Category: shmoo

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Housekeeping has informed me your room is ready.

I never drink water; that is the stuff that rusts pipes.
~W. C. Fields

Tuesday, February 17th, seemed pretty normal for most of the day. Shmoo got home about 15 minutes before me, grabbed the dog and took her out back to potty. When he got downstairs, there was water EVERYWHERE. So when I got home a few minutes later at 5:30, he was walking out to meet me, and everything was suddenly chaos and crap.

By the time an hour had passed the leak had been found, the plumbers had cut and repaired the pipe, and an insurance claim had been opened.
(Forgive the photo blurriness. They were taken with our phones cause it’s easy.)

The pipe that burst was nestled in between the two floors, so when it realized it was really upset about being frozen and fucked right off, the water just poured down the wall and flooded the entire guest room, out into the laundry room and was making it’s way towards the rest of downstairs when we got home.
water flowing the down in the walls

This is our souvenir.
the pipe
That tear that looks like a smiling mouth is not much wider across than a quarter. There was so much water and it was coming so fast into the other rooms, near as we can figure, the frozen spot only thawed shortly before we got home.

And here’s where the plumbers ripped out our friend the angry pipe…
the scene of the crime
Did you know that when you have a leak in your walls, they just start cutting holes in shit until they find where it is? Yeah.

I’m going to stop for a moment now, and show you a photo of our ceiling, just in case you missed the disaster it was all on it’s very own.
the most awesomest ceiling ever
Why yes, that is basically 1x12s around the edge of the room, with vinyl lattice work over black landscape fabric. And yes, it was totally awful and made everyone who looked at it state “what the hell? I don’t even know how to write this down…” and look at us all confused for an explanation. To which our reply was “We just bought this a little over a year ago, and it came like this. I’m sorry.”

So, back to the train-wreck… Basically everyone who has ever had pipes had one freeze the same week we did. So the water mitigation folks who normally would have been out that night or next day couldn’t come until Friday, and there were no other available companies in the area. We know this because we called a bunch of them. After 3 days of standing water, the carpet was certainly a loss and they ended up taking out one whole wall, one half wall, the rest of the walls to one foot up from the floor, and half the fabulous custom ceiling.
And this is what that looks like:
look ma, no walls!
and no ceiling too
Now, you’ve noticed that they took the walls, but not the insulation, which also got wet and had to be removed before repairs could actually start. This is because it was so damned cold while the water removal was happening that they were afraid it would lead to all the pipes in the house freezing if they took it out.

So if you’ve made it this far, I’m just going wrap this up by saying that we had a bit of back and forth with the insurance company and the restoration folks, and while I am not really happy with the restoration people, I’ll live. The repair work started on Friday, March 20th and they had guys out here for 4.5 days, and the last day was Friday, March 27th. It’s done. We’ve cleaned and gotten everything back into the room and all fixed up and now it’s ready for guests!

panorama from the doorway
panorama from the corner opposite the doorway

We love the room and are happy with the final result, which is good, because shmoo’s family is due in this week. They had planned to come out for Cherry Blossom Festival before the pipe incident and we’ve been feeling a bit of stress about getting everything done. But it is. The guest room is restored, my craft room is now also a secondary guest room, and later this week our new furniture we ordered several months ago will finally be here as well, which means the current sofa will finally make it’s long awaited move to the den/bar where it too can be an ad hoc bedroom.

It’s like we’re grown-ups or something…

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Sick and tired..

of being sick and tired.

January flew by with only one other small knit getting done, and that was just a new nalgene water bottle cozy. Nothing special there. I still don’t like the handle on it, so no photos yet. It’s the same yarn as the tea cozy so it’s pink/salmon handspun and I did it in a broken rib. Use your imagination. It’ll look better than what I actually did I am sure.

