Suddenly I have a lot to say!

I'll start with... Delko.  My protector.

We know that he has men-issues.  He is quite shy around them, and takes a bit to warm up.  I've always thought he would be protective of me; he showed a lot of signs of being protective.  Lady barks up a storm when ever anyone comes around, be they friend or foe.  She just likes to bark!  But Delko - he's got a different bark...

Anyway, to make sure there was no trouble when the plumber arrived, dh took the dogs into the garage with him while the plumber was here.  Well, somehow, they all ended up outside for a bit, just when the guy was getting ready to take his tools and equipment back to his van.  I suggested he wait, until my husband could get the dogs back inside.  Unfortunately, the guy opened the inside door....  At one point, I thought Mr. D was going to come in through the kitchen window - it doesn't open - to get to me.  So, I went outside, calmed him, and got him back into the garage.   Well, after the guy left, and the dogs came into the house, D gave it the once over with his nose.  Checked every room, the stairs to the upstairs, everywhere - running.  If there was no scent of the guy, the dog didn't give it a second glance, but through the kitchen, and out the door, and down to the basement, got thoroughly "nosed" complete with hair on the back raised.

So.  Next order of business - training Delko a little better on the "some strangers are acceptable" concept...

The sewer line got cleaned, and everything seems to work again.  Hope it will be several more years before that happens again.  The basement got a rush job on clearing  - now I either haul it all back down, or I try to keep cleaning the basement.  I've just got word that (here we go again on the garbage topics) we will be getting our new blue box bin system starting in June.  And, according to the information on our city's website, the new bin will hold the equivalent of four, that is *4* standard blue boxes.  WUHOOO!!!!  We own 2.  I fill the house one every week - either because I happen to end up with a lot of recyclables, or because I clear up some of the overflow from previous weeks.  Some weeks, I confess, to either not taking the box out for whatever reason (nearly empty) or not grabbing the excess... Hence the disaster in the basement.  And the other blue box lives in the garage, for outdoor garbage situations.  So, since I don't have anything really really pressing right now, I can spend some time clearing the basement, and in a month or so, I can really get caught up on getting rid of stuff!  :)

The shawl - I kept having problems with a row.  Finally just put down the knitting, and went back to the chart... I did check the chart before, in case I'd made a mistake, and I had reread my notes, but for some reason, I neglected to sit down and go through my notes abbreviation by abbreviation while also looking at the chart, square by square - - No wonder I couldn't get the pattern to line up - I had written "K2" when there were two blank squares - but forgot that in my shorthand, my seed stitch border of "K1, P1, K1" added the extra knit stitch to the beginning of the row.... as in, it should read:  K1, P1, K3, but I had written in my notes, K1, P1, K2.   Such a silly mistake, that I made for the first time in transcribing row 78.  Yes, I've made other silly errors, but that was the first time it was related to the border!

Now I'm ready to do some more transcribing, and hopefully, I can get the first set of patterning completed SOON!  (worst part - I still have to type all those notes out. :P)

Which brings me to.... this is May 1.  Time for goal review, and goal setting.  I had a bunch of WIP and UFO goals, and in the first few days, I decided I was socked out, and didn't want to work on any more socks for a while.  So, I didn't pick up any project other than the shawl.  If the pattern had already been written, and I was just following it, I'd have been finished.  But this back and forth, and working out errors, and trying things that either do or don't work, is a much slower process.  And there were days when I was either too tired, or the TV show required a more mindless project, or something.  So,  I think it is time to reintroduce a few of the other projects...

Anyway, here was April's list:

1. No longer able to put off special project.  <---Done.  :)
2. Finish Pink Flora Fauna (one done, second in progress)  <---left
3. Type up three patterns - pink sock, afghan, baby blanket before I forget all the details.  <---Uh, not done
4.  Type up document outline at the very least.  <----better take the library books back, and try this again later
5.  Celtic Cape worked on. <----Not even thought about.
6.  Blathnat socks  <----wondering if I should give up entirely?  No enthusiasm, even though I liked the pattern....
7. Striped socks <----the yarn just isn't as appealing as it was in the ball.... this may take me a couple years to do
8.  Cast on for new shawl, writing and typing directions during knit so I don't put that off!<--- I've been updating progress, haven't started the typing yet, but am itching to do so... well, some of it ;)
9.  Pick a room, and properly clean it.  <---almost ready - I was going to do that late last week, or this week.  Every time I think I know what I want to do, something happens....
10.  Dye the yarn I want to dye.  <----Yeah, I should try to get this done.
11.  Crochet the bolero and tank top set.  <----Another of those best get going on.  Was one of the take along projects to Mexico a year ago February.... It is a summer set; maybe I'll use this as my "sitting outside with the dogs this summer" project (worked for that cabled sweater I made last year)
12.  Learn something new. <---hm, not sure if I did this... I know I found a few candidates, but didn't pick up needles and scrap yarn to try anything... then again, I did learn a lot about charting and the shaping of charts...  Remember when I posted about figuring out how to chart the edgings properly?

So - I guess that leaves me with some good ideas to do for May.
1.  Dye with copper
2.  Work on shawl
3.. Take before pictures of rooms for 5S+ works
4.  Start and/or complete at least one room, even if it is small like the bathroom
5.  Chip away at the basement
6.  Dig out striped sock for mindless project when needed.
7.  Gather crochet twin set ready for nice weather.
8.  Learn something new
9.  Incidental life things - dogs need to go to vet this month for checkup, day to day cleaning and cooking, shopping, etc.
10.  Make sure to blog every day.

There we go.  I know I missed blogging more often in April than in January, February and March combined!  And as summer approaches, it will be a challenge.  Because, with a little luck, we'll be heading out to the cabin more often this  year than we have been, and there is no internet connection out there.  BUT, I could try to stay in the habit by still "blogging" in a document, and then posting it when I get back to the city.  I'll make sure to announce if I do that, since the way blogger works is new posts at the top, and if I do two in one day, the earlier one might get missed...

See?  Told you I finally had a lot to say!  Hopefully, I have a lot to say again tomorrow.