the apron strings are almost cut

My oldest, Eric, is closing on his house November 16th. He's 27 and has managed to save enough by living home for the last three years to put a sizable down payment on a 150 year old home in Lambertville. He's buying it on his own and his girlfriend will help with the bills once they are in.

Cross your fingers, maybe a ring will be seen soon! We really like Maia and her family and hope that this works out for them both.

In his excitement, he didn't think to negotiate price so the sellers no doubt are tickled pink!

He invited us to go to the inspection a few weeks ago, the inspector he hired went from rooftop to basement, there were only a few problems (we all should be in such good shape at 150), one window needed replacing, the electricity to the second floor redone, the front door rehung, and the front window replaced within the next year. The sellers replaced the one window and did the electric. Eric will take care of the rest. Ahh the innocence of youth and excitement. It would be cute if it didn't involve tens of thousands of dollars between the selling price and repairs. A good lesson for the next house.

Knitting... here is a wip of a shawl, called the mini shawl its really not very small, the yarn is unknown, I picked it up while visiting Webs (really worth the trip) but lost the tag on the cone, way soft, huggy, and squishy. The shawl is calling for a cold wintry afternoon on the couch with a good book. :)

A little this a little that

Confession time, I realize now, that I'm a certified blogaholic. The first thing I do when I get home and I mean the first thing I do is check the blogs to see what's new. then I run into the bathroom. :0 especially now that its serviceable again.











Speaking of which, we are almost finished with the master bathroom project - the one that was going to take one week and is now entering month four. Can't complain, its new top to bottom and Dave did a great job with the tile work on the counter and the floor. I painted and stood around and gave creative advice, I can't wait until we start the foyer and I can give more advice. The toothbrush holder, soap dispenser and cup match the faucets perfectly! Whoda thunk it











So why am I so bad at blogging myself? It must be more fun to read about the interesting lives of others.


First I check on my good friend, see what she's doing, get jealous, then Go Fug Yourself which is one of those that will hook you in no time. I also hit the normal knitting sites, Crazy Aunt Purl, Knit n Tonic, and Frank Notes (I wish he'd post more often). I check on the progress of little Evan and his brain tumor in A Day Late... there are a few more, ok about 20 more but this paragraph is getting too many little blue lines. As soon as I figure it out, I'll add a column of what I read (if anyone cares) More confessions another day.

Good Friend

I have a great friend, met her through Rutgers MLIS and am in awe of her blogs, her devotion to family and friends, and general outlook on life. Anyway after reading one of her blogs, I took a detour to visit Google Documents, to check out an easy way to send documents and ended up checking out book tours ~ somehow it all did flow ~ Pamela Lowell will be New Brunswick Saturday to talk about her book, Returnable Girl. It looks like a good book for the middle school crowd, can't wait to read it!

Speaking of middle school, here is a shot of my library with kids checking out the books, I love how they are so engrossed in their books that they didn't even notice the camera

Since this is a knitting blog, here is a picture of my secret shawl, a knit

along called the Secret of the Shawl that I joined and am enjoying! Using Nature Spun in navy and black beads, the directions are posted once a week which gives just enough time to finish a clue without getting burned out on lace work.

Last but not least, here are my babies, Vickie, the Mini Pin seems to be saying let me sleep and Dolly just can't believe I'd post her picture on a bad hair day :)

School (times two) is getting in the way of knitting

Its been a busy week at school - both work and classes. Major paper due for Rutger on Monday, then spent the week second guessing myself - no feedback from the prof. yet.

The kids at school have been so good all week, I have a crew of six or seven, mostly boys - go figure - that come to the library to shelve books, they have taken it upon themselves to put whole shelves in order and to straighten out the books - we call it 'fronting the books' which means keeping them near the edge of the shelf. Our schedule has a 9th period from h*ll built in which translates into an extra hour that the kids go to one special a week or have extra tutoring with one of their academic classes. To make a long story longer, the kids are allowed to leave their academics and come help out in the library. Without asking, they came in and began to assist the kids - Monday it was kindergarten, Tuesday 5th grade, Wednesday they have to go to gym, Thursday its 4th grade. On Friday its my one prep of the week.

This morning I sat them down, told them they were the only "library assistants" in the school and have to set an example no matter where they are, have to keep grades up, and not get in any trouble. They also have to have permission from their academic teachers to come to the library - they are not to even try to leave science since that teacher does not want anyone out of class. They were so cute and so sincere and so 7th grade that tomorrow (Friday) for 9th period we are going to have a little celebration... new laws do not allow any sweet treats in school so pretzels, nacho chips and mixed nuts, salsa and juice are on the menu. We are off Monday for Columbus Day, but Tues, Wed. and Thurs next week after school students interested in being probationary assistants can come after school to take a test and fill out an application - both of which I have to come up with over the weekend. So far it looks like there are going to be somewhere between 15 and 20 kids applying ~ its so exciting, even the principal is getting into the act and asked me if I wanted to apply to start a library club for a stipend!

Its almost Friday already! Then the weekend...