love is all you need

First off, let me say that today has been much better than yesterday. There is a little light at the end of our apartment search tunnel. All hope is not lost. On top of that, as I pulled into the driveway today on my way home from work I had a sneaking suspicion that there might be a little something waiting for me and I was right. Leah, of theweatherinthestreets.blogspot.com sent me a goodie package from Brooklyn!

A while back, I won a blog contest Leah was having. I think all I had to do was tell her about my favorite food and she offered to knit me a pair of socks! I was pretty flabbergasted when I found out that a complete stranger wanted to do something that nice for me. That's what's so great about the knitting and fiber world; so many good-hearted strangers coming together because of a common love for knitting. Pretty amazing.

Speaking of amazing, did you see the socks? She used green and brown, which I told her were my two favorite colors. She also used Koigu, which I've wanted to check out for some time now. I really like the slight variegation in the single-color skeins.

I have to say my favorite part is the toe. I love how her shaping turned out- anyone know offhand what kind of toe shaping this is?

She also included some awesome Mentha lip shine in spearmint- (mmmm!) along with some cute birdy stickers. This was such a great mood-lifter. I will smile every time I put these socks on, Leah. Thank you for the socks and the smiles.

You know the feeling: things are going along swimmingly, so great that you amaze at how well things are working out. You go out and buy a ton of lottery tickets because your luck is actually that good. Then something slightly negative comes your way. You optimistically bat it away because you are not going to let things worry you this time. This time it is going to be fine, like it always turns out to be fine. Then the whole roof starts caving in on you.

First, it was the slight worry that the landlord didn't really want to rent to four people. That was quickly resolved with the suggestion of paying a little extra in rent to cover the wear and tear on the building and the extra cost of utilities. Then it was the fact that our move might get pushed back a few days, but for good reason because the band might be able to play a record label showcase in LA the week we were supposed to move. Then it was last night at 11:30 when Henry jumped off the bed, vomited up his dinner and his first round of heartworm preventative, and started panting and hyperventilating like there was no tomorrow. That was nicely resolved with a late-night trip to the emergency animal clinic, a steroid injection, an anti-nausea injection, and $130. (It was an allergic reaction to the preventative.) I was able to deal with these things- mainly because things were still turning out pretty well.
Then there came the call Joey got from the broker today saying that the other two of our four in the apartment situation would need co-signers. That was supposed to be resolved with a few phone calls, but one of them hasn't been able to find someone who could co-sign. Joey is working on remedying that situation, asking that maybe if we offer a larger deposit that person's co-signer could be waived. If not, we have to find another place, and our four might be whittled down to three.
It is at this point that Joey actually thanked me for being so cool and logical about everything, thanking me for being optimistic and reminding him that we can always find another place if we need to, that not all hope is lost. So I made myself a sandwich, using the last of the turkey breast that Joey picked up last night. I poured the last of the iced tea into a glass and sat everything down on the coffee table in the living room as my phone rang. Joey and I were discussing how things will work out- not to let the fact that we've already put in our notice at our jobs, or the fact that we've already sold both of our cars worry us. I was then distracted by seeing a man through the window. He was putting on a camouflage hooded jacket and was carrying some weird looking items. One of them looked like a stick with a tennis ball on the end. Another one of them looked like a metal pipe. He started walking through our front yard and I thought he might be coming to knock on the door. Daisy was barking at him through the window, and I'm on the phone trying to relate to Joey what I'm seeing. I ran into the other room to get a better look at this guy when he stops in the yard and opens the sewer drain with one of his tools. Oh. He's a utility guy just doing his job, not some psycho killer come to murder me and my dogs. Phew.
Then I hear the crash of my sandwich plate on the floor. The dogs knocked it down and were moving in on my sandwich when I finally lost it. Poor Joey got to hear my breakdown over the phone. There was much cussing and stomping and asking the dogs if they were 'happy now?' I actually said, "I'm not good right now, Joey." He said, "I know." Then I stormed into the kitchen with my messed-up-dog-hair-encrusted sandwich and set it on the kitchen counter, hard enough that the plate broke in two. "Now I've broken a plate," I relayed to Joey.
The idiocy of my breakdown was starting to flood my brain so I told Joey I would call him later and lay down on the couch. I started to think: that was the last of the turkey, there's nothing else in the house to eat, it's 2 o'clock already and I need to eat lunch and get back to packing...

Then I quit whining and got back up and went to make myself another sandwich. I might not have anymore turkey, but I just found some tuna.

PS- The dogs apologized.

"Well we all shine on,
like the moon, the stars and the sun."

We found out today that we were approved for our loft in Brooklyn. Did I mention that we're going to have four of us in one loft and try to retain some sense of privacy? We might be looking into pressure walls. I hear they're a sanity-saver.
So, less than three weeks left and not much has been packed. I hate this part. I've never moved more than an hour away, so this is going to be interesting. I started thinking that I might need to have a good knitting on the road project- to commemorate the drive. Nothing too intense, cause I don't want to get carsick (it happens when I read). Maybe a scarf or wristwarmers or something simple, something that can be done in a 24-hour drive cross-country.
Any good ideas?

Yes my friends, that red light means that the rat zapper is right now, a mouse morgue. Until Joey gets home and I make him officiate the burial ceremony. At least it wasn't another rat.

You know how in Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter celebrates his Un-Birthday? Well this weekend, we were Un-Spinning; doing anything and everything but actual spinning.
We soaked, simmered and steamed:

We let our semi-clean wool dry in the sunshine:
We made our own drop spindles:
And we tried:

And we even got Dad to try:
We were not successful:
We even took a mid-spinning-session trip to the store to buy dog slicker brushes thinking they would be similar to hand carders in getting our wool straight and fluffy. We did have a reference book with many helpful pictures, but as none of us has ever seen any actual spinning, the pictures weren't enough to grasp the actual movements. I chalked it up to the way we processed our fleece. Mom chalked it up to us not trying hard enough. My sister probably chalked it up to her morning sickness. Dad chalked it up to us getting in over our heads without doing enough research first. He is probably the most right. The learning curve rears its ugly head.