Curb Appeal

I wasn't sure I would adjust to living so far from the city, but I totally love living here, it is peaceful and feels like home.

I have been having a lot of fun fixing up the exterior grounds, I installed window boxes on the front porch:



I bought some plastic urns, spray painted them to match the shutters and planted a rose bush in each:



Added a short fence and hung up the petunia's we received as a house warming gift and Voila! Instant interest and it doesn't look like so new and generic anymore:

Welcome to the new and improved blog

It has been so long since I posted here and so much has changed since them. The biggest change has been moving out of NYC and into Monroe, NY in Orange County.

We finally bought our dream home! We have been talking about buying a house for years, but we never could afford it till the end of 2009 when everything came together almost magically. One Saturday in Oct we decided to go for a ride, a friend of David's lives in Monroe and suggested we look up there at houses, so we googled real estate in in Monroe, NY and found this house It was a model home and there was an Open House, so we jumped in the car and off we went. By the end of November we were preapproved for the mortgage and under contract!

The builder broke ground in December:


By January the outside was completed:


March 30th we closed and moved in that weekend!

#@%$!!!!!!

I am seriously pissed right now. I just got off the phone with Prudential Insurance - I have been trying to get my mothers life insurance claim paid. It has been 2 months and all I have gotten from them is a run around and indigestion. They are supposed to pay the funeral home and it still has not happened. Every time I call them I get a different story, their computor records are a mess. 3 times I have been told they didn't have the death certificate oh wait yes they do. They need this form - oops sorry we have that. Now they need another form from the funeral home. I am fed up with them and their meaningless platitudes. I am very glad that my insurance is not with Prudential.

I have written them a letter complaining about their service, not that it will do anything, but it made me feel better, as did writting this post.

My ever changing moods

Just one more day and this year is over - I for one will not miss it in the least.

Chistmas was a nice quiet family affair this year, just David, Robert, Jeff and my brother. I made linquine with clam sauce, stuffed clams, fried flounder and crabcakes for the eve and ravioli and chicken parm Christmas day. Too much food, but I have never learned to cook small.

Christmas morning we opened presents, David and Jeff tried to put together a model airplane:


I got the new Grill I wanted:

It has interchangable cooking plates - I made waffles for breakfast Christmas morning!

David and my brother put up the new ceiling fan we bought:


It matches the floor fan I bought last month:


I bought myself a present too:

They are from my friend Susan's Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=57707
I love Susan's jewelry and miss the days when she was in NY and would bring her creations to SnB. I decided to treat myself and order myself another pair of her lovely earrings.

See you all next year!

Red is the color of my true loves hair

Today is my birthday.

It is a horrible, snowy, icey day. I worked from home so I wouldn't have to drive anywhere. The original plan was to go out to dinner with David and the boys, then pick up our tree. The weather made that impossible - Robert couldn't get here, the trains from Brooklyn weren't running, Jeff made it home from school, but he was wet and frozen and I really didn't want David driving anywhere in this mess.

That said, I was still feeling kind of blue and decided I needed something to perk me up. About a week ago I was blog surfing and I came across this a entry on Wendy Knits http://wendyknits.net/archives/2641. I followed the link she gave for Henna for Hair http://www.hennaforhair.com/. I went to the site, read everything and ordered one of the bundles for reddish brown hair. It arrived in a couple of days and sat on the table cause I couldn't decide when, or even if I was going to henna my hair.

Last night was my office Christmas Party, I set up a dinner at Bella Via in LIC - it was a lovely night, but I was feeling kind of blah so when I got home I opened the henna package and mixed up the henna and apple cider vinegar. It needs to set overnight in a warm place so the color develops. I put it in a heavy bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and left it by the radiator.

