i *heart* presents

We spent a lovely lazy morning yesterday. Cozied up and watching out the window at this...

After the floodgates closed back up again, UPS appeared on a shaft of sunlight. Not quite that literally, but close. I came downstairs from painting shelves to find a couple of amazon.com boxes on my doorstep and inside were these:

A totally unexpected treat from my dad. We'd been talking about these movies a lot lately (can you say, "sequel"?), and I knew he'd ordered them for himself, but never, in a million years did I expect them to appear on my doorstep. What fun. And Alfie, thank you SO much.

Then, when I was getting ready to take Callum and neighbor-Rebecca out to dinner, I walked past my dresser and there sat these:

A totally unexpected treat from my husband. I am abysmally difficult to surprise. I hate this about myself. I'll be trucking along, minding my own business, maybe working on a project or driving in the car and suddenly, I'll think, "Oh! I know what Neel got me for Christmas." I'll try to pull that errant and devious thought back, or talk myself out of it, because, really, I love a good surprise. Today I got two. The earrings are blue topaz, and Neel says they're meant to remind me of Greece. Thank you so much my lovely. I *heart* you too...XOXO

weekend update

Up until this weekend, it has been a dry, dry summer. Suddenly, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, we've had storms and rain. More are expected today. I feel as unsettled as the weather. Restless and lazy all at the same time. We made eager, if tentative plans with friends over the weekend ("It's been too long! We miss you guys.") and let them flit away. Even the neighborhood was socked in. Waiting out the oppressive days.

Mandy-the-corgi went home, as expected, with her first applicant after a frustrating day trying to contact the SPCA. We weren't too disappointed, and I hope she had a nice weekend in her new home. I've wanted a corgi since I was in college and meeting Mandy renewed that interest. There were some pups listed in the paper, but about 2 hours away, and we just couldn't muster the energy. For someone who struggles mightily with impatience and a need to have things ordered just the way I need them, RIGHT NOW, I'm remaining remarkably relaxed and sanguine about this hunt for pup number two. Our dog is out there...we just haven't met her yet. And really, being so remarkably relaxed and sanguine is a new experience for me...I'd like to keep it around.

The SPCA frustrations of Friday were brightened by the arrival of this little package from Laura Kim Jewelry

Look what was inside! I took advantage of a sale she had last week, and I feel oh-so-lucky! I put on Pod #2 (the one on the right) almost immediately. All I need is someone to take me out to dinner to test-drive Maris (on the left). Check out her site...she does some lovely work. Pickins are slim right now as she readies for fall, but I can't wait to see what her next line brings. Shipping was prompt, and as you can see, even the packaging was pretty. Thank you so much, Laura...what a treat.

Remind me never to try to stain a bed when the humidity is over 400%. Seriously. I've made NO progress on that front, just waiting for the first pieces we stained to dry. The bluerainroom is almost shelf heaven, however, as we got the wood for shelves here and in the kitchen. Callum will finish helping me paint those today, and hopefully we'll get them installed this weekend. Progress on the pantry has me a little worried, since Neel has decided he needs to take down some cheap beadboarding and...wait for it...paint before we can put up that shelf. I'll keep you posted.

In knitterly news, the back of Jospehine is finished, I'm almost done with sock #1 of a pair basic two-circulars socks. Both of those knits are in a pretty fine gauge on pretty small needles (ones for the socks and fives for the sweater), so what better to do in the muggiest part of July but to cast on for this scarf on (marginally) larger #8s. I'm using Knitpicks Andean silk in olive, which I have much of...

Every night this weekend we saw this...

...and glory be...is that really rain? Even with Callum complaining that we never get to go to the beach because it always rains, we're soak, soak, soaking it up. Everything seems a little greener, a little more alive. Hopefully it will translate to the humans. I could use some perking up.

baby steps

Well, while Neel didn't come home and put the numbers on the house, measure for shelves, or hang shelves, he did help me take our bed apart for staining.

It was kind of fun to sleep like this last night, mattress and box spring on the floor. I told Callum that I felt like Ma in Little House on the Prarie when they make their beds on the floor of the newly-framed house. We've slept like this, camped out in our own bedroom, a couple of times before. Once was when Neel was in graduate school, and he and our pup Phoebe and I were all kneeling (well, maybe Pheebs wasn't kneeling, exactly) on the bed to look out the window at a bird. The slats of my grandmother's bed failed somehow and we all came crashing down.

The second time was after our move to California while we were waiting to purchase this very bed that I'm staining today. Our mover wanted to set up Grandma's bed in the master bedroom for us, but I knew that we'd be getting another bed soon. I wanted the mattress and boxspring on the floor while we waited. He just did not understand this or me, and since I pretty much just want everyone to be happy, I let him set up the damn bed. Good grief. What a pushover.

Lucy is really concerned about these latest developments. (I'm sure she thinks it has something to do with that dog she met yesterday.) She has a routine, you know. Every night she comes upstairs with us and crawls under the bed to wait while we brush our teeth and settle in. Only after we're both tucked in does she come out and put her paws up on Neel's side for him to lift her into the bed. She can get in herself, but just won't. Not at bedtime. She had the most pathetic, confused look on her face last night after she hopped up onto the bed and watched us in the bathroom getting ready. Today she's been following me most carefully as I go to work on the staining. Keeping tabs.

So here we are, past the point of no return, right in time for my panicked second thoughts. Oh little bed, how I loved you just the way you were. Seriously, sometimes I am impossible to live with. I know. But I do like the stain, and I think it'll look really nice. I've been wanting to do this for years. It's just the transition, I suppose that has me overwrought.

