Our house

in the middle of our street, has needed some repairs. They include but are not limited to:

Brand new drywall in the downstairs bathroom
*New tanks for both toilets (half done)
Attaching the kitchen sink to the counter instead of just having in rest on it
De-gunking the kitchen drain
New drywall in the basement
sealing the basement from further flooding
*new outlet for sump-pump
*Replace water heater
*Replace water meter
Scrape stupid wallpaper borders from 2 bedrooms
Fix porch railing
*replace locks
*fix various leaks (half done)
get rid of mold in basement and downstairs bathroom
replace plate on front of fuse box
*replace kitchen sink faucet
Fix master bedroom door so it actually closes


I'm sure there are some more things I can't remember at the moment. We have to replace the doors, but that's more because we hate having HUGE windows in the middle of ours. We'll probably replace the interior doors as well because we don't really like the $20 crappy plastic ones they've put on there. They're all white and for some reason it's driving me nuts.

This whole situation has made me realize how infinitely valuable my father is as a human being. He is being so helpful and I absolutely love him for it. He's the best dad ever. If my grandpa lived closer we'd have this place in ship shape 2 times over by now. :D

We have a house! Dexter has his own room! We have room to have another baby in a couple years! We are homeowners and we got this place for a steal!

I'm excited, and not only because Dexter decided today was a good day to give kisses. :D

*just* a housewife

(bare with me, it's a long one.)

A while backed I dated an alright guy. I choose someone else over him. This resulted in him trying to compensate for the loss. This compensation included him telling me he knew that the new guy was going to hurt me (funny, it never resulted in any further certainties when I asked how). It also included his telling everyone he knew that I just wanted to be a housewife. He said it with such disdain, like it pained him physically to utter the words. I shouldn't be surprised. This is all coming from the guy who admitted he talked down to me because I hadn't gone to college. (Where has that fancy math degree taken you?)

What's so terrible about wanting to be someone's mom? What's so terrible about wanting to be the one to cook and clean? If this were 50 years ago I'd be praised for wanting this. I could never be "just a housewife" sitting on my ass eating chocolates or something similar. Why can't a housewife be intelligent and worthy of the same intellectual allowances of someone who paid for a degree just so they can get a job not using it?

The only time I've ever been sure I was doing the right thing in life was when I was keeping house for Julie and Clay and doing things like teaching Patrick to write his name, or showing James the finer points of masterpieces like Peewee's Big Adventure? (James' aversion of Large Marge notwithstanding)

I like being responsible for making someone into a great individual. One could argue I should've been a teacher then. I don't think I could deal with putting so much effort into so many folks and seeing them turn their lives into shit and become boring and dull. I'm better with small groups.


As long as I'm ranting, can I mention how completely ridiculous it is to post a rambling livejournal entry about how perfect everything is going to be when you have kids, only to follow it with an entry talking about how you love having the freedom to just pick up and leave whenever? Kids change EVERYTHING and even the most stable relationships get chewed up, spit out and stepped on. Get ready for the ride of your life sweetheart, and don't forget to throw any and all expectations out the goddamn window. When you're up at 1:30 am for the fourth night in a row and your kid is doing everything they can to just stay up and hang out, you get time to think and find out what kind of parent (and person) you are. When you're losing 10 pounds because you can't keep anything down but water in the first few months of pregnancy, you find out just how fast all your ideas of "only eating healthy" go flying out the window you roll down at the McDonalds drive thru.

*semi-unrelated note: never having had a fight in your entire relationship doesn't mean you're meant for each other, it just means you're with someone who never cares about anything enough to argue about it. Trust me, I've been there and walked all over that trying to get some kind of reaction. I'd much rather have an argumentative HONEST guy anyday.*


College doesn't make you a better person. Having kids is something you can create an outline of some very open guidelines for at best. If your life is full of concrete values and unwavering opinions on How It's Going To Be, then do yourself and your future offspring a favor. Don't have any. The lack of control will destroy you and the desperate attempts to regain it will destroy them.

For example, some things I was NEVER GOING TO LET MY KID DO:

1. Watch lots of tv
When you're on the 2nd straight hour of running around after a screaming baby, you'll welcome an hour of them sitting, laughing, and being enthralled and overjoyed at Yo Gabba Gabba or Sesame Street or The Backyardigans. You might even resign yourself to the fact that they like their TV friends better than you at the moment.

2. need to be rocked to sleep

Babies cry, and you never realize how animalistic and instinct driven motherhood is until you find a friend's baby crying cute and tear your hair out when your kid barely even whimpers, let alone flat-out balls-to-the-wall WAILS when you try to teach them to fall asleep on their own.

