2012

We went to EVE downtown (Salt Lake City) last night and had a lovely time!  It was wonderful seeing so many families out together enjoying the music and festivities!

The kids were both home for the holidays; wow I’ve missed them!!!  My daughter turned 21 yesterday – so hard to comprehend that she’s an adult all ready!  When she was about two and I was pregnant with David, a very dear friend told me to cherish the moments and don’t wish the time away.  I had no idea how visionary her advise was until recently.  It’s such a cliche but it truly does seem just like yesterday that she was dancing around the front room in dress up clothes and David was taking apart his toys on the floor.

Now Marci (she goes by Anne now, short for Ian, her first name) is a very beautiful young woman, David is engaged to a delightful girl and well… I’m still me:

The work scene has been interesting lately.  Our manager won’t be returning after 12 weeks of time off recovering from two open heart surgeries and there is a possibility that I may be promoted from Lead Agent to Branch Manager.  We’ll see how that goes.  There will be plenty of responsibility and opportunity in the upcoming year either way.

And in knitting news…….  I managed to finish the last gifting project on Christmas Eve, whewww it was close!  Unfortunately, that’s not entirely accurate.  I finished all of the projects but one; I can’t find Marci’s waterfall socks.  There are still about six boxes to unpack and I just haven’t been able to come up with them yet.  I’m terribly disappointed and feel awful but she was understanding.  I’m still looking – one sock is finished and the other is about 90% there. 

After a nice visit with Mom, Dad, and Will (kids’ dad) I cast on another pair of socks Christmas evening.  They’re quite cute so far in Chrystal Palace’s Superwash using Tuscany by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.  Thanks for all the reviews on Ravelry, I’ve started them on sz 1 needles but will be going up to 3′s for the leg portion.  It’s a fairly drastic enlargement but I want them to fit with a little ‘give’ in the legs.  I suspect that they will be a little slouchy but I’m good with that.

One down, one to go!

The other day I noticed that WRT had on mis-matched socks.  Both were hand-knit by yours truly and they were in the same color family – black, duh (one was black and grey, one had black, greys, and browns).  I keep telling him he needs to add color! hehehe

I finally finished one pair of socks for the grandkids:

It took far, far longer than it should have to get these finished.  I’ve been having a terribly annoying flare the last couple of months and it seems to want to linger on and on.  This makes knitting a chore rather than a pleasure; I have a truly ugly discoid rash on my hand the pic doesn’t really show how ughhhhhlyyyy it is; I’m annoyed easily; I’ve been catching every bug going around and am overwhelmingly exhausted on a pretty constant basis.  this is annoying – oh yeah, all ready said that.  On the up-side.  It will go away.

I’m a little dissapointed with the over-dye in the Rainbow Felici but for kids’ socks it’s kind of cute if I pretend that the orange spots in the green and yellow aren’t supposed to be there.

Up, Down and All Around

It’s snowing!  Not sure if that’s a positive or a negative but the fact remains – it is indeed, snowing!

The office has been in total turmoil over some rather odd decisions by upper management; I’m going to Costa Rica in January for a week; and I’ve got a bit more unpacked and partial decorating done at the new apartment.  There it is in a nutshell.  Oh, and have been sick as a dog… again.  Just flat worn out.

Please excuse the poor picture quality, I need new camera batteries.  The pics of the offspring are a bit old; perhaps we can get new ones taken at Christmas when they’re visiting.

In knitting news:

Finished WRTs Black Silk Socks and had him try them on.  The feet fit quite well but the ribbing is very loose so going to rip back and re-knit a few inches.  Started a pair of sockies for the girls and nearly done with the foot.  Started a Mohair Scarf for myself.  Also started a scarf for gifting but may change that one up.  Whewww… I need a break!

And… the check from Bank of America still isn’t here.  It seems that it wasn’t sent as they claimed for two weeks – shocker!!!  The new story is that the wrong person received the paperwork and there is no internal way for it to be sent to the correct person.  That’s so absurd it doesn’t deserve comment.  The paperwork has been re-sent and now we get to see what story they come up with this time.  I’m beyond annoyed and frustrated with them.

