Catching my my breath & catching up

Holy cow. How did it get to be mid-September? This summer has flown by. It's been one of the busiest and most stressful ones I've had in a long time. And to top it off, I was dealing with all the fun/craziness/hecticness while being pregnant. If there was ever a summer I could have used  a gin and tonic (or several, let's be honest here), it was this one.

But it's over and the cooler weather has set in pushing off the handful of summer-like days here in Seattle. I'm welcoming the change of cooler weather, fall leaves and general change in the seasons. It signals to me things slowing down. At least for a little while longer as I'm 37 weeks today. I'm relishing in this peace and quite and slower pace until our baby girl shows up.

But first, let's look back at one crazy summer shall we? It was definitely worthy of several blog posts, I just didn't have the time/energy to get them done.

First, there was a great visit from our friends Shannon, Mike and their two adorable kids! We had a great time with them and can't wait for them to come back! The highlight of their trip was the U2 concert! Which sadly....those pictures seem to be MIA right now. I'm thinking they may have been deleted off my camera accidentally...so sad...such a great concert!

That concert was followed up by another visit of dear friends, Sara & April! They came up to Seattle since I wasn't doing much (or any) travelling this summer. We hit the NKOTBSB concert to relive our younger days! That's the New Kids on The Block & Backstreet Boys concert for those of you wondering what that is. While we all took a bit of ribbing for this, we had a blast in the end, and really that's all that matters!

Oh, and then something really freaking crazy happened this summer. I won not only one, but two Emmy Awards for television producing! I was completely shocked, stunned and thrilled at the same time!

And yes, those bad boys do have a little heft to them.

The summer was also full of several visits by both of our families..of which no pictures were taken. Clearly my camera took the summer off. Decorating the nursery (more to come on that later), planting a garden that went absolutely no where (so depressing...) and just trying to enjoy time together as a couple for the hubby and I before two becomes three. Oh, yeah, and lots of baby knitting. More on that later!

Hope your summer was just as jam packed and fun as mine!

Quick Hits Tuesday

• I seem to be averaging two blog posts a month these days. Trust me, this is not a trend I hope to keep up.
• From the blogs that I follow it seems I'm not alone in this trend. Is anyone else wondering what in the world is making us so crazy busy these days?
• The garden has come to a sad end. Lots of rain, little sun, and the sad reappearance of the $&*%#(% slugs pretty much put the nail in the coffin for this years project.
• I haven't had time to rip the garden out. It makes me sad to see all the wilted, holey (damn slugs), and unripened veggies out there.
• However I have three little pumpkins. I love them very much. They are totally worthy of a blog post.
• I finished the cutest baby project for a friend! I can't wait to share it with you...once I give it to her of course!
• I'm half a skein away from casting off on the Boneyard Shawl. If it wasn't so stinkin' humid around here these days, I'd be really excited to wear it for the fall!
• Yesterday was the most humid day on record for Seattle in years. We hit 100% humidity at one point and it wasn't raining!!?? What's with that?
• I have several other projects ready to be cast on and calling my name. I'm excited to get to them and share them with you!
• I took a photography class specifically designed for taking pics of your knitted projects. Again, totally worthy of its own blog post. Will do that later.
• I met David Gregory from NBC's Meet The Press. The man is 6'5. That's tall. You don't see that on Meet The Press. I tried really hard to be professional and not utter...."Wow, you're tall." I'm sure he gets that every freakin' day. Seriously, very tall.
• After reviewing this list, it's clear I need to post much more often. I miss it. Very much. As of Thursday my big work project will be over. And my life will so much less stressful. And it'll be a new month. Ripe for new adventures!

