Knitting in the Shadows

Doing it the Hard Way -- Again

The Divine Though Blogless Elizabeth and I have embarked on another knitting project together.  This time, it's supposed to be easy.  The point of this escapade is to help Elizabeth master the fine and glorious art of fitting a sweater to her own body, while knitting an otherwise very simple sweater.

We picked Tubey.

Tubey is easy.  Really.  Knit reactangle, join it's ends into tubes, and then keep knitting until you've got sleeves.  Pick up stitches along the edge of the rectangle, leaving a hole for the neckline ... then knit down in the defined rib until you've finished the body tube.

Easy.

So, our plan is to add short rows to accommodate the fact that both of us are women endowed wtih ... well.... womanly attributes.  We aren't the same size, exactly; and we arent' the same shape, exactly.  That means that our modifications will be similar, but not identical.

Easy.  Except ... well... suddenly my body doesn't match up with the plans.  I found that to make that sleeve section fit comfortably, I had to add several inches.  I hadn't been working the largest size, but my sleeve section is several inches wider than the largest size.

So, now, in addition to working the magic bust shaping that accommodates my womanly attributes, I'm going to be doing some other adaptations to get things back down to my size. I've finished the first half of that bust dart, and I'm about to start the other changes to get this thing to fit.

My only concern -- adding those several inches used up yarn I'm not sure I have.  I was cutting it pretty close to the edge on yardage in the first place.  And it's far too late to get more in the same dye lot.

 

Blog Tricks that Trap Me

One of the fun and wonderful things about blogging here (and on other servers I'm sure), is the ability to draft a blog post and then schedule it for later publication.

That creates a bunch of weird timey wimey* problems

Pre-scheduled posting means that I can:

1. Think of something brilliant and witty and perfect to post for someone's birthday any time at all, type up the blog post, plug in the pictures etc., and set it to post automatically on the appropriate date.  That way, when the date arrives and I've got nothin' (or I'm such a twit that week that I just plain forget)... I'm still good.

2. Have a really productive day when I'm oozing good post ideas out my pores, and not lose any of them.  I can just write a whole swack of posts, and then set them to post later, say, every other day ... or once a month just in case, or even at appropriate times (like Birthdays and Holidays etc).

3. Write a REALLY long blog story that takes up several posts all at once, then set it to publish serially.

4. Plan ahead for times when I know I won't be able to blog (say, for example, when I'm in class for four days, or driving across the country ... ).

That's wonderful!

But, oddly, it's also troublesome when you've blogged ahead by ten days or so, and something happens that's worthy of blogging TODAY -- and it's time sensitive, but doesn't fit into the flow of your current blog stream.  For example ... posting about May Day and how we've adapted one of the various traditions surrounding that day will no longer be timely if I wind up doing it in, say mid-June.

See ... timey wimey issues.

Alas, this scheduled blogging ahead toy also lets me get ahead of myself to the extent that I can get used to not blogging regularly.  If I've lined up half a dozen blog posts, all written and fun and ready to go ... I can set them to publish themselves every other day, and be good for nigh onto two weeks.  If I then let those two weeks go by without blogging, I'll have lost momentum.  And that's a bad thing in any context.

Think about it... if you make yourself dust one room of the house every day, you get into a rhythm, and you might even not notice that you hate dusting.  But... if you then get all fired up and dust the whole house because the President of the Junior League is coming to visit ... you'll be far enough ahead that you won't have to dust for several days... and you'll lose momentum and poof, there goes the well dusted house you'd managed to creat.

Okay, you're right.  no one does that.  I know I don't do that (even if I do covet a well dusted house).

Let's try something more realistic.  If you weed five square feet of garden every day, you won't spend much time doing it, and your gardens will look lovely and your flowers and veggies will thrive without competing for space with the dandelions and ragweed and that grassy stuff that sneaks in from the lawn.  You can get into a habit.  You can do it without noticing much anymore.  Until.... you have a burst of energy (or the grand-kids come over and weed for you  or your spouse treats you to a professional lawn guy one day for your birthday), and you weed the whole thing at once.  Then, you can take a few days break... except that three days later the weeds are coming back everywhere, and now you're behind.

Or exercise.... it works if you do it every day.  Or every other day.  Like a regular blog post, running a mile every day gets you seven miles a week easily.  But... it doesn't work nearly as well to blow it off for ten days and try to get your mileage up all at once.

See?

Not good.

hmmm.  I wonder if this explains why I'm so bad at taking vitamins...

 

Woman to Woman

Far longer ago than I care to admit, a friend of mine took advantage of Illinois' then new law granting same-sex couples the right to have "Civil Unions" (almost get married).  She delightedly referred to the event as "getting gay-married."

With any luck, soon, there will be no difference between "gay married" and married married except for the technical details about the body parts under the clothes.

Anyway -- in honor of this almost a wedding, I designed an afghan.  I think of it, sort of, as a stealth gay afghan.  IF you look at it from one angle, it looks like a rather boring striped afghan...

Lovely yarn -- Malabrigo Rios.  I like the little variations in the blue...

 But.

At another angle, it looks like this:

 

Note the hearts ... and the joined "woman" symbols....

Lovin' me some stealth symbols!

Soon, I'll be able to bestow the gift in person. 

Someday, I'll even post the pattern for this afghan.  But first, I need a test knitter.
I guess I'll need to draft up Man to Man, and maybe even a more traditional wedding afghan....

Cool Moments

There are places in the world where cool things happen, and the newspaper TELLS you about it.

For example, in Houston, TX, the International Space Station passes overhead on a fairly regular basis.  It actually does that in lots of places, what with it's 16 x daily orbit of the planet Earth. But in Houston, they let you know when it will be going by.  If you're interested in when it will be available to watch in YOUR US City, look here. (They also have a page for other countries, but as of right now, I'm pretty sure my readers are mostly in the U.S.)

Last Saturday night, I was in Houston.  And the Space Station passed overhead at 8:26 pm.  And because we knew about it, we were able to go outside, and spend five minutes looking upward -- watching it pass overhead. 

Pretty cool.

We followed up by going to NASA the next day, to learn a bit more about the space station, and about the Opportunity's mission on Mars (yep, they've already discovered that Mars had water -- and the other things necessary for life -- at one time in its past).

Despite having seen guys in space suits in pictures and on TV and in movies ... over and over again.  Despite having watched that scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey; despite having watched documentary videos... I was unprepared for the coolness of, and the awe inspired by, seeing an actual space-suit up close and in person.

Okay, that one isn't so much up close -- it was floating overhead, here's another view:

The ones that inspired the most awe, for me anyway, were the ones in glass displays -- where the glass made picture taking enough work that I chose to LOOK instead of take pictures.

There is so much to learn at the NASA's Johnson Space Center, it's worth far more time than we had to spend.  It's full of awe-inspiring, heart warming, cool, and creepy but amazing stuff.

We learned about life on the Space Station, which includes the use of pretty amazing technology to recycle all the fluids that get used there.  And yes, that does mean that you're drinking and cooking with recycled urine.  But, if you stop to think about it, urine is mostly water, with some waste products (most of which are actually things you want in your body as long as there's not too much -- things like sodium, chloride and potassium).  The only thing you really don't want back is the ureic acid.

I also became aware of just how many space missions we've had.  There is a wall at the Space Center, with pictures of the crew from every mission.  Three of those pictures have a black banner on the matte. Three.  Those three mark missions where members of the crew lost their lives either during the mission or during the training period leading up to it.

Three.  That's pretty amazing.

Of course, it's also amazing that folks have gone up into space to that Space Station, and come back again, in this thing:

(That's my handsome cousin Mark, and his lovely sister Gail).

A new Home

At the beginning of the year, I did a supplement to my traditional "WIP Roundup" in which I posted a bit about a few projects that had been missed in the first go round.  In that list, I included a potential thing: Either I was going to find a new home for this shawl:

Or I was going to rip it back to the "plain" section and make it larger.  While I agree that Laminaria (the shawl) is lovely.  And it is soft and wonderful (what with having been knit out of cashmere), it was smaller than I like to wear.  I've pondered its fate for a couple of months now.

When I first posted about my dilemma, my lovely aunt Susan asked how big the shawl was.  But life got very complicated for her over the past few months, and I'm not sure she ever got my answer.

I took Laminaria, the extra yarn, the needles, and the pattern with me to Texas this past weekend.  I planned to spend Friday evening ripping cashmere, and then Saturday evening relearning that not so plain pattern that makes the lovely basic ground for the shawl.

Before making any bold moves, however, I thought I'd bring it out for a viewing.

I brought it into Susan's quilting studio (why oh why did I not take any pictures!  It would make you swoon with jealousy), and asked her if she thought it was a comfortable size for her to wear.

She allowed as how it would be just PERFECT for summer in Houston, when you want a little something on your shoulders in the air conditioning.

Voila!

Laminaria has a new home!

And I cast on for something else entirely.

