just some stuff that's been going on...

oscar got a bath, haircut and nail trim the other day at a nearby vet's office. he's so over it, as you can see. rob thinks the cut isn't close enough, and i more or less agree. on the other hand, oscar looks so pathetic when his hair is really short (especially his skinny little tail) that i'm kinda glad he was spared a close shave. still, i wouldn't be surpised if he winds up with an at-home cut that makes him look a little like a drowned rat before the summer heat has dissipated.

this was the tastiest dinner yet from our frozen stash of naomi's kitchen food--"fiery pork skewers" (shown pre-grilling). i added the pineapple and green peppers. it was our first use of the wee weber grill this year--deeelicious with coconut rice and a salad of fresh greens from the farm.

now on the needles...the baby surprise jacket! it's all knit in one crazy-looking piece, then folded ingeniously into a cardigan. surprise!!! the pattern is a little tricky (all garter stitch, but lots of increases and decreases), so i broke down and bought the instructional DVD. i didn't feel confident enough to go it alone with sarah, who's a pro at these by now, all the way in CA. you can see the finished product, with optional collar, on the cover. warning: my investment in this DVD means that any family member or friend having a baby within the next five years will likely get one of these! fyi, i'm using my koigu-esque yarn in deep shades of green, blue, purple and brown for this little cardi.

this might not look like much more than a big pile of stuff to you, but when i came upon it next to rob's desk the other day, it made my heart skip a beat. he had "packed" his hospital bag before i had packed mine! just so you know, in rob's style of packing, the clothes sit beside but don't actually enter the bag until he's ready to leave. this used to baffle and irritate me a bit, but i'm used to it now. i felt a great wave of affection for my husband as well as a pang of guilt for not having my own stuff together. it was a good motivator, and now my bag is mostly ready! 37.5 weeks and counting...

Mmmm... butter

Yum!!

May Showers lead to Baby shower

This weekend was more relaxing than most. Did lots of work but also spent time on both houses. The work on William St. is boring so i always post here. I am currently busting up the old floor over there and getting it removed so I can paint the basement and get things presentable for a sale.

At the Ronalds house, I had to work on getting things cleaned up for the baby shower this coming weekend so there wasn't as much tangible progress as normal. But the house is cleaner and does look better. Sue is moving in this weekend so hopefully it's presentable.

Going into the weekend, the contractor finally poured the floor for the garage. It's not unlevel (i checked it with my inspectoring skills) but appears that way due to the alley slope. They did a nice job on it, and cut it the next morning which is what I wanted. It then proceeded to rain on it all weekend which gave it the proper water cure... perfect.

In the downstairs bath, I finished 90% of the painting, put some of the molding back on (we have to have a bit made as well), installed the shower rod and did a bunch of cleaning.

In the kitchen, I got things cleaned up. It was becoming a storage area and was getting quite messy. I hooked up the gas/electric for the new stove and pushed it into place.

I cleaned the bazillion tools off of the kitchen counter and scrubbed it down along with the sink.

Cleaned up the "storage" corner as well. The dishwasher is still stored in the box because it can't be installed under the current counter without some cutting and the counters might be getting replaced. You can also see the new green which we put on the wall to check out some color samples. It similar but softer than the old chartreuse color.

Here's a view of the bath after I took the floor coverings up and cleaned up.

And here's a view of the nearly completed shower.

more posts about knitting and food

hi...remember me?
this is my first post in a looong time and it's nice to be back. now that my first year of teaching full-time is over, i feel like i have a lot more time to be a well-rounded person, doing the things i always used to post about (cooking, crafting, gardening, etc.). before i get on to those things, though, i should mention my big news--yesterday i was officially offered a position as a tenure-track, assistant professor of anthropology at augustana and i accepted! maybe you're thinking, "carrie, isn't that the job you interviewed for back in january and didn't get?" if so, you're right, but since then one of my colleagues took a job elsewhere and because the department had already done a national search for a tenure-track anthropologist this year, they decided to ask the runner-up (me!) to come on board and replace him. this kind of thing rarely happens in academia, so i feel extremely lucky and blessed.
so now, on to the photos...



i've been back on the needles a bit, making baby hats for our own little one and the spring babies born to friends at work. my parents bought me itty bitty hats by susan b. anderson for christmas and i'm finally putting it to good use. it has cute project ideas and also gives great technique directions, so it's been a good all-in-one book to use when trying out new things. i've broadened my knitting horizons to include working in the round on circular needles, switching to double-pointed needles, and making i-cord (to produce the "top knot" on these caps).

a few weeks back, i made my first trip to naomi's kitchen (make it, take it, bake it) in north liberty to fill up our freezer with entrees. i'm counting on our cache of frozen stuff to cut back on shopping and prep time for dinner when the baby arrives. you leave with 24, 2-person portions of each meal you choose, which takes up pretty much all of your freezer space, as you can see (the drawer is completely filled, plus all of those aluminum pans above). we've eaten a few things already (the chicken enchilada bake was a big hit), but are saving most of them till they're really needed. i have to mention that their most popular dish is ham balls. i have never eaten a ham ball, but i felt oddly compelled to try them ("most popular!"). last summer, while waiting my turn at fareway's butcher counter, at least four people ahead of me ordered ham balls. i thought this might be an iowan delicacy i'd yet to be introduced to, but rob (my go-to native iowan) claims ignorance of the ham ball phenomenon. hmmm...

lest you think our diets have been reduced to frozen meat products alone, check out our first week's produce delivery from the sass family farm. we're splitting a share of the farm's summer bounty with our friend john. this week we were delivered a half-dozen eggs, a half-loaf of chocolate chip banana bread, some asparagus, rhubarb, green onions, radishes (any good ideas for radishes, aside from slicing into a salad?), a bag of mixed lettuces and a bag of spinach. fresh, local foods are a wonderful thing!

in pregnancy/baby news, all is well as we rapidly approach week 37 (full-term!). the little one holds his/her own dance party in my belly every evening around 8:30 with lots of movement all over the place. i've had to bump myself up a size in maternity tops as none of my clothes were really fitting over my belly anymore...the other day, bill brought over his grandmother's glider, which we'll be using in the baby's room. many thanks to bill and kathie for letting us borrow this family heirloom!