Sew Sew Sunday

I'm sorry to still be whining but I am still hating this new blogger thing. I used to be able to upload all my photos at once but now I can only go one at a time. It makes this whole blog thing a real slog. I don't want to sit here all day trying to post, I want to do stuff. Like work on this top. I had to rip it all out 4 times until I got it lined up right. If I have to do that with every row the thing will be a frayed rag before I am done. I tried every trick in the book to get it straight but it was not having it. I am almost afraid to try another row.

While I was in the sewing room Dear Jane got some attention. She has been very neglected. I am very happy to be on the last row of the block now. 

I am on the final edge of the rings quilt. I won't be sad to see the end of it. It was fun for a while but now it's time to move on. I've got another one ready and waiting. 

While I was in the sewing room I forced myself to stitch a bit on the Needles and Pins sampler. I haven't touched it since the big soaping adventure because it has to share the table with the soap stuff. This is the last bit of the flower border. I will finish it in June. I will. I will. I will. 

Argh.....

It's taken me two days to figure out how to upload and edit photos in the "New Blogger". It's a pain. I hate it. So how about a photo of my second garden cart? It arrived on Monday. It's a big one. This is pretty uninspiring photo but that's how things are going around here right now. 

How about a photo of the mess I made trying to Click and Ship some soap? I couldn't figure out how to coordinate the mailing date with a pick up date so I'll try again tomorrow. Between this and ordering groceries online this afternoon I'm all out of patience. I wish I had better things to share but I'm in a not so happy place right now. I hate to share other people's business but a close family member and her husband are having a rough time with "It" and I don't mean Pennywise. Yeah, so let's all go back to work and pretend it all never happened so we can bring the bug home to share. No one with good sense can think this is a good idea. Nothing has changed since February except more of us have it to pass around now. I could just SCREAM.

Whew.....

I'm still working on figuring out this new blogger thing. Let's just say its not the worst thing to happen this year but it's on the list. 

Under Construction

Blogger has been gently nudging me to switch over to the "New Blogger" for months now but I have resisted. Yesterday they said switch by June 1st or else. 

I started this blog April 5, 2008. Looking back at those early posts it was a pitiful thing. The year Daughter got married I started another blog chronicling that year. Oldest Son got married that year too. It was a crazy year.

 I stopped that blog after the weddings and had it printed.

I wish I'd had the sense to do this every year with my Araignee blog. Right now I am terrified of losing it all when I make the switch. 

I can't tell you how many times I go back and look up stuff on it. It's the encyclopedia of my life. The older I get the less I remember but Miss Araignee remembers everything.
Welp, you gotta do what you gotta do, so wish me luck. Hopefully I will be back right here tomorrow with a new look.
See you on the other side.
Fingers crossed.

Kitchen Update

 The big update on the kitchen remodel is that there is NO update. I am still vacuuming and scrubbing plastic covered plywood everyday.

My old wall cabinets are still in my living room holding cleaning stuff and pet supplies.

 Our food is still in boxes all over the floor of the big shared room that is my kitchen/dining/living area.

I am happy to say we have many more boxes than we did. Amazon has been keeping me stocked up on all the stuff I had tossed when we started to tear out the cabinets way back in the fall. I was pretty panicked. Now I know I can get pretty much everything delivered.

 Especially pet food. I think my mail carrier hates me. He was here again yesterday with a huge box and my Chewy order is on the way. Those 40 pound bags of litter are a killer.

 The only counter I have left is this little piece in the corner in between the sink and the stove. It seems it's all I really need. I'm actually doing fine with the tiny kitchen. I don't even really miss my big island anymore.

 I do hate digging through boxes to find all my pots and pans. That has been a pain but there is no where else to put them.

The downstairs is also a mess. This is the pile of flooring and tools we were accumulating before the lockdown. We have all the stuff to put down the new floor but we would have to rip out the remaining base cabinets and sink and with no replacement in sight that doesn't seem like a very good idea.

How are we surviving living in this jumble? A good sense of humor and the fact that our little mom and pop grocer down the street delivers.....booze.

Fat Froggy

I've been going through my fancy soap like crazy washing my hands a million times a day so I decided I needed to make a change.

 A while back I had bought these flats of glycerin soap from my soap supply vendor. They are the kind you chop up and melt. Easy, peasy, pie.

They were offering some unusual concoctions so I picked up a few different ones while they were on sale.

I made a few loaves to keep on hand to use around the sinks.

