House of Swank

Building the Stash

I am completely and totally intrigued, and a little bit in love (even though I haven't actually checked it out yet) with the newest yarn store in town:  Yarnia.

The pun on one of my favorite book series of all times is good enough, but the fact that it's a place that you custom-design your own multi-ply yarn.  The options are staggering.

I'll be starting with an exploratory mission to begin, scope out prices and such.  But I'm sure there will be purchases in my future.

A Second Note To Ron Paul Supporters

My word, people, I don't even support your candidate, and I could do a better job of running your campaign than you do!

So, supposedly, the reason that you want me to "Google" Ron Paul rather than "Vote" for him is because you want to "let [me] decide who to vote for with lots of honest information."  Two problems here:  even if you had told me to VOTE for Ron Paul, I still would research him, and the other candidates, before making a decision.  You feel the need to tell me this, and do not trust me to do it on my own?  Do you think I am a moron?  I don't like it when people think I am a moron.  Second, those morons that WILL just vote for someone because of the sign or the bumper sticker or what-not - do you think that if they are such blind sheep once they go out and GOOGLE Ron Paul do you think that they will then be knowledgeable enough to take the next step and actually vote for the guy, even if they do support him?  Sorry, but if that's the way you approach things you may never move off the overpasses.

Anyhow, the moral to the original story is that the supporters want me to learn about Ron Paul, and then I will be compelled to vote for him.  I can stand behind that strategy, but you've got to actually follow-through in order for it to succeed.

A few minutes ago there was a ring of the doorbell.  A Ron Paul supporter out hitting the streets.  (We will refrain from discussing how wise it is to doorbell at 4:30 pm on a Tuesday in this neighborhood, but it would be a valid discussion)  He mentioned that he was a Ron Paul supporter and handed me a pamphlet.  He asked if I'd heard of Ron Paul.  I said yes.  He asked if I'd considered voting for Ron Paul.  I said no.  He said thank you and left.

I was nice and polite to the fellow.  I did not respond in a fashion that indicated he should get the hell off of my property right now.  I opened the screen door to accept the pamphlet, and held the screen door open until he left.  The opportunity was open and available for him to say "Well, can I tell you why maybe you SHOULD vote for Ron Paul?" or even "Do you KNOW much about Ron Paul?" I kind of hoped he would, I was interested to hear what he had to say.  But he didn't.  He said thank you, and walked off to the next house.

So, Ron Paul supporters, if the goal is to get us to learn what it is Ron Paul has accomplished and what he's all about, then why are you not taking advantage of the opportunities when they are presented to you?  I know you can't spell out much on a bumper sticker or overpass, but when you've got someone there staring me in the face the opportunity is most definitely available.

Things Are Looking Up

Commuting to Portland just became a heck of a lot easier!

In my perusal of route maps and schedules and such, I was under the impression that I had two options available to me:

1. Travel North 60 blocks to a park and ride, where I could catch a bus into the city.   Runs weekdays 6 am to 7 pm about every 45 minutes.
2. Travel to downtown Vancouver, transfer buses, travel to the end of the MAX line, transfer to the light rail, travel to downtown.

Either of these options would work, but both were extremely time-consuming.

While reconsulting the maps today, I realized that the bus in option #1 can also be picked up in downtown Vancouver.  It will take me just around 45-50 minutes from the time I step outside my door to be downtown.

The biggest bummer of the deal is that I'll have to be downtown about 30-40 minutes earlier than necessary tomorrow, but the other option is to give myself 8 minutes to walk 10 blocks in heels and look nice and presentable for a job interview.

If things work out, either with this job or another job in the downtown vicinity, I'm confident I'll be able to work out a schedule in which we can work around the bus schedule.  That makes me very happy.

Teaching An Old Cat New Tricks

I completed Samson's cat bed about a week ago, and am happy to report it's a success:

Knitting Details
Pattern:  Dotty Cat Bed
Yarn:  Ella Rae Classic
Colors:  2 skeins - Beige (#105) 1 skein each - Lavendar (#12), Dark Green (#110) and Dark Brown (#17)
Needles:  Size 9 - Denise kit with a 24" cable to start and Brittany double points to finish
Notes/Modifications:  I followed the pattern, with the exception of the needle size, and ended up with a LOT of excess fabric in the base of the bed.  Some of it came out in the felting, but there is still enough left over (you can see it from the top view) that if I had it to do over again I'd decrease every two rows rather than three.  I would adjust the stripes to align with the decreases, as that made it very easy to keep track of where I was.  I also think I could have gotten away with one ball of the beige (only used 15g of the second ball) and just eliminated the beige stripes in the center of the bed.  (I'm making a scarf of all the leftovers right now).  The yarn was a JOY to work with, and will likely become my workhorse wool of choice.  I was a bit worried about felting in my front-loading washing machine, but it went pretty quickly and felted well.