That's what we're up to today. Staining and knitting or reading in between coats. Trying not to think about little doggies or all the other stuff I want to get done.

muddle and midden

The backs for some necklace rolls waiting for me to choose their linings.

Neel asked me this morning if it felt like a burden to post on the blog everyday. No, not really, not yet. Mostly it still feels like an exciting daily challenge, and while I imagine that I'll have periods of feeling burned out and wiped out, they haven't happened yet. Today is different. All that's wrong with today is that I'm cranky and muddled and not sure I should subject anyone to this particular mood. And yet here we are. Sorry.

I feel scattered and restless and well, grumpy is really the only word for it. Not enough time on my own to recharge my batteries and a million and ten things I want to do. And why is it that here I am, working to reduce the clutter and excess in my life, but I need more and more things to accomplish that reduction. Baffling.

Take this cheap Target bookcase for example. It's in my dining room right now, holding cookbooks, some of the pitchers I've collected and Buddha. I don't like that it's a cheap Target bookcase, the pitchers are hard to see and the cookbooks are hard to get to. I end up stashing my favorite ones, the ones I keep going back to, next to the island in my kitchen.

So, breezily I decide that we need to get rid of the book case. (Had I mentioned that yet Neel?) Bye-bye cheap Target bookcase. Here's the problem. I need the cookbooks and I want the pitchers and the cut-glass Turkey that was my grandmother's and the vase my Dad gave me and Buddha. (And really here's where we get to the main crux of my eternal dilemma. I want to minimize my life, but I love my things. Bummer.) Actually, I think I mostly have this one solved. Not the eternal dilemma, just the bookcase dilemma. Read on...

Here is my "pantry." It's actually fairly close to an ideal pantry for me which would be long and narrow and have shelves that were only one can deep so I would never again end up with four cans of garbanzo beans. It's a hallway attached to the kitchen that has two sets of stainless steel shelves for all of our food. (I know, I know, I could stand to do some minimizing here as well.) You can see that there's tons of wasted space up near the top, and for a long time I've been wanting to put a shelf along the top for some of our appliances. Not appliances like the refrigerator. Appliances like the Cuisinart. It'll be a long shelf, so I'm thinking that the cookbooks could go here too. Definitely more accessible, and that takes care of three shelves in the cheap Target bookcase.

So what to do with the pitchers, the vase, the turkey and Buddha. Well they need to be somewhere...I could scatter them throughout the house. Still, I'd really like to do some more work on the bluerairoom, and I'd love to surround myself with some of my favorite pitchers, turkeys and Buddhas up there where I work. What do I need for that to happen?

More shelves. I'd like the whole wall behind the sewing machine to be shelved. I'd use it for storage, for sure, but what a great place for some of my favorite things. I went to Lowes and bought some brackets and looked briefly at their pre-cut laminate shelving. I want color, so I want to paint these (both the pantry and the studio shelves) instead of going the easy laminate way out. I just want it now. I want Neel to come home from work and help me measure and then go to Lowes with me to have the boards cut and come home and put in the brackets while I paint and then help me put them up. Now. (Hi honey! Hope you're having a good day!)

While I was at Lowes, I got some numbers for our house that I want to put on NOW. I got gel stain to stain my bed that I want to take apart and prep NOW, and I got an extra hose that I don't really care when it gets attached to my outdoor shower.

A restless muddled midden. That's what this is.

blue hound room

Yesterday was one of those "best-laid plans gone astray" days for me. I had sewing that I wanted to do and cleaning that I needed to do, but we ended up playing Emergency! with our dwindled supply of Legos instead.

Did any of you ever watch Emergency!? This was my all-time favorite show growing up. I must have seen it in syndication, but I can clearly remember waiting so impatiently on Saturday nights for it to come on. I think it was at seven, right after the Lawrence Welk Show. On some particularly long weeks, I would watch the LWS in hopes that it would help pass the time until 7 p.m. It never worked, and as my friend Megan pointed out, "time slows down on the Lawrence Welk Show, that's why old people love it."

While everyone was ga-ga over Paramedic John Gage, it was pissy doctor Kelly Brackett who caught my eye. I think Rampart Hospital and the Cherry Ames nurse series by Helen Wells are what made me want to be a doctor or nurse. And we see how long lasting and significant those impulses were!

So I'll make do with introducing Emergency! to my kid, and hope that more than just the 1st three seasons come out on DVD.

Callum made Station 51 and I made the squad car. We imported a hook and ladder truck.

Here we are at the fire. See how the flames have burst out through the roof? I was the dispatcher and Rampart Base, and Callum was Johnny (of course!).

Lucy was Dr. Brackett, who had been opposed to the paramedic program since the pilot episode.

In our other pup-date, we took Neel to meet Mandy at the SPCA (a requirement for adoption). She was still there and as sweet as ever. I must have misunderstood two key things (I have to say that while everyone there is so nice, the process is very confusing.). The first is that I thought the 1st applicant had until Friday to decide if they wanted her and could pick her anytime. No, they have to wait until Friday just like we do. Still not completely sure why. Also, I thought we wouldn't bring Lucy to meet Mandy until after the adoption had gone through. Nope, they need to meet for us to be approved. This means that I have to make another trip to an SPCA almost 20 miles away for a dog that someone else is going to end up adopting. We muster on.

In Josephine news, I'm about 80% finished with the back. Need a few more inches of the all-over pattern before I start binding off arm-holes, etc. I'm enjoying this project very much, and liking the Knitpicks Shine Sport as well. We muster on. It's all we ever do.