitties. they recently received a FURminator (from me) and it’s all they can talk about (if they aren’t talking about food).

my real reason for this photo purge? i am participating in flashbelt this week and will be heading out to las vegas in about a week and a half and i just really need to clear my blog’s to do list before i can properly share these other experiences with you. there are other events coming up over the next month or two that i will be taking a lot of photos during, so purge purge purge i go! what will i post about next?!