Fiberaddict's Fiber Fumblings

First up, what you're actually here for - Puppy Pictures!







(See, I know my audience! :lol:) The top pic is from the Vet's yesterday (final puppy visit. He's a healthy pup - he went from 35 pounds 3 weeks ago to *56* pounds yesterday.); the other 2 were taken on Friday for the breeder. He's such a cutie! :lol:

The husband started his new job yesterday. Today they threw him on an actual route; he had to be ready to roll out of the warehouse at 0530. Which meant he had to get UP at 0330. Which meant *I* had to get up at 0330. :sigh: Ah, well - its not like I was sleeping well, anyway.

I have another short contract job this week......which is good, financial-wise. I made a batch of soap for laundry-use........basically just a bunch of vegetable shortening and scent. :ugh: NOT for skin-use, but perfect for laundry-use. I also have 3 bags cut out, just need sewing up. When I'm more awake.

Oh! I bought a video game - My Hero Academia: My Hero One's Justice. It's *AWESOME*, especially if you're a fan. Himself and I have been bashing each other - I've even won a couple of times! :rofl:

We didn't get to visit the breeder this weekend (more on that in a moment), but she sent me some lovely pictures yesterday. He's gotten Big!







We're planning on going out this weekend, since all our necessary chores are done (as of today - right now, in fact.) See......last August, when we got our septic tank pumped, they informed me that the tank (fiberglass) was collapsing, and gave me anywhere from a few months to a year.

It lasted just at 1 year. Last month, the alarm went off - so we called. They sent out an inspector.....long story short, the tank has totally collapsed and needed replacing STAT. Gave me an estimate of 6 weeks......2 days later the planner came out, did a drawing, and gave me an estimate of, still, 6 weeks.

3 days later, he called and said they'd install the new CONCRETE tank, in *3* weeks. Or, today. :gulp:

So. I went into work mode. No one else did. :sigh: Last weekend, SG finally realized that Oh, S**t! Tank install is THIS THURSDAY oh dear! :sigh:

The back fence has been moved to behind my Studio (FINALLY! 2 years I've been waiting......) We put up a temporary side fence, and yesterday (yup. YESTERDAY. Why do I even....?) the old back fence was removed (well....most of it. There's still 16' that needs to come down....but at least MOST of it's down, right?)

This AM, SG removed the temporary side fence so that they could get the equipment in. I have 5 very upset dogs in the house right now - don't I understand that there are THINGS that need barking at? Outside? Now???? :lol:

We also got Himself's Studio and the "sweat shop" (what? It's better than "torture chamber", yes?)(home gym) painted, all the lights/fans installed, and measured for carpet. The carpet has been ordered and paid for, and the floor store ordered it Tuesday. Should be here in 2 weeks or so.....

Herself and I have "opened" an easy store. There's only 1 thing in it right now (Pokemon cards), but soon it'll be stocked with geeky jewelry and bags. I'll post a link once it's open - and then I will try not to mention it much again. I don't want this to devolve into an advertisement channel. :lol:

ETA: well....I am a klutz. While the guys were getting ready to remove the electrical box for the old system, they told me they needed to cut the power. I said OK, then realized that they didn’t know to also cut the solar box. I ran outside and got them safe, watched them remove the box, tie off the wires, and restart both boxes. I turned to walk back to the door, and found a hole Chloe had dug....and felt - and heard - something in my left ankle POP. Sigh. I have an orange-sized ankle now, turning a lovely shade of black - down from the softball-sized ankle of yesterday. Hurts......but I’ve survived worse. I e is my friend.......

We ran out and saw wee Duncan on Friday - the breeder was taking one of her Danes to a show over the weekend, so...if we wanted snuggles, it had to be Friday. No biggie - the kids and I wanted to hit Ikea, which is in between us and the breeder, so it all worked out.

On Friday, he had 1 eye open! You can see just how much bigger he is now - it takes more than 1 hand to hold him!








By Saturday evening, he had both eyes open. He's SO CUTE!!!

We spent an hour with him - me snuggling, Himself snapping photos, and Herself cooing at him and the Dane puppies. :lol: We then hit the comic store (Himself scored the new Thrawn novel - it's good. We both read it over the weekend - couldn't put it down. ), then Ikea. I spent Saturday assembling 3 Billys for my Studio, and yesterday tidying up. Then I assembled Herself's new craft desk. Today we started tidying HER studio......the desk in in place and already full. (What can I say - FIL had a bunch of stained glass tools. That are now ON her desk. Eventually we'll get them sorted and in the drawers....for now, we have a path into the house that doesn't involve gymnastics. :rofl:

So. We are all giggly-happy over Duncan's arrival. *We* won't get him until mid-September, of course, but the breeder has been happily sharing her photos with us. Since I know y'all are only here for puppy pictures, let's start with him:



