My husband picked me up from work and we headed over to the condo. As I turned the key in our door, I told him to close his eyes, and I did the same. We kind of fumbled our way in, and at the count of three, we opened our eyes. What did we see? No more ugly gray carpet.
Hello beautiful bamboo floors!
It's perfect! I have to do a tiny bit of touch up on the paint around the moldings, but that is nothing. The floor is beautiful! We are so happy with the results. All that worrying was for nothing. I'm very impressed. Thank you Metro Floors! Funny thing is that now we have to find a nice area rug to cover the floor. Go figure.
It's a multi-post day! I just came back from getting my lunch and I passed by two police officers on horseback. There was a moment of quiet and I was able to hear one of my favorite sounds. The clip-clop of horse hooves on pavement. I LOVE that sound. Of course, the quiet was broken by a shirtless man on the corner with an electric guitar starting up his next performance piece.Some of my other favorites sounds...Walking on gravelThe ocean wave crashing onto the shore (no seagulls in the background please)Rain landing on my umbrellaMonte purring in my lapMonte purring while eating (I guess he loves his food)The sudden quiet that falls over an audience when the opening notes of a show begins - even through the music, you can hear the silence.Do you have a favorite sound to share?
My husband just called. The installers are at the condo and they said there shouldn't be any problem with the curled bamboo strips. They said that curled edges are OK. If the wood twisted, then there would be a problem. The work should be done by 3pm. I'm so excited. I'm sitting here at my desk, and I have that tingly, anxious feeling in my stomach.I'll drop by there after work today - I can't wait until tomorrow morning to see the floors. Isn't that strange? I'm excited about my floors.On another note, my old roommate from college called me. I love my roomie. She's one of my best friends, and I am so happy for her. She's getting married this November. Yea! I'm going to be a bridesmaid, and she called to tell me to pick out a bridesmaid dress from this site: Jordan Fashions. There are so many on there, I don't know what to do! I haven't had a chance to look at all of them yet. I just know she's going to have it made in a wine color. So, the big step now is to give her dressmaker my measurments. Nothing like seeing your 'numbers' on paper to make you want to lose weight. My goodness! After the move, I have less than five months to workout and trim down!!!
The flooring was supposed to be installed in our condo on Tuesday. Didn't happen. The installers called Monday and said they had to reschedule. At first they wanted Saturday, our moving day! Of course, that was vetoed. The earliest available would be Thursday at 3pm. 3pm!!! Who starts a job at 3pm??? Anyway, they called last night and said their morning job was canceled, so they can come Thursday morning. Thank goodness.Oh - and remember when we picked up the bamboo last Friday and laid them out so they could acclimatize to the room? Well, several of the boards curled! What the hell? So, now we don't know if the installers will be able to even use those boards. Tayo, from Metro Floors, ordered some extra bamboo, just in case, but what concerns me is what if the other wood ends up curling too? Worst yet, what if they curl after they're installed? They're in a stack right now, so maybe the bottom sheets didn't curl because of all the weight? What happens when they're laid out? ARGH!!!On a different note, I'm taking Friday off, because it turns out that I have to sit in the empty condo from 8am - 12pm to wait for the Cable and SBC to come do their magic. Gotta have cable and a phone! So, yes, I'm stressed. I can't concentrate on work. I haven't been knitting. I've packed my embroidery somewhere. I think I've over played Sims 2 in the past few days. Yes, I have the theme song in my mind constantly. Must think happy, calming thoughts... I think about our rafting trip that is coming up on July 8th, but that stresses me out more, because that's the week after we move - so we won't even have a chance to really settle in yet before having to go on a camping trip. I HATE camping. What I wouldn't do to rent a nice RV... I could handle that.
To continue my thoughts from today, and completing my tagged questions...
4. If I could be a painter... I would have saved several hundred dollars by painting our condo myself. However, my husband's friend who did it for us did an excellent job.
