smile

the warmth of the sun does wonders for the soul. and today, i needed that. its the 6 month reminder of a very sad day. and while i miss my dad every day, i still can't believe its been 6 months without him.

so today, i'm taking notice of the little things that make me smile, because today, i really need it.

- springtime. its finally here. the sun is warming up the ground, and i was able to plant some bulbs and groundcover this weekend. i find gardening to be calming and relaxing, so i'm glad that i'm finally able to do it again.

- watching the birds and squirrels from my office window. the birds check out the numerous bird feeders we have, while the squirrels dig holes in the mulch and scurry all over the yard and across the fence.

- random text messages from ian, i.e. "my name is seth. i like to dance." or "he's a master of karate". ok, these make me giggle too :)

- waking up in the morning, with sydney at my feet and a cat [or 2!] curled up beside me, as if i'm spooning them. its almost as cute as falling asleep with tan cat draped across my rib cage as i'm curled up on my side. and yes, he does that every night.

-realizing, 5 seasons into monk, that leland stottlemeyer is none other than buffalo bill, the creepy, transexual, womens-skin-wearing, it-rubs-the-lotion-on-its-skin, serial killer. wow! i'm really going to have a very hard time watching the show after re-watching the silence of the lambs infamous dance scene.

- bell's oberon. its that time of year again. enough said.

- homemade chocolate pudding. oh wait, i didn't make that, but i do *love* it, and it sure sounds good right now. i'll have to wait till we finish up the chocolate zucchini cake that i made earlier this week. its my moms recipe and it is tasty! maybe i'll share that someday.

- did i mention it was spring? my lilac tree is blooming :)



[hopefully my next post won't be too far off, and i'll have some photos of the cute clothes i've been making, along with the handknits, and more info on my fabric de-stashing.]

enjoy the sunshine. life is too short not to.

spring cleaning

its that time of year... out with the old, in with the new. ian and i have started our spring cleaning, getting rid of the clutter that we don't need. twice a year we sort thru our closets and re-assess what we have. some pants become capris, some LS tees become cardigans, some clothes are re-assigned to home remodeling or yard work. the rest goes into piles to take to goodwill and avalon. we're getting rid of alot more than i thought, so i guess that means we'll be going shopping soon. we also posted a bunch of stuff on craigslist to clear out some room: 2 dressers, 2 old vintage cabinet sewing machines, coffee table, nightstands, tv... its crazy! hopefully we'll sell everything and make some room. plus, we'll have extra money for clothes shopping mentioned above ;)

while ian was in boston, i started going thru my fabric stash. i had been storing it in our spare room [my old office], and will need to move it into my new office so we can finish the spare room. boy was that an undertaking! i knew i had a lot of fabric... but... lets just say, its more than i really need. i had maybe 6 bins full, plus a dresser.... .so i had to organize all of that. needless to say, i have some extra fabric that i'm ready to get rid of as well. about 3 large bags of fabric at the moment [2 bins worth?]. there's some pretty nice stuff, so if anyone is interested, let me know! i need the space, so expect it to be pretty cheap, $1-2/yd, or something in trade would be nice.

on the plus side of sorting thru all the fabric, i've started my list of spring/summer sewing. some capris, sundresses, summery skirts, camisoles, some girly blouses.

we will become sundresses and camis:


capris in progress:


ive already made progress on a pair of capris and blouse, but those were put on hold while i finish up a baby blanket. photos will be posted after its gifted this weekend :)

hello bahstahn

we've established that i'm lazy and bad with blogging, haven't we? maybe i'm bored with it, maybe its a lack of free time. maybe i just don't have anything interesting to say lately? not much going on now, other than an impromptu trip to boston last thursday. [has it already been a week??] you see, ian has been working there since the beginning of the month. he and his boss are remodeling a kitchen and master bath [for his boss' son + wife], who are also friends of ours. confused yet?!? hes set to be there the entire month of february. thats a long time! luckily, our friends decided to fly me out there last weekend to celebrate his birthday, which is also valentine's day. there was a lot of sneaking around involved, but we managed to pull it off.

my flight arrived sometime around 3, and we showed up at the house right as he was finishing up work. he was pleasantly surprised. all of us ended up going out to a birthday/valentines dinner at "the publick house", a belgian pub with an amazing beer selection and even better menu. it was a good start to a great weekend.



ian was given a short "vacation" while i was in town so we set off to see the sights. he's staying in newton [which is actually where matt damon lives.... if anyone cares] so we'd start off the day by walking down the street, grabbing a coffee and hopping on the subway. we had a map but no real plan, other than to spend time together. we tried to hit all the spots that were suggested... newbury street [for shopping + lunch], the public gardens + boston commons [just for the beauty of it], the north end [for some tasty gelato], along with cambridge/harvard area. we really had a lot of fun walking around, even if it was ridiculously cold and windy.





