Two Weeks Notice

I've been working at a local grocery store for the past 9 and a half years. It was my high school summer job - turned rent paying - that I just never got around to leaving. I was originally hired in summer 2000 to work in the Deli. I lasted about 2 and a half years there, before transfering over to the meat department. Yes, the same butcher shop that my darling hubby works in. Yes, infact that's how we met. Sickening no?

As school got more and more involved, I was less and less available for the times that the meat department wanted me to work. So after about 2 years I moved up to the front end and started doing ticketing and price changes. It started that there were two of us doing the work, but when the other one left, I got stuck working some pretty miserable shifts (5-11pm friday nights, 6am-noon saturday mornings) and decided I'd have enough of that. I've been working a cash since.

Then I hit grad school. And eventually grad school scholarships (horray!) and I started working less and less. To stay officially on payroll (without being on a leave of absence) I needed to keep working 1 - 5 hour shift every 4 weeks. Despite getting my scholarship last last september, I hung on to the job until this just past september. Our contract was due for renewal, and if the company decided that they wanted to dump a bunch of the more expensive people, buy-outs could be offered, and with my time in that would be a sizeable amout of cash. But september contracts came and (eventually) went (signed in november) with nothing useful in it for me (not even a raise if I wanted to stay!).

So I did it. I kept saying that I would... first when I got into grad school, then when I got the first scholarship, then again this september when I got the scholarship that would see me through my degree...

I gave in my two weeks notice.

Inch by Inch

Little bit of renovation progress last night. Mostly we're waiting for permits and inspections, but there is still a lot that needs doing.

But for right now I need another coffee.

It's going to be a loooooooong couple of nights.

There's a hole in my wallet!

Not much renovation progress to report... We took advantage of the dry and mostly sunny day to get some much needed supply shopping done. And not even the really awesome pretty stuff like tiles and granite (already bought and paid for), but the less exciting bits like lumber and plywood. And electrical boxes, and plumbing bits.

I've heard a few sayings about renovations, "always late and over budget" or "til death, or renovation, do us part", but there's another, much simpler one that I love dearly:

"It's not really a project until you've been to [insert local big box renovation store name here] at least twice"

Well, I've been twice this morning. And again later this afternoon. If When I go back tomorrow for something else I have to remember that the really friendly helpful guy in the plumbing department takes his coffee with 1 cream...

Stripped Bare

So last night was the big big big demolition. We started with a bathroom and ended up with stud walls and bare floor joists. And a giant pile of old flooring, drywall, and cabinets in what was formerly my dining room...

Most of the demolition went smoothly. Gigantic guilt mirror safely stashed away, light fixtures removed, toilet disassembled (and water shut off). The 10' counter might have put up some token resistance due to it's sheer bulk, but it was no match for a determined Andre and a sawz-all. And the sheer unadulterated pleasure of swinging a hammer through drywall.

I swear I love demolition, but the next time we do something like this I vote we order a bin, have it parked in the back yard, and just huck stuff out the window. I've totally done my work out for the next few months.

Perhaps not surprisingly, demolition is also a time for discovery. Like an archeological dig, but without the little brushes. For instance, we knew that the vinyl on the floor had been just slapped down over another layer of slightly uglier vinyl - we could see that in the corners under the cabinets where it had already started pealing away. Under that vinyl was a sheet of 1/4 inch plywood - as expected. Under that, we (foolishly) expected to find the sub floor, although looking at the height difference between the bathroom floor and our hallway laminate, we should have known better.

So under the 1/4 inch plywood was a layer of peal-and-stick vinyl tiles (not too ugly), over another sheet of vinyl (really ugly), over linoleum (can someone explain the appeal of the muddy-pukey-dirt linoleum that was soooo popular in the 70's?). And then another layer of 1/4 plywood. As we braced our crowbars under the edge we briefly held our breath, but thankfully that was it. Another layer of plywood, this time the subfloor of 3/4 ply, and in surprisingly good shape! Pity we're taring that out too. We need to get into the floor for new plumbing.

So now, finally (mercifully) the last of the big chunks of remaining bathroom have been piled in the kitchen, awaiting their date with the dump.

There's something amazing that happens during the demolition phase of any project. That feeling of getting started on something new with all these bright ideas of what's to come. The chance to make something that was functional but boring into something that's exactly what we want.

Maybe it's a knitter thing, but I suspect it happens to all creatively-minded people. The blank canvas for art, the empty notebook of a writer, the un-milled lumber of a woodworker, or the neatly balled perfection that is new yarn. Things that sit awaiting inspiration and beg creation.