5. If I could be a musician, I'd play in the orchestra of Les Miserables in the San Francisco tour right now, so I could see my all time favorite show every night for free. I've seen it 6 times since I was first introduced to it when it was here in 1989. I have all the soundtracks, the TV specials, the DVD... I can't get enough. I even sing along to the original French soundtrack. If being a singer was one of the choices, then I would play Eponine in Les Miserables.
Did I say I dream BIG?
Hmmm, from a long list, I have to pick 5 question starters and complete the sentence... what to do, what to do....??? The pressure! The pressure! OK, after some long thought, here are my selections and answers. Now, in case you don't really know me, I have BIG dreams, and if I did have the means and ability, I would try to accomplish these goals. 1. If I could be a chef... I would open my own restaurant in Beverly Hills where all the stars would come. I would be able to put together delicious works of art in a moments notice. Most important, my guests would have a really good time in my restaurant and the service must be superub. Heck, even Wolfgang and Emerile would actually come ask me for advice in the kitchen. (Told you I dream BIG)2. If I could be a writer… Actually I am sort of a writer. At least that's what I majored in - emphasis in Creative Writing. My goal is to write an Oscar winning screenplay, or at least get on the NY Times Bestseller list. Really. I want to entertain people, and I have many ideas, just need to get them down on paper and find a way to get it published. I think of my stories like a live action movie, so it's hard to break that down onto paper. J.K. Rowling is my idol. I wish I had the creative flow like her to come up with this amazing story that the world loves. I love Harry Potter. 3. If I could be a scientist... considering I sucked big time in my science courses, if I made it to actually become a scientist, then that's a miracle in itself. Assuming I was brainy like that, I would like to really concentrate on finding, if not a cure, then some way of managing allergies. There's got to be SOMETHING in the world that can help the poor souls out there, myself included, to have a sneeze free day.I'll have to think about the last two... This is kind of hard!Oh, and to my buddy Korallin, those are AWESOME pictures of the baby! I didn't know that was possible. It's incredible that we're able to see your little girl so clearly! What a treasured memory to show her one day. Amazing.
This is it. Exactly one week from today, we will be moving to our new home. I'm very excited, yet very overwhelmed. The thing is, we really don't have THAT much stuff. I've donated, sold, trashed a lot of it already. But we do have enough things so that our apartment is pretty much heading toward a high level of disorganized chaos. Organized chaos is manageable, but disorganized... that worries me. I already can't find things I need, and we only have several boxes sitting in the living room! We, or actually, my husband, moved 9 boxes of bamboo flooring to our condo yesterday. I think each box was over 7 feet long, and he said they were probably 80 pounds each. Like I said, I do not lift weights in my spare time. Heck, I don't exercise really (which I should do!). So, I did the best I could to help out. Together, we managed to get those boxes up to the unit without a single scratch to any hall wall along the way - even with the tight turns. Whew!The flooring will be installed this Tuesday. This is why we haven't moved anything into the unit yet. Not saying anyone will steal anything, but why take the chance? That's why the only things that might go in there this weekend are bathroom/kitchen related items. Go ahead, take a towel.Tomorrow is the Gay Pride Parade, so we won't be heading into that part of town. It's going to be crazy! The last time there was a parade in that area, my husband and I were trying to get me over to Berkeley to try a new eye doctor (U.C. Berkeley optometry), took us 45 minutes to NOT get to the bridge. We didn't know there was a parade, so when we finally realized that this wasn't normal traffic, we were stuck. 45 minutes and we couldn't get out of the city. We were not even close to getting on the Bay Bridge. I called and had to reschedule my appointment.So, to end this rambling, and obvious procrastination (again) from packing, I will sign off now.
