A birthday among the rubble

Last week Fin celebrated his 7th birthday - he bounded into our room at 6:45 shouting "I'm seven, I'm seven"!

Celebrations took place in our building-site of a living room - but enthusiasm was undimmed. The drywall texture was being applied and it was very dusty so we curtained off all doorways with plastic. The fridge looks rather ghostly behind it's plastic sheet.

He chose chocolate cake with chocolate filling and chocolate frosting... it was very chocolaty.

House Update: beginning of week seventeen

Things are moving really fast on the house now - we actually have doors! The door and window trim is being installed which is really giving the house a finished look.

Nigel and I have also decided to do some painting to save some money (we are at that point in the project when the money is running out faster than the project!).

Last weekend we primed and painted our dining room (Restoration Hardware Silver Sage - the colour it was previously) and new kitchen (Benjamin Moore Mellowed Ivory - interesting since it's actually green not ivory at all). I also assmbled the new IKEA cabinets.

The kitchen was ready for the cabinets to be installed on Monday so the counter top installation people could come on Tuesday and make a template.

It's odd to be choosing colours rather than talking about structure. When we bought this house 10 years ago we did all the painting in an empty house, we were quite nostalgic to be doing it again although 10 years ago we didn't have to stop to look after any children!

On the Needles: Heather Hoodie Vest

I'm knitting the Heather Hoodie Vest from Knitscene Fall 2009. It's not a magazine that I usually read, but I saw this vest on Ravelry and thought it would be perfect both for my wardrobe and to use some stash wool.

I'm knitting this in Targee Aran weight from Sweet Grass Wool, that I bought at Stitches earlier this year. The Targee feels like a handspun and smells pleasantly and slightly sheepy. It has great stitch definition in the cables.

The actual knitting was really quick (hooray for aran wool on 4mm needles) but I now need to press the edges to pick up the ribbed edges for the sleeves and button band. Of course what I don't currently have is anywhere to press or block this sweater so it will need to wait until the house is further along in it's construction.

Off the needles: Chirimen Sweater

I finished my Noro Chirimen sweater and have already worn it several times. The addition of silk to the cotton gives the sweater a nice drape, and also some warmth.

The pattern is a Jenny Watson design from the Noro Flowers book. Lovely book with a lot of things that I would like to knit - but amazingly there are apparently only 2 people (including me) knitting this pattern on Ravelry.

Thanksgiving in the sun

We made our now-becoming- traditional Thanksgiving trip to Disneyland this year. We spent one day in the park - but as the boys are becoming older it was a longer day this year. As usual the crowds were light early on (8am when the park opened), getting busier through the day.




By lunchtime we had been on all the rides we wanted, including, at Adam's request a mother-son ride on Splash Mountain which resulted in my getting soaked to the skin. However the 85 degree temperature helped dry me out.


Of course Disney is in full Christmas mode and we got to see Santa and his herd of sweating reindeer. The boys got a chance to meet Santa and explain their comprehensive lists of things that they want.



We attended the parade of course - I love the juxtaposition of fake snow and sleighs against the beautiful blue of a SoCal November sky!



Finally - this photo for Ned at the request of Adam:

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate.

House update: Week sixteen

Work on the house is progressing - this week has seen the drywall go on as well as most of the taping and texture. It's really starting to seem like a real house and is snug and warm inside now which helps as the temperature here is starting to drop.

This photo shows looking into the kitchen, the half wall around the loft is now covered, with the balcony waiting for railings.

Cakes and scouts

The cubs have an annual cake auction fundraiser. Each cub decorates his own cake and the other scouts vote for them. This year, as we have no kitchen, my friend Thuy invited us to her house to decorate the cakes with her and Jody.

The boys had very definite ideas of what their cakes would look like: Jody's park cake is on the front of the island above. Adam decided on a skate park theme:

while Fin decided that a giant eyeball would fit the bill perfectly.

I am glad we didn't have to eat our own cakes this year!