3. You know what, I'm sure I had a list years and years ago. I'm sure it had tons upon tons of rules and restrictions on it, but my regulations have relaxed and changed so much since I had him that right now my only rule is I won't let my kid be forced to be anything he doesn't want to be. I know this sounds silly to most of you, but I can safely attest to the fact that babies probably know better about How It's Going To Be and What They Want more than college graduates or wise aged folks do.

Put that in your pedantic pipe and smoke it. I wil be a housewife, and I will revel in the fact that I will watch my children grow and stil be able to carve out time to expand my mind, should I choose to.

And the guy I chose, the one who was accused of never questioning me or making me strive for greatness, he pushes me everyday to finish medical transcription school. We speak of the future and returns on investments and what that could mean in a few years. It could mean I could follow the other path I felt comfortable on and start a business.

Moral, if you must have one,

You don't know anything, so stop pretending we had some intense connection when you closed your mind off to any option besides COLLEGE!! And the great $30K waste.


Oh, and you, quit thinking things will go as planned and start taking out insurance policies on your relationship if you really are planning on procreating. I've known stronger couples barely make it through the first year.



For everyone else, we're in talks and planning out our closing date details. Bring on the townhome and rooming with the Kellys. :)

Now someone come hang out with my wide awake son so I can sleep.

I promise I will crochet again and post about it soon. I made some purses and have a newfound love of adding buttons to things. All in due time they will be posted here.

oh HAPPY DAY.

The last 24 hours went as follows:

~10pm: Steve calls to inform me he is on his way to the hospital, because he ran over his foot with a pallet jack.

~12am: Steve calls to tell me he's been discharged with a clean bill of foot health, and is on his way home.

~9am: I get a call from the neighbor across the street telling us the back window of the van is smashed in.

WTF PEOPLE???? I keep thinking it was Steve's Dad. It looked like someone threw a bottle of Mickeys at our window. It didn't look like a bunch of beer was dry on the concrete. It must've been an empty bottle. Who would want to throw an empty bottle at our car hard enough to SMASH OUT AN ENTIRE BACK WINDOW???

It's fixed now, and I didn't even get any pictures. We filed a police report and Steve said not to tell him I think it was his dad. Who knows. Maybe it was stupid kids looking for fun. Maybe it was someone Steve cut off in traffic. Maybe it was the stupid realtor, since we complained to her boss about her being a lazy dumb ass.

UG. I just want things to go smoothly for awhile. Is that so much to ask?

Sorry for the lack of crochet patterns in this post. Next time we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming.

for better pot grabbing

no, not that. That's illegal!

I'm talking potholders, and circle potholders at that!

They're similar in design to the hats. In fact, they consist of the beginning of the hats and then you just slip stitch them together!

For those not familiar with the hat design, I'll post it here too.

Same abbreviations as always. ch=chain, sl st= slip stitch, dc=double crochet.


Ch 4. Join with a sl st to form a ring.
Round 1: Ch 2 (counts as first dc here and throughout), 9 dc in ring. 10 dc total.
Round 2: Ch 2, dc in same st. 2 dc in each stitch around. 20 dc total.
Round 3: Ch 2, 2 dc in next st, dc in next st. (2 dc, dc, 2 dc) around. 30 dc total.
Round 4: Ch 2, dc in next st. 2 dc in next st. (dc in next 2 st, 2 dc) around. 40 dc total.
Round 5: Ch 2, dc in next 2 st. 2 dc in next st. (dc in next 3 st, 2 dc) around. 50 dc total.
Round 6: Ch 2, dc in next 3 st. 2 dc in next st. (dc in next 4 st, 2 dc) around. 60 dc total.
Round 7: Ch2, dc in next 4 st. 2 dc in next st. (dc in next 5 st, 2 dc) around. 70 dc total.

Make 2.

With the wrong side of the potholders facing each other, line them up so the ch 2s are together. Start stitching them together here. Make sure to chain 1 so you have something to slip stitch into when you're done. This is very similar to putting granny squares together. You work only in the back loops of the stitches, slip stitching your way around the circles.

Another variation is to use single crochet to put them together. If you choose this option, put an extra single crochet every 6th stitch. It continues the increase (imagine that, you can now say you've worked a dc increase! It's really just 2 dc in one stitch. This pattern reading seems hard but it's not. If I can get it, anyone can.) and prevents the potholders from trying to become a hat.

When you get to where you started, ch 12. Slip stitch into that chain 1, and you're good to go. Cut the yarn and weave the ends in.

Here's one I've made. If you guys make some, post the pictures!

In Memoriam

wHat?