Quick Hits Thursday

• My last blog post on knitting here at the Knitting Knot was on July 2. And it was about my frustrations with my current projects. As the lack of blog posts - even knitting ones - show, there hasn't been a lot of creativity around here this summer.
• After many misses, I've finally hit on something good! I'm back to knitting with a lovely little project. It's top secret as it's a gift, but stay tuned, pictures are coming soon.
• I got a fabulous new camera for my birthday. I've been playing with and loving it so much! Expect more pictures soon of all sorts of stuff.
• I'm finally heading out of town for some much needed R & R! A road trip beckons to see family, friends and Yellowstone! I've never been there so I'm really excited! Also another reason I'm excited for my new camera!
• I think my garden is confused. You see the weather here in Seattle has been quite confusing/frustrating these days. We go from weekends where it's 60-something, no sun and rainy. To the next weekend of 90-something record breaking temps. And back again. I have lots of green little tomatoes but I have my doubts they'll ever turn red. Unless it's this next week when I'm out of town. 'Cause that's just my luck.
• I've been trying to eat local this summer. My current addiction is blackberries. I can't get enough  of them.
• See you in a little while - with lots of great pics!  I know you're excited! I am!

Well crap.

Last night I was updating my computer and freeing up drive space on my C drive (where I tend to dump all of my photos - thus the need to clean it up every once in a while.) I was all proud of myself for doing this without any help from my tech support (a.k.a. the hubby). However, while most of transferring of files from drive C to drive D was quite successful, I seemed to have "misplaced" about two months worth of photos. Which for me, is a lot.

They aren't on the C drive anymore. They didn't make it to the D drive. I'm about 85% sure they weren't in the recycle bin (which has also been emptied). They are somewhere on my computer.

It kind of stinks because some of the missing pics I hadn't had a chance to share with you all yet. While I'm not sure what exactly is missing, I do know the following are M.I.A.:

- pics of my great canning adventure the other weekend (did manage to post about that)
- pics of my weekend getaway to the Washington Coast (didn't post about that). Guess I'll have to go back.
- pics of the West Seattle Garden Tour which was really lovely and inspirational. I even snapped a photo of two baby hummingbirds in their nest waiting for mama to come back with lunch! That's a shame it's lost.
- pics of my mom hanging with her college roomies recently. Good thing I emailed those to her after the trip. Hopefully she saved them. I can here her muttering...oh no....right now......
- pics of my canning class with Amy Pennington. (did post about that. Plus I took the class with uber shutterbug Rebecca so I can just poach her pics if needed.)

That's about all I can remember that I had. I'm sure there's more garden pics....oh, and a really amazing sunset photo that I snapped a few weeks ago and meant to share. Damn...that was a good one. I guess I should just be blogging a little more often. And perhaps not get too cocky when it comes to my oh so savvy tech know how. Hopefully my tech support can find them for me!

Jane Austen's Fight Club

It's so wrong, yet so funny.....

Jane Austen's Fight Club

Must....watch.....now. All the proper ladies are doing it.

The Queen Bee

I came home early from work today and discovered a swarm of bees in the tree in my neighbors front yard. I mean a swarm of bees. I could hear them before I saw them.  I wasn't really sure what to do about it, but I luckily someone in the neighborhood did.

A few people were right in the thick of it, looking at the bees and very excited about this. I asked what was going on. The woman explained a queen bee had landed there and was being protected by a new group of bees (hence the swarming). She said they needed to get the queen to a hive, someplace safe, before the bees moved on. She said they could possibly get into under the eaves of one of the houses and motioned to mine and my neighbors (not something I'm really keen on). There were a lot of bees and I'm not really a fan of large swarms of bees so I left them to be excited and went inside.

About 10 minutes later I heard a couple of cars pull up and a few people get out. A guy, whom I later discovered was named Brian, had a cardboard box and he and the lady, Margaret, got right in the thick of it trying to get the queen in the box. That seemed to make them swarm more, but Brian, Margaret and the others gathered to watch didn't seem to mind. I watched from a distance.

I swear there are lots of bees there but you can't see them. I didn't want to get to close. They looked quite busy. They got the box under the huddle of bees. Margaret said it looked like football hanging from a branch as the bees were huddled on each other covering the queen.

A few hours later, the crew was back at the tree. The box I had noticed was sitting under the tree with a note on it. I went back outside to see what the status was. Most of the bees were now in the box which Margaret said was thick with bees. I took her word on that one. She said they were waiting for more scouts to come back, then Brian would take the box back to his place and one of the empty hives he had. I wasn't sure how he was going to get them back to his place. I wouldn't want to be in the small hatchback he pulled up in, but that's just me.

