Making Up for Lost Time

Every time I type up a new post I swear to myself that I'm going to start blogging more frequently and every time there is always something that seems to get in the way. It takes a bit of work to get a post put together. 

On the moving homefront we're getting prepared for the big move although it looks like it could possibly be pushed back due to some schooling the military wants Shawn to have. Right now we're set to leave around the 10th of March but if Shawn gets sent to school he'll leave the beginning of March and won't be home until mid June. As much as I'd love to pack the house up and have everything sent to Germany and follow him to Maryland for those 3 months I have to think about the kiddos. Kaity is still in school so that means missed time from school and dealing with the pains of enrolling her in a new school for the last 3 months of school. Logistically it's easier for me to stay here with the girls while Shawn's in school.

Anyone else having freakishly weird weather this year? Apparently Mother Nature is a tad confused because we're having warm spring like weather here in our part of the state for last few two weeks. We've had a few days where it's hit in the 60's (Fahrenheit that is). Of course that's not destined to last because the forecast is showing that we're suppose to dip back down into the 30's here in a few days. 

The destashing has gone well and I'm thinking there won't have to be another round to get rid of more yarn. Between what I sold, what I'm sending to my mom, and yarn that I donated to charity I think the stash has been culled down enough. There are a few things in my trade section on Ravelry that are still for sale but I'm not planning on pulling more out of my stash. I will admit I've splurged and bought a couple of skeins that caught my eye and some time toward the end of the month I should be getting the Ruby Slippers shipment from the Woolgirl Wizard of Oz club.

I managed to snag a skein of Skinny Bugga! last week from The Sanguine Gryphons site.

The color is called Emerald Swallowtail and is the most gorgeous green I've ever seen. I was also looking at this gorgeous yellow color too but decided that I should stick with just one skein.

A skein of Knitterly Things Vesper sock yarn managed to jump in my cart the other day.

I swear I don't know how it got here.....I'm sticking with the theory that it was lonely and wanted to hang out with the other sock yarns in my stash. I swear I'm innocent of all charges!! Seriously though I'm still on a self striping sock yarn kick so when I saw this colorway (Shamrockin) I knew I needed to pick it up.

Dream in Color Classy in the November Muse colorway.

OK, this one was part of my winnings from the Sonny and Shear Nutkin KAL. I won first prize and my winnings was a gift certificate for $50. So the gift certificate paid for over half the cost and it's not sock yarn....mah ha ha ha! I'm thinking maybe making Wisteria with this yarn.

Now on to knitting projects. I do have a few I'm working on and I finally finished blocking my moms Whispering Pines Shawl.

First up is the Whispering Pines Shawl (Ravelry)(non Ravelry).

I absolutely love this shawl. As soon as I finish the socks I'm knitting for my mom I'll be dropping her package off in the mail.

Here are the socks I'm working on for my mom.

The pattern is the 2009 January Socktopia mystery pattern (Ravelry). I started them for myself but it occurred to me that I haven't made my mom socks in awhile so I now they are moms. Guess I'd better make a pair for my sister. I haven't made her any in quite some time too. The yarn I'm using is Valley Yarns Huntington. This yarn is soooooo soft and great to work with. It's a great price too at less then $9 for a pair of socks. I've heard a few people complain about it being splitty but I've yet to have a problem with it splitting while I'm knitting.

Basic toe up socks using Patons Stretch Sock.

It's not a bad sock yarn. It's a tad splitty but not horribly so. This is just a basic toe up sock with ribbing and I'll be using a short row heel. Nothing fancy, just a no pattern required sock that I can take with me where ever I go.

I've been making great progress on Shawn's cabled hoodie. I'm about 12 rows from finishing the back and will then move to working the v-neck for the front. The sweater is knit in the round until the armpit area where it's split and the front and back are worked separately. I don't think it'll take me much longer to finish this up. I'll try to get a picture of my progress for the next blog post. 

I do believe I've managed to catch up on all the projects I have going on. I do have some secrety secret test knits that I've finished up and will show them when I get a chance. 

Happy Crafting!

We Are Moving!