we had some delicious meals out on the town, and a visit to mike's pastry, [which is apparently a famous pastry shop] for a slice of [what else] boston creme pie and canolis.

i flew back on monday and have another week of the single life before ian comes home. well, i hope its only 1 more week. i've been getting alot of freelance work finished and have been dining with the walters frequently. but it does suck that i have to gather garbage and shovel snow by myself. more than that, i miss ian, so come home soon!

resolution.

i know, i've been lazy about blogging. january is already half over. i just haven't felt like it. i've been busy with work and distracted with non-work things. i suppose its about time i write *something*.

whats been going on? we had a quiet christmas. we were in erie for christmas eve, which was, obviously, a little sad. it was bad enough this would be the first christmas without a "home" to go to; but without my dad there, it was really hard. i miss him alot, and the holidays were a struggle. my dad was one of the very few people who would actually watch "its a wonderful life" with me, and "white christmas". both movies would make us cry, and every year we'd both pretend it didn't. makes me smile to think of that. i love those movies. ian gave them to me for christmas this year with the promise to watch them every year [with a 10 year limit on it; i can't blame him!]. it was sad yet touching to watch them this year.

we spent christmas day at his parents; there was so many people there it was easy to be distracted, which was a good thing. unfortunately, ian got sick for a few days, then i was hit for a few days, so we spent a quiet new years at home with some takeout and a movie. it was still a nice way to ring in the new year.

during that time, we managed to finish the bathroom. i know, i know! finally! its wonderful. our hard work paid off. we still have to fix a few things, like lowering the towel rack and finishing "moving in", but im loving it. the new whirlpool tub is wonderful :) its hard to get shots inside of a small bathroom, but here are a few:





we also finished the linen closet in the hallway. its been great moving stuff that had been stored in the laundry room up to a more useable area. no photos of that... its just a closet :) other house stuff has involved rearranging the kitchen into a more workable space... mostly moving around some appliances, getting rid of some stuff, etc. ian is going to be installing a butcher block [remnant from his parent's kitchen remodel] next to the stove. once that is finished, i'll post some photos of the kitchen, since i don't think that i ever did.

i also finished a few knitting projects, but haven't photographed anything. i'm lazy. actually, i need ian to take a few during the day while theres some good lighting, so it'll have to wait til the weekend. the list: central park hoodie [this has been finished for MONTHS, but no buttons], l'il red riding hoodie, natasha gloves, dashing gloves, baby sweater; plus some old projects that were never documented: swallowtail shawl, semi-tomato, sahara, etc.... i am so lazy about taking these photos! this week we've been working on [finally] finishing my office. and by finishing, i mean organizing. its a mess right now, but i'm hoping to have it cleaned up within the week. ian built me a new desk which we installed last night, plus i have some storage units to start moving my fabric down here. there's no way its all going to fit; i may have to destash some of it.

sounds like we've been crazy busy, doesn't it?? we met up with the walters on sunday for a delicious brunch at coca cafe. fun times were had and crazy stories were told. its good to get out of the house :) now as for my resolutions... i have many. i know that gym is calling my name, as is my camera. they both need a good workout. i have a few that are more "internal" resolutions, or private ones, i guess. i need to heal. i need a change/growth/whatever you want to call it. i need to smile more. hopefully i'm off to a good start :)

winter chill

winter is officially here. its freezing outside. and the snow is falling... brrr.

we went up to erie on friday night after work and spent most of saturday with my mom. we took her out to lunch at steak and shake, which she really enjoyed [and i had some delicious gumbo],and we decorated her room for christmas. we took a quick drive up to the cemetery but it was too cold to stay for long. we ended up coming back to pittsburgh late saturday night because of an impending storm due to hit erie that night. it never happened.

ian is remodeling a lake house in somerset this week so i have the house to myself. no big plans yet... i *should* clean the house, go to the gym and put the first tape coat on the drywall in the closet. i will probably bake cookies, finish some knitting projects and get sucked into an SVU marathon on USA.

a few weeks ago, we had the lovely ladies from retro come pick up a car load of stuff i was finally ready to unload... an old theatre seat, lots (and i mean lots) of glass + dishwares, toys, etc. there will be a nice new selection at the store now :) i need to go thru more of my stuff that i've just been holding on to and give them another call. i have 2 vintage sewing machines that have been sitting in a spare room since i moved in... time to go! we have a few other pieces of furniture that we need to clear out and make room [old nightstands, dressers] one of these days... plus i'll need to make another trip to goodwill to drop off some clothes.

