Damn Swedes

As some of you know, we moved into our very first house last April. I love my home, but it is seriously lacking in closet space... to the point where I dread doing laundry because I have no place to put the clean clothes (yeah, that's why I hate laundry...). Honey & I have been meaning to pick up a wardrobe for a while now, but just couldn't justify the expense.

Well, this past Sunday we received an IKEA catalog with our paper. Inside there was this cute little wardrobe for $79.95.

Not really big enough to completely solve the problem, but if we got 2 of them it would certainly give us some breathing room.

So, off we trek to the Canton IKEA to see this solution to all our problems.. Only to find that it is not cute, in actuality it is pretty ugly & cheap looking. The center piece in the doors is made of a really cheap opaque plastic, and the whole thing is really very flimsy.

However, we were not discouraged. After all, IKEA is the land of cheap, stylish furniture... no?

Well, after searching for a while, we decided we should do the PAX wardrobe system. It's all components that mix & match and you can buy the interior shelves, rails & drawers as suits you. Perfect! And each piece is so inexpensive too! $24 here, $12 there... Damn those bastards, it adds up quick...

We came home with 2 narrow wardrobe pieces & 2 38" cabinets. All the storage that we will need.. and it only cost $700. Now, I know this is not that bad, but we were originally thinking of spending $250-$300 just to get us through!

So, we have spent the last 2 evenings putting it together.. and we are about half way done (we needed to stop for dinner & puppy breaks.. Oh, & 24!). We are hoping to have all the pieces built tonight & then will tackle the mounting to the wall thang tomorrow.

I will post pics of our wardrobe once it is up & tidy... and I get that damn charger.

Knitting Along With Nothing To Show

Unfortunately honey was unable to repair the charger for my camera and I have to hunt down a new one. Initial searches seem to indicate the charger is going to run about $40, which is almost half of what we paid for the camera 2 yrs ago. Granted, we did get an excellent deal because it's a good camera. It's a Sony Cybershot 5.1 Megapixel and it also records short movies. So, I will just have to suck it up and spend the money (cheap, aren't I)!

In knitting news, I have been doing quite a bit. Recently I designed a pattern for footies to use up left over sock yarn. I knit 2 pairs and they are very comfy. I will post the pattern & pics once the aforementioned charger has been obtained.

I also am making a pair of fingertipless gloves (not fingerless, since I am knitting the fingers up to the last joint). I need something for work, since it is always cold there and my hands tend to get like icicles after a few hours. I want something that is going to cover as much of my hands as possible and still let me feel the keyboard.

Last week I went into a fit trying to find something to knit on needles larger than size 2s. I've been making so many socks lately & I really needed something to work on that was, ya know, BIG. I had to swing by Jo-Ann Fabrics to pick up a new set of needles for my sewing machine, and wandered over to the yarn section.

It's been a long time since I browsed their yarn selection.. at least a few years. I was surprised to find that they are trying to get on the "good yarn" bandwagon. They are now carrying a line of yarn under the brand name Sensations. Some of the yarn is on par with Lion Brand, but a few collections are quite nice. Much better quality than I've seen from them before. I actually picked up a few skeins of the Bellezza Collection Dolcetto in light blue (the skein on the top in the pic below) and am making a scarf. I must say it is knitting up quite nicely and is very soft! The yarn is made in Italy, and is 54% wool, 24% nylon & 22% cotton. I don't know how well it comes across in the pic, but there is a slight heathered quality to the yarn.
Jo-Ann's isn't about to become my primary yarn source, but it's nice to know that I can find some half-way decent yarn there in a pinch. :)

WOW!

That's the first thing I could say after seeing Pan's Labyrinth last night. WOW! Truly an amazing film and worthy of all the praise it is receiving! Writer/director Guillermo del Toro has certainly secured his place as one of my favorite directors with this (I became a fan after seeing Hellboy)!

This film is disturbing and beautiful at the same time. Flawlessly integrating stark realism with the fantastical. An adult fable that warns of the capacity for human cruelty and against the wisdom of unquestioning obedience.

The cinematography is breath taking. The acting is superb, especially from the little girl Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and the housekeeper Mercedes (Maribel Verdu).

On a particularly geeky note, I was thrilled find out that the actor hidden under make-up as the Faun and the Pale Man (Doug Jones), appeared as one of the Gentlemen in the Buffy episode Hush! Squee! He also appeared in Hellboy as Abe Sapien! Very cool!

This movie is definitely a must see! Don't mind the subtitles, it's worth it! I will be adding this to my personal collection as soon as the dvd is released!!

Hey there! Remember Me?

So, it's been quite a while! Too much to catch up on, so I will just give a super cliff notes version.

My mom is doing much better. Hospice has been providing physical therapy and she is able to feed herself now. She's been doing so much better that I have been able to go whole weeks without having to go out there. This is particularly good because...

My health has been crappy. I was sick for about a month. After a few weeks of misdiagnoses, it was finally determined that I a. had bronchitis & b. have developed a hiatal hernia. Unfortunately, I am in the small percentage of people who has symptoms with the damn thing.. I actually felt it happen! Bleck! On top of that, I have a polyp in my uterus that is further complicating my fertility efforts. They tried to remove the polyp in the office, but were unable to fit the scope through my cervix. I am having surgery to remove it on February 2nd.

Work has been great. I had my 90 day review last week and it was excellent! Even got a raise! Whee!

That's about it. Honey, cats & puppy are all doing well (although puppy has developed a taste for remote controls, grrr).

Once I find a new charger for my camera I will post pics of my latest knittings. And, now that things are calming down a bit I will try to be more diligent in the posting.

BTW- Any thoughts on the new template? I switched over to the new googlfied blogger and now am kinda missing my old template...