And so it is Solstice

First let me wish all those who celebrate the Solstice and Yule a Blessed Holiday and hoping the start of the longer days brings you much joy and wonderful times with family and friends.

I must say this is probably the first time I have watched the sunrise on the shortest of days and have plans to watch the sun set as well. It really was quite a spectacular. I find I am enjoying getting into the rythm of life right now. I just take a break and walk out to the pasture and stand there with Fox and Spice and just pet them, and talk to them and marvel at them. I spend time just wandering around and looking at the sky and the mountains outside my kitchen window. I really enjoy learning about the goats, and the coyotes (although I must admit the latter still makes me quite nervous and jumpy when I hear them during the night).

I guess when it really comes down to it I am a country girl at heart, and while I always said that, I still found that being in the city was OK. After just a short time here on our big 2 acres, I just don't think city life can compare. I am sure I will continue to love to visit and marvel at all there is in the cities, but the rythm out here fits me so well.

Now, if I could just get the rythm going to get all these boxes unpacked and put away. Made the mistake of having 'unpackers' here for a couple hours the day after the household goods arrived. Eeeeekkkk!!! There are things unpacked that I would not have touched for at least a few weeks. Oh Well, it is done, and now I have to figure out how to deal with it.

Well, I just figured out that Rick downloaded all my pics onto his computer... hafrumphf!!! Once I get my pics I will post them and you can see my sunrise and sunset pics.

Blessings to you all and may you make the most of the shortest day of the year and be comforted to know that they will all be getting longer from here on out.

It feels so good

to know that the kitchen floor is clean enough to run in socks on (although too cold right now). See our tiles are pretty much the same color as the dust and dirt here in AZ - which if you think about it, is a good thing. It will be tougher to tell how dirty the floor is, unless of course you decide to go barefoot, or in socks. My goal is: Thursdays will be clean the kit floor, hallway, laundry room, and main bathroom, floors day.

I think this morning they may be some oatmeal cookies going in the oven... we shall see.

Change of subject, this morning I sat on the window seat of what will eventually be our Master Bedroom and watched to most beautiful sunrise. For me this is pretty impressive, as sunrise tends not to be my time of the day. Now I just have to figure out how I can set up the room to stay in bed where it is nice and comfy cozy and still watch the sunrise. Hmmmmm

I shall take the camera with me the next time I venture over to that part of the house for a sunrise. This house is definitely even more than we imagined it to be. Continuing to find out all kinds of neat little things about it...some good, some... well a bit more challenging. :)

We have internet - it must be official

So, not only did we make it to AZ, we now own our forever home in AZ AND have internet and phone service. What more could one ask for. Last night was officially our first night staying in the house (well the guest house anyway).

Bit by bit we are getting things done. I have been baking and doing laundry today, and will soon make a run to the grocery store. I have yet to thoroughly clean the kitchen floor so I think that is today's chore. Since it is the size of a one car garage, and there are multiple layers of dirt it will definitely be a process.

So I am off to vacuum, swiffer, wet swiffer, and then enviro steam.... what fun this afternoon will be. :) Pictures will come soon I assure you all!!

We Made It!!

Here we are in Sunny Phoenix, AZ!!! Only problem was, as we drove into Phoenix, it was raining! Although the folks here really don't mind the rain, since they don't get much of it. I personally think Rich brought it with him when we picked him up from the airport in Albuquerque to make the rest of the road trip with us.

There are definitely some challenges moving from a 2500sq ft house into a 1 bedroom hotel suite for temp housing. There are a number of things I did not take into consideration. Live and learn!

We are in escrow for the house here in AZ, but are still in limbo. We are suppose to have a closing date on or before Nov 19th, but we just have to wait and see about that one. I am hoping for 'before'.

Lots to do, but hoping to keep up on the blog for the next while at least.

I am sure there will be lots of pics as we make our way into the house and get it ready for us. There will also be lots of knitting pics, I have made some really good progress on my holiday knitting. Amazing how much progress you can make when riding cross country.

Knitting Pictures.... Finally!!

So here they are folks, my long awaited knitting pictures. I am making great progress on my 15 Stitch Blanket. I really enjoy working on it, especially when I am brain dead, watching TV, or want to be doing something while talking to other folks (even non-knitterly type folks).

The socks are a gift for my Mom for Christmas. No worries here, as she is a non-computer person, and will never see them before the big day. The funny thing is, she is on this road trip with us, but because I have been spending all my time either in the truck with Rick or by myself in the hotel room, I can work on them without her even suspecting.

The Concert Scarf is for Brittany (Josh's Girlfriend). I really hope she will like it. I think she will though, as she has mentioned that she likes working with fiber as an art medium. It will be fun to give hand made gifts this year.


