look what she can do! ~ posted by Melissa

I thought about naming this post :

'Who Needs A Plumber?'
or



'How I Spent the First Day of Summer Vacation'

...but neither felt exciting enough for today's accomplishment.

 

This week I discovered that my dryer hose was heavy.  Very heavy.  And full of water.  Houston, we have a problem, and I'm guessing it's a pretty d*mn big one.  So with some supervision from my husband (who is still in chore lock down), I added a plumber's cap (which is so much better than plumbers butt !) to my growing collection of hats.  Check this out!

 

Before photos (I spared you the rusted sopping wet mess that I found inside the wall):

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

I did things I never knew I could do this afternoon!  I cut out drywall, removed insulation, disassembled all the old ventilation pipes and a piece of our tile floor.  Our foundation is so wet and the metal pipe has been leaning flush against it for longer than the 15 years we've owned our house.  It was full of rusty holes and literally fell apart as I was removing it.  I think the only thing that was holding it together was the insulation packed around it?

 

And I did all this in between the wall and our laundry organizer ~ a space about as big as I am wide so there was very little room to work in (the picture below, to the right of the step ladder is where all this took place.  Tight squeeze, let me tell you!  I don't know how my husband could have fit!

 

 

 

And now, although the new drywall will wait til Jason is back to his old self, I have a functioning washer/dryer and brand new shiny pipes and ductwork :

 

I've done a load of laundry already and nothing fell apart (I feel like I aced a test!).

 



I think my husband might just be a little proud of me ~ he made me dinner in return :) .

 

Sesame Ginger grilled chicken sandwiches and a salad...no pictures this time, I was too hungry to take the time to share!

 

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

~ Melissa



colors to make your heart sing ~ Melissa

Happy July!

 

I took my walk today and came home with a handful of wildflowers

 

 



poppies

 

Our yard is in full bloom and the hot sun makes the fragrance intoxicating

 

honeysuckle

jasmine

hydrangea

There hasn't been much time for blogging or knitting, although I do have so much to share.  So, while the weather is whispering to me come outside and play, I'll only be blogging in bits and spurts.

 

The big news is our house has a new frock and she is quite happy to show it off

 

If you're local and in need of home painting or staining, we couldn't have been more pleased with Chris Valley and his crew at Valley Painting NW.  It was a complete joy to have them give our home and fences a badly, badly needed face lift.  They were here when they said they would be, were happily open to all input from us and completed the job without a hitch.  Jason and I both can't stop walking around our property and smiling at how beautiful everything is.

 

I have been getting a little knitting done.  Not much on Quill (it's too darn hot for worsted weight wool right now!) but I did start a baby blanket for a friend who is due in September with her first child, and of course, there's this project that goes everywhere with me lately

 

I've surely caught the sock bug!  How could I not with as much encouragement as I've gotten from ravelers Jeff and Will, and Andi who just insisted on sharing some of her amazing stash with me and sent me this sock yarn in the mail

 

The colorway is Beachglass and as my daily walks take me to the waterfront, I can't stop thinking about this yarn and what it will become. thankyou thankyou thankyou!!

 

Ok ~ that's it for today.  And Andi, I hope you're safe ~ I've been watching all the wildfire news and it's so frightening to see the loss of life that it's caused.  I hope you are well, my friend.

 

~ Melissa

Indian Summer

Can't you feel autumn just around the corner?  I do.  It's everywhere I look.   ~ Melissa

Spanish Lavender

Budding Morning Glory

Bamboo

Fading Hostas Blooms

Changing Lilac Leaves

Charlotte and her web

Cotoneaster Berries

I have the best friends....

This Labor Day weekend was spent, well, laboring.  I finished staining our deck (finally ~ never again to be a one-woman job...what was I thinking?) and we worked on our landscaping.  It wasn't all work, though, since I did manage to celebrate my birthday a few times ~ with the hubby on my day, with my folks last night and on Sunday, Kelli planned a girls trip to The Artful Ewe in Port Gamble just for me!  Awesome.  We had a great time strolling around the one road town and doing a little shopping.  We capped the day off with a lovely picnic lunch of fried chicken, watermelon and a homemade carrot cake (thankyou thankyou thankyou, Carrie!) followed by some wonderful gifts.  Thanks to everyone that made my birthday one to remember.  It was perfect!  ~ Melissa

AWOL ~

just checking in before the chaos starts in our house ~ the furniture that wasn't to be delivered for at least another month is being delivered next Saturday and we have yet to paint our front room, so this week is going to be a total spank as far as chores go and, sad to say, little knitting will be done..

I did get my Bias-ed scarf finished and blocked last night:

 

And I've chosen my next project so I have something to look forward to when all the paint has been put away and the dust has settled....this is definitely incentive to get this place done and organized-

What do you think:

Jared Flood's Rock Island Shawl with the madelinetosh Prairie in Nutmeg that I got at Knit Purl during the Seattle to Portland Train event in January.  I wound my yarn last night and I'm ready to cast on when the paint is dry!

Happy weekend, all!  ~ Mel

Men at Work

Thanks, Lowell and Sam, for helping us rebuild the driveway ~ you made the job much easier!  We appreciate you both!