Home Sweet Home

Let me be upfront. If you're hoping for some knitting content, well. You'll be disappointed. It hasn't been a knitting-heavy week. I can get pretty single-minded when it comes to organizing the new apartment, and once I've gotten everything just so, it's almost time to go to bed! All I can manage are a few sock rounds.

So single-minded in fact, that I didn't even photograph them!

If I ever thought that the guys would have any issues with being in a new place - well, those thoughts are out the window.

They continue to be enthralled by the wildlife.

"Whoa!...hey!...what the...hey!...hey!...get off my lawn!...hey!...yeah! you! get the...off...hey!...don't you poop there!...don't you...hey!...sheesh..."

"Officer Atticus, at your service, Ma'am."

"Don't call me Ma'am."

Atticus does indeed take his guard cat duties seriously. Anytime anyone comes to the back door, he meows up a storm (Lorraine, you know exactly what that's like!), and paces in front of the door. Anyone silly enough to say "aw, aren't you cuddly boy...", and reaches out to him will likely get his hand whacked. Scritchies are not permitted until Officer Atticus has sniffed you out first. If you pass muster, he'll then allow you to enter. And give him scritchies, of course.

"Mae! Get down from the table!"

"Make me. You're outside."

I have to say, ever since we've been down here, Gandalf has stayed off the counter. Probably because there is no view from there, the back doors are much more entertaining. Mae however, seems to like the table. I'm not too pleased about that, but then again Mae's pretty finicky, and she won't make a habit of it. Atticus hasn't figured out that he can jump on the chair to get to the table (a good thing), and Gandalf just uses it to get the window sill. Yet another view for him to watch the wildlife.


So, all is well in our world. I'm really happy at how it's all looking!


Oh!

Except for *one* very annoying, very untimely, and very, very stinky snag. City of Toronto civic workers have decided that this would be an AWESOME time to go on strike. It affects all sorts of things - one of the biggest being garbage and recycling pickup. See, as I was packing to move down here, I said to myself - "self, don't bother going through everything now, just wait 'til you're downstairs, and you can get rid of stuff then.". Smooth move. Now I have 3 discarded pieces of furniture, and old futon mattress, and about 3 garbage bags to throw out. Not to mention the Little Dudes...unmentionables... which are quadruple bagged and out on the deck. The recycling can go in the containers outside, that's no problem. And I can take my Green Bin stuff and dump it in our composter in the backyard. It's all the other stuff that's proving to be a problem. There is a "temporary" garbage drop off not too far from here, but I really don't want to have to cart the garbage there. I don't want to add to the mess if I can help it. My landlady said they will cart away the furniture and mattress to the landfill themselves, so I don't need to worry about that.


Anyway. It could be worse, right? I could have kids in a City of Toronto-run daycare, and have no other options.

My little corner of the world...

Have a great week everyone! And next week - knitting! Really!

Settling In

Wow, it's been awhile! I hadn't realized it's been 3 weeks since my last post.

We've been busy. Kind of. Moving, you know...

I would leave both doors open - the one from the old place, and the door to this new place - to see if the guys would wander down while I worked and moved stuff.

Atticus was tentative at first, but the bravest of the bunch.

As more and more things were moved down, they became a bit more curious.

Did I not say I would never, ever move apartments on my own again? Didn't I say that when I started looking into moving earlier this year?? Aren't I a fool. Well, I did have people help with the big things - but I moved 75% of my stuff by my stubborn self. Now I'm scratched, bruised, I dropped my upright vaccum on my toe, hit my head in the same place twice and my knees are swollen from going up and down stairs a gazillion times. But, I have pretty much everything moved out, save for a few bits.

Now, things are falling into place. The guys are perfectly comfortable in their new home.

Gandalf has his spot.

Atticus still manages to find the most bizarre spot to get comfortable.

And Mae explores her new surroundings.

I think it's a hit.

"Wow Gandalf, this place ROCKS! We're like, really close to the ground now!"

"Can you see Guido? Is he still coming 'round?"

"Yeah! He's across the street, and I can see him! Wow, he's a big cat Gandalf... Um, we may want to rethink our plan of psychological warfare against him..."

"Did you tell people how your knitting stuff was the first to get moved downstairs to the new place?"

Of course.

Although still a little messy. It all has a home.

See, throwing stuff in boxes and bags however they may fall may sound like a good idea at the time, but it does tend to make unpacking a bit...disorganized.

But, every day it looks a bit better.

"Here I come! I love all the space I have run around in at TOP SPEED in! Wheeeeeeeeeee!"