Waiting and working

The unpacking process is on-going but I slowed way down this past week.  There area few pictures hung, I’ve put a cover on the sofa and had company to dinner last night.  There’s a lot of stress at work just now with a bit of a war between the upper management and I spend a great deal of time squarely in the middle…. but it’s okay.  Still a lot less stress and drama than the last job.  And I actually enjoy most of my role.  For now, my major goal is to keep things within the office as positive and forward-moving as possible.

WRTs silky socks are progressing well – I’ve finished the heel and am on the leg portion.  Have I mentioned how much I enjoy Wendy Johnson’s toe-up socks with a difference?  Once or ten times?  Let’s add another one to that!  It’s a fairly simple pattern, easy to adjust, and looks good in many variations.  The gusset at the bottom of the foot makes it far easier to customize IMHO.  The only thing is…. his socks are a bit on the boring side.  Plain.  He likes plain socks.  I like pretty, quircky, fun, unusual, beautiful, diverse.  Of course, he would look a bit silly with lace and bobbles so… plain it is.  But black?!? Constant black? oh well.  It’s an exercise in care, that’s a given.  Black stockinette row after row with increases and decreases can be a bit difficult to see.  You know what?  I like it!  Usually.

In other news… still no check from Bank of America from their Cash for Keys offer.  We have a signed contract, yet they have dragged their feet for more than four weeks now.  It seems they sent the check a while ago and are trying to determine if it was cashed.  Uhm… they’re the bank.  How long could it possibly take for a bank to determine if a check they issued was cashed?  Five seconds? Ten?  The fact of the matter is, Will didn’t receive it and of course, I didn’t either.  Do we get the courts involved over $2000?  Not quite sure yet.  But if it’s not here by next week, legal action will be the only recourse.  Of course, they’ll tie it up as long as possible if we do that.  And, in further ‘financial bad news’ no refund from the amended return yet.  It’s been at least eight weeks on that but it’s nearly impossible for me to be on hold the 45 minutes to an hour when the IRS is open.  Oh well….

Things aren’t that bad, I just need to be able to accomplish a few things that take money.  I hadn’t really planned on paying for the entire move myself since I had the cash for keys contract and expected tax refund.  *shrug and frown*

Moved in!

The double move is finally over with a great deal of help from WRT, Palmer, Bowen, Dallas and WRTs stepsons. What a relief!!! I’ll post pics when things are a bit more organized hehe. The front room looks fairly civilized although the walls are still bare. The rest… uh… still working on the unpacking process.

Now it’s back to comfy knitting in my own space, preparing for Marci and David’s Yule visits and the general business of life. This is good! Very good!

Stitching away, packing away, just away away

The garden turned out fairly well this year despite the very late snows and even later frosts.  We’ve harvested at least 40 cucumbers and there are more on the vine, 30 or more zucchini (keep giving them away so not sure), quite a few tomatoes for how late they were planted and…. ta da!  a giant pumpkin! It’s not exactly Charlie Brown Giant Pumpkin big but not bad at all!  Along with some rather mammoth zucchinis and a couple more typically sized pumpkins.  There are more on the vine but with the house being sold I don’t think we’ll harvest much more.

The move is still in progress and still trying to get the details sorted out.  Landlord is spending a lot of time in Wendover, NV lately (he’s a poker player) so have no idea if he’s found a place yet.  He mentioned hiring someone to haul away the old beds, and a few other things that really aren’t even suitable to donate to charity.  It would be so cool to know if he’s done that and if so, when they will be here!  Ah, the mysteries!!!  hehe   nah, it’ll all work out, just still trying to get the details in place.

Which reminds me, yes, I do have a place! And it’s the one that I wanted with the little stackable washer and dryer!!!  Why is having a washer/dryer in the apartment such a big freakin’ deal you ask?!?  I do laundry at odd hours; I like to felt sometimes (purposely shrink knit items in the dryer); I have a weird ‘thing’ about apartment complex laundry rooms after having nearly all my unmentionables stolen out of one in Texas over a few week time frame.  Whoever wanted my pretty lacies must have watched because I usually started the wash, stayed in the laundry room til things were ready for the dryer then go back to my apartment in the next building for a few minutes.  Just a bit of oddity.  I’m not ‘scared’ of laundry rooms mind you, just dislike them.

