Finally a Homeowner

On the 16th, we officially became homeowners. Today, the first thing goes wrong in the house. We have a warranty, so the most we would need to pay would be $100, but still it's frustrating. The shower in the Bleu Cheese Bathroom has sprung a leak. That would be "my" bathroom. I could still take a bath in the tub, but a shower would put water in the laundry room (and already has). On Thursday, when I took my first shower here, neither Chad nor myself noticed any sort of water in the basement. Friday evening, I took a shower and Erik took a bath. Later, when I went to change the laundry, I noticed that there was water on top of the dryer and that the shelf above it was damp. Hmm. I chalked it up to Erik splashing and mentioned it to Chad. So this morning, I get ready to take my shower and Chad goes into the laundry room to watch for water, just in case. I turn the shower on, just step under the water and there is a load banging on the door with a shout of "Shut it off! Shut it off!" Water was apparently pouring in. Hooray. Hopefully that will be fixed this week without too much ado.

I also have a garden in the backyard. With mystery plants! I'm hoping to identify most of them and then plant some others with in the next 2 weeks or so. I want to get the interior organized first as well as getting all the stuff out of the garage so that our cars can both be parked within. That and we would need to get ready for Erik's Birthday Party/Housewarming.

Ok, back to organizing!

Wrists Are Incredibly Important

I need to get better at keeping up with this blog. Been over a month since I last posted.

Last Friday we had our offer accepted on a house in Lakeville. Hooray! Today is the inspection and it should go well. I'll find out more this afternoon.

My excitement about the house as been somewhat dampened by the event of yesterday morning. I tripped over Erik's John Deere traactor and broke my left wrist as I caught myself. I never realized how much I use my left hand (I'm right-handed) until I could not use it anymore. Right now I'm in a splint and sling, so most of the time I have no use of my left arm whatsoever save my fingertips. Try getting a bra on with one arm. It's a good workout.

Taking a shower has been interesting as well. It takes me about twice as long now and I also discovered that we do not have bar soap in our house. I may need Chad to take me to Target later and remedy that. Trying to get shower gel onto a mesh sponge with one hand is time consuming. Washing my hair has been a bit easier than I expected. I just squirt the shampoo on the top of my head and scrub, slowly working the rest of my hair into the suds. Right now I am considering getting my hair chopped so it would be a bit easier to manage.

Other things that have changed:

-No knitting.
-No playing video games except for singing on Rock Band (thanks for pointing that out Kelly, made me feel better), and possibly playing Def Leppard songs on drums (if we had any)
-I discovered that effectively reading a book takes 2 hands.
-Eating sandwiches is a bit of a task.
-I cannot sleep on my left side or my stomach. I mostly sleep on my right side and if I take my sling off, I can do that.
-Typing one-handed (getting good at that!)
-I cannot drive my own car. Hopefully when I get a cast on Friday, that will change. I know I only got my license 3 years ago, but I'm used to driving myself around and the Malibu is just sitting there looking rather lonely (and it's only been a bit over 24 hours!)
-Doing most of the tasks required by my job are either undoable or very difficult.
-Opening a tea bag now requires my teeth.

There are many other things, but my hand is tired from typing! :-P

EDIT: I am seriously considering getting one of Stephen Colbert's Wriststrong bracelets now!

A Couple of Interesting Blogs


Life 8 Feet Up A Twin Cities truck driver catches some great examples of dumb Twin Cities drivers.


Picking Up Strangers The experiences of a Twin Cities Metro bus driver

Resolution Revolution


So it's a new year again. This year I am more determined than ever to shed some of this weight I am carrying about. To be completely honest, part of it is because this summer presents the possibility of a 10 year high school reunion. I know I would not be to my high school size by then unless I starved myself. I like food too much to do that. Another reason is that I weighed myself at the beginning of the year and saw a number that I have not seen on the scale since I was pregnant with Erik.

What I have decided to do was to give myself some incentives. So I want a new pair of shoes for work. Are they completely necessary? No. In that case, lose 10 pounds first. I want to get a cute haircut in the spring/early summer. Is it necessary? No. How about losing a total of 20 pounds before I cut my hair. I think I can do that easily. I've cut my soda intake a great deal. I'm trying to eat breakfast in the morning before dashing off to work. I'm trying to be more active and pick up my activity in the house. I'm a piss-poor housekeeper. That needs to change. I need to be more active in general.

I hoping that this year will finally bring change.

Christmas x 4 is Complete


Christmas for the Wagner clan officially ended yesterday. We celebrate Christmas four times every year and it is a very tiresome week. This is what happens when someone with divorced parents marries someone with divorced parents.

You would think that with all the knitting I did for Christmas that I would be sick of knitting. But no! Now I am starting to knit a sweater for possibly Chad but I'm not sure if it will fit him since the pattern was ambiguous on how big the sizes really were. If it's too small, then I guess it will be my sweater. Too big? Maybe his brother or dad could wear it. It will be a sweater for SOMEONE.

Knitting Projects Update!

I finished some of my projects that I had planned on finishing for the holidays! Hooray!





One thing Chad wanted to see me do with my new knitting hobby was to have me make something for myself. So I did! And there it is! Most people who read this blog have seen the hat in person, so this isn't a big unveiling. It was really easy and quick. I like knitting hats! I made one just like this for my mother-in-law and now she wants a brown one to match her brown coat. I plan on trying my hand at a sweater for myself after the holidays, so when I get the yarn for that project, I'll probably get the yarn for her hat. It can wait until I have my other projects done.




This is the blanket I made for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Again, easy to do. Tricia and Karin have also made (or still in the process of making) this blanket. If I do this one again in the future, I may take a page out of Karin's book and make it wider since it is really long in one direction. A nice, light weight and incredibly warm. Also, cats like to eat this yarn. Must be the alpaca.



Close-up shot of the blanket.




This is the blanket for Chad's step-mom. I have been working on this one since the end of July. Not quite a Never-Ending-Afghan... I did finish it. :-P However, I did get sick of the pattern quite often in the beginning. Once November hit I picked up the pace so that it was done in plenty of time for Christmas.


Close-up shot of above blanket.



Now I have 6.5 more washcloths to crank out by December 25th and I'll be done with projects! I was going to knit a blanket for my dad's girlfriend, but that may come after the holidays; I doubt I have the time to crank one out now.

This week I need to wrap the gifts I have. Next week I need to finish my Christmas shopping (anyone want to join me?) and bake Christmas goodies! Busy, busy, busy!

Time Flies

I just filled out a form to sign Erik up for full day Kindergarten. In about 10 or so months, my boy will be in school. We'll have to do school shopping next summer! Dear lord, where did the time go!