So, what can I say? All is well with the world. Um, make that their world. Happy cats, happy home!

And you know what else was going on here? In between all of the "packing" and moving and work - I paid a little someone a visit.

"...vaguely aware...of camera...really too...*yawn*...tired...to care..."

Finnegan! I went to visit him and his Moms last week. For a bittersweet visit... See, my sister and sister-in-law are packing up and leaving St. Catharines for Nova Scotia! Which is an excellent thing - my sister-in-law has a great new job at the IWK Hospital in Halifax. They have plans to build a new home outside of Halifax.

I went out for a last visit at their home in St. Catharines before they leave at the end of July. It was a great home, and I'll always have good memories of St. Catharines because of them. And Finnegan too, of course. I always felt so at home when I visited them - I was always welcome, and ALWAYS had a great time. Not to mention always well fed too! So, even though it's sad to see them go, I know that there will be a lot of good memories to be made in Nova Scotia, once I started visiting them when they're settled.

And I still have a lot of stuff to do here to keep me busy for awhile.

I want to also thank everyone for the well-wishes! Yup, it was a doozy of an infection alright. I have my (hopefully) last appointment tomorrow with my doctor to make sure it has completely cleared out of my system. I'm pretty sure the eardrum has healed on it's own (Debby, a perforated eardrum does heal on it's own, and pretty quickly too!), finally.

You know, it's been a busy year up to now, and I'm really hoping that I have a bit of calm and quiet for the next little while. And knitting. I haven't knit too much these last few weeks! Except socks, and few other stealth items.

Back to the business of unpacking!

On Nursing

Shhhh... Listen... Do you hear that?

Listen closely. What do you hear??

Nothing?? Well, then you're hearing the same thing as I am!

Nothing but quiet. Know why? THEY'RE GONE. My neighbour downstairs and her twerpy boyfriend have left the building.

And now, a moment of silence. NO WAY! *jumping up and down on the floors*

And not a moment too soon either. Because things would have just gone further downhill from here on, if that's at all possible. See. It turns out that there will be a Junior McBickerson some time early in the 2010. Yup. To be honest, if she's on her own, I don't doubt she'd be a good mother. However Twerp-Boy? Less than stellar. Much, much less. The plan now is to save up for a place together. She's living at her mother's, and he's...wherever. Eventually, they'll move back in together. I can see the COPS footage now. Nice.

I'm just happy I now have her apartment!

But. Let me tell you, I got precious little done this past week. Not a thing, as a matter of a fact.

See, what I *thought* was buildup in my right ear turned out to be something worse. Much worse. So bad in fact I landed in the hospital, with IV antibiotics; and not the least bit ashamed of crying and blubbering in front of total strangers. Seems the "blockage" was an infection that perforated my ear drum, and found a nice, sore spot to eat away at my eustachian tube, and enter the surrounding tissue, infecting the right side of my face, and getting into my bloodstream.

With the right side of my face swollen to the point you could not tell where my cheek ended and my outer ear started (and the ear swollen shut), I went to the ER, and was admitted. I was hooked up to some heavy duty antibiotics, and given some pain medication.

Anyway - all that to say, it was a rough week. I have another check up with the specialist on Tuesday (the 3rd since I was released), and more bloodwork to check the level of infection in my bloodstream, but things are sooo much better now. The swelling is gone from my face and ear, and the ear infection is on the mend, although it's still "there". I still have a few more days of oral antibiotics, and a week + of the drops.

Once home though, I was lucky to have some Home Care.

Nurse Atticus followed me around until I was either in bed, or on the couch. He then proceeded to plop down next to me, making sure I couldn't move without him knowing about it.

"I don't do bed pans or clean up barf. Just so you know."

Head Nurse Mae made sure that I took my medications, and drank my Ensure drink. My jaw was too sore to chew.

"Don't make me come up there."

And "Wants-To-Be-A-Therapy-Dog" Gandalf made sure that I smiled as often as I could.

"Hee hee! I really think I'd rock the hospital."

What more could you ask for?

And don't think I haven't been knitting through all of this. OK, maybe not so much last week, but I have been concentrating on getting some long suffering WIP's done.

Not that you can tell, but this is my Birdsfoot Scarf, from Virtual Yarns (Red Rattle doesn't photograph particularly well). If you enlarge the picture, you'll get a better idea of the stitch repeat. Really very soothing to work on - which I can appreciate these days.

I really don't have the attention span to work on much more than that. For one, the medication I'm taking for my ear makes me soooooo...tired... Plus, there's the little thing I'm doing called MOVING. Of which I've done precious little packing to prepare. Good thing I have a few weeks to move in...