i "finished" the l'il red riding hoodie from domiknitrix a month or so ago, but i still need to sew the zipper in. once that is completed, i'll have to take some photos to post. its an interesting construction with arm gussets and its going to be super cozy. i've started another quick project, some fingerless mittens/gauntlets. its a nice cabled version so i'm not getting too bored. one down, one to go.

not myself

sigh. its been a long month or so since i last wrote. i've been trying to keep myself busy with freelance jobs. and house stuff. we finally have started back up on the bathroom remodel, along with the linen closet. i framed in the closet over the weekend [just imagine this tiny powerhouse using a nail gun], while ian finished plumbing the bathroom and hanging tileboard. i helped him for a little bit... until part of the ceiling light/fan fixture fell off... directly onto my nose. the metal corner missing my eye by an inch. surprisingly, i did not drop the tile board. my nose is sore, i have a headache, and it makes me grumpy. i went back to drywall-ing the closet.

with it being the "holiday season", i've been sad. i try not to think about it, but with all the damn christmas music playing EVERYWHERE... its hard to ignore it. i feel numb, asleep... its not easy to explain, so i won't. i'm in a time of reflection, looking back on the distant and not-so-distant past. sometimes i don't feel like *me* anymore. i was looking back thru photos and i don't recognize myself anymore. i'm tired. i'm bored... with myself. i need a change, but i'm not sure what. maybe a change of scenery, maybe a haircut, new wardrobe, maybe a change within. i have no idea. i hope i know when i find it.

we had some beautiful weather last week. i was finally enjoying fall. we had lunch outside on wednsday! saturday morning i came downstairs to make some coffee and all the trees were bare. what happened to all the beautiful leaves?

after great pain

how do i write about my fathers death? i feel that anything i say won't be enough, or may sound like just "words". maybe this will help me...i don't know.

we knew he was dying. he moved into hospice care at the beginning of august, with the outlook of 6 to 8 months. i was expecting 6. i was hoping for 8. i never thought it would be 2 months. i feel like i was robbed of those 4 months with my dad.

he tried to hide his pain and suffering from everyone so its hard to realize how bad he was. i saw him the last weekend of september, and i'll cherish that time. since there was no more work left to do on the house, we were able to spend some quality time with him. he was in a lot of pain saturday, and the doctor had given him some painkillers so he was a little chatty. ian and i sat with him after dinner past visiting hours, as he told us stories from his past. we were planning on going back up the weekend of the 12th to visit him and my mom.

i called him on the 6th to thank him for the anniversary card and gift, and to get his advice on buying some trees. we chatted for a little bit, but he was tired and having a hard time breathing, so it was a short call.

on wednesday the 10th, a little after noon, i got a phone call from my mothers nursing home. they said she was really upset about my father passing away. at first i was shocked, then confused, and then a little scared. she couldn't explain why she thought that, but she was upset. [she has dementia, so we didn't really know what was going on]. i called my sister penny, but there was no answer. then i figured, well... i'll just call daddy.

i was never so relieved to hear his voice. we joked a little bit... he was getting a sponge bath, and i let him get back to that. i told him i'd call him a little later. i called the nursing home back and let them know everything was ok. i spoke with penny and she went in to visit him and he was doing ok. only 2 hours later, penny was called back up to the VA and given the news that he had passed away. he was in pain, asked for some medicine, and was gone by the time they brought it back to the room. penny called to tell me the news. in shock, i called ian. thankfully he knew what the tears meant, since i couldn't say a word, and he left work to come home.

later on, we found out from the nursing home that my mom was a wreck between 3:30 and 4, telling them they had to let her go to him, that her husband needed her. when we made it to erie to visit her, she told us that daddy came to her, that he told her he couldn't do it anymore, and held his chest. it gives me chills thinking about that...

she seems to be doing ok.... as ok as can be expected. losing a spouse of 39 years would be painful for anyone. but given her condition... i think it makes things a little worse. she knows he's gone, but i think sometimes she forgets the timeframe and when things have happened. but maybe that makes things easier.

the viewings and funeral, well, what can you say. it was sad, it was painful. it was just horrible. there are really no words to describe everything. i can't remember when i've cried so much in my life. during the viewings, whenever it got too much for me, i would leave and go to the lounge to cry, or walk the hallway. i didn't want my mom to see me so upset because of it possibly upsetting her more. at one point during the service, it really hit me, and a sob came. and all of a sudden, my mom was a "mother" again, and put her arm around me and wanted to comfort me and make sure i was ok. there was a moment of clarity and the roles were reversed and she knew i needed her. it only lasted a minute or so, but it was comforting.