We just found out that we're moving again. I guess the military is making up for the 9 years they didn't move us when we were in Idaho. Well I should take that back, Shawn went to Korea two years after we got to Idaho and came back and we spent another 6 years there before moving up here. So I spent 9 years in Idaho Shawn only got 8 years. We've been here exactly two years and anyone who knows how the Air Force works will know that our orders are not stateside. We'll be leaving for Mannheim Germany in Jan 2010....maybe a few months later then that if Shawn can get it pushed back. It's an Army Garrison which has an Air Force detachment on it because of AFN (American Forces Network) which Shawn's job will be to keep the system maintained and running correctly.

The decisions to make, what to take, what to store, what to sell, have been running through my mind since we found out. The only thing I know for sure is we're taking the kids, the yarn, and the dogs. Well only one of the dogs. We're not sure what we're going to do about Shadow. She's getting up there in age and having problems with her hips and stairs. I love her dearly and I don't know if I want to put her through that long move on a plane and then having to go up and down stairs several times a day because the housing over there is apartment type housing with several levels and no yards. I just need to find someone reliable who will love her and take care of her.

I spent the first two days completely in shock and freaked out. I'm not a person who handles change very well and when my routines are messed up it drives me crazy. It's worrying about the unknown that tends to get me upset. Now that things have sunk in and I've found out a few things I'm feeling better about this move and am actually looking forward to it. I'm not looking forward to the non air conditioned apartment living but I can live with it. Basically I'm looking at it as a 3 year long vacation to Europe that Uncle Sam is paying for. Shawn's job will be a lot easier and waaaaaay less stressful. He'll have more time to spend with us as a family which means more time to get of the base and do stuff. It's an opportunity of a lifetime for all of us to see the world and other cultures. I am part German after all so why not check out where part of my family came from. Plus if we get really homesick we can go to Ramstein AB which has a Chili's. They also opened up a Macaroni Grill not that long ago. I bout fell out of my chair laughing when I seen that there was a Chili's over there. It's one of Bree's favorite places to eat.

The good news is after some research we found that our computers, printers, tv, Wii, Sonicare toothbrushes, and Kaity's Nintendo DS are all able to run on 220V with new power cords. The US runs on 110V while Germany runs on 220V so some of our things won't run and will have to be replaced when we get there like our coffee pot, crockpot, etc. If you're curious about the types of power around the world Wikipedia has a listing. My Kindle will charge via USB and although I can't download using the wireless Sprint network I'll be able to buy the books on Amazon's site, download the file to my computer and drag it to my Kindle. Takes a little bit longer but hey if I can still use my Kindle I'm happy. Same goes for my iPod, it charges via USB so I'm set and ready to go. As long as I have my tech gear I'm happy. From what I understand we'll also have cable modem internet that we can purchase through the local German cable company.

At least the major things will be able to go with us. They have laundry rooms for the apartment complexes so we'll probably sell the washer and dryer instead of storing them. Three years is a long time to store that kind of stuff and I had planned on a new washer and dryer when Shawn retires anyway. I may have to downsize my stash a little bit but will do that as it gets a little closer to moving day. I might surprise myself and whittle down my stash enough that I won't have to worry about it. I have decided that I won't be buying anymore for now so the only stuff that will come in is club yarn and fiber.

I'll be back in a few days with a knitting related post. I just wanted to share the news with all my blogland friends.

Yarn, Moving Rants and Socks

Wow, what a combo in that title. How mad would you all be if you opened a box and seen this:




Yup, the stuff was just thrown in. There was no paper stuffed in the box to prevent shifting or the box from crushing in. This box is full of software, video games, and movies. Most of the stuff isn't that big of a deal but the idiots put my Nintendo games in there without securing them. The games are cartridges and can easily be damaged if packed incorrectly. We haven't come across any broken stuff in boxes yet but we haven't unpacked everything yet.

We've found chunks of wood missing out of dressers and desks and the couch has a big cut in it from someones razer blade. This is the reason why I have crappy furniture. I long for the day of retirement so I can start replacing the beat up furniture with nice stuff. Unfortunately I'll have to do it one room at a time but I'm looking forward to it.

To top it all off my washer was messed up in shipment. The front panel was smacked and the circuit card was damaged. Thankfully I have the extended warranty through Sears so it's 100% covered, which is a good thing because between parts and labor it's going to cost over $400.....ouch!