A Final Journey

My journey to Texas was a poignant one.  While there, I spent special time with my beautiful and talented Aunt Susan, and two of my cousins, Mark and Gail, all of whom are wonderful people whom I wish I could see more often and know better.  It reminded me how many years I've let slip by without managing to visit them.

I also had the opportunity to meet Susan's charming sisters, Patsy and Nancy.  In them, I found new family and new friends.  (And a new scrabble buddy).

But the real reason we were all gathered was to bid a final farewell to my beloved Uncle Marvin.

As I mentioned in my memorial post about Marvin, he was a sailor.  He'd sailed many seas, and where he didn't actually sail, he journeyed by larger boat as a passenger.  When he died, there was one last place he'd wanted to sail.... 

The Gulf of Mexico.

And so, the family thought that the best farewell we could give him was to take his ashes to the Gulf, and let him have his final sail there. We gathered in Houston, where Marvin lived when he died, and  then drove down to Galveston, past lovely houses built up so that the main living areas are safe from high water.

and a couple of cruise ships:  one from Disney

And one from Princess

(those life boats, which look so small and so few on that huge ship, remind me of the movie Titanic).

Then we arrived at the smaller marina where we were going to put out to sea.  There, we were greeted by a gathering of natives:

and their friends...

We boarded my cousin Debbie's boat, captained by her charming husband (and very fine boat pilot) Greg, and set out to pass the magic 5 mile marker so that we would be in international waters.

Along the way, we saw various ships, at anchor

and more at sea.  These may not look huge, but they really are.  There is about a mile to a mile and a half between each of these tankers.

The sea doesn't look all that exciting in these pictures, but there were points where we had some pretty big rollers, and it was fairly choppy.  Greg was amazing -- keeping all of us from experiencing the roughness of the seas we were in.

Once we'd gone out far enough, and then moved out of the shipping lanes, we pulled the not-urn with Marvin's ashes out from where it had been safely stowed for the journey.

Said our farewells and prayers, and gently set it in the sea

Where it floated for a moment, and then did it's biodegradable best, and began to dissolve,

All to soon, it had disappeared beneath the waves.

It was a peaceful moment; a sad moment; a joyful moment; a hard moment.

And then suddenly it was over.

When we were all ready, Greg turned the boat around, and we enjoyed the breeze and the sun and each other

as headed back in to shore, where Greg took us on a little tour of the area ...

This is an oil rig that had been towed in for some reason.

When we got back to the marina, our old friends were still there ...

But we left them in favor of lunch at Bubba's

Despite the special decor, they serve up some wonderful food -

Alas, the crayfish were cooked in a boil that was too spicy for me -- but Mark, Gail, Debbie, and Greg made short work of three pounds of 'em.  We settled into family traditions -- eating well, laughing together, and finally, playing scrabble on the Ancestral Scrabble Board.

I am so glad I went.

I am sad that it took losing a wonderful man to get me together with this group.

I am determined that it will take far far less to get me together with them again.

Almost Done

When I left the house last weekend, I really wanted to take this project with me... because nothing is quite so pleasing as finishing something.

Alas, this project is more that a bit too big to use as a travel project (especially with tiny planes in the picture).  But I'm so very close!

I've got the last six rows of edging to do, and then I'll be weaving in ends and washing and blocking.

It's a long over due gift, for which perspective and angles are everything.

I'll be sad to see it go, but thrilled to see it in it's true home.

A little journey

Flying is always interesting. 

Flying out of tiny airports is like stepping into the past.  A little calmer, a little gentler.

Friday, I flew out of anwew-to-me airport, on my way to deliver my uncle's ashes to their final resting place in the Gulf of Mexico.

It's a tiny little airport.  Even though it has a full on restaurant, it has only one gate.  The airline is so small that it can't check your luggage (or  you) all the way through to your destination.  Not a big deal, but it comes into play later that my checking in here, I was not, in fact, checking in for the second leg of my flight to Houston.

Looking out the window we see signs that reveal the size.  Note the wind sock.

 There were no planes on the ground while I was waiting for mine to arrive.  There were, however, helicopters.

I watched that one leave while drinking my coffee and waiting.  I had to finish my coffee outside of security, because there was no place to buy anything inside security (it being the entrance to the gate itself).  They only had a water-cooler inside the gate.

I knew that I'd not be able to bring a water bottle into security, but had hoped to be able to buy some water on the other side.  No luck.  But the coffee from the restaurant was pretty good, and I planned on buying a grossly overpriced bottle of water when I got to O'Hare.

When my plane arrived, I realized again just how small an airport I was in.

The seven passengers and two crew pretty much filled the plane.  The woman who checked us in, and gave us our boarding passes came out to gate check our luggage and see us off...

The copilot helped us up the cute little drop down stairs, closed the door, and walked around to climb aboard the cockpit himself.

The flight was lovely.  A little bouncy at times, but gave a wonderfully different perspective on the world.  Had I remembered that my phone does have a flight mode (which would have let me use the camera in flight), I'd have been able to show you the quilt of the midwest as we flew over.

I was reminded that, despite the dense population of our cities, and even most towns, there are still places where folks' houses are half a mile or more apart.  I pondered the freedom and isolation of living that way as I looked down on houses that sat alone in their square mile of land, surrounded by fields.

Our landing was gentle, and our crew was charming as the co-pilot then led us into the terminal at O'Hare.

My peace was promptly dispelled by the realization that I had arrived at O'Hare airport at the far end of Terminal 3, with less than 50 minutes to get off my plane, gather my suitcase (which fits in the over head bin of large planes, but was gate checked for the wee plane above), and dash like a madwoman across the airport to the far end of Terminal 1.

That meant race-walking from the end of that horizontal blue band on the left (yep, the part that is out of the picture) up around the arc and back down to the bottom of the green band on the right (yep, the part that is out of the picture, but which you can almost see peeking back in as a wee bump).  I did manage to find a shuttle that got me from the Y at the top to the top of the green band.  But they were already loading my plane by the time I'd reached that Y.

Upon arrival at the Y (Terminal 2), I'd reached an area where my outgoing airline (United) had gates.  I tried to get the folks there to at least check me in, so that the folks at my gate would know I was, in fact, in the airport and thus wouldn't give my seat away to a stand-by passenger.  They refused.  They did, at least, aim me at the shuttle bus.* 

When I got to the top of Terminal 1 (the far end from my gate), I tried to get someone THERE to check me in.  I was breathing pretty heavily by this time, as it's been quite a while since I had to march at speed for that distance (nevermind hauling the suitcase).  Again, they refused.  The fellow told me that it only takes HIM 5 minutes to get to the gate I needed.  I refrained from pointing out that when he did it, he wasn't likely to have just dashed 2 miles.  He asked if I needed assistance, and I was tempted to say yes, but if I'd waited for their wheel chair, or cart, or whatever to get to me, I'd have missed my plane.

Needless to say, I did not stop to pee (no bathrooms on tiny planes), or get water, much less get lunch. I arrived gasping as they were calling stand by passengers to the counter.  At first, they coudln't find my reservation -- even with the confirmation number in hand.  But in the end, I boarded the plane, stashed my suitcase, and headed straight back to the lavatory.

The flight attendant generously gave me some water, after which I settled in to enjoy our pilots last ever flight.  He retired that day.

My arrival in Houston was smooth, and my lovely Aunt and beautiful cousin were waiting for me when I emerged from the building.

 

(I've since learned that there is some sort of train thing in O'hare, but no one told me about it, I saw no signs for it, and I still cant' figure out where I'd get it even looking at the O'Hare map.  I think it's outside security, which means risking going through a long line again....)

To Parents of Not So Small Children

Happy Easter!  -- just a bit late.  I wrote this on Easter, but evidently, it didn't actually get posted!

Today's Easter Bunny brought me a moment to spend on facebook, where I was directed to this post on parenting.

It's a great post on parenting. (really -- go read it)  But... it limits itself unduly.

Everything he said is true.  And everything he said still applies to bigger children.

My girls are in high school.  One graduates in less than two months.  The other, who skipped a grade, and thus is already younger than her class-mates, has gotten her ducks in a row to graduate a semester early.  So... in 2014, I will have no high school students. 

But they are not "grown," and they continue to pose the various types of challenges that children pose.  They push boundaries -- the way kids do.  The way kids need to do in order to grow, and learn, and be able to function in the world around them.  Of course, they also need to honor boundaries sometimes.  And like all kids, they are better at that some times than they are at others.

There are those who say that it is the nature of a teenager to behave horribly towards their parents. They say that teenagers are "crazy".  I'd even agree, to some extent, since I realize that they are in the throes of rewiring their brains (I was going to embed part of the video from here, but something's not working - I've left it here in case it gets fixed on their end).

As if the rewiring thing isnt' enough, they're also trying to navigate the impossible journeys of hormones and peer-relationships.  But I have known teenagers who were civil human beings all the way through the "bad years" and remain lovely people to this day.