This was the first picture she sent me. Let's all say "Daawwwwwwww...." :lol: Then came these:







Then we made a trip to visit.....and Herself snapped this one of me and Duncan:



There is another photo, but I am making a very silly face (I was cooing at him, all right?) so it will NOT be posted. :lol:

After we got home, this appeared in my text messages:



Moving on before we all succumb to cuteness overload.......I spent most of yesterday in my Studio (finally!) and managed to knock out another purse:







It's the Swoon Patterns Blanche bag. The fabric is from Spoonflower - expensive, but the ONLY place I could find My Hero Academia themed fabric. I accidentally grabbed an invisible zipper (it was the correct color!), so Uraraka is helping me with the pull. :lol:

And, finally - Herself has a new friend:




His name is Griff; he's a Joltean (Pokemon) made by an Etsy.com artist named CrypticEnigma. He's AWESOME. Very well made, the fabric is lush and soft and nice, and the artist couldn't be nicer. (Herself has ordered 4 custom plushes from her now......:heh: She's sending up progress shots - she is SO TALENTED!)

Himself and I played a new outdoor game this AM - Recoil. Basically, laser-tag. With air strikes. He beat me handily, but it was fun.

Gotta skitter - Himself has a doc appointment, and he wants to take us out to lunch. Laters!

But it's a good tired! Let's see if I can get y'all caught up.

1. Studio: Have recovered the couch in the Studio (this was a while back, but still - need to update!). It was a really....out there 60's brown/yellow/orange/brown plaid; now it's plain canvas. I also made a quilt and 4 or 5 throw pillows for it. MUCH nicer in there, now!

1a. We also got rid of "Big Ugly" - the old entertainment center I had in there. Now I have a double Billy and a single, in white. They....well. Big Ugly was 3' deep; the Billys are 15". So all the fleece is hanging out next to the loom. But! The Billy's have glass doors, and my yarn looks VERY NICE now. I can actually SEE what I have....which...well. I don't need any yarn for a while. I have enough in most weights to make almost anything. (Only 1 sweater's worth set aside; if I decide I NEED another sweater, we'll have to go shopping. But for hats/gloves/socks/scarves, I'm set.

2. Knitting: Have banged out 3 hats and a few pairs of socks. I've slowed down recently - I messed up my right elbow last month and can't do a lot without pain. :sigh: I have 2 pairs of socks on the needles, but they are stalled. No biggie - I'm sewing, instead!

3. Sewing: I joined Sew Over It's PDF club, and have taken advantage of it. I jumped on the new "Ultimate Culottes" - I have 3 pair, so far. Have plans for a few more - the goal is to get rid of my default sweat pants, and replace them with something a little more feminine. These fit the bill, at least for Spring/Summer/Fall. Have some Jeans patterns I need to work on, but right now I'm focused on Summery stuff. (It's been in the 80's...in MARCH and early APRIL. How hot is August gonna be????) Fabric Mart had a huge sale, and I scored some really nice Cotton Lawn. Already knocked out 1 SOI Vintage Shirt Dress; I have SOI's Nancy Dress (a Swing Dress) that I think will make a lovely tunic that I will tackle next. (SOI FITS me. I have to do very very little modification to their patterns, which is very very rare for me. SO NICE!)

4. Life, in general: Himself is.....better. He has developed an interest in modding Nerf blasters, thanks to the YouTube channel "Battle Universe". We've been having Family Nerf battles every Saturday evening....I am bruised, but it's fun. He still can't deal with crowds, so he stayed home yesterday while the rest of us went to Dallas Fan Expo.

FYI: IF you should decide you'd like to take your family to a Con (and have never been), might I suggest Sunday as your first visit? It's generally less crowded and a little bit cheaper. Most vendors (but not all!) are willing to slash prices so they don't have to move the stock back home. BUT.

If, say, there are more than 2 autographs you want to get, and they are BIG names, I highly recommend you spring for at least 1 Premium ticket (or VIP, but those prices are.....well. $$$$) We learned this with Mark Hamill - Sunday tickets, long lines, almost didn't get the autograph after HOURS of standing in line. For David Tennent, I did the Premium - we got 5 line jumps, so there was very little waiting.