To sooth over the madness of the poorly packed box...yarn!!

I got the boxes filled with Pink and Purple Cascade 220 wool. Kaity has already laid claim to the purple for a sweater. I'm thinking about making her this sweater.

Today we broke down and purchase Sirius satellite radio for our car. The radio stations in this area aren't all that great. I've found one country station I like but I have to have something to listen to besides country.

Here's a shot of the Butternut socks.

I think they are striping pretty close. They are off a little but hey what do you expect. I didn't write down where in the color repeat that I started the first sock so I had to guess. I only had to rip out the cuff once. I'm about 10 rows from starting the heel flap.

Proof I've Been Knitting

I finished up the first Butternut Rib sock.




I'll cast on the second one some time tomorrow. This sock is comfy and stretchy. It just might become my new simple sock pattern.

I've also been knitting on the cabled baby blanket.




It's mostly been knit in the car. This ball of yarn seems to be going on and on forever....the never ending ball of yarn. I've managed to get about 9.5 inches of blanket knit so far. I'm guessing I'm may make it to about 11-12 inches before I have to add on another ball.

We're settling into the house just fine. We've managed to make a good dent in all the boxes. I have most of the stuff in the kitchen again and both the girls rooms are almost finished. That leaves the living room, exercise room, and the master bedroom.

The New Digs

Warning: A very long, very picture intense post. Dial-up users beware!

Thought you all might like to see pics of the new place. Our place is less then 5 years old. We are only the 3rd set of tenants....woohoo! It's a two story house with a one car garage. They were even nice enough to put an electric garage door opener on the garage door.

Lets start the tour downstairs.

The front door (door on the left hand side of the pic):

There's a lovely little cubby that's perfect for the dogs food and water dishes. Next to the front door is a big friggin' closet. Not counting the closets in the bedrooms we have a total of three big closets.

The hallway shot.

This is the view you get standing in the front door entry way. The door in the middle left side of the hallway leads to the powder room. Turn your head to the right and you will see:

The living room:

This is going to be the exercise room.

The dining room, which is connected to the living room:

We'll probably put Kaity's desk here. It will be the perfect place for her to do her homework without distractions.

Here's a little glimpse of the powder room downstairs.

Nuf said. I'm figuring you all won't want to see more photos of the bathroom.

The pathetic, pitiful excuse of a kitchen.

I hate it but hey you can't have everything. We have a garage and tons of storage, thus the crappy kitchen. Something in the place had to stink.

Look behind you, that's the Utility room.

Directly in front is where the washer and dryer go. To the right is this awesome laundry folding area and to the left is a cubby to slide the freezer into. Lucky for us we have an upright so we should be able to leave the water cooler there.

Now go out the door which is located on the far left side of the room and you will find the....

Garage:

It's big enough for us to fit the Buick in. In front of the car is a alcove with shelves for Shawn to store all his tools and such.

The family room.

We'll be using this for the dining room. To the left is the door into the backyard. I'll show the backyard some other time. It's another disappointment but it's livable.

The Arctic/Rec Room which is across from the family room.

We're going to be using this for our living room. It's gynormous! The drawback is that I need to get a baby gate to block the archway which is like 68 inches wide. See that door on the far wall, it's my new....

Yarn Closet!!!!!

It's another one of the big friggin' closets. I'm going to have to give up some of the shelves for the family games and such but the rest of it is mine, mine, all mine. Lots and lots of yarn space.

Now lets travel up the stairs.

There is another big friggin' closet up here on the second floor. I'll spare you the shot of the closet.

Shot of one of the smaller bedrooms.

Kaity and Bree's rooms are for the most part the same. Bree's is a little smaller. I'll spare you all another similar shot of the other room.

The girls bathroom.

I was so happy to see that there were two bathrooms upstairs.

The Master Bedroom.

Turn your head to the right and you'll see....

The master bathroom.

The sink is separate from the tub and toilet....kinda like a hotel.

Another shot of the master bedroom.

It's plenty roomy enough for everything. It's a lot bigger then the room we had in Idaho.

And back down the stairs we go.

