Baby Birds

Today, a baby robin flew into our picture window. He's stunned, but alive. I picked him up gingerly and put him in the grass, so that when he becomes aware again, he can fly away. Our neighborhood seems to attract "attack robins". They flew into our picture window all summer last year. Looks like this year is to be no different.

While on my trek to the grass, I saw a squirrel--not something that I've seen so close to the house--and he promptly ran away. I'll check the baby bird a little later.

Progress on the Ice Queen is coming along. I have all the repeats done, and I believe I'll be working on the edging next, but haven't checked the pattern to make sure. It looks a bit short, to be honest--but there it is. I am working on the edging, which admittedly is a tad fiddly. I was outdoors on the swing, knitting happily away, and it started to rain. I had to put it all away. Now I have to wait until hubby and son finish "chatting".

Hubby is talking with his son. He's telling me about the possibility of buying a house for them to rent. I'm not really sure about this concept. I'm a little worried that his son will give up on his degree, which would NOT be a good thing. Not only that, but kiddies and lack of insurance--it's a real gamble. It would be a real struggle for HER, I think. I expect she's up for it as she seems to be a pretty smart lady. I'm just worried about how quickly their relationship is progressing. I think it's a bit too fast. Now more chatter about finishing the downstairs, and making it a little more "agreeable" for a married couple. Even so, I don't think they'd be completely happy. They really should have their own place, but neither one has a real job. So, input financial stress, which is okay for a while, but gets old QUICK. And for the responsibility of wage earning to be on one person--well, that's really bad, especially when it's all on the wife.

I figure that they've talked about it to death, but I still worry about these things, which is one thing I *didn't* have to do with my step-daughter. She was smart, and so was her husband, and they waited until they'd saved up a bunch of money, and then they bought a piece of property on a cul de sac and BUILT their own house. They've made lots of improvements to it, and it's really looking nice. She's got a GREAT little home!

It's also possible that I'm none too keen on my hubby shelling out the cash, when we need it for our home improvements and a roof for the barn. It would CERTAINLY set back our projects, considerably. Of course, it could be years before we actually "get" to that point, but that's our prerogative, I believe, since it is our cash--well, his cash--which was earmarked for our home! So you see how I am feeling a bit put upon.

***
Well, after a bit of "chatter" we decided to contact a realtor friend of ours, who met us at the house in question. He took us inside, and we had a look around. What a pitiful sight. I saw problems EVERYWHERE, and even the realtor suggested that it was probably NOT the place they (or anyone else for that matter) would want. Not only was it a "flipped" house, the owner bought it for a little over $10K, and put on some cosmetics (basically paint and shingles), but we could see roof problems and foundation problems, not to mention that there were cracks in the basement walls and going all the way up to the back porch--a separation that would no doubt get worse. The interior ceilings and floors were all out of level, and the basement was wet. The owner had put in a new natural gas furnace that allowed air conditioning as well, put in new vents etc, but none of the cosmetics added up to a house for $60K.

And that was the issues that *I* was able to see. The realtor told my step son that if he bought this house, it is likely that he would never recover his investment if he left it. And that statement alone, brought both of them out of their "cute house" that we can fix up reverie.

They decided to wait, and I thought that was a good idea.

After, we all went out for Chinese. Then I came home and worked on Ice Queen. I am on the final picot bind off. I will soon be finished with the project. I have already picked out something new.

What do you think of it?

Facebook

I've been on Facebook all morning.
Talk about a time sucker!

Almost as bad as knitting, blogging or sitting on Ravelry, looking for things to knit and blog about.

Life is a little TOO circular.

What Can I Say?

The day did not begin with sunshine.
In fact, the sun didn't come out until well into the afternoon.

And by the time I left work, I was exhausted from spinning my wheels all day.

When I got home, well yes, there was a loving husband-every inch demanding--"feed me", "help me study". I got bored with that pretty quickly.

We finally watched about 3 episodes of "Heroes" before he zonked out somewhere mid-4th-episode sitting in his chair.

Did I paint that picture pretty well?

However, I did find something out tonight, having chatted with a friend on Facebook. Apparently, there is a function coming up on June 19th in Galesburg. Yes, that's right. The town my ex lives in.

Now, normally, I would jump at the chance to pound another nail into that man's coffin, because I know he shakes in his boots every time he knows that I'm in town. This time, though, I think I'm going to pass. It's altogether possible that I might run into him at the Kalamazoo Highland Games, and frankly, twice a year is more than I'd wish on anybody else, including my worst enemy.

Instead, I think that I'm going to head over to the house of one of the kids from High School. Apparently, the class is preparing this year for the 35th reunion.

Sigh. Where did the time go? Do you know that there was a time when I thought that I would never last this long? Yet, here I am! And I remember thinking that my mother was old back then. Now that I've passed that milestone (10 years ago, in fact), I have to say that I STILL don't think I'm old, although my body does tend to argue the point with me now and again.

Still and all, I've come this far, I suppose that I might as well hang on for the rest of the ride. I just hope that the next 35 years don't go by as fast as the last 35 years did.

Somebody order me a really slow taxi.

Thursday...

Did I say the sun would come out?

It's foggy and cloudy! It's well after sunrise-according to the Weather Channel, it happened 15 minutes ago!

At least it's a little cooler the last few days, and we haven't had the air conditioning on, preferring the fan, which is quite a bit quieter. Hubby is telling me that he's thinking "central air" when he finally decides to finish the basement. I told him we should do it in the winter when the prices are lowest, and put the ductwork in the attic. It would work much more efficiently to have the cold air begin at the ceiling. He agreed.

I'm not the dullest crayon in the box after all!

