Other adventures of the New Year...

Aside from acclimating to the early hours of the new job, I have been distracted by other adventures this New Year relating to… 
The sudden passing (stoppage) of our front-loading washing machine. {sigh} 

Yes, the front-load washer in which I have been magically fulling knitted and woven items for more than a decade suddenly stopped working right after Christmas. {Sigh}

The "demise" of the clothes washer was discovered after the washer liberally applied water to the first load of the weekend (towels and such) when it made an unhappy squeak/whurrr sound instead of the motor quietly starting to move the washer drum.

We believe the motor had gone out - as it had once before a decade or so ago with a similar lack of warning. We hung the hand-wrung {oof}, not-clean laundry outside on the clothes line until another clothes washing option could be identified.

Based on the original cost of the washer and the cost to replace the motor the last time, we decided we should probably invest in a new washer. We considered our washer-replacement options on-line and came to the realization that the newer front-loader models literally would not fit in the available space in our laundry room.

The newer top-loaders don't all have the agitator-post so they are supposedly gentler on clothes and they also now have sensors so they don't fill up/submerge the clothes in water - wasting a precious resource.
(Are you noticing an aspect of self-convincing from the above-listed features? I am.)

As it turned out, the new energy-efficient top-loader washer we chose would take a few days (due to the holidays) to get to Tucson. Inspired by the need for clean clothes, we investigated the 3 laundromats closest to our home. Two of the laundromats made my skin crawl a little and they also required the purchase of a laundry card. {Sigh}
The third one was very clean, always has an attendant readily available and didn't require a long-term laundry credit card investment. {Laundromat nirvana!}

The next morning, we pulled the (now frozen/crunchy) towels off the line, loaded up all the immediate-wash laundry, soap, extracted the dose of bleach from the defunct washer and trucked everything down to the nice, clean laundromat.
Yep, the DH and I visited that Laundromat for a few weeks - excellent weekend bonding time.

Noooo - of course it didn't take weeks for the washer to arrive/be installed.

The extra week at the laundromat was inspired by the semi-flooding of our laundry room when the new washer unloaded the used water at a volume and velocity that was too much for the current state of our plumbing. {SIGH} This time we didn't wring out the sodden towels, we had the washer finish spinning out the excess water (and re-flood the floor just a little more) and we trekked on down to the nice, clean laundromat to deal with the week's laundry.

The nice guys who had rescued us from frozen pipes a couple of winters before came by on Monday to roto-root the pipes and educate me on the basics of how the plumbing flows in our house.

Aside from the oddly similar holiday-timing, the demise of my front-loader is not quite like the passing of the Yarn Harlot's Sir. Washie. (I never washed diapers for beloved children in our front-loader, just a lot of kitty-towels.)
But I knew the machine's functions well, it worked like a champ (except when the motor died), and it treated our clothes very gently.

The new washer? Well, it's pretty. And it has a lot of wash "settings".

(I don't seem to own a range of clothing types that require so many settings…)

And it kind of matches the dryer we had to buy about a year ago (when the heating element on the old dryer went into over-drive and set-in impressive (crunchy) wrinkles in the DH's permanent press work uniforms).

And it's certainly roomy enough to wash the Obnoxious Furry Quilt (probably along with a full load of towels and maybe some sheets too.).

But I miss being able to use the top of the washer as a shelf and I have noted the lack of a lint/drain filter of any kind (rather useful with 4 constantly shedding fur-balls and my interest in fulling wool). And…. I need to research the "dust" I'm finding collected in creases of the just-washed clothes.

Let's just say I'm still working on the self-convincing aspect of this needful purchase.
{sigh}

So...if I'm unemployed, where's the Daily Blog Posts?

I've been kind of wondering that myself.

In a way - it seems like a long weekend (if you don't count taking the Little Brother to the Eye Doc, my own Dr. appointments, catching up on neglected errands {neglected 'cause I'd been working on the far side of town}, studying the Arizona Unemployment Insurance Website...).

The things I'm most pleased with about my newly unemployed state: I've exercised every day save one and I'm not as reluctant to get up in the morning.

Hmmm - that's a bit telling.

The to-do list is long. Getting a job is on the list, but I'm more interested just now in hearing about the Educational Assistance Options from the State of Arizona. Yep, I'm looking into going back to college for a little while. I wouldn't mind some assistance 'bout now. We'll see what they say and what my options are.

So...gonna fix the lack of blogging (since I have some free time)? That is the plan.
I'm going to try to shift away from the current meandering long "weekend" perspective and apply some daily discipline to blog a bit more about what-all I've been up to these last few days.

