I'm glad someone got their pictures up

Amy Singer of Knitty has posted her pictures from the Knitty/The Point cruise. I'm actually in three of them, as is Maribel and Tisha was in 2 Here's me and Maribel waving up at Amy and also the three of us at our table inside. Check out the other shots as well so you can see a good time was had by all.

My cable did come in but I didn't get to the pictures last night. I think I will do a rare weekend post to share them with you as well as my finished objects. Maybe even some shots of the house.

Serenity comes out today. I will be at the theater for the 5:30 showing. I am beyond excited. The reviews have been excellent. Hell, even the NY Times loved it. Lest you think it has nothing to do with knitting, I share this with you.

Have a great weekend everyone....


Added later - Another type of Meme

Got this from Cara who got it from Norma (and they told two friends and so on and so on):

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, liposuction and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans...
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Re-post this if you believe in legalizing gay marriage

I have a picture and it involves knitting and an adorable baby (sorry no cruise shots yet, Rinaldo says the cable should be in any time now...). Here is my lovely cousin, Asthildur Emma enjoying the circular blanket I made for her:



I am pleased to say that both her moms love the blanket and the fact that it is so bright and colorful.

About a month ago when all hell was breaking loose I realized that many of the things I was looking forward to were all going to happen in the space of one week. I declared that week, "Nancy Week". As of Sunday, my week has begun. Here is the rundown of what's going on:

Sunday 9/25 - Knitty Cruise
Tuesday 9/27 - Breath of Snow & Ashes by Diana Gabaldon comes out (I've been waiting 4 years).
Veronica Mars soundtrack released.
Wednesday 9/28 - Veronica Mars season premiere at 9PM
Friday 9/30 - Serenity premieres in theaters.

This week was obviously put together for me personally. All the planets aligned to create this special week of nirvana to make up for the chaos that came before.

So far so good.

Here is my favorite quote of the day from a Reuters Article on Serenity:

Yes, once you get the sci-fi True Believers on your side, all things are possible, [Joss]Whedon understands.

"We have a much broader base than just sci-fi people," he says. "That's what I found in our screenings so far. They're a diverse group, fairly well-adjusted socially, and I expect that a lot of them are even having sex. I really think the line between geeks and the rest of the world is blurring."

Nah, we geeks are simply taking over (insert evil laugh here)...

Mathews' Big Move Part II

Sunday, my new best friend Stanley the plumber came over with a his colleague and spent most of the day fixing one toilet or another. By the end of the day, lo and behold we had a working toilet. At this point it was only the downstairs one, the mortar in the floor had to dry in the upstairs bathroom before he could put that toilet back.

He came back on Monday to finish the upstairs toilet, and then spent the rest of the day replacing my gas line. I told you he was my new best friend. Now I won't be so vulgar as to discuss how much this all cost me but I will say that dear Stanley gave me a "pity discount". Ok he didn't call it that but he took $700 off the bill simply because he felt bad that we had just moved in. Tuesday he called Con Ed and they came and inspected the work and turned on the gas. Whoo hoo, hot water. It was a revelation. Stanley told me that I had to get the chimney cleaned as soon as possible because we didn't know if it was obstructed. I called the chimney people and they said the earliest they would come was Thursday. I said fine. We went out on Tuesday evening to run some errands and when I came home there was a note in the mail slot from Stanley. It said, "call me". I called and poor Stanley was sitting in his house desperately worried that the chimney was obstructed and carbon monoxide would build up in the house. I assured him that I had not 1 but 2 carbon monoxide detectors. This seemed to make him feel better but he said he was going to call the chimney people and tell them they needed to come the next day. I love this dude!

On Wednesday I'm at work and my mother in law is home when the chimney people come. Now Stanley had warned me that they would say I need the chimney lined but that's what they always say and he didn't think I really needed it. Of course my mother in law called me a little while after they arrived and the gentleman on the phone said he believed I needed my chimney lined, big surprise. I hemmed and hawed and he said he would hold his judgment until they got up to the roof. When he called back he said the chimney had never been lined and there was only a bit of clay lining right at the top. Once they started cleaning pieces of the chimney started to fall down. My mother in law told me that it was quite bad, she could hear them as they fell through the kitchen wall. Ok...now I needed to decide whether or not to believe this guy. In the end I had it lined. Here's my rationalization, see if you like it, The people who lived in this house over the years (it's 80 years old) seem to have only patched things as they went along. The pipes, the gas line seemingly the chimney. The only way I could know for sure the state of things was if I got it done myself. Did the chimney need to be lined? I don't know for sure, but 10 years from now no one can tell me it does because I got it done. I feel more secure that way.

Once that was done it was over. I currently still have a hole in my kitchen wall and ceiling but the contractors who originally worked on the house have been in to look at it and will be repairing it shortly, at the seller's expense I may add. We had the landscaper come in and clean up the yard. There is still tons of cleaning to do , the deck and the front area need to be cleaned and painted and on and on and on. But it's mine and we're very happy with it. Besides I have a house now I can't afford to go out on weekends, I'll need all these projects to keep me busy.