Cat Details:
When I first completed the bed Samson wanted nothing to do with it.  Which is what I suspected and feared.  With a bit of conditioning, he now spends a fair amount of time in the bed.  Here's how I accomplished that:

1. Took some fresh catnip and spread it into the corners of the bed.  Introduced the cat to the bed, and he was a wee bit curious, but still basically wanted nothing to do with it.
2. When the cat was laying comfortably somewhere that wasn't the cat bed, I would take the bed, place it next to him, lift him into the bed, and hold him in place, petting and loving on him while he was in the bed.  At first he would try to bolt, and I would have to physically hold him in the bed.  Eventually that turned into him not really enjoying it, but he knew that he'd get a lot of petting out of the deal.  Then, once he actually laid back down and stayed there for five seconds when I was done petting him.
3. Once we'd reached that stage and I found him lounging about, I'd put the bed next to him, put him in the bed, then walk away.  He'd hang out for a minute or two, often scoping out the catnip, and would hang a bit longer each time I put him there.
4. I threw the bed on the floor, in front of the heating duct in our room.  He decided to test it out in the middle of the night.

At first he would only use it if we weren't watching him - either asleep or out of the room.  As soon as we were aware of him in the bed he would bolt under our bed.  Now he hangs out in the bed and just looks at you annoyingly if you walk into the bedroom.  It only took a day or two to teach him what a cat bed was for, and I have to say I couldn't be happier.

Earlier today I was hanging out on the guest bed (the hardest place for him to jump up to) and he tried to jump onto the bed and failed.  I reached over to lift him onto the bed, but he bolted into the other room and his bed and has been chilling there comfortably ever since.  Precisely what I was hoping for!

A Note To Ron Paul Supporters

Perhaps you are all far more self-actualized than the rest of us poor schmucks, but you should not be requesting people to "Google Ron Paul" as we are driving under overpasses on the freeway or following your cars.  You SHOULD be requesting people to "VOTE FOR Ron Paul."  That's how this whole democracy thing works.  It's not whoever has the best google page rating at the end of the day (although how bizarre of an election would that be?) it is the person who receives the most VOTES. 

Participating, In My Own Special Way

Washington State selects delegates for the DNC via caucus rather than primary.  This year the caucuses are on Saturday, February 9.

Which also happens to be the weekend of the next debate meet, so my Sweetie and I will be serving the youth of America rather than our political party of choice.

Today while wasting time on the internet, I discovered that there is a "Caucus Surrogate Affidavit Form" that can be completed to participate in the caucuses if you are unable to.  This excited me.  Unfortunately, in order to qualify for the form you must be unable to participate because of "religious service, military service or disability."

However, in the Delegate Selection and Affirmative Action plan it states "At no stage of Washington State’s delegate selection process shall any person be required, directly or indirectly, to pay a cost or fee as a condition for participating."

My argument, which I have just made to the state party, is that by requiring that my husband shirk a work responsibility and me to not volunteer that day in order to participate in the caucus they ARE requiring us to indirectly pay a cost.   

It will be interesting to see if anything comes of this or not.

Words Cannot Describe

Just click play.

This is also worth watching.

And you MUST watch the first 15 seconds of this.

Thanks to Jennifer for introducing me to the Young@Heart chorus.  They're coming out with a movie.

Please Don't Throw In The Towel

To my Obama-loving friends:

Please don't throw in the towel yet, and vote for Hillary.  Pretty please, I beg of you.

Go read this article.  There's still a LOT of hope for Obama.

I've voted against a Clinton in a presidential race at least once in the past.  Don't make me consider doing it again.

Love,
Swankette

The Dining Room

Before:

After:

Between the time we closed on the house and we moved all of our furniture in the dining room scared me more than any other room.  I had to try to plan out furniture arrangement before our furniture had arrived.  And I had to estimate the size of our furniture based on memory and sizes available at IKEA.