Today, I caught up on some bookmarked Internet items I've been meaning to get back to, some gotta-dos and, yeah, some meandering:

• An NPR Summary about "The Lasting Appeal of Orff's "Carmina Burana". (No, this hasn't been waiting for me since 2008 - I read of it on a favored blog a few months about and searched to see what music was being praised. Not surprisingly, some of it is quite familiar - as you've probably already found.)
• Checking into reporting a Graffiti attack on our brick wall surrounding our back yard. {SIGH/Grrrrr} {Does tagging remind you of dogs marking territory?} (Cool - looks like there might be removal assistance too!)
• I tweeted out some pictures of Nikoli {"Look!It's Fall!"} & Mikale {Effect of Sunshine} and checked in on Twitter. (OK, I did get distracted for a bit with The Bloggess' recent blogs and Pinterest Board. {Wicked-clever sense of humor on that woman, I swear.})
• Checked into a Movie a friend had invited me to join her in viewing at the Loft Theater. 
• I splurged a very little to purchase books/donate to some charities via The Humble eBook Bundle (which I saw Tweeted by Neil Gaiman (also on his blog)).



They seem big to me. Need to measure recipient's feet myself. 

• I've been catching up on the video blog by MSkiKnits of SingleHandedKnits. (I'm still a bit behind. Rather like my "Sock The Vote" KAL sock knitting. {sigh} (I'll post pictures later - now it's later. Here's the current status of my STV socks: STV KAL.
• Last night a friend took me to a Faculty Artist Series Recital at the UofA College of Fine Arts School of Music. Mark Votapek (cello) and John Milbauer (piano) performed at Holsclaw Hall. It was a lovely evening and I'll be looking into attending more of these {some} inexpensive treasures. (My first time at Holsclaw Hall - there's a picture to pull into this post...)   

Pre-concert view. (I'd like to go hear
the organ played sometime!)

Whups - Accidental photo of my concert knitting. 

• As already noted, I checked into old-job exodus updates and new-job/schooling options.
• The list goes on and ONLY gets more boring as I type. Stopping with the bullets now.

This afternoon's plot - HAIRCUT!! (Those of you who have experienced the bit-shaggy, unruly escapades of curly hair can relate to the joy of a pending haircut when you Really need it!).
Then - errands, graffiti picture-taking, baby-sweater seaming, and possibly a $1.50 movie outing!

{wry grin} I do appear to be a cheap date.

Have a good Tuesday folks!

When Cake Decorating Meets Home Repair

Outside:
The DH was inspired to do some "Handyman" duty yesterday and he went back this AM to finish the job.

The brick edging at the bottom of our front window has some loose spots.
(The "stable" bricks appear to be mostly stabilized by the wrought iron security window covering we had installed a long while ago. (Wrought Iron Window covering = rock repellent. But that's another story)).

Yesterday, he pulled out the loose mortar and a few of the bricks and re-inserted them with new mortar/filling, propping them up with other bricks to dry overnight.

Today he went out to fill gaps between the bricks.

I peeked out shortly after and asked how it was going. Seems the mortar-stuff in the caulk gun was too thin and he was attempting to push mortar in between the bricks with a putty knife.

I pondered this and noted he could probably insert the mortar-stuff pretty easily using a cake decorating bag. He liked the idea and asked if I had an old one I'd be willing to donate to the cause. I offered to make him one but then noted we could use a baggie. He agreed with the idea and I went off to collect supplies.

We started out with a regular sandwich baggie. That worked fine but it surprised us with a wee hole in the side when my left hand was instantly gooped up with gray sandy stuff.

I covered the hole with a fingertip, finished the gap I was filling, and then went inside for a thicker, freezer bag.

Mo'betta. I filled the gap, tamped it down a little with the putty knife, and filled it some more.

We'll see if it works.

Inside:
We could tell we were being watched by some furry person(s) inside by the movement of the window blinds.
I came inside to cleanup and found Gryphon had taken up an excellent home-repair view point from the top of this kitty condo.

Yeah, it's a bit less sturdy than I'd like and I've sewn it back together in spots. It came with the Ginger Cats (Mikale & Nikoli) when we adopted them. All the cats take turns using it for playing, bathing (Gryphon's taking a bath in it right now and it's making me uneasy watching it swaying back and forth with his cleaning strokes), bird watching, sleeping, king-of-the-hill skirmishes...

Anyway, the fierce black cat looking all cute, soft, and strikingly colored against the red kitty condo inspired a few more pictures:

The DH walked by outside just then...

Slightly blurry picture but it shows off Gryphon's Green-y eyes. 

Forget you, I'm going to take a nap.

Settling in for a nap made him all the more irresistible and I stepped up to pet the cuteness.

  

But I smelled "interesting" after the outside home-improvement so I just got sniffed over.

Later, I was loading pictures to create this blog and I was overwhelmed by the sight of the snoozing Gryphon with his paws and tail collected at one corner of the kitty condo.
Yep, I got up to take more pictures.
(The blog can always use more kitty-pictures, right?)

His ears clearly state "What - you're back?"

See - 4 paws and a tail.

(Black cats show lint really well, huh?)

When I couldn't resist petting his toes just a little, he shuffled around but accepted some pets on his head and went back to sleep.

May all your Sunday tasks go well - even if it's a cat-nap.

The Return of the Carpet

Updates all 'round...

