House of Swank

When Rooms Collide

Sweetie and I thought we were such geniuses.   The spare TV would go into the guest room, so that the room could do double-duty as the sick room.  When one of us was sick we could set up house in the sick room with the TV and the computer while we nursed ourselves back to health and helped prevent transmitting the disease to the other.

We did not consider that we might be sick AND have house guests simultaneously.

I'm currently running a fever of 100.9.  Sweetie's close friend is staying here tomorrow night.

Let's hope the fever breaks quickly, or one of us may be wearing a mask to bed tomorrow night.

6 Weird Things About Me

It's taken me a few days to get around to this because I legitimately couldn't think of 6 weird things about me that I was willing to share with the world.  But today inspiration struck.

The rules are:

*Link to the person that tagged you. (Janell tagged me)
*Post the rules on your blog.
*Share six weird things/habits/quirks about yourself.
*Tag six others. And let them know they’ve been tagged!

Here are 6 weird {things/habits/quirks} about me…

1.  When I am buying a serve-yourself-fountain-beverage (*cough* Diet Coke from AM/PM *cough*) I NEVER take the top lid on the stack.  I always go part-way into the stack.

2.  Ceiling light fixtures that look like boobs disturb me.

3.  I am extremely ticklish and the most ticklish spot on me is directly above my kneecaps.  Just thinking about people touching me there makes me cringe.

4.  I have never been a patient in a hospital.  Not when I was born.  Not when I broke my leg at 11 months old.  Never.  Not even the ER.

5.  I graduated college with a Bachelor of Science degree - without ever taking a hard science course.

6.  When I am stressed or overburdened the thing that can help calm me down the quickest is a solitary drive on a curvy, hilly road.

I tag the first six people to read this.  You're all on the honor system.

Things The Harlot Taught Me

Last night Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot) made an appearance in Portland in support of her latest book - Things I Learned From Knitting (whether I wanted to or not).  It was a pretty cool and informative experience on many different levels. 

Things I learned last night (in more-or-less chronological order)

Blue Moon Fiber Arts Puts on a Kick-Ass Event
Blue Moon is a locally based yarn purveyor that many people know for their Socks That Rock yarn and their Rockin' Sock Club.  They were the one that hosted the Harlot.  Proceeds from book sales that evening went to Doctors Without Borders - a charity that Pearl-McPhee personally supports, and has called on other knitters to support as well.  They also has a special sock yarn available for purchase at the event. 

The colorway was, appropriately, named "Knitters Without Borders"

I need more sock yarn like I need another hole in my head, so I TRIED to resist, but the line was long and they really are my colors.  The red is much more prevalent and vibrant in real life, and I am so enamored with the colors the only thing preventing me from casting on a pair of socks right this minute is the fact that the appropriate needles are in use with another sock right now.  But don't think I didn't consider frogging out that sock so that I could cast on the socks immediately last night.

The other really fun thing Blue Moon did was an Inexplicable Knitting Behavior Scavenger Hunt, inspired by a similar Scavenger Hunt sponsored by Pearl-McPhee.  One person scored 88 points on the Portland Scavenger Hunt.  She awoke at 5 am and has a 3-page schedule and cross referenced maps.  Once the Harlot posts about the Portland event on her blog you can see a photo of the winner.  Truly astounding.

Knitting Can Help Break Down Social Barriers
I had my first taste of this lesson on the train on my way to the event.  A high school girl noticed my knitting and started talking to me about it.  She was a knitter herself, and it was obvious through our conversation that her fellow classmates didn't know fully what to make of her.

It also showed itself at the event itself.  Although I knew a couple of people there, I had gone on my own.  And ended up sitting next to two other people who had gone on their own.  We waited and knit and chatted and had a very lovely evening.  We had some big differences between us, but some strong similarities as well (and not just the fact that we were knitters).  I've never experienced anything like that at a book signing in my life.

There Are Some Very, VERY Odd People Out In The World
I'm speaking specifically of the woman who had a knitted (and beaded) mauve colored rooster's comb that she wore on top of her head the entire evening.  I don't know that anyone could say anything that would make me understand that one.  There was also one corner of the room where random squealing would emanate while we were all waiting for no apparent reason.  I do not understand at all.

The Yarn Harlot Is Not Only Funny, But Also Quite Profound
Pearl-McPhee is a very entertaining person.  She can spin a good story and does it in such a way you feel as if she's your BFF even though you've never met.  But the humor was just the candy coating on a pretty strong, inspiring message.  Knitting can make you more patient, can help you with processing difficult information, and can help prevent Alzheimer's and dementia.  The process of knitting can help increase the size and functionality of your brain, can tap into your most creative brain waves, and can help you develop the ability to tap into those creative brain waves at will.  Knitters are a demographers worst nightmare (since we're such a diverse lot), which leads to why we're such a misunderstood and marginalized lot.

