Where's the Easel?

In the old "puppy room" !!! Lucky us, we've got this entry-way on the side of the house that we never use for entry or egress. It's got a coat closet on one side and a heater on the other, a pair of ceiling lights that can be adjusted (if you stand on a ladder) and a pair of double-doors that open into the foyer. The only drawback to the room is that there's no electrical outlet in it. If I want additional light, I will have to import it via extension cord from another room. Oh well. A small price to pay for the pleasure of having my drawing and painting materials upstairs where everybody else hangs out.

Why is this a big deal to me? Well, it means I get to poke and prod at my drawing whenever I want without having to go all the way down to the basement. I can, for instance, be wandering from the kitchen to the living room, catch sight of my easel from the corner of my eye, and think "Hey! I should draw!" How cool is that, hm? Yeah. That's right. Way cool.

AND the other really good thing I'm doing is putting a small folding table in the living room so that I can put my sewing machine on it and do the exact same thing. Feel like sewing? Pull up a chair and sew. Done with sewing? Push in the chair and ... (this is the good part) ... WALK AWAY without cleaning it up first! That's awesome!

All these things can be done without leaving the companionable space on the main floor. EXCELLENT! Am I excited? Oh yes. I am. Very excited. yes yes yes... I've got these sewing projects to finish before Christmas!!

Back to the coal mines now!

I love getting presents in the mail...

Especially when they're full of yummy goodness like CHOCOLATE!!! It was an unexpected surprise, but that's the best kind, right? Right. Mom and George sent me word the other day that "a package was in the mail" and should be arriving soon. "Soon" was shortly defined as "in a couple of days" because it just arrived on Friday! Yayyy... Thanks so much!!!

Remember the days of "snail mail?" The days before e-mail sucked everybody along in its wake. The days before Hotmail, Yahoo, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter... You know, the good old days when you'd sit down and write a letter, maybe tuck in a few photos, or even tuck a letter into a parcel and then take it to the post office.

Ever since moving to Newfoundland, it has become the norm to send or receive a parcel! It's always a pleasant surprise. Sometimes there's a letter or card to accompany it. Nowadays, with the ease of "send to print" style letters written on the computer, the simple act of sitting down and scrawling a few lines makes the note more personal and cherished.

This week, Dana received her care package from us. This week, I received a care package from Mom and George.

Oh.... what's in it? lol... wouldn't you like to know?

Hey, Mom! Do I have to share the chocolate?

~ Chris

Well, further to the drawing workshop weekend, I went to a painting studio today...

there's an instructor, every Wednesday morning from 9:30 to 12:30 at the Arts & Culture Centre. She's got an MFA in painting, so I'd say she knows what she's talking about. I went with Gerri and Laurie today and managed to listen-in and pick brains. It was good. I didn't bring any painting supplies today, but I did bring some photos for references and my small-things ziploc baggie full of goodies. What kind of goodies, you ask? Well, I've got some devil's purses, teeny mussel shells, a snail shell, a couple of whelk shells, a tiny starfish, and some white thing that was leftover from last year's cod fishery. Dunno what it is, but it looks cool. I drew one of the whelks. It felt so good to be drawing again! Why did I leave it for so damned long? *sigh* Stupid, I guess.  Next week, I'll try to be ready to begin a painting.

Tomorrow is a drawing studio with a live model. I'm hooking up with one of the people who was at my drawing workshop this weekend. Should be good. Should I bring paint? Hmm... I haven't done a nude in anything other than pencil and charcoal in a looooong time.

Paul has been home this week. He got kabonked at judo the other night and has been walking around with a sort of "halo" around his head. He says that it feels like the "veil" is lifting a bit today, but his brains are still sort of scrambled. He's been taking it easy the last couple of days, snoozing with Niki. Reading hurts his peepers. sucks... I'd hate not being able to read!