And thus, I too face those moments when, if someone told me to "treasure every minute" because it "goes too fast"  I'd have to squelch the urge to whallop them upside the head with the nearest heavy object.

Every single day, I say to myself "I am not a terrible parent, even if their current behavior towards me is atrocious beyond reckoning."  I have to remind myself that they' are evolutionarily programmed to do a separation dance so that when they're "grown" and otherwise ready, we're both willing to have them leave the nest.  I need to be ready to see them gone, and they need to be ready to step away from the safety of home.   Some days, I"m really ready.  Some days none of us are.

At least once a day, I remind myself that  "I am not an evil worthless brainless non-caring person, no matter what they say."  Again, that separation thing kicks in, and they accuse me of not caring (mostly because I'm not doing what they want, or when they want or something.  I know I care.  I'm pretty sure they know I care.  But they forget, and are rude about it.  It's not a fun place to be.

Several times I week, I remind myself that  "I DID teach them manners and values and...'  And even though they don't always practice those things in front of me, I do learn from other parents that my girls are polite, respectful, courteous.  It's good to know that they can pull that off outside in the real world.  And I have confidence, that once this separation dance is over, they'll be able to do it consistently at home too.

Every single day, I remind myself that perfection isn't a realistic goal.  I remind myself that at every step of the way I did the best I could with what was available to me at the time, and that sometimes, cope is just unavailable.  If you take nothing else from this post, take that -- perfection is not a reasonable or realistic goal at any time when you're dealing with human beings.

At least once a week, I remind myself that it does not constitute parenting failure if your kid doesn't have the latest gadget that her friend has, or that she has to wear last month's clothes or that you let her spend her own money on clothes when she never tells you what she needs.

As The Actual Pastor said:

"You are not a terrible parent if the sound of their voices sometimes makes you want to drink and never stop.

"You’re not a terrible parent.

"You’re an actual parent with limits. You cannot do it all. We all need to admit that one of the casualties specific to our information saturated culture is that we have sky-scraper standards for parenting, where we feel like we’re failing horribly if we"

haven't gotten them to do chores reliably, or keep their rooms clean, or remember to clean up after themselves, or even remember to say please and thank you when they ask to to drive them somewhere and pay for things they want to do, and we let things slide.

Those other parents whose children DO do the dishes?  They're dealing with something else.  Their kids are no more perfect than yours or mine.

Every so often, some other parent tells me how polite my children are, or otherwise lets me know that out there, in the public eye, they're okay.  I relish those moments.

And every so often, when I see someone out there in the real world doing some good parenting, I pause and tell them so.  I know how much it feels like you'll never get it right sometimes.

We joke about setting the bar too high, and tell our brilliant, lovely daughters that really, if setting the bar at graduating high-school without getting arrested or pregnant is too high, they should let us know.

But it's also true ... that even though parenting teenagers, like parenting small children, is a perpetual challenge for which the media has set the bar beyond the reach of any actual human parents ...  I regularly get little moments when I see the adults they're going to become, and I'm proud and tickled. 

And every day.  EVERY day, I love my girls.  

Every day, if I but pause, and relax, and let go of the current frustration, I know that I'm living with two amazing, talented, beautiful young women

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month

 

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

While I'm not going to get into political issues, I'm pretty sure that we can all agree that sexual assault is a bad thing, and that it ought to be stopped.  We can likely also all agree that victims of sexual assault should not be denied services they need just because they can't afford them.

It's all very good to be aware -- but it's also very important to take action.  We should be talking to our children, reporting things we see, and encouraging victims to seek help and to report what has happened to them.

I got to thinking -- what can I do to make a difference?  How can I help?  And, more significantly, what can I, as a massage therapist, do?  And, how can I encourage others to help?

Here's what I'm doing:  Throughout the month of April, I will donate a portion of my massage fees to our local Rape Crisis Center.  This center provides counseling services, and crisis services, but also provides all sorts of education services that help teach young people (from kindergarten up) about ways to avoid sexual assault - both to avoid becoming a victim, and to re-think their actions so that they're less likely to be perpetrators.  They do phenomenal work on a shoe-string budget.

What will you do?

That's entirely up to you, but if you're in my area, one thing you can do is spoil yourself

-
By getting a massage, you can help support those who work tirelessly to prevent sexual assault, and to offer help to it's victims!

At this point you may be asking why I'm writing about Sexual Assault Awareness on a Knitting Blog?  Well,perhaps it's because I'm a massage therapist, and it's relevant.  There are still countless people who don't recognize massage as healthcare, but instead think of massage therapists as people to whom they can make inappropriate propositions.

Perhaps it's because a couple of months ago, a new-to-me male client tried to expose himself to me by "adjusting" the sheet that draped him so that he could "feel the air on his skin".  I was strong enough to draw the line, replace the sheet, and let him know that un-draping himself was not acceptable.  I was okay.  I was able to think fast on my feet and defend my boundaries without freaking out .... and without letting him push me past my comfort zone.

But

Not every young massage therapist would have been.

Even worse, he had already pushed the line when his only feedback included remarking on how good the massage felt only when I worked on or near his glutes.  I have no idea how far he would have pushed things if I had not been able to define my boundaries firmly and promptly.

In this case, I was able to define my boundaries, and finish the massage.  Afterwards, I told him that I was "sure" he hadn't "intended to do anything inappropriate", it had made me uncomfortable that he only expressed appreciation for my work when I was working on his glutes, and that it not only made me uncomfortable but that it violated professional standards for him to attempt to remove the draping required by my state license.  He was polite.  I was polite.  Face was saved by all -- but he's never come back for another massage (which is okay by me).

I consider myself lucky.  The result could have been very different.  He could just as easily have continued "adjusting" his sheet.  (I would have left the massage room and told him to get dressed).  He could have grabbed my hands and tried to place them in inappropriate places.  I've heard stories about massage therapists who have experienced that and worse.

THAT is why I'm writing about Sexual Assault Awareness Month on this blog.

As long as people think of massage as a prelude to, or a substitute for, sexual activity -- and are willing to push boundaries this way, massage therapists are at risk.  And the people who are willing to push that boundary are more likely than others to try to push other boundaries -- touching their therapists, or ....

What will YOU do?

Inheritance - with a nod to Franklin

Among the people that I've enjoyed the most of those I've met through knitting  is Franklin Habit. 

I've read his blog (The Panopticon) for years.  I met him once shopping at Stitches, and now seem to be in the habit of doing it at every knitting event I attend.  We say hello, we chat for a moment, he is incredibly gracious, and we move on.  I squee when I think he can't hear me anymore. (Tell me you don't think he looks like Ben Kingsley just a little.)

Recently, he posted THIS on a new blog that he'll evidently be doing for Lion Brand Yarn.  He talked about what amounted to building a family tree, but  "rather than births, deaths, and marriages, it was a record of attitudes, passions, and techniques. It was my[his] lineage…of creativity."

I love that idea.  And so, I interrupted my current spate of genealogical research (and my never ending quest to locate some tangible evidence of the native american ancestors that my whole family agrees exists) and the ungainly burden of trying to achieve a clean house, to contemplate my creative lineage.  What did I learn from MY ancestors.

Realizing that, through my more recent ancestors, I've probably gleaned all manner of wisdom originally passed on by earlier ancestors, I thought I'd introduce you to those I'll be mentioning below (in alphabetical order)

Anna, (Grandma) my father's mother, and Grammy Dot, my stepfather's mother, for whom I seem to have no digital images at all.  They were my original enablers, tying me eternally to the web of playing with sticks and string.

Janet, my "wicked evil" stepmother, whom I adore, and of whom I seem to have ZERO solo photographs.  This will be fixed.  She is a septuagenarian who is still happy to sit and color in good coloring books.  She gave me the Beatles, and colored pencils, and her mother gave us both great books for kids.

Linda, my beautiful, talented, and gracious mother.  I'll stop there lest this post lose it's focus - I could go on for a long long time about how lucky I am to have her as my mother, and why.

Malcolm, (Papa) my father, with thanks that he didn't drop me that day he saw his fathers' face in mine. Oddly, the only digital pictures I have of him are also group shots.  Again, this will be fixed.  As you'll see below, I learned a lot from him -- even though we stopped sharing a domicile in about 1967.

Marvin, my father's brother - about whom you've recently read quite a bit.

Paul, my wonderful stepfather, without whose guidance I'd be a very different person.

Susan, Marvin's lovely wife - engineer, quilter, basketweaver, wonderful woman, who deserves a much better picture.

Sylvia, my mother's wonderful, creative, loving sister, who hasn't sent a holiday or birthday card graced with any art but her own in so long I can't remember the last time I got one without one of her marvelous pictures.

Virginia, (Grandmother)  my mother's mother, again without the digital pics.

And... my great grandmother .... I'm pretty sure you know why no picture is here.