I decided to let my inner geek out in preparation for the event, so there's a strong chance my photo will be showing up on her blog once she posts a recap of the event.

Rethinking Rhododendrons

Earlier I mentioned that one of our rhododendron plans looked like it might have to be relocated due to its proximity to our power line.  After today's expedition in the garden, I'm rethinking that.

As I plod my way through the task of getting our yard in shape I'm coming to a very blatant realization.  The people who lived here before us were lazy in the yard.  As long as it didn't look like total shit they let it be, and if it looked like total shit they covered it up.  See:  weed sheet and barkdust covering more weeds than you could imagine.

Today I was weeding around another rhododendron, about 10 feet away from the earlier problem child, and noticed it had some of the same issues as the first plant.  I also tackled the bush next to that, which SEEMED to be in lovely shape.  It was full of foliage, nicely shaped, and bloomed for a VERY short time early in the season.

Turns out that bush was such a tangle of branches I almost had to destroy the whole thing to get it where branches were in some sort of order related to the main trunk of the bush.  I suspect it had never been pruned in its life, or at least for a VERY long time.

So now my diagnosis is neglect and disease.  I bet if I pull back the weed sheet the trunk and roots of all of our bushes are being smothered by weeds.

Treatment:  prune the hell out of everything to try to bring things back to life.  As soon as the yard doesn't look totally overgrown with weeds get rid of the barkdust and weed sheet and start bringing things back to life.

Fringe Benefits

One of the benefits of living in the 'Couv that I never counted on is the fact that KnitPicks is headquartered here. 

I am not a KnitPicks consumer in my everyday life.  I've considered purchasing some of their interchangeable needles because they are the bomb, but I much prefer my local yarn stores for the actual purchasing of yarn.  Yes, I pay a hell of a lot more for my yarn because of it, but to me it's worth it.  I can go in, fondle the yarn, compare different brands and such, and have my purchase in hand that day.  The proprietors and employees are a really good resource that you can utilize and get assistance for questions such as how many skeins will I need and will I get the desired effect.  They also remember you and will help celebrate accomplishments and mourn the mistakes.  Plus, there's the whole supporting of local business and it doesn't seem very green to have things individually shipped to every consumer, especially when you consider that a UPS package shipped from Vancouver to Vancouver probably travels through Nashville or somewhere similar along the way.

But, I'm not such a snob that I'm not willing to take advantage of some of what KnitPicks has to offer.  And when you live close to them you sometimes get opportunities like I did yesterday to participate in usability testing for their website.  For an hour of my time I got a $50 gift certificate.  SCORE!

The guy in charge of the testing was not a knitter (as he had to point out when he asked me to explain why I might want to see a swatch of a multi-colored yarn knitted up rather than just a close-up shot of the yarn itself), and I think there were a few points of the test where I frustrated him. 

"What do you like about the KnitPicks website?"
"I can get cheap yarn and awesome needles."
"Yes, but what do you like about the WEBSITE?"
"It allows me to get cheap yarn and awesome needles."

Really, the website they showed me had some real issues with it.  When I came home and decided to start planning how to use my money I noticed a lot of the issues I had with the website they showed me were non-issues in the website as it currently exists.  Makes me really curious as to how it's all going to play out.

I've got some tentative plans for the money, but for now I'm just sitting tight because I have placed myself on a yarn diet until I get a couple of things cleared out of the queue.

Bravo!

When Sweetie and I relocated we opted for the cheapest satellite package that would meet our needs.  Meaning it had ESPN available.

With baseball season arriving it has come to our (Sweetie's) attention that our station lineup did not include Fox Sports Northwest, which meant that the Mariners were largely inaccessible to us.  Sweetie was going to add the Mariners to the lineup, and there was a discussion as to if that would be covered under his budget or the joint budget.

Personally, I don't watch much baseball on TV (prefer live or radio), so FSN wasn't important to me.  But, for just $5 more we could get a lineup that included Bravo as well.  So we went for that.

And yesterday Bravo thanked us by having a marathon of the current season of Top Chef.  I'd seen a couple of episodes up at the in-laws, but now I've got all of them at my fingertips.  And that makes me happy.

Luck of the Draw

Via Abigail who saw this meme at The Noble Savage. She found it at What If No One’s Watching, who got it from Mostly True Tales. The original authors of this exercise are Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, and Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this blog game, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.
Bold the true statements. You can explain further if you wish.