The monster commute, packing, blah blah blah has limited the knit time however… again with the ta da!  I have finished a few things and am soooo nearly done with a few more.  I fight the urge to cast on a totally non-gifting piece of self indulgent knitting constantly and so far, I’ve won!  Wait, if I haven’t cast anything on for me, am I the winner?!?  I think not!

Gratuitous pics of some of the recently finished objects:

 

 

They all need blocking but the knitting and weaving ends in is all done!

Fears, Fixes and Forward

It looks like I may have found a place – I sure hope so!  The location is great, a little further from the office than I’d like but other than that very close to groceries, craft stores, WallyWorld, etc.  I’m really looking forward to living closer to friends again, living an hour away from everyone takes a lot of planning and we’re all more spur of the moment types.

We have to be out on the 15th of next month but if I get the apartment that I want, it’s not available until the 18th.  How does one do that?!? move everything twice??!!??  pretty much!  WRT suggested that I rent a POD, load it up then have it delivered after the move-in date.  I think that’s going to be the best solution.  The only other one I can think of is to rent a U-Haul for several days but then there’s the how do I get it unloaded in the middle of the week?  Not going to happen.  By the time anyone/everyone who can help is off work it’s dark and we definitely need daylight to do all this AND renting a truck for that long will cost the same as renting a POD and they’ll deliver it where/when I need it.  I’m a whole lot less freaked out about things.  Yeah, a bit silly to get freaked out over moving but it’s a pretty big move, all my friends live at least 35 miles away and the kids are in school in Seattle.  This 40+ woman can’t move it all by herself, that’s for sure!

I’ve also been dealing with the ‘what now’ stuff that comes with being a single empty nester.  It’s not at all how I’d envisioned life but overall, it’s not bad.  Just very strange.  Very, very strange.  As I don’t really feel like ‘talking about it’ at the moment though, I won’t! So there, nanner nanner.  yeah, feeling extremely mature today.

Knitting progress is a bit slower than I’d hoped but am still getting a fair bit accomplished.  Three holiday presents are finished and I’ve got three more that are only a few hours each away from the finishing line.  I’ve been fighting the urge to cast on new projects as moments of common sense strike but that ‘finish what you’ve got going’ voice is growing fainter so I may just cast on another present this week.  Wendy D. Johnson’s new book, Wendy Knits Lace is staring at me in the most irresistible manner.

As everything I’ve been working on is a gift, I can’t post pics just yet but will do fairly soon.  Very few of the recipients of this years crazy holiday knitarama countdown are blog readers.  That can be a blessing!

Backward and Forward

The house sold at auction back to the lender.  Over the past couple of years I have become increasingly appalled at the housing/mortgage crisis and alarmed that the ‘fixes’ really aren’t helping overall.  He tried several times to get the loan restructured but as he is making significantly less than he was at the time of the last re-finance the mortgage company turned him down.  Given the extreme number of foreclosed houses they have in their possession now isn’t it somewhat counter productive to keep on foreclosing rather than work things out?!?

By law they have to give me 90 days to move as I’ve been a tenant here for over a year.  It’s still not clear that they’re planning on doing that though, I’ve notified them of my tenancy and so has Will but they still haven’t given me any information on how/where to pay rent, etc.  The new job starts tomorrow so in a way, moving soon is a good thing.  Except for shortage of funds.  The drive over ‘the point’ of the mountain during blizzard conditions will NOT be missed this winter.  In fact, I look forward to a much shorter commute and, hopefully, major savings in gas.