This is what I learned from these wonderful people

Measure three times, cut once (papa, Paul, mom)

Don't limit your aspirations (grandma, mom, paul)

Mice matters (grandma, grandmother, mom, also Janet, Paul, Susan, Marvin.....)

Of course you can do it yourself! (papa, Paul, mom, grandmother, Marvin, grandma, great grandmother, Sylvia, Janet....)

beauty is worth the effort (Susan, grandmother (and no, we're not talking about makeup here, we're talking about amazing quilts and exquisite dresses)

sewing - mom, who learned from grandmother, who sewed all mom's clothes

knitting - Grammy dot, who I never saw knit

crochet - grandma, who learned from her mother, whose hooks I still own.

carpentry - papa, who gave me my own tool box when I was 12, and Paul, who made it true that sawdust smells like home and safety.

electricity isn't scary - papa

electrical repair/lamp building - papa

plumbing isn't scary - paul

It's worth writing down the stories - Marvin

and the corollary - stories are important - Marvin, Paul

no project is too big if you take it in pieces - paul (the BOAT!)

good tools are worth the extra money now (papa - from his father, PD)

bad tools aren't worth the money at all (papa)

using the RIGHT tools can make all the difference (papa)

size matters (papa and his dining room table)

just a little shift into the wind can make all the difference - Paul

save that - it might be useful - Papa)

corollary -- you probably don't need to go buy something just for this purpose, when you have that collection of string, screws, boards, needles, fabric .. in the shed/basement (papa/pd)

do a little every day and you can achieve amazing things (Paul)

just because you don't do it that much doesn't mean you can't teach it if you know how (Grammy Dot)

we don't need no stinkin' pattern! (great grandmother, who crochet amazing and large doilies out of barely visible thread with no pattern)

 

And so very much more.

Thank you -- to my parents, and their siblings and their parents, and their parents...

Awesome Gift -- Professional Fail - A detailed review. - Part IV

Back to the super house-cleaning that was supposed to be my Valentine's Gift.  When last we looked, Merry Maids and their subcontractor Turner's Carpet Cleaning had left disappointingly dirty floors on the first floor or my house, and Merry Maids "special attention deep cleaning" had been anything but deep.  But, Merry Maids' charming Branch Manager Jeff had promised to make things right.  He was going to show me that my experience was by no means a representative one....

Here's what happened next.

On Thursday, Jeff, the Branch Manager, told me that he would try to arrange for a team to come here on Saturday, but that he didn't think he could get that done.  He promised that if there was no Saturday crew, he would have a crew here on Monday.

On Friday afternoon, I called him to find out what the plan was.  I was not happy that I had to call him, instead of him calling me to report on what he was able to do, but I let that go.  He promised a crew Monday afternoon, by 2:00.

In the mean time, at his request, I sent him the pictures that you've all seen here.  I told him that I wasn't intending them to be a list of demands, but that since he'd acknowledged that the experience I'd had was an anomaly, and he'd told me that he was using my house as a teaching opportunity for a number of people on staff, I figured I'd send along a shot of anything I noticed.  After all, my cell phone is right there in my pocket, so it's not hard to do.

Monday morning arrived, and Jeff called.  He told me that he'd contacted the carpet  guy, who would get in touch with me, and that he and his crew would be here at 1:00. I informed the family (home on Spring Break) that the crew would be here an hour early.  I was pleased.

Luckily, I'd padded the window for them to be here, since I had clients right up to 1:00.

At 12:45, Golf Pro and Bookworm left the house to run errands and get her hair cut.  They didn't want to be here for the bulk of the cleaning.

At 12:54 Molly from Merry Maids called to tell me that the cleaning crew would not be here until 2:00.  At 1:30, Scott, the carpet guy, who hadn't called me yet,  arrived to address the many remaining stains and the dog fur. 

I had a long chat with Scott about the need to "pre-vac" the carpet.  He allowed as how he could do that. He also allowed as how he might have some spot remover he could use on the stains, some of which he admitted to not having seen when he was here last.  (I wonder -- had he forgotten to put his contacts in?)  I'm still rather mystified that he hadn't done both in the first place, but either way, he said he'd do it this second time around.

I had him start on the first floor so that the crew wouldn't have to walk over freshly cleaned carpets or stairs to get to the issues in the upstairs bathrooms.

At 2:08, Jeff, the Branch Manager called again.  The crew couldn't get here until 3:00.  He allowed as how he wasn't sure they could finish the job today, since they were getting such a late start. He began to ask when would be a good day for them to come back to finish the job. I refrained from pointing out that I'd originally asked if they could be here by noon.  I didn't refrain from pointing out that every time they do this, I effectively have to take the day  off, and can't see any clients.

Eventually, he started blaming things on my time restrictions (since I work from home, and my job requires the house to be quiet, I have to schedule blocks of time for them when I won't have clients here).  I admitted that I was very frustrated, and was beginning to feel like asking to just have my credit card credited for all it had been charged, and calling it a day.   I didn't want to do that -- because I don't want to start over, blocking off yet another day for a new team.  In the end, however, Merry Maids opted for taking a loss on the afternoon of incompetent cleaning instead of making good on their repeated promises to show me what their business practices really are.

Jeff told me that my account had been Jinxed from the start.

I'm not kidding.

Scott the carpet guy then finished.  He pointed out places where he'd gotten more of the spots out of the carpet.  He showed me a huge dog-sized swack of fur that he'd pulled from the carpet under my beds... and showed me a lovely tool I'll have to try to find somewhere that works wonders to pull the fur out of the carpet.

Off he went.  And while I'll admit that the dining room is much improved, and the stairs appear to have lost their extra fur coat, the upstairs hall carpet still has big spots on it.  I'll know better when it dries.

So, I've lost two afternoons and the first half of one evening. I have somewhat cleaner carpets in my dining room and bedroom.  Maybe even clean enough to wait awhile before calling in the real guys, if I can ignore the upstairs hallway and that spot in the library.  I have somewhat cleaner bathrooms, with gross places that I now KNOW about.  And the floor that was the impetus for all of this -- remains dirty. 

I guess I'm not back to square one, but I'm sure not where I expected to be.

After giving myself a brief cooling off period, and I decided that I'd really rather they just come do the floor, so that I get what I need AND they get paid for the work they did.  I called Jeff again, and we had a very pleasant conversation.  His proposal is that they come in and do the floor at their hourly rate: $60.00 per hour for one person, or $100.00 per hour for two people.  They anticipate several hours to clean the floor.  I wonder just how much of that $60.00 their employees see.

I'm off to see how much I can condense this all for YELP.

Whine mode off.

 

Positive Energy

Today's blog topic comes from a request from my Facebook Friends.

Yesterday,I posted to Facebook that I was "Looking forward to a day of positive energy all around me. Hoping I can resist all the temptation that will be there."

Folks asked for a bit of explanation, and even specifically requested a blog post.  SO...

After too much time in the house, I thought I'd put in a bit of positive spin before the final entry of the saga of the cleaners.

What WAS I doing?  Well, I was working!  I spent the day at a Psychic & Health Fair, where various folks come to let people have 15 minute samples of interesting services.  Those services range from Foot Massage (by me) to Reiki, Reflexology, Tarot Readings and Psychic Readings.  There was even a woman who does Stone Readings.

I offer brief tasters of services* that people may never have experienced, as well as more basic things that folks seem to forget to take time for.  A fifteen minute session is long enough to get an idea of whether you might like a full session, long enough to actually do some good, but doesn't represent a large investment of time or money for the curious.

Okay, but was does that have to do with positive energy and temptation?

Well, to start with, it''s fun. I get a chance to meet a bunch of people, and often have the chance to introduce someone to a new modality.  Generally, people are happy to have found something new that leaves them feeling better than they did when they came in.  I love seeing someone who was tense, or stressed, or nervous get up from my table relaxed, at ease, at peace, smiling.  That's a positive energy boost right there. (How often do you get THAT as an attorney? - I get that almost every time I see a client.)

Additionally, everyone who works these fairs tends to come in in a positive frame of mind.  They're all people whose company I have come to enjoy a great deal.  When we're not busy, we sit and visit and remind each other of the abundance of goodness in the world -- no one whines!  And if someone does have an issue, the others listen, and offer new positive perspectives.  But NO ONE WHINES.  Even if we spend three hours with no business, we take it as a blessing to be able to rest and socialize for a while. When one of us is busy, we are all happy about it. 

Even if I don't actually wind up 'working'  I am sustained by these days, surrounded by others who work in the broadly defined field of folks who help others.  That's another big part of the positive energy.

The temptation?  Well, these Fairs are held in a lovely local shop.  The proprietress offers books on interesting topics (many of which aren't always available at your local national-chain-bookstore). She makes her own incense, and since I love the way the shop smells, I'm usually tempted to buy more incense so my house can have a similar yummy background smell.  She stocks polished stones, and jewelry, and candles, and tarot decks, and all sorts of lovely stuff that it -- well -- tempting.