I have a few other projects in mind to complete before the holidays, and with the remainder of this road trip, plus 2 other flights back east (one for T-giving and one for Christmas), I should be able to get all my project done in plenty of time.
Now if I could just get rid of the cold, I would be in prime knit mode.

Oh and we are officially going into Escrow on the house in AZ. Infact our realtor told us, the bank and owner are pushing for a closing date on or before Nov 19th. Woo Hooo!!! That means we would move in the weekend before the Tues we leave for PA for T-giving. Never a dull moment with us, that is for sure.

So Begins the Great New Adventure

I promise soon there will be pics. First I need to recover a bit from all the stress and insanity of getting us out of the VA house and on to the road for our trek cross country. It went relatively smoothly with some hiccups, but once we really got started things settled into a routine. Right now we are camped (in a Staybridge Suite) in Columbia, MO. Rick is doing some research for his historical biography that he has been working on for years. Mom has already done the laundry routine, and Dad is being really great about walking Misty. Me, well, the stress seems to have gotten the better of me, and what I thought was allergies from all the dirt and dust we kicked up while cleaning the house... now seems to have turned into a sinus cold. I am really hopping that with a couple good nights of sleep, and just a bit of relaxing I can kick it to the curb before we get back on the road. I have managed to do a fair amount of knitting already. Made some good progress on the Scarf for Brittany, started Mom's Christmas Socks, and even did a bit of the 15 Stitch Blanket.

Will post pics as soon as I am able, but for now it is off to bed for an afternoon nap. Sleep.... it does a body good (especially one that doesn't feel well).

Not Much Knitting

...but lots of packing, purging, and being crazy. The count down is on and there are only 7 days left until we pull out of the Tidewater area and head for the Valley of the Sun.
Life in house Griset, is busy most all of every day either working here in the house or attending to all the many things that must be done to enable our departure. Some of those include visiting with friends and such. We will most definitely miss all our wonderful friends here in VAB and the surrounding areas, and are hopeful that they will all manage at some point in the future to come visit us in Phoenix. So far we have visitors set for March, April, maybe May, and then next Oct (Taos Fiber Festival), so if you are planning a trip let us know we will gladly welcome you.

As of right now, we are still in the waiting process to see if the bank will accept our bid and the house we hope to call home soon. We now have a Realtor for the house here in VAB and he is eager to help us get the house on the market (and even thinks he may have a possible buyer - wouldn't that be lovely?), plus we are dealing with the selling of the house Rick's in OK.

Honestly, I will be very glad when we actually hit the road next weekend. By that point everything that has to be done will be, and if it hasn't been done - it is just too late by that point.

Hardest part will be saying Goodbye to the boys. While Rich, will be meeting us in Albuquerque to finish the trip with us and spend some time in Phoenix - we won't see Matt or Josh until Christmas. It will be strange, but by the same token, we can keep so much closer in touch now than if this had been even 5yrs ago. Gotta love Skype and so on.

Don't be surprised if you don't see or hear from me until somewhere around the 13th of Oct., as that is when we will pull into Columbia, MO for Rick to spend a few days in the archives and historical societies doing research for his book. Me I will be decompressing and just hanging out for some of that time and tooling about with Mom and Dad.

Will try to do at least one more post with knitting pics in the next day or so.

Catch you ALL on the flip side.

I am so Touched and Honored

Tonight the crew of Ladies from Yarn for Breakfast threw me a send off that was just wonderful. This group has grown and morphed over the past 4yrs to such a phenomenal group of people. We have had lots of folks join us and move on, and quite a few who joined us and then just stayed, and then there have even been a few that joined, moved away and then returned to the area to rejoin us. There have been babies added, spinners became quite the force to be reckoned with, and dyers are squeezing their way in as well - along with, of course the core crocheters and knitters. I am so honored to have been able to help this group become what it is. A FABULOUS fiber community in the Tidewater area.

A HUGE Thank You for all of your very thoughtful contributions to the Pattern book (free ones of course). I LOVED the Yarn Bowl of cupcakes and especially the "ball bands" they are priceless.

I think that, were it not for the access to email, facebook, meetup, and the like - I would have been just a pile of tears tonight. I will miss you all, and yet we will still be able to stay in touch over the ethers as if I were still around. I truly hope to see you at some time out in the Valley of the Sun - when you have had enough of the winter doldrums, or maybe a bit too much humidity in the early summer - then just let me know and I will help book you a cheap seat to a vacation in the desert.

If I am lucky, maybe by the time you all start visiting, there will be critters on the property and yarn being dyed in the stalls... we shall see.