Well, after my studio tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll re-arrange a few things. Since Dana's coming to Torbay at Xmas-time, I'll be needing to use my "studio" as a spare room again. I'm going to bring my drawing/painting things upstairs to the former "puppy room" and use that as my new studio. It'll be nice to have stuff upstairs so that I'm not tucked away in the basement, away from everybody... except the boys...

Busy afternoon, sitting on the phone today. I had to contact Air Miles in order to book Dana's ticket to Newfoundland. It's always a long drawn-out process. Since she's bringing Shelby with her, I also had to contact Westjet to make sure there was space for the little girlie-dog. Usually the Airmiles person confirms the availability before doing the confirmation code for the passenger's flight, but the wait time was atrocious! As it is, I ended up waiting for nearly 20 minutes to get an actual human. Fortunately, everything worked out the first time around. Dana's coming on the 15th! Hooray!!!

Lucky me! Sean made chili for dinner today. Too bad he didn't get a chance to have any for dinner before he and Kyle headed off to judo. :) More for me! He makes awesome chili. ... he makes awesome cheesecake, too. And he makes this really great Chicken Divan dish using chicken (duh!), tons of fresh broccoli, cream of broccoli soup, and cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. He usually serves it with egg noodles, but it's good with rice or just by itself.

Well, I think I'm going to go and have some of that wonderful-smelling chili now. Too bad Sean didn't make a side of biscuits...

Niki and Baby

love to play with each other. Sometimes I'm not really sure if Baby is playing though. He's a bit of a tough kitty, cranky and bitchy. He screams and hisses, occasionally he tackles little Niki-girl to the ground. I've come upon the two of them in a clinch, Baby on top with Niki on her back... Baby usually pins her down by holding her by the ear or on her collar. But just as quickly, Niki ends up on top with Baby trying to box her ears while balancing on HIS back! The blows fly fast and furious, both beasties boxing one another. Baby snarling, Niki buzz-growling like an overgrown bumblebee. Baby usually jumps onto the chair, feeling that he has the advantage. Niki has grown enough to be able to jump into the chair after him and so she sometimes chases after him and he ends up leaping to the top of the chair. Mostly though, Niki dances around the chair while remaining on the ground.

Something attracts their attention outside and the combatants call a truce. With fangs and claws and cute puppy-dog eyes, they join forces to guard the house.

October rain, Baby Shower, Drawing Workshop

I finally downloaded pictures from the camera, so here's the picture of the stream/waterfall from last week! It was awesome to see how high the splash reached! About 6 feet in the air, which is ... hmm... about 6 + feet higher than usual.

Along with the over-abundant rainfall which caused Whiteways Pond to overflow was a huge drop in temperature. It got COLD here during the last few days! *Brrrrrrr* Cold enough that I dragged on a pair of gloves to go outside for a short walk. Not as cold as Winnipeg, no. And the little bit of snow that fell was immediately dissolved in the copious amount of rainfall. 





Alia hosted the baby shower for the two ladies from work Teri (the brunette - a Rad Onc, due in 4 weeks but she ain't gonna make it!), and Anna (the blonde, a physicist from Saskatchewan, due at the end of December), and all went well. Miranda and Niki were the greeting committee, with Niki offering a combination of "hello's" and kisses and Miranda taking the gifts and guests to the living room. The house looked fantastic, all decked out with balloons and streamers. The driveway was loaded and cars were spilling out onto Moore's Valley Road! People brought all kinds of yumptious munchables. Sean's cheesecake (picture below) was delicious, as was the chocolate fondant cake made by my friend Jenny's friend Michelle. Some leftovers made up my dinner that night. And lunch the next day. Yummm... I think I'll have another (small) piece this morning for breakfast.