I think I'm going to go cast something on. Damn startitis!

And now for something completely different!

So Andre and I renewed our mortgage last week (wow, 5 years in one place, good lord do we feel old!), and it turns out that we've managed to get some extra cash out of the deal!

When we first bought our house we had a 5 year plan for getting things renovated and up to where we want the house to be. Well, it's year 5, and we're really only up to year 1.5. We got new flooring upstairs and repainted the master bedroom (from dusty salmony rose to a new deep forest green). The 5 year plan had also included a new main bathroom and potentially new flooring on the main floor. Right, not so much.

So we're catching up our plan, and renovating the main bathroom!! We're going to take it ALLLLLL out, new everything from the floor joists and wall studs in. The plan so far involves a nice big deep soaker bathtub with a separate shower stall and double sinks in beautiful granite.

Super excited!! Can't wait to get started :D

Worry Work

It was a difficult weekend this last one. Andre's got this wonderful, crazy Newfie family. They really are something else and a half. While I never got the chance to meet Nannie Skanes, the family tells me over and over how much we would have gotten along. Something to do with her being a crazy knitter too! I've even got some of the last things that she knit that need finishing, which I can't wait to do.

The patriarch of the family is Poppy Skanes. There are few suitable words for describing him. Stubborn might be a good one though. As one of 25 children (yes, really) the surviving siblings are close. So as one of his sisters back on Belle Island is ill, he wanted to travel home to see her. Dispite his own not so great health. So off he went with his daughter Bonnie and Andre's mom Lorraine for a week on the rock.

Now, I should probably mention, that apparently he's on doctor's not to spend too much time traveling, but that's Poppy for you. He had a great time out on Belle Island with the family. It was when he got back to Ottawa that things took a turn for the worse. Poppy landed himself in hospital, bad to the point they called an ambulance to pick him up.

So far they're treating him for pneumonia and the other ails from which he suffers. It's been touch and go for the past few days. So much so that the entire Skanes clan has descended on Ottawa. All of the brothers and most of the wives have been up at some point in the past few days. The family is like that. Especially about Poppy. We've done the short notice long drive to Sudbury just to be sure. So far he's hung in there, the stubborn man, but every time we worry.

So, there have been a few long days and some nervous nights. And there is nothing like nervous energy to get the needles flying. Or in this case crochet hook. I've picked up the granny square blanket again and the little squares have just been falling off the hook. So many infact that I've got all of the center squares made with the ends tucked in and everything. And in the evenings sitting with family I've got it almost all sewn together. Now I'm working away at the last set of dark blue squares for the border. Then get that sewn on and it'll be finished. I can only hope that Poppy with be with us to see it.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was the best birthday!! It was pretty quiet, but that's nice for a change. Life has been so hectic lately that it was nice to just have some quiet time. Katie was with us too!! She'd never been downtown for the fireworks (gasp!!), so Andre and I took her.

The weather's been really wet this summer and there was rain forcast for the entire day, so we didn't even leave the house till almost 8pm. We drove to a transit station and took the bus down - it's soooo much easier than trying to find parking downtown. After wandering downtown for a bit we met up with some friends to head down to our favourite firework-watching-spot. If you're ever downtown Ottawa on Canada Day, head east, past the art gallery and the mint, just past the mint take the path on your left. You can't hangout on the road at the bottom, but the path itself looks at the back of parlement hill, perfect for firework viewing. In the end Katie had a great time! The trip home took almost 2 hours by the time we caught a bus and it got out of downtown, but still, super fun had by all!

Not really much else to say... got to see Poppy (Andre's paternal grandfather) and one of the Skanes' aunts as they passed through Ottawa en route to Belle Island, Newfoundland. Poppy's going home to visit a sister who'se not doing so well. Here's hoping that his trip goes well!

Knitting's been progressing slowly... updates to follow. I've got one deadline looming, and at least a few requests for others upcoming. All these silly friends of mine having babies!

So that's it for now. Knitting update to follow. :)

Sabatical, I wish!

So, after a bit of a.... break... I'm back! Since Christmas life has been busy as ever. Some unexpected things, some not, some knitting, some other life stuff. So here's a quick update, and I'll really update the knitting projects soon (like after I borrow my father-in-law's super nice digital SLR to get some awesome knitting shots!).


December saw the beginning of the transit strike in Ottawa. Yes, mid-winter, holiday shopping, no public transit. Thank all the gods that might exist that we had the truck. So for 2 months (right into February) there I was, fighting traffic to get into Carleton every morning and home every night. What would normally be a 30 minute rush hour trip was taking an hour and a half. At least. At first I was alternating driving and getting a ride in with friends. But when one friend got rear-ended, I took over driving completely. On the plus side Katie came to live with us! With them out of the city, there was no way that they'd be able to get in in the window to drop Katie at daycare then get themselves to work. Katie's daycare is walking distance from out place, it worked out well.


