What I did on my summer vacation part 4 - projects

Besides the garden, I finally finished pinstriping the halllway - yay! But I haven't taken any pics yet. Don't worry - I'll post pics when my little sports shrine is complete.

I also worked on some little decorative rocks for the garden:

Dawn from Spin City-NY started an Aeolian shawl spin-a-long/knit-a-long. I'm waaaay behind on it, but I did manage to get my swatches done:

The swatch on the left is shetland and the one on the right is ramboulliet. While I like the color of the rambo better, the yarn has too much recovery for a lace pattern - the pattern keeps getting lost as the fibers scrunch together. It would make some nice socks though.

I've actually finished spinning and plying all my shetland - the biiiiiiig garbage bag of shetland I bought at MDSW a few years ago. It's on a bobbin waiting to be skeined and have the yardage counted. I sure hope I have enough to knit the friggin thing!

I also managed to finish a lot of stuff from my WIP box. I'm now down to only 2 drop spindles with fiber still to be spun, a felted bag that I have to finish the i-cord handle for, and a jacket I'm knitting. Pics are on my Rav page.

What I did on my summer vacation Part 3 - Knoebel's

On July fourth we went to Knoebel's with Mom, my brother and his wife and my nephews, and my SIL's family. This place is the best kept secret in PA - it's a small, clean, fun amusement park with lots of rides, not too crowded, and you don't have a bunch of rude bussed-in kids with no manners who think it's their job to cut line all day. Kind of like Dorney was when we were little.

It was fun riding the rides with Drew - that kids has no fear. I felt bad though when I took him on the one ride he didn't like.

One of these summers we'll have to go for a weekend and get a cabin there.

What I did on my Summer Vacation - Part 2 - My Little Boy's Birthday!

My little fuzzbutt turned six on June 18! He shared a carrot and apple salad with the hot white chick who's always giving him the eye.





Can you stand the cute?

How I spent my summer vacation - Part 1

Yeah, it's been a while. Now that I have non-crashing internet access again, I'll post - but it will have to be in spurts - new job and all. Thus, the "Part 1".

So, as I said in my last post, I got laid off. Freelance gig with them ended when they closed their doors and the few people remaining merged with another company. I got the flu - for two weeks, car got hit by a deer. Fun stuff. But at least I got to work on the garden.

I planted snap peas, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, collard greens and cucumbers. And then the deer snacked. >:( Re-planted the tomatoes, peppers, collard greens and cucumbers. Plants are smaller than they should be at this point, but we'll see what happens. I also fixed the fence and bought a gallon of Deer-0ff. So now, only invited guests in the garden.

I also got to spend some time with the local wildlife:

More later in Part 2.

End of May - yay.

So, I'm officially unemployed one week as of today. But I'm back here in the office working for about half of what I should be making. Because it's money. And I need it. Besides - I can job hunt online at work.

The OMGwhenwillIhave$$comingin? is still scary, but I can get used to sleeping in, working when I want, and getting things done at home. The garden looks great, I found lots of new little critters in the pond, and stuff is getting done at home.

I'll be back here at work again Monday. After that who knows? Time to hit the pavement. But first, another three-day weekend. :)

It's about ready!

The garden, that is. We spent the weekend weeding and measuring and digging and putting down weed block and the garden is almost ready for plants. We just need to finish the fence. Damn deer took it out last summer. We have a silt fence up around the lower half - we just have to secure the posts and string twine for the upper part and then Mr. bunny has to put the door on. He built this great door frame for the corner of the garden - now it will be so much easier to get in and out. For us, not the deer. They have to stay out.

I'm planning to get plants and put them in this weekend. Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and collard greens. Plus seeds for peas and lettuce. And flowers, but I don't know which kind yet until I see them.

We've added two new bird feeders - a finch feeder and a hummingbird feeder. Hopefully we'll attract some new birdies this weekend.

Mr. B. came up with a cute name for the lone goose who's been hanging around - "Slappy Feet" - because of the way his feet slap when he walks around. He knows we feed him now - we bring bread out for him almost every morning - so when he sees the front door open he comes running. He was a gosling last summer and the neighbor's dog got hold of him and tore his wing. He wasn't able to fly south, so he's been hanging out all winter. You can still see that his wing is damaged, but he's done all right for himself.

We also have two goose couples in the yard - one childless couple and another couple with two babies. They're so cute! I'm going to try to get some pictures this weekend if they don't run away from me too fast.

Graduation

So Mr. Bunny was unsure as to whether or not to go to his nephew's graduation until I reminded him of how much Mark busted ass to get his degree. So we drove up.

It didn't take as long as I expected - only about 3 1/2 hours. Saw lots of fishermen on the way. I drove until just past Binghamton and then he took over.

It was fun to see everyone, especially since it was a happy event. It was nice to see Mark walk across the stage at the convocation. We walked around campus afterwards and took pictures, none of which I have downloaded yet.

Mr. B and I went to the mall and had dinner and then went back to our hotel. I got a kick out of the "No fish or hip waiters allowed in hotel" sign. That and the fact that there was a duty-free shop across the street, we were that close to Canuckistan.

Sunday was COLD! We had breakfast at Mark's apartment and then walked to the dome for graduation. Joe Biden was the guest speaker - I thought they'd have much more security than they did. I've had a tougher time bringing a bag into Yankee Stadium. The ceremony was nice, but long. We went out to brunch afterwards and then back to Mark's for a nap. We went to the mall later with Lisa, Debbie and big Mark and shopped until they closed. I got some nice magazines at Borders.

We had originally planned to leave before dinner, but Mr. B was having fun with his family, so I said we could stay if he drove home. The restaurant was great and we had such fun with the family! It was worth the late night just to hear Linda make fun of Paul with his ipod by saying "If that thing had a vagina he'd marry it!"

I think we got home around 2. Or something. Anyway I can't believe he graduated already. Seems like it was only last year he was starting out as a freshman.