Since the office is right downtown I’ve been looking at some places in that area as well as out in the Taylorsville area closer to where I lived before.  Do I go for a cheap and tiny, as in less than 600sq ft, place as a temporary move then go for a larger one later or do I find a medium more expensive sized  place for more money that should work indefinitely?  Bit of a dilemma.  I have a feeling that wherever I go, it may be for quite a while so I want something that will feel like home rather than merely a place my stuff hangs out.  What do we do with the kids’ cat?  They are both in college in the Seattle area and can’t have the cat and I really don’t think $400 pet deposit plus extra rent is a good idea right now.  uh… and as mentioned in past posts… it’s not my cat! not not not!!!  Perhaps wherever Will moves will allow animals and he can keep Zeus.

 

 

 

And one more time….

Will (former husband and present landlord) informed me Monday evening that the house will be foreclosure/auctioned on Aug 16th.  uhhh…  huh?!?  Not terribly happy about the lack of communication on what the real house situation was but, oh well.

Anyway, am looking for a small place now just not quite sure of all the funds that have to be handed over upfront.  Unexpected moves are pretty expensive!  It’ll work out, simply another one of life’s twists and turns.

Then again, it’s not every day that you’re offered a much better job with a raise, full benefits, paid time off, delightful management then are told you’re losing your housing situation on the same day!  Then two days later my son is accepted into the college program he’s been wanting to be in.  Ups, downs, twists, turns.  Overall things are going well.

On the knitting front, I finished Radiant Violets (Saroyan pattern by Liz Abanante).  It’s a delightful knit, just enough patterning to keep it interesting but not too complicated to watch Netflix.

Detail of leaf edging:

 

Folded scarf/shawlette:

The only thing that I disliked about the Manos del Uruguay silk blend were the four knots in the 1.5 skeins I used.  (It may have been a bit less than that, the balls were rolled quite a while back and as there was also a cut in the yarn part way thru one skein they weren’t true 1/2 skein balls.)  I luv luv luv the feel of the yarn, it’s easy to work with, pliable, and will be a warm treat on my neck and shoulders in a few months.  There should be enough to make one more out of the Manos for gifting and then I hope to make another one or two out of the stash as well.

Right now I’m working on part of my mother’s holiday package – a long scarf using Cascading Leaves Lace Towel pattern in Cast On Feb-April 2011.  Rather than working the three columns of leaves, I’m centering one column with a garter edge.  After several false starts it’s coming along pretty well!  Using some of the Knit Picks Gloss in Burgundy from the stash.

good times

Last night we celebrated my friend Keri (Fiana)’s birthday at The Grove in Pleasant Grove.  There were several decent local bands there – I was truly impressed with a couple of them!  Daniel Murtaugh is outstanding!!! and a truly fun person on top of all the talent!!!

Ren Street was the last one up, Daniel played bass… it was great music, a little bit of technical difficulty but hilarious and… again, great music!  Unfortunately, we had to leave a bit early, and it seems that Ren got into a bit of legal trouble after we were gone.  Unfortunate.

*happy, deep sigh* it was wonderrrrrful to get out and listen to live music again, it’s been far too long.

Many years ago, The Grove was a movie theater and I fondly remembered seeing Patton for the first time (and how Dad had me wait outside for the opening monologue due to the ‘rough language’), Gone With The Wind and The Muppet Movie.  It falls into life’s nothing and everything changes category.  Who would have thought that I’d ever move back to this town – been here just over two years now.  Who would have imagined I’d be standing outside of The Grove with WRT, and a bunch of new-school rocker ‘kids’.  Totally outstanding!!!  Thyme (a friend of ours) commented that ‘we’re the one’s parents don’t want their kids to grow up to be’ and I responded that they are the ones that I raised my kids to be.  I taught them to think for themselves and am extremely happy that they’re fairly good at it.

oh, and nearly forgot!  ”Lifestyle socks” are the next new pair up.  I can’t wait to try the ‘no hole heel!’

Repeat, repeat, repeat

After several months of changing my shift around, voluntarily!, I finally asked to work four-tens M-Th 8:30 – 7 (close) and was given the okay by upper management.  It’s been a challenge to work 10+ hours on purpose every day…  we’re severely understaffed on my accounts and a bit over on some of the others but the powers that be are trying to balance things out.  That will be good.  Outstanding.  Excellent.  Can’t wait.  I’ve been working on some pretty intense itineraries and that ties me up too much to take care of ‘normal’ things as much as I need to.  With the drive and the last minute things that pop up at the end of the day, I’m averaging 13 hour days.  But, it’s far better than not working at all!

