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By kilax, October 13, 2016 6:15 am

• In 2013, I was in Salt Lake City with my mom and we decided to visit the Salt Flats. We took a rental car there, and made a video of us driving on the flats to share with family and on the blog. Oh, and the rest of the internet, on YouTube. Buah ha ha, it was humorous to see someone took the time to write this comment on our video, just a few days ago! I apologize that me visiting the Salt Flats was so lame for you, random YouTube commenter! (What’s even funnier to me, is that my caption for the video was “Driving the crappy rental car on the Salt Flats on 4/21/13” – I didn’t imply I was breaking land-speed records, ha ha ha.)

• Callie is such a flirt!

• I am getting close to finishing Christina’s baby blanket! I think I’ll finish the knitting part this weekend and start blocking it (I actually started over with this blanket and saved the first one to practice blocking on, so I’ll do that first).

• I’m running a 5K tomorrow. When I signed up for it I was planning to run it for time, but I am not in shape for that, so it will be for fun. I hope to run around a 8:00 min average pace. We shall see!

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By kilax, October 5, 2016 10:25 am

Every time I travel (or even bring my gym bag to work) I forget one thing, despite making lists and keeping my travel stuff together. The game is “what will it be this time?!” Ha.

This trip? A lint roller!

Eek! I didn’t even think of it! 

I look like this because I’m knitting in the car.

The lint is worth it. I haven’t had time to work on the baby blanket at all and can get a lot done during the drive!

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By kilax, September 22, 2016 6:58 am

• My baby is at the vet today to get his teeth cleaned. I’m always nervous when they have to put him under! I will anxiously be awaiting the call to come pick him up!

• CK is visiting the house a few times a day now! She even got close to me yesterday! We’ve been assuming she is stray, because we can’t imagine letting a cat roam free here with the coyotes and cars… but who knows. She looks healthy, so maybe she is someone’s cat?

• That knitting project I was having a few issues with (because I am not paying close enough attention, honestly – I’ve learned that now!) is going to be a baby blanket for my snister. It’s a beautiful chevron pattern. I can’t wait to see it finished! I’m loving working on it, despite the few hiccups (and my freakouts over those are me just wanting it to be perfect for my snis!). And I definitely feel grateful to have the time to sit down and knit!!!

• I’ve only worked for the federal government under one administration (well, I started with a month left of Bush), and am really curious how things will change next January!

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By kilax, September 21, 2016 6:29 am

I must be in a bit of a funk this week, because all the small things are making me stabby. Small things like when you put something somewhere and it immediately falls on the ground. STAB. Small things like feeling cramped on Metra and having people bump in to you. STAB. Small things like not being able to figure out how to fix one stitch (ONE!!!) then spending two hours trying to figure it out*. STAB STAB STAB. Sigh. Knitting is supposed to relax me. What the eff is my problem this week?!

Get a grip, Kim.

*I finally reached out to the pro and mostly fixed it, but have no idea how I effed it up, sigh.

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By kilax, September 17, 2016 9:52 pm

At least a failed start to a knitting project makes for a fun toy for Data!

Yeah, we’ll start that one over tomorrow…

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By kilax, July 28, 2016 6:23 am

• Hummingbirds have been hanging out by the flowers growing out of the hastas! Exciting! I should put out a legit feeder for them. They’re so fun to watch. Here’s a super awesome photo I took of one (circled in red, in case you can’t find it, ha):

• We had friends over last weekend and I was excited to use our new lawn furniture and eat lunch outside! Only, all you had to do was step outside to start dripping in sweat. So… we ate inside. Ha. But I am happy we got some outdoor seating. Hopefully we will have some opportunities to use it next month.

• I finished knitting a bunch of wash cloths. I thought about saving them for housewarming gifts, but decided to mail them to my Grandma to sell at her church’s farmers market booth. The pattern is ZickZack.

• Shelley helped me pick out needles to start knitting socks! August is going to be busy with house projects, so I hope I can give it a try in September.
• I’m sad to be missing the Movin’ Shoes Full Moon Run (5K) tonight in Madison with Rachel! We’ve run it the last three years together! But it just doesn’t make sense with my schedule this year. I hope she has a great race!!!

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By kilax, June 15, 2016 6:45 am

I picked up some yarn on Saturday to knit a few dishcloths.

No one wants any dishcloths. And I won’t use them*. And the start of first one is kind of wonky because my hands are remembering how to hold even tension on the yarn. But I wanted something to do on our flight to and from Alaska, and after dinner, to keep my hands busy. And a dishcloth is a good place to start to remind my hands what to do, before I try something more complicated.

And yay, my hands remembered how to knit! I haven’t knitted anything since January, and I was excited to remember how to do it (again) without having to look anything up.

I’m also thinking about buying a copy of Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike to read on the plane. Has anyone read it?

*Mica suggested saving them for gifts (pair with soap!) – which I probably will (well, if they turn out okay, ha!).

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By kilax, January 21, 2016 6:23 am

• Hmm, so much for a no chip manicure. My thumbnail chipped on the fourth day. It has a crack in it though, so maybe that’s why? The other nails are still doing great.

• Ha ha, I am such a liar!!! I wanted to give the MBP bracelet to Mom or Christina when I saw them last weekend, but I didn’t want them to suspect it, so I asked Bobbi to text me when she was checking in on Data that she saw him playing with the bracelet at the house. Only, I sent her that photo and actually had the bracelet with me the whole time. Ha! My mom and snis were totally tricked when I showed them the text from Bobbi, and I laughed really hard when I got a text from my snister when she found the bracelet in her purse on Monday at work. Buah ha ha. Ha. Ha.

