Normal interruptions

If you've ever owned and worked on an older home, you know how the simplest project can turn into one that lasts several days. This happens to us frequently.

DH decided to replace the locks on our two outside doors. The house came with door locks, but they don't match or have the same keys. In fact, the kitchen door has no key, but we can lock it from the inside. Both doors are slated to be replaced, but not until we gut the den walls; a project pretty far down on the list at this point. However, we do have the replacement doors already purchased and painted.

Anyway, DH replaced the front door locks pretty quickly with only minimal muttering under his breath. When he went to do the kitchen door (which is a very "vintage" door), he found problems. As he removed the old lock, big chunks of wood began to fall off the door. Not good. So, he decided to go ahead and replace the door and frame with the new one. Of course, this made the project a two-day one instead of the hour or two anticipated (and was accompanied by much muttering and grumping).

Here is the not-quite-finished door from inside the kitchen.

Here is what it looks like from outside - the old door is on the left.

It will be finished up tonight, but right now, it looks pretty funny what with all of the expanding foam squishing out around the frame.

And no, I didn't get to stitch a lick this weekend. In fact, two ladies from my stitching group, were taunting me online. They went to a weekend stitching retreat and had a blast. They stitched, ate, had fun, had S.E.X. and e-mailed those of us still at home.

Yep, I'm a Trekker

Geesh! I can't believe I've only made one other post this week. I've got to get some semblance of a routine going.

I didn't make it back out to the porch to stitch after my wonderful Monday afternoon of stitching. Oh well. Maybe this weekend. I usually average around 15-20 finishes a year. This year ain't lookin' too good. Oh well. My current WIP will get finished eventually. On a good note, things are slowly progressing around the house.

Have you ever been online and found yourself chasing rabbits? All of a sudden, you're somewhere new and fun, and you don't remember how you got there or what you were searching for in the first place? Yep, BTDT. One day this week I found myself online delightedly exploring The Klingon Language Institute. Yep, I'm a Trekker.

I love every genre, I have seen most of the episodes and movies, I have just about every Star Trek book ever printed, and my computer screen saver is a picture of Worf. I didn't watch the original series when it first aired. Although I do remember watching part of the episode "The Apple" with my dad until my mom made him turn it off as she thought it might give me nightmares like "The Twilight Zone" did. Incidentally, the TZ episode that gave me the worst nightmares? You guessed it! The one with William Shatner, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet!"

Anyway, I have always loved Klingons; they are my favorite aliens. If our white dog - who has one brown patch over one eye - had been male, she would have been named Martok. But I digress once again...

I downloaded the Klingon font from KLI. As the website also has lots of Klingon phrases, I picked my favorite, typed it with the Klingon font, and then used PatternMaker to chart it.

I plan to stitch it and hang it over my computer desk. In English, it is spelled "nuqneH" and means "hello." Well, in Klingon, it really means, "What do you want?!" which is how Klingons say hello to one another. And don't ask me how to pronounce it. Whenever I try to say it, I cough. Violently.

Fighting withdrawal

First off, I have to say, "Way to go Cowboys! Y'all beat the Eagles 41-37! Yeehaw!"

Yesterday I couldn't stand it. I just HAD to stitch. My stitching rocking chair is in the P.O.D.S. The only other chairs in the house are metal folding chairs - not comfortable at all for stitching. I really don't have a place to set up to stitch in the house yet. I can find my stitching lamp, but with only the table base, not the rolling base. So I improvised!

I grabbed a lawn chair and an ice chest and made a stitching spot on our front porch with the help of a long extension cord. And I stitched the afternoon away! Whee-e-o!! I am a happy stitcher! I hope to repeat this action again this afternoon after I get some chores done. Maybe I'll even have a nice progress picture to post later this week! Whoohoo!

What do you do when Ike visits?

Hurricane Ike is visiting the coast of Texas and is also visiting us here in central Texas. It's been raining all day and the winds are very blustery. We still have power and water, and no tree limbs down. DH and I hope that if a tree does decide to fall on the house, that it picks the unrenovated side to fall on. *grin*

DH is busy putting up trim molding in the bedroom around the doors and the rest of the floor, and Emma is supervising. Actually, she hates the pneumatic nail gun DH uses. Every time he fires it off, she flinches. If he is working close to the floor, she will come over and try to nibble it. Silly dog.

ARRR! Avast!

I tried yesterday to post three times, but Blogger was being a pain. But today is a new day. ☺

Work on the house proceeds slowly. DH's spider bite is healing well and is no longer an issue. I haven't stitched in a month.

So I am in a stitchy mood (which I guess is better than a *itchy mood). While I don't have a huge wishlist like some stitchers, I do have one or two things on my list at a time (until they get acquired and get moved to my stash list).

I collect pirates (and they must be maimed - eye patch, peg leg - in some way in order to join my collection). I'd take a picture but all my pirates are in boxes in the P.O.D.S. right now. Anyway, I saw this great pattern by Bothy Threads of a cut-through pirate ship and it's now on my wishlist.

BTW, the word "avast" is a word used by sailors as a command to stop doing something or to ignore a previous order. It's the truth! I looked it up! Yeah, I'm weird like that; I actually own and use a dictionary.

Spider bite update

DH's spider bite gave us quite a scare. In all, he went to the doctor four times in seven days. He was put on strong antibiotics with two booster shots, along with a topical antibiotic. His hand "swoll up like a poisoned pup" and was very painful. Last Thursday night, he felt like "hammered poop" and had a fever until 3:30 a.m.

When he went to the doctor last Friday morning, the doctor sent him home from work and told him to keep his hand elevated and not to use it over the weekend. So no working on the house. I was at a loss as to what to do with a grumpy DH over the weekend. So we decided to drive up to Dallas to visit our relatives and get acquainted with our new nephew.

He is quite adorable and has the same kind of foot shape as his Auntie and great-grandfather. I was always told, "Oh, you have feet just like Papaw!" Yeah, well, I always wanted to give 'em back as they are a weird shape and are very wide. Not a problem if you are male, but they have been the bane of my existence since childhood - probably why I go barefoot so much as shoes rarely fit me. But I digress...

We had a nice visit with the family, and DH's hand is on the mend. Whee-e-o!! It is MUCH better. The doctor called DH on Monday and had him come in so he could check it. He said that if it wasn't better, then he would refer DH to a specialist. It was so he didn't.

I was going to post a picture of a spider for this post, but that would creep me out too much. I hate spiders. And I wouldn't want to creep out anybody reading the post either. So I posted a picture with the word "spider" in the title: "Spider's Egg Fractal."

I'm back

Well, we got everything moved from the rent house by Sunday evening and we're now living in our new house. Whee-e-o!! Things went well and not so well.

The new water heater DH installed in the new house was faulty and we had no hot water until today. I was thankful that we at least had water, but cold showers - ACK!

When DH emptied our waterbed, he discovered mold in our soft-side cover. We had to find a local waterbed dealer and order a new cover. Apparently, this is a common occurrence with waterbeds in this area due to the humidity; it can be prevented but not corrected once it happens. We are sleeping on air mattresses until the new cover comes in. Whee.

DH got bit on the back of his hand between the first and second knuckles by a spider. He had to go to the doctor and his hand is sore and swollen. Whee.

My den is covered in construction clutter and will be until this weekend. ARGH!

When I tried to post earlier today, Blogger ate my post. ARGH!!