I'm actually taking a day off work - YEA!!! We're taking the car to get it checked because the 'check engine' light won't go off - BOOOO!!! We're actually going to the dealership/service center in San Jose, so while the car is in the shop, I hope to do some 'shopping' of my own at the Valley Fair mall. Well, window shop anyway. I love that mall. It reminds me of the malls in San Diego (where I went to college), and South Coast Plaza in Orange County. It's spacious and the decor is nice. It's a pleasant place to walk around. Plus I'm sure it's going to be pretty hot in San Jose tomorrow, so the indoor/air conditioned part of it is appealing too.After we get back to the city, we're going to pick up the bamboo planks to bring to the condo. They need to acclimatize to the room before they get installed on Tuesday. Yeah, just me and my husband - moving boxes and boxes (nine to be exact) of bamboo planks. We're going to use handtrucks, so no, I'm not a closet weight lifting champion.With all that exercise, we're going to 'freshen up' and replenish with yummy BBQ with our friends. I'm looking forward to that!Did I mention that the carpet has been installed in the two bedrooms? It's beige and oh so soft on the tootsies. The guys did a fabulous job - and it's all thanks to Tayo, our salesman at Metro Flooring in San Francisco. Unfortunately, they don't have a website, or I would have put a link here. My husband and I were just browsing and we tried to describe to him the kind of carpet we were looking for, using the most elementary of terms, of course. Next thing you know, Tayo brings over a sample of what he thinks we might be interested in (and in our price range). That is what is in our bedrooms now. And our bamboo flooring is from Metro Flooring as well. If that doesn't show good customer service, I don't know what does. Thanks Tayo!
Really, isn't this the cutest little thing?
It's one of the One hour Baby Booties from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation. Before I sewed it together I just couldn't see how this thing was supposed to be a baby bootie. Now that it's sewn, it does look as it should, but I still can't see how anything can fit into something SO TINY!!! My goodness!
I want to make a pair of these for one of my college friends in So Cal, who is due in September. While I was the first to get married, she's the first of the group to become a mommy! We're all very excited. But this booty is so small - I want to make something her baby can wear for more than a day before he outgrows it. This was just knitted on my testing yarn to see if I could do it. The real pair will be made from much softer yarn, and I'll use bigger needles. I used size 8 needles for this bootie.
My allergies are killing me!!! I think I am allergic to work. Yeah, that's it. I'm allergic to work. It's very odd. I'll be fine when I wake up, go through my whole morning routine, but when I start to do my hair (even before any hair products get used) I start sneezing. And then I feel icky for the rest of the morning. My eyes get watery and puffy. My nose feels swollen. Kleenex becomes my best friend. Mind you, this doesn't happen to me on the weekends. I do sneeze, but it doesn't hit me until later in the day. It's very odd.
Today at work, I can't stop sneezing. It's horrible. I don't want to rely on pills, but what else can I do? I'm actually out of Claritin and giving Sudefed another try. It's not working so far. Oh woe is me and my poor raw nose!
Today was a very busy day. I started the day by getting in a good hour of Sims 2. Then had a wonderful lunch with my husband at my FAVORITE Indian restaurant called Indian Clay Pot Oven. It's on Clement, between 25th and 26th Avenue. The lunch buffet is the best time to go. Not because we're cheap when it comes to food, but because there are specific dishes that my husband and I just love, and we can just pile those onto our dishes. I have no idea what any of them are called, but they have a good variety of chicken, lamb, fish, veggies... When you eat there for dinner, they are quite expensive and you get very small portions. You can't beat $7.99 a head for the buffet lunch, plus you get nan with your meal. I always come out very satisfied. Don't expect service with a smile though. While the food is wonderful, the staff there, more often than not, is unfriendly. The running joke my husband and I have is the record time that the bill is placed on your table. The winner? One time, we had put our jackets on our chairs and went straight to the buffet line. When we got back to the table, our bill was already there. Can't beat that!We ran errands for the rest of the day. We needed to get some curtains for our new place, so we looked at Target. Everything was too short. Went to Bed Bath & Beyond and got our shower curtains. The drapery selection was pretty good - but expensive. We then headed next door to Anne's Linen Outlet. Cheap stuff that you just don't want. And then finally, JoAnn's Fabrics. Nice selection of materials we could use to make our own drapes, but it would end up costing the same as Bed Bath & Beyond. We haven't really decided on our colors yet - so we are holding off on that purchase for now. I figure, if it's going to cost about the same, why do I have to put in the effort and attempt to make these curtains myself. Like