Every once in a while, a  complete stranger casual acquaintance close friend your mom my mom does something for  you me which restores my faith in humanity.  Like,  rescuing a baby bird that’s fallen out of its nest donating a kidney to a stranger buying me yarn.

Several days ago I was browsing Etsy, as I am often wont to do (not gonna lie, it’s one of my homepages), and I found a skein of yarn at thankewe which was irresistible.  And not just run-of-the-mill irresistible like Viggo Mortensen or chocolate or Viggo Mortensen and chocolate together.  Real irresisible.  As in, email your mom a picture of the yarn in question and then call her and whine about how much you love it.  That kind of irressistible.

However, as you all well know from my utter lack of “OMG I found a job y’all!” posts, I haven’t yet found a job.  So that makes buying yarn a bit frivolous, unless I were to eat said yarn (though it would be a good source of fiber…).  Enter my mom.

She said she wouldn’t buy me the yarn.  She said that yes it was very pretty, but no it wasn’t going to happen.  I believe “because I said so, that’s why” might have slipped into the conversation at some point–old habits die hard, y’know.  So I resigned myself to admiring the yarn from afar (Afar, to me, means clicking over to the yarn’s link every 10 minutes or so, sighing, and weeping onto the nearest cat).

Well, I bet you all know where this is headed…

Imagine my surprsie to find a soft and squishy and thick envelope jammed into the mail slot yesterday afternoon!

Oh no she di’in!

Oh yes she di-id!

So then I screamed and passed out and then I woke up and then I opened the package and then I gazed in awe at the yarn and then I smelled it because that’s what yarn whores do and then I carried it around with me like a security blanket for the rest of the evening and then I dreamt of it as I slept and then I woke up and then I blogged about it and then you read it and thought “she’s crazy.”

But by now I bet the anticipation’s killing ya, isn’t it?  (well, all 3 knitters who read my blog and might even have a passing interest in which lovely I’ve obtained, anyway)

The colorway is called ‘oasis’, and you can sure see why!

I’m having trouble capturing the color accurately–the blues are much more vibrant–even the cool ones, somehow–and the greens aren’t so sickly pale.  I counted, and there are like 12 distinct shades of blue in this thing, in 2 families (the aqua and the cornflower).  Really.

Now only one question remains:  what to make?  It’s sock yarn, of course, and the yardage is really generous–430, according to the label.  So socks are always one option (“Really, Kate?  You make socks?  I had no idea!”).  But I wonder if this yarn isn’t itching to be made into something else…  I’m really loving AeRang, though I don’t know if the complicated lace really suits this variegated yarn.  Same goes for the Swallowtail Shawl (pdf link).

Hmm…I think it’ll probably ‘just’ end up being socks Glorious, beautiful, clear Chucks worthy socks.

PS>No, I wouldn’t really wear clear Chucks.  I have Birkenstocks, mary janes, and Keens for showing off my handknits, tyvm.

PPS>And tyvm, Mom, for the yarn!  Can ya tell I <3 it?

/WW.  <3.

I made these.

I got the idea a year ago (wow was it that long?), about 2 weeks after I started knitting.  You can read about it here. (I was so young and innocent then, and bless their hearts for not laughing at me!)

So I stashed those 3 skeins of Sisu for a while, lah de dah de dah, until I’d made a few other pairs of socks and felt like doing some in st st land (mental note:  WTF was I thinking?!).

Then, back in March, I saw Jessie’s socks, and fell in love with the wide band at the top of the leg idea.  So I added that to my mental assemblage.

And finally, in mid April, I cast on.

Then I got bored, because hey–stockinette in a solid yarn?  YAWN.  So these socks got to piddle-fart around in my Crown Royal bag, lah de dah de dah, until yesterday.

When, in a fit of passion, I sped through the rest of the leg, the heel, and all of the foot.  Just to be DONE with the fuckin’ things, y’know?

Nothing romantic about it; I just wanted to be done with them so I could stop looking at ‘em.

