katherine

not much new...

2009-11-09T02:53:06Z

We did finish installing the hardwood floor this weekend, and most of the trim around it. I finished painting the dining room, so at this point there's one hall wall that inexplicably did not get painted to finish, then force BIL to remove paint from where it was slopped in inappropriate places (trim, windowsill), clean the carpet, and next weekend we're going to move in! The apartment is an abominable mess with some sporadic half-assed efforts made at packing (mostly just throwing things around and bunch of boxes cluttering the place up).
tragically, the guy who helped us the other weekend with the pick-up truck had a heart attack and died this week. He was only 34! It's really sad and shocking. He was a very nice guy, and we just saw him this past weekend and he seemed just fine.

This weekend

2009-10-18T21:33:21Z

has been ridiculously busy. Saturday was highly successful: I went to Lowes 4 times, we (me, Tulio, and various friends and relatives we roped into helping us) painted roughly 80% of the house (living room, dining room, all bedrooms, and a portion of the hall), made a valiant but unsuccesful attempt to strip the wallpaper out of the dining room, broke the lock on the sliding glass door (one of the trips to Lowes was to get a safety bar) and then we drank beer and I took a bubble bath. We learned an important lesson of the inadvisability of compromise in marriage -- I wanted a very pale subtle pink for the living room walls. Tulio felt my color was boring and chose a brilliant hot pink. We compromised, and now we have walls the exact color of Pepto-Bismol. I'm hoping adding furniture to the room will tone down the pinky pinkness?
Today we had high expectations -- we roped a guy with a pick-up truck into helping us and went to the discount home improvement store to buy a hardwood floor. Which store, we learned, is not actually open on Sundays. Then we went to Lowes and Home Depot to price hardwood flooring and realized that at retail prices, it is prohibitively expensive. Undaunted, we went to the house and tore up the carpeting anyway. I went upstairs to admire the paint job and discovered the reason it had gone so fast was because my BIL and his cousin had really done a remarkably crappy job. Seriously. The carpet is not a drop cloth, guys. And just because there somebody forgot to remove the switchplate or cover it with tape, doesn't mean you should paint it. Really. And random unpainted spots is not o.k. I also discovered that even though we were NOT planning to paint the kitchen, someone helpfully spackled random spots on the walls, so we might as well paint it now. Wails and gnashing of teeth followed these discoveries, and BIL, cousin, and the guy with the truck left under the pretext of taking the tore up carpet to the dumpster and never returned (we later found them at the gas station eating chips). Tulio and I repainted one of the bedrooms and scraped paint off the trim where it had been slopped, then realized we were both exhausted and decided to leave the rest of the painting (and the foam crap from under the carpet -- incidentally, we found several razor blades under the carpet, like a creepy time capsule from the carpet-layers) until a later date -- probably next weekend, given our lack of free time during the week. So now we are chilling in the apartment -- despite being possibly the most impatient person in the world, I've decided that for once I would rather do things slowly but do them *right* than rush through them and do a crap job, and, after all, we have 6 weeks before we have to vacate our apartment, so we can afford to take our time and do a nice job on the house.
I have a nagging mystery though -- where the hell is the water heater? there's hot water so obviously there is one, but where on earth is it? Next time I'm at the house, I'll check the crawlspace, because it really isn't anywhere else.
My sister is going to think this is boring (because I already told her all about it over the phone and she was bored then, so now she'll be doubly bored) so here is a link to the deep fried blog from the state fair, which I am missing this weekend, although that is probably good for my arterial health.
http://info.ncagr.com/DeepFried/
Last year's innovation in fried foods was deep fried pepsi (kinda like funnel cake but saturated in Pepsi syrup -- like my sister points out, as if funnel cakes were not delicious enough). There hasn't been that much buzz about exciting breakthroughs in fried things this year, although my mother tells me that deep-fried butter debuted at the Texas state fair this year, but I had a great idea: OK, at the fair they make this awesome thing where they stick a giant potato into a corkscrew machine and then fry the resulting enormous potato ruffle and its kinda like a mix between a giant chip and a giant french fry and so so good, well, anyway, what if they did that with an apple? and then covered it with cinnamon and powdered sugar? that would be awesome, right?

