SECRET PAL 12 QUESTION OF THE WEEK #2

In many parts of the US and abroad, school's out. Take a walk down memory lane for Week Two's question: As a kid, what did you look forward to most about summer vacation/break/holiday?

Do you remember Alice Cooper's famous song?

School's out for summer
School's out forever
No more pencils
No more books
No more teacher's Dirty looks

YIPEE and YAY!! Especially when I would be going to Florida to visit my grandparents. That meant swimming all day and going out pretending to be older than I was, staying up late and no more homework. LOL

It is fun to be back blogging and sharing photos with you. I am going to start with my new place and then go to knitting.

Now I can show you some photos of the mess before I unpacked. It seems that I did take a few. You can see I am NOT kidding (Ha I originally typed NOT knitting) when I say what a mess.

Here is the dining room soon after I moved in.

Here is the living room after I moved in. My couch is against the window. It also got moved. That is the door to my backyard green space.
Way in the corner is my coffee table. The thing that you can only see the under side and the legs of. My girlfriend and I painted it "plaid" green and blues to match my couch and chair. The TV is on the floor but I soon will have a low entertainment unit for it and my stereo. For now the TV has been put on the coffee table.
Another view of the living room. You can see the start of the stairs going up.
Here are several pictures of my bedroom.



Yes the bed is on the floor. The frame of the futon not only wouldn't fit up the stairs but it was in such poor shape that I decided to chuck it. A mattress, box spring, frame and wood headboard is on it's way. I am inheriting my girlfriend's dads since he is in hospital and won't be going back home. It is his entertainment unit I am also getting. The air conditioner remains on the bedroom floor until I can get money and someone who is able to put it into the window making the appropriate window framing for it.

You can see the corner of my brown dresser and it now has a TV and VCR. My girlfriend Pat was getting rid of it and everything she owns and gave it to me. I almost was able to get her dinning room glass table and six chairs but the original person interested in it finally decided to pay for it and take it. Next I nearly had her LR set. The couch and two high back chairs and ottoman she had made but alas someone who wanted it came last minute and paid for it. So I am on the look for a oval or long rectangle coffee table and end tables, glass, mirrored and lighted curio cabinet, dining room table, chairs and china cabinet.

Here is my linen closet filling up quickly. It is at the top of the stairs.
Here is my bathroom with my Dollarama shower curtain.
My second bedroom which will be my computer, sewing, yarn, and lots of book room (notice I didn't mention fabric as that is downstairs in the basement). I even managed to get rid of two bags of fabric. It was hard but I did it!!! Here it is just after I set up the computer but didn't do much else.

As you can see here I have started to put stuff away. The table has only seven of the eight screws in the legs as I put down one and can only find the metal washer. OOPS
One day I decided it was time to start to put my yarn away, Here is what I accomplished on that first attempt.
Here it is today. Only I have so much yarn yet to find space for. I guess I will have to fill those baskets up with more yarns.
Here is some of the "more yarn" I have. This I will try to put on top of those apple crates in my closet where there is a lot of yarn in bags already stashed.
Here are some of my books (sewing, knitting, crafts, cooking and others). My magazines aren't unpacked yet. See how the shelf on the left is bowing. I need to replace that shelf before all those books collapse. The one on the right is leaning into the wall. In the basement I have 24 more boxes (not large boxes) of books and magazines. I guess I will eventually have to rearrange which books go where and put a book shelf in my bedroom so all my books can be accommodated and not in the basement in boxes. Here is that same bowing shelf with a new half shelf to the left of it.
So that is all the photos of the inside of my place I have now but here are some of the outside and the "garden".

Here are some perennials in front of my dining room window. I don't know what they are called. The yellow is some form of daisy but I have real daisies in the back.
This is the Sweet 100 patio cherry tomato plant I purchased from Wal-Mart. It even has yellow flowers on it.
Here is the front of my townhouse. That is my dining room window by the front door and the upstairs window is the second bedroom.
This is my neighbor's garden in front of her dining room window.

This is in the back yard. That is columbine a perennial plant. You can even see the little marker where I planted beans over a week ago and there are no little leaves showing still. I am going to plant more more more!!!

This is the lovely Dianthium Firewitch I received from my friend Anne as a house warming gift. The flowers are PINK.
My friend Vickie bought me this lovely PINK impatiens as a house warming gift.
Here is where some of my tomato plants are that were started from seed by my buddy Shelagh. She gave me seven plants of two different type of beef staking ones. The plants are larger now and today I bought some stakes and more beans. While out today at Canadian Tire I also got a hose a nozzle to attach to the hose, and a long green planter to put the mint in I have. I will probably put the lavender plant and parsley in it also. In the background you can see some lillies.
Here is my white plastic patio table. It has four chairs that need seat cushions. I also need an umbrella and stand. I have two of the striped patio chairs from my friend Pat. You can see the shadow the big pine tree is giving. It is only about six inches from the back of my fence.
So there you have it. What I waited four years to get. Isn't it lovely. It will be even lovelier when it is all set up but for now it is presentable for company and friends. Oh I am sorry I don't have any photos of the kitchen with my gas stove or the basement but then you really don't need to see photos of a basement.

