August

August News:

We are STILL in Iowa

That's about all that can be said for August. 

Oh wait...I played one round of golf and made the best shot of my life - a 60+ yard chip right into the cup.  SWEET!!

And I had some more big-girl coloring time in my kitchen (I really only use my kitchen to dye yarn...Randy has to do all the cooking if he wants to eat!!)

Now, THAT'S all that can be said for August

What Happened to July?

So, I just realized that my last post was in June.  What happened to July?  This year is flying by - and not in a good way - more of a "Oh no...I thought we'd be outta here before the end of summer"  way.   Hahaha...we continually find that life cannot be planned out and perfectly executed - so we will continue to wing it, and just enjoy the ride! 

July was HOT, humid and rainy for most of the month, which meant NO GOLF for me.  It rained every day that I wasn't working, but that's okay, I'll survive.  Early in July we spent a long weekend in Colorado, scoping the place out.  It was nice to see mountains again - Oh, glorious mountains, how I have missed them! 

We finished off July in Wisconsin, fishing on Lake Michigan.  Again, it was hot and humid...and rainy.  Over the course of our 2 days of fishing, we braved the rain, heat, humidity, freaky-thick fog, and horrible swarms of mosquitos.  We had FUN  (that is NOT said in a sarcastic tone...we really DID have fun!)  and came away with about 50 lbs of king salmon!! 

In between our out-of-town adventures, we spent our free time installing a vinyl floor in the basement and various other little home improvements...

(Before)

(After)

I also kept myself busy during my "free" time with all sorts of yarn play - I learned how to cable and I got to dye my own yarn which turned out lovely 

Wilton's icing dyes makes yummy colors

All in all, July was a great month full of adventure - but it seemed like I blinked and it was over.   

Hi...my name is Suzy and I'm a (developing) yarnaholic.  I am an addict...obsessed with all things yarn.  It is my crack and Jessi is a B-A-D influence on me!!  LOL  Over the Memorial day weekend, I went to Coralville and spent Saturday with Jessi.  It was my 12th anniversary.  I spent it playing with yarn, not my husband.  I'm bad, I tell you...addicted to yarn crack.  Of course, Bubba and I had a lovely evening together to celebrate 12 years of love and marriage, so at least he wasn't totally ignored.  Besides, he spent our anniversary playing Call of Duty and thought I was only gone two hours, not the eight hours I was really gone - so we both had fun, which set the tone for a great weekend. (Disclaimer: we were supposed to spend the day on the golf course, enjoying our anniversary TOGETHER, but his shoulder injury flared up and his doctor ordered him to take it easy for a few days, which meant no golf.  So, he would have spent the day playing that blasted video game whether I was home or not)

These are some of my recent acquisitions...I love the pretty colors - they entice me to spend money and I just can't resist. 

 

 Bubba made me a cool new tool to use to help me with my yarn winding...a yarn swift from pvc.  I eventually want a beautiful wooden one that can mount to the wall and a table, but I will have him do that after we are set up in the new house.  Besides, I have NO space in this house for a table-top swift, so this floor model is perfect - and it easily comes apart for storage.  This works wonderfully and cost less than $20 (which means more $$ for my habit!!)

Cold Feet - Warm Socks

Yay for me!  I finally finished my very first knitted socks - and just in time because they are wool and the weather turned cold this weekend!  They are a tad big, even though I made them toe-up and tried them on numerous times, and the heels looks funny when they're not on my feet (actually the entire sock looks clown-like without my tootsies in them, but who cares...right?!)  I have to say that knitting socks two at a time on two circular needles was actually enjoyable...I might have stumbled upon ANOTHER addiction  LOL
I even have left over yarn...maybe I will have to make a sock yarn blankie too, just like Jessi!  :)

Ugh...

So much to do, and I don't want to do it!  Laundry has completely gotten away from me, but why?  There's only the two of us.  I am trying to get all the blankets washed, coats, etc and packed away, but that just takes time away from regular laundry.  And then there's the packing and organizing.  REALLY?  I am at the point where I just want it all gone. 

I packed up all my craft stuff last weekend - 18 boxes worth.  They are all taped up, labeled and packed neatly away in the crawl space.  Now I'm re-thinking that.  Do I really want to haul all that stuff across the country so it can sit in boxes for months or most likely years?  Should I just get rid of it all? I was very inspired after visiting Jessi yesterday, as she had a very valid point - if I EVER decide to stamp again, will the stamps I have even be "in style" anymore? And all that ink would just be dried up.  Maybe I should go through it and sell most, if not all of it now and save myself the headache later.  So, does anyone want to buy my stuff at a discount?! 

Ok, back to organizing and packing - my third bedroom is now the catch-all room.  It should be the guest room.  We have a bed in there, but it is standing on end with tons of stuff (mainly for Goodwill) piled around it.  Our close friend Jason in coming down from Wisconsin tomorrow and the boys will be doing some spring Turkey hunting in the mornings and basement remodeling in the evenings this week.  This means I need to spend all my non-laundry time today trying to get things packed or removed and donated from this black hole of a space by tomorrow.  Ugh...I wish I had $$ so I could just hire someone to do all this tedious crap for me and I can just play all day.  I got some yummy new yarn to play with yesterday when I visited Jessi and I just want to park my butt on the couch and knit.  Or maybe golf first (the weather is beautiful) and THEN knit!  Decisions...LOL 

It's Official!!!

Well, I guess it's old news now...but it's official - Randy graduated and is now a doctor!  WOOHOO (you can't see it, but I'm doing the happy dance)!!

Okay, so now what?  Our time in Iowa is drawing to a close and it's time for a new adventure in Colorado.  I do have to say that I'm excited to be leaving Iowa (and I won't be sad leaving our little home in the ghetto), but I have a lot of great memories, met some incredible people and made wonderful friends.   I guess it's time to get to work and get the heck outta here  :)

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways....

1.  You make me feel safe when I'm with you

2.  You are bright and shiny, like a new penny

3.  You are technologically advanced and fun to play with

4.  You are comfy

5.  You are easy to handle, even in tough conditions

6.  You are strong and rugged

7.  You are dependable

8.  You have great features

9.  You turn heads when we go places

10. You are well built and FORD tough

Although these things describe my Bubba, who I LOVE with all my heart, I'm actually talking about this:

 Our brand-spankin' new 2010 FORD F-150

Our poor old truck had enough and we had to let her go.  With no warranty and looking at a buch of $$$ in engine repairs that we couldn't do ourselves, we decided to trade her in for a new model while we still had good equity.  It was a cold and snowy night - much too cold to be walking around the car lot trying to find THE truck, so we drove off the lot with a demo truck and had it for a couple of days before taking it back, knowing that it wasn't the truck for us.  After a lot of looking, our salesman finally found the truck we wanted - or at least the closest thing to it.  We still had to pay for a chrome package that we didn't want, but we got a couple extras that we weren't expecting, so it made up for all that chrome.  Oh, and it's RED!  Happy Valentines Day!!