1. Father went to college

No thanks to the military.  His 12 years of service was too long to qualify for the GI Bill.

2. Father finished college

3. Mother went to college

4. Mother finished college

5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.

6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers.

7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home.

8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home

9. Were read children’s books by a parent

10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18

11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18

12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively

13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18

14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs

15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs

My maternal granparents put $10,000 towards the cause.  The deal going in was 4 years undergraduate tuition and room/board at a state school and anything above and beyond that (private school, 10 year plan, grad school) was on me.  They ended up repaying the $3,000 in loans I took out to go to a private school my freshman year and I ended up going 4.25 years but they still covered it.  I was responsible for all discretionary funds.

16. Went to a private high school

17. Went to summer camp

18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18

19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels

Some did.  Most didn't.

20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18

Mom worked at our church's thrift store during most of my high school years.  The good news is it got me a heck of a lot nicer clothes (often still with tags) than I would have had otherwise.  The bad news was that it turned me on to good brand names.

21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them

Three people with three jobs and one of them on the high school debate team got too challenging.

22. There was original art in your house when you were a child  

Pieces done by my grandfather, after suffering from a stroke.

23. You and your family lived in a single-family house

25. You had your own room as a child

26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18

It was my 16th Birthday present.  I believe I still have that phone in a box somewhere in case we ever decide to go back to land lines.

27. Participated in a SAT/ACT prep course

28. Had your own TV in your room in high school

29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college

30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16

31. Went on a cruise with your family

32. Went on more than one cruise with your family

33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up

34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

I've seen this meme floating around the internets for a while now.  It's always tagged with something about how lucky you were, or how advantaged you were growing up.  And it's so  one-dimensional in that regard it makes me cringe. 

My father grew up dirt poor in the backwoods of Wisconsin.  He joined the military the instant he could to hightail it out of town and busted his ass to make a good life for himself and his family.  He is the embodiment of the pull yourself up by the bootstraps anyone can do it American Dream.  In large part things were not handed to me growing up, I earned them.  Yes, I had a car in high school.  After 4 years of using suburban public transportation to get myself around, and a summer of frequently walking the 2 miles to work because both of my parents were also working and had the cars my parents bought me a $1,400 car. 

Am I disadvantaged or unlucky because my mother never attended college?  My mother had the opportunity to attend college, free of charge, but it was Missouri in 1955 and girls didn't commonly go off to study journalism in those days.  Because of that my Mom has always embraced my independent nature and helped push me to take advantage of every opportunity presented to me.  And because no one in my family had ever graduated from college it was a priority to my parents that I get a college degree.  At an in-state school.

Yes, I am lucky and I am advantaged.  Not because of any of these THINGS my parents provided to me, but because of the lessons they taught me about life along the way. 

Welcome to the Jungle

I started to mow the lawn last night.  I did not finish the job.

Our lawnmower is a cordless electric that, according to the instruction book, can mow 1/4 acre on a single charge. 

The lawn was long enough that after about 500 square feet the mower said "Fuck that shit, I'm done for the night" and lost it's charge.

Between charging the mower and spotty spring weather and the fact that I still need to do some branch removal before I can mow the back yard, I suspect I'll be done mowing the lawn sometime in May.

Alienating the Neighbors

There is a river (the Columbia River, as a matter of fact) that divides Oregon and Washington for the majority of our shared border.  If you live in the 'Couv and want to cross into Oregon you take one of two bridges - the I-5 bridge, which was built in 1917, or the Glenn Jackson Bridge, which was built much more recently but is on the complete opposite side of town. 

Facts:

The I-5 bridge needs to be rebuilt.  I'm sure there's some crazy person who doesn't agree with this statement, but most of the crazies will at least agree with this much.

Someone will need to pay to have the I-5 bridge be rebuilt.  There are three basic places we can go to in order to get the fundage.  Oregon, Washington and the Federal Government.  This bridge is actually an issue of concern in the Feds eyes.  It's a drawbridge that is still in use as such.  Which means that there is a stop in Interstate traffic between Mexico and Canada and it's all this bridge's fault.

The Feds have said they won't help pay for the bridge unless mass transit is part of the plan.  They can be expected to foot up to 33% of the bill.  Oregon has said it won't help pay for the bridge unless mass transit is part of the plan.

So now the debates start, because someone has to come up with a plan that might actually work. 

There are a number of alternatives at play here.  The big questions, at least in a lot of Vancouverites minds, are whether mass transit takes the form of busses or light rail (building off of Portland's existing, successful system) and, especially if light rail, which route the rail should take.