Guess what we did!

2009-10-16T16:26:49Z

We just bought a house! It won't be officially ours until the papers are filed this afternoon, but still --- we just bought a house!

note to self

2009-10-14T22:52:57Z

this recipe looks good!
that is all.
http://www.cookingcache.com/soupsand/africansweetpotatostew.shtml?rdid=rc1

What's up.

2009-10-11T18:42:43Z

I had a nice chill weekend! Yesterday I went to my friend's son's birthday party and chased around 3 year olds, and then when I was all worn out I went for a leisurely walk with my other friend and then we watched movies and knitted while Tulio watched World Cup playoffs or quarterfinals or whatever they are at this point. Today I went to knitting group and I might vacuum or then again I might not.

On Friday we are supposedly closing on the house! That's pretty exciting! I keep alternating between being thrilled and being terrified. We found an overstock and close out housing supply store nearby -- it's kind of like TJ Maxx except with flooring and toilets and doors and such and is pretty thrilling. We're going to have to do some things like painting and replacing the kitchen vinyl and the ugly living room carpet before we move in, but I like projects so right now I'm happy about that. Remind me of this in a few weeks when I am weeping and beating my head against the wall.

Our bikes were stolen last weekend and my first reaction was to get enraged and call the cops and canvass the neighborhood looking for them, but honestly, with everything else going on, work, homebuying, licensing exam coming up, I decided I really didn't have the energy to dedicate to that. I don't know. On the one hand, it seems like raising a ruckus is the ethical choice, advocating for the neighborhood and all that, but on the other hand, it seems like getting worked up isn't really a priority right now. We can always get new bikes. So I'm choosing to let it go.

The Health and Human Service budget cuts came through last week --- on the 30th DHHS slipped into the provider bulletin a little sentence mentioning maybe they should check out this web document -- which web document casually announced that effective October 1st there would be 10% cuts in the reimbursement rates in virtually all mental health services. So we all took paycuts (mine is not that huge because I happen to work in one of the 2 services that did not get a rate cut) and some people were laid off. I think I'm more upset about the lay-offs, I really liked both people who had to leave, and I wish we'd been able to do something for them, like a good-bye card or something. Even though I know that wouldn't really make things better, it still would have been a nice gesture. I'm also a little concerned about other agencies going under; as much as my company prepared for the upcoming cuts, the ones that went through were even worse than the worst-case scenarios they had predicted.

"He looks so happy!"

2009-10-04T00:45:33Z

I can't stop watching this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY

>:(

2009-10-04T00:42:22Z

This week the stupid new apartment managers cut down the beautiful tree in front of my building, which you can see here in some photos I took when I moved in.
I'm glad we're moving out soon.

nirethak @ 2009-10-03T14:12:00

2009-10-03T18:14:55Z

So, like last year, I'm having a tough time with the candy -- I bought Reeses cups on the grounds that I needed something to give trickortreaters (of which we got precisely two, and they were the same exact kids who come to my apartment and ask for candy everyday anyway), but once again it keeps finding its way into my mouth. So I'm wondering if I should just own it and gobble them all up, or if I should try to hide them from myself, thereby ensuring that when/if trickortreaters do come, I won't be able to find them. But, overall, it's not a huge deal, one can always buy more candy. Know what I really want? A Reeses cup the size of a pie.

Also, here is a useful link: http://uglyoverload.blogspot.com/

slacker weekend!

2009-09-27T20:09:19Z

I'm pretty much staying home this weekend (I did go to the laundromat, and Tulio and I went to Lowes this morning to bicker about potential flooring for our potential house) and have been cooking up a storm!
Mostly I am just posting to share this FABULOUS recipe: http://www.whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/stove-top-one-pot-macaroni-cheese-recipe/
It requires some attention (as warned in the recipe, if you don't stir it pretty much constantly, you get a big gross macaroni glob) but is so delicious and creamy and totally worth it. I made it with pepper jack and colby cheeses -- it wound up a pale orange and didn't look so pretty but was deeelicious. I also made a vegetable soup (here is my soup recipe: take all the veggies in the fridge that are starting to look sad. Cut them up. Put the aromatic ones -- garlic and onions and also the carrots because otherwise they take forever to cook -- into some hot olive oil and poke them around until the onions are translucent and then pour in some water and add a boullion cube and some seasoning that you like and whatever other veggies and maybe a can of beans too and possibly canned tomatoes or a little vinegar or whatever and bring to a boil and then simmer until you like the consistency of the veggies. ta da). And then this morning I made french toast, which I had been raised to believe was a very difficult thing to make, but maybe my mom just didn't like it, because it was really easy.
Now I got all that out of my system, it will be rice and beans and cheese toast for the rest of the month.
But try that macaroni, it's really good.