And now, I can’t stop looking at them.  Because finally, my new knitter-ly dreams have been realized.  And since I first started knitting a year ago–in fact, since I first started knitting *socks* 6 months ago–I’ve come so far and learned so much.  And even though now I can whip out complicated lace and cables like nobody’s business, there’s something to be said about a sock that is just smooth, simple, and basic.  And they really don’t come more basic than these, do they?

Except maybe these:

::yawn::  Big gray man socks, for big (not gray) man feet.

This may have had a little something to do with my stockinette frustration.  You don’t know boredom ’till you’ve made men’s size 10 1/2 socks on US1 needles.

Zzzzzzzz…..SNORK!  Oh.  Sorry.  I fell asleep for a minute there.  The socks did it to me.

But really though, I do like them.  And Jeff likes them, which is the most important thing They’re the first socks I’ve ever made him.

And the On Your Toes has been delightful–I love the aloe vera!

Jeff says that I can make his next pair with a ribbed leg–I’m thinking 3×1.  You tell me:  is 7″ of ribbing better, or worse than 7″ of stockinette?  Aye, there’s one for the ages…

Last Monday, Jeff’s parents took us on a short vacation to the Lake of the Ozarks (the “go to” vacation spot for a lot of Missourians).  His parents have some friends/neighbors who own a condo down there, and they let us (Jeff, his parents, and me) use it for a pittance.

I didn’t really take any “woo hoo here’s the condo” pictures, but it was really nice–3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen, screened in porch, etc.  It was in just the right size complex (8 or 9 buildings, maybe?), of 3 condos each.

Here’s my sock (actually, Jeff’s sock) on the first day we were there:

Jeff’s dad spent most of his time manning the grill, and taking care of Molly (she was on the floor, here):

Jeff spent a lot of time staring at the lake and musing upon the futility of existence, or mentally developing a perpetual motion machine, or something:

And I took pictures of cat-shaped plant stands:

The cove and dock (I think the condo was somewhere along the lake’s 23mm):

Molly and Jeff cuddled that night.  And, apparently, Jeff grew extra fingers.  Congratulations to him.

But really, Molly spent most of her vacation alternatingly chilling out:

and investigating the possibility of grill food being dropped:

I don’t know if she ever got any grill food or not.  But I bet she could tell you, if you could learn to speak Daschund.

The next day, we went to this lodge lookout placey thing.  Which had the most incredible lake view ever:

EVER.

They had a rustic checkers-y thing, which I wanted to play.  But no one else would play with me.

Rustic oversized checkers is SO MUCH more fun than regular checkers, you know.  Plus they’re good  if you’re, um, lacking in…um….fine motor control?  Yeah.

Anyway, then the top of Jeff’s head got chopped off:

Yet he kept on smiling.  What a trooper.

Like father, like son:

See?  Because they’re both standing at the railing!  Ha! Ha?  Hmmmm…

Proof that Jeff can act like he likes me (at least when the camera’s on):

From there, we went to the Lodge of Four Seasons (the resort Jeff and I stayed at on our honeymoon) to look around there for a while.  And I saw these flowers:

Aren’t they gorgeous?

Jeff’s mom told me what they were.  Then I forgot.  Because that’s what I do best, y’all.

Random:  there’s a waterfall inside the main building of the lodge.  See?

(it’s where we took this picture, over a year ago)

So now I have one of Jeff’s parents in front of the waterfall, too:

PS:  when I first typed “waterfall” above, I actually typed “waterfally”. Then I spent the next 5 minutes spacing out and thinking about “water folly” and what hijinks that might entail.  Really.  Welcome to my tiny brain.

Ahem.  Anyway.

After that, we went on a short cruise thingy, to look at some of the big fancy houses on the lake.  And I discovered that I have a tendency to feel a bit seasick:

Jeff doesn’t have that tendency, lucky bastard.

However, he does get carsick.  And we ride in cars much more than we ride on boats, so I think I win that one.  HA!  And HA! again!

On the cruise, we saw this super nifty house, which was the very image of a 1970’s grotto.   If they made grottos in the 1970’s.  I dunno…did they?