Since this is a knitting blog, here's a quick update on my projects. Rinaldo's ribbed scarf is done and I started a pair of wool socks for Tashie. She made the crew team and needs them to keep her feet warm and dry. I was ecstatic since that was just the project I was looking for. Quick and easy socks on size 7s. Rinaldo ordered me a new cable for the camera so I hope to share cruise pictures with you shortly.

This is where I'll be today!

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Post for the Following...

I picked this up from that Crazy Fiber Lady. It looked like fun.

Rules:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five some other people to do the same.


Here's my quote:

"Can't wait to start those but that is a post Christmas project."


Damn I'm boring.

No naming names here, consider yourself tagged if you're interested.

Have a great weekend...

I have yet to find the cable for my digital camera so we are photo-less for awhile. I thought I found it in my bag but it turned out to be my USB extension. Oh well, instead I will regale you with tales from my moving adventures.

I present:

The Mathews Big Move Part I

On Friday night we sent Avery and Cheyenne to my mother in law's house to spend the night. Tashie and Cheyenne were staying with us for the weekend, Tashie, to help us pack and move things, Cheyenne to keep Avery company. By 1 in the morning we were exhausted and Avery's room was still not completely packed. We decided to leave it for the movers. All Star Moving came promptly at 9 (thanks Patricia!). Those guys were great, efficient, fast and nice. They warned me about all my IKEA furniture, it's not really made to be moved, but everything came through unscathed. In the meantime I went to the house to wait for the plumber. He had to do a pressure test before the gas could be turned back on. He showed up after the movers of course. He started working on that and the movers finished up. By this point Maribel had joined us to help as well as my good friend Leslie and her family. Rinaldo said to me at some point, " can you ask the plumber to look at the upstairs toilet when he's done, it's overflowing a little". So everyone started using the basement toilet instead.

Later the plumber called me downstairs to show me all the leaks in the gas line, lots and lots of leaks. My entire gas line would have to be replaced. OK...

While I'm down there I hear Leslie and Maribel calling me. It seems there is a leak in the kitchen, so I come upstairs and in fact water is pouring out of my ceiling above my beautiful new cabinets. I ask the plumber to come up and he checks the toilet and then proceeds to destroy the top of my kitchen wall and part of my ceiling. It seems that the toilet was clogged with construction debris (he says he often sees this after a house has been under construction, the workers tend to clean their tools in the toilet) but the pipe under it is had only been patched over the years and it was leaking through.

Now I knew when I bought the house that the plumbing hadn't been re-done. The wiring was updated, and the interior was completely reconstructed but the plumbing had not been touched. I expected at some point to run into issues like this but not 2 hours after I moved in! The plumber said he would be back the next day to fix the toilet and the pipe, then on Monday he would come in and do the gas line. Basically this meant on our first night in the house we had:

A- no oven/stove
B- no hot water
C- only one toilet working in the basement

Ok, not too bad, right? Everybody left around 7 and Rinaldo went and got the kids. We watched TV for awhile (because I did of course have cable and internet, you see where my priorities lie). We put the kids to bed and started to wind down from the busy day. Rinaldo came up from the basement at some point and announced that now that toilet wasn't working either. Lovely...so now no indoor plumbing whatsoever.

The fun never ends. No one told me I was moving into the Frontier House, I guess I should be glad we have a big backyard and it's overgrown too...built in privacy....

Next on the Mathews Big Move - We move into the 20th century...

Miss Me...I'm Back!

In case you hadn't noticed I have been rather quiet of late. I have many tales to share. There is the issue of the plumbing in my house malfunctioning within hours of us moving in. The gas lines that had to be completely replaced before I could have hot water or a working oven and the destruction of a good part of my kitchen ceiling and wall. There was a car accident (nobody but the car was hurt), buses that never showed up on the first day of school and myriad other disasters.

But most importantly there was this:



My cousin had her baby. Isn't she beautiful? Seriously I want you all to stand in awe at her beauty...
When you have only 2 relatives left in the world that you know and want to speak to you, having one more is an enormously big deal. I love her already and I haven't even held her yet.

There has been a finished object in all the madness and a nearly finished one as well but that's fodder for another day.

I've not been around to talk about the horrible things that went on in New Orleans, perhaps it's better that way. My feelings on this administration are very obvious and this event shows me I was correct but never more have I wished I was wrong. Rather than focusing on that I gave what I could to a favorite charity, Habitat for Humanity as my investment in hope for this beautiful city. The always thoughtful and giving Margene is co-hosting a fundraiser over on her blog as well. For those of you who are not currently in a position to give money Oxygen is promising to donate a dollar for everyone who registers at their Katrina site to help the overflowing Children's Hospitals caring for the smallest victims of this catastrophe. It's an easy way to give when you don't have much yourself.