Man oh man. What a busy couple of weeks! Lots of house stuff and work stuff has kept me from blogging (but it’s given me a lot to blog about!).
First of all, my work stresses are over… for now. The grant application was submitted and my tenure file was turned in for my 3rd year review. I’m sooooo glad to have that damn thing off my shoulders. It’s been stressing me out for months. But not anymore! I’m enjoying a celebratory glass of wine!
And we are doing tons of stuff around the house. First of all, remember the new chairs I mentioned in my last post? Well they came and they both fit in our tiny house! So my new favorite knitting spot is this new leather chair… MY chair…
It’s so comfortable! I love it!!
And ever since Geoff and I got central heating and air installed back in February, we have been puzzled by what to do with this…
That is a window a/c unit in the wall of our kitchen. Removing it would leave a gaping hole in the wall and patching it would have been difficult because on the interior wall there is wood paneling that’s been painted (so a patch made of drywall would have been noticeable) and trying to match the siding on the outside of the house would have been almost impossible. What to do?
I know! Make the hole BIGGER and fill it with something pretty!
As you can see, we are still doing some painting and touch-ups (and are getting ready to paint the kitchen a different color), but I love all of the light that the kitchen gets now! And now while dining we can look out on our side patio. And it has a great ledge for potted plants and herbs! I want to find some cute pots!
We also tore down the screen on our porch and reframed it to replace some rotting wood (you can see a teeny bit of it in the left of the window above). Plans in the coming weeks include painting and rescreening so we can enjoy some nice dinners on it during the fall. And my big strong hubby gave us a new driveway by putting down 6 tons of gravel and he jackhammered and removed the very old ugly sidewalk that led up to our front door. We are planning on replacing it with a nice walkway made of flagstone. Lots of excitement in our little home!
All of this craziness has led to a noticeable lack of knitting the past couple of weeks. I had been cranking out that blanket for my nephew and then hit the brakes HARD. I just finished up that second strip over the weekend and went ahead a seamed up those first two strips. Just two more strips to knit and seam and then add a border! You can see it in the above picture draped over my chair. I’m hoping that now that my life is a bit less stressful, I’ll regain that knitting momentum and finish that blanket soon!
I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! Geoff and I went to see Little Miss Sunshine Friday night and we LOVED it. Hilarious. Go see it!
Just three more days in my work week! I love long weekends!
Amy
September 5, 2006 at 10:49 pm (17 years ago)Your new window is gorgeous! Ron and I caught Little Miss Sunshine over the weekend, too. What a terrific flick with interesting characters! It was so enjoyable that I think I’ll need to get the DVD just to watch the commentaries. Hope to see you at SnB soon. -Amy
Elli
September 5, 2006 at 11:18 pm (17 years ago)Yay for redecorating! I know I must be a complete nut but I love nothing more* than reading about what people are doing to their houses. I think the window solution is brilliant!
*after knitting, naturally.
amanda
September 6, 2006 at 10:41 am (17 years ago)We just finished (like, 2 days ago) repainting and rescreening our porch. I had ugly astro-turf that got dumped and we painted the floor a nice light brown color. We even put in a doggie door that our dogs are actually using. Good luck with your project! Make sure you buy enough staples – we didn’t 🙂
amanda
September 6, 2006 at 10:41 am (17 years ago)We just finished (like, 2 days ago) repainting and rescreening our porch. I had ugly astro-turf that got dumped and we painted the floor a nice light brown color. We even put in a doggie door that our dogs are actually using. Good luck with your project! Make sure you buy enough staples – we didn’t 🙂
heather
September 6, 2006 at 11:50 am (17 years ago)what a beautful job you guys did…and that chair looks so knit-worthy!
Giao
September 6, 2006 at 10:25 pm (17 years ago)Wow, you *have* been busy!! That chair looks perfect for sitting and knitting (or vegging or whatever!), and the window is a fab solution for that crazy old wall unit. Your house looks fab!!!
Jaime
September 7, 2006 at 11:33 am (17 years ago)Your new ‘knitting chair’ is beautiful!
And I love what you did with the dining room window. It looks great!
Julia
September 9, 2006 at 2:07 pm (17 years ago)Big improvements! The window looks so awesome. And your chair looks sooooo nice. Enjoy. I keep hearing about this Little Miss Sunshine…I better go see it.