The end of January was Shmoocon of course. And despite taking extra time off of work to be sure I got plenty of sleep and wasn’t stressed, and Zinc and Vitamin C for two weeks ahead of time and during the con, and naps, and no boozing it up or partying. I even did a different job so I wouldn’t be exposed to as many people. By Monday night, I was sick. And in fact, I am still sick, though finally off of the antibiotics (for now, unless I have to go back again). This time I actually went to the doctor and his verdict was tonsillitis. The antibiotics given did nothing to make me feel better and two days before they were up I called him because I suddenly had a fever again. So I got new, stronger, expensive even when generic, antibiotics designed for bronchitis and pneumonia. They were supposed to clear me up by the end of the weekend, but they did not. So, Monday morning of what was now week three (this past Monday) I was back in the office so he could listen to my lungs and take an xray if needed. He decided they were clear and I sounded good except for my lack of voice and the coughing. It’s now Sunday and I still have no voice, still having coughing spasms, and still very very tired. I spent most of this weekend sleeping, again, much to shmoo’s dismay. He is also tired of me being sick.

So now I’ve burnt an entire week of time off from work on this crud, as well as the extra days I actually took for the con, and am still sick and quite frustrated because I’ve done everything I can to not get sick. The doctor said “you should have had a flu shot” to which I replied “Oh I had one back in October thank you very much”. Basically, if you get a flu shot and then wash your hands at least 5 times a day, you cut your risk of getting sick by 50%. I washed my hands way more than that. So now I am angry at myself for getting sick and it taking so long to get better. And I am frustrated because I really don’t know what else I could have done to prevent this. I guess I need to decide if it’s worth and if I am going to the con again next year because other than not going, I don’t know what to do about getting sick every year.

But enough bitching!

The naughty reindeer olympic hat was a huge success! Todd loved it, and wore it ALL weekend, despite being indoors and it being a very hot hat. Better yet, the registration desk had a few inquiries about where they could buy “the hat with the fucking” on it. So that made me feel good. Mostly I am glad that Todd got a hat that I like and that he loves because he waited two years for the damned thing, so he should have a hat he quite likes. I’ll probably never do another one like it, because the one was enough, but it’s always nice for a knitter’s gifts to be loved and well received.

That’s all I got for now. Been to sick to knit or do anything else but nap between coughing fits and trying to keep it together for work.
Maybe there will be progress to report next month.

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to those of you celebrating it.
Happy whatever it is you celebrate to those of you who aren’t.

I’d show you photos of the one finished arm warmer and the finished Naughty Reindeer hat, but both need to be washed and the hat blocked for sure. And I am worried it’s going to be to small, because Todd has a big head. Or maybe it’s my imagination he’s got a big head. Maybe it’s normal sized and it will be fine. But now I am worried, none-the-less. And shmoo won’t even try it on. He says he’s not going to contribute to my crazy. And that if I am going to be crazy about the hat, I can do it on my own.

It’s like he knows me or something!

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No July Knitting (nats vs baysox)

Because honestly, I’ve lost my knitting mojo this month. It’s too damn hot and humid to do much, if any, knitting. And so I haven’t knit.
What I have done however is go to two baseball games. So I shall tell you about those.

The first was on July 4th. We went to see the Nats play and had really great seats that we got for about 25 bucks off each. They were still 60 dollar seats though, and while my cheap little heart squeezed in distress at that, we wanted to go out and do something, and have it be a little special, and nice seats were a way of doing that. Nats stadium is very pretty as stadiums go and there’s really not a bad seat in the house. I did over all find it to be a bit too loud for me, and ended up with a massive headache and had forgotten to bring any Advil for just such an emergency. Nats stadium also has the advantage of being right there off of Metro. So we had metro’d in, walked the half block to the stadium, and bam we were there. No muss, no fuss, no paying to park (free metro parking due to holiday) and no having to deal with DC traffic. Metro does have the downside of making me motion sick on the best of days however, so while I find the convenience of it rather handy, I hate the actual riding on it. We watched the whole game, which had gone into an extra inning. The Nats actually won, and over all, we were not disappointed with our day out. It was just special/costly enough to be something we had done for the holiday and we enjoyed ourselves, despite the heat, headache, the really drunk dude heckling the Cubs’ pitchers constantly, and the insane costs of shitty beer and food (rough food estimates were around 50+ bucks total spent for 2 beers, and 2 bratworst (no condiments!). 1st beer was a 12oz an of Coors Light, 2nd was a Sam Adams draft also around 12 oz. I drank water, which they allow you to bring in one bottle each, unopened.)