I should note, here, that all of this merriment was interspersed with much pool swimming.  To the extent that I would wake up in the morning and put on my swimsuit instead of clothes, ’cause I knew I’d be changing soon anyway.  That kind of swimming.  I love that.  LOVE.

Also, by necessity, I love my oil-free, sensitive skin, SPF45 lotion.

The next day–Wednesday, I think?–Jeff and I hit up the Osage Beach outlet mall, and Starbucks.  Which had a hole in it:

(What, you think I was lying?)  It looked like someone drove their car through Starbucks. Which doesn’t really make much sense, because there’s a perfectly good drive-thru on the other side of the building.  But there’s no accounting for taste, or something.  No, wait–there’s no accounting for drunk vacationers!  That’s it!

I also saw a cute car, and captured it forever in my memory and my heart:

Doesn’t it sort of look like the one from Get Smart?  Maybe?  I dunno…I’m not a car person.

Moving on!

Wednesday was, without a doubt, the most traumatic day of the whole vacation.  Because I swam in the lake.  Seriously!  Ugh!  I couldn’t see my toes, or anything.  And I wore a life jacket.  But dudes, I couldn’t see my feet! The water was so murky and…lake-y.  Full of fish poop, I’m sure.  Ewwwwwie.  I can’t believe I did that.

Behind this smile, is fear.  Pure fear:

Also, check out the new sunglasses.  Aren’t they cute?  $9.99 at the Fossil outlet!

Jeff had no fear in his smile:

Only ridicule, of his silly wife.  Hey, it’s OK.  I’d ridicule me, too.

Jeff’s parents were probably ridiculing me, too.

But I’m serious, people.  I couldn’t see my toes!  Or for that matter, my legs at all!  A fish could’ve bitten me!  Or touched me!  Ewwwwwwww.

But I did finally get in the lake, because I had a strong motivation:

Molly can swim! (with her life jacket of course)

Look at her go!

She doesn’t really like swimming, so she tries to get from point A (Linda) to point B (Jeff or Bob) as quickly as possible:

When she swims, her tail wags and splashes water everywhere:

Then when she gets to you, she’s SO HAPPY to be safe, that she licks your nose in appreciation:

It was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

So that’s what motivated me to get in an let Molly swim to me once or twice.  Only then we were all in the lake, and there was no one to take pictures.  So you’ll just have to trust me.  Please trust me.

After the lake, Jeff spent some time making up and solving differential equations in his head:

While his mom and I stared at the lake:

(ugh…thunder thighs FTL)

Then it was time for the pool again!

I love when it gets completely glassy like that.  And I also love jumping in and ruining the glassyness.  I’m sure that says something significant about my psyche.

Jeff worked on his tan for a while, while I added another layer of the SPF45 and worked on my pasty.

But hark!  What is this?  A tan line?!

(more like a freckle line)

No worries, the other 99% of me is still lily white:

Also, for the rest of my life whenever anybody wants to see a picture of me, I’m going to give them this one.  Even when I’m 75.  It’s called ‘lying’, kids.  Or, if you wish, ‘denial.’

After our third swim of the day, Jeff and I headed off to dinner at one of our favorite Lake restaurants:

(we ate there on our honeymoon, too)

I took this photo to mark the momentous occasion in which Jeff seriously contemplated chucking my camera into the lake:

I think you can see the anger in his eyes and the hatred in his soul.

Not that I cared, for I was soon in possession of the best grilled chicken sandwich ever (mmmm sourdough):

(I forgot to take a picture before I ate part of it.  But it was stellar.  STELLARRRRR!!!)

and the best bloody Mary ever:

Grilled chicken sandwiches and bloody Marys tend to make me care not so much about the hatred in my husband’s soul.

Also, I hid the camera so he couldn’t chuck it into the lake.

After dinner we headed back to the condo for another swim, then came back to St. Louis (relatively) bright and early the next morning!  It was a really fun vacation, and I’m really glad that Bob and Linda let us tag along.  Even if I did risk having a fish bite my leg.