Our dining room table has four leaves and when fully extended can comfortably seat 10+ people.  Even when fully collapsed it comfortably seats four, and you can get six around if you don't mind being a little cozy.  So I had this image in my mind that the thing was MASSIVE.

I feared we would have to move the china hutch to a different part of the house.  Which was a completely unacceptable compromise, because that is where I keep the china and stemware and linens.  And if my wine and beer glasses were stored off in a corner of the basement somewhere that would be a very bad world indeed.

The preliminary sketch I had made allowed both the table and hutch to fit into the room.  It was just questionable as to how many people would actually be allowed to sit at the table.  Needless to say, I was holding my breath when the movers were bringing the things into the house.

Crisis averted, everything fits like a charm.  With plenty of room to get around the table, and a nice walkway between the living room and kitchen to boot.  We will even be able to extend the table as needed to accommodate more guests.  To take it to its full length we will likely need to move it into the living room, but that will be a rare occurrence if it ever happens at all.  Which is a bit ironic, considering it was frequently extended at the condo because we had nowhere else to entertain people.  We could fit about 5 into the living room, but 12 in the dining room.

Any changes I'd like to make to this room are fairly minor, so it will probably stay looking like this for a long time.  I'd like to do some sort of window treatment in addition to the mini blinds that are already there.  I'd like to get some more tablecloths to use, just to break up so much WOOD being in the room.  I'd like to replace the light fixture and, when that is done, probably recenter it over the table - it's centered in the room now, but with the china hutch where it is it throws it off center over the table.  I'd definitely like to paint at some point, but selecting a color is going to be tough.

But for now it serves its purpose well.

The Living Room

Before:

During:

After:

Oh, man was that carpet horrible stuff.  I am so glad we have pretty hardwood floors now.

The living room is my favorite room in the house.  I love that there's a place to hang out WITHOUT a television right there staring you in the face.  It has already cut down the TV viewing in my life significantly.

I'm also pleased with how this room is coming together.  The chair is an antique that belonged to my Great-Uncle Charles, and we've tried to coordinate the rest of the room around it.  I like the pop of the red couch.  To the right of the fireplace is Sweetie's Christmas gift to  me - a seven foot tall giraffe that fits perfectly in the room.

As much as I love this room, it is far from done.  That's the challenge of moving into a space significantly larger than the one you came from - you've got all kinds of extra space to fill now, and filling that space takes money.

Specifically, things to be done, in somewhat priority order:

• Area rug for the seating area.  I think something fairly plain, but graphic.  This comes first, because it will be easiest to select it before other fabrics are added to the space.
• Window coverings.  The picture windows behind the loveseat are quite spectacular and lovely.  You can also feel them sucking the heat out of the house on a cold winter's evening.  And since they are east facing the morning sun can be deadly.  We'll probably do sheers in addition to something more substantial - we face out to a pretty major roadway, and it would be nice to let the light in without having to watch the cars drive by.
• Tables.  Specifically:  A large end table for between the sofa and the loveseat.  A small table for next to the chair (My parents may have something that will fit this bill that I can hijack from them when they clean house in the spring).  Also, some sort of table/cabinet/desk for wall between the red couch and the fireplace.  It's a fairly large space of empty air at the moment that will take a special piece.  I think it's one of those "I'll know it when I see it" pieces, and will likely wait until the room has taken a little more shape before it is decided on.
• Light fixture.  The ceiling fan/lights we received at the house, while functional, are really not my style.  And in the living room Sweetie sometimes runs the risk of bumping his head.  I'd like to replace it at some point.
• Shelving.  We have a random bookshelf sitting in the little niche to the left of the fireplace because we needed something to go there, the bookshelf needed a home, and it all worked out that way.  It does an OK job there, but eventually I think I'd like some sort of built-in there that better fits the space.
• Fireplace.  I want a mantle clock.  Don't need one, don't know what I want it to look like, but I want one.  We also want to find something to replace the Poinsettia when it dies.  It was a random gift from my parents as they were heading out of town after the holidays.  The red works perfectly with the red in the rest of the room, so we need to find something to fill its place (although it's still fairly healthy, so we have time).  Also, WAY down the line, I'd like to find a more attractive fireplace insert that better shows off the tile, but that's a LOW priority.

Next stop:  Dining room