The second game we went to was last night. We went to see the Bowie Baysox. They are the AA affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles, and they were playing the Nats AA team, the Harrisburg Senators.* We had 3rd row seats on the end of the row behind home plate. Our tickets were 14 bucks each and came with “free” food. (The would have been 11 bucks each without the “free” food option.) So we had two really good seats, dinner (a foot-long hotdog (with better/many more condiments stands than the Nats), a popcorn, and a bag of peanuts each), and a nice evening watching the game. Parking was free, and we got to drive there instead of having to use Metro, so I was already in a better mood once we arrived. Parking was also pretty darned close to the entrance as well, and it’s not like we got there that early. Beer choices were a lot better and a lot cheaper than at the Nat’s stadium, and the food choices seemed more diverse as well. And when shmoo came back from grabbing another beer, and me a lemonade, stating that he didn’t want to talk about the pretzel, because it had just fallen from the sky and into his mouth, I made him share it with me. And the pretzel was a damn sight better that the one I had at Nats stadium on Stitch-N-Pitch night back at the end of May. We spent around 35 dollars. (2 24oz beers, one was Molsen, the other was a Corona Extra, 1 pretzel, 1 Bicardo Mohito, 1 lemonade. I had the Mohito and Lemonade, and we were also able to bring in water. As for the “free” food, we ate a both of the hotdogs, about 3/4 of the popcorn and took the peanuts home.) The crowd was a lot better too. No one was being a drunk beligerant asshole, and the game was just as good as the Nat’s game we saw.** The Baysox won and traffic getting out wasn’t insane. We were back home, parked in the driveway less than 30 minutes later.***

So, after discussing it on the way home, shmoo and I both feel that the Baysox was better all the way around. (And not just because I remembered to bring Advil with me just in case. Which I needed, and was thankful I had it.) We don’t regret seeing the Nats like we did, but for future baseball urges, we are going Baysox. In fact, he even mentioned getting season tickets as a possibilty for next year. I am thinking we should just get an 8 game package myself, as 8 games over a 5 month period is probably enough for us. If we get really crazy, maybe we’ll do 11.

*- Some guy named Bryce Harper was playing for the Senators and people went nuts with the cameras every time he got on deck. Based on my google search last night after getting home, he was the Nat’s first round draft pick last year, and is up and coming or something.

**- I *might* be of the opinion that baseball is baseball so ymmv. It’s got a lot of downtime to it, and I remember when I’d go watch in college, we’d almost always take some homework to get done while we watched. It’s not that I don’t like baseball, I do, but if the teams are equally matched, and it’s not T-Ball level, then it’s pretty much the same to me. For me it’s more about geting out of the house, and away from the computer and enjoying being outside and watching a little ball while you are at it.

***- Also, Tuesday night was Tailgate Tuesday, which we didn’t participate in, but had we gotten there early enough to do so, it was 2 buck draft beers and live music from 5-7, with the game starting at 7.

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The Answer*

Our Rings

It was a beautiful sunny morning, and we were surrounded by close family, and even the porpoises put in an appearance. I couldn’t have asked for more.

* – for you non geeky folks, the date, 10/10/10 (besides being incredibly easy to remember for those of us who are date impaired) has some geeky meaning. 101010 in binary = 42 in decimal. 42, for those of you not sci-fi/Douglas Adams fans, is the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything. That seemed appropriate for us. :)

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Sick of Snow.

So.. it snowed a lot in D.C. this past weekend. LIke.. 3 feet or so.

Check this time lapse someone did of all the snow.

