War, wire, and whining

On Friday, I was stung by a wasp for the first time ever in my life right on the top of my head! Ippity, blippity, bleepin' bug! We have tons of wasps out at the new house. I have a feeling we'll be waging war with them from now on. I used to have a kind of "live and let live" attitude toward them. Now I grab the wasp spray and aim with a vengeance whenever I see one. No more nice guy when it comes to wasps; they need to be dead.

Saturday, DH and I got most of the electrical stuff done on the addition. DH pulled and ran wire and I set boxes and then wired in the plugs/switches, something I'd never done before. I'm very handy with tools, so it was no big deal to learn. DH usually does all the electrical stuff, but it made more sense time-wise for us to work together. We have to be out of our rent house by the end of July, so the house needs to be live-in-able by then.

I'm going to whine now. Due to working on the new house, so far this summer, I've spent more time with shoes on my feet than off. You can't go barefooted out at a construction site, at least not unscathed. And for the same reason, I've spend most of my days in one of my four "dirty-job" sets of t-shirts and shorts. These are old, holey, and previously stained clothes that are not fit to be seen in public in (except at Lowe's or Home Depot). Because of this, you don't care if you get more crud on them (paint, stain, oil, dirt, etc.). All my nicer summer clothes are languishing in the closet.

On a good note, I bought stash. I was looking through the "New Fabric!" section at 1-2-3 Stitch! and found some linen banding that I think will work for the JBW pear, apple and pumpkin designs I want to stitch as a bellpull. And I only had to buy half a yard instead of a whole one.

Kitting-up again, another WIP

No, don't get all excited; I haven't crossed over to the dark side of multiple WIPs. I sat down to start JBW's "French Country Apple" and realized that the banding I had was too narrow. How did I do that? Who knows? So I went on an Internet search to find some wider banding. Found some. Didn't want a whole yard. I'll be going to Ginger's in Austin next weekend and I'll look there. Ginger sells it by the inch.

So, I decided to do the last panel from Prairie Schooler's "Country Seasons" seen here. All I have left is the Spring panel and I'll be finished with the whole bellpull. Of course, the booklet with this pattern in it is in a box somewhere. As I am the queen of packing up and moving (and anally labeling boxes), I will be able to find it quickly. Off to dig in a box and then kit-up!

New WIP

Okay. I was going to work on my MIL's "Wild Things," - a honkin' big project - but with all the hoopla going on with our move and remodel, my brain took one look at it and ran off and hid in one of the moving boxes piled in the den. So I decided to do something a little more mindless and more easy.

I'm going to stitch JBW's "French Country Pear", French Country III Apple", and "French Country IV Pumpkin" on 32 count natural linen banding with DMC variations floss and make it into a bellpull.

One LOL meme

I ran across this meme on someone's blog. It is so not me that it made me laugh. So, I thought I'd post it just for fun. Someone else may identify with it and have fun posting it "for real."

1. What's your favorite foundation? I don't wear the stuff.

2. What's your favorite mascara? I don't wear this either; my eyelashes are already dark. I do comb my eyebrows (dark also) so the hairs go the same direction and aren't higgledy-piggledy; I don't pluck them as I'm not in to self-inflicted pain.

3. What day cream do you wear? I don't wear anything. Everything I've ever tried makes my eyes burn.

4. What's your favorite make-up product? I don't wear make-up.

5. What's your favorite perfume? I don't wear perfume either; it gives DH asthma, and me a headache.

6. What are your favorite hand products? I don't wear polish and I won't have a manicure; I keep my nails very short with hardly any white showing. I use lotion on my hands in the winter when they get dry, but that's about it.

7. What are your favorite foot products? Nothing. I keep them bare as much as possible, and I keep my toenails the same way as I do my nails (see above).

8. What three beauty products would you want to take with you on a desert island? Let's see - food, water, and sunscreen. I don't think dying on a desert island is beautiful, so I'll opt for survival with food and water. I know, I'm no fun.

9. The woman I admire most for her beauty: neither are famous, but I admire Sue P. and Jama R. for their strength of character, ability to be themselves, and their devotion to the Lord.

10. The woman I admire for her best sense of style: the same two women listed above; they don't dress for anyone but themselves with modesty and common sense.

11. My ultimate dream: to hear, "Well done! thou good and faithful servant."

12. How I define womanhood: be the person God created you to be, always.

13. What's your favorite fashion magazine? I don't read them. The few times I've glanced through one, I've laughed.

A fine mess

Thank y'all for the kind comments regarding my bovine finish. As I was unkitting the bovine and rekitting up the "Wild Things" HBP for my MIL, I realized, "Hey! Why is my Tacky BOB sitting here with five beads in it?" I had forgotten to add them to the bovine (cactus flowers and bovine eyes). So I added them. The bovine for now will be washed and ironed and laid away in my finished project box. I'll probably frame it, but not in the near future.

DH spent Saturday ripping out the ceiling in the den area of the new house. The house sat vacant for about four years, and then had questionable tenants in it for six months before we bought it. During the vacancy, wildlife moved into the attic space. The tenants tore off a fascia board in order to get satellite cable to every room in the house. This allowed the wind to blow up in the attic and tangle and shred the fiberglass insulation. Morons.

Since we aren't yet living in the house, DH wanted to get this very messy and yucky job done now. It's a good thing; we need to do a little TLC on some of the ceiling joists. Also, I was pleased that DH was able to remove the remains of several critters, including a flattened and mummified squirrel. ACK!

Here are pictures of the "fun with fiberglass." DH filled up eight large trash bags with insulation.

A bovine completion

Yippee skippy! I finally finished my bovine, "Texas Longhorn" by Redbird Designs. Stitched on 32 count antique white Lugana with DMC and GAST "Bluebonnet" for the sky.

Powered up

DH and I currently have two residences. We live in a rent house while we are doing renovations on our new house. Therefore we have two accounts with the water and electric companies. DH has gone to great lengths to make sure of our continued access to water and power by making numerous pre-closing phone calls to both companies. Supposedly, all is squared away.

Yesterday, I came home from grocery "shocking" to find our power off at the rent house. Yep, the power company turned it off "at our request" according to them. Uh, no, we didn't make such a request; we still live here. DH had even called and double-checked on having two open accounts last week because the power company sent the bill for the rent house to the new house address. The bank monkeys apparently work for the power company, too.

We finally got the power turned back on after four phone calls. *sigh* Then we went out to the new house to work and check on progress. The walls on all sides of the addition are up!

This picture is from the bedroom looking out onto the floor of the addition (bathroom and closet) on Monday.

This picture is of the addition last night (with walls!).

I did get to stitch a bit last night and I'm on the home stretch with my bovine. Hopefully a finish will happen this week!