School kept me hopping too. Because of the transit strike and trying to get Katie organized, I lots a pile of research time. And I was doing a lab based class, so there's even less time that I could research. So the summer is(/has been) a whole lot of catch up time. But in May it all paid off (A+!!!) which is a decided improvement over the previous course from the fall (but I'm not even getting started on that one!).


In other exciting news, Andre and I hit the glorious 1 year anniversary last weekend!!!!! I absolutely can't believe that its been a year already. I suppose this means that we should really get around to ordering our wedding pictures... We actually spent our anniversary doing not much for us, seeing as how it was also Father's Day (and Andre spent the afternoon at work!). So I invited Katie and her grandparents over for a "surprise" breakfast, which would have worked better had Andre actually stayed in bed. Now, some time in the very near future we should get around to eating the saved cake layer and opening the last bottles of wine.


Andre, being wonderful, bought me an anniversary gift! The first anniversary is paper, so waiting for me after dinner was a wrapped copy of Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition by Terri Shea. You need to check out the book website and order your own, and also Terri's blog at spinningwheel.net. The whole family is getting knitted mittens for Christmas!

To the darling hubby (who doesn't read this, but that's ok), your gift is on the way, I promise!

A knitting update to follow soon... not much, what with the busy life right now, but 7 hours (x2) on the train has to yeild something interesting, no?

Knitting Update

So it's been a while since I posted any knitting progress, and there has been lots!!!! A few setbacks (that silly hat that I've started twice still doesn't fit) but loads of progress to report!

Firstly, there is another beautiful baby that requires a warm welcome!! Baby Bryn was born on November 26th. Both Mom and baby are happy and healthy. Because of school, trying to organize a shower before hand was a little tricky, so Emily (mom) had a "meet the baby" shower a few weeks after he was born. What a perfect little child!

When I heard that Emily was expecting, her due date was already fast approaching. But I couldn't not knit something. Emily was happy to let people know that she was expecting a little boy, but since Taden cleared out my stash of boy clothes, I needed something new. And besides, Emily has such a unique lively personality that a plain blue jacket set just didn't seem right. So out I went and found some really brightly coloured fun looking yarn and started on a blanket. In fact, this blanket was my project during our Toronto trip. True to Jen form, it's a CO5 blanket, with my favourite eyelet stipes!!

Yarn: Bernat Baby Softee - Rock-a-bye Baby (2)
Needles: Bamboo 4mm
Pattern: A combination of my CO5 (2st gs border, YO at both ends on right sides, work st st on WS) and that beautiful eyelet pattern that I keep going back to.

The knitting up from a corner makes it super fast at the beginning, and it always feels like you're making progress. The only slight problem is that it doesn't make quite a perfect square, even after blocking. But babies aren't going to notice such things once they're warm and cozy!

This is again my favorite pattern for baby blankets. Those eyelets are so simple, yet so classy!

During our visit with Jenny back in November, the subject of knitting came up more than once, along with the colours that people gravitate towards. Andre's easy - black. Me, I'm a blue/grey/green, cool, calming colours. Jenny, despite being my namesake, is most at home with the warm earthy colours, reds, browns and golds.

So imagine my delight when, the next day at the Naked Sheep, I found the perfect Malabrigo uber super duper soft bulky weight yarn ever. It fell off the shelf and screemed Jenny at me. So of course I had to take it home and make something for her. I knew it had to be a scarf (cause I only had a little bit), and the trick became finding the perfect pattern. I've never been a fan of scarves that had a right and wrong side, but most of the patterns that I was finding that I liked were either lacy (not going to work with bulky fluffy yarn) or cabled (massively varigated, so also no good). I was about to give up when a friend suggested that I check out My So Called Scarf. Perfect! Sure, it has a right/wrong side, but the stitch is super cool looking (unique just like Jenny!) and should stay flat when knit up. Here it is in Malabrigo: the pics are work in progress, but it's even prettier now that it's done and wrapped snuggly around Jenny.

Yarn: 2 skeins Malabrigo

Needles: 8mm

Pattern: My So Called Scarf

This would work in just about any larger yarn I think, just match needle size appropriately.

On the right is the unwound skein. Check out the beautiful right colours! The ball in the middle is about a third the size that I started with. The scarf on the left is what its coming out like.