Charity Craftiness:
The Jayne Hats I made for the local Browncoat Group Charity event...The larger one was part of the raffle prizes. I understand the gent who won it was rather tickled. The medium sized-one was sold for $40.00. And they've asked me to make a couple more! {Yarn shopping!!}

The Entrelac Scarf I made has been donated to the Academy for Cancer Awareness' Confetti Gala to benefit the Under-insured Cancer Patient Fund. I believe it will be part of the Silent Auction offerings next week.






Also donated to benefit the Under-insured Cancer Patient Fund, these loverly, spiffy baby hats/socks.
(Please Note, I did NOT knit these. I asked for volunteers to knit to help this charity and I donated the cotton stripy yarn...and these were created by an extremely talented friend of mine.)

 I am entirely smitten with these.
The charity folks were tickled too!

(She completed the hat above with "leftover" cashmere yarn and bits of the cotton yarn pulled off so she could make the socks match!)

(I am agog at the perfect matching socks...sigh.)

So - although I did NOT knit these, I have to share the pictures because they're simply too wonderful and looking at them makes me smile!

Personal Craftiness:

I've completed one of the "Columbine Peak" Blue socks for my niece and started on the 2nd sock.
And I completed the Dublin Bay Socks for me-self:

(Pay no attention to the pink bits, I try not to...)

 I'm knitting away at the first portion of my Einstein Coat. I'm doing it in Reynolds Lopi Yarn. I love the white-on-black tweedy effect, but the yarn feels quite "woolly". (rough)
Since it's meant to be a coat...I'm ok with "woolly".

The Einstein Coat is so named because "you feel like a genius when it's done".












Beyond that, I'm swatching for Reba's socks (also in the Dublin Bay Pattern) and the lacy Sabine cardigan:

Home Improvement: 

As previously noted, the DH and I decided to replace our well-loved living room carpeting. After carpet shopping and selection was achieved, we packed.  A lot.   With Help:

Gryphon and CooPurr

Nikoli and Mikale

And the new carpet arrived and was installed!
It is very tactile and yummy to walk upon and we're quite pleased with it!
The cats like it too and displayed their approval in ways that best suit their purrsonalities:

This is a good place for a bath!

Relaxing - high and low.

WRESTLING!!

Here's the thing I belatedly noticed. 
Back when the cats were helping us carpet-shop...Mikale was elsewhere and did not voice his opinion regarding carpet samples:

 AND...I noticed the carpet shade we chose looks a tad familiar...

 E'yup - it appears we chose a shade of carpet that is very nearly great camouflage for Mikale.

However, I think Mikale's normal posture of "Sunny Side Up" will keep him pretty visible:

Carpet Shopping! (With helpers...)

So, as you may have noticed in the variety of pictures on the blog, our carpeting is not, um, new.
Or attractive. Or clean - or cleanable.

It's about 17 years old. Maybe older, I can't remember.

The living room carpet has been through a lot of work boot imprints, bare feet, paws, 1 kitten, 4 very old or very sick cats, a leaking fish tank, a couple of escaped fish (no, the cats didn't go fishing - the escapee fish were jumpers), a lot of sneaker-scuffs, pretty regular drips from the DH's meals in front of the TV (a few from me as well, but I tend to wear my food...), cat nip blizzards, visitors (2-legged, 4-legged, and a variety of arachnid-legged types), broken glass from the front window along with scuff marks from the big rock that the vandal heaved through said window, fireplace ash, 1 melted spot from a leaping spark,  A LOT of vacuuming, 1 Chem-dry cleaning, 1 marking (not the cute kind) from Bob-Cat pointedly expressing his dislike of the smell of Chem-dry, several rounds of steam-cleanings, lost beads and the occasional pin from crafting projects, A LOT of Christmas and Birthday presents wrapped on that carpet, a ton of spot-cleaning, near-constant kitty play, baths, or naps on the carpet, some yoga-with-cats by myself, DH-napping during movies, and lastly - it is my seat of choice - I usually sit on the floor.

Last year, I suggested we change out the carpeting.
This year, the DH embraced the idea and we went carpet shopping.
We found some samples we liked and brought them home to check with our furniture - and pretty much everybody "helped" in the review process.

Yes, we stored the samples in the Laundry Room overnight so they wouldn't look like our old carpeting when we returned the samples to their owners the next day.
Yes, we made an attempt to clear off the residuals from the cat frolicking but since one carpet-gent asked if one of my cats was black - we obviously weren't entirely successful in the de-fuzzing.

The DH, who had this last week off work,  has packed up about half of my books and all of our movies that are stored in the living room shelves. (Kudos and thanks to the mostly patient DH.)
I'm becoming slightly less panic-stricken about his efforts (he does best packing standard-sized books) and it's generally agreed - I pack the breakables like my curios, my mother's china and my grandmother's tea set.
(If I break my stuff, it's my own fault. If he breaks my stuff, I have to be relatively nice about it. That would be extremely hard - I'm just not that good a person.) 

The carpet should be installed in 2 weeks.
I have to wonder if the cats will find the wall-to-wall version as interesting as the samples?