Hello, Blog.  I’ve missed you.  I’ve thought about you constantly.  I’ve jotted notes to myself, about things to tell you.

But then I haven’t written.

And now that I am writing, I’ve apparently forgotten how to create witty titles or write about interesting things.  Yes, Blog, I know, I’ve failed you once again.

So here is a photo of my mortal enemy:

Aaah!  Moths!

It makes me want to invest in a cedar closet.  Hold on, let me pass that idea by Jeff.  If I’m not back in 5 minutes, you can assume I’m weeping inconsolably in disappointment at my flat-out rejection by him.

.

.

.

::crickets
.

.

Hold on, let me get a kleenex and wipe that last tear from my eye.  SNORK.    Eww.  (Am I the only person who’s amazed when I blow my nose and I’ve been crying and the snot is perfectly clear?)

Even though Jeff is the meanest meanie poo ever, he does stomp on bugs for me:

Giant ones.  In the Monsanto Insectarium.  Damn you, Monsanto!  (for a variety of reasons, which I shall not delve into right now).

Here, you can observe another popular zoo exhibit:  the failus faceus makingus.

The failus faceus makingus is a species of near-human intelligence, characterized largely by the inability of males and females making humorous or grotesque faces at the same time.  When the male of the species makes a humorous or grotesque face, the female does not.  And, as you can see in the following image, vice versa:

So let’s just look at a baby giraffe instead:

I brought it home with me and right now it’s sitting next to my computer and licking my arm.  That means it’s hungry.  Which is unfortunate, because giraffe food is hella expensive.

Giraffes always have been my favorite, you know.  I’m so happy to own one now.  I’m going to go put scrunchies in its mane and knit it a scarf and teach it how to give the cats a ride.

OK, you called my bluff.  I returned the giraffe yesterday, as he kept smacking his head on the doorframes.  Who knew a tiny baby infant would be 7 feet tall?

I’ll leave you with this trio of prairie dogs:

I almost brought them home, too, but they would’ve turned into cat food.

PS>These photos were taken with my new P&S camera, which I’ll blog about sometime very soon.  All of the animal photos were taken on the auto setting, at 7x zoom.

Last weekend I scouted out a few antique stores here in University City, and actually stopped by in one.  It was amazing–one of the best antique stores I’ve ever been in–and I’ll definitely be back.

But I was good, and we’re currently poor, so I only came home with three things:

For $2.00, 8 embroidered linen napkins:

And for $3.00, a wire egg basket sock basket:

For $12.00, a stoneware casserole dish:

(which is just begging to have something cheesy and gooey and fattening made in it)

Alas, it’s not signed:

And I’m not ruling out the possibility that it was mass-produced, though it doesn’t seem to have obviously been mass-produced, either.  Not that I care–I still think it’s gorgeous

Soon I will check out the shop next door, which seemed even larger and, I think, more promising…though we’ll have to wait until we have some extra income, to find out!

I’ve been knitting.  I finally finished Cozy, which I started in [checks Ravelry]…March.  Wow.  Full of fail, I am.

Brown Sheep worsted, in “midnight”.  It’s so cozy.  The lace pattern was incredibly easy to memorize, and even the WS is beautiful.  I can easily see myself making another one of these sometime–it’s just that pretty

(See my roots, Mom?  Come to St. Louis!  Now!  Your root fixing skills are required–stat!)

The lace pattern sort of reminds me of pinecones:

Sort of.  Tilt your head to the right.  There it is.  See?  Kind of?

Well, whatever.  Pinecones or not, I like it.

PS>I rushed desperately in order to finish it in time for the Shakespeare festival, and threw it on at the first hint of a breeze–even though it was still 80* out.  Hey, I’ve got my priorities–showing off knitwear is high up on that list.

(from Garfield minus Garfield)

I’m applying for a lot of jobs.  A lot.  And I’m hoping to get an interview really soon.

But y’all know how my motivational systems work:  the idea of being chucked out onto the street, of having to eat our cats to stave off starvation, the idea of giving up digital cable–that doesn’t do a lot for me.  I mean it does, but, y’know…it won’t get me off my ass.