One of the proposed routes cuts along the border of our neighborhood, and has the terminus at a park and ride within our boundaries.  Me, I'm all in favor of this.  I'll be upset if it's not the alternative selected.  A lot of my neighbors don't feel the same way.

Last night was a neighborhood meeting on this very issue that I opted to attend.  The issue had obviously been debated before, and this was information gathering so that the neighborhood association could form a statement that could be taken to the city council.  There was a power point presentation with anonymous, electronic voting.  Pretty cool technology at work.

To my neighbors' credit, there was only one moment where I wanted to disallow some of them from expressing opinions on any of the issues at hand.  Once we'd weighed in on how we'd like the bridge to be rebuilt (use existing structure for part of it with a shorter lifespan, or start from scratch to last twice as long) we had to decide our preferred method of mass transit.  We had already been presented with the facts:  Feds won't pay without mass transit.  Oregon won't pay without mass transit.  There are people who actually said there should be no mass transit included on the bridge.  And, based on the demographics of our neighborhood, I don't think any of them would have the funds to build this bridge themselves, so I'm really not sure what they were thinking there.

The general consensus in the room seemed to be "transit is OK, we just don't want it in our neighborhood."

There were two moments in the meeting where I got to make it obvious (even though things were predominantly done be anonymous, electronic vote) that there are some people who really WANT light rail in our neighborhood.  The first was when a question was posed as to "What is your greatest concern if they put a park and ride at this one location in the neighborhood?"  Options were increased crime, pedestrian safety, traffic, etc.  There was also an "other(specify)" option.  I picked that one.  Once voting was concluded the moderator gave us others a chance to specify what we meant.  My answer:  "I'm in favor of it and don't feel any of the concerns can't be properly handled."

At the end of the presentation were a few blanket statements the neighborhood leadership had put together, to show us how this information would be put into the statement.  One of the statements they had was "If light rail must come to our neighborhood...."  I took issue with that, as the use of the word must to me implies "We really don't want it, but if there's no way around it" and that's not my feeling at all, so I asked for more neutral language to be used there.

After the meeting an older gentleman came up to me.  Not totally surprising, since most of the people in the room were of the older variety. 

"It seems you're in favor of the light rail"
I prepared myself for a vigorous debate with him "Yes, I am."
"Me, too!  Whenever I go into Portland I drive into Delta Park and take it from there."

An ally!  A friend!  We had a lovely discussion about how good a thing it would be, and how we seemed to be in the minority in the room.

Next month's meetings we get to see what the leadership put together as a result of this meeting.  I'll be there, but it may be a bumpy ride.

White Litter

I spent a fair amount of time working on the yard this weekend, and am proud to report we no longer have the white-trashiest house on the block.  That's more a statement on the fact that our ratio of cars:driveway space is 1:1 and several houses in the neighborhood go much higher than that.  We'll vault even higher in the rankings once the lawn has been mowed, which will take place as soon as the mower is fully charged and able to tackle the task.

Some thoughts/observations/plans for the yard:

The lawn desperately needs to be mowed, thatched and reseeded.  Eventually I think I'd like to minimize the lawn in the front yard in favor of pretty plantings and such.

Previous owners of the house loved bulbs - both tulips and daffodils are plentiful.  However, there seems to be neither rhyme nor reason to where they are planted.  Once they've died down for the year I plan on relocating them either to along the front walkway or along the sidewalk.  Right now I'm leaning towards relocating ALL of them to along the front walkway, including the ones in the planter box next to the front door, and re-purposing the planter box into an herb garden.

There is a rhododendron directly under where the power line comes into the house.  The plant appears to be burnt in several locations.  My powers of deduction tell me this is somehow related to the power line, so I'm contemplating turning that stretch of the yard into a rock garden.  Or perhaps bricking it in and putting a bench out there.  Something non plant related.

I'd like to plant a durable ground cover in the strip between the sidewalk and the street.  I just need to figure out what that ground cover should be.

The yard must have been in sad looking shape when the previous owners went to put it on the market.  They solved this by throwing down a weed protection sheet and throwing bark dust on top of it.  Two problems with this:  They didn't actually kill off the existing weeds before throwing down the sheet and some of them are surviving underneath the sheet and/or popping through gaps and holes.  Second, I hate the look of bark dust - probably holdover resentment from youthful summers spent having to spread the damn stuff and the ensuing splinters and such.  In the strip between the sidewalk and the street it currently covers some sad looking red lava rock. 

I'm really glad Sweetie and I are planning to stay in this house for a long time, because it's going to take YEARS to get this yard into good shape.