 

I wasn't at the baby shower.  but that's okay, because I was at a drawing workshop with GERRY SQUIRES!!! Wheeeeee!!!! He's one of my very favorite Newfoundland artists, with Lloyd Pretty and Jean Claude Roy being two others... must remember Ron Bolt as well. His work is beautiful! So, it was a drawing class with a nude model, Emma, who was an absolute trooper. She stripped down in a very chilly room with nothing more than a pair of heat lamp things that were more for lighting than heating. A beautiful girl, curly red hair coloured with purple and fuchsia (a la Miranda style!). I'm posting photos of my charcoal drawings, but you have to remember that they're nudes, so if you're going to be offended, well... just DON'T LOOK at them!!! :)

when it rains, it pours...

and pours and pours and pours... 

So, first came the discovery that the clothes dryer (a nearly 3-yr old LG stacked model) wasn't actually drying the clothes anymore. That happened while Pat was over, so, of course, she wasn't able to dry her clothes while she was here for a week and a half. Sean and Kyle tried to do their laundry (such nice young men) and discovered their clothes was coming out of the dryer in the same wet condition that it had gone in. Hmmm... a bit of trouble-shooting on my part, and I realized that it wasn't the breaker, but something wrong with the dryer. It tumbled, but didn't dry. Either the heating element or the thermostat. Turns out it's the thermostat. Of course, the "professional" didn't show up for nearly a week and a half and now it's going to take at least that long to get the damn part sent in from the mainland, and then (of course there's another "then") we'll have to wait until the guy can come out again, waht with them being busy and booked up and all.

Then came the windows leaking like a sieve during the horrible fall flurries of rain blowing in from the ocean which necessitated the use of many many towels to mop up the incoming water. The towels have been washed a few times since then, but damn...  I STILL hate crispy towels.

Then, no doubt just for shitzandgiggles, Paul went into the crawlspace to check out the leak that the boys first mentioned several months ago. Why? Really? Probably because he wondered if the furious rains had caused any trouble. Well, a plumbing leak was suspected, but the professionals (see other posting) have ruled that out. It did involved some fun and games in the bathroom. Imagine this scenario:

Mutt, while standing in the main bathroom: I hear water running!
Bubba, standing in the main bathroom: Me too!!!

Water merrily gurgling outside the window from the raging stream and waterfall below: GURGLE, GURGLE, SPLASH, ROAR...

Mutt, while standing in the bathtub with ear pressed against the wall: I think it's louder when I'm here!
Bubba, standing next to the doorway of the bathroom: Uh-yup! Me too!

Chris, opening window to bathroom: I think it's coming from the stream, boys.

Mutt: No, it might be the air exchanger! You got an air exchanger?!
Chris: Yep. Two of them. You want I should turn them off so you can confirm it's the stream making the sound of running water?
Bubba, perhaps sensing a glimmer of sarcasm in my voice: No, that shouldn't be necessary.
Mutt: No no! You should go make sure nobody's running the shower!
Chris: Um... okay... I'll be right back.

Chris returns from the basement with the news that nobody is in the shower and finds Mutt and Bubba standing outside the main bathroom with their ears pressed on the walls on either side of the doorway.

Mutt: I STILL hear water running! Man! This must be a big leak!
Bubba: Yeah... me too!

*note to audience* While there is a shower on the one side of the bathroom door, it was not in use at the time and there are no plumbing pipes on the other side of the doorway where Bubba was "listening."

Mutt: I'm going to make a professional call on this and say it's probably the stream making that noise.
Chris, inaudibly:  Wow... I should go to plumbing school. How much is this going to cost us?! (btw, it was just over $300.oo)

The professionals, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that it's ground water seeping into the house (no weeping tiles because this is, after all, a Frankenjudy House), and that short of installing weeping tiles (an impossibility due to the stupid location of our house on the berm of fill), we should dig a flippin' hole in the ground under the house and put in a sump pump. Oh joy... But hey! They don't do any digging.

Gotta drive Sean in to work now, and then pop in to Gerri's house to use her clothes dryer. Thank goodness for good friends!

What's up with people who "dent and run" ???