Among the more expensive things that tempt me there are large polished stones like ...

  Large fluorite stones - I just love the way they look and feel.

 

and selenite rods that make wonderful massage tools.

Despite a strong temptation for an expensive labradorite stone that was shaped in a way that would have made an awesome massage tool, I was strong.  So strong that I actually put it in the hands of a customer, who bought it.

 

 

* At the Fairs, I offer 15 minute sessions in Reiki, Reflexology, Structural Energy Balancing, Mini Relaxation Massages (for the Fairs, I offer Foot Massage, Hand & Arm Massage, and Face or Face & Head Massage, all of which are really relaxing), and Chakra Balancing.  I will also do a bit of therapeutic massage if someone has an issue they'd like addressed.

Library Windows

We moved into our house in July 2001.

We put lovely green leather recliners in the Library, across from the lovely fireplace with the green tile.

Ever since then, I've been trying to find window treatments for those windows.  As much as I love the bright sunshine, and the view of my lovely yard, it gets a bit too much in the afternoon when the sun is shining straight in.

I've looked at more curtains that I want to think about.  Finally, I decided to knit curtains for these windows.  And thus began the odyssey that is Dwarrowdelf.

Now, I'm making wonderful progress on these  curtains, but look at those windows again.  We're talking 84" long panels.  In lace. And they're wide too.  Even moving apace, I doubt there will be window coverage until next fall.

Golf Pro, who spends a lot of time in this room, has been very patient.  But as all the other work going on in the house, he began to wish that his space could be put on the list for improvements.  Finally, he asked that window coverings for those windows be next,

 After I got over feeling sorry for myself for having devoted so much time and effort into curtains, I started looking (again).  This time, I found something completely different. (And no, we' are NOT going into a Monty Python Sketch here).

Window fim.  That's different.

It doesn't quite achieve the sun block out goal for the half-round, but I still harbor a fantasy that I'll be able to work out some sort of miracle with the extra bits we have left over.  If that doesn't work, I've got a plan for a half-round curtain to match the Dwarrowdelf Panels.  I'm still thinking that they will work on these windows, even with the cool "stained glass".

If not, well, the dining room windows are the same size ....

We're both very pleased.

I am resisting t

The Season of the House - A Little Perspective

Once upon a time, this blog was all knitting all the time.

Then it became primarily knitting, with a smattering of travel and family stuff.

Lately, it seems to be about my house (in particular about fixing or cleaning it), with a smattering of knitting.  This was not planned.  And I don't anticipate that it will continue too much longer.  But it will go on a bit more.

Since the season is turning ... we are at the Equinox, I thought I'd do a quick review of this extended Spring Cleaning Binge.  Admittedly, this is more for me than for you, but it will also include a bit on what I still perceive as left to do, and that will give you a clue about how much more of this I'll be posting.

It started in January with an abrupt Deep Clean of the closet in which the Christmas/ Solstice /Yule tree lives.  At that point, I was still disputing that I'd be on a crazed house cleaning binge.

I moved on to the Yarn Closet (which remains clean and tidy).

Cleaning the Yarn Closet meant taking a serious inventory of all the yarn.  That led to taking an inventory of all the needles (creating a several part series).

Then I cleaned out and organized the Massage Room Closet.  I'm not sure I blogged that. I'm still inordinately pleased with the Massage Room Closet, but began to think you had all had about enough of my closets.

Along about this point I caved and admitted that even though I hadn't resolved to do a full on whole house purge and clean, that was apparently happening.  I added all those steps to The List (this week's list, by the way, started with 81 items).

My plan at that point was to continue cleaning out the closets in the house, one at a time, and to remove from the house all the things I found buried deep in those closets that we didn't need any more.  (For those who are counting, four closets remain, all but  one of which are smaller than the two big ones I've already tackled.)  I'm still planning an assault on the rest of the closets that aren't in the kids' rooms:
1) The storage closet in the Guest / Play room,
2) the Master Bedroom Closet;
3) the storage closet behind the Master bedroom closet; and
4) the floor of the back hall closet (the upper half having already been addressed).

When we get to my bedroom closet, I will be purging it of all my clothes that don't get worn and those that don't let me feel lovely (except, of course, the wedding dress).  I figure the Master Closet will take the longest because it comes with many decisions.  I may or may not include in the Great Clothing Purge an assault on my dresser and the Cedar Chest. If not, I'll get to those later.  Either way, I promise a picture of the mountain of clothes that will be leaving.

After the closets, I planned to tackle the Laundry Room (default place to shove stuff you don't know what to do with) and the Garage (by the time I get there, it should be warm enough). 

Alas, the best laid plans of mice and men are foiled by water.  That led to a series on the clean up, remediation, and effective remodeling of my family room after the whole house humidifier abandoned humidifying air in favor of watering the floor.

We're closing in on the end of that.  I'll be showing you the finished room as soon as we get window coverings and replacement media cases in there. (The media cases were mostly fine as long as we were okay with not putting videos on the top two shelves.... the water had warped their bases so much that fully loaded they rocked and fell over).

So... here's what I think will show up between the next few rounds of knitting posts:

1) Merry Maids, a Redux -- which I'm hoping will be "How Awesome ARE These Guys"

2) The library Windows

3) The Master Bedroom Closet

4) The Storage Closets

5) The REVEAL - A living room washed clean.

6) The Garage.

Wait? What happened to the laundry room?  Well, it got all cleaned up in preparation for the house cleaners.  I've already sent stuff to the Goodwill or the Recycling (or the trash). You'll see the result with the MM REdux.

See, only six more house cleaning posts.  And I promise more knitting, and more new designs, and more glorious Massage goodness.

And a college visit.

And a finished dress form, perhaps in combination with a WIP RoundUp.

Awesome Gift -- Professional Fail - A detailed review. - Part III

Let's turn, for a moment, to carpet cleaning.

After all the frenzy of rebuilding my family room, I thought cleaning the rest of the first floor so that it kind of matched the awesomeness of the Family Room was in order.  That's what started this whole hiring people thing.

First, I wanted someone to clean the evil tile floors.

Then I wanted a pro to clean the evil carpet in the Library/Dining Room areas (where food stains abound) and the stair case (where my capacity to vacuum is not up to the challenge posed by a dog who thinks that stairs are beds).  Once I'd talked myself into that much carpet cleaning, I figured I'd go ahead and get my bedroom carpet cleaned (after all, the other place the dog sleeps is under my bed).  That led to the upstairs hallway being in the mix... after all, it runs from the stairs to my bedroom.

If we're honest, the entire upstairs needs its carpet cleaned.  The massage room could likely also use a good cleaning, but it doesn't get much dirt, since almost no one goes into it with shoes on, and the animals aren't allowed in, ever.  I'm pretty sure that it's still fine from the last time I hired carpet cleaners.

So,  I did my research, and decided to give the Merry Maids sub-contractor a shot.  He was slightly less expensive than the local serious cleaner.  I felt a little bad about that, because I did like the job those guys did a few years ago.  Butbeing able to deal with one guy (Merry Maids' contact) instead of two seemed like a good plan.  After all, it worked really well with the folks who fixed the Water Issue.

So, the lad arrived in the morning, on time (I took this as a good sign).  We talked, we went through the rooms.  I pointed out stains.  I stressed, repeatedly, that it is really important to me that he get all of the dog fur in the stairs and under my bed.  He spent quite some time trying to sell me deodorizer for the carpet, but he finally  agreed that if people can come into my house and not know I own pets until the pets make a physical appearance, I can probably live without carpet deodorizer.

I didn't look closely at the carpets when our hero left, because they were quite wet, and I didn't want to track anything from the dirty kitchen floor or hallway onto the clean carpet. I peeked in, and they looked much cleaner, but it's hard to tell until things dry.

Later review revealed that the dining room still sports about a dozen spots on the floor.  The library floor still has spots, and there's a clear dirty path from the kitchen through the dining room, through the library to the front hall where folks walk. (When I pointed them out to Merry Maids' branch manager, he said he could get them out).  I didn't bother photographing them, because I've shown them to the guy who claims he's gonna fix it.

I'm under impressed.

The stairs...  well,

This does not look like a fully cleaned stair tread to me.  All of them look like this. Plenty of fur in the corners.  (That fur that I pointed out to him when he arrived...)

As we move upstairs into the hallway, I rather expected a wide expanse of clean carpet.  I saw this:

and yes, that's dry.  It's across the way from this:

I'm wondering what exactly this fellow did.  I saw the equipment.  I know he had a big long hose that ran out to his truck, just like the fellows who cleaned a couple of years ago did.  But they were louder, I think.

I do know that he did not thoroughly vacuum before doing the steam cleaning.  Perhaps he thought the Merry Maids crew (not due until that afternoon) had done it.  I had actually asked if they needed me to do any vacuuming first, and was told no.