even though my father was in WWII, he did not want a full military funeral. his coffin was draped with the flag [which will eventually go to me when my mother passes], and he had a bagpiper play amazing grace. that was incredibly sad, but really beautiful. we placed flowers on the casket and had to leave. its all a bit of a blur to me.

the days since then have been difficult. i've been hiding out at home, doing a little work to keep me distracted. its so much harder than i ever expected. i haven't been sleeping well. and unfortunately when i wake up, its the first thing i remember. i haven't had much of an appetite, other than for soup. ian's mom has been sending home cookies which have been helping. i've received comments, emails, card, etc... and they all mean so much to me. its comforting to know that my friends are there for me. and i'm gonna need you guys the next few months. thank you so much for all the kind words and thoughts coming my way.

i really miss him. i'd call him every few days, and sit out on the back steps talking to him while sydney played in the yard. i'd always ask him what he had for lunch, and then we'd talk about days of our lives or what old movie he had been watching on tv. he was my go-to guy for gardening questions, and if i really had to wait until after memorial day to plant vegetables outside. he knew everything from quilting to home building and everything in between. he truly was a wonderful man and father.

people always say that you'll get past this. but the real truth is, before you can get past it, you have to live through it.


after great pain a formal feeling comes
the nerves sit ceremonious like tombs;
the stiff heart questions, was it he that bore?
and yesterday, or centuries before?

the feet, mechanical, go round
a wooden way
of ground, or air, or ought,
regardless grown,
a quartz contentment, like a stone.

this is the hour of lead
remembered if outlived,
as freezing persons recollect the snow;
first chill, then stupor, then the letting go.

goodbye daddy

charles truman sanford
june 9, 1927 - october 10, 2007


yesterday afternoon i called my dad to check in on him and see how he was doing... i was interrupting his sponge bath, which we joked about, and told him i would call him back later in the day. a few hours later, he wasn't feeling well and asked his doctor for some pain medication. by the time the doctor brought it back to him, he had passed away peacefully. i didn't get a chance to say goodbye to him, but it helps knowing that he knew i was thinking of him in his last hours.

the funeral is on tuesday. i can barely type that without crying. the loss and pain is overwhelming and indescribable. i'll miss you daddy. tell grandma and grandpa i said hello...

366 days

the days pass before you know it. 1 year. 1 year! we had a quiet weekend in pittsburgh, which was nice in itself. just the 2 of us enjoying our time together. we had a small dinner out on saturday at red room for drinks and appetizers, and then sunday brunch at casbah. it was delicious and romantic... the outdoor seating matched with our choices reminded me of our honeymoon... fresh fruit, coffee and mimosas, it took me back in time. we did a little shopping and purchased our gifts for each other, japanese maple trees for the backyard. its a spin on the traditional "paper" gift, and one that will grow with us. (and yes, we'll be able to take them with us whenever we move.)





we had a quiet evening at home, after picking up some fresh salmon stuffed with spinach and feta at whole foods, along with some tasty mini desserts :)

it was a a very good weekend. here's to many more :)

driving miss aimee

hilton head. the ocean. piggly wiggly. humidity. whats not to love?

the week before we left for hilton head, we were undecided if we were going or not. my father had taken a "turn for the worse" so to say, and i made the drive up to erie to see him. i was pretty worried but spending time with him helped. he seemed to be doing a little better by the end of the week, so we decided to make the drive to south carolina, knowing we could always turn around and come home if needed. thankfully, he's doing well.

we left friday night and made it to beckley before turning in for the night. after a long drive on saturday, we settled into some 90 degree heat. it took a few days to be able to really "relax" and not worry about my family, but i needed to. the house we stayed at was a 2 minute walk to the beach and just beautiful: 6 bedroom/bath, gourmet kitchen with viking appliances, pool with spa...the list goes on and on. we made it down to watch a cloudy sunrise one morning and it was so humid the lens would fog constantly.

fog:


no fog:


many days were spent walking the beach and swimming in the wonderfully warm ocean, then relaxing by the pool.

beach walking:


the last night there the family went on a sunset dolphin cruise which was actually a lot of fun, and we did see quite a few dolphins. we had a nice dinner out, where i had some very delicious seafood. there was a thunderstorm on the way home and we all got soaked, but it was still a fun end to a great vacation. i'm even sporting a post-vacation tan and freckles :)

happy aimee:

work. play.

