Reconstruction begins.....

Preparing for the kitchen repair. We are done with the tear outs, dry outs, asbestos removal, clean-out, dig-out etc.

First order of business is PAINTING. Grant was just thrilled.

I think painting the bricks is the worst........so I gave that side of the kitchen to Grant!

Do you see the jeans? The jeans that are barely covering the Ghost Buster Boxers? Well, Grant was in total weekend warrior mode, when he went to Home Depot. While heading into the store a panhandler was about to ask Grant for some spare change when he spied the jeans Grant was wearing........then held out some money for Grant. What a week!!

We got the Kitchen nearly painted but won't be able to finish now till the cabinets are put back in and I can clear out the dining room, then I'll paint the corner that is currently blocked.

I have to admit, Grant did most of the painting. I was distracted by the Ghost Busters!

A Day Break

After a couple of days of excitement...... well okay, it doesn't take much to excite us here but participating in a protest was exciting enough. So much so we needed to take a break!

Janeva, Grant and I went to the Model Yacht Pond in San Diego. Not really sure why we picked that place because we don't have a Model Yacht but it sounded interesting so we headed there after stopping off to pick up some Subway sandwiches.

The sun was out and the day was warm which was a nice break from the rainy weather we had for the last couple of weeks. For California, we had "weather" with puddles and everything!

We got to the park and found a nice spot to set up with a full view of the pond.

After we ate our lunch, Grant and Janeva decided to walk to the other side of the pond were the "Sailors" were walking along the side of the pond directing their yachts up and down the race route. One really nice guy started talking to Grant and then offered to let Janeva take his boat for a spin. First he had to explain the radio console to her but after that she was rounding the buoys like a pro!

While Janeva was Sailing, Grant was taking photos of the Sailboats.

All the while I knitted on my Columbia Berets using leftover yarn from the Texturized Tweed Coat.

I have made two of these berets from the leftover with enough to have stashed away for snags and mishaps.

A great day for a picnic, a little sailing and some knitting projects to relax with.

The Most Dangerous Place in the U.S.

The most dangerous place to be today?

Standing in the space between my husband and the TV on Race Day Sunday.....which could also be Super Bowl Sunday or whatever hot sport game on any particular Sunday.....

Here are the two phases to the "YOU are blocking the TV" incident:

FIRST, If you wander into the space between Hubby and the TV you get good natured warning:

SECOND: If you just stand there and even think about trying to engage a conversation you get "The Look":

Is it any wonder that I got so excited when I found this beer at a speciality market in town?"

What dangerous spot did you wander into this weekend?

Knitting and Fondue Makes A Great Combo!

In the late summer of 2008, my niece Allyson and her daughter Hannah (making me a Great Aunt) decided to learn to knit. We started to get together more regularly to work on projects and so that I could help them if they had questions or got into a jam. Driving 2 hours to my house for our Family KnitFest started to become a regular thing.....which I think is a perfect way to spend a weekend day!

On one of these days, Grant had a rare day off and so not wanting to be left out, he pulled out his Knitting Supplies that he received at one of the Padre's Stitch N Pitch games.

FLASHBACK: At that particular game Petco Park handed out a beer cooler with two balls of yarn and a set of knitting needles to people for that Stitch N Pitch. Enough to make a scarf. I told Grant that since he received this knitter's pack he HAD to knit something. He immediately started knitting along with Janeva and later interviewed for an online magazine.


Not to be outdone by the rest of us knitting on our projects, Grant decided to prepare an elaborate Fondue to graze on during our Family KnitFest.

So knitting and grazing that day led to two completed projects. I finished the Rusted Root sweater for Hannah.

Allyson finished her first project, a baby blanket for one of her co-workers. More projects have been started since our Family KnitFests began and it looks like there will be more of us attending the Stitch N Pitch games this year too!!

National Photo Exposure

Last May we were in the midst of a hectic end of school year schedule. Jillian was graduating High School and turning 18, Janeva was graduating Middle School and turning 14, and Grant's daughter Angela flew in from Australia and was turning 19. All three girls have birthdays in a three week span. Grant planned a birthday bash which would be a kick off for his daughter's visit with us. A lot of our Geocaching friends came to Peter Piper Pizza to celebrate Angela's arrival and all the girl's birthdays.

I was taking pictures throughout the evening. Among the pictures were random shots of all the girls individually, together, and coupled at random. They were just your normal snapshots of time. I have always been a prolific photographer at family events so this was no different.

I think it last July or August that I was viewing some of my favorite websites. One of my clicks took me to the Family Circle Magazine website and I saw a photo contest link. The photo contest was themed "Family Time Photo Contest". I read the rules and thought it looked interesting and I thought it would be fun to submit a few of my photos.

I went through my files and piles of photos and decided on four or five photos that would fit the theme beautifully and were some of my personal favorites.

On the 17th of November I received an email from the editor of Family Circle Magazine notification that I had won third prize and requesting more information....address, full name etc. Out of some 5900 entries, one of my photos won third prize!! I was in total shock and some what disbelieving. Two days before Thanksgiving, I received a very official package asking me to sign a release so the photo can be published in an upcoming issue and to sign off the tax papers in order to receive my prizes. One prize arrived yesterday and THAT is when all of this became real to me. OMGosh!! I WON THIRD PRIZE IN A NATIONAL CONTEST FOR A MAJOR PUBLICATION!!!

The problem is, I don't know WHICH photo won so now I'm dying of curiosity now to find out which one of the photos will be published!

My FIRST post on my own blog!

Grant and I married in 2005. Grant immigrated from Australia to the U.S. in 2005 after a two year long distance relationship. After all the huge phone bills and several trips to the U.S. so he could take me on REAL dates, Grant decided it would be so much easier and cheaper if we both resided in the same zip code. So he made this huge leap, leaving a career, family and practically all the material things one accumulates in a lifetime behind and arrived in Southern California to start a new life with a new wife, her teenage daughters Jillian and Janeva, and their dogs Max and Murphy. Side Note: Murphy has a blog of his own and now apparently only understands Australian.

Shortly after Grant arrived he discovered that I was a KNITTER. He knew I knitted, he thought it was charming that I knitted from time to time. That was his impression BEFORE he arrived.

I wish I had a picture of the first time he opened the closet to claim some space as his own, and found my stash of yarn. Okay, well ONE of my stashes of yarn. I think maybe it was about four months before he found ALL of the yarn that is tucked in various parts of the house, the garage, closets, bowls, in bins, in plastic bags, under beds and in the attic and even in my car.

About four months after Grant's arrival, he got to experience his first earthquake. It was a mild 4.2 in the wee hours of the morning. I woke up startled and threw my arm over Grant to ensure he didn't jump up out of bed not knowing what was going on. When the shaking ended, Grant calmly asked "what was THAT?" I said "An earthquake, don't worry it was a small one and we are all fine." Grant said "no doubt, if it had been a big one we all would have been buffered by falling balls of yarn! No worries!"

A day does not go by without an outburst of laughter somewhere in the midst of our normal chaos or a simple explanation is offered of "It's okay, he's Australian" by myself or one of my daughters to a puzzled onlooker.

Life is an adventure when the subtle cultural differences and language barriers are factored in with the normal grind and routine of an otherwise typical life.

Finding out what we will get when my husband orders dinner at the drive up window in his thick Australian accent makes fast food one of those simple little unexpected surprises.

Welcome to my blog, to our adventures and all the knitting. Perhaps we can put you in stitches as well.