From the bottom of my heart and with the utmost sincerity... I thank you ALL!

Sorry No Pics...

I know, I said I would have Rick take pictures, but life has been crazy - as it is wont to be when there is a major impending move. Today is a mini Yard Sale in preparation for tomorrow's regular yard sale. Today I shall put out the main furniture bits and work on pricing stuff for tomorrow. It feels good to know that we are going to try to sell some of this stuff. Plus whatever doesn't sell tomorrow goes to Habitat for Humanity or the Salvation Army. Along with that there are a whole bunch of clothes to be donated - and Rick hasn't even gone through his closet yet.

I must admit, my stress is definitely getting the better of me. I have not slept well for several nights, and last night my asthma decided to put in an appearance. Can't tell if it is just the stress or Allergies (since I have been stirring up all kinds of long settled dust and such), or both.

Anyway, I am definitely looking forward to getting rid of some of this stuff - we really do have too much stuff around here. I want to be able to live more simply, I just seem to lack the willpower and the where-with-all to make it happen. Which is probably why stuff just seems to accumulate with us. One good thing has been ALL the stuff we have found in the garage from previous attempted home projects that is now making its way back to Lowe's and Home Depot, is definitely adding up to nice store credit gift cards. So when we start purchasing stuff to work on the new hause it has already been paid for. Both stores are really quite good about scanning stuff and either noting that it is theirs or not and then doing store credit. This is especially helpful since I live with a man who likes to go and buy at least 1 if not 2 of all the items he "thinks" he might need for a job.

So I am off to start price marking and sorting some more stuff. Wish me luck. :}

Needing Everyone's Mojo -

It is official as of this morning, we have the bid submitted to the bank for approval (since it is a short sale house you have to get the bid approved before doing ANYTHING else) of the house we hope to call HOME some day soon. I figured I would give you just a few teaser pics.

This first one is the view standing either at our front door, at the sink in the kitchen, or from the table in the dinning room.


Next we have a view of the covered patio area which then enters to the pool, and further off in the distance is the coral/pasture area. This area can be seen if you walk from the front door directly straight through an odd sort of room (don't yet know what it will be), and out a set of french doors.


Finally we have a view of my new kitchen. Yes, it really is as big as a garage (since we think it was at one point a one car garage on the original house). Totally looking forward to making lots of great food and fun in that kitchen.


So, for now, that is all the pictures. When Rick gets home later today I will try to remember to have him take a picture of me with the sweater (with its ruffle) on. I will also go take pics of the socks I finished and will post both of them a bit later on. Might even take a picture of the scarf I am also working on, and maybe even my scrap blanket.

But, for now, it is off to go do some more purging and getting ready for yard sale this weekend. It may not be a spectacular one, but if someone else can get use out of some of this stuff then all the better for it.

So - the Birthday Swirl Sweater became...

...the Birthday Spoke sweater. After frogging it a second (or was it a third) time, it finally settled in that it was not meant to be the previously noted pattern. Luckily Jessica found this wonderful pattern and said "THIS IS IT" this is what that yarn needs to be.
So without further ado.... The Birthday Spoke Sweater in all its spendor:



I will do my best to follow this with a better picture, since I also added a small ruffle edging to help give it some length and weight at the bottom and really show off the overlap.
Plus I have also finished other socks and scarves and such, and will try to get them on here as I can.

For now, though, it is back to purging, organizing, and cleaning in preparation for moving.

I Am Back and On The Move

Yes, it has been a year since my last post, and thank goodness the blog is even still here. It has been a crazy busy year with lots of changes and things going on.

Here is the fast version: Still knitting as much as possible. Never did get the Dialysis job (long story - not pretty). Rich graduated from VCU and is now in a nice apartment with a friend, and writing for a couple Richmond magazines and part of the Theater Critics Circle and doing well. Josh is now a Sr at GMU and spent a summer semester in Paris (now like the idea of living abroad even more). Matt is graduated from HS and is now a freshman at JMU and hopefully figuring things out.

Rick has acquired the long waited for Luke AFB position in Phoenix!!!!! Yay for us!!!! We are now moving to Phoenix and will be leaving the Tidewater area on the 10th of Oct. Eeeeeekkkk. Bummed to be leaving my friends, but so very excited to finally be returning to the Valley of the Sun. We have a house we are working on but nothing is final yet. :( Putting as much good energy out there as we can, and planning that we will get what we are meant to have.

Going to try to do some regular blogging now, and hopefully help myself stay focused. Posts will probably be somewhat picture slim, but will do my best to add some nice knitting pictures and some road trip pics when the time comes.