Yeah I know, just what you all wanted to see when heading down the stairs, a shot of the dogs butt. Speaking of dogs, they love the stairs and travel up and down them every chance they get. If Shadow keeps this up she may just lose those extra 13 pounds.

Thanks for stickin' with me through the end. I know it was a long post but we have a big friggin' house now. Plus this post is also for the family members who read my blog.

Next up, getting all our stuff put into all the empty space and getting pics and such on the wall. Shoot, guess it's time to make a trip to Pier 1 here soon. I think I need to find me some house plants too. I need to offset all these plain white walls without having to paint. I hate painting and the military makes you paint the walls white again before you move out of the house.

Hope you all enjoyed the tour!

More Goodies

Lookie what landed at the post office this morning:




My box from Knit Picks made it in safe and sound.   I got three pair of 2.25mm 32" Circs for Magic Loop.  I got 2 that are metal and one set of Harmony wood.  I also got the Autumn Leaves Lace Socks pattern and some Felici in the color Hummingbird for Kaity.

So now the only one left AWOL is my YP Booty Club shipment.  I'm holding my self back from starting a pair of sock using the CTH yarn I got from Tammy in our trade.  I have my ball winder so I can use the chairs here in TLF as my makeshift swift.  I'll probably end up getting it ready to start a pair here soon.

We've been told we'll be able to get the house next Thursday afternoon.  Unfortunately the moving company can't come out to deliver our stuff until the following Monday.  Shawn's going to stay at the house with the dogs so we can get them out of the kennel.  The girls and I are going to stay here in  TLF.  What a pain.  So next weekend I'll have photos for the blog.

Well I'm outta here.  It's almost time to pick the kiddo up from the bus stop.

Happy Knitting Everyone!

Socks, Socks, Socks

I can't believe it's been 4 days since my last post.  Everyone in the house has been sick with a head cold.  I was the last one to get it and it's want to hang on.  To keep me going I've been knitting.  If I don't knit I'll curl up and sleep. 

First up is my socks:




As you can see in the photo, my helpful little one is trying to run off with the sock before I get the photo taken.  I'm a few rows away from starting the heel.  These are also my TLE Q3 challenge socks.  They aren't super hard but they are working up quickly.

Next, socks for Kaity:




I'm not using a pattern, just taking notes since they are stockinette socks.   I'm using Lion Brands Lion Wool so these socks are going to be a quick knit.  The color is Autumn Sunset.

We are getting closer to moving out of TLF and into our house.  We should find out on Thurs the exact day we are moving in so we can schedule our household goods to be delivered and the cable company to come out to hook up the cable.  Hey all I need is my bed and internet the rest is trivial.  I can always order take out from our favorite restaurant the Maple Garden....it never takes us long to find a good Chinese/Japanese cuisine restaurant.  They have the yummiest Sesame Chicken and Crab Rangoon.  Kaity loves their Shrimp Fried Rice.

Kaity's home sick today.  I don't think she's really sick but she didn't eat very well this morning and she's complaining about her tummy hurting.  I could have sent her to school but I would have ended up having to pick her up before the end of the day anyway.

Score One For Me

Score one for the knitter.  Ah life is good.  We went clothes shopping yesterday since Shawn got off work early.  Old Navy was having a sale on a lot of their clothing so we managed to snag several outfits for all 4 of us for less then $300. 

Then to make things even better I found the Lion Brand Wool-ease Thick and Quick on clearance at Wally world for $4 a ball.  They had 10 balls all in the same dye lot so I snagged them.  I'm using the color Cranberry.  I'll post pics when the highspeed comes up again.  Hopefully that will be Monday but I'm not holding my breath.

I also got some more needles from Knit Picks and used a gift certificate to pick up from Amazon.com: More Sensational Knitted Socks and Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  All I need to do is order the yarn for my cousins blanket but first I need to decide on a yarn.  I did find one at Webs by Reynolds called Kids Collection Wash Day Wool.  I'm not sure about the wear-ability though.  It's $6.50 for 176 yds making the cost less then $40.  Not to bad.  Though I may go see what the LYS has.  I may find something there too.

