Sitting In The Middle Of A Debris Field

It has been quite awhile since I blogged. Clearly, I lost my Blogging Mojo for awhile and now it is time to get myself back together.

This has been a spring and summer season of trials and tribulations for me and my family. Starting in April, Jillian had an accident and totaled my car, my cute convertible. While trying to find a used car to buy, Grant's car broke down, leaving us with no car for a weekend (that is right up there with losing the TV remote control.....we were in a state of vapor lock for three days). In one week, we got Grant's car repaired, bought an older used car for me (youngest will be learning to drive in a few months) and also managed to get a nice used car for Jillian. Truth be told, Jillian is now driving a nicer car than Grant and I, but with all the safety features, including side air bags, it is the only way I can sort of rest easy.

We had a couple of nice things happen in between disasters, like adding a new member to the family. Jasper, the cutest, blackest, kitten with the biggest Catitude you have ever seen. Jasper has brought a lot of laughter to the household and the fact that Grant is not a "cat person" adds to the entertainment and wonderment.

Jasper likes to hang out in the oddest places, here he is, in the bathroom sink.

Keep in mind, we have ONE bathroom so there are times when Jasper hanging in the bathroom sink causes some conflict in the house. Like.......

.....when Grant wants to brush his teeth!

Unfortunately, Jasper also has drama tendencies himself (indication that he fits right in with this family). About four weeks ago, then 3 months old, Jasper was running around the house in what we call a "Kitty Spaz", jumping on the furniture and bouncing across the floor. I could hear Jasper's little paws pounding the carpet when I was rounding the corner from the hallway to the living room. All of sudden I felt an impact on my shin, and heard a pop! Jasper ran full tilt into my leg and went straight into Janeva's room under the bed and let out a horrendous cry. I was sick to my stomach because I was sure Jasper had a horrible injury. I called the vet and was told to take him immediately to the emergency vet hospital. Turned out, our little Jasper had a concussion and an eye injury. He is doing fine now, but Grant is convinced Jasper is not very smart.

Grant's dad and stepmom, Michael and Annette, came to visit us from Australia. Grant was able to take a road trip with them to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon and Skywalk and then we all did some local site seeing. It was great having them both here and they got to spend time with the girls, Jasper and I when Grant was working. We really enjoyed their visit and the time flew by far too quickly.

Jillian is working now, and Janeva has enjoyed having the summer off......

Then, three weeks ago, we discovered that we had a broken drain pipe under the slab in the kitchen. Resulting in the tear out of our kitchen and having the slab jack hammered up to find the offending pipe.

The pipe has been fixed and now we are looking forward to having a weekend of painting in the hopes that our cabinets and flooring will be installed next week. So we have been living in a small house with all the contents of the kitchen in every available space in the dining room and living room.

After all the fans, dehumidifiers and jackhammers running to dry out the walls and concrete floor then fix the pipe, I am now enjoying the quiet of the dogs barking, the kitty meowing, the kids complaining and Grant bitching. We are now in the rebuilding phase.....I think it will be moving along quickly now and can't wait to have a kitchen again. We all are sick of microwave dinners, paper plates, bowls and plastic utensils.

All the while I have just kept knitting on my summer project, the Forest Path Stole and making some impressive progress (if I do say myself) while sitting in the middle of a debris field.

I have never worked with lace weight yarn before this summer. Now I'm wondering why I waited so long!!

Going back to a timeless saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!". Well, we have enough lemons for Lemonade, Lemon Bars, Lemon Pudding Cake, Lemon Curd and on and on.

Yet, we all are still grinning. This is one of those weekends that we will be glad to see come to an end, but we have added some new tales to tell and we can laugh about it all later.

How have you spent your summer?