I finished the last pair of my own socks a bit ago:

Soft Waves Berry Ice Cream Socks

and really like them!  I also finished a pair for Ciera (WRT’s step grandaughter) but I’m concerned that they’ll shrink too much when accidentally thrown in the washer and dryer so will be starting another pair very soon here.  There’s still Marci’s waterfall socks on the needles and a pair for WRT:    there are several more inches worked since that pic was taken but I’ll wait ’til they’re finished to post more.

I am truly enjoying the Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn.  It’s soft, it’s fast working (doesn’t ‘stick’ on the wood circulars and glides on the metal pairs) and seems to be very washable so long as I air dry.  It probably would do okay in the dryer but not really wanting to find out.  Ya know… just in case they shrink causing a global melt down.  I’ll most likely get some more from Supersockstore pretty soon.  I do have several balls of various other things waiting in the wings but their colorways go so quickly that I learned if I ‘must’ have a particular color – I’d better go ahead and buy it if I can!

There are even a couple non-sock projects in the works but I’ll post about them a bit later on.

That’s about all that’s going on here….  get up, get ready, drive, work, drive, knit, read emails, go to sleep.  repeat, repeat, repeat.

wow, how did this happen?!?

I’ve officially moved into the ‘empty nester’ category in the grand scheme of life.  Seriously, how did this happen?  David decided to move up to Seattle with Marci and left Monday.  I support his decision about 92%.  Yes, 92%, I decided.  He’s a bit young to be on his own so he isn’t on his own.  He’s with his sister and she’s far stricter than I am.  Kinda have to smile about that one.

Marci has been accepted to the Industrial Design Program at the Art Institute of Seattle and I am thrilled!!!!!  Absolutely not thrilled about the PLUS loan (omg, I could buy a new car straight off the lot instead!) but she’s using her grants, her own student loan and it wasn’t enough so she hesitantly asked me if I could help.  She knows things have been a bit financially rocky the last while but she’s got to get back in school.  I’m so glad she’s taking this step.

I’ve been working on several sock projects lately and hers are slowly coming along in between everything else.  I’ve also started the For Eternity Wrap from Creative Knitting May 2011.  It’s easy, portable and I can sneak in a row or two when things are slow elsewhere.  The pattern calls for worsted (I think) but am using a bunch of Knit Picks Kettle Dyed fingering weight that just wasn’t working for another project.  There is a good chance that I’ll add a lace border but no final decision on that one yet.

Day off for Knitting

About three weeks ago my friend, Keri, and I went to The Dancing Crane (great little store) in Salt Lake.  I picked up a few candles and an odd/end or two and thoroughly enjoyed spending non-work time with her.  We talked about going to dinner after but decided we’d do it in a day or two as we both needed to catch up on a few things.  The next morning she called to let me know her fiance had passed away very suddenly.

It’s been a very difficult thing watching her go through that heartbreak.  It’s not really my story to tell so I’ll leave the details out but she is quite despondent and I’m rather worried about her.  I did finish her socks though – not much, but hopefully it will let her know that there are plenty of people who love and care about her in a very real way.They are fairly simple, toe-up socks with about three inches ribbing at the top.  The colorway is so busy that I felt an all over pattern would be too much.

What am I doing home today, you ask?  I’m not sick so obviously something is up… yep!  Just needed a day off.

The project has taken on a life of it’s own the last few weeks and it seems full of negativity.  Along with Keri’s fiance dying, two more friends were suspended (more or less fired, really though no one really knows the details) and we have several other situations going on.  Although I wasn’t made supervisor, I have a lot of other responsibilities and overall I enjoy them yet it gets a bit overwhelming sometimes.  We have a plethora of new-hires right now and very few of them have caught on yet.  Then, there is the eternal smoothing of the feathers that I seem to have been elected to handle etc.  I have been extremely impressed with how a few individuals have stepped up and really made that extra effort promoting team work and doing their best to lighten the mood.