The idea of getting a new suit, something to wear to a job interview, though, that does a lot.  A LOT.  So I went and bought one.  And now I’m *highly* motivated to find an interview at which to wear this thing.

It’s funny how my mind works sometimes, isn’t it?

Y’all might recall that my past jobs have all involved either 1) a uniform or 2) ripped jeans and an old hoodie.  I have also been known, once, to wear a wedding dress.   But never before have I had a job (or even, really, an interview) which required a suit.  It was a whole new experience for me.

So yesterday I hit up Macy’s sale, and came home with this:

Suit is by Anne Klein, and it’s a dark charcoal grey with a really faint line-y checker-y thing.  And the jacket is too big in the middle (bane of my existance), and the pants are too long (see: bane), so I will have to get it altered.  But for only $120, it wasn’t too bad.  Also, I love the styling–the jacket is just the right length, and I like how it’s angle-y yet still feminine.

Also, that’s the ONLY white button-down shirt I could find in Macy’s.  Really. Only one.

But I also found this one!

(I promise my arm isn’t really the size of a small whale.  Really)  And at $9 on clearance for the shirt above, you can’t go wrong.  Unless you wear it to a job interview.  But I wouldn’t do that.

Then I went to Old Navy, and got this shirt!

It’s blue!  With stripes!  And you can’t tell!  But that’s OK!  You’ll just have to trust me!  Really!

So I got home and called my mom and was all excited about what a good grown up I’m being, and then the whole world was happy.

And then today, Mom told me that I really need another suit too.  One with a skirt.  So back to Macy’s I went, and found this one:

And zomg…the pencil skirt is *perfect*.  And the jacket needs no tailoring at all–it fits perfectly!

And guess what else?  $27.00.

No, really.  2.  7.  Dollars.  Clearance sales, I love you.

After I finished passing out, I bought it.

Then I went next door to Express, and got 2 of the most perfect shirts ever.  (Now is when I discover that the shirts aren’t listed on their website.)

One is the blue one above, the other is sage green, and they’re AMAZING.  $39.50 each (green one was on sale half off).  They’re super long so they tuck into skirts or pants and don’t get all floofy, and they’re cut to actually cover my boobs AND be fitted in the waist.  I’ve never before owned a shirt that has done both those things.  Should I find an officey job, one which would require numerous button-down shirts, you can bet your bippy that I’ll be buying more of these.

Because that’s what you do when you’re me, and when most of your outfits involve Levi’s and t-shirts and flip-flops.

But hot damn…pinstripe pencil skirt?  I could get used to dressing up, if it involves pencil skirts

/(giddy) WW.  <3.

But you know how it goes.

At any rate, here it is…the super-deluxe tour of our new house!  Woo hoo!

For those who don’t (or didn’t bother to try to ) remember, here’s the outside:

Jeff and I have spent the past two weeks buying lots and lots of things to fill up the inside…more things than one might imagine.

And believe you me, the irony is not lost on me that just 3 weeks ago we held a massive yard sale to get rid of most of our Stuff, the majority of which we just turned around and replaced with New Stuff (albeit, much better New Stuff).

Par example, a real welcome mat!

($9.99 at Target, made of recycled tire rubber.  It also happens to be the *only one* Jeff and I could even remotely agree on.)

and as if that’s not enough, we’ve also got one *inside*!  (Whoa now, livin’ like fancy people!)

(that Cards one was a wedding gift from one of my favorite high school teachers)

You walk in the front door and immediately head up the stairs (wow, that writes like a Choose your Own Adventure story.):

doesn’t it look so warm and inviting?

Now we’re standing on the landing, looking back down toward the front door:

I’m currently in the process of looking for a really kick-ass wrought iron wall sculpture to hang on that big blank space–give Jeff something else to bonk his head on

I picked this shelf up at a garage sale for $2.00:

The pottery was done by art students at my alma mater, and I just picked up that plaster carving of a fairy at the St Louis Renaissance Festival, which we went to on Saturday (it’ll get its own entry someday soon).