We've got this cute little car, a 2005 Toyota Echo, new to us. We've only had it for the last couple of weeks, and it's a dear little thing. It doesn't particularly like doing anything over 120 kph on the TCH, shuddering until I slow 'er down to a sedate 100 kph. It doesn't really like hills, but Paul has asked me to keep it at or below "2" on the rpm scale... so I do try my best. It's not really a spacious car in terms of spending the day shopping. I had to lower the back seats to make room for groceries and Walmart shopping, but hey, it did okay considering it was only Sean and I out shopping.

So, in other words, it's a nice little car. Well, there I was, with Paul, coming out of Cycle City in Mount Pearl, all unsuspecting of what lay ahead. Paul walked out of the store to his motorcycle (the Buell Ulysses, but let's not get into Harley Davidson shutting down that line of bikes) and the car was parked just alongside it. The not-quite-setting sun shone down on our little Echo, and there, big as a fist, was a dent! A DENT in the passenger side door! And a scratch just below!!! Just beneath the side-view mirror!!! How the heck did that get there? Well, gee... obviously I took a mallet and whaled on it, then took a screwdriver and scratched it as well! NOT!!! Sometime during the day of shopping, parking in strange *shudder* parking lots, SOMEBODY banged their door into our little Echo, popping a fairly large dent into it and scratching it while they were at it!

Don't tell me they wouldn't notice something like that when it happened. THEY KNEW! They KNEW and didn't bother to have the bloody decency to leave a note with their particulars so we'd be able to contact them and get their insurance to cover the repair. Stupid STupid STUPID people!

*sniff* our poor little Echo. I'm going to take her in to see Uncle Scott and find out when he'll be able to fix her up good as new.

So the plumber asks me "do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

Why oh why do people always do that? Okay, so it was fun while I was the one doing it, but when somebody else does it... the decision-making process you have to go through when you KNOW that while the bad news isn't really what you want to hear, hearing the good news isn't necessarily going to be all good news either. But just which do you want to hear first? If you ask for the good news first, then you have a good idea of what the bad news is going to be. Not necessarily a good thing. But, if you ask for the bad news first, then you have to wonder what could possibly be better than this bit of information! Argh!

Oh well. At least we know now what the stink is all about. Hopefully. There's always that little bit of uncertainty, no matter how positive the experts are. They always give you that little qualifier. The "I'm not completely 100% positive, but pretty darned sure, based on my years of experience, but don't entirely take my word for it that this is going to solve your problem." *sigh* What do you do? Believe them? Ask for another opinion? Geez... at $300.oo for just one lousy visit, I'm not in a hurry to call in another of these so-called "experts." And why do they charge extra for checking out the crawl space? I mean, c'mon! If Mutt's assistant "Bubba" (names changed to protect me from slander charges) weren't so darned lard, *ahem* I mean large, he'd have no trouble getting through the hole in the floor to the crawlspace. He'd have no trouble scooting around in the spaciousness that is our sub-basement if he weren't so ungainly. I mean, c'mon!!! If Paul, at 250+ lbs can get down there and meander around with impunity, and Sean, at 6'3" can ramble without bashing his brains out... what the heck is "Bubba's" problem?! Agh. Anyway. An additional fee was charged for going in the crawlspace.

Now I have to find out a) do we REALLY need to dig a hole for a sump pump in the crawlspace, or b) can it be outside the house in the backyard where we have room to dig a 2'x2'x2' hole and perhaps deal with the possibility of large friggin' rocks because the house is a Frankenjudy and was built on top of a ginormous pile of fill. Just remember the huge deal it was to put in the fence posts when we first moved here! Argh... again!

aha! I've GOT it!

now what do I DO with it???

~ Chris 

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New! Open Hotmail faster on the new MSN homepage!

MORE rain?!!!??