You can imagine my dismay on finding this in my bedroom

That fuzzy stuff is fur.  I know my Roomba is not up to all of it; nor is my regular vacuum.  That's why I asked for this to be done.  If you look really closely, you can see that there are little foil things under the table legs, but NOT under the bed legs.  This is a clue that the bed wasn't moved.

But hey, that's okay, right.  He got all the other dirt out of the bedroom carpet, right?

um.

no.

This aren't awful, but they shouldn't be there.

With any luck, once our heros return to show me what they can really do, I will be able to do a whole series of before and after shots to show you a spotless carpet, a dazzlingly clean kitchen and laundry room etc.

But first -- cool things in the windows.

 

Awesome Gift -- Professional Fail - A detailed review. - Part II

Now that wev'e taken a look at what the regular cleaning should have included, lets take a look at the pre-prepared list of things they claimed to do as part of their Special Attention work that they were to have done.  Each time Merry Maids comes to a house, it has a list of rooms in which they will be giving special attention.  The first time they come, they basically do Special Attention to every room.  There after they split it all up so that they can maintain a level of cleanliness even for the stuff that doesn't need focus each week.

This is the sheet they left for us.

 

This pre-printed chart includes the following things:

• Wiped down cabinet fronts
• Cleaned the tile area outside shower/tub
• Soaked and cleaned stove drip pans
• Washed baseboards
• Washed window sills
• Washed doors and door frames
• Washed corners and edges of the floors
• Washed ceiling fan blades
• Washed sliding door tracks
• Dusted tops of drapes and valances
• Dusted shades or blinds

It also notes that they're looking forward to our next visit -- one week from their visit.  (As you may recall, we had NOT agreed to any repeat services.)

Though this list claims that they wiped down the cabinet fronts in my kitchen, I found places where something had clearly spilled and then stuck and hardened that were still there.

Though this list claims that they cleaned the area outside the shower and tub, the outside of my shower now looks like this:

The list indicates that they Soaked and cleaned stove drip pans.  My stove drip pans and grates looked like this when they were done:

Among the things you see there is spinach, adhered to the grate, and tomato sauce.  I'm  not so sure this got soaked and cleaned.

The list reports that they Washed baseboards.  I did see them washing baseboards in the sun room, but I'm not sure they got all of them.

The list reports that they Washed window sills.  When the sweet woman who cleaned the kitchen was done, there were still dead flies on the kitchen window sill.  I asked her to address that, and she did do something, but this is how it looked when she was done.

They claimed to have Washed doors and door frames.  This was the door frame to the first floor bathroom after they left:

I wet my thumb, and wiped at the spot -- it did take a bit of effort, a litte touch of nail, but it only took about 2 seconds to get it to look like this

Here is the door in the girls' bathroom

The list claims that they'd washed corners and edges of the floors, but since we've seen that they haven't yet washed the floor, we won't deal with that.

They printed up that they'd washed ceiling fan blades, but the rooms they were to clean didn't have ceiling fans.

The allege that they washed sliding door tracks, they may well have, but I've not checked.  I think they hadn't gotten there yet, since that side of the room was cluttered wtih furniture.

They allege that they'd' dusted tops of drapes and valances in rooms with neither valances nor drapes.  They also claim to have dusted shades or blinds.  The blinds in the laundry room were blocked off by things that had been set up on the counters.  The window ledge behind those things were still dirty, so I assume that the blinds are also dirty.

All in all, I'm very impressed - but not in a good way.

However, since the branch manager has told me that he's using this disaster as a teaching tool, and that he really believes that this is NOT representative of their work, they're getting a second chance.  I will report in as much detail when they've been back.

But first -- a review of what their sub-contractor left behind when he cleaned the carpets.

Awesome Gift -- Professional Fail - A detailed review. - Part I

So, Day Two of the Gift of Clean.

Before we go further.  I want to say - very clearly - that while there are a lot of issues exposed below, Merry Maids' branch manager has come by, and he's embarrassed on their behalf. He's bringing in a new crew to show me what their standard is supposed to look like.  While I'm exposing what happens when a communication failure leads to a crew that has no idea what they're supposed to be doing when they arrive -- I WILL be exposing what happens when their team does their best.

Anyway, we left this scene with me having just sending Calvin home instead of letting him try to scrub the entire tile floor clean while wearing office clothes.  After Calvin left I began to notice a few places where the deep first cleaning from our Professional Cleaners didn't quite meet expectations.

I admit, I have HIGH expectations.  And since  I know that I tend to have unreasonably high expectations, I try to dial them back down.  That said, Calvin made all sorts of promises of excellent work.  He didn't quite say that the rooms they cleaned would be white glove clean, but they did say that they'd clean all counters, clean all the baseboards, clean all the windowsills, wipe down the fronts of all cabinets. Dust the tops of picture frames.... Heck, not only do they publish on their website a comprehensive list of the things they do as part of a regular cleaning they have an adorable little check list that they pre-print and then leave for us to tell us what they allegedly done for the Special Attention portions of their service. We'll get to that next.  

Additionally, this series will bring to light just how  bad a housekeeper I've been.  It exposes dirt I wish I didn't have to admit to.  It may also serve as a reminder of just how many tiny details there are to cleaning a big house well.

So what is supposed to happen when these folks clean your house?  According to their website, their regular service includes the following:

"On every visit, your Merry Maids team dusts, vacuums, washes and sanitizes each room. Using our equipment and specially formulated products, they clean from left to right, top to bottom, so no detail is overlooked."

(We interrupt this quote to note that among the "specially formulated products" they used in our house was Mr. Clean.)

So, where were we? Oh yes, the things I expected, since they told me it would be so. let's start with the kitchen....

"Kitchen
Clean appliances, counters, cabinets, table and chairs. Clean, scrub and sanitize sinks. Clean and sanitize countertops and backsplashes. Clean the range top and refrigerator top and exterior. Clean microwave oven inside and out. Wash floor."

We'll skip the "wash floor" part for now.  They have agreed to come do that, so we'll pretend that's not an issue.  Let's move on to cleaning appliances, counters, cabinets, table and chairs.  Starting with appliances - the refrigerator looked lovely. (Okay there was a wee issue with the calcium deposits on the water dispenser, but otherwise, the front looked lovely.  The toaster was clean.  I've not examined the front of the dishwasher, so I can't speak to that today.

The microwave gets it's own mention.  The inside was gorgeous

Alas, the front wasn't as clean

Let's move on to counters: The main counters were clean.  I confess to having checked -- I moved the toaster to see what was behind it.  It was clean.  But there is a counter in the kitchen that they didn't even touch:

Sure it's cluttered.  But all that stuff can move, and should have moved, and the dusty counter beneath should have been touched.

Let's take a look at the sinks then.  Surely they could clean the sinks?

Hmm... not so much.  What about its mate -- there's a double sink.  That one was full of clean dishes when they arrived.  The other one was empty...

That white enamel kitchen sink with black streaks on it (caused by pot bottoms scraping it) could have been left gleaming white if they'd only used the Comet that was sitting on the window ledge right there.  I'd have thought that "clean, scrub, and sanitize sinks" would have included that. I see black marks there.

Hmm.  This isn't adding up so well. Since the stove becomes part of the the "Special Focus" list, I'll leave it until later.  Let's take a look at the Bathroom

"Bathrooms

Clean, scrub and sanitize showers, bathtubs and sinks. Clean and sanitize vanities, backsplashes and toilets. Clean mirrors. Polish chrome. Wash floors and tile walls. Deodorize."

We'll start with the showers, shall we.  There are ways in which I do not want to show you these, since they reveal just how lax my own housekeeping has been lately.  But ... well, sometimes blogging means embarrassing yourself.

Cleaning, scrubbing, and sanitizing showers ... 

That means that I should expect a clean shiny shower not this

or this - which insists on being upside down,

So lets go back to the big picture - what they said they'd do with

"All Rooms

Dust picture frames, knickknacks, ceiling fans, lamps, furniture, woodwork, shelves and baseboards. Remove cobwebs. Vacuum carpets. Wash all floors and dry wood floors. Vacuum furniture, including under any cushions. Empty and clean ashtrays and wastebaskets."

Okay, let's tak a look.  Dust picture frames.  That means that we look at a picture frame it should look shiny and clean?

And when I wipe my finger across the top of a picture frame, it should come away clean, right?

Maybe not so much.  These are from two different bathrooms.

Dust knicknacks? They did get the ones on the mantel, but not the ones on the kitchen windowsill.

Dust shelves - I combine that with the cleaning counters thing from the kitchen, and I assume that means that in the laundry room, they should have cleaned the surfaces - the counters.   The first thing they did in the laundry room seems to have been putting the trash cans on the counter so they could clean the floor -- but they never cleaned that counter. And there were cobwebs under the edges of that counter -- between the counter and the dryer.    Regular service includes at least dusting all furniture and removing cobwebs. There was a cobweb on the door window in the laundry room. It only got wiped off the window when I told Calvin about it and he dealt with it.  Here's what he left:

The concept of cleaning surfaces and appliances would seem to indicate that the tops of the washer and dryer would be cleaned.  After the original team was there, I found a sticky spot on the washer top.... and I told Calvin about it.  He wiped it off, but left this:

We've already seen what they do in kitchen sinks.... how about laundry room utility sinks?