I am such a slacker!

2009-09-26T01:54:15Z

I still haven't uploaded my photos from Oregon! My excuse is that the camera batteries died, but really it's not that hard to change some AA batteries. Chandra just had twins for heaven's sake and posts more often than I do!
One of these days I'll get around to it, chipmunk fans be prepared!

hello!

2009-09-20T22:54:29Z

I am back from Portland! I am exhausted. I have a lot of yarn. I have eleventy billion pictures to upload. I'm pretty sure I have a long work day tomorrow. my sister might have swine flu. I got the results of the inspection of my house and it has many, many things wrong with it (much of which are quite minor). uh, YAYZ!

Hi from the Pacific NorthWest!

2009-09-17T05:50:02Z

Hello! I've been having a fun trip and spending time with my long lost friend Lisa who moved her 6 weeks ago. We've gone to the coast (where I saw a sea lion and elk) and the Japanese garden, and various scenic spots around the Cascades, and a bajillion yarn stores. The weather has been warm and sunny which does not fit my expectations of this part of the world.
We went to Mt St Helens today! (with my mom, not Lisa). It might have been steaming but there was a giant cloud on top so it was hard to tell. The crater is very impressive, though. And there was an awesome ranger telling the story of how Mt. St. Helens was this giant diva who one day totally blew her top. And there were hoards of pre-teen girls visibly falling in love with the ranger.
And there were lots and lots of scarey bridges and then the cloud fell on top of our car and we couldn’t see a thing and we totally thought we were going to die. But we didn’t!
Tomorrow, Chinatown.

yeaearrgh!

2009-09-07T03:07:32Z

we made an offer on a house! (I e-mailed my realtor yesterday telling her we’d made a decision; I thought she’d get back to me Monday or Tuesday, but no, she replied right away – and apparently the seller’s agent isn’t taking the weekend off either!) (House #2 from the list a few days ago, if you're keeping track).
I am so fucking scared!!!! yet excited! Tulio already bought a hammock (and I had to confess to him that I also bought one last week because they were on clearance at Lowe's) and I'm already thinking about paint colors and flooring and PLANTS!
We've been driving by the house like creepy stalkers, and tomorrow I take a check to the seller's agent's house. YIPES!
Also, Wednesday I am leaving for Portland! I'm so excited! I get to see my friend Lisa and it'll be the first time I've gone to the West coast, too!

True story

2009-09-04T23:19:56Z

My brother in law (who lives with us) got up early this morning, went jogging, came back home.
About half an hour later, a policeman came by and said "We received a report that a dark-skinned man ran into your apartment." W.T.F.

EVEN WORSE true story:
My high school bff Patrick (who is black) went running one evening around his college's track. This is an important detail. It was a track. Like those oval things people run on. Around the same time, there was a car broken into in a nearby parking deck, and someone reported seeing a black man running away. so the next thing Patrick knows, he was tackled and had a gun held to his head. Because of course, after you break into a car, you then run some laps.

House hunting

2009-09-03T01:05:39Z

OK, we've found 3 houses we like, but each of them has definite pros and cons.
I'm realizing I don't like house hunting all that much, peeking in people's closets makes me feel a little creepy. and both financial things and forms are triggers to my anxiety, and there's a lot of them involved in this process.