This time......well. It was HUGE. Just some of the stars: Princess Bride Vizini, Wesley, and Humperdink; 2001 (the 2 main male characters); Back to the Future Biff, Doc Brown (Michael J. Fox and the girl had to cancel last minute, but STILL); Val Kilmer; Chuck Norris; Richard Dean Anderson; Inara from Firefly, Anthony Daniels (C3P0), Billy Dee Williams (LANDO CALRISSIAN, Oh My Goodness!!!!)...and the list honestly GOES ON (oh, Ben Afflack was there....he's a bit full of himself.). There were 9 autographs SG wanted, so -after a lot of waffling, to the point he missed the VIP pass - he went for a Premium. He decided on 4, total...and got the 3 "big" ones on Saturday. (He would have gotten some on Friday, but the guys he wanted didn't make it before he had to leave.) Sunday he got Inara's while Herself and I waited in line for the 2 SHE wanted - the English voice actors for a Japanese anime called "My Hero Acadamia". If you haven't discovered it yet....go. Go NOW. It's just started Season 3, and it's WONDERFUL. (Basically humans have evolved super hero powers, called "quirks". There are a few quirkless folks around - the main protagonist is a 14 year old quirkless boy named Midoriya. (Called "Deku"). The Number 1 Hero is All Might - and Herself LOVES them. Here, let me show you:



When she found out Justin (Deku) and Chris (All Might) were going to be here, she pulled out the Sculpy and went to work. :lol: We took them with us yesterday so she could give them to the actors....who are both simply LOVELY people. Very, very, very nice and personable, and both of them were SO NICE to my out-of-her-element Aspie. :hugs: So nice, in fact, that she willingly got selfies with both:



That, my friends, is Chris Sabat, voice of All Might (and Vagita from Dragonball Z). He is.....well, you can see. :lol: (She is bounding as Bonnie from FNAF. She crocheted the guitar. Yes, it's awesome. :lol:)



This is Justin Briner, voice of Deku. VERY nice guy!

She is thrilled - SG bought her a print with the whole ensemble (Class 1A from the school), and both Chris and Justin signed it. If any of the other actors come thru, she'll get them to sign it, too. (Yes, *I* also have their autographs...because I really like the show, too.)

We came home with 2 new plushies for her (Oh My - 40" tall Bonnie and Chicka from FNAF. They barely fit in the car!!!), a Gjallorhorn prop from Destiny (it was a flash sale....for 75% off! Himself is looking into modding it to actually fire Nerf missiles. :lol:), a bunch of art work, and some custom-painted Nerf blasters. Oh! We also had a photo op with the Princess Bride trio - it was a hoot! It was a good day! But exhausting - today has been very laid-back.

So, after a few HOURS of begging, pleading, and muttering under my breath, LJ finally loaded all the pictures. So...I'd like to share what we've been doing the past few weeks. Please note, NOTHING is finished, yet. It's done enough that we can actually USE the space, but there's still a bit to be done...and let's not mention the rest of the house, OK? Because...there are boxes everywhere, and I'm going a little batty because of it.

Anyway. Without further ado, let me show the shower stall first:




Green marble, with a funky, kinda fun trim that has metal bits, glass, and ceramic tiles. It actually works with the floors, which are a dark, slate-looking vinyl. At the point this photo was taken, we hadn't installed the fixtures; they are now installed, as are the 2 vanities and sinks. Still waiting on the baseboards, and we have to attach the storage cabinet to the wall and install the medicine cabinets. :shrug: At least we have a semi-working bathroom!

Now, the bedroom:



This is the bed and (sort of) the nightstand. LOVE the bed! Cherry sleigh bed, in a King - just large enough for the 2 of us and 2 or 3 dogs. Or 1 of us, and 4 or 5 dogs - depends on which dogs decide they need the bed. :lol:



The pair of painted Ikea dressers. The paint is the same that is on the bathroom walls; it looks FANTASTIC next to the green bedroom walls. I've since put my earring tree on top of my dresser....and some dresser scarves that we got from an Antique store. It's looking pretty cozy in here, now!

This, though - this is what MAKES the room. I give you the Art Deco dressers we scored back in February:



This one's mine. It has 2 selves on either side, running front to back, and 3 rows of hanging rods. Tall enough to hang dresses and pants! LOVE it!





This is SG's. The door is off, because we discovered that it was missing some screws in the door hinges. I did get a close-up of the door; it matches the larger one. Pretty sure this was sold as a set - the pattern and hardware is the same. They are beautiful, and in remarkably good condition considering their age. I'm thinking 1940's.....maybe '30's, but not sure. They are LOVELY!



Here's a close-up of the door hardware. Both are identical, and, again, look original.

Now, WHY did we spring for armoires, when we have a closet? Because...the closet is 5' x 5'. It's barely large enough for 1, forget about 2 people. The closet is now the "overflow" - mostly SG's stuff. We tore out the built-in system, shoved the gun cabinet in there, and the 2 shoe cabinets. It's tight, but....it works. All my garb is in bins on the shelves (or in the cedar chest) - the armoires were actually needed to fit all our clothes in. And they add to the retro vibe I wanted in the room. (House, actually - I'm working on it. The kitchen is sort of retro-modern farm. :lol:)

So, that's what we've been up to lately. I have a LOT of cleaning and reorganizing to do! And....I'll be throwing out a LOT of stuff. Living without it for the past 5 months has shown me that I don't NEED all the crap I have....so, I guess that's a good thing. :lol:

Enjoy your day!