I know what I'm doing?We ended our day with a fabulous Father's Day dinner at Roy's. I've been to Roy's twice before. Once for lunch with co-workers, and another time for a Girl's Night Out dinner party. I have not been disappointed, and after last night, they still have a perfect record with me. If you have the opportunity to go, here are some of my "must try" suggestions... Baby Back Pork Ribs. The meat just falls off the bone and the sauce is literally, finger licking delicious. Don't waste that sauce on the napkin! They also have a wonderful pork roast. It is also the most tender meat in the world. With a bit of their pineapple chutney on top? Mmmmm... And the finale, their famous Melting Hot Chocolate Souffle. Just the smell of it puts you in a chocolatey heaven. When that rich, dark chocolate comes flowing out of the center... It's like Christmas morning and you're opening that one present that you've been begging for all year. It's that good.Needless to say, my dad, who is a real connoisseur of good food (translation: he loves to eat and has tried many, many restaurants in his lifetime) was fully satisfied. Mission accomplished!For his gift (with a lot of help from my mom) we got my dad tickets to see the new Cirque du Soleil show, Corteo. We were able to get advanced tickets - which is kind of ironic, because our show date isn't until January 2006. I love anything from Cirque du Soleil - so I can't wait!
I did not do any knitting last night. Instead, I stayed up and played The Sims 2 for two hours. Yes, that is my all time favorite game. I got hooked with the entire Sims series several years ago. I thought the programming was incredible and it was just fun. It's like playing God for a few hours a day. You control when they get up, eat, sleep, what they do for fun, how they handle their relationships with other Sims. I have all the expansion packs. When The Sims 2 came out, I knew there was no going back to the original series that I loved. This second edition is AWESOME! The characters actually show facial expressions. When they get engaged or married, they actually wear the appropriate rings. They can actually have sex! You don't see anything, but you know what's going on under those covers. Naughty, naughty! They go through pregnancy and give birth. With birth, there is death... depending on how you have them live their lives, they grow old and pass away. You can go on for generations in this game. Incredible.I love The Sims 2!
Well, appointments for the carpet and flooring installation have been made. Tomorrow, the HOA board will meet to decide if our flooring plans meet their requirements and we should hear by Saturday if they are approved.We finally have a moving date! July 2nd. That's only two weeks away! I totally feel the pressure now. I've packed about 10 boxes so far, and it looks like I've barely made a dent in the study. I don't know how we're going to handle this. Need to do some knitting to calm myself down now.
Last night was my last sewing class. It's been a wonderful experience and I hope I won't forget what I have learned. Sewing is so precise, in a way it's very calming for me. Sometimes when life gets too chaotic, I just need to do something where you have to just follow the directions exactly.
So, here is my completed project - my robe... Tah dah!
It's a kimono style robe. I made the sleeves shorter because when I'm working, I don't like things flopping around. And I made it knee length. I think I want to put on some belt loops though. Our teacher showed us how to do it, and I do have some cloth left... I think I shall attempt it.
Also, I completed one of the two flowers I wanted to make for my blue scarf. Sewed it onto my scarf, including the little charm I found. Made sure you couldn't see any disturbances in the knitting on the back. I kind of looks like a lumpy circle shape, doesn't it? Maybe the second, bigger, flower I'm going to make will be better.
My best friend in LA called me up tonight. He said he was watching TV when suddenly an Emergency Broadcast System alert came on the screen. You know what's funny? I've seen those EBS tests on TV since I was little, but only until recent years have I actually seen them used for warning people. Anyway, my friend called and was very concerned. He said that they were broadcasting warnings about a possible Tsunami hitting San Francisco. My initial reaction was unbelieving, of course. When has there ever been a Tsunami in California? Apparently, there was a 7.4 earthquake off the coast from Eureka - and they were worried about a possible Tsunami forming. I wasn't scared. I asked my husband to check out some news channels to see if we could find anything about this earthquake. Of course, it was only 9 something - so there wasn't any news on. As I was working on the computer, my husband called out to me about the EBS alert. The warning was for the entire coast of California - all the way up to Vancouver. They said that if there was a Tsunami, it would hit the coastline around 9:23pm tonight. That was only 10 minutes away at that time. I still didn't worry, but I did light some candles, just in case the lights went out. I hate blackouts. Always makes me think a killer is hiding in the closet or something. We'll it's 10 something now, and apparently the alert was canceled. Lucky us.