Now the bad news which made me cringe and yell a few choice obscenities.  When it comes to my yarn the cussing may come out.  The building that holds the post office in Mtn Home had a section of the roof collapse.  It's a big building with several other military offices in it.  It use to be where the Commissary (military grocery store) was so it's a fair size building.  Now my mail was being held and we had just put in a forward but we aren't sure if they sent our mail out before the roof collapsed.  I have an order from TLE and my yarn I bought from eBay there.

From what we gather, the roof collapsed in the center of the building but not over the post office.  Everyone was evacuated out safely but they haven't been cleared to go back in and probably won't be.  Any mail coming in to my old address now will forward fine because the post office has set up shop elsewhere on base.

Shawn just left to run some errands so here's hoping our stuff made it out fine and is already here on base.  We did find something interesting out.  Even though we live on base our address is going to be Great Falls, MT instead of Malmstrom AFB, MT.  That is going to be so weird to write. 

Well I'm outta here for now.  I need to swap the laundry and get the dishes done.  I have a mega laundry mountain today between the dirty clothes and all the new clothes that need to be washed.

FO Update

I finished the Forest Canopy Shawl last night.  It still needs to be blocked, which sadly will have to wait until we get into our new house. 

I took pics but since I'm in what can only be referred to as "Dial-up Hell" I'm not uploading the pics.  As soon as the highspeed is fixed, I'll upload the pics of the shawl for you all to see.  The highspeed is suppose to be fixed some time between now and whenever.  When it comes to the military some things are fixed faster then others and the internet in lodging isn't going to be fixed as fast as say a F-15E fighter jet.  :~)

So if it seems like I'm a little quiet it's because it takes forever for my gmail to load so I'm not checking my email mucg or surfing blogs.  Definitely not blogs because they take forever to load. 

Movin' On Up

We finally got to move to a bigger TLF.  WooHoo!  After seeing this place all I could think of was the theme song to The Jeffersons. 

Ah, I'm happy now.  The living room:




It's like twice the size of the other place.  Smack me silly and call me happy.

The kitchen is roomier. 




We still have the breakfast bar for a table it's just a little roomier around the back.  The coffee pot sucks so it's going to be replaced this weekend.  I need a new coffee pot anyway so might as well take care of it now.  We even have a radio/CD player in the kitchen.

This is the second bedroom. 




This is probably the room Kaity and I will share.

The laundry room:




This one is actually a little bigger so I can keep the soap and fabric softener in there on the floor.

The sinks:

The shower & toilet:

We actually get double sinks and the sinks are separate from the toilet and shower.

Bree is taking a nap so I didn't take a pic of the other bedroom but it's a lot more roomier and it has a big dresser for our clothes.

This weekend we are invited to a BBQ with the other guys Shawn works with and we are going to go clothes shopping and I'm going to snag some yarn for that Comfort Cable Throw. 

Our mail is being forwarded so I won't have to worry about missing out.  The post office here on base is great.  If all goes well I'll be getting my box here in the next day or two from TLE (I ordered a hank of Seacoast) and the Tofutsie I won off of eBay (I snagged 2 balls for $15) before we left Idaho.  Now I just need to get use to the layout of Great Falls and all will be well.

Still No Knitting

I haven't touched my knitting since the day we left to come up here.  Of course I haven't managed to find space or quiet time to knit either.  I'm hoping that will change tomorrow since Shawn will be at work and Kaity will be at school.

There is no way that I'm going to finish the Twisted Flower socks for the Loopy Ewe Q3 challenge, mostly due to the fact that I forgot to wind and pack the other hank of yarn needed for sock number 2.  It's buried in storage.  I think right now it would be a major challenge for me to finish a plain pair of socks.  If I can scare up another pair of needles for socks I'll start an easier pair out of the Trekking I brought with me. 

I was going to join the Monkey Sock Swap 3 but am glad that I didn't because I just don't have the time.  As it is I'm probably not going to have the time to do Secret of the Stole KAL either.  It starts around the time that we will be getting the new house set up.

Lion Brand has a Cable Comfort Throw (you'll need to log on to Lion Brand to see pic) that I like.  It's knit using Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, which is what I'll probably use unless I can find a better sub.  It's going on the back of the couch so it needs to be durable and easy to wash because Zeus gets up there to lay down.  Our Wal-Mart has the Thick & Quick so it's the easiest thing for me to get my hands on.