I'm about half done with Ice Queen. I'm getting all kinds of nice comments about it. This thing is lighter than air, being laceweight mohair, and OMG, I wish I could get my hands on more colors of this stuff.

Not that I can wear it, you understand. Anything mohair on my body and I itch and scratch--not that I'm allergic, thank goodness, but because the little hairs and their little wiry grabbers get next to my skin and irritate me. Wool does not do this, thankfully. So now, I check my labels for mohair content. I have only one mohair sweater, and I can only wear it on the coldest days. You see, mohair isn't so "fluffy" inside the freezer. Funny. That really put a visual in my head.

And when people tell me they are allergic to wool, I tell them to check their label for mohair--many so-called "wool" sweaters actually have mohair in them. For those who clip out the label, let me tell you, mohair is NOT angora. I have no problems with angora (which is bunny hair). Mohair comes from goats, and these are not really "soft haired" animals IMHO. Sure enough, most of the time, people who tell me that they own an angora sweater that just drives them nuts will ultimately check the label to find out "huh! It's not angora, it's MOHAIR!"

Well, there goes hubby's alarm clock. I've got to get on the road. Bye!

Tomorrow...

The sun'll come out, tomorrow, bet yer bottom dollar that tomorrow, there'll be sun.

Well, that's what the tarot seems to be saying, but somehow, I think it's making more of a statement than I'm prepared for.

Yes, sure, I drew these cards.

The Sun (Card #10)
The Wheel (reversed) (Card #19)
The Ace of Cups (Card 1 in Cups suit)

Notice how all the cards add up to 1? I mean. 10=1+0=1, 19=1+9=10=1+0=1, and ace counts 1 or 10, either way, it's a 1.

Which means that tomorrow is going to be a day of firsts. It bodes to begin VERY well, wind down in the afternoon, with a calm and loving evening with my husband.

So a good day, to say the least.

That, sometimes in and of itself, is a first.

I hope everyone has as good a day as I'm expecting to have.

Long Day at the Office Today...

One of the supervisors called me in to his office to tell me that we have some people in on loan from the county offices.

"It's all 'perception'", he tells me. I just sort of stare at him with a blank look on my face--thinking, "cut to the chase, fella."

"We've got these people coming in from the county," (yes, I already knew that. I read the boss' email at 7am, when I arrived...)

"And we don't want them to go home with the idea that we sit around and don't do much, because then the boss won't be able to get help again and the story might get back to her boss."

(uh, huh. And what do you want me to do about it?)

"So, I know you like to knit on your breaks and lunch..."

(oh, crap, here comes the sucker punch)

"So if you want to do that, please take it to the break room to work on it."

(uh huh. How does that change anything? Since I only work on my knitting on my break or lunch anyhow?)

"Seriously, I'm going to be discussing this with my staff later on, today."

(yes, I just bet you are. You mean we can't go and talk to each other for a minute or two, to get away from these crazy phone calls we've been getting from angry people who didn't get their check that have been driving us NUTS for the last month?)

Instead...

I see. No problem. I'm entitled to two breaks and a lunch hour. Whatever.

The sad part is that I never got a chance to take the time to knit until the day was completely over with and I was in Lake Odessa before I picked up my knitting.

I did get my two breaks, but one was for eating breakfast, and the other for a pop run with my friend, Dave. Lunch was spent outside, eating lunch and enjoying the warm breeze and cool shade. Perhaps I'll get in some knitting time tomorrow while at the office. I don't know. These folks are here for the next 30 days.

It's going to be a long month. And there are no holidays, either.
Sigh.

Hot, with a Chance of Puppies

Okay, maybe not puppies, but the hot is right in there. Hot and muggy. We had the air on all last night, and I still feel no relief.

I dreamed about my sister last night. Her birthday was Saturday-ironically, her birthday is the same as my husband's. Since I don't normally dream about her, I decided that I'd pull some cards.

I pulled these:

4 of Wands Reversed
Greenman
3 of Wands

I read thus:

Bored with your current way of living, you decide to make a big change and strike out on a new adventure hoping to find the stability you desire.

I wonder if she's considering moving?

Don't ask me why that comes to mind. It's just that, when she was married (the first time) he owned the house, and when they divorced, she moved in with her dad. Her dad left her the house on a life-lease, and I don't believe that she owns the house, but she lives there. Property taxes are handled by the leased land that is now her's to divvy out. Her father did that so that her husband couldn't take it away. Pretty smart, but it leaves her with no real assets to sell to move into a new house.

Now she's married again. At least, the last I knew, she was married again. I mean anything is possible, since I haven't seen her for years. Why haven't I seen my sister for years? Well, let's just say that she made a choice between me and my ex husband. I tried for years to keep things going with her, but I could tell that things were "off". Come to find out, she'd been taking care of his step-kids, cleaning his house, going to Draper family parties, and all that. I understand that he's trying to find her again. It's possible, though not really probable, that he doesn't know where her father's home is. Having hurt his back, it may be that he's considering back surgery and wants to use her again.

Or perhaps he's found her, and she's considering his offer. I can't know. It would be a mistake on her part, since he wouldn't pay her. A live in nurse only benefits HIM. So I hope that she's not on that track.

In either case, I'm concerned about her. She could stay in her father's house, house payment free, for the rest of her life, and live the life of Riley, not having any real BIG bills to pay every month. In my situation, that sort of arrangement would be REALLY beneficial.

So back to the hot and humid. I have to go in to work today. So not looking forward to THAT. It's bad enough that I have to swim through the air to get anyplace, when I get there, I have to use this fried brain that hasn't slept well in 4 days!

I'm going to buy a little pool.