Sooooo . . . it has been a while.
(Now I'll tell you some things you don't already know. ;o)
We're expecting #6. Yeah. It was a shock to us, too. I'm about 19 weeks along, and just really getting used to the idea. Anyone know if you can get a bench seat for the front row of a Honda Odyssey?
The powerful advent of morning sickness signaled a significant pause in our raw diet adventure. Thusfar it has been a four month pause, but we'll see what happens. I'm not feeling as good as I did while raw, (duh), but I did what was necessary (considering the circumstances in my life right then), and I feel good about my choice . . . especially because I can change it at any time.
We've managed to make some progress on getting the site work done at the farm. (That's what I'm calling our homesite and surrounding property. We'll see if it sticks.) We lost three months' progress (and sight of our dream for that time) in late winter/early spring due to an out-of-area health department inspector denying us a reasonable assessment during the perc test; but as it turns out, that hasn't really changed much, because it's STILL a bog out there due to the nearly-constant rain we've had. (Rain nearly daily since March . . . I think Mother Nature is trying to make up for an unusually snowless winter.) We've taken a bid for putting in the road, and we're currently reviewing bids for the concrete work. Bids for the septic system are under review. Once site work actually begins, I'll have photos to share.
The house plan is coming along fairly well . . . we're refining things we've already decided on, and working out kinks in the new story-and-a-half version. It'll be cozy, but that's the point. A home that will fit all of us without putting us in bondage for nearly times the cost of the home. (Making reasonable assumptions, we would be paying 2.8 times the cost of our home with a 30-year mortgage. No way, Jose. Paying $504,080 for a $180,000 loan is just not in the cards.)
In other home-related news, our landlord is the best we've ever had. He gave us permission to put eight small raised beds in the backyard, and we've been eating salad and greens from them for about a week now. (Yummmmmmm.) I also have a brand-spanking-new dryer vent. The old one was the no-no-big-time-fire-hazard-white-vinyl installed when the house was build fifteen years ago, and never cleaned. If my dryer's high-limit thermostat hadn't worked as intended, shutting off the dryer's heating element before the vent caught fire, I'd have been blogging to a very different tune by now. The "we're all okay, but we've lost everything in the fire" refrain. Photos and details and an illustrative video will ensue.
I've just finished a beginning weaving class, which I really enjoyed. It was with Kristie of the Weaving Room at Bluster Bay Woodworks, and she did a great job. (Being a textiles teacher at the University of Alaska for a couple decades helps with that.) I have an eight-foot scarf woven in decently-recognizable herringbone tweed to show for it, and quite a few hours logged on Schacht's new Wolf Pup loom. I really do enjoy weaving, and would love to do more . . . but I'm not taking on any new hobbies/tasks/adventures until after the house is built and my impending mother-of-a-newborn status has passed. Home construction is a full-time endeavor; adding a new baby to that is going to be interesting. ;o) When the time comes, though, that I purchase a loom, it will probably be either a Wolf Pup or a Baby Wolf. The Pup has a few disadvantages (like harnesses that are at the complete upper limit of width without a center support), but it's a great "little" loom with a really conservative footprint, and I found it very easy to use.
I'm just coming out of a verrrrrry long stint with a sinus infection. Like two weeks. Nasty bug, that one, that brought it on. Vern and MrC are still working on kicking it. One great serendipity, though, was I got several solid days of knitting in while stuck on the couch, directing traffic. (Thanks so much, Mom, for helping so much!) I've knit two WHW Trim Soakers, one adorable Owlie Sleep Sack set, and I'm finishing up my fourth pair of Nifty Knickers. (A bottom-up version, which will be posted for free in my Rav pattern store soon.) Photos and more info to come, as well as Rav project entries for all of the above. (Those are Ravelry links, so anyone reading who hasn't yet signed up at Ravelry, please feel free. There's no longer any waiting. :o) Newborn knitting is just so fun and fast; you use incredibly luscious yarns, on teensy tiny sweet little things, and get to finish really fast. It's a beautiful thing.
I've been dreaming about starting a Granny Stripes Afghan, crocheting along with Lucy of Attic24, but haven't yet found a natural fiber DK-weight yarn that will survive my daughter and leave me with a penny to my name. It's got to be less than about $6.50/4oz, be less than 50% acrylic, and have a wide range of brilliant colors. Any ideas?
Hmmmm . . . what else? Those seem to be "the biggies", as my Mom would say. I've just been feeling in just a little over my head, but have been provided with a tremendous amount of help, in many forms. (Thanks so much, Mom . . . ) And now that I've given you the debriefing, I've got an outline for the next half dozen posts or so. I love it when that happens . . .
Hopefully I'll get back to blogging a little more regularly. I've always got thoughts running through my head, complete with ideas for photos and posts, but time all-too often simply does not allow.