another beautiful day, another day of freelance work. i can't complain too much, it pays the bills :) i've been pretty busy the past few weeks, and its only going to pick up this week and next. i'll be taking a short break this weekend to go visit my family in erie... my dad has been sick the past week, so i'd like to visit him before we go on vacation next weekend. we'll be making the trek down to hilton head and spending the week at a beach house with ian's family. we went 2 years ago and it was a pretty nice time, with the exception of the long drives. it always seems to take longer than expected. here's a photo from our last trip... i'm hoping to see another sunrise like this :)




this past weekend we did some more work on the house. i've been cleaning / organizing and trying to find some more storage space for the items we've acquired in erie. i cleaned out our attic crawl space [which was not fun in the 90˚ weather!] and started moving boxes in there. i can't even begin to list everything else we've brought down... its overwhelming. maybe once everything is "cleaned up" i can post some finished shots of the house.

the organizing is taking *much* longer than i was planning on... i'm very behind. the house has been taken over and i really need to get it in order, hopefully before the trip.

ian worked on the bathroom again, unfortunately having to tear up the old tile floor. we had been hoping to just tile over it, but while working, ian found some water damage, so... better safe than sorry. the bathroom is now down to the floor joists and ready for a new subfloor.




tan cat hates the noise when we remodel and always finds a little hiding place...




thats it for now. time to get back to work!

and more!

so ian said my last post was a little "boring" for the non-crafties, so here's a house update. we haven't had much time to work on the remodel, but we've accomplished a little bit.

last weekend we took advantage of the blazingly hot weather and worked outside. i cut the lawn and did some landscaping while ian built a storage shed for our lawn tools. he made it look all nice and pretty and even installed a bird feeder so i can watch the birds while i work in my office. unfortunately, he got a bad case of poison ivy in the process and is just miserable. [we believe the poison ivy is coming from the neighbors yard and growing thru the fence :( ]



we've also made a little progress on the master bath. ian had to redo some plumbing and installed the new diverter for the tub and shower. he also ran some new electric work for the new light fixtures and to hook up the whirlpool tub. right now it just sits in the guestroom waiting....



along with the new sink and tile...




hmm... what else? we really need to do some cleaning/unpacking/sorting. we've brought alot of "stuff" home from erie over the past few months. random boxes of stuff that are sitting in our dining room waiting to be put away. which is going to be a BIG task. we don't have much room as it is, so we're going to do some spring cleaning and downsize a bit. get rid of all the clutter and stuff we're saving for a rainy day. craigslist is going to be very happy :)

not much else house wise. hopefully we'll have more to show in another week or 2. in the meantime, enjoy this adorable photo of tan cat, who turned 8 this month. black cat was feeling unphotogenic.

back to regularly scheduled programming

luckily this week, i have another freelance project to distract me. right now, i'm taking a little break to surf the web for inspiration [and to catch up on some blog reading.] i've been inspired by a lot of the work that i've been seeing; i really need to get my ass in gear and start "creating" again. i haven't really sewn anything since the wedding dress, so i've been going thru my fabric stash and whipping up a few pieces.

i also started knitting "tomato" a pattern by wendy bernard this week. its coming along rather quickly, and is good mindless tv knitting. i decided to replace the herringbone pattern with an argyle stripe... i think its a little more "me". i'm using lion brand cotton ease, which is surprisingly nice.








the central park hoodie has been done for months, but i couldn't decide on closures for it. i've been debating frogging the front bands and reworking them with buttonholes. fall will be here before know it, and i'll need a hoodie!

speaking of hoodies, i fell in love with this version of the l'il red riding hoodie from domiknitrix, and now i must make one. trying to find a non-wool bulky weight yarn has been tricky. i wanted something semi-affordable, and possibly machine-washable. i've been trying to steer clear of acrylics, but when i went to pick up the cotton-ease for tomato, i came across some that i decided to try out.



the green is vanna's choice [sad, i know] from lion brand. its 100% acrylic and machine washable... but acrylic. the grey is bernat's cashmere blend, [plus nylon + acrylic]. this is *really* nice for an acrylic blend yarn. i think i may go with this... i even threw it in the wash [it says its hand wash only], and it seemed to hold up, and still remained soft.

i'm a year or so behind on the bandwagon, but i think i might finally make a rusted root 3/4 length sleeve version for fall. i received my invitation for ravelry, and have been making lists and playing around on there. i'm going to need to take and upload a bunch of photos for that. maybe next week i'll get a chance to shoot all of the finished projects so it looks like i've actually accomplished something :) for those of you on ravelry, find me under motionary :)

the end of an anchor

so hand me the rocks, to help weigh me down
and tether my legs with a cord tightly bound
to the end of an anchor, thrown into the sound
and test me to see if I will rise against the worst that it can get

–––––––

last weekend my father was hospitalized when his oxygen levels went dangerously low. scary low. should i pack my bag and drive up in the middle of the night low. he pulled thru and spent a few days in the hospital recovering.