The kit I bought came with 200gms Henna and 100 grams Indigo and Plastic gloves. The indigo is added to turn the red from the henna more brown, but it has to be mixed in right before you use it. I woke up this morning took a shower washed my hair, logged into worknand waited till my hair was dry so I could glop on the henna/indigo mixture. Once my hair was mostly dry I mixed up a little less the 1/2 the indigo, mixed into the henna with a little more hot water to smooth out the whole mixture, the used a spatula to smash it into my hair the pushed it through with my hands. I wrapped my head in plastic wrap and a towel and went back to work - 3 hours later I put my head in the sink and rinsed and rinsed and rinsed it the water looked clear. It was a little scary cause the henna looked green rinsing out of my hair. I loaded up ny head with Wen and let it sit for a minute then rinsed it out and ran to the bathroom to see what it looked like.

I like it - right now it is a dark auburn with red highlights - it looks really pretty when the light shines on it - and it feels amazing! My hair is fine, wavey and dry - now it feels think and full and sooo soft.

I can't wait to see what it looks like in the sun! The color is supposed to darken after a few days. I will wait and see what it looks like then and decide if next time I will use less indigo or maybe no indigo at all!

Anyway - it worked, I feel vibrant and colorful instead of dull and drab the way I was feeling.

So what do you think:

Aaarrrrr!!!

My pirate name is:

Mad Charity Vane

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. You tend to blend into the background occaisionally, but that's okay, because it's much easier to sneak up on people and disembowel them that way. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Love Lies Bleeding in the sand

I started this scarf Thanksgiving night after diner and coffee - it was a quiet holiday, just David, my brother Joseph and my stepson Jeff.

After we ate and I had cleaned up I was feeling restless and wanted something brite and colorful to work on. Earlier I had downloaded the Fairy Tale Scarf pattern from Interweave Knits earlier and I still had the red Anne I bought in Boston last year - as so this project was born:



While knitting this I kept humming Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John - he was on my mind because I had seen him on Spectacle with Elvis Costello last Wednesday.

I had quite a few problems at first - you can see some of the mistakes it the picture. I kept getting confused on switching from the border to the center when knitting on the wrong side. The center panel is lace knitting - patterned on both the right and wrong side - I had a really hard time with the ssp - I can ssk no problem, but no matter what I did I couldn't get my hands to slip slip purl! So I just turn the piece around and ssk then turn it back and continue the purl row. The border is patterned on the right side and purled across on the wrong side. I still have to refer to the chart to remember what / and \ mean when doing them on the wrong side.

Minor problems aside though, I am enjoying this and hope to have it finished so I can wear it for Christmas.

I have been working on the baby blanket for my boss. I really love this yarn and the pattern is a pleasure to knit, but just following the doily pattern looks like it will be too small. There is an extension pattern available from Mary White it is available on Ravelry. I am planning to order it tis weekend and finish it up within the next 2 weeks - I figure I only need to add 1 extra repeat for it to be big enough.

I started the Spanish Moss Coat from Interweave Crochet - I am using the mohair I bought from Colourmart a so far I have about 20% of the back done:


I am enjoying the crochet for a change.

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who sent me condolences and prayers, I appreciate it very much.

Clara Miranda 1921 - 2008

This has been a very tough year - as you know my mother has been in and out of the hospital since January, this Sunday she passed away. Although I am sad I am also relieved - she had Alzheimer's and really hasn't been herself for a few years now, and this year her condition really deteriorated. She no longer spoke and she did not recognize any of her family. It has been very hard seeing her like that and I am happy that she is now at peace.

Sometimes it is worth getting out of bed....

Especially when the reason is the Postman bringing goodies!

My Ravelry Caffeine Swap package arrived this morning bright and early and look what was inside:



This is one of the best swap exchange packages I have ever received. mobarger was my swap partner and she really did an amazing job of sending me stuff that I love.

Look at this yarn:

Aren't the colors gorgeous?

and these cool teas and cupcake mix:


Plus bourbon soaked sunflower seeds, expresso chocolate, a green tea bar, Piecework magazine with the beautiful Summer Shawl pattern by Nancy Bush, and wonderfull smelling soap from her farm! I can tell she really took the time to find things that would appeal to me personally and I feel truly spoiled. Thank you Mo - you are a great swap partner.

I really needed that package this week - my mother is back in the hospital, this time LIJ out on the Island. It is not that far in miles, but with traffic it has been a trek driving out there after work this week.