This goes on and on.

It's too depressing to contemplate.  There are parts of my house that are this dirty.  The people I hired to clean it are this incompetent. 

Thank heavens the people I hired are determined to make this right.  Perhaps they detected that I'm a blogger, and would blog the fiasco.  Perhaps this really is an incredible fluke....

Lucky for them, I'll blog the WHOLE thing.  If they come through, I'll sing their praises..... and I'm holding my YELP review until our interaction on this issue has closed.

Tomorrow -- the Special Attention claims.

 

 

Awesom Gift - Not So Awesome Follow Through

My Beloved Golf Pro gave me the most wonderful Valentines Gift.  This week, it came to fruition.  Sort of.

After all this reconstruction, my house was more than a bit of a mess.  Worse yet, I hadn't been able to actually CLEAN a lot of it during the construction because, well, the living room was in the kitchen.

And... I confess, I haven't been the most focused housekeeper in a while.

And...  Well, let's just say this: pale beige/offwhite carpet -- dining room, dog, cat.  Yuck.

My present?  I got to hire someone to come in to really truly clean the kitchen floor.  In fact, I got to hire someone to clean the whole area where the floor is that lovely, but highly textured and bloody difficult to clean tile  (the kitchen, sunroom, bathroom, back hall, and laundry room) floor.  I HATE cleaning it.. and it was filthy.

I also got to hire someone to clean the carpet in the library/dining room, the stairs, the upstairs hall and our bedroom. 

I was excited!  I'd interviewed three different companies about the kitchen floor, and two companies about the carpets.  The Nationally Franchised Cleaning Service we chose allegedly Knows Clean.  They sent over a representative (Calvin) who seemed truly on the ball.  He was articulate about what they'd do, and assured us that they were insured, bonded etc., and dedicated to making us happy. As an added bonus, since it actually didn't add that much to the price, I eventually agreed to have them do a full "deep clean" on the kitchen, sunroom, back hall, laundry room and all three bathrooms.  That meant that they'd get all the cobwebs out of the corners at the ceiling, wipe down all the baseboards, clean the doors of cabinets etc. as well as cleaning sinks, toilets, tubs, showers, etc.  Oh, and the floors.

I was really looking forward to this!  Clean floor!  and clean kitchen and clean bathrooms!

Alas, I'm no longer quite as excited.

When the team of two arrived (15 minutes late) at 1:15pm to clean the tile floors and as a bonus, clean my kitchen, laundry room and bathrooms, the first person we spoke with commented loudly that she'd been given bad directions.  Indeed, she was really loud for the entire time she was here. Pleasant, but loud.  (I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt, and am assuming that she suffers some hearing loss from spending too much time talking to people over a loud vacuum cleaner). 

Once in the house, Loud Woman asked to be led to the basement, where she'd been told she'd be working. 

We don't have a basement.  Oops.  I guess the same person who gave directions to our house told them what we wanted done.  Perhaps there's a house elsewhere wondering why the team only thought they were supposed to clean the kitchen floor and not clean the family room.

I went over the plan with the Loud Woman, (thoroughly clean the tile floors, and while there also do a full clean on the rooms that had them, then clean the upstairs bathrooms). I asked if one of them could start with the master bathroom, so that Golf Pro would be able to take his afternoon nap. They went upstairs, I settled in to do some work.

I guess I should have been more worried when the Team Leader had no idea what her responsibilities were.  However, I assumed all would be well.  After all, I know that this company cleans the bejeezus out of a place their first time in to ensure that folks will sign a repeating contact.  I had told Calvin that we were not ready to sign any such contract yet, but that I would be considering it for at least part of the house, and that means that he was even more motivated to have his crew do a top job.

When they came downstairs, I had to go over the plan again.  They were to seriously clean the tile floor, and additionally, to clean the rooms rooms that have tile floors. Even though I had to repeat the scope of the job to her, I didn't worry. I knew that she had a worksheet with her that didn't make any sense.  I didn't even bother to go check on their work upstairs.

The Loud Woman and her companion (Sweet Quiet Gal), split up and tackled the bathroom and the kitchen.  Again, I assumed that they were doing a good job. 

Finally, after "cleaning" everything but the main goal, they went to the laundry room.  There, they were surprised to discover that we needed them to move some stuff so that they could thoroughly clean the whole floor.  I helped them move the washer and dryer.  When I went to move them back after they had allegedly cleaned the laundry room floor, I began to realize that we were in more trouble than a bit of confusion over the scope of the work.

That floor is tile, with wide grout, over which a dog runs many times a day to go in and out of her dog door. I've cleaned this floor.  At the best of times, it needs a scrub brush to get the grout clean, and indeed, since the tile is highly textured, to get the tiles clean.  These are not the best of times.  In addition to the dog trail (that place where she manages to drop mud before it makes it into the rest of the house), there was plenty of dirt from the humidifier leak and it's subsequent repair. The floor was filthy.

The Loud Woman had "cleaned" it wth a cloth and a Mr. Clean solution.  Cloth. No brushes. No scrubby sponges.  Not even a Dobie.

So, the floor, which was our primary reason for calling the Cleaning Company, was being surface wiped, not CLEANED.

The Loud Woman then asked me whether they needed to move the wicker furniture in the sunroom.  How is one supposed to clean a floor without moving the furniture that sits on it?  I'd have moved it myself, but had been told that they would take care of it all.  It was then that I finally discovered that had not been told they needed to do more than mop the floor. (Mopping these floors is a waste of time, it leaves the deep/wide grout full of dirt).  They didn't even have scrub brushes with them.  At this point, they'd been here for almost three hours.

I called Calvin. We talked.  He talked to the Loud Woman.  She opined that it would take her and Sweet Quiet Gal four or five hours to get the floor clean.  (FOUR HOURS? -- That would mean that they'd be here til close to 9:00 p.m.!!)

Calvin came to the house to talk to me, to work out a solution.  The first thing he did was to try to tell me that we had a communication problem, and that he hadn't understood that I'd wanted the floors thoroughly cleaned; that he thought we just wanted a basic clean on those rooms.  Seriously?  The only reason we called them was to have them clean the floors.  I pointed out to him that while I understood that HIS goal in coming to see us was to get us to contract for repeat visits, MY goal had been to get my floor cleaned.  I had repeatedly told him that we needed the floor clean -- and only after he pushed did we agree to add the other work.  I told him that as far as I was concerned he had a few options: 1) quit now, take a token payment for the work had been done, and forfeit the deal; or 2) find a way to get my floor actually clean as soon as possible.  I reminded him that I'd cleared the day, made sure that I had no clients scheduled, so that his team could clean, and that I couldn't just clear a whole day again.

Eventually, he realized that failing to do what he'd promised to do, what he'd contracted to do, would not only be a guarantee that I'd never call Merry Maids again, but would also guarantee that I'd be likely to complain, and to contest the charge to my credit card.

His plan? He sent the two women home, got one of my buckets, their Mr. Clean and my scrub brushes, and set about to do the floors himself.  On his hands and knees.

So, if two women who scrub floors as part of their jobs would take four to five hours to complete the job, how long do we think the office guy who doesn't do this regularly is going to take?  Did he think we'd be okay with him hanging out in our kitchen scrubbing floors til midnight?  Did he consider that at some point, his hands and knees would give out, and he'd have blisters on his gloveless hands, and he would be unable to finish anyway?

My morning clients are not scheduled for my home office, so I stopped Calvin from continuing his after-hours scrubbing, and asked him to send a crew over before 8:30 a.m. to do the floors.  He made a call, and said he could get that done.  I stressed that I needed them here and ready to work by 8:30, because I had to leave for work.  He said that would be no problem.

At 8:28 this morning, having seen no one arrive to clean the floors, I called the office.  I got my dear friend Calvin, who assured me that they were on their way, and should be here in 3-4 minutes, since they'd" left ten minutes ago."

At 8:40 this morning, I slapped a note on the door saying I was sorry I'd missed them, and left for work. 

Since then, I've spoken to another fellow, who will be sending over a different crew on another day.

I am prepared to give a decent review in the end if they actually accomplish what they said they'd do.  But I will remain a bit disappointed that I had to fight so hard to get what I contracted for.

 

Oldest UFO - Finished

I've been knitting for a while now.  Excluding those years when I knew how to knit but didn't do it that much, I've been actively knitting for almost two decades.  Thanks to the internet and to the KnitList, I became a multiple-project knitter fairly early in the game.  That means, of course, that for almost two decades, I've had multiple projects on the needles.