I finished the scarf part! 
Finally! Now I can concentrate on the flower. I just bought the Stitch 'N Bitch Nation book. After all that searching for the perfect flower pattern, there's one on page 61. Funny, it's only June, and I've almost got one Christmas gift checked off my list.
So, we attended the HOA orientation at our condo yesterday. Realized horribly during the presentation that they had forgotten to give us a very important binder full of the information and forms we would need before any renovations were to be done on our unit. This binder should have been given to us a few weeks ago during our unit walkthrough.Well, the bamboo flooring has arrived. In fact, we were going to pick up the boxes today, but the forms still need to be submitted to and reviewed by the board. The board's time frame? They have up to 45 days to come back with their approval. And if they deny our application, I don't know what we're going to do. Assuming all goes well, I'm guessing we won't be moving now until late July.I can't believe how disorganized this whole thing has been. It's not us - it's the association. Did you know we still haven't gotten our key cards yet? The machine was broken, then fixed, then broken again, then the woman who makes the cards forgot to make a set for us - so we didn't get to pick them up yesterday. And our binder was supposed to have all the warrenty books and cards for the appliances in our unit - missing.So, my husband is off to make another trip to the complex and the flooring place. I decided to stay home today and start packing. I'll do more than four boxes today, I promise!
My husband and I finally started to catch up on the stack of movies we've saved since the TV season is in its summer hietus. So far, we've watched Hero together. It's a beautifully filmed movie - and Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung are two of my favorite Chinese actors. Too bad they didn't have an option for Cantonese, so I was stuck reading subtitles too. Some nights, I wanted to catch up on my knitting projects, so my hubby watched some of the movies on his own (Elf, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, and The Cooler).Last night, we watched Open Water. If we had watched that in the theater, I would have demanded my money back. It was HORRIBLE!!! Aside from it looking like it was filmed with an average video camera, it was just so full of inconsistencies it was just plain frustrating to watch. The basic premise... a couple on vacation goes on a scuba expedition with a tour company. There is a mix-up in the headcount at the end of the trip, and the couple gets left behind. How? One of the crew members miscalculates how many guests came back to the boat and it takes off. When the unknowing couple surfaces, I'm assuming much later, the boat is long gone. So, there they are... all alone in the big blue ocean. What to do? What to do? There are the mandatory "I love you" "I hate you" "I'm sorry" moments. Suddenly, in the distance, a boat is coming towards them. They wave their hands, yelling. Cut to: The resort. Their tour boat has docked and the passengers are disembarking. Cut back to:the couple floating along in the water. Uh, what happened to the boat coming directly towards them? We don't know, because they never mention it again. Hello?! This is only about 30 minutes into the movie.Anyway, after a freakin hour and 15 minutes, I'm sitting there wondering, how do I get that time back for my life? There are many kinds of films. Those you have to see in the theater. Those that you can wait for the video. Those that end up on HBO or Cinemax. Those that end up as TV movie specials. And finally, those that you just shouldn't bother with. Guess which award this movie gets? Let's put it this way... the DVD was thrown away with the trash last night. Yes, I'm bitter. I want my hour and 15 minutes back.
I'm still attempting to crochet a flower. I did half of one on my practice yarn. It came out pretty nice, so I tried it on my pink yarn. Not quite so nice. First of all, all the little ribbons that stick out of this yarn make it very difficult for me, a beginner, to work with. Second of all, I can't really see the stitches - so I couldn't tell if I was getting my hook into the right spots. I managed to create something that looks somewhat like a flower - but I'm going to have to try it again. This one looks more like a pink mess to me than a flower.