 I had a good ole time chopping and melting. They should keep me in hand soap for a long while.

I also started making some frog soaps for the Grands. When they showed up for their surprise visit I had just popped one out of the mold and poured in a second. They took the finished one home and as soon as I figure out that Click and Ship thing this one will be on its way too.

Memorial Day Interrupted

Memorial Day is a big deal in our little Twin Beaches town. The first thing you see when you get to the Bay is our Memorial Garden. We should be having a big ceremony there today but we are not. The flags are all at half mast and the area is still closed up pretty tight.

 These new signs popped up all over town letting you know that while some beaches are open in the state ours are not. Our numbers are still going up. Our little county added over 30 cases just on Saturday. We don't need any tourists adding to the woes. Even the water park remains closed.

 They've set up kiosks at all the parking lots with masked and gloved attendants that hand you a pamphlet on the dangers and spelling out all the regulations you have to follow if you want to come into town. I was happy to see that our town officials are still taking this very seriously. So many places are not. Ocean City I'm looking at you.

Our little corner of the world seems to have found a way to take care of each other and for that I am very grateful because I'd like to still be here next year when hopefully it's all behind us.

The holiday weekend was not a total loss. I finally got a delivery of real toilet paper from Walmart. 18 rolls. I am in heaven. The Mister and I had been sharing a 6 pack for two and a half months.

And even better......see those little dots way down in the meadow? Those are my Grands. I had a surprise visit on Sunday. I didn't even recognize my son when he drove down the driveway. I was ready to beat him back up the road with my broom when I realized who they were. It was the whole family. I burst into tears. Heck, I'm still crying.

They came bearing gifts. I got fresh produce from their garden that I immediately turned into lentil soup and a bottle of wine. We practiced safe distancing in the yard and the Grands got to run and run and run. It was a short but sweet visit. Did I mention I cried? I'm still crying now.

It's a Jungle Out There

It's hard to believe that this is the same desolate spot we were working at this winter cutting up those trees. The green stuff has pretty much taken over. The Mister's been fighting it but he's lost. He just doesn't know it yet.

 What we've got over there now is my new wagon with my tomato plants in it. We drag it around to follow the sun.

 In spite of all the cloudy, cold weather we've had they are doing pretty well. Kathy B wants to have a tomato race. Game on. I'm feeling kind of confident.

 I love my new cart so much I ordered another one that will be here on Monday. That way I can get my little cart back from the pots of chard and kale.

I also ordered some cucumber seeds. I know that's crazy with our limited sun but anything goes this year. It's all one big trial run.

 This may be a terrible year to be a human on this planet but the plants are having the time of their lives. The hostas are so big you can't get down the sidewalk. They are huge.

I had all but given up on the clump of Siberian Iris I had dug up from Dad's house but look at it now. They are all over the place. They pushed right up through all those weeds.

 We brought this home from the MDSW one year and it didn't do much. Look at it now. I don't even know what it is but it's so pretty.

 The love affair between Mom's bucket of mini hostas and Dad's bucket of Black Eyed Susan is still going strong. I tried to plant them in the ground one year in separate areas of the yard and they both did horribly. I put them back together on the front stoop and they look so happy again.

Everything is just gorgeous out there.....even my nemesis-poison ivy. It too is having a very good year- much to my dismay.

Dyed in the Wool

 Remember me? I was the fiber that was dyed during the MDSW weekend that wasn't.

 I was some ancient Knit Picks Bare fiber that got the dye the treatment. I think I'm Merino but I can't swear to it.

I am very soft but I may have a bit too much white left in me. I thought about jumping in the dye pot one more time but I didn't.

I am going to be an interesting spin-even if I don't turn out to be a interesting skein.

Treading Water

 I don't feel very productive these days but I do have another pair of man socks for the gift box. They are huge. I have no idea why. Same pattern. Same gauge yarn.  Who knows? Who really cares. They will fit someone's feet.

 I now only have my Pandemic socks on the needles and it's going to stay that way. I am not in the mood to juggle too many projects these days.

 I do still have the latest Pimpelliese going on. I am so sorry it's at the point where the stripes are getting elongated. I liked those big chunks of color at the bottom. The busy middle-not so much.

Mosi's sleeve is still happening but it's getting to be a slog. I hate doing colorwork on a small circumference. It's too fiddly. You spend more time untangling the yarn than you do knitting. I'm still slogging on though. I am going to see this one through in a timely manner. I am. Really, I am.