Now let’s follow Jeff up the rest of the stairs, into the living room!

And here it is…

We just bought that awesome sofa–got a great deal on it at Weekends Only.  The lowboy (currently serving as a coffee table) is a family piece from my side, and the chair is from Jeff’s.

This is what I see, when I sit on the couch:

The reason the couch is in the middle of the room, is because our TV is (obviously) too small–we tried putting the couch against the back wall, but then it was like watching video on an iPhone held at arm’s length.  We also need something cool to hang above the TV–I’m thinking a quilt wall hanging.  Someday.  Oh yeah, and we need new easy chairs.  And a new coffee table.  And a new entertainment center.

Here’s the huuuuge radiator under the front window, and the side table that we just bought.

Only $34.00 at Lowe’s, and it fulfills one of Jeff’s life dreams:  to own a table and lamp in one. Fine by me…and now he can never say that I don’t let him have any input in the decor!  (also, see our nifty new digital picture frame?  A housewarming gift from my parents And speaking of ‘warm’, the radiator makes a nice resting place for my current WIP)

This is the wall opposite the picture window, and it’s home to our wall cubbi (cubbies?):

From bottom to top…

Jeff’s daschunds (a gift from my mom):

(I love their sweet little faces)

The big cubby holds a wooden rose (also from this weekend’s Ren Fest), and my fairies:

The mom of one of my students made them for me–they’re supposed to represent me and Jeff–and I love ‘em so much:

And finally, the top cubby:

The bigger vase is from the dollar store, and the smaller cup is from a garage sale (hey, *everything* can’t be special.  Make up an interesting story about them if you want–perhaps they were an archaeological find from my trip to Persia when I was a tender lad of 9.)

Now we zoom back out, and look across the way, back toward the front window.  See this clock?

This, my friends, is no ordinary clock.  Oh, no.

This is the clock which resulted in a nearly 20-minute discussion in the middle of Target–to purchase or not to purchase?  Should we get the smaller one with the pendulum? The larger one that’s just plastic?  On and on and on in circles…so I really hope y’all FREAKING LIKE IT!  BECAUSE WE’RE NOT TAKING IT BACK!!!  You’re stuck with it now, Buster!

Ahem.  Allow me a moment to compose myself.  I’ll just take ya out to the balcony:

We have our camp chairs set up there, because we’re Classy People.  Classy People who can’t afford a proper outdoor seating arrangement, TYVM.  It shall be forthcoming soon, lest the neighborhood association (there isn’t one) cite us for it.

Or, now that I think about it, maybe we’ll just swing the other way–start eating KFC and watching rasslin’ on our portable TeeVee right there on the balcony, spittin’ our chewing tobaccey over the side of the balcony, down onto the Camaro up on blocks that we’ll leave in the front yard.

Or, um, maybe we won’t.

Now because I’m all about honesty, here are the flowers I bought last week, with every honest intention of planting:

Obviously, I fail.  I think this is one of my Johnson genes at play, as these tendencies are well documented throughout my mother’s lineage–just like the affinity for baking, and the moles on our right thighs.

Back inside, here’s that empty, sad, abandoned, back half of the living room:

(see that TV stand holder?  I assembled it myself!  Be proud!  And see that TV stand that’s acting as an end table?  That’s a temporary measure!  I assure you!  And see that ugly white pole lamp thing?  I hate it!  I really do!)

We have big plans for the back half of the room–maybe a sofa table and some bookshelves?  Maybe an aquarium? Maybe getting a bigger TV and moving the sofa all the way back?  So many possibilities…I know y’all can’t wait to see which one we go with.  It’ll be like Christmas when you find out, won’t it?  I know, I can hardly wait.  Hardly.

(PS:  remember these wall hangy things?):

It’s such a nice feeling to see everything fall into place, isn’t it?