When you have multiple projects on the needles, some projects wind up being finished faster than others, even accounting for things like gauge and size.  Sometimes, projects seem to falter, and shudder to temporary halts.  They lurk in the background, waiting but not progressing.  We call these projects UFOs (Unfinished Objects).

Usually, UFOs come out of hibernation and get finished or frogged back to yarn before they've lingered too terribly long.  But sometimes they lurk in the bottom of the yarn basket for years.

And years.

And sometimes, they lurk for more than a decade. 

I've had two of these. The first was the Pre-Columbian Shawl.  I started it in about 1996 and didn't finish it until 2008.

 

One can almost understand how a project that big (it's about 6 1/2 feet wide) could take a long time to finish.  But given the speed with which socks can be knit, it's a bit mind boggling to realize that the second UFO of long standing took 17 years to finish.

I'm not claiming to be a super speedy sock knitter - my shortest sock completion was two weeks, but I'm more likely to take up to six weeks to finish a pair, since I'm usually using the socks as my "on the go" project, while time at home tends to be spent on bigger things.  Six weeks.  Not six months.  Not six years.  And certainly not SEVENTEEN YEARS!

The poor things went through a time of neglect, and then they lost their pattern, and then the pattern surfaced, but the socks were in hiding, and then the socks reappeared and I borrowed their needles, .... rinse repeat. 

Thanks to a recent decision to clean out the Yarn Closet, and to resurrect old projects and get things DONE instead of just starting new ones, the Luxury Sawtooth Socks from Blackberry Ridge (no longer available in their kit), are finally finished and ready to wear

Aren't they lovely?

It ALMOST makes me think that a bit of colder weather would be worth it.  Just for a day though.

 

A bit of February Productivity

Over on Ravelry, there's this discussion group for designers.  Each month the moderator generates a challenge, and those who want to play try to come up with a design, and knit it, before the end of the month.

In February the challenge was:

Object: Hand accessory
Theme: Geometry and shapes
Technique: Use more than one color

I found that I had an idea!  And so I grabbed up some leftovers from the frenzy of knitting slippers in December, and worked up what I call Dublin Windows.

I'm working on the pattern for them now, and hope to send them to the testing pool before the month is out.

In the mean time, I've got testers working on two more patterns for the Leg Warmer eBook... and by my next post, I should be able to show you a finished pair of socks that took only 16 years to knit  :-)

 

From Disaster to Delightful - The Reveal Part I

I had this sneaky plan.  I was going to wait until the living room was fait a compli before showing it to you... but I just can't resist sharing this:

Lets unzip that zipper, shall we?

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to peek through that doorway.  I've fallen in love with a floor!

I'll keep it to myself until the curtains are up, and the furniture is in place... but just look at that wonderful floor!

I feel like my house is suddenly worth another $50,000.00 just from that floor.

From Disaster to Delightful - The Fun Continues

So ... here we are.  The walls are freshly painted and it's time to fix that hideous carpet.  Trust me, it's hideous.  So hideous that I can't bear to take it's picture.

Last Thursday morning, the crew came in and emptied the living room:

Into the kitchen.  Where it somehow managed to look like it fit tidily (while simultaneously blocking all access to the sun room and to the back porch (where we grill almost nightly).

Then, they put up magic plastic walls to protect the rest of the house from the evil dust that was about to be in play ..

Note that odd stripe down the center of the panel to the right?  I would never have guessed what that was ...

That, my friends, is a zipper.  It lets the incredibly hard working guys come in and out of the room while still letting them seal the room off.  They had a loud but wonderful machine that they tucked in with them which effectively created a slight negative pressure in the room, so that no dust would want to filter out into the house (and which might even have summoned tiny dust motes INTO the room).  That machine filtered the air and then vented it outside.

Once closed in, they ripped the carpet out with mind blowing efficiency, and then pulled up the pad.  Finally, they coated part of the subflooring with some magic stuff that killed any hope that mold might have had of living and/or growing in that bit of wood that was under the carpet that stayed wet longest because it was under bookcases.

By lunch, the room looked like this:

Then it looked like this:

Note the addition of boxes -- they're filled with wood. (you can see the vent for the machine in the background).

We spent the night with that noisy machine blowing.  It wasn't the best for our sleep, but it did make sure that any stupid fibers from the carpet padding weren't circulating into the air we breathe.  Bookworm's asthma has been dormant (knock wood), and I did not want to wake it up!

 

From Disaster to Delightful - A Path that Melts Your Brain Part III

In which we learn that no matter how careful you think you're being with color choices, missing one little thing can create a whole new project.

After spending a weekend that was dominated by much dithering and changing my mind, and much going back to look at the colors one more time in the sunlight, or the afternoon light, or the cloud cover light, or the artificial light of the lamp in the ceiling, I finally chose a paint color.

Luckily, I did this before the painter arrived.  By about ten minutes.

I was blessed with a delightful painter --- every bit as pleasant as the "General Contractor's" representative.  These are two guys I'd love to fold into our group of friends.

Of course, painting meant two days of thorough discombobulation, as the living room and sun room had to suck in their tummies and pull everything away from the walls.  That led to some furniture slipping into the kitchen.  All of the curtains came down and draped across the sofa.

I spent some time thinking back to my last painter experience (three years ago), and lamenting that I'd not found this fellow then.  He covered as much wall in two days (more like a day and a half) as the other guy covered in two weeks.  And did a better job!

When my two days were up, and we temporarily reassembled the living room (knowing that in less than a week the carpet would be coming out), I discovered that decision making was not over.

All that dithering....  All that looking at paint colors in sunlight and lamplight ... all that holding paint chips up to furniture, and the sunroom curtains, and the kitchen tile and the throw pillows .... and I forgot to check the paint against the living room curtains.

Deep sigh.

The paint and those curtains should only ever be passing acquaintances.  How I could have imagined that curtains which looked smashing next to our dark ivory walls would look good next to our much lighter purple walls is beyond me.

Sadly, local purveyors don't seem to want to carry curtains in purples that go with our walls without making the room look like a child's bedroom.  I've tried to take pictures, but none of them seem to want to reveal what I'm actually looking at. So far, I've brought home two (different) pair of purple curtains (one more or less opaque, and one with "burn outs" of leaves that turned out to be all but transparent), one pair of whit curtains (that seemed like a good idea but were so not) and, at first, a pair of green panels.  We've got four windows, so for a day, the room looked a bit schizophrenic with a different pair in each window. Three of those went back, and we're now testing out three different greens - two solid and one patterned.

Green?? you say?  Why GREEN?  well, our couch had some green, and there's this green chair.  And Golf Pro finally admitted that he, too, kind of hated the way the couch looked (and the hodge podge look of our living room that was pieced together like a grad school student's furniture).  I hauled off and bought a sofa cover, which doesn't quite get the job done, but leaves only the back pillows to be their other coler.  That's green.  It goes with the chair.  So... green.

Luckily, at least some of the panels that are leaving the living room will be moving to another room -- one that has been pining for curtains, and for which the realistic expectation is that the Dwarrowdelf curtains are a good 18 months away.  The library window will be NOT bare before the month is out. Others may actually move into the dining room (contiguous with the library).

Paying it Forward, Creatively - The First Payment

A few weeks ago, I posted about Creative Pay It Forward 2013.  I invited folks to sign up to pay it forward themselves, promising that those who both signed up with me AND promised to pay it forward themselves would receive a creative gift from me some time during the course of the year.

Because neither I, nor the person who started this game, are wholly insane, there was a limit on the number of people who could sign up with me.  That number, which is the recommended one, was five.

Oddly, I've had two people both comment (thus signing up with me) and post about it, one person post -- offering to pay it forward -- without actually commenting on my post, and one person sign up by commenting but only link to my post  without actually promising to pay it forward herself.

I'm not quite sure how to work all that.  Do I stick to the official rules of the game which require people to both comment and promise to pay it forward themselves?  Or do I get creative with the rules, and take note that a) the promise to pay it forward is more important than the comment, thus that person should be on the receiving end too; and b) the person who commented and shared a link to me without making the promise herself does all sorts of pay it forward things in her life in the ways she serves her local community that being a stickler about it all would be stingy?

And why am I so concerned right now?  Well.... I seem to have finished a perfect Pay It Forward type of project! 

In the Great Fiber Organization about which you've all read more than you wanted to know, I discovered a lonely UFO started by one of the girls.  I'd have ignored it, and let them finish at will, but it was messing with my inventory of needles and they actually declared their intention to abandon the poor thing.

I think it's a nifty thing -- made niftier by the fact that even though she's a novice knitter, she designed on the fly to make it more interesting.

It seems appropriate to send it off as a Pay It Forward thing ... it's creative, it was knit by multiple hands, which kind of makes it a community offering to the good that paying things forward does for the  community at large (as Pay It Forward things are wont to do). 

All that remains is choosing the recipient.  Which will actually have been done before this posts -- because I plan to post the project via the mail before I post the project via the blog.

So, who do YOU think will be wearing this next?

 

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