See, lots of bees. Brian's trying to get the bees in the box.

I learned a few things today:

• First, next time I see a swarm of bees I should call Puget Sound Beekeepers Assocation and someone will come and take care of the swarm. Since honey bees are dying off, it's important to keep the queens safe and make sure they have good homes.
• Second, I'm not a big fan of swarms of bees, honey or otherwise (but I kind of thought that to begin with.)
• Third, I met a few neighbors over this ordeal. Margaret and her hubby Mike have chickens and they invited me over to meet "their girls" anytime I want! And I plan on it!

Some of my favorite things

The wind and rain has returned to Seattle. Gone are the recent unseasonably warm sunny days we’ve had recently. It was just what I needed to help snap me out of my February funk.

 (I snapped this pic on my camera phone while out for a walk along Alki on Sunday morning. The snow capped mountains in the background are the Olympics.)

So as I reach once again for the rain coat (really, this is Seattle so it’s never that far away), I’m going to try and think about some of the things that have made me happy these past few, warm sunny days. I thought I’d share them with you:


500 Days of Summer – I recently saw this movie. And I loved it! Seriously loved it. It was such a good story of love, friendship, heartbreak and the hope that there is love out there. I’ll admit it left me crushin’ a bit on Joseph Gordon-Levit.


The Guernsey Literary and Sweet Potato Pie Society – I’m about halfway through this book and I feel like I’m right there on Guernsey with the crew. I don’t think I want this book to end.


Seeing a movie by myself – I don’t get to do this often but I recently had the opportunity when the hubby was out of town. I love going to the movies by myself because I can watch whatever I want. And I don’t have to share my movie popcorn with anyone. In case you’re wondering, I saw New Moon (and loved it!)


Roasted Vegetables – I haven’t been doing a lot cooking lately (the hubby is doing it for a while these days) but I recently tried a new recipe for roasted butternut squash, onion and garlic. When they were done roasting the recipe called for squeezing half of an orange over the veggies. I can’t even begin to describe how good it tasted. I ate the hunks of butternut squash and onion with my hand as I stood over the stove, it was that good.


So there you go. A few things that are making me happy as we slip back into the gloomy dark days of late spring. What makes you happy these days?

Stolen Hand Knit Items

Stealing stuff is no good.

But stealing hand knit items, well, I'm sure there's a special place in hell for people who steal hand knit items.

My sister recently had some items, we'll say liberated, from her possession. Among them, a pair of hand knit fingerless gloves my mom worked very hard to make for her. They were super cute and she loved them.

I seriously hope, whoever owns them now, is at least wearing them. And I hope they are still wearing them when they are arrested and booked for stealing. I'm sure the cops will appreciate the fact that the perps fingers will be easily accessible for the finger printing portion of the booking process.

Out of whack

The work life balance has been a little out of whack lately to say the least.

But, my big work project that has consumed my life for the past month is finally finished and behind me (and it was a HUGE SUCCESS if I may say so)!

Now, it's time for a little R & R, catching up with old friends that luckily are very patient with me and understand when my life gets ahead of me. It also happens to be getting into one of my favorite times of the year: holiday season. I'm ready to cozy up on the couch with a warm blanket, a cup of hot chocolate, my knitting and the hubby (ok, so he really doesn't like to get cozy when I'm knitting....something about errant needles....).

I'm ready to get back in touch with my life, my family, my friends, my knitting and my home.

Thanks for your patience everyone.

I've missed you.

Surviving September

About mid-August I took a look ahead at my work to-do list for the month of September. It scared me. Like really scared me. My job isn't your normal 9-5 gig so sometimes the workload varies depending on the day and story. But this month wasn't pretty. I decided instead of stressing over it, I was mearly going to embrace the challenges ahead and run with it. At least that's what I kept telling myself.