Now we move into the dining room:

where there must apparently be a carbon monoxide leak, given the comatose state of these cats:

(I took this picture 3 hours ago, and the cats are still in the exact same position.  I just went and poked them and they glared at me, though, so I know they’re OK.  Or at least, as OK as they ever are)

The table and chairs were lent to us by Jeff’s parents, as a stand in until we find the type we’re looking for:

They also lent (though hopefully for a longer period of time–I really like this piece!) us a corner cabinet thingymajig:

Right now it’s displaying a few things fro m the wedding and some of my Currier and Ives (the blue and white china), though hopefully someday I’ll have a full china cabinet for all that.

(Top row l-r:  toasting flutes, a cobalt vase, and our cake topper.  Middle row:  a Currier and Ives covered vegetable dish (very rare, very expensive, very treasured by Yours Truly) and some milk glass from my grandma.  Bottom row:  Currier and Ives creamer and sugar set, and a melty candle wax tealight thingy)

Aforementioned china cabinet will also, hopefully, serve as a more appropriate storage method for our wedding china:

Something about the “cardboard boxes in front of the radiator” aesthetic just doesn’t really appeal to me…iunno.

Next up is our super-exciting and highly unusual…bathroom!

All right, you caught me.  It’s neither super-exciting *or* unusual.

But it does have a nifty brown and blue shower curtain!

And matching towels!

And a (entirely coinciental) matching floor!  This matchy-matchy business…soooo not me, but I admit it is rather nice–in a small space like the bathroom, at least

I bought this at Bath and Body Works yesterday:

It has been five years since I had regular access to an actual bathtub, so I indulged in a bottle of “foam bath” (they’re too fancy to say ‘bubble bath’ round those parts!) in my signature scent.  I fully intend to use some later tonight!

Heading into the kitchen…

Immediately on the left is our napkins/phone charger/keys/mail/cookbooks station:

(those j, k, and h magnets came from Target’s “dollar spot” a couple years ago)

The fridge is populated by my fine art watercolors, which have moved with us into what is now our third home in as many years:

And my trusty friend “Ow” the plant, and our small collection of Aldi’s finest wines, are comfortably at home on top:

Across the room, here’s half the kitchen counter and cabinets:

complete with my small carnival glass collection on the cabinets above the stove:

The dishwasher and sink are just down the way:

and we’ve already put the dishwasher to use a time or two:

(obviously that was taken before we’d finished unpacking!)

I’ve hung my doll-sized collection of cooking utensils on the cabinet closest to the sink:

and set up all the windowsill essentials (recipe box, garlic keeper, kitchen timer, herbs, bowl for my jewelry, candle, small plants, and cat treats):

I got these also at the “dollar spot” last week, and now it’s just a matter of getting them started–or attempting to, anyway!

(y’think the tomato one will grow miniature tomatoes? )

We even have a real proper pantry, with real proper space to hang my real proper aprons!:

And next to the pantry is my memo board, which I bought before I went to college:

(Aunt Anita?  I love the graduation card you sent!  See it up there?  It makes me smile every time I pass by )

While I was taking pictures in the kitchen, Macbeth took it upon himself to puke, so Jeff got down the paper towels to clean it up:

We avoid using paper products whenever possible (we use cloth napkins and rags when we can)–that’s why the paper towels are so ‘hidden’, but cat puke is our one big exception!

Mmm…now that we’re discussing cat puke, who wants a brownie?

peanut butter chocolate chips on top!

Just for kicks, I opened up all the cabinets to show the wedding gifts they’re filled with:

I like it so much, I may just keep them that way–it’ll remind me of home (sorry Dad! But I guarantee Mom’s laughing)

And also just for kicks, here’s the silverware I picked out–also from Target (Target has been receiving more than its fair share of our money lately):

I picked it out knowing Jeff would love it and, sure enough, as soon as I showed it to him he said “It looks elven!”  So I guess that’s a compliment from him

And these are the super duper awesome salad tongs that were a wedding gift:

Don’t ask where they came from–I don’t know.  But I love them!  Love, love, love them!

Becha you’ll never guess where I found my super cool canisters!

(Hint:  T_rg_t).  I love them because theyr’e vintage-y and remind me of fresh-baked bread, gingham aprons, and home grown tomatoes.  I have high expectations for these canisters (can you teach a canister to grow tomatoes?), they’d better not let me down!