ETA: H, I know wool is water-resistant, but...it's New! And I don't wanna get it messed up! :lol:

Also, thanks for reminding me to look at Fabric Mart - I am a member of their swatch club, but I didn't think to go there. And then....they are currently having a 60% off wool suiting sale....I fell down. Himself found a gray that was "close enough"...so I grabbed 15 yards. :oops: :lol:

one I've had since 1977. May, 1977. :squee!:

You see, this weekend was Dallas Fan Expo........and the Special Guest was Mark Hamill. A few months ago, the very day I got the email, SG came home with a Propel X-Wing drone for me.....and my reaction? "Ohhhh! I could get Mark to SIGN IT!". And I did. :lol:

Herself made him a little Luke out of polyclay, and was brave enough to walk with me to hand it to him. He said "Freebies! I like Freebies!", she said "I made it!"...and he was surprised. He said it will go on his shelf, and the dogs for a 10 mile radius all cocked their heads in wonder at the super-sonic squeeing going on. :lol:

Here, have some photos:









It was worth the 2 hours we spent standing in line.

I am tired and footsore, but we had fun......and I got to meet my childhood crush! :rofl:

I've promised photos for.....well, quite some time now. So, it's high time I actually DELIVERED, right? Right. :lol: There's a lot, so I'll put them behind a cut.

( Click here for photos! )

Because I need to send pics to my SIL, I decided to upload them here, too - that way y'all can see what's been sucking up all my time the past few months. I did them in CollegeIt!, so...they're not the best, but they save bandwidth and storage space.

First up, let's do Herself's bedroom. The top pic is how it was when we moved in, way back in 2003. She had chosen the pink.....:shudder:



We don't have all her stuff moved back in - the insurance is paying folks to do that, so we only moved in the essentials, but you get the idea. What you don't see here is her new aquarium; she has had a 20 gallon tank forEVER; yesterday we went and upgraded it to a 60 gallon tank. MUCH bigger - her fish will be much happier. She set it up last night and will be moving Mr. Bubbles sometime today. (And if possible we'll be buying him a tank mate soon.) The 60 gallon tank was on sale for the same price as the 36 gallon; both were almost full setups.....it just made more sense to go bigger, since it was the same price and I'd need to replace the filter pump and gravel anyway. The stand is very nice, and sturdy - and she has room to store all the extras now.

Anyway - moving on. This set is the kids' original bath. Sorry for the crap photos - I had a cheap digital camera and it went yellow sometimes. Also, the walls were sponge-painted blue to resemble water - you can see that in the photo where the sink has been ripped out.




And - now! It looks like a totally different house, doesn't it? Himself says it feels like either an upscale hotel or a very rich relative's house. :lol:



Himself's room is painted, but not set up yet - he wants to wait until ALL his stuff can go in. :sigh: My kitchen is on it's way - I got the tracking info last night. :bounce: Yes, there will be more photos! I'm especially happy with the Music room....we picked up new curtains and a rug yesterday, and ordered a chair. And a new bedroom set for us.....SG wants to upgrade the house. I'm thinking I should let him....:rofl: We'll be paying off the mortgage next week......mortgage-burning party to follow. :snicker:

so let's make it a good one, right? :lol:

So. I had a lot of plans for 2016. The big one, for me, was to get my house in order and set up routines so I could keep it neat and tidy(ish). I actually succeeded in this, but not by my own skills. :lol: No, seriously - I have to count this as a win - my house is currently almost empty, which means, from a certain point of view, it's tidy. :rofl: NOT what I had in mind, but hey - it works, right?

Have some photos:

This is what's left of the kids' bathroom:





I'm kinda bummed that the murals got ruined, but also relieved. I've wanted to update the bathroom for a while, but Herself can't handle change. This, however - there was no way to save them, and I can't match the colors - I mixed them as I painted each fish. :sigh: So.....the drywall has mostly been replaced. The tub has 1 piece of hardiboard; SG stopped to fiddle with the over-the-mirror light. :sigh: Hey - at least the tub is in, right?

He stopped the kitchen to do the bathroom:





The top cabinets over the dishwasher are almost empty; the other side...they aren't. It won't take long to empty them....I'm just not really in the mood right now. I got a bit depressed yesterday as we packed up all my Fiestaware. :sigh:

I KNOW things will get better. I KNOW I'll end up with a practically new house....but it's still hard. And I'm looking at going into the New Year with a house all topsy-turvy....NOT what I wanted to do. Ah, well...this too shall pass.

it is, however, the main reason I've lost my happiness. I'm normally happy - being happy is, for neuro-normal people, a *choice* - but now? I'm finding it difficult. Once the floors are in and I can see progress, it'll be easier - but right now? It's hard. :sigh:

Anyway - hope y'all have a Happy New Year! May 2017 be MUCH better than 2016!