So now I will go on to some knitting goodness. Photos as promised. YUP more photos.

Here are the lovely goodies I received in my swap from Allison in the first of four from the weluvknitting group. It came a while ago. Such a lovely package. I am looking forward to receiving the next. Of course, I now have to start to get stuff for her second package ready.

Allison knit me a couple of dishcloths which will always come in handy if not for dishes than for my dishclothghan, stickies, note pads, and candy shaped like maple leafs which was gone in a flash.

This is the MOD DEA Tweedle Dee I received.
AND here is a photo of the Bernat Boa yarn that was also in my package.
In my book or yarn swap from Laura that arrived the day I was supposed to move into my new place which I wasn't able to pick up for a few days after I moved and that I still didn't get to open for a few more days I received the following goodies. Check out the new book I received. It WAS on my wish list on my blog BUT now it is in my library. OOH I am so happy to get that book. And I got another Chibi although NOT a pink one a nice one just the same. AND my first pair of Knit Picks Harmony DPNs. How lucky can a knitter be? Those were such lovely gifts but that wasn't all I received.
I also got some post cards from California, a kite which I haven't flown in years, a book bracelet, a key chain, and even Solara got a treat. Lucky Kitty!!!
AND there was more in the box. Look at those Jelly Bellys and one package is my fave fave fave POPCORN!!!. There is also an assorted package of Jelly Bellys, two boxes of flavored Splenda which we can't get here, a tin of Altoids a variety which we can't get here either and a pink knitted dishcloth.
BUT as if that wasn't enough in the box I discovered the following beauty treats: fancy tissues for my nose, two bars of soap which smell devine Oatmeal and Lavender, a spa foot mask, foot file nd nail file.
It was another lovely swap package received.

I have yet to hear from anyone at the Knitters Scavenger Hunt Swap since May. I wrote again to the hostess but haven't heard from her or my partner who said she sent out one package that I never got. Guess I won't be joining that swap again. BUT not hearing from the hostess makes me even more sad. It is as if since I am the only one waiting for a package it is okay to forget me.

I did however get a swap package this weekend. Last weekend again I got a call on my phone from my old address buzzer system and it was the postman who delivers packages. He took my new address down. I didn't get to hear who it was from as the phone cut off but it was delivered and it was my Spring Coffee and Yarn Swap package that I seem to have forgotten about in the move. My partner was Jessica. I will post what I recieved and photos in my next blog. I haven't taken the photos yet. BUT if you are reading my blog Jessica here is an initial THANK-YOU. And those Chocoate Expresso Truffles are delicious.

AND on to my knitting project the Clapotis Shawl

Well I went swimming at the frog pond with my fins on. After much discussion with knitting buddies of mine it was decided it would be way too big and then I wasn't even sure I would have enough to finish it with so there I was doing what it seems I do naturally. RIP RIP RIP I have restarted it using my Hand Maiden Sea Silk in raspberry. I have two skeins I planned on using to make the Storm Water Shawl. It sure feels different knitting with this yarn after knitting with the heavier yarn I was using for the Clapotis Shawl. AND I even have the pattern down making it easier still to knit over.

AND I know I promised you photos of my ugliest FUG and here it is: GAG GAG I am not sure whatever possessed me to knit this. I only have attached one sleeve and then really took a good look at it. The colors are so bad together especially the two sleeves. Stripes going across, different yarn textures. I guess it was the Woolman who encouraged me to knit this. He died way back in 1990 so you know how long it has been lying dormant as a UFO. Anyone want it? Email me and it is yours.


AND where is Solara while I have been blogging? In the LR on "her" chair.

CAMERA CORD FOUND

YEAAH!!! I have found my camera cord. Now I just need to get the photos from my camera to the computer.

I also found my tote bags which were right under my nose. Now if I could find my scale I will know where everything is even if it isn't all put away.

So I will be back later with a new post and PHOTOS!! I am off to drop off my Avon brochures. Tomorrow I will deliver some more Avon orders so I can have as much completed before the Tuesday July holiday as I can.

Here is a photo of some of my candles taken in my old place which were sitting on my plate rail. I don't have a plate rail anymore and now I need to find a place to put everything that was on it.
AND, of course, I will leave you with a photo of "The Princess". This was taken when I was packing up in May at my apt. Can you find her?
AHHHH here is a close up and you can see her now. AND yes she is settling in well.

Thanks Misstea I think my place is going to be just great also when it all fixed up.

