Bron's Blog II

Proctor Bron

I found out yesterday what I'll be doing on those testing days when I just have one class to sub: I'll be a proctor! Which means I get to hang out in the office, periodically walking around the school to see if anyone needs to go potty. (Kids, not teachers - you have to be a teacher to take over for a teacher during testing) and then I get to take 'em to the bathroom & stay with them in case there's any funny business.

My training for the post yesterday consisted of being told not to talk to the student about the test and not to look at anyone's test. I then signed the form & I was official.

It took 3 1/2 minutes, tops.

I know - you all are sooooo jealous! At least Monday & Tuesday are short days. And I still don't have a job for the 1st day of testing so hopefully I'll be home tomorrow, taking a load off. I haven't slept too well the past couple of nights so a day when I can take a nap would be nice! And then if I don't get called in for the last two days of testing, I'll have a 4 day weekend - two days without the kids!

Come on, Universe - bring it home to Mama! LOL

I knit several more inches on Bianca yesterday:

And, of course, what's a post without a dishrag?:

I'm going to make several from this pattern - I've already started another from orange & green scraps. It's from one of the books I found on eBay and takes about half an hour to complete. :)

I picked up this on impulse and heck, it's not too bad!:

Unlike "Crochet!" where all the old fun fur goes to be buried, this magazine actually has some cute things in it:

The designer has a cool way of doing the twists on this bag that I really have to try. Besides, it's a cute bag!:

I really liked this wrap kimono sweater too:

And of course, what's not to like about a magazine with dishcloth patterns?

I'm really tempted to get a subscription - this is reminding me of the good old days when "Crochet With Heart" first began.

Thinking about "Crochet With Heart" got me thinking about the last time I made lots & lots of potholders, dishrags & towel toppers.  It was back in the early 90's and I think I stocked up everyone I knew. But since then: nada, nothing, zip. No wonder I'm latching onto this kitschy kitchen stuff so whole-heartedly. I literally haven't made one potholder in at least 15 years. Yikes! Who knew?

So please - bear with me while I get this monkey off my back, OK? ::wink:: I have to make up for 15 years!

Rental/Renter News: We've filed the lawsuit in court and the papers are at the Sheriff's dept. to be served. I can't believe those bastards are making us jump through all these hoops (and spend MORE money) got get what they already admitted they owed. They have 20 days after serving to respond. I'm sure we'll get a summary judgement since they're guilty as all get out. If they request a jury trial, I'll be SUPER pissed!

The guy we have painting the house started yesterday and he's almost finished the inside! The kid is a machine and he's doing spectacular work. I'm so glad we decided to hire it done AND that we found a friend who would do it for us so inexpensively. We'll definitely have him do this house when the time comes to move.

We should have the carpet in by the end of the week and replace toilets, sinks, etc. and have it on the market the second week in March which was our target all along. :) I'll definitely be showing some before & after pics!

It'll all be worth it if we can net out $20,000 more by doing all these cosmetic things rather than just dumping the house.

Have a good one!

Short Row Magic

Yesterday I got 4th period prep all to myself so I watched "Once Upon A Time In Mexico" and knit on a dishrag:

Honestly - Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp - what's not to like? That's probably the reason I didn't actually finish the dishrag. ::wink::

That and the fact that Dylan's Social Studies teacher came to find me to ask if I'd write her a letter of recommendation. She's going for a fellowship that will pay for her Master's in history as long as she focuses on the Constitution. I was very flattered, of course, and agreed. As someone whose child is in her class AND who's substituted for her, I think I can speak knowledgeably about her teaching strengths. She was so excited - I really hope she gets it.

I didn't get much knitting done on Something Pink last night since we had a guy come over to give us an estimate on painting our rental inside & out. He's the nephew of a friend of DH's from work and he gave us an incredibly low figure - $1,000 for BOTH the inside & out, we buy the paint. He'll even pick up the paint from a buddy of his who works at a paint store - at cost! He usually charges .85/sq. ft. (which is still a deal) but we're his uncle's friends, so....

No way could we turn THAT down! He can start Monday and should be finished in a couple of days. The inside will be all one color - a shade of white - and the outside will be a medium stucco-brown to imitate the new houses going in across the arroyo. No-one particularly likes a yellowish house so this should do quite a bit to modernize the look of the house & make people want to buy it! :)

Don't worry - the kid's been doing this since he was 14 and he has his contractor's license. We're getting the great deal 'cause we're friends of the family, not because he does shoddy work!

After a couple other good things happened yesterday, I'm willing to say we're riding a streak of good luck right now - here's hoping it lasts!

Yesterday was the last day for our old renters to get in touch with us about paying what they owe. Looks like they're going to make us work for it - bastards. Sigh. We'll get the paperwork going this week - we called & told him we'd be serving him papers and if he wanted to avoid it he should call. Of course, there was nada. Grrrrr!

I did get to the short row shaping on the neck of Something Pink:

If this works as well as I think it will, I'm definitely going to try this technique on other sweaters too. I always have a time with knit bands gaping at the back of the neck. These short rows will bring the fabric up, curving it to either side & allowing it to drape naturally across the neck. As much as I've knit, I can't believe I haven't seen this before. Brilliant!

Every time I say "Brilliant!" I think of the Guinness commercials. That's the hallmark of good advertising I guess, eh?

On My Mind And On My Needles

Onward & upward, that's what I always say!