i made the drive up on thursday with the intention of helping penny clean out the rest of my parents house and visiting with my parents. things don't always go as planned tho, do they? my dad was released on wednesday, but not for long. his doctor advised him to consider transferring permanently back into the VA hospital for hospice care. for those of you, like me, who don't know what that is, try googling it. "end-of-life care". the doctor has given him 6 to 8 months to live.

we moved him into the hospice program at the VA on friday. i wasn't really prepared for it. i didn't realize it would be a hospital room... the one he'll be in until he dies. we slowly brought some of his belongings over and hung photos and made it a little more homey. then the task remained of cleaning out the apartment we had just moved them into a month ago. where is my mom living? well, 2 weeks ago, she was transferred into the dementia unit of the same nursing home since she can't live on her own. its been a very emotionally and physically draining few months.

we got alot done at the apartment, but not everything. we sold a few things, donated alot, and gave some stuff away. i took a few of my dads quilts to finish for him. we're storing a bunch of stuff at my sisters house in the meantime. other than the garbage we put out at my parents house on thursday, i never made it back. that will be saved for the next trip. i still need to grab a few things, then help clean so the house can sell. anyone need a 6 bedroom house in erie on 3 lots?

after more cleaning on sunday, we were finally able to spend some time with my mom and my dad. we took her up to visit him and i think that helped both of them. he was in good spirits so i snapped a pic of them for each of their rooms. he insisted on taking off his oxygen tube, so its the first pic in a long time without it.



we stopped in one last time with penny on sunday before making the trip back to pittsburgh. my dad asked what we were doing after he went to dinner and i told him we had to drive back. he looked a little choked up and then said "i don't know what i'd do without you guys." lets just say most of my drive home was spent wiping tears from my eyes.


i think i need to start a new knitting project this week to take my mind off things. that or hitting the gym. just.... something.

i bet my weekend was worse than yours.

an innocent girl. a harmless drive. what could possibly go wrong??*



here's the weekend recap:

1. after last weekends massive weeding/landscaping, i realize i have contracted poison ivy for the first time ever. its miserable. i have an incredibly itchy drive up to erie wearing cut off socks on my arms. now if they were only tube socks, i would've felt slightly more hip.

2. develop a horrible migraine on said drive and am almost nauseous by the time i arrive in erie. drive to my parents house and continue to help my sister sort thru stuff and set up everything for the estate sale the following morning.

3. around 8:30 pm, i start to experience problems with vision in my left eye and cannot see to drive or recognize waving a hand in front of my eye. i have also lost my peripheral vision [this happened before in 2000, when i had a blood clot in my eye.] this lasts til around 2am, when i finally get to bed that night.

4. awaken at 6am to my vision restored [yay!]. drive over to parents house to finish set up for 9am sale. at 8am, family members show up and cause an embarassing scene, accusing us of selling off our grandmothers possessions that belong to them. i try to be the peacemaker in the family and smooth things over. much ruckus is caused and the person running estate sale calls the police. i feel like i am on episode of cops or the jerry springer show.

5. deal with assholes trying to steal depression glass from the house. eat a krispy kreme boston creme donut. this may have been the highlight of the day.

6. upon entering the garage from a side door in the house, a huge 4x4 timber falls and crushes my foot. in a sandal. i yell a profanity loud enough for the shoppers to hear it 6 rooms away. i am put on couch duty of labeling more things and have to ice my foot with a bottle of frozen iced tea. i talk myself out of going to the e.r.

7. by the time we settle down for dinner after 9pm, at least 4 family members have called hearing about the "news" that aimee called the cops on her family. and give us mad props. sigh.

8. sunday morning is off to a good start. business is slow, but we're doing good. *and* i have a mcgriddle and starbucks.

9. ian realizes he locked his keys in the car after the breakfast run. AAA is called.

10. since we drove separately, i have to drive 2+ hours back to pittsburgh with my bum foot. by the time i get home, my foot is throbbing, the headache has returned, and i have an evening of work ahead of me. i draw myself a chocolate milk bath and relax for a good 10 mins. back to work... i've got a deadline!

note to self, call doctor in the am. can't let that aflac accident insurance go to waste.



happier posts to resume this week :)

*sorry, i couldn't resist!

remember to breathe.

phew. by the time i find the time to post, i don't even remember whats been going on. i've been busy working on a freelance project today, just about finishing up. soon it will be time to relax and unwind for the night.