Soon we'll be downstairs in the bigger apartment, with a huge, bright kitchen that I'm pretty sure will please the sun worshippers that are the Little Dudes.

"What do you mean, I won't be able to sit on the bannister post and harass squirrels any longer??"

Have a great week everyone!

Precious Little Knitting

What can you expect? The apartment is a mess, stuff is all over the place, and when things look neater when they're packed - you can guess what I'm spending my time doing.

I am still very much smitten with Isobel of Mar. Although...we had a bit of an accident. OK, not really an "accident", maybe more of a difference of opinions. You see, I thought she should take a longer bath than she actually needed. She was offended by this, and decided to show me the error of my ways by drying out LARGER than she should be. So large in fact, she came down to my knees. Now, I had always planned on her being an outdoor sweater. But this was crazy... Not to worry though! Lorraine to the rescue! She came over for a visit this past Friday, and took Isobel home with her. She'll pop her in her washing machine, spin out all the excess water (which is what I didn't do), and block her to size.

(Yet another reason why I really, really need/want my own washer/dryer.)

Phew!

Other than that... I haven't been knitting anything too exciting. Well, at least at the point they are at now. Finishing up things, working on socks...that's about it for the next little while. I won't be starting anything new, so this move is a blessing in disguise for my poor, sad, neglected WIP's...

Last weekend, I was going to pop outside to check out a throw rug I had drying out there. I didn't get very far.

The rug was...occupied... by this little fellow.

He would have fit in the palm of my hand. He was sleeping away in the sunshine. And you know? Baby squirrels sleep very much like baby kittens.

In a little round ball, with their heads tucked in; at one point I looked out, and he was on his back, feet up in the air. Such a sweet little scene!

I was a little concerned that he may be lost or abandoned, but I saw him running about the back yard later that evening, and I've seen him since. Probably got in a whack of trouble for coming home late though...

Speaking of babies:

"Hi. I'm your little sister Mae. I bet you're just the smartest and bravest big brother ever! And wow, are you ever buff! You must really watch what you eat and lead a clean life!"

Baby Mae turned 10 years old! My little girl... Hard to believe she was ever so tiny, but she was. And she was always a sweetie pie, right from the start. (Also, hard to believe Atticus was ever so...svelte. His head looks strangely large for his body in this picture.)

AND!

"Me? The runt of the litter?! Please... OK. Well, maybe. But hey, can't say I'm not the cutest."

Baby Gandalf turned 3 years old last week! Wow! Hard to believe. If it weren't for his size now, you'd swear he was still a kitten. Aw, even as a baby he had big feet and a boop-able nose. Hee hee.

Not to be outdone by all these baby pictures -

"Once the kids arrived, my waistline went to pot. What can I say."

His Handsomeness.

Party Time!

Hard to believe that despite this:

I was able to do this:

Finish Isobel of Mar. Yay me! OK, to be truthful - I still have to block her, and sew on the buttons, but despite that - she is finished. And guess what? All those worries I had about it maybe being too small? For nothing. She fits perfectly. And long enough that I can pass her off as a coat, and not worry about looking tubby in it. I loves her.

For those of you who are wondering - Isobel of Mar is the adult version of "Secret Garden" from the Starmore book "The Children's Collection". I knit her using Hebridean 3-ply in the "Summertide" shade. The colour is much more vibrant that it appears in the picture - it's a beautiful shade of blue, with flecks of green and gold. And it's just the right shade to perfectly show off the little details this coat has. Although - if you're not a big "finisher", this may be a bit much as the buttonbands and the collar are added separately, which in itself is not a big deal, but the execution of the collar at least is probably a bit more involved. But the results are worth it. So happy! Thanks to Marina for discovering this gem, and putting the bug in my ear to make it as well.

So, as I mentioned - that I was able to concentrate long enough to finish it up is pretty amazing. It's been rather hectic around here: work and the never-ending mega-project; a crappy bout of shingles that just had to rear it's head NOW; my upcoming move downstairs and the clutter of my apartment now (and clutter in my own home makes me cuckoo); and of course, listeing to the Bickersons downstairs yell and scream at each other... Just a few more weeks, I tell myself. Just a few more weeks...

I picked this up yesterday for the guys, mainly because I thought the name was hilarious:

Party Mix for Cats. You can't tell, but the expression on the cat's face on the bag makes him look like he's on speed or something. Despite being the ultimate in kitty junk food, I decided to pick some up to liven up the Little Dudes Cocktail Hour of 9pm.