I wanted to knit on something cheerful after the Black Lace debacle, so I started a dishcloth from really perky yarn:

I know there are lots of knitters out there (I'm sure come crocheters too) who make fun of "that kind" of knitting but I'm enjoying the heck out of this...so there! ::wink::I can't wait to have a stack of bright dishcloths, ready for my sink or for gifts. :)

As I knit, I keep thinking how pretty a cardi would be made from this pattern. Hmmmm....

Speaking of patterns, I'll be posting the headband pattern tomorrow, named "Bron's Brain Band" since 3 people mentioned it in my comments yesterday. hehehe. I meant to do it yesterday, but I got carried away with other stuff.

I've knit a bit on Something Pink, but there isn't enough progress to warrant another picture.

I'm still working on Holey Cables too, but I AM considering casting on one more project: My old pattern, Nimue, in....wait for it....Cotton Ease! LOL Honestly, I've been trying to think of a yarn that is inexpensive and readily available. The new CE certainly fits the bill, even if it IS only available online at the moment. I have some here in "Berry" but I don't think I want two pink sweaters on the needles at once. I'm going to check the online stores today & see what other color strikes my fancy. It would be nice to get that pattern written up & offered here at Casa De Bron too. :)

We did have some good news over the weekend. When we put the FSBO sign out in front of our rental, we started getting calls. :) One couple came over to look at the house & insisted on being shown inside. Although I was VERY reluctant because it's still a filthy mess, they insisted and were very interested. In fact, he called me again yesterday & said he'll be writing up an offer this week. At this point, though, before we even get anything renovated, we won't be entertaining any offers below our asking price. I mean, why take $10,000 to $15,000 less when $3,000 or $4,000 and some elbow grease might get us what we want?

I wanted to show you one representative picture of the horrible condition of the rental house. I took loads of pictures this weekend of the damage and trash and while I'll spare you the pics of the toilets (I finally put down the lid of the master bath toilet & saw what was behind it....dear gods...), I will show you this one:

This is the light switch in one of the kid's rooms...and no, they did NOT have permission to paint the walls. When they moved in everything was a lovely, pristine white. Now - just imagine that kind of dirt on every single surface of the house. We'll need protective suits to work in there!

Just because I know you're curious, here's a pic of the rental from the outside:

(Hard to believe the horrors that lurk within, eh?) And here's our house, right next door:

See - I knew you were curious. ::wink::

It's 7th grade science today, but they are fairly easy classes so hopefully I'll have a good day!

To all the Bears fans out there, I feel your pain. To all the Colts fan, congrats!

Well, Of COURSE Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

So - I talked to Mr. last night (the head of the clan that trashed our rental) and he's in a pickle.

Do you hear the violins?

Evidently the owners of the new house are "screwing" them over - they haven't even signed the purchase agreement yet! Without the purchase agreement, he can't get his loan AND he can't pay us the back rent, etc. Because he's been planning "all along" to pay us a cool "$2000" to pay the rent & help cover the repair costs to the house and he's just "sick" that we've been "so wonderful" and he hasn't been able to deliver. (Yeah - we're pretty sick about it too.)

Of course, a couple of weeks ago he said he was planning to borrow $$ from his mother-in-law & pay us out of that.

I mentioned taking a legal route & that sent him into a panic. I don't think he's that good an actor - I think he's really frightened about the situation he's in.

THEN he said, "I may have to move back to that house...."

At which point I started laughing hysterically...

and he hurried to add, "Of course, I'll find financing."

Yes. Yes, you would, you jerk!

We have no problems with selling it to them - as long as they pay our FULL asking price. ::wink::

So. We're in limbo again. He's coming by this morning to pick up a $150 ladder he left and he swears he'll be back on Sunday to start hauling trash away to the dump. (Because, of course, before this he wasn't able to because one of his children poured antifreeze into the brake fluid and his truck was unusable for a week while it was in the shop for repairs.)

Uh-huh.

I told him we'd be mailing him a list of damages & the estimated cost to repair. He swore that anything we had to do over there, he'd pay for.

Uh-huh.

Honestly, I don't know what's going to happen. If he were skipping out totally he'd ignore our phone calls. (Speaking of which, he told me he ignored the phone call he had yesterday from his new landlords, demanding the monthly payment! He refuses to pay them until the contract is signed. What a kettle of fish!) As it is, we have all their cell phone numbers and his work number. We know where he moved to (just 6 blocks away) and where he works (our post office just down the hill.)

I think if we keep on them, we'll get our money without legal action.

In the meantime, we took out a project card at Lowe's (6 months, no interest or payments, designed for big, remodeling type projects in the home) and we're having the place measured for carpet today. I can't wait until we paint & have the new carpet installed - the place reeks of cigarette smoke because every single person in that household smoked, aside from the babies. Sigh.

So - life goes on!

At school I managed to get about 10 inches completed of a Black Lace sleeve:

Another 2" and I'll start shaping the sleeve cap. I was really tired last night & didn't get much crocheting accomplished - I'm hoping to make up for it today. :) I've been lucky with my prep periods - I haven't had to do emergency coverage yet. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll round out the week with a perfect record!

This was waiting in the mail when I got home:

I got one of these catalogs last year & vowed that when my ship docked I'd take a course or two. Well, the ship made it into harbor so I'm thinking of sending for the Early Middle Ages course - just to try it out. I miss being in a history classroom and this would be a fun way to brush up. :) You get 24 lectures @ 30 minutes/lecture for each of the Middle Ages courses. For something as detailed as the History of Rome you receive 48, 30 minute lectures. (For more money of course!)

I'm thinking these courses would be great to knit by. :::grin:::

I'll probably skip blogging tomorrow and be back sometime on Sunday with a completed Black Lace Cardi (I hope!)

Have a great weekend!