my parent's move went fairly smoothly. as always, it took alot longer than we thought, and had to rearrange their new space a few times to get it to their liking and to mimic the old house as much as possible. the morning after their first night there, we stopped by to all go out to brunch [mmmm perkins]. my mom wasn't feeling well, so she stayed and got some rest. unfortunately that wasn't the problem and the next morning she had to go to the hospital. her kidneys were failing and she wasn't doing very good, so of course i went back up to erie at the end of the week. she was doing a little better, and was released to the nursing home side of where my parents had moved. we tried to divide our time between visiting my mom, my dad, and moving more stuff over from the house.

it was a pretty stressful weekend, sometimes overwhelming. i've seen my dad sick before, but i wasn't prepared to see my mom doing that badly. there are no words to really describe it. it was hard, so i decided to stay until monday morning to see if she was doing better and thankfully she was. she was finally eating a little and able to walk a few steps, so i felt comfortable driving back to pittsburgh. we'll be going up again this weekend to move over the last of their stuff, help out with their estate sale, and bring back the rest of my belongings. the fun part is going thru everything i've stashed away since high school.... prom dresses, corsages, yearbooks, varsity letters.... damn, that was a long time ago.

last weekend we spent here in pittsburgh and got a substantial amount of yard work accomplished. ian built steps from our parking pad to the gate so now we can actually start parking back there. i did tremendous amounts of weeding and tree trimming while trying to get somewhat of a tan, or at least some color. i think i managed a few freckles. one of these weekends we'll need to tackle the master bath as i'm getting tired of walking down 3 flights of stairs to pee in the middle of the night.

looking over my posts, i realize i haven't posted much this year. i'm not exactly sure why. its not that i don't have anything to say, and theres plenty going on. i just haven't been in the right frame of my mind. i've been tired and feeling a little off. maybe i need to finally get back to bally's. i've been looking thru my iphotos and realizing i haven't been shooting much either. i used to shot all the time. maybe i'll just post some old photos to inspire myself. sigh. time to get back to work.

relaunch

i figured it was about time.

check out the new and improved motionary. i still need to fix a few bugs, but its live. send the link to everyone you know and send some work my way :)

you all everybody.

i can't remember the last weekend we spent in pittsburgh. so of course, we're keeping busy. friday night we ran some errands in monroeville, going to record exchange to [obviously] exchange some old cds. after ripping a bunch and realizing its ok to part with cds like abbaesque and random 90s shit, we had about $133 in trade. scored a few dvd boxsets and movies we've been wanting to see, and i picked up the latest r.e.m. best of. then we hit mad mex for some red velvet burrito and a tasty stella to cure my aching head.

saturday was time to catch up on house work; i finally sealed the slate on the front porch [3 tedious coats], planted some basil and refinished a bistro set, while ian built hurricane doors for the cellar. later on mr. meadows visited with his adorable new puppy, then the walters dropped by. it was nice to finally relax :)

the previous weekend we were up in erie, as my dad celebrated his 80th birthday and me and my 2 sisters threw a little bash for him. 80. thats just hard to believe sometimes. he seems to be doing well; as well as can be expected in his condition. my mom, on the other hand, thats a little harder to deal with. i know i don't write about her and her health very often, its something i'm still coming to terms with. but every trip up there, i realize i can't avoid it. several months ago she was diagnosed with alzheimers disease, something noone should have to deal with. its a terrible disease that robs you of your life, and i can only imagine, your sanity. things will only get worse. this weekend i'll be going up to help them start packing up their home of 40 some years and move them into an assisted living apartment. it will be sad seeing the house go to another family, since my grandfather and father built the house.

going back to erie always brings back random memories. at the beginning of the month i turned 34. [wow, i'm getting old!] and i realize i moved to pittsburgh over 12 years ago. where does the time go?? i barely remember that person anymore. i was 21, driving a little beaten up escort named floyd covered with band stickers, living at a howard johnson's while trying to find full time work and a place to stay. true, i'm still looking for work, but i've found my place to stay ;) 21... that was ages ago....

and, i know, i know, i'm only 3 weeks late on this, but... did charlie really have to die? come on... he was a bloody rock god!

distracted.

i think distraction is an understatement. "life" has taken over and i haven't had any time to blog about it.

to sum up.... we finished the master bedroom some time ago. here are some pics to ooh and ahh over. we're still figuring out the furnishings; we need to make a decision on new dressers and nightstands, and then finish "decorating". the chair in the corner is the old pink damask slipper chair that i reupholstered. and, the quilt on the bed was handmade by my dad as a wedding gift for me and ian.





what else... i finished the central park hoodie just in time for the summer heat wave. i still need to sew the closures on, but i'm in no real hurry now. on the plane trip back from france i started on "sahara" from stitch diva and wendy bernard. the construction is very unique and the fit is wonderful, but i've had to re-knit the collar several times. i have very narrow shoulders, and didn't take that into the measurements and fitting. this was pushing the collar up into a mandarin-type style, so i reknit it using short rows so the back of the collar is shorter than the front. i've got a few other projecs in the works, but i'll save those for the next post, along with some photos.