I'M BACK!!!!!!

YUP it feels good like being home.
So as most of you who know me know I just moved. It was the move from HELL!!!! AND I am not joking or making it worse than it really was. I was not given the key to my place until late Friday afternoon on May 30. It is too much for me to even go into the moving hassles and since I am now here and happy I am putting it in the past for now.

AND if it wasn't enough that it was the move from HELL the mail forwarding was also a hassle. Despite filling out the form May 12 for my move and paying $69.30 for a year of forwarding to begin on May 29 when I had originally hoped to get the keys the form was NEVER processed. Finally after putting in a claim since my mail was still going to the old address and the mailbox door wasn't even secure on June 6 it was processed while speaking to customer service on the phone who called me. Imagine they were able to process in right then and there, no two weeks needed!!!! Not thirty minutes after speaking with customer service at Canada Post remember who phoned me and told me she was holding my mail in her hands and I would get it next week the phone rang and it was the buzzer from at my old apt as the caretaker never changed it. Who was it? It was Canada Post with a package for me. I told him I was not living there and to drop it off at the postal outlet and I would pick it up later. He said not to go until tomorrow (Sat). As of the next Tuesday it was still not there. It was delivered the next day (Wed) along with a package that was addressed to my new place. I actually received a call yesterday from Canada Post about that same package. They had no idea what it was and even thought the other package I received was addressed to my new place that is which package they thought was missing????? Why on earth would the postman deliver to my old address a package addressed to my new place. AND if that isn't enough this past Friday the postman came to my old place with another package for me which means the caretaker still hasn't changed the buzz code. This past Saturday at 3AM someone rang from downstairs in the building to get in. The buzz code rings my phone. I guess the caretaker isn't interested in fixing it as she lost her job caretaking as of the end of this month. She lost it after she was reported for yelling at me for cleaning the floors prior to my closing up the apt . It wasn't bad enought she was yelling at me but she was doing it in front of the head maintenance man for the management company. She kept saying I didn't need to wash and wax the hardwood floors as they were only going to be repairing the apt and then she would be cleaning it again. BUT you and I know that if I didn't clean it that would go on the record when I left which would affect my security deposit. They still cheated me on my check and I had to call them on it. So I am expecting another check from them. My security deposit is needed so I can get a washing machine which is the only appliance my unit doesn't come with.

Here are some photos of the what I had to move and that doesn't even count what was in my locker on the fourth floor of the walk-up I lived in. This is the photo of one of the stacks of boxes in the LR that is larger than when I first posted it. My kitchen is to the right.
AND here is view of a different area of the LR with lots of stuff packed for the move. This room I used as my LR was actually the dining room.
This is in the bedroom. Those bags contain fabric. Thee must have been 12 or 13 of these bags and a few others in purple.I have since sorted and would you believe am donating the equivalent of two bags to a local thrift shop and one smaller normal size black garbage bag filled with scraps and a few larger pieces to a place that will use them. It was hard to give them away even when I know I will never use those fabrics. Most were polyesters.

Here is another view of the bedroom showing more stuff for sewing and some of the boxes are filled with books and magazines. The table is an old dining room table I use to sew on. This is the bedroom but I used it for my sewing room. I used the "front" room as my bedroom. It had pocket doors and I could close the room off if I chose but I didn't since I lived alone. My computer was also in the room I used as my bedroom.
This is the hallway you go through when you enter my apt. You can see the door which will lead to the apt hallway and the outside of my apt. It too was eventually packed with boxes. I can't seem to find any of the bags and totes I used for shopping that were hanging on those hooks where my jean jacket is shown. I also can't find my scale????????
These are just some of the boxes lining that hallway. Notice those great boxes. I got most of my boxes from the liquor store a few blocks from where I lived. They were small and sturdy.
This was the kitchen. I left the shade I decoupaged. I painted the walls and also you can see the green counter which I painted the same color as the lower part of the wall. The management company wouldn't fix the counters which were in such an awful shape it was shameful. That dresser you see is now in my bedroom and my new "other/second" TV I received from my friend Pat who was getting rid of ALL her stuff gave me. Now some of my clothes are in it. In the apt I had plastic containers in it.
I do have some photos of what it looked like when I moved my stuff in my new place BUT, alas, I have to find the camera cord to download those photos. I know I saw it somewhere but I just can't remember where so those will come later.

I have been on the waiting list for four years to move into my new place but here are some of the reasons I didn't want to stay in the apt any longer. These two photos show three years of mold in the bathroom I was unable to get the apt management company to fix. They fixed it the first time until the ceiling caved in but this time they kept giving me excuses from the repairman was fired and he took the work bill to they have to get permission. The last excuse they repeated over and over again.
Here is another reason. This happened last year when once again the guy upstairs left his rad HALF ON and HALF OFF. You can't do that. It has to be ALL ON or ALL OFF. I had to call the management company as the caretaker came up and told me other apt were worse saying what do you want me to do about it. When I got her to go upstairs she told me no one was home and she put a note on the door. I in turn should put a pail under the leak. Even calling the management company no one came out to even look at the ceiling and that is in over a year. What are the other reasons. There are many.