Jeezuz... How much more rain is going to fall before our house floats away like Noah's Ark? It rained the other night again... starting sometime during the early morning hours. I lay in bed listening to the rain beating on the windows, thinking to myself, "should I get up and check the windows? Naaahhh... it's not raining that hard." Toss and turn toss and turn. "I should get up and check the windows. Naaaaahhhh... go back to sleep." Toss turn toss turn... "Damnit all... I'm going to get up and check the windows... maybe I should kick Paul and get him to check the windows?" Decided against that one... lucky Paul. Crawled out of bed and checked windows. In the dark. They were wet. Luckily I had some dry towels to put down on the window sills!

It took a while to get back to sleep after all that excitement. Yes, believe me, it's exciting to get up in the middle of the night to wander around the house and get dripped on/step in puddles/dart into the darkness outside to close the storm door while getting completely soaked. I finally slept for a couple of hours, but woke up around 6:30. Ungodly hour of the morning. I don't understand how people manage that every day of the week. *quizzical frown* Good thing I got up though. Some of the towels were already sopping wet and needing a change. While I was up and making coffee (lucky Paul), I decided to take a picture of the stream/waterfall. It was doing some sort of acrobatics at the bend just before the pool deck, leaping about 6 feet into the air before wending its way down and around to the bay. Eeep! *note to self: insert picture sometime soon. Preferably before it goes missing in the Pictures folder*

Here's the photographs from Pat of the Yorkies with their red and white dresses *ahem* sweaters on. They look adorably silly. lol... dog clothes...

These days I'm busy knitting baby shower gifts for Alia's friends, Anna and Teri. A pair of (omigosh they're so damn cuuuute!) kimonos, some kind of dumb looking toques (sizes range from Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear), and a pair of cuddly bunny things. I'll have to remember to take a picture of them and post them once I get downstairs and download them from the camera(s). Procrastination is becoming my new middle name. Why not? It's popular!

Must remember to take the Malibu-bu in this week to get the oil changed. Can't procrastinate that for too long. 

The new Echo is a cute little car. Sounds a bit like a lawnmower sometimes, and Paul's always warning against pushing it too hard at start-up. I still think it says "I think I can, I think I can," as it chugs up the hills. Hope it does well in winter. Paul says it did a bit of a wheelie on Marine Drive the other day... the wind caught it and tossed it onto 2 wheels! Got lessons from him on how to re-ground the vehicle if it ever (hope the hell not!) happens to me... turn AWAY from the wind. Kite strings, anyone? No, no... that's for Niki, for when she goes outside in the heavy winds!

Ciao for now. This is a boring post so I might as well leave asap.

October storms

Damn! October is turning out to be a real pain, weather-wise. It's gotten chilly, rainy, dark and gloomy. One day of sunshine does not a happy Christine make. Yesterday was absolutely horrible. It was Paul's last day of holidays and it absolutely POURED all freakin' day! He picked Gerri up with the Echo (echo echo echo) so that she didn't have to swim over and we had coffee in the living room with the fireplace blazing. Lovely heat.

Around 10ish Sean showed up to report that there was water all over Kyle's floor, leaking from his ceiling. Uh-oh... Scamper down the stairs with towels and buckets and discover that the window is leaking from several places as well. Scamper back upstairs to find that the water on Kyle's ceiling is likely due to the water gushing in from the living room door immediately above his room. More towels, more buckets. Water is also dripping from the window casing of the living room windows. Uh-oh... This does NOT look good... scamper further upstairs to check on the master bedroom... sure enough, water's springing from the windows AND the door as well. AAAAAaagh! More towels and buckets! Miranda's room too! Oh no!!! At least the skylights are holding.

Out of towels yet? The dryer still isn't repaired and I'm currently sitting amongst several large bath sheets strung over doors, railings, racks...

The sun is shining today. It's as if nothing ever happened. *sigh* I guess we'll be replacing the windows next year.

October is chilly!!!

I'm very glad that we have a fireplace in both the living room and dining room. It gives me such options for when I decide to sit down to read or knit. Knitting also has the added advantage of keeping me warm while I lay it on my lap. ... dog sweaters aren't always the biggest items though. Needed the dog, too.