over the long weekend, ian and i finally had a chance to do some more work on the house. home depot was having a great sale on slate [1.25/sq ft !!], so we picked up enough for the main bathroom and porch. taking advantage of the beautiful weather, we tiled the porch on sunday. we'll need to grout sometime in the next few days, but it already looks 100x better than the painted concrete.



time for me to get back to work. hopefully we'll have our back deck underway soon so i can take the laptop out and enjoy this beautiful weather :)

ahhh paris....

the city of lights and romance. kir royales and steak frites. crepes and café au laits. subways and smoke. what a wonderful city :) we really had a great time. we left on thursday, and arrived in philly around 6pm and rushed to the next gate for our connection. we found out the flight was behind, and decided to grab a bit to eat. little did we know as the hours passed by we wouldn't be leaving until 12:30am, 4 hours behind schedule. it was really disappointing; we were supposed to arrive in paris at 9am and have the whole day ahead of us. we ended up reaching paris around 3:30pm. we took the metro to our hotel and had to walk a few blocks in the rain, but we were troopers :) by that point, it was close to 5, and it was really too late to do any of our planned activities, so we grabbed a coffee to go and explored the neighborhood, walking towards the seine and notre dame. funny thing is, the first coffee shop we passed was a starbucks, and we really needed a coffee by that point....soo.... it appears that starbucks in paris is still completely american, and they spelled my name "amy" on the cup. sigh. and the coffee sucked, so we stuck to real cafés over the rest of our trip :)



our first full day there it was still a little chilly and rainy, so we killed a few hours at the louvre. we had our game plan of what we wanted to see, which is a very good idea for anyone going. the place was crazy, and very easy to get lost in. its a beautiful museum with alot to see; you could easily spend a full day there. after finding our pieces [in about 3 hours], we decided to see the rest of the city. over the course of our vacation, we visited the typical spots... the eiffel tower, rodin museum, sacre coeur, and the catacombes. we also tried to enjoy the parisienne lifestyle and wander thru the neighborhoods of saint germain, the latin quarter, the marais, montmartre and montparnasse. it was fun and relaxing [after all of our walking!] to sit at a corner café and enjoy an afternoon snack and just watch the city.







everyone we came across was very pleasant, and although most people spoke at least a little english, we always tried to speak french whenever possible. we enjoyed the food for the most part... tomato/mozzeralla/basil salads were very popular, along with steak frites, duck a l'orange, and onion soup, which we tried all of. we found that the steaks were mostly cooked on the medium rare side, and the onion soups we tried weren't as tasty as we were used to. water was never served at a meal unless asked for. then you were given a bottle and charged about $5 for it. it cost about the same to order a wine/beer as it did to order an iced tea or soft drink. beer selections were fairly limited... usually a choice between a few belgian beers or kronenberg 1664. aperitifs were very common, such as a kir cassis, which was dry white wine with a splash of creme de cassis. very tasty. of course, we stopped at many crepe stands and had our fair share of croissants. one note of interest... when we ordered a coffee [they would always ask, "avec lait?"], and the little pitcher of milk they brought to the table was always hot, so that your coffee would stay hot. odd at first, but it was enjoyable :)

everything in paris is very expensive... from shopping to dining. a coffee usually cost 3.20 euros, which is about $4.25 US. and that does not include a refill. we still enjoyed ourselves and did alot of walking and window shopping. prior to our trip, i had surprised ian with a birthday gift that he would receive in paris.... a tattoo from an artist who he admired the work of. we had sent him a quick sketch and a general idea [a skeleton/skull with a heart]. we arrived at the studio, and he freehanded his idea onto ian's back. five hours later, the tattoo was finished.



we loved the city so much, we decided to stay an extra day! errr... i mean... hmm... the day before our flight, we checked at the hotel front desk to see what time to be at the airport. they said to arrive 1 hour before our flight. so we did. but.... we were not even allowed to check in :( apparently, you need to be there *2* hours early, so we were told to come back the next day to fly standby on the *1* flight a day that goes to philly. we tried to make the best of it and enjoy the rest of our day. luckily we left the airport by 11 am, so we had a full day ahead of us. the next day we were able to make the standby flight [and sit together :)] and arrived in philadelphia around 3 pm, slightly jetlagged. we were on standby for flights to pittsburgh, and of course, all 3 of them were oversold. by 8:30, we were finally headed back home for some much needed sleep.

i miss the croissants and delicious coffee, but its good to be home. check out the rest of the photos on my flickr set.