With the continued wide-spread weather delays and flight cancellations we have been unusually busy.  I’m grateful that some have elected to move forward positively.  It hasn’t been an easy thing to do.  Although I’m not technically a supervisor, I do take ‘supe’ calls as needed and there were more in the last week than in the last three months combined.  Why?  good question!  Again, it seems to be a combination of extreme frustration on the travelers’ part (again… delays, cancellations right and left) and a lack of education on both the traveler and travel counselor parts.  We’re working on that.

Did you know that the ‘average’ airfare comes with 30-55 pages of rules.   The typical trip with four segments (let’s say a round trip with a connection in each direction) can have as many as 145 pages of rules as there are usually multiple fares involved.  Yes, pages.  Is it possible for me to tell you every rule that goes with your specific fare? no way.  I will give you the basics though.  Another issue that is becoming common lately is due to the airline buy-outs.  Whichever airline ‘owns’ your ticket is the one any changes must be flown on – generally.  So… you could have a ticket with a Continental flight, a US Airways flight, and two United Airlines flights.  If it was ticketed on United and you make a change – chances are that you are going to have to use United for those changes even though those airlines have ticketing agreements.

Enough of that.  It’s rather complex and the whole reason for mentioning it is to give an idea how complicated air travel really is.

After I finished Keri’s socks, I cast on a pair for me:they are ‘berry ice cream cone soft wave’ socks based on Soft Waves from Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.  There are several other things that I’m working on – Marci’s socks, a summer sweater, and dying to start a new wrap.  But… I felt a rather compelling need to cast these on so I did! go me!

I’m knitting the feet in plain stockinette as lace on my feet tends to annoy me no end.

and again… STILL Winter

In roughly 45 minutes it will be May Day.  This morning brought 2″ of fresh snow.  This is ridiculous!  Then again, I’m grateful that it was snow not the horrendously damaging killer tornadoes that have ripped through other parts of the country this week.  It saddens me deeply to see the devastation and know there are so many without homes, without family members, with remnants of their lives surrounding them.

David is leaving in the morning for Seattle.  He’ll be there for three weeks visiting Marci and Dylan.  I’m glad they’re spending time together but not too excited to have him gone for three weeks.  The whole ‘empty nest’ thing is looming in the future and frankly, I’m not that excited about it.  Future, progress, moving on with life, happiness in their growth – absolutely!  Concerned, a bit worried, yes indeed!

Things on the workfront?  glad you asked…  management has decided it’s necessary to move ahead with the new supervisor selection so did unannounced interviews yesterday.  My interview went well but I’m totally fine with the top four candidates (I’m one of those, yeah, I’m fine with me too).

Still winter!

It is indeed, still snowing… and snowing…and snowing.  blah.

What’s been going on in my little corner of the universe? Let’s see…   one of my closest work friends was ‘suspended’ this week along with another good agent.  What is management thinking?  Seems that rule by fear and intimidation is the theme here.  Although mistakes were made by both, none of the mistakes were horrifically serious.  It’s seems to be more of a punishment for not being perfect as well as a threat to the rest of us.  Rumors are running rampant and it’s a bit grim at the moment.  My promotion has been put on the back burner indefinitely as has others’ and no one is feeling very safe.  It’s unfortunate.  We have a lot of good agents and overall, people are doing their best to keep things moving forward.  We’ll see how things play out.

What is my role now?  I’ve decided that it’s to keep things as positive as possible.  There’s enough negativity, it doesn’t need to be amplified.  Frustrating?  yes.  Sometimes even nerve wracking.  But I have control over what I say and do so… making every effort to keep things moving forward.  Should it all end and we all lose our jobs at least I will know that I did all that I could do.  er … without seeming self righteous or self promoting.  I’m reminded of my imperfections often enough to stay pretty humble.

I’ve been trying to get Keri’s socks finished up this weekend and am nearly there.  Marci’s socks are about 75% finished as well.  Next on the list are a pair for Dad and one for Mom then one for me.  Since I voluntarily moved my shift to close last week and this coming week to assist with the new-hires it’s cut into my knitting time.  Silly me!  hehe