It's a Christmas miracle!

Do you see what I see? Gushing from the taps, shepherd boy? Do you see what I see? It's water, it's water, without a drip in sight, and now we're done for the rest of the night....! And we're done, for the rest of the night. :)

I had a perfectly wonderful Christmas. My dad got to come and visit with us for the weekend -- so nice that he can still make the trip! Richard and I made pretty good progress on the bathroom, yet still had time to chill and enjoy the time. I received exactly the presents I wanted: a new pair of uber-cool slippers (I really really like slippers and love to get them for Christmas), and a Kindle 3G.

Getting so much closer

And a laser light kitty on the stairs, little Hemi is visiting with her human (our son Roger):

Grout down

We have a tiled floor, grout and all. Tomorrow evening we'll do the crown molding, maybe baseboards, and maybe even think about putting the vanity unit in for a test fit.



No knitting this weekend. :(

We have Tile!!

The backerboard has a built in grid system printed on it that made penciling in the tile design a snap!



And yes! We have light fixtures now. It's very bright and welcoming. The picture doesn't relay how bright it really is in there now.



Finally we have begun laying the tile. Taking a break for dinner and then hopefully we'll finish the tile tonight so we can grout tomorrow.

I do have a bit of fibery fun to show off. Way back in 1991 I bought two kits from a craft store, at the end of September. My thoughts were that I would complete one kit in October and one in November. I did accomplish this, and my kids have used these stockings every year since. And yes, the stockings are hung by the fireplace this year, too, even though my kids are now 23 and 20. Santa still visits this house.



Made from felt and hand cut/pieced together, with all the sequins and beads hand sewn on to the designs.

It's starting to come together

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. We're getting so close!


Trial run test fit - it's just resting on the wax ring.

Installing the backerboard that underlay the tiles.


First of the new switches put in.

First coat

of paint, that is!


You can really see the color difference between sheetrock and paint.


The bathtub alcove.


One of the vanity shelf units showing off the red rosewood color and the slate-gray/greenish biscuit wall paint.

Slapping on the Paint

Yay! The sheetrock has been primed. Tomorrow, or maybe Wednesday, the walls get their first coat of paint.

Installing a Worshipful Master

My husband is a Mason, and today he was installed as the Worshipful Master of his local lodge. I know he'll do the very best job he can, and they'll also have a lot of fun in the process.

My hubby, leftmost, and the rest of the elected/appointed line

Kneeling before the altar and the Bible

Of course there was cake!!!

Being seated in the East, taking his position.

The whole 2011 crew -- what a grand bunch of fellows!

Richard and our daughter, Katie

Richard and me

Done! Fa la la la!

Fingerless mitts done - only need soaking and blocking.



They are everything I wanted them to be: soft, warm, squishy. I hope my daughter likes them. :) Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a way to actually take a photo of me modeling the mitts, while having to hold the camera and take the shot. Maybe if I could have tucked the camera under my chin and used my incisors to push the button to take the picture.......

Knitting, Bathroom, Remembering

Sorry, no pics right now, but the second fingerless mitt is past the thumb hole and headed for the finish. Woot! If all goes well, I'll be able to complete this extra project this week. :)

The bathroom reno is coming along - as my daughter keeps telling me, "Mom, it will be done when it's done. Stop worrying." Since it's her bathroom, if it doesn't bother her to share with us (and it's been painless to do so), then I'll try to take her advice. You can see the updated pics in this link: Link 2

Today was my mom's birthday. We were always a month apart, me on Nov. 6 and she on Dec. 6. She's been gone many years now, but I still think of her and miss her every day. What a wonderful, marvelous woman and mother that lady was! I love you, Mama, happy birthday.

Bit more Christmas

Since I finished my planned for Christmas knitting on schedule, I decided to add an item or two. This fingerless mitten was started on Saturday, Nov. 27, and finished up on Tuesday, Dec. 1. It just flew along, the needles must have been enchanted. Hope mitt two will go as quickly. These will be for my daughter, as purple is one of her favorite colors.

Stroll Tonal Fingering in Blue Violet from KnitPicks

Then I'm going to go stash diving and see if I can whip out a few hotpads for the folks at work. No promises here, no pressure on myself, either. If it happens, it happens. If not, then no worries.

Bathroom renovation pics

I don't know if these links will work or not if you don't have a facebook account, but here goes.

Link 1
Link 2

Get your kicks

at Pops on Route 66! On our way to visit with my Dad in OKC, we stopped in Arcadia to visit a store that sells bottle after bottle after bottle of soda pop from just about everywhere you can imagine, over 500 different brands. They call this the Soda Ranch. Out front is a giant pop bottle that is 66 feet tall and weighs over 4 tons.



Katie and me sitting in front of the giant pop bottle:



And BOB (Big Orange Beast) taking in the view:



We also took a quick look at the Arcadia Round Barn, which is just down the road from Pops.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we give thanks for the blessings we have in our lives, and eat way too much while watching lots of parades and football. A great day indeed!

I am thankful for my family, my country, my friends, my home, my job, my life. I have a wonderful life and I know it.

Here's hoping that good blessings are showered down on you, my friends, as well. :)


Update, Thanksgiving evening, 10:55 p.m.: Socks Done!!!!

A lovely day full of yummy food, lots of great tv, and Knitting. My self-imposed Christmas knitting projects are done, and before the end of November. Yay! Now, soaking and blocking still needs to be done, but that doesn't count, right? Here are the Roger Socks for my son Roger:

Progress, yes indeed

Socks!!

These for Roger's girlfriend I've shown you before, but in the pre-blocked stage. They look even more gorgeous when blocked, don't you think?



And these are currently in their nice warm squishy blocking bath, the camo socks for Katie's boyfriend:



And the first sock for my son, Roger. I cannot believe how wonderful this sock yarn is, it's marvelous, absolutely.



And we have more bathroom progress, as well:

Sheetrocking



Mudding/taping

Finished plumbing!

And it doesn't leak. Huzzah!



This morning I cleaned out my closet. Didn't get anywhere near the wear "Six Items or Less" experiment level, but it was absolutely amazing how much clothing I no longer wore, but hadn't yet parted with.

Original bottom rod, and all laid out on the bed for selection:



vs Cleaned out bottom rod:

Lots more space in between the clothes now.

Original upper rod:

vs.

Sorted out upper rod:


Look how many fewer hangers you can see on the rod itself!

This is the hanger boneyard:



The pile I carted off to the consignment shop:



I may go through everything again at the end of the year.