This past weekend was also shmoocon. Which I wasn’t attending this year, but shmoo was going to, until he had to cover for people not showing up to work and worked 24 hours straight. So he missed his own con. :/ We went into D.C. Friday night when all this had started to have dinner with friends, but ended up having to eat at McD’s because Lebanese Taverna had closed and canceled our reservation and then the Metro was closing all above ground rail service so we didn’t have time for nice dinner before we had to get out, or we’d have been stuck. And at that point, shmoo already had people calling in on him, so we knew we had to get out.

And then, our neighbors went crazy digging out themselves and blocked many of the rest of us in. And even the road in our cul de sac so badly that the plow can’t get through at all.

And now it’s snowing again. AGAIN. Like.. 20 more inches again.
So that’s almost 5 feet of snow in less than a week. And neither myself nor D.C. are really prepared for this kind of thing.
And the plow… still can’t get back through our road. Have I mentioned how much I like my neighbors?

But I took some pictures of all this crazy, and now I am trying to convince shmoo that we really need to move back to Ga, and that he would like it there. I could be lying to him of course, but I don’t like Maryland anymore. Not. One. Bit.

5066|425

More photos HERE.

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Is 2009 over yet?

Seriously. It’s been a hard month.

Daisy is fine btw, still some left side weakness but expected to recover fully. Her staples are out and she’s going to have a small scar, but that’s ok. It seems like you shouldn’t come through something like that without a scar.

2 feet of snow this past weekend. None of shmoo’s employees can manage to get their shit together and show up for work, despite knowing they are critical staff, and this is part of their hiring agreement. He was supposed to be off Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues, and then cover the end of the week for one of the guys to be off with his kids for Christmas.

Instead he had to work 7pm-7am to cover the night manager who called in 6 hours before he had to be at work… and then the owner had to cover the day shift, because the girl that was supposed to be in called out last minute, because she tried to get shmoo to cover her shift and was all “what?” when told he could not because he had to work over night already. The weenie night manager then called in again, but got the other night guy to come in for him, and the other night guy called us this morning at 7am, because princess-can’t-come-to-work No Call/No Showed.

THEN!… shmoo goes out to get into his jeep and go to work to relieve the night guy… and his Jeep, it is gone. GONE. Not been towed. Oh no. One of the neighbors saw someone come take it at 2:00am. They pulled up in a Jeep Wrangler, stole our Cherokee, and left, following each other out.

THEN, after being on the phone with the police, the night manager calls shmoo to say for a THIRD NIGHT, he still can’t make it in, because his window is cracked….. CRACKED. CALLED IN 10 HOURS AHEAD OF TIME because he it was “unsafe to drive” which is total bullshit, his window had been cracked for months, and it was a 10 buck fix, and he fucked up and didn’t get it done, and now he has to live with that, and he is gonna use his fuck up to call out.

Unfortunately, he was trumped by shmoo’s jeep being stolen. Thanks for playing asshole, try again. Also, try showing up for work sometime.

So shmoo called the night guy back AND the owner to say, “this sucks, but hey, jeep stolen!” So the owner went in again today to cover the day shift.

While he was on the phone with the insurance company, the police called back to say they had found the Jeep, and did we want to save the impound fees and go get it. Why yes, yes we did. So we went way out to Bowie, (and well surprised the Jeep made it that far, it has issues!) and got it. It was still running when we got there. Apparantly when they abandoned it, they didn’t shut it off BECAUSE THEY HAD TORE OUT THE IGNITION AND SCREWED THE STEERING COLUMN. They stole another Jeep Cherokee from the place they dumped ours, and left. We drove it to our repair guy and left it. It’s a 600 dollar fix, but we have it back, and it runs. so yay, or something.

And now, shmoo is planning to work tomorrow (his final day off he was supposed to have this week) because that stupid girl STILL won’t return any calls, and even turned off her phone while he was calling her.

