love is all you need

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."

I've never experienced a cross-country move before. In fact, I've lived in the Dallas area since I was 6 months old. Sure, I've done the small move to a college dorm, and to many apartments since. But I've never moved 1,550 miles before! We're closing in on about a month until our big move and so many things are whirling around in our minds.
Joey, his brother Aaron, and a friend Eric are all flying up to Brooklyn this weekend to hopefully succeed in finding a safe, affordable apartment for us to rent. Fortunately, they're staying with a realtor-friend of Eric's, so that will hopefully help them zone in on the good stuff.
I'm going down to my parents' farm this weekend for a girls knitting weekend with my mom and sister. My mom scored a few bags of wool from a neighbor who raises sheep and we're going to try to clean it and spin it. And no, none of us know how. I've printed out a few instructions I found online, but we're just gonna see what we come up with. I'm sure hilarity will ensue. I'll make sure to take lots of photos for you guys.
In other news, we've still been fighting off a few remaining mice. About a month ago, Joey and I purchased "The Rat Zapper," in high hopes that we could just get these mice out of our house already. Basically, you throw some dry dog food into one end, and the mouse gets a high-voltage-battery-powered-so-quick-its-almost-pleasant-zap on his way to the food. Within four hours of setting it up, we had our first contestant. He quickly won the grand prize all expenses paid trip to mousie heaven. For the next few days and then weeks, nobody else showed up and I thought we were in the clear. Then one night as I was snuggled on the couch watching my new Elizabeth Zimmerman Knitting Workshop DVD, Daisy started freaking out and sniffing under and behind the couch that I WAS LAYING ON. She sniffed and circulated that thing for hours that night, so I brought the Rat Zapper in and set it up near the couch, hoping our little friend would come out for some food and entertainment. Apparently this guy was being a couch potato and did not wish to compete in our little game show. Then a few nights ago my brother in law, Aaron told us he had seen "Ratatouille" (as we so affectionately call our mousie friends) in the kitchen. I moved the Rat Zapper Game Show set to the kitchen and waited a few nights. This morning I found our next contestant. Let me just nicely say to you that the Biggest Winner of All Time, was in fact, the Biggest Winner of All Time: he wasn't a cute little mousie at all. He was a 5" long (not counting the tail) rat. In. My. House! I'm still shuddering as I recount this tale to you. Now, my dilemma: I can't just go on and pretend that I did not catch that thing in my house, but I cannot go on to catch more of them, because that will just freak me out further. Good thing I'm moving in a month. Please, oh please don't let our apartment in Brooklyn have rats. (Go on and laugh at my naivete.)
Moving on, we found out last week that Henry is heartworm positive. The vet said that he was in great shape and his heart sounded excellent, so he was probably still in the early stages. (Meaning they probably hadn't done much damage to his heart.) She said she would have no worries at all putting Henry though the painful and somewhat risky procedure to kill them. We took him in on Monday morning and received his first injection. We called the vet and checked in on him later that day and they said he was doing fine. He received his second injection yesterday morning and we were able to pick him up last night. The injections are extremely painful, and Henry is sore as all get out on his back. He really doesn't feel up to moving much right now, which is a good thing because he has to be extremely calm and inactive for the next two weeks. The injections are a form of arsenic that kills the worms and also a little tissue at the injection sites. Henry has disintegrating worms and arsenic floating through his bloodstream right now. He even has to eat a special dog food to help ease the load on his liver. He's pretty mopey and tired, but I've taken the next few days off of work to take extra special care of him. "I don't feel so good, guys."

As I was leaving for work this morning a storm nearby was thundering a warning of impending gloom. I knew my strong and smart Daisy would weather it just fine as she likes to just sit in her doghouse and enjoy the view, but I knew I couldn't leave my little Henry to fight off the storm with his tail shivering between his legs and not enough sense to coerce Daisy into sharing the doghouse. What else to do but set up the living room for a Doggie Slumber Party? Couches were battened down with anything nearby to keep shedding doggies at bay, while comfy beds and blankies were brought in to help snugg-ify the remaining areas.

Nope, not spoiled at all.

