K's socks are almost done! I'm down to the start of the toe on the second one. I should have pictures soon. K has always had excellent taste; his care packages in college were the BEST. Godiva truffles + useful things = heaven to a broke college student. I still have (and wear on one of the three cold days a year we have here in Florida) a periwinkle blue sweater he gave me one year. The colors he picked out for these socks continues his trend of good taste: the main color is Snowshoe and the contrast color is Jacquard, in KnitPick's City Tweed (heavy worsted).

I have some sooper-sekrit baby projects to work on as soon as I'm finished with his socks. A coworker in my department is due in August, and I have some really fun ideas for gifts. She sent me a link to the nursery set she & her husband picked out, and it's simple and gorgeous. I've been mentally listing yarn possibilities that will be excellent matches for the colors.

Since busy season is over, the house has become cleaner and cleaner. The grout in the kitchen floor is almost back to its intended color, and I scrubbed away some serious frustration in our bathroom tonight. For now, the husb needs to get onto his computer, so I am signing off for now.

Lateness!

Things are definitely starting to get busier in my world. Full days at work and already one day over eight hours. Can't wait for things to really get crazy!

With the new officemates, I've been eating my lunch in the breakroom instead of at my desk. I've been taking my knitting so after I finish eating, I can pick up my project for five or ten minutes. Doing this has been surprisingly refreshing. I have a feeling that I will have to continue this throughout busy season.

House projects:
- picking out paint for the living room
- tearing down the cabana
- finding patches of sunlight to nap in!

The cold weather the past couple of weeks has made me grateful for the warm scarves and socks I have. A little heater under my desk doesn't hurt either!

Man, I've been bad with the posting. Life has been busy!

Bradley is bricking up the old windows in the living room. The living room was originally a porch but was enclosed at some point. The windows that originally looked out of the bathrooms and master bedroom were blocked on the bathroom and bedroom side, but were left open on the living room side. We want to cover the wall with corrugated steel, so he's bricking them up to provide sound insulation. It's a relief not to worry about noise anymore!

My Sonnet is finnnnnallllllly finished! We visited some of my family this last weekend, and getting it finished was my #1 goal for the trip. I need to run it through the dryer to get all the cat hair off of it - Pax found it and made a bed on it, so it's been accented with pretty white hair >.<

Next project is a commission that's still being detailed out, but I'm still chugging away on the socks for my father. Dad used to do IT work at a sock manufacturer, so when he tried on the completed first sock, he tried to suggest ways to tighten up the foot. I got some giggles out of the conversation because knitting socks on a machine at, oh, probably a billion stitches a second is completely different than hand-knitting socks. He can be grateful that someone is *hand-knitting* socks for him! :-D I know he is glad to be getting them and was just trying to be helpful so I'm not offended at all - just amused :D

Well - it's time to go do some more chores around the house, so I'm out. HOPEFULLY I will be able to post on Monday with fun updates from the weekend!

Labor day labors

This time of year at work gets busy. Many people are surprised - "I thought accounting was busy only in the spring!" I wish! The returns that were extended the spring are due in September and October. I'm in good shape with the returns assigned to me; almost all of the CIRA entities are out. CIRA = Common Interest Realty Associations. Homeowners' associations, timeshare associations, condominiums, etc. The rules for them are weird(er) than normal, so all of the ones the firm prepares come to me. I was even able to handle a surprise addition of 15 entities a month away from the deadline with grace.

The knitting is going well. I'm almost to the toe decreases on my first Diagonal Cross-Rib Sock. Then that one will go into hiding while I start on my father's socks. The Fox shows I watch are starting this month, which means a lot of time planted in front of the boob tube, which means a lot of time to knit.

Balancing the time to knit for the Sirens and myself is going to be a challenge. I need to be sure I can produce and meet my commitment to them, but I also have projects promised to my family members (like the socks) and things I'd like to make for myself. One way to juggle everything is to have a day dedicated to each part of my life, with certain things fitted in every day. Say, do 30 min of chores every day, gym on M/T/R/F, and then fit in a personal knit night, a Sirens knit night, a sooper-sekrit project #2 night, a bum around night, and a night to be flexible or do things with my honey. Then that leaves the weekends wide open for house projects or catching up from the week.

Tonight and last night, my honey has been finishing the door frame for the door to the garage. He is also going to put in the baseboards, and then it will be time to PAINT. I can't wait! The walls are a bland tan with an interesting set of horizontal stripes around the room, which I'd like to leave. So we need to find a blue that we like... he's nixed green since there's a lot of it in the slate floor and he's concerned it would be overwhelming. I am looking forward to getting some sample tubs of paint and having fun patching the wall with colors.

Monday Bluesday

I love living in Florida, but sometimes the heat just kills me! Today was so muggy and hot, and I know it's only going to get worse in July and August. Thank goodness for a shiny new air conditioning unit. With all the rain we've had lately, all the hard work on the pool has evaporated - the water is murky and green again. Bradley ordered an automatic chlorine feeder that will go in the pipes between the filter and the pool; that will solve a LOT of our problems. He thinks he's found the slow leak - the pipes at the filter in the bottom of the deep end don't seem to be lined up. Of course, since the water has never been stabilized enough to get in, we can't get down there to see what the real deal is.

In my knitting world, I had a hard time not posting last week about the adorable little hats I was knitting for my friend Jen. She and her husband are having a baby soon, and I wanted to make some little cotton hats for the new one. Even though it's blazing hot outside, the air conditioning indoors could easily chill a little head! I made a blue one and a lime-green one, one out of 100% cotton and the other out of an acrylic-cotton blend - super convenient for new parents since they can both go in the regular laundry.

My family reunion is coming up in just a couple of weeks, which means I really have to get on the stick and fix the cuff on my sister's sock. I need to package up my niece's socks, too. The gathering is up in northwest Georgia, and we'll be driving (buying a pair of plane tickets plus renting a car would triple or maybe even quadruple the cost of gas). Nine hours in the car [one way!!!] will give me LOTS of time to get some knitting done. I think I'll be finished with my Undulating Rib socks by then, so I may take the yarn and start on the Sonnet I have planned.

Well - that's all I have time for tonight. Off to knit for just a couple more minutes, and then bedtime.