Speaking of Wal-Marts, the one here in Great Falls is Gynormous.   We decided to head out for a drive through town and splurge on some Starbucks....Yum!  That was enough to help brighten my day.  I'm still in a wee bit of culture shock.  I've lived and shopped in a "military town" for over 8 years.  When we'd go to Wal-Mart it was a guarantee that we would see at least 3-4 people that we knew and all but a small handful of cars in the parking lot would have base stickers on them.  Mtn Home's the kind of town that would probably fade away to almost nothing if the base were to close down. 

Obviously the town of Great Falls would not be hurt if the military base decided to close down.  This weekend I managed to get my first taste of "I hate you military types" attitude.  I can honestly say that in the 11 or so years I've been associated with the military I've never ran into military haters.  I guess I've been lucky.  Then again, I was living in ID when the attacks on 9/11 happened.  Let me tell ya, I was not the one who started the war in Iraq so don't blame me for the damn thing.  The jerks comments made me kinda sad and made me really miss Mtn Home.  Ack, who would have thought I'd miss that place.  So right now I'm a tad homesick for Idaho....lol! 

I'm sure that I will run into others who will hate me or my family because we are affiliated with the military and I'm going to try very hard to not let it affect me.  It's just tough when you're trying to find your niche and you run into jerks. 

31 days to go till we get our new house and hopefully some normalcy.....I want my doggies back!  It looks like I may have a nice section for my stash in the Den.....Yup that's right we'll have a Den, Living Room, and a Rec Room.  I can't tell you all how much I love the layout of the new house.  I'll take pics when we get the keys.

Hopefully my next update will include some knitting photos and progress.  I really appriciate you all hanging around even though the blog has been pretty much void of any knitting. 

Our Temp Home

I do have some pics after all.

First up is my Idaho souvenir.




It's a starfish necklace with an opal in the middle.  We picked it up at the Spencer Opal Mines in Spencer, ID.  We decided to stop there at the little cafe for lunch.  If I remember correctly Spencer wasn't very far from the Idaho/Montana border.

Now we come some pics of what we're staying in now.

First:  The Living room/Kaity and Shawn's room

Then: The breakfast bar which is what we have in leu of a table.




Next: Kitchen.  It's small but workable




Finally: The bedroom/Bree and I's room.




We also have a bathroom and a laundry room with a pretty nice washer/dryer set.  As you can see the place is cluttered and cramped.  We are hoping to get a slightly bigger place to finish out our stay.

Montana, Here We Are!

**Warning: Long Post, No Knitting Content, No Pictures!

Yesterday is a day I'd probably rather forget.  We found out the kennel closed at 6pm so we had to basically drive as far as possible and stop as little as we could.  We still didn't make it.  Missed the kennel by about 40 minutes.  We did find someone who was willing to take them for the night.  They are being moved back over to the other kennel where they will have 24hr access to the outside, weather permitting and they are a lot closer to the base for easier visiting. 

So needless to say I have no pictures of my travels which really bummed me out.  I did get a starfish necklace with an opal in the middle when we stopped in Spencer, ID for lunch.  I'll take pics later for the next post.  It's cute.

Good News:
The house they have for us is a newer home and according to others who are in them, they are really nice and we are going to love it.  It's just a two story, no basement and it has a garage....yippy! 

Bad News:
The house isn't going to be available till like 10 Oct.  So we are staying in a 1 bedroom TLF until the house is available.

Kinda Good News:  They are going to try to move us to a 2 bedroom TLF after this weekend.

More Bad News:  Our dogs have to stay in the kennel until we get our house.  They can't come anywhere near TLF.  If they come inside they'll charge us $150 and kick us out, so they'll be staying in the kennel.  I miss the little pains already.

Even More Bad News:  All the stuff we brought with us has to go in storage.  Yup, my yarn too.  There is absolutely no room for storage in this place.  Talk about a super bummer.  My yarn is going to be in storage for the next month....sigh!  I may try to squeeze an order on payday from Knit Picks for some yarn for the baby blanket, sock yarn, and a few more 32" circ needles for sock knitting.