In other news, our friend who is going to help us out with painting our condo is already hard at work! He bought all the paint today and was hard at work taping up all the things that shouldn't be painted. He predicts that he'll be done by Saturday. I can't wait to actually see these colors that we so painsakingly picked out on the walls.
My scarf is coming along pretty well. I think I made it a little too wide though. I'm not very good at the gauge thing yet. During my little Michael's shopping spree last weekend, I picked up this beautiful Raspberry pink yarn by ModaDea. It has these little frills that stick up all over the place. Gives it some texture. I'm going to attempt to make a flower for my blue scarf.
I couldn't find a good pattern to knit the flower, but I did find one to crochet. Wish me luck!
We haven't even moved yet, but I'm already going to miss all the restaurants that have made our life so convenient for so many years. We live in a part of SF that can only be described as the neighborhood of culinary delight. Within four blocks of our apartment, we have 8 Japanese restaurants, 2 Indian restaurants, 4 Mexican restaurants, 3 Thai restaurants, countless Chinese restaurants, and of course, the local burger joint. Let's not forget Vietnamese, Pizza, and Greek! You can satiate your international palate any night of the week. Jeans and t-shirts are welcome - anything else, and you're over dressed.In our new neighborhood, all I've seen are the trendy, must be seen, type restaurants. If you don't have a Cosmo in your hand, then you're out of place. I'm sure there are some neighborhood type joints there somewhere. I just haven't found any yet. At least, not any that were open when we were at the condo - which is a problem. I'm going to miss my international kitchen, but we'll be back in that neck of the woods someday.Maybe I'll finally be able to lose some weight!
Amidst all the excitement of the condo and everything, I find my most relaxing times sitting in front of the TV and either knitting or doing some crochet. In need of some serious sedation, on Saturday, after we picked up the keys, my husband drove me to this yarn store in SF, Imagiknit, because they just started their "We have too much yarn!" sale. Cute title.At first, my hubby just dropped me off and I was going to run in and run out. Well, I walked into the store, and basically called my husband to park the car and come help me. This place is just wall to wall to wall yarn. Beautiful yarn! All the colors and textures you could possibly imagine. A knitter's paradise. After almost an hour of searching through all the mohair, merino wool, and silks, I just couldn't decide - plus, I had no idea that yarn could be that expensive!!! I saw some yarn for $16.95 a skein! I wanted to make the hooded sweater from the Stitch N Bitch book. It requires 10 skeins of Rowan's Kid Classic yarn. They had it there, but it cost $5.50 a skein x 10 + tax = $60. Plus I would need the circular needles, which were $8.95. It's a wonderful store, and anyone who is a not a beginner should definitely visit this place. It's incredible. Their sale will end when all the sale yarn is gone. I hope to go back some day.We ended up going to Michael's. I bought the yarn I needed, plus a few more. Most of the yarn yardage was double what was available at Imagiknit, so I only needed a total of 5 skeins for my 10 skein sweater. Now, I can make the sweater, two caps, and two more scarves. Also in my overflowing basket were circular needles, a pom pom maker, and a bag of novelty buttons. Oh, and my husband found me a wonderful book for knitting different designs for $11.95. All that for $60 total - not bad!
A moment I'll never forget. At 11:55a today, we were handed the keys to our new condo! Of course, it wasn't what I had planned. The keys were in an envelope, so no ceremonial picture of keys and handshakes. But here's a picture of the key, seconds after opening the envelope, and a lot of coaxing my husband to agreeing to let me take my 'embarassing' picture.
We moved our car from the main garage to the resident parking area. We then tried to figure out the correct path from the garage to the closest elevator, and finally to our unit. What a feeling to go into our unit without an escort for the first time! We took off our shoes and just roamed around each room - our final 'good-bye' to the ugly gray carpet before it will be ripped out and replaced with lovely bamboo floors. We also checked out the pool area and gym. Turns out, it's a lap pool. Deepest point is 4-1/2 ft. Oh well. How much swimming can I do in SF anyway.
Tomorrow, we are meeting with our painter and the flooring company - actually, they'll be coming to the condo to make their estimates - something we couldn't arrange before because we didn't have the keys.