I'm not sure why this silly blog keeps flipping my picutres, but here's a close up of the fabric that this stitch creates. It stays that flat on its own! No blocking nothing. Anyway, it looks even cooler (should that be warmer) wrapped around Jenny, so all is good!

In other knitting news, I've started the Garden Gate Socks from Knitty, only instead of rust and mushroom (which is still beautiful) I've got chocholate brown and grey/blue. I wasn't sure about the combination at first. I've never been a person for anything other than blue/green/grey/black. But I'm trying to break myself of that habbit. This project has my favourite blue, but I'm expanding the horizons with the brown contrast.

Here's just a quick shot of what I've got so far. Updates to follow!

Pattern: Garden Gate Socks (Knitty)

Yarn: I've lost the tag!!!!! 100% wool, hand painted, super shiney and soft... sock weight

Needles: 2.5mm

One more project, this one a while in the making. Katie's favourite colour (at least for now) is purple (and pink!). At home, like most homes, we watch TV, and we each have our own designated seat. And blanket. But Katie doesn't really have a blanket of her own. So a while ago I started one for her. And this Christmas she finally got the finished piece! It sat so long in my "to have then ends tucked in and be blocked" box, that I've long lost the pattern and the wool I was using. It's a worsted weight acrylic purple (super saver sized) and some hot pink boa eyelashy stuff. It doesn't come across as well in the picutres, but the puple sections are leaf like lacy patterns.

So there it is, a knitting update. I'll be posting again soon (school permitting) so stay tuned!

Happy New Years!!

HAPPY 2009 EVERYBODY!!!!

I know it's been a while, and I have the normal list of excuses lined up (my computer kept eating my last long post so I had to start it over... and over... and over...; I've been crazy busy with school; I've been knitting when I should have been blogging), but I'm not going to do that any more.

That's right people: Jen is making a New Year's Resolution. The shock, the horror, the "really, it's going to work this time". Honest.

Resolution 1

BE MORE ORGANIZED

I know I say it every chance I get to make a resolution, but every time I do, one more little organizational thing does stick with me past the initial organizational freekout. And there are so many things that I would like to organize.

1) Knitting will not be whatever I feel like starting and then never finishing. Projects will be finished (seamed, blocked, and DONE) before I start any more new ones. Yes, I'll always have a few on the go, cause as much as I love my garden gate socks, the pattern is too complex to travel, but no more bags and bags of half started stuff.

2) The blog will be updated minimum every 2 weeks. This going a month without posting is no good for anybody. And I appologize. Even this post is a few days late, but I'm trying I really really am.

3) School work will not wait till last minute. I always start off great, then fall into other things and forget to finish until the day before it's due. That needs to stop...

4)I am going to pay more attention to my hubby and the house. Both are high maintence, but both are so important that I can't not. And I know that they've been neglected before, but no more.

So there it is, my resolution. I do have another, believe it or not, I went all out this year.

Resolution 2

TAKE BETTER CARE OF MYSELF

This means a few things, like eating better (yes, cooking meals, not whatever is handy), paying more attention to myself (egotistical maybe, I have neglected a few things that I am now not happy with) and loose a few pounds. This is doctor suggested, since I am carrying a bit extra... not enough for problems now, but getting it taken care of now could save problems later. And Andre's amazing christmas gift of a Wii Fit (!!!!!!!!) is surprisingly helpful with this. And the little characters are damned cute too!

I know, I forgot to make a Christmas post, but after I thought about it, I realized that people should be out having fun with families over the holidays and not stressing about blogs and the such like. So, belated MARRY CHRISTMAS to all.

Along with the Wii fit, Andre gave me wool money (for local yarn store) and "some assembly required" socks. Fleece Artist, wool/mohair for socks.mittens, pattern included. Uber excited! The rest of the family pitched in with more yarn (cotton, bamboo, etc), another page-a-day knitting calendar, no assembly required socks and some great movies (Startgate, X-files, all the good stuff to watch while knitting).

Andre got woodworking stuff as always, a new dust collector (I love you too hun), a branding iron to mark his work, and some more books and magazines to read at his leasure.

Oh, and Jaz/Brian/Katie, who are all awesome, gave us our first framed wedding picture. It's beautiful, and now proudly hanging on the wall. And Jenny really really liked her scarf. (I know I haven't posted about it, but I will!!) All in all, an excellent holidays, busy with friends and family, but warm (and raining!) and loving, and a good time.

So good luck to anybody else with resolutions, and bear with me in mine. I must now return to finishing a gift for a cute little somebody who just got a year older yesterday. Happy birthday monkey girl!