There is the time I had to have the other room where my sewing is in, the actual bedroom, repaired as the guy upstairs had his rad half on and half off. The repair person came finally after three cancellations only to stand at my apt door and tell me he didn't want to do it now, didn't have time and didn't want to get stuck in the snow and ice in the parking lot or in the street and he didn't want to cart the ladder and his tools up to the apt. I guess I had my choice of which reason I wanted to use. LOL I told him just do it for all of the 1o or so minutes it would take him and I wasn't responsible for his truck getting stuck anywhere as I only was renting in the building. Grumbling he repaired the ceiling and the wall but then told me he had no intention of coming back and finishing the job which I gather meant sanding and painting. He never returned to finish the job.

The windows don't stay in the window well with the continual shifting of the building.

That is the type of workers this management company uses. When they put in new cupboards as the old ones were falling off the wall, the new ones literally fell off and onto my head. I lost a lot of pretty stuff stored in baskets on top of the new cupboards not to mention the sore head I had. I am sure I ended up with a concussion and probably should have gone to the hospital to have myself checked. I waited over a week and finally called the management company to find out when they intended to put the cupboards back up. They never asked if I was hurt. Turns out the caretaker told them only the cupboard doors came off so there was no rush to do that. Even when I told them it was the cupboards that fell off and hit me they still didn't even ask if I was hurt. Anyway the new carpenter who came out to put the cupboards back up told me the reason the cupboards fell out of the wall was b/c they weren't put in the STUDS. He also fixed the one that was still up. Turns out this guy does work for one of my Avon customers. AND since he has been working for the management company when she hires him she has to tell him don't do the work as if he was working for the other people do it properly.

Of course, I could mention the carpet on the stairs which was badly torn. It was so bad you could catch your heel if you were wearing heels and fall and break your neck but the owner who doesn't live in the city refuses to replace it.
Of course another of the main reasons for leaving was I wasn't able to sew in my sewing room, morning, afternoon or evening as it distubed the caretaker below.

Now that I am gone they are actually doing some repair work in the apt. If they maintained the building and the apt the place would be so lovely. Only it would take a lot of money.


So now I am in my lovely new place and very very happy.

Knitting Goodness

Just before I moved I received a a lovely swap package from Allison my weluvknitting partner. We will be sending each other four packages over the year. As much as I would love to show off what I received without the camera cord it will have to wait.

I also received a most lovely package from my book or yarn swap partner is the sockamaniac group but again all I can do is say Thank-you Laura and photos will be put on the blog when the camera cord shows itself.


I can put in photos of the shawl I made for my friend Provi. It was originally a Christmas swap gift but we decided we would send our gifts out later. It took a while for me to complete and I did this past April. Provi has also received it . I did get an email that she liked it and hope to hear from her again. What did I get? HMMMMMMM It was wonderful. Here is a photo of Shelagh modeling it.
Here are a couple of close up of the pattern.

And here is the edging of the shawl. I know this photo is dark but you can see the beads glittering on the edge in this photo better than the next I think. I put beads on the cast on row, the first row, the last row, and the cast off row.


AND to complete the shawl I included this shawl pin.
Solara enjoyed Provi's shawl also. These were taken while I was blocking it.

So what am I knitting now or am I knitting with all that is going on? Of course, I am doing some knitting. I missed a couple of knitting get togethers due to the move but I am still playing with those pointy sticks and believe me I was tempted to use them for more than knitting a few times.

I am knitting the Clapotis Shawl. I am using up some stash. It is ages old. it is AnnyBlatt's NewsAnny. It is grey with gold and silver 50% silk and 50% viscose - rayon. I have finished the second set of dropped stitches. I only hope I have enough yarn to complete it. I have way more than called for but the yarn is a ww and I am using a larger needle. Add to that I knit loose. Wish me luck I have enough.

I was almost finished with my Harvest sock when I looked at it and found the cables weren't in the same directions as the completed sock and that the cables on the sock I was working on weren't all going in the same direction. So you know what that means. That is correct a swim in the frog pond with my fins on. BUT is done and I will restart it again soon. I am determined!!!!!!!! to get it finished correctly.

Yes I joined SP 12 and am sorry I didn't get my second question up and will do better with the next.

Congratulations to my hostess Robyn who had a baby boy this past week. Love him up good as you know how fast they grow.

I have already figured out what some of my next post will contain. BUT for now I am going to go back to work in this 2nd bedroom I use as my computer, sewing, craft, book and knitting store room and then head off to knitting at Mona's.