Apparantly the economy is fucking brilliant because none of these fuckers want to work and this one girl is just begging to be fired at this point. It’s a good damned thing I am not her manager because she would already be out and I would arranging to dock her pay for all the hours she didn’t show up from her last check. I don’t want shmoo to have to work 2 weeks straight between covering for everyone and then firing this girl, but damn, at least then we know what our plans are from day to day and don’t have to keep changing them because no one is showing up for work like they should.   We can’t even go to the grocery store because every time we have planned to do so, something else has gone nuts.

I am ready for this to be over.

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Alive and Kicking

(stay until your love is….) Sorry…. couldn’t resist Simple Minds.

I’d like to have the time to post about how I feel now that I am officially in my mid-to-late 30s… (I hit 35 on black friday!)
Or how I seem to be dealing with that by deciding to learn to play guitar. No idea why other than “I WANT TO!”
Or I am getting tons of knitting done, or spinning marvelous yarns, or even spending too much time playing Warcraft.

But I don’t have time for these things. I barely have time to know what my name is it seems like. Work is crazy right now, full of clients that are stressing about deadlines that they’ve known about for over a year and only now doing something about and suddenly they don’t have enough time!!! ZOMG!..
And at home, my kitchen is a sty, I don’t have much time for anything that isn’t cooking dinner, eating dinner, doing laundry for the dog, feeding the dog, cleaning up after the dog, spending quality time with the dog, and sometimes, sleeping.

But my girl, she’s worth it, and she’s been through a lot to stay here with me, so I’ll keep my end of the deal and do my part.

aftersurgery

I do want to add that shmoo totally loves me (and the dog too!), and he’s been great through all of it and I couldn’t ask for a better partner. I don’t think I tell him enough that he does a good job, but I do notice, and I do appreciate it. :)

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brrrrrrr!

So, like.. it’s cold. Fall is definitively here and I just want to say, I’d like a little more of cool late summer back please!

Vacation was good and much needed.

I got yarn.
4932|400
4935|400

And new awesomely awesome shoes, which it is now too cold to wear….
4926|400

And my mom caught a really big fish. (They said it was a King Mackerel, but to me, fish is fish is fish, and it’s all yuck, so…yay fish or something.)
4902|400

I love my family, and I miss Georgia in a bajillion numerous ways and when I land at Hartsfield airport, even though we are just passing through, it still feels like I am coming home. But vacation always puts things back into perspective, and while I miss many things about Georgia and missing seeing my family, I know that I am happier not living too close to them. I am not any easier to live with than they are mind you, but my quirks are different. And a lot of the things that send me right up the wall are things they don’t even notice, and vice versa.

I am not sure when shmoo and I developed an exclusive language that no one around us can understand, but it seems we have. I guess you just notice more when around others. And! He’s seen how crazy my family is and understands that I will be that crazy someday, and in fact am often at least halfway there now, if not more. And he still loves me!

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Ingenious.

First, I promised a picture of the Shmocks.
4086|400
Done with Blue Moon STR med weight in Loch Ness, Basic two at a time toe-up, plain foot, short row heel, and 4×1 ribbed cuff. He wears them, and asked all on his own about how to wash them, so I am guessing he likes them. I think they look a bit funky and am not sure what the hell I did to make the wraps so bulky, but they’ll be hid in his Doc’s most of the time, so it’s all good.

And now, the good stuff.
I have been aware of turtlegirl76 for a while now. After all, there really aren’t that many knitblogging turtle lovers out there, and the intartubes makes us more interconnected. But I don’t read her blog regularly, and in fact, I only stumble across it now and then, read a bit, and then continue on my merry way. But yesterday while perusing, I saw something that made me think, “Dear God! She’s fucking brilliant!” So, I am pointing you there today. Specifically I am telling you to click on her free patterns link on her header and then scroll down to number 5. Row Counters. Simple, easy, no brains involved row-counters.

Seriously. Go read. Download her tutorial and peruse it. I’ll wait.

So now that you are back… Neat, huh?
I made some last night.
I plan on making more.
Should I ever find myself in a swap again I will most definitely make some of these to give.
Hell, I may make some to give to random knitters I see on the street.
I like them that much.
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