I received a request on my last post to put up instructions for a hat. This is my variation on this pattern here. I obviously have not mastered that flower yet. I'm working on it. As with the flowers, this pattern can be adapted to different size heads with different sized hooks. I find a J hook makes a decent sized hat for a regular adult sized head. If you are afflicted, as I am, with a head with a 42 inch circumference, you may want to start out with a K hook. I've also found that the size of the hat can vary depending on what type of yarn you use too. I'm posting the pattern for a normal hat. The trim, as seen on the pink hat, will be posted right after.

For the sake of examples, I'll say to use a J hook. Any variations to the pattern to increase the hat size will be in brackets.

The abbreviations are the same as the last pattern: sl st=slip stitch, dc=double crochet, sc= single crochet, ch=chain.

Ch 4. Sl st to form a ring.
Round 1: Ch 2. This counts as the first dc here and throughout. 9 dc in ring. This will make 10 double crochet total. Sl st in top ch of beginning ch 2. (hereafter referred to as Join)
Round 2: Ch 2. dc in same stitch. 2 dc in each stitch around. 20 dc total. Join
Round 3: Ch 2. 2 dc in next st. (dc in next st, 2 dc in next st,) around. 30 dc total. Join
Round 4: ch 2. dc in next st. 2 dc in next st. (dc in next 2 st, 2 dc in next stitch) around. 40 dc total. Join.
Round 5: Ch 2. dc in next 2 st. 2 dc in next st. (dc in next 3 st, 2 dc in next st) around. 50 dc total. Join.
Round 6: Ch 2. dc in next 3 st. 2 dc in next st. (dc in next 4 st, 2 dc in next st) around. 60 dc total. Join.
[if you are making this for a massive noggin, add another row of increasing stitches here. (dc in 5 st, 2 dc in next st.) around. 70 total.]
Round 7-14: Ch 2, dc in each st around. 60 dc total. [70 if making a bigger hat]
Round 15: Ch 1, sc in each st around. Cut yarn, weave in ends.

[in the case of the bigger hat, I've found 16 rows and then a row of sc work well.]

Edging:
This makes a Lazy Shell. If you're adding this don't cut and weave in yarn. Just continue using the same yarn. (unless you're opting for a different color).

after you finish the single crochet row:
Ch 1, (sc, Ch 3, 2 dc) all in next st. skip next 2 sc. (sc, Ch 3, 2 dc in next st, skip next 2 sc) around. join. Cut yarn. Weave in ends.

I'm serious about you guys trying it and posting pictures of the finished products. :D I plan on selling a bunch of hats at my garage sale at the end of next month, so I'll let you know how lucrative they are. They really don't use a lot of yarn. If you figure a skein of yarn costs $3 (and that's towards the high end, price-wise) you can get more than 3 hats from a good sized skein. you could sell these for $1.50 and make lotsa profit. Who doesn't want a nice, warm skull cap for a buck and a half?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Maybe some of you have notice the name change of the blog. I felt bad having retail clerk up there, because I haven't been one for nigh on a year now. I also wanted a place to showcase whatever crocheting I've been up to. I wanted a place where folks who were curious about crocheting could learn and make cute stuff. From now on, amidst updates when I have time for them, I'll be posting some current projects I'm working on and instructions on how to make them.


Here's the first one. It's the first pattern I adapted and made on my own. It's for flowers to adorn whatever. The first application I used them in was on a hat. The hat is a variation on a pattern from this lovely lady. It's the basic crown pattern, and once you make the increasing rows as desired, you just do rows of double crochet until the hat is long enough to reach or go just past your ears. That's up to you.

Laurie's 5 petal flowers:

Abbreviations I'll be using, extended:

sl st= slip stitch
sc= single crochet
dc= double crochet
hdc= half double crochet
ch= chain
rnd= round

The beauty of this little guys is you can use whatever size hook you want, with whatever colors and types of yarn you like.

1. Ch 4. sl st to form ring.
2. (rnd 1) ch 1 (counts as first sc), sc in ring. (ch 2, 2 sc, ch2) around until you have 5 ch 2 spaces. Sl st to the ch 1.
3. Sl st to ch 2 space. ch 2 (counts as hdc). 9 dc in same ch 2 space. hdc. (hdc, 9 dc, hdc) in next ch 2 space and in each ch 2 space around. Sl st to top of beginning ch 2.

Cut the yarn, weave in the ends and you've got a flower. You can make them in varying hook sizes. I would try and put 2 sizes between small, medium, and biggest flower. It makes the nested flowers look a little less cluttered. You can sew them on to hats, scarves, blankets, etc.

Make these and post pictures! Comment with any questions and happy crocheting.