Summer so far

This week we have been entertaining a little bit, and it has made me fall more in love with our house. We can all hangout while Conor is cooking and when we are all done eating we can split up however necessary. Last week I taught my cousin to knit while Conor played video games with the boys! Friends came over to hang out and enjoy Conor's amazing grilling skills, and I big doggy play date with one large labrador! We had a very full busy weekend, and we are looking forward to another one including a wedding!

In the knitting world I have had a bit of startitis. I started a blanket that is made out of leftover sock yarn, it is 40 squares that are sewn or crocheted together. (pics to come) I did finish a pair of socks on Sunday made of yarn that I dyed myself. I have also been trying to work more knitting into my schedule. By having so many projects on the needles I am able to have knitting for any situation!

and a little on my relationship with exercise...(because I have been doing more)

When I was younger I was extremely involved in dance, and did not need to work out outside of my 4-5 nights of dance. When dance ended I didn't know how to stay in shape by myself, so I didn't. Now, 6 years later, I am working on getting more comfortable working exercising into my life. I do not get to do something everyday, and that's ok, but when I can I make sure to fit it in somewhere. I would say that a huge motivation for me is Troeg. We do not have a big backyard to let him run around in, and no longer have a dog park that we can walk to. If I need to take him for a walk I figure that I might as well do it right.  Troeg and I have been working on walk/runs. My asthma prevents me from just jumping into running, so I trying to take my time and do small intervals of running on our walks. In fact that is what we are going to do now!

I'm still alive!

It has been a month since I started my new(ish) job, and the hours are kicking my butt! That is the main reason why this post is so very, very late. That, and I am getting used to having to keep clean a space that is twice as big as our last apartment. Between those to things, by the time it comes to 9 pm (which is my new bed time, because I am waking up at 4:30 most mornings) I am asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow. 

I am having a hard time finding a balance between everything right now, I know that it will happen but the transition is more difficult than I thought it would be. We have been so busy hanging out with friends and family now that we are back in NH, it's been so lovely to be able to see our people so much. 

The past couple days I have been better at juggling everything and I have even been able to start some new knitting projects, including a sweater, shrug, scarf and of course a couple pairs of socks... knock on wood they are all working out so far. Also in my knitting world.... Conor put together some organizational cubes for me to put my yarn in. Years ago when I used to dream of our house I would picture my craft/knitting room and think of all the things I would put in it, and how I would organize things. Our new house isn't huge but in our "office" (really all purpose room, with computers) I now have a yarn wall. Yes, that's right, a YARN WALL. It's perfect, everything I dreamed of, oh and I am also so very proud of my stash!

For any non-knitters this might seem like a lot but it is a well stocked stash!

Oh and we got the new couch! It's comfy and fits perfectly, and will be great for entertaining(not that we are big entertainers, it's just what everyone on HGTV says so...) 

Our garden is producing a small crop of cherry tomatoes. The plants are getting so big and look like we will be a very decent crop for a container garden on our back deck! There are even two very small peppers! I would recommend a container garden to others who might live in an apartment or townhouse and want some fresh veggies, but do not have yard! We have 4 big pots and a giant railing pot, and have room for our small bistro set and a grill. 

 there are bigger tomatoes on the left and on the right are the cherry tomatoes!

teeny tiny peppers!

And we will end this post with a picture of Troeg enjoying his deck! He loves going out there to watch any people walking on the road or squirrels in the woods, and well he's pretty darn cute. 

4 am wake up call

I started my new job this week and have been waking up at 4 am every morning! I have been able to function at work but have been coming home and practically passing out. Also on day two I caught a cold! (NOT COOL MAN!)

On top of that, Conor has been working crazy late nights, so I get to do all the chores around the house in an effort to look somewhat like adult if someone were to come over. (which our whole family is coming over on Sunday for Father's Day, so I will be cleaning like a mad woman in the next two days) I will have a real new post next week.

THANK YOU to all the 20 Something Bloggers for commenting, it made my day!

I will leave you with Troeg in a box!...

In the process of jumping out!

20 Something Bloggers Vlog Day!

This video post is part of 20SB’s Vlog Day and the topic is “Introduce Yourself”…anyone can participate! Details are here.

(hope I don't sound too scatter brained)

a few photos of the move and such

our last trip to the farm, so I had to take pics of the baby cows,  right?

my little family in front of our very first home!

our first home (p.s. this took three trips to the sign to get a good pic)

construction in the new house has been an experience to say the very least

new curtains and hubby on the deck!

Troeg and I waited out side for the movers, thought he could take a nap...

this is what I am tackling today...

our very small container garden that we added to this week, fingers crossed

on the big tomato plant there are already some actual cherry tomatoes growing!

On having 3 days left

So the move is finally here and I am sitting in an empty apartment trying to cross some things off the To Do List while also trying to enjoy my last moments in our first home. There are a few phone calls left but then nothing but some relaxing and hanging out with amazing people (our neighbors), before the big drive on Sunday. The past two weeks have flown by and for almost a full week I was back in New Hampshire doing some upgrades and painting! It was fun to be back, and amazing that our family and friends were able to help so much.

 I find it calming that the rooms that I so desperately despised the color, are now updated to match our stuff. The basement that was once mint green is now a beautiful shade of dark brown, the kitchen which was also green is now a shade of orangey brown that matches the beautiful new glass tile backsplash.

More basement pics to come but for now you can sort of make out the color?

You can see the old tile here

The living room, stairway and hallway have all been painted a grey, and the bathrooms are now matching in a great shade of blue...

I also had some minor triumphs of switching out the thermostat and changing the shower head. It was a crazy 6 days that flew by, but incredibly worth the effort! 

A little knitting got done yesterday while the movers were here. Having three extra people in the apartment boxing up all our stuff was very emotionally draining, I was knitting the whole time to calm my nerves, and in the process finished my May socks! They are just a pair of vanilla socks, so that I would have plenty of auto-pilot knitting.

The yarn did all the work!!!

I have a feeling that in the next couple days, while we do not have much in the apartment and no cable and such, that there will be a lot of knitting and reading (either on the Kindle or the audio book I'm reading Outlander). 

Countdown...

7 days till I get to go back home to paint the house....

20 days till we offically move back home....

The countdown keeps getting smaller and my excitement level keeps getting bigger! I was able to score one more can of oops paint, this one for the kitchen, so all I have left is the basement color and a couple color matches and the paint is DONE! The Kitchen is being painted to match the new glass tile!

Kitchen paint color!

The past couple months I have not been knitting as much as I want. So last week I cast on two pairs of vanilla socks from yarn that my parents gave me for my past birthday! I'm in love with this yarn and the auto-pilot knitting is exactly what I've been missing. Also on the needles is a grey scarf made from lace weight bought in Lancaster PA! It's coloring is beautiful and will be a great layering piece for the summer.

The other day Conor mentioned that he wanted to grow our own tomatoes, because we do not have a yard in both our current appartment or the townhouse it will have to be grown in containers. Today I while out doing errands I purchased two tomato plants, some merigolds and a piece of small metal fencing. I did look for tradional stakes but none of them were very pretty and these pots will be on our deck, I wanted something that would look nice. 

The piece of fencing and a pot left over from last summer!

I took the fence and very carfully bent it. At first I was just going to bend it in half, but that was not going to fit. So instead, I sort of rounded it out so that It would fit along the back of the pot...

All that was left was to add some plants! The two tomato plants are in the back along the fencing (for support) and along the front are some merrigolds to add color and help keep bugs away! I am very excited to see if any or all of it takes and if we will be eating our own tomatoes in the summer. 

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