I’ve never considered myself as having good luck, but I did win a radio contest once.  Joey and I were driving down the highway listening to the radio and the DJ mentioned something about calling in to win a 6-pack of Lenny Kravitz CDs.  I had my cell phone in my hand and for some reason got a wild hair to call in.  Surprisingly, I won.  I was pretty non-plussed as I gave the DJ my info to send out my free CDs.  Then about a week later, I got a call from the radio station telling me that my name had been put in the drawing for the Grand Prize and that I had won.  The guy was kind of put-off by the fact that I wasn’t screaming with joy.  “Do you know what the grand prize is?” he asked me.  “Actually, no” I said.  Turns out, I had won an all-expense paid trip for two to Miami to see Lenny Kravitz and his band perform at their practice studio right before he kicked off his 2002 World Tour.  I was pretty surprised; as I hadn’t even heard anything about that when I called in.  It turned out to be an awesome trip, we stayed at a really cool art-deco hotel right on South Beach .  Mr. Kravitz was actually really sick the night of the “intimate show,” so he ended up performing acoustic, but it was really fun.

 

My good luck streak has resurrected itself this week, as I won Leah’s blog contest.  As my prize, she is going to knit me a pair of socks!  That has to be the most generous prize I’ve ever come across for a blog contest.  I have to say that I’m really excited as I’ve never had someone (other than myself) knit me a pair of socks.  I can’t wait to see how wonderful they are!

 

Oh, and my mom sent me some better pictures of Doc the horse, so I’ll share one of my dad riding him.

 

 

My grandparents from Arizona are down at my parents farm visiting for a few weeks, so Joey and I were planning on heading down there on Saturday.  I was awakened by an excited phone call at 8:44 Saturday morning with my mom screaming, "I got a HORSE!!!"  Joey and I quickly got ready and made the hour and a half drive so that we could meet Doc, the 10-year-old paint horse. 

As soon as we got there, Daisy rolled in some cow poo and Henry rolled in some dead fish guts.  He smelled so bad that if he walked within 5 feet of where you were standing, you would start gagging from the smell.  Ah, dogs.  You gotta love 'em.

Doc is such a sweet and gentle horse.  He was completely comfortable meeting everybody and was really easy to ride.  (I've only ridden one other time in my entire life and found him really easy.) Another really cool thing about Doc is that he has light blue eyes.  He was hard to photograph, because the sun was setting and he was moving around a lot while eating, so you get a blurry pic.

I haven't knitted on my sock at all since I've been back from my trip and my Thermal is still languishing in my unpacked suitcase. I did manage to crochet a couple of rows on the Ripple Afghan, but that's about it. This morning was a very rainy one here in North Texas, but it was also pleasantly cool- perfect weather for knitting while sipping home made apple cider. I stopped by the grocery store on my way home from work and picked up some of the ingredients for the cider- cloves, allspice berries, cinnamon sticks, oranges and apple juice and threw them into the crock pot so I could savor the aroma as I arranged my newly purchased pumpkins on my kitchen table. Fall is here and it is just the kick I need to get my knitting groove back.
Oh, and Joey told me that when he was taking the dogs outside this morning, Daisy chased down a squirrel and caught it in her mouth. He spanked her and got her to drop it, but then Henry went and picked it up. After he got Henry to let it go, the squirrel ran off. I'm hoping the squirrel wasn't too badly injured- I didn't see any dead ones laying around when I got home from work. Then I heard that familiar pitter-patter of squirrels in the eaves of my house, and when I looked up a few of them were watching me.

The 5 o'clock sun is really beating down on us today.
Henry took the good spot by the air conditioning vent on the cool tile floor.

Daisy was miffed.
And even ripple is just drooping around in the heat.

Imagine, if you will, a lazy old river. A river that is being softly rippled across its surface by a late spring breeze. You're enjoying the beauty of those soft ripples when all of a sudden, a big moldy rock is thrown into your river and those ripples are turned into a big mess.
(I had to rip out the ripple because of a mistake I made in the first three inches. I am NOT happy about that.)

I've been noticing that my birds have been keeping to their little 'cave' lately, so I thought I'd check in on them last night. Remember that around Easter I found that they had laid 7 eggs? Well, they now have 15 eggs! 16 if you count the one that was cracked at the bottom of the cage- don't worry, I threw it out. I checked the first 7 against a bright light to see if they were fertilized and was pretty sure they weren't, but I wanted to wait until the incubation period was over and no birds had hatched just to make sure. I'm still pretty sure the new ones are duds as well, but I'll wait a while before I check 'em out.

Once you realize you were doing your decreases wrong the whole time!

Here's how Daisy sits next to me while I'm putting my makeup on in the mornings- notice the huge front paws and the stubby foot that she sticks out back- so cute!

I'm almost positive that this time, I did not leave out any decreases. I think the reason that it's curving and not showing the ripples is because I'm using a G6/4mm hook with worsted weight yarn. I think I'll go out today and get a larger one.
Here's what's going on around the house right now: sounds of Joey playing "Imagine" on the keyboard, rolling thunder signaling another storm, and Daisy, longing to be outside.