Stereo Update with photos and socks

Here's the photos I took last night. The blue things now have wires running through them. I know they go to the speakers...but I'm not sure what all the connections are for yet.


Here's the hole in the wall in the kitchen. The orange box will have a power/volume control. There's one of these in each room.


Here's my knitting chair, covered in an old sheet, dripping with insulation. My floors look like this. Or at least they did when I went to bed. By the time I woke up this morning, M had vacuumed.


There's holes in the ceiling like this. So far, M's only cut the holes in the living room. I'm trying to keep this one room at a time since the heat from the attic comes through if we don't get the speaker up right away.



Here's the box from the speaker. We actually connected 4 speakers this morning...but I'd already started this post. I'll take photos of those later.



And my Sanity Sock (rav link). The knitting that keeps me sane when my TV is in the kitchen and unplugged. When the living room lamp is on the kitchen table. My sock is too big. You can see a little gap here. I don't think it should be that loose.


If you have a Holiday IK 2007 and can comment on the pattern, it's Socks for Veronik. This is Collinette Jitterbug in Summer Berries. I'm using Addi DPN's in 0. I love the pattern. I even like the way the dark berry color is spiraling around my leg. I'm not sure if this...


...will block into this...


Those are the from the same shot, but one is stretched up. Will a sock block that much. I know I can get the vertical stretch in the length of the foot, but I'm not sure about the cuff. And where the sock is loose (see above photo), should I take out one of the purl stitches on the chart? Then the gutter between repeats would only be 1 purl stitch. I would CO 60 instead of 66. I think these socks need more width when they pull up higher on the calf. I wasn't going to do the 10 pattern repeats. I like a shorter sock.

And yesterday, I made a note on this sock on Ravelry. It's Rosa's Socks (rav link) by Grumperina in Austermann Step. I think I like this yarn better on the sole of the foot where it's plain stockinette. But, I'm not sure what my plain sock recipe is for my foot. I thought this pattern would be a easy one because it's just a little more thought than a 3x3 rib. It does stretch well to fit. But, is it so ugly that I would never wear it? Or, are these good plain socks that will hide well under jeans? I'm at the toe decreases of sock #1. These socks have been sitting like this since mid-May. It's a shame I haven't photographed them at all. Is that a sign that I don't like them?

Stereo Update

I don't think that I had a good idea at all of how long this would take. In my head, we would be putting up the drywall about now. That's so not going to happen. M and I talked about this last night, and it probably won't be this weekend either. I told him, that he'll need to take a few half days in there to finish this. I'm not so bothered that the walls are missing, but rather that when the shelves were moved, the place where M found to have them wait out the construction phase blocks my homeschool books. My personal goal was to be done with the planning before the 1st of August so that I could have 3 weeks this year to not actively think about school. I just lost a week with the craziness that has my kids thinking our house is a circus just because the walls and ceiling look like swiss cheese.

I started socks...and told M it was a race. To see if I could finish the socks before he finished the audio system. I knit a few inches, but I'm not sure if they fit...and I'm not sure how to fix that. I needed to knit, not think so last night I CO BYOB. I finished the bottom of the bag before I decided to check gauge. I'm way off. I just figure that this will be a roomier bag for the not so heavy things. I'll make the next one at gauge. I'll try to photograph today. I really want some advise on the socks. Happy Tuesday. So glad tomorrow is park day.

Why I won't be blogging much next week...

and maybe the following week as well...

Just below those blue things is where my internet connection comes in. I had no connection on Wednesday. And then we plugged it in today so I could email, but I had to take kids for shots and it was our library day and I spent this evening painting murals for the walls in our Kindergarten room for VBS. And now, I'm so tired, that was a bad run-on sentence and I don't care. In the next few weeks, M will be installing ceiling speakers in the whole house. When my kids start to sleep in, I'll be able to use the stereo to wake them up. And we'll have music for the backyard. I'm going to be reminding myself how exciting the finished project will be. In the mean time...I have no walls in the living room...and all the living room furniture is scattered around the house. The TV is in the kitchen...that's the only place we could move it. And it's not plugged in. I'm ok with no TV for 2 weeks...it's tough maneuvering around it though. I'll post progress photos when I can. And if I can figure it out, I'll blog from my husband's blackberry.

Blue Day!

Fresh on the High of Red, White, & Blue from the 4th of July...we celebrated BLUE Day with our friends. We had such a fun morning...and this friend gave permission to blog her kids. =0)

We started off with BLUE collages. Here I forgot to take photos. Then girls went off to 3's room. It was so quiet, and I'm not used to that, I went to check on them. They had set up an entire tea party.


Our BLUE lunch. PB&BLUEberry jam sandwiches. BLUE potato chips from TJ's. BLUE ranch with carrots (I just couldn't dye the carrots...they don't need that much food coloring). And dried BLUE berries. They had BLUE powerade to drink


After lunch the boys played Legos. I love my Lego drawer. I have a salvaged flat file from my architecture days. I painted it, and put it on casters. In all the other drawers, I have large photos, and art paper. I emptied the bottom drawer this spring to hold the Legos. Now, the kids can just pull out a drawer and be playing. Clean up is easier too.

Here's 5's creation. He followed the directions! He has needed more help with this before. Yeah!

And 6 has been building lots!

And our friend, also 6, loved our Mission to Mars Legos so much he had to rush out and get some of his own.

Since it was so quiet...guess what I did. I helped J learn to BO. She learned to knit as a child from her Gram and it's all just come back to her (except I CO for her at the library story hour right now). Look here...BLUE in the yarn, needles, and shirt. I couldn't leave this photo out.

We also played BLUE playdough and read BLUEberries for Sal and had BLUE jello for an afternoon snack. I'm so glad we started these color days. It's building some great memories.

A Weekend In The Life...

I haven't taken the time to do this in awhile...and we had a busy...but restful 4th of July weekend.

Tuesday, while trying to find Crocs for 5, I headed to a local sports store. I remembered that I've been wanting a tent. (I know...not something you just remember...but I think I've lost my mind to motherhood.) I bought the tent for M's birthday gift. When he got home that night 3 said, "Dad, don't peek at the tent in Mom's car, it's a surprise." =0) There went that surprise.

Thursday, library story time. The kids sang Happy Birthday America!


I quickly planned a Backyard Campout for the weekend. I grew up camping, but M had never slept in a tent. I wasn't prepared to do all the packing required for a REAL camping trip by myself. But, as far as the kids know, this was GREAT. We grilled over "campfire". And even made banana boats for dessert.


If we had really packed up and headed out of town, we wouldn't have had striped juice. I can't remember where I saw this, but when the sugar content of juice is different then with careful pouring they won't mix. Here we have Red & Blue.


And a close up of the Jello.

Setting up the tent. 6 asked, "Mom, why do you know more about setting up a tent than Dad?" I'm glad we practiced this in the yard. Hopefully, we'll be heading out for a real campout soon.

I found a great tent that has 2 rooms with a breezeway in-between. The kids on one side...Mom and Dad on the other. And it was roomy. I'm sure there are fancier tents out there...but this will be good for us.

Fireworks.

Backyard wildlife. This fountain was M's father's day gift. I'll have to post more about it. We love that it's a magnet for the birds.

An unwelcome guest...

Another lost tooth...

Ready for church...

Our church's Sunday Funday after the service. Bounce houses...

Dunk tank...


And playing in the newly constructed playground.


We came home from church, and needed to unpack out tent. I finished up the laundry and got ready for another week to begin. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend celebration. Let Freedom Ring!