Pat's visit is nearly done and tomorrow is Turkey Day. Sadly, the real turkey from next door, Smokey, died this morning under a pine tree in our yard. He was 16 years old and had been the neighbour's pet. How can I face turkey tomorrow morning? *sigh* ...

So... Pat's visit was busy! Paul had the week off and we spent the time motoring around with a new car! Okay, okay... back up a bit... we TEST-DROVE a Toyota Echo the other day. Drove the *bleep* out of it on the way to Cape Spear. It's a small thing, but brave. I swear I could hear it chanting "I think I can, I think I can" the whole way up the hill. Anyway, to make a long story short, we bought it and brought it home yesterday. It just fits in the small section of driveway between the gate and the road. Hmm... It's just a smidgen bigger than a Smart car.





Pat was canny this time and brought her hairstyling tools with her. It seems that the experience of trying to cut our hair with my sewing scissors was still stuck in her brain and she wanted to avoid the horror of it this time. lol... hair colour and new styles all around. Pictures? You want pictures? Sure! As soon as I get some taken of the girls 'n hair. :)




Knitting was a blast as well. I made that adorable (if I do say so myself) outfit for Niki and one for Shelby while Pat watched in awe. She persuaded me ( it was easy!) to make a pair of sweaters/dresses for her sister-in-law's pair of Yorkie-girls. Well, I started with the backs while waiting for the measurements to arrive from Grace. They took me a couple of days, but they're adorable. I REALLY hope they fit and can hardly wait to see the photos of the dogs wearing them. That goes for Shelby's dress as well. Hurry up, Dana! Put it on and take a picture once you get the parcel!








Gotta go find out if my little Malibu is ready for pick-up from the mechanic now. It's just past 2:00 and I have yet to plan dinner, take Sean to work, and fetch the Mook from school.

Cheerios! (yes, I know they're a cereal)

October already!?!!?

Where the heck is the time going? It's already October 3rd and I'm so not ready for winterizing myself. Oh well. At least I've been winterizing my puppy-girl. :)

Ravelry has been a great place to "shop" for ideas to clothe Niki. Thanks Dana!!! Alia suggested a Halloween costume for the little bumpkin, so I went "shopping" for ideas and patterns. I found a sweet King of the Beasts costume (that'd be a LION) that came complete with an adorable mane. The yarn is a super-chunky that's knit on size 13's, so it works up really fast! All was going well until I finished the body and stitched it together. Oops... wrong size. Big-time wrong size! What to do now? It's all done!!! Argh! I did what I do best and improvised using my sewing machine. I stitched that sucker up and down the sides and then *gulp* CUT it.

Again, all was going well until I was finished with the sleeves. Wrong location. Well golly-gee... what to do now? It's all flippin- done! If it were a computer document, I'd have hit the "delete" button by this point. Frogging wouldn't work. I'd cut it. Well, since it only took me a day to stitch the first version, surely it'd be as fast to do the 2nd. So, off I went with another ball of yarn.

Second version, ahoy!! It was beautiful! I decided to modify it hugely. Extra stitching details and additional decreases to re-shape the body here and there. The piece de resistance was the crocheted ruffle on the butt-end. Absolutely darling!! I finished the rib knit (wow!!) collar and added a bit of ruffle around it to hide the (oops) missed-stitches, and it now looks like a turned-down ruffled collar. Very very adorable!

While all this was going on, we had an absolutely wonderful French girl staying with us. French, with a lovely posh British accent. Emma arrived from Iceland via cargo ship in Argentia and got to our place on Sunday, Sept 27 and left us just this afternoon (Oct 3rd). She was my knitting buddy through the week. She'd just learned to knit in June and the pair of us had a great time playing with our projects. She practiced cables, I made doggie sweaters.

Pat A. showed up on Friday am! Hooray!!! She'll be here until the 11th. I'm going to knit a pair of sweaters for her to give to a pair of doggie-pals of Shelby (Xmas presents) and another for Shelby :) as well. Fun fun!