"Party on, Gandalf."

"Party on, Atticus."

"Mae's World! Mae's World! ...Party time...Excellent... *guitar riff*..."

(Hopefully you remember your SNL from the early 90's...)

OK. Time to hit the laundrymat. I really let it go way too long this time. You know, when it comes to my home, I have two wishes. One - a cleaning lady. And two - my own washer/dryer. One day...

I leave you with this little gem I snapped this past week.

I have to wonder how comfortable it can be to sleep with your head on the window sill, but, he looks pretty content in his sunbeam!

Hey! And to all of my mom friends - Happy Mother's Day!

Brought To You By...

"Mom's been busy lately. So, opposable thumbs be damned, we're bringing you this week's post."

"It's all work, work, work. Personally, I don't get it. But, it keeps me in food and litter, so whatever."

"She has been knitting though. That vest thingy with all the different colours Gandalf likes to sleep on. Oh! And that big blue thing too, with the funky stitches that make her say nasty words. I've heard her."

"Work yes, but she did go to the Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic this week for acupuncture. Boy, did that make her happy! Her stomach is so much better! And other stuff too, but I won't get into that...Hey Atticus? Do you think Mom'll notice that the place is a mess?"

"She's been busy! And besides, we're moving, so stuff is all over the place."

"Oh, that's not good for the Feng Shui."

"Feng Shui??! When did you get all traditional about that kind of stuff? And what's with the front paw cross? You look like a girl."

"Hey! What's wrong with that?? You look just fine Gandalf."

"Thank you Mae. Anyhoo, we've been busy too - what with squirrels and birds and the first thunderstorm of the year. AND - there are all these big empty boxes all over the place! Cool! But, for some reason Mom gets annoyed when I go a little overboard with them. Although she did laugh when one fell on top of me and I couldn't get out."

"That thunderstorm sucked."

"I'll say! That was scary! So. All that to say, Mom'll be back next week. Hopefully with something that is either finished, or like, this close to being finished. And, I think we may see Auntie Lorraine next week too!"

"Awesome! She loves me... OK, so have a good and safe week everybody!"

Just When You Thought It Was OK To Go Into The Water Again

Gandalf loves nothing more than to watch the squirrels. Given the chance, he probably wouldn't know what to do with them, but nevertheless - it's a hobby.

"Hi! Hey! I said hi! Wait! Don't run away! Hey! Hey! HEY! Come back!"

He has his Squirrel Patrol.

I have my knitting.

Windsor Waistcoat doesn't look much different from the last time?

Look again.

Those are steeks, my friends! Armhole AND front "V" steeks. From here on end, it's all good. And quick. Decreases mean...a shorter circular needle, and an end in site. I always marvel as I'm working on this vest how lovely the colours are together. But, when you look at it from "above", you notice the little differences that make it so special.

*sigh* I love Fair Isle...

"Hey Guys! Guess what?!"

"Mom's asking us a question."

"Why there's Atticus shmutz on the wall?"

"No. Dork. What Mom?"

We're gonna move after all!

Uh huh. That's right. Although I'd pretty much convinced myself that I should stay put (um, that would be last week's post), I decided otherwise after I'd spoken to my landlady.

Same rent I'm paying now. AND I get a say in who moves into this place. And, I'll have the whole month of June to move in slowly. Not like I'm going far...I won't even need to hire movers. It is larger - the kitchen alone dwarfs my little one here. I have the larger deck, a larger bedroom and bathroom, and a bay window in what will become my office/spare room. There will be some lovely french doors leading to the back deck, so a certain someone will be able to monitor squirrel and bird activity to his heart's content.

Of course, there will be the adjustment period for the guys. But, I think they'll be OK once they see they can tear through the kitchen all the way to the front door without banging into a wall or staircase - they'll be pretty happy. I hope. When I moved back into this place in 2006 after the renovations, Mae whined for 2 days straight. Atticus was fine though. Once he figured out where the litter box and his food was, he was good.

The apartment downstairs will be cleaned from top to bottom before I move in, so *hopefully* there will be no residual dog smell to freak them out. She hasn't been too bad with the upkeep below, so it's not like it's in bad shape. I just worry about what you can't see...

Anyway - not going to think about that now. I have to start packing things up soon. Fun. Then there's the unpacking though!

Back and forth, back and forth... Can't for a minute say that things are boring these days.

"Cool, huh Mae?! What do you think about moving downstairs?!"

"*clean clean clean* Lady, you gotta stop talking to me like that. People will think you're loopy."