• Still no close date on the house! It’s all dependent on when the appraisal comes back, if it requires any repairs, the seller signing some clause, then a request for clear to close. And all those timelines are up in the air. I kind of feel like we’re just going to get an email that says “Your close date is tomorrow!” and I am going to respond with “I can’t go tomorrow, I’m in training/with a client!” Sigh. But we’re moving forward with some stuff, like deciding on appliances. And getting quotes from movers. Whatever. I am chill about it. It is what it is.

• This tiny little pink hat didn’t even fit Bobbi’s youngest daughter’s head! Gosh, I really messed that hat up. Bobbi’s daughter said she’d like a hat, in purple, if possible, so I made her one, in hopefully the right size. Look how fun the yarn pattern turned out!

• The super awesome thing about our new house is that it’s 5 miles/a 10 minute drive from Bobbi’s house. We’re practically neighbors!!! YAY!
• Did you guys see this article (pdf here) about the new Mio trackers that will track your steps, as well as your heart rate and give you a combined score they call PAI – Personal Activity Intelligence? The idea is that people need more than a goal of 10,000 steps a day (did you know that goal is from a campaign from Japan… from the 1960s?!) – they need to focus on getting their heart rate up, too. So these Mio wearables track both and give you the PAI score, which you want to keep above 100. It’s cool that you’ll actually get credit for things that don’t include steps (like riding a bike). I am not surprised to see something new from the wearable/trackable industry. I see so many people wearing these things, it makes me wonder when the bubble is going to burst, and people will lose interest. Gotta come up with something new to track, to keep people engaged!

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By kilax, January 18, 2016 8:39 am

Just finishing up a little holiday gift knitting on the car ride to see my family for Christmas, no biggie d…

Ha ha! I ended up liking the yarn I used so much to make this hat, that I got a few more skeins in different colors to gift them to family members for our Christmas celebration this past weekend.

I got the yarn on the 8th and gave myself seven days to finish three hats before we left on the 15th. Accomplished! (with a little work in the car, ha)

I’ve used the same pattern for six hats now. I asked my snister to bring the other two hats I’ve made so I could get a photo of everyone with their hats together.

Aunt Sue, Snister, Grandma Tiger, SiL Amber, (Future!) SiL Alyssa, Mamba

I’m going to make two more hats with this pattern and yarn then move on to something else (hopefully, if I have time with the move!).

It was great to see my family this weekend! It’s rare that I get to spend time with all of my siblings and their partners together, so it’s a treat when it happens. I hope it happens again before we all go to Alaska in June!

My snis, my older bro, me and my younger bro

Us with James

My nephews

Matching scarves! (We needed those scarves! The high on Sunday was -4°F!!! My family said the hats are VERY warm. Ha ha, good!)

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By kilax, January 7, 2016 6:07 am

• We’ve been in total limbo with the new house purchase. We know it’s moving forward, but we’re constantly getting new information as inspections are (now) completed (this week’s: “Hey, you need a new septic tank!”) and we don’t have a close date. All typical home purchase stuff, right? But then throw in the fact that the house we’re renting is under contract to close on February 5th, and things get a little interesting. Ha. Surprisingly, I am very calm about all this. I’m someone who typically struggles with the unknown, but with this, I’ve been okay. Steven and I are working really well together as a team (going through this has brought us closer together), and I know we can get done whatever we need to. We’ll make it work. I have faith in us. (And I hope that by saying we don’t have a close date, the universe will do what it usually does, and provide me one, making me a liar).

Scwheet gate in front of the entry doors to our hopeful home

• When we took Steven’s dad and brother to see the house, I realized that I was wrong about something. There isn’t one ceiling fan… there’s FOUR!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Sorry, Data.

OMG SUPER SCARY FAN IN GUEST BEDROOM!!!!

• And for all my complaining about the rental house kitchen (and other things that I haven’t mentioned here, but you’ve probably heard if you know me in real life, ha), we’re so much happier in the rental than we were in our townhome. We felt on edge in our townhome for many years, because of noise and other disturbances. It’s peaceful where we’re living right now, and it’s wonderful. We’re not stress-free, but THAT stress is gone.
• This post is all house, house, house. And it continues. Our new home is in (the unincorporated part of) a town where ,when we tell people we are moving there, they say “you’re moving WHERE?” with cat making home alone face when you tell them… and not in a good way. Ha. And yesterday, I was buying a train pass to get WAY out there, and the agent was like “All the way to there?” Yep! Ha.
• One more house thing – it’s so weird to think of someone living in our old townhome! I hope they’re liking it!
• Buah ha ha. I spoke too soon when I wrote this post about being back at knitting and remembering everything. I apparently forgot how to read, because I made the hat way too short, despite having made this pattern before! Oops! I am hoping it will fit the head of Bobbi’s youngest daughter. Luckily, I had purchased two skeins of the yarn and finished hat #2, on skein #2, last night. Ha.

Hat #1 – At least the yarn is making it turn out cute!

Hat #2 – this one may be TOO tall. Ha. I will get it right, eventually.

• My older brother is getting married in Alaska in June (!!!!!!), and Steven and I, and most of my immediate family, purchased our flights for the trip on Sunday!!!! YAY!!! There aren’t any races where I will be, but I obviously plan to run there. Big thanks to my parents for covering the flight costs until we can pay them back after we close on our house (because the close costs about a zillion dollars).

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 80