Anyway (in no particular order), house # 1:
PROS:
Nice quiet pretty neighborhood
gorgeous yard
yard backs up to protected area
lovely screen porch
nice kitchen
cute washing machine area (seriously, it's very well designed)

CONS:
Small bedrooms
not a lot of storage space (say, for yarn or art supplies)
overall stupid floorplan
picky neighborhood covenant (that's why the neighborhood is so pretty, of course)
At the upper end of our price range
The realtor is really pushing me to choose this one and when people try to make me do something, it makes me not want to do it. Part of this is totally unreasonable defiance, but I think there might be some intuitive reason in this case.
brand spankin new white carpet, which seems like a disaster waiting to happen
will probably need a new roof pretty soon

House #2:
PROS:
Great front and back yard with raised flowerbeds
good floorplan for us
wood burning fire place
lots of storage
wired shed in the backyard so Tulio could have a little shop or man-cave
big front porch
Weird reason, but I get the feeling we would like the current owners
can have chickens
CONS:
Not walkable neighborhood
right next to rundown apartment complex
needs new paint and carpet
higher-maintenance siding than the others
will probably need a new roof pretty soon

House #3:
PROS:
Great neighborhood, near a friend of mine
yard backs up to protected area
Great floor plan
lots of storage
wood burning fireplace
vinyl siding
the living room flooring was really cool
CONS:
Vinyl siding (it's low maintenance, but that doesn't mean I like it!)
not much of a yard at all
steep slope in back yard that the house could conceivably fall off of in some natural disaster
I forgot to look at the roof
bad parking arrangement
HOA

they all have good schools, I basically did my initial elimination by throwing out houses in districts for schools I don't like. They all have nice kitchens because that is my dealbreaker, I won't have a pokey little dark kitchen.

So I just don't know what to do! Tulio and I are going back and forth without much success. I really feel like #2 would meet our needs best in a lot of ways, but then I think about resale value and so forth... Maybe we need to wait until the perfect house (great house, great yard, great neighborhood) comes along, but if we wait too long we'll miss out on the tax credit. So I just don't know.

wow!

2009-09-01T22:16:32Z

What a beautiful fall-like day today! I thought I was coming down with something this morning because I felt like I had a chill -- but really it was just actually chilly. All the squirrels were out stuffing their faces.
There is no point to this entry except to say that it was a very nice day.

ok, this just put me in a better mood!

2009-08-28T03:13:02Z

grownupness!

2009-08-22T00:38:01Z

I have a realtor, a loan person, a pre-approval-uh-ness?, and a list of homes I could conceivably buy. I am really excited but I also feel like I might throw up!

ETA: and I am making my husband absolutely insane. I'm going to get off the computer now and stop looking at houses.

more finished items

2009-08-18T22:55:50Z

knitting and stuff 020
Originally uploaded by katherinebatesruiz

I finished the Montego Bay scarf too. I am hot and blurry.

finished items!

2009-08-18T22:54:49Z

knitting and stuff 008
Originally uploaded by katherinebatesruiz

I finished my sweater! I am really happy to be wearing it! Somehow I lost my left leg!

bamboo bamboo!

2009-08-17T02:15:22Z

Here is the pattern for my bamboo bamboo socks! I figured a green bamboo yarn deserved a bamboo patterned sock. I only wrote it in one size, 9.5 inches around the foot (which happens to be my size, what a coincidence), but the stitch pattern is super stretchy so it should fit a wide variety of feet widths. I'm an approximate rather than perfectionist knitter, and I'm assuming you have some sock-knitting experience, so caveat emptor. Or caveat tejedor, as the case may be.

You will need:
2 size 1 circular needles
2 skeins of Panda Silk color 4005
gauge: 7.5 st and 9 rows = 1" in pattern, slightly stretched.
abbreviations are standard.

CO 64 stitches, and join, being careful not to twist. Your starting needle is needle 1. Arrange the stitches so you have 32 on each needle. Work 2 rows in k2 p2 rib, then begin bamboo pattern following the chart or the following written directions (I know charts don't work for everyone).

chart here

Written directions:
rows 1 and 2: *p4, k2, p2* repeat around
rows 3 and 4: *k2, p2* repeat around
rows 5 and 6: *k2, p6* repeat around
rows 7 and 8: *k2, p2* repeat around

Repeat rows 1-8 9 times, or until sock leg is desired length.

close up of bamboo pattern:

To set up for heel flap, slip 2 stitches from needle 2 to needle 1 on the side that doesn't have the working yarn. There should be 34 stitches on needle 1, 30 on needle 2.
On needle 1 work eye of partridge heel flap as follows:

1st row: k2tog, *sl1 wyib, k1* (on following rows, *k1, sl1*, k last stitch)
row 2: purl
row 3: *sl1 wyib, k1*, sl last stitch
row 4: purl

repeat rows 1-4 8 times.