Throw in a few busy weekend (a trip to Boise to see the family and a visit from the in-laws to see our new house) it all just kind of made for some really exhausting days. And nights. Hence the few and far between blog posts. And the even fewer and farther between knitting projects. And my sewing machine? Yeah, there's a layer of dust on it. Which is really too sad because while I was home my mom hooked me up with some very cute sewing projects!

But luckily for me, the knitting waits, the sewing maching is oh-so patient with me (even when I'm not patient with it) and my friends and family are supportive of my seemingly constant complaining about my work load. When the truth be told, I'm lucky to do what I do, and even luckier to have a job (unlike a few of my coworkers who didn't quite survive September and our surprise layoffs that came a few weeks ago.)

So here's to October! Here's to a new month full of possibilities, new projects and most importantly - so freaking time to just relax!

The things you find in houses

The hubby and I have started house hunting. It's kind of exciting and scary at the same time. I guess it's time to give up our renting ways to put down some roots.

We've been out with our realtor a couple of times now and well, there's a lot of overpriced crap out there. There's also some interesting crap out there. You never know what you're going to find when house hunting.

Like today for instance. We went into one one house and saw not one, but two, organs that seems liked the house -which was built in the 1920's - was literally built around them. They were tucked away in these cubby like organ holes. The one on the main level was huge, then I went into the basement to discover there was another one:

Ah, the things you find in houses. The organs were also for sale so if you're in the market for one, I can hook you up with the realtor.

The Nebraska Gift of the Month CLub

For the hubby's birthday his year, his sisters gave him a 6 month membership to the Nebraska Gift of the Month Club. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why Nebraska. Well, a very small town in Nebraska called Guide Rock is where the hubby's dad and his four brothers grew up on a farm.

So for the last few months we've enjoyed salsa from Nebraska, and Italian salad dressing (I know, who knew). Now, being the massive popcorn lover that I am, I was waiting for the box of popcorn to arrive.

And arrive, it finally did.

In the box was 5 flavors of popcorn: carmel, kettle, salt & vinegar, cheese and tutti frutti.

Now I have to say, I was a little frightened at this. I'm a popcorn purist. I believe all you need is just the butter. The carmel and kettle corns were quite tasty. We tried the salt & vinegar, but neither of us liked it so we pawned it off on a friend. But the cheese and tutti fruitti just scare us.

For one thing, the tutti fruitti weights 10 oz. All that candy coating is quite heavy on the popcorn. And I'm sure you're curious about what exactly is shellacked on the popcorn since its not naturally flavored like strawberries, grapes and bananas. Such natural ingredients like; sodium bensoate, lecithin, mono and diglycerides. Yum.

The hubby is taking the cheese and tutti fruitti flavors to work in the hopes that some people will eat them so I don't have to feel guilty about throwing the food away. Although I'm sure with all of those preservatives, it wouldn't go bad.

So outraged, I almost asked for my money back

Tonight as I was heading home, I finalized plans for an impromptu happy hour with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. It wasn't anything fancy, we were just meeting up at my place for a glass of wine and whatever I could manage to find to eat. Knowing there wasn't much the in cupboards, I made a quick decision to stop at a little market to pick up some nacho stuff (I had wanted to go to Mexican place so I was still craving the food.)

As I was heading into the shop, I noticed this woman with a sign near the door:
"Pregnant mother of two. Just lost my job. Anything helps!"

Now, as a big city resident who uses public transportation and works in the heart of downtown, I see these signs daily. I'm asked pretty much every time I leave my office if I can spare some change. And I'll be honest, I don't. I choose to donate my money in other ways. But this woman, who couldn't be more than a few years older than me, made an impact on me. I smiled and said, sorry, I don't have any change, as I jetted into the store to look for some non-nutritional, non-essential items.

While I was contemplating which salsa to buy, I started thinking about her. I was thankful that my hubby and I both have good jobs that afford the basics and the little luxuries we cherish so much. I didn't need to be in that store buying nacho ingredients, but I was, because I could. So I got a couple of bucks for my change, folded them up and walked out of the store.

I smiled and handed her the money. She smiled, got a little misty, and said, "Thank you so much!" I got a little misty and headed to my car. As I was getting in, something caught my eye. I turned around to see that she was SMOKING!!!