I still can't believe it. We're homeowners!
My husband just called me! We're getting the keys to our condo tomorrow! I can't believe it! Is this really happening? Am I really a homeowner now? I guess it's really time to grow up... like getting married wasn't a nudge in that direction. We have our own home. We own a home. I still have to get used to saying it. OUR HOME!!! I'm so excited!
I was so happy that I cried, not during our wedding, but at the first dance at the reception. Everything just overwhelmed me at that moment. I wonder if the tears will flow again when the metal from the key touches my hand tomorrow? I don't care - I'll bring tissue.
OUR HOME!!!
All I wanted to do was to knit or crochet a cute little flower for my scarf. Looked through several patterns and tried them all. I CAN'T DO IT!!! They all come out looking like poor wilted, stomped on, crumpled lumps of yarn. I can't even refer to them as flowers. It's quite embarrassing, especially when some of the patterns are considered "Beginner/Easy." Did everyone who does this go to a class or something? Do I really need to take a Saturday and pay $30 for a 2 hour class? Sigh...I haven't given up yet. Got my cheap blue yarn that I use for all my testing and practice stitches. I'm having a tough time deciphering some parts of the patterns though.Here's one... K2, (YO, K2tog) repeat 4 times, K1, (YO, k2tog) repeat 4 times, K1The thing that confuses me is that if I do what the pattern is telling me, I run out of stitches. Meaning, if I do a full YO stitch and then the K2tog. Counting my stitches, if I do the YO and K2tog at the same time, then I have enough stitches. But how do you do it at the same time??? I can YO the first stitch, but how do I properly grab the second stitch and knit them together into one? I'm all confused... Boo hoo hoo!
I had just mentioned about going to the playground and enjoying the swings with my grandpa in my last entry... Tonight, as we've been doing the last few nights, my husband and I went for a walk. This is our attempt to get back into shape - a nice brisk 30+ minute walk each evening. Every night, we take a different route around the neighborhood. Tonight we happened to go by a park that also has a play area for kids. It has the usual metal jungle gym and concrete slide. There's a small grassy area with BBQ grills. The familiar 'pock!' sound as racquet and ball collide signifies a night tennis match in the fenced off courts, providing a dusk serenade. My husband and I headed straight for the swings. We're both in our 30's, yet we feel like kids again everytime we go to the park. We always race for the 'best' swing, and the contest begins to see who can get higher. As the cool breeze flowed across my face, I looked up at the darkening blue sky and remembered my grandfather. I didn't tell my husband I had written about him today. He doesn't know why I was so quiet all of a sudden. I found comfort feeling the wind wrap around me. Grandpa was there, sharing the moment with me as we did so many years ago.
One simple knit flower. That's all I'm looking for. A simple flower to add onto the scarf I'm creating for my best friend. I did a search on Google for a simple pattern and came up with 641,000 finds. Obviously, I'm not going to look through all of them, but after looking through several sites, I haven't been able to find a simple, cute, FREE pattern yet! I did find one site that had very cute flowers - but if I want to learn how to make them, I have to buy the book. For $10, I think I will probably have to go to the library and see if I can find a book there instead. I haven't been to the library, aside from school libraries, since I was 10 or 11.Funny, I used to love going to the library. Favorites memories of my beloved grandfather include our daily trips to the local playground. After hours of swings and searching for tennis balls long lost and forgotten by those 'pro' players in the courts below the yard, we would stop by the public library on the way back home. Another hour later, my arms would be filled with story books that I knew my grandfather would read and embellish for me. I used to find sign language books fascinating, and I would pick Chinese story books with the most interesting pictures. It didn't matter that I couldn't read the calligraphy, I had my grandpa. Those days faded as I got older and eventually stopped when I reached 6th or 7th grade. I miss those days. Special hours - just me and my grandpa. He passed away 16 years ago (has it really been that long?) when I was almost finished with my first year of college. I miss him every day. OK - gotta stop now. Getting teary like I always do when I think of him... I love you gong gong! I miss you terribly. It still hurts.