Finishing up the tour of super awesome kitchen stuff, here’s our kitchen wall clock:

Also picked out by Jeff, and more than a little Dali-esque, no?  I <3 it

All right, I think that’s enough of THAT nonsense…if y’all would let me, I’d go on all day about other things in my kitchen that I love…my Henckel knives, my Pyrex storage set, my collection of unusual bundt pans, my ice cream cups.  So you’d better just stop me now, m’kay?

Here, let’s look at the nook instead:

It’s rather empty right now, home only to odds and ends, and these little bits of necessary evil:

Yuck.  Who wants to come clean these for me?  I know I have St. Louis area readers!  Please?  Pwease?

We’ll skip the boring linen closet (contents:  towels, sheets, and the vacuum) and head toward the bedroom:

Jeff’s mom and I painted one area a darker green (”Shakespeare”, according to the folks at Valspar), and the other two walls a lighter chartreuse color (”Reed Yellow”, they say–though any idiot can tell it’s green).

That’s the darker color above–I love how it envelopes the sleeping area–very cozy and calm.
(ps–we’re getting a bedframe and nightstands soon–just as soon as I can find the perfect ones.  For now, a mattress on the floor shall suffice)

The brighter color works well with the opposite wall’s windows, and the area that will ultimately display our quilts:

(Yeah, I’m lounging on the bed).  Also, notice all those boxes?  We’ve only got one dresser so far–more on that in a moment–so my clothes are still living in boxes until we can get another one.  Whee.

See?  My clothes.  Boxes.

And now, photos of my bra collection all over the Internet.  Shame?  I have none, apparently.

Speaking of dressers, here’s one we bought right before we left Kirksville:

I found it for $98 in a used furniture shop.  It was filthy, missing part of its hardware, scratched and in a generally shitty state.  But I thought it had good bones and loved its (approximately) Depression-era age and style, so I convinced Jeff to let me take it home, where I bought new hardware from T_rg_t (the hardware it had on it wasn’t original, so that was already a lost cause) and a finish touch-up pen.  I scrubbed it down twice with a damp cloth then gave it three coats of lemon oil, switched out the hardware and repaired every tiny scratch and dent in the surface and now–WOW.  I’m really stinkin’ proud of myself for this one, dudes.  I just wish I’d taken a before picture.

And, just because I can, I put a picture of Turk and Carla on top:

Okay, okay, ya got me:  it’s the photo that came with the frame.  But since we have no wedding photos of our own to speak of, this one will have to suffice until I get ahold of my own.  Besides, she’s prettier than me anyway.

The last interesting bit of the bedroom is, of course, our closet.  It’s the most closet space I’ve had in a looooong time–it was even big enough to fit in Jeff’s clothes, too!

And check out the fancy light I installed all by myself:

Installing it was a bitch.  I had to cut a hole in the drywall, then send down a trained rat to find an appropriate wire.  I lured the rat back with a bit of peanut butter on a spoon, then used my mad electrician skills to join the wire to..um…another wire.  Then I returned the rat to the pet shop, and attached this light and used, um…hidden screws?  to hold it in place.  Yeah!  That’s what I did!

(reality:  insert 4 AA batteries.  Drive a nail.  Hang light on nail.  Stand back proudly and admire the soft, moonlight-esque glow of your brand new stick-up lamp)

Meanwhile, the Orange Blur came to investigate:

We’ll round out the tour with the catch-all room, the room that needs the most work (and needs a name):

right now it houses Jeff’s computer and study area:

my laptop and sewing table:

all our books (still boxed up, due to lack of bookshelves):

and my yarn closet:

and a dead mouse:

Somehow, we’re probably going to try to rearrange things, and fit in a futon for guests as well.  And we’ll also hang things on the walls.

So, what do you think? There’s still so much to be done, but I also can’t believe what we’ve accomplished in just 10 short days!  With lots of help from Jeff, of course, and from both sets of parents

I’ll keep y’all updated, of course, as we make it better and better!