Kinda Good News: Since we rented our trailer from Uhaul we get 30 days free storage from them.  At least I don't have to worry about that.

Some More Bad News:  Most of our winter stuff is in storage with all our household goods so I'm going to have to go clothes shopping for all of us.  I quite sure that we are going to need warmer clothes before the end of the month.  This makes me want to smack my head against the wall.  I already planned on clothes for Kaity and Bree but not for Shawn and me.  We only need a few things to make it till our house is ready and our stuff is delivered but it's still an aggravation.

I keep wondering what else can go wrong.  Don't worry, I'm swaying with the punches and going with the flow.  I was really upset and on the verge of crying myself silly yesterday evening but today is much better.  Now Shawn and I are kinda laughing and trying to joke about it.  All that matters is that we have a place to stay, the dogs are in a good kennel where we can visit often and we have a house to look forward too.  Home is where your family is, not the house itself. 

On a bright note, I can sooooo see why Montana is called Big Sky Country.  I've never seen a sky go on forever.  The mountains and the blue sky are gorgeous.  The drive from Helena to Great Falls wasn't too bad.  I'm sure it will be much better when we make the trip without a trailer loaded with over 900 pounds worth of stuff.  We'll definitely head down to Helena to explore.

Dudes, I'm seriously in trouble, Great Falls has a Starbucks.....I squealed when we drove past it which made Shawn chuckle....he knows how much I love my coffee.  There was a double squeal when I seen the Barnes and Noble.  The base is fairly small, so I'm happy about that and it won't be long before I'm feeling totally at home here.

On the Road Again

We're up here enjoying Idaho Falls for the night.  Our trip was pretty uneventful and we didn't stop to see anything.  Not that there is a whole lot to stop and see along the way.  Tomorrow there will be more stops for leg stretches and such.

The only thing of interest that we saw on the way here was a plain white billboard with: buyhashbrowns.com written in bold black letters.  It's a real website.  I don't know why but it made me laugh my butt off.  Guess you would have had to have been there.  If the weather wouldn't have been crappy and there was somewhere to pull over I soooo would have gotten a pic.

I did start a new dishcloth. 

This one is of my own design, well kinda.  I found some stitch patterns I like and threw together some patterns.  I'll be offering this up as a freebie on my pattern page as soon as I get it typed up and converted to a pdf.  Plus I need to come up with a name for the pattern but nothing catchy has hit me yet.  I'm using Peaches n' Creme in the color Winterberry.  I'm using US 7 straight needles.

This morning was super hectic trying to get everything cleared out of TLF before 11am.  We ended up getting another 30 minutes from the front office.  It was close.  Shawn checked us out at like 11:20am.

There was lots of water works.  We stopped to say good by to Kaity's teacher (from last year) Ms. N and my sis.  I'm really going to miss my sis but she'll come visit us.

Well I'm outta here for now.  I need to catch a shower and try to relax a bit before bed. 

 

Moving Pictures

Here's the pics I promised.  Today was even more busy then yesterday.  All the boxes are gone and on their way to Montana. 

The packers were really nice and a join to talk to but after we left there was a lot of stuff they didn't pack that was left for the driver to take care of which is not suppose to happen.  They also didn't stack the boxes to leave a walk way, they left them everywhere so Shawn had to stack them all up instead. 

Living Room Shot #1:




Living Room Shot #2:

Kaity's Room:

My Room #1:

My Room #2:

The movers were fabulous!  I'm hoping they will be able to deliver our stuff when we get our place in Montana.  Even though today was a tiring day it also fun.

TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) isn't too bad.  For all of you who may not know, TLF is housing that is set aside for military families who are moving.  I'm not sure how TLF is set up everywhere but here they are houses.  We have a pretty nice set up here....wireless highspeed internet, cable, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen that is outfitted well enough that I can cook dinner for the next few days and a washer and dryer.  The last one makes me very happy.  I hate having to haul laundry to the laundromat.  The only thing that would make it better would be to have A/C.  Thankfully tonight a storm kicked up and we got a good amount of rain which got the swamp cooler wet and helped cool down the house better.

Oh and since this a knitting blog, here's my knitting content....I knit exactly 5 rows on the Melon Stripe blanket.     :~)