I think my mouth actually dropped. I was outraged that 1) she was smoking while pregnant and 2) that the money I had just given her could possibly be used to buy more cigarettes. I should have taken that money to buy some food (which was my first instinct - some apples, and milk or something but decided cash was better). While it was only $3, it still outraged me to see her endangering her unborn child's' health (and I'm guessing she smokes around her young kids too).

I think if I see her again, perhaps I'll remind her about Washington's state law that prohibits people from smoking within 25 feet of an open door, window or ventilation system, meaning she'll have to do her smoking and panhandling in the middle of Phinney Way. Perhaps she'll think about it twice then!

A Pledge to Myself

This week I will get the majority of my nutritional intake not from chocolate chip cookies like last week.

(I know it's best to have small, attainable goals. I'm pretty sure this one is possible. Maybe. I think.)

Whew! What a week!!

It's been a crazy one around here!

The week started off with a fabulous new President! I still had the high of a new leader for many days.

Then, it was a treat beyond words to come home to find new doors with windows where the wall of plywood used to be!!!! They are beautiful new French doors that actually close all the way!! No more winters of stuffing old dish rags in the corners and "sealing" them with duck tape! Of course, we still don't have a view due to the scaffolding and plastic covering, but at least I can see my construction worker friends again!!

And as I wondered how the week could get any better, it did. We got a brand new washing machine!!! After 8 loads of laundry, I'm pretty much caught up! However, the vacuum cleaner still isn't working, but hey, I'm going to focus on the positives for now!

It looks like beginning of a revolt...

First, it was the washer.

Now, the vacuum cleaner has decided it too doesn't want to work.

Oh, and did I mention the in-laws are due for a weekend visit in 48 hours?

Don't worry, I've got it all under control. Instead of one, big, looming pile of dirty clothes and towels taking over the back hallway, I've decided to spread out the dirty clothes piles around the house on to the areas of the carpet that really need to be vacuumed.

See....it's all under control over here.

Washing Maching Update: It ain't good

The repairman just left. While the good news they have the parts needed to fix our washing machine, the bad news is, it's a two person job because it's one of those smaller stackable apartment machines. I do have Monday off so I'm really hoping they can schedule the repair then. But as we all know, life just doesn't work like that. So I'm guessing it'll be another week.

I think I'm going to have to pull out the iron. Either that or I need another Arctic blast so I can start wearing my warm winter sweaters. Or I need a heat wave so I pull out some of my spring/summer clothes. At this point, I don't really care. As long as I don't have to go to a laundromat or -heaven forbid - iron anything.

Well crap.

This is not how I wanted to start out the week. The washing machine broke yesterday. Just as I was starting to do my laundry. Which by the way I've been procrastinating to do because I hate to do laundry. The repairman can't come until Thursday. I hope he can fix it then. Otherwise I'm imagining the worst: they'll have to order a part, then with the holiday on Monday, they won't be able to come until sometime late next week. I don't have that much clothes. I may have to resort to drastic measures.

I may have to iron something that's clean, but shoved in the back of the closet. Because the one thing I hate more than laundry is ironing.

Snow in Seattle!

The big snow storm that I'll admit I was totally skeptical would actually hit Seattle - did. And while it only dumped about 3 inches in Seattle, it completely shut down the city. Although I had to go to work. It only took me an hour to get to work - that was an easy commute compared to most.

Here are some pics I snapped with my cell camera during my big adventure into the snowy city:

On the street to my bus stop. My bus didn't actually stop for us (again). Another bus on a snow route stopped to pick us up. Someone at the stop asked the driver if she was going downtown. She replied, "Hopefully." It was good enough to me because it was really cold.

Here's a bench and the plaza at work. It was a little snowier downtown than at my house, a mere three miles away. Downtown Seattle was like a ghost town. This is how bad it was: at 10 am I trudged across the street to Starbucks and there was NO line.

Why I know your Seattle tax dollars are working

Tonight the bus driver was pulled over by a bike cop. Impressive. I will admit, the bus driver totally deserved his speeding ticket.