Heel turn:
row 1 (RS): sl1, k17, ssk, k1, turn
row 2: sl1, p4, p2tog, p1, turn
row 3: sl1, k until 1 stitch before gap, ssk (1 stitch each side of gap), k1, turn.
row 4: sl1, p until 1 stitch before gap, p2tog (1 stitch each side of gap), p1, turn.

repeat rows 3 and 4 until you have used up all the stitches on either side of the center stitches (you should have 19 left, or so, and you should be on the right side of your work). Knit across all your stitches, and knit the last 2 stitches together so you have an even number. Pick up and knit 16 stitches from the side of the heel flap, and then knit 15 from instep needle in pattern. With needle 2, k15 from instep in pattern, pick up 16 st from side of heel flap, and then knit 9 stitches from the sole.

The round now begins from the middle of the bottom of the foot.

Needle 1: knit until 2 stitches from where the instep pattern begins, ssk, place marker, work in pattern until end of needle.
Needle 2: k 15 st in pattern, place marker, k2tog, knit until end of needle.

Next round: k all stitches, knitting instep stitches in pattern of course.

Following rounds: Round 1: k until 2 st before marker, ssk, slip marker, knit in pattern until next marker, slip marker, k2tog, knit to end of round.
Round 2: k all stitches, knitting instep stitches in pattern of course.
Keep repeating these rounds until there are 64 stitches again (I think you might have to throw in an extra decrease on one side, whatever, just fudge it, it'll still be a nice sock).

now rearrange your stitches so the instep stitches are on needle 1 and the sole stitches on needle 2.
Now knit, with the instep stitches in the bamboo pattern and the sole stitches in plain stockinette, until your sock is 1.5" shorter than your actual food.

Toe decreases:
round 1: k1, ssk, k until 3 stitches from end of needle, k2tog, k1, repeat on next needle.
round 2: knit
Repeat until only 24 stitches remain, graft toe, repeat to make another sock, and enjoy!

BTW, if you are kitchener/grafting challenged like me, here is a super video.

nirethak @ 2009-08-10T18:40:00

2009-08-10T22:41:01Z

I finished my sweater! just in time for the HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR. I'd post pics but it's too hot to take photos.

nirethak @ 2009-08-08T18:18:00

2009-08-08T22:18:37Z

WHY is the ice cream truck playing Christmas music?

Hey Elizabeth

2009-08-01T20:04:01Z

What we have is "height vertigo" and it's really common and is a visual issue rather than a psychological issue. Although feeling like I'm falling and everything is swirling around tends to make me feel nauseous and scared.
here is some more information and some useful advice
http://books.google.com/books?id=PVzuRJE0P2YC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=height+vertigo&source=bl&ots=aoxbxnJrH-&sig=5TESWcetBwZxkCTGG8H154XvpmE&hl=en&ei=o550SsDFI9iLtgeTzdGWCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8#v=onepage&q=height%20vertigo&f=false

my husband's out of town...

2009-08-01T19:36:36Z

so what is a girl to do?

scour that big sack of wool, of course!

Wheeee! so much for bathing today!

Yes, the light in my bathroom really is that yellow. It's lovely. And the wooden spoon is for poking the wool down with. It will not be returned to kitchen use.

Hope everyone else is having a fun saturday!

And a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom!

EDIT: Edited to add that this was all in all a very poorly thought out plan. The fleece required 3 soakings before it was reasonably clean, so I did not get to bathe before going to my friend's party. And I got good and filthy washing the fleece because, since I don't have a washing machine in my apartment, I had to squeeze it out by rolling it in a towel and laying on top of it. Mmm, sheepy water. I coated myself with glitter before I left the house, though, so I don't think anyone noticed.
And now it's supposed to rain for the next 3 days so it seems unlikely this fleece is going to dry any time soon. OH WELL! My husband's back and not complaining that the house smells like a wet sheep so it could be worse!