...an early fall...

...just a couple of photos I snapped with the cel phone that prove that it's going to be a really early fall here...the colours are a lot more vivid in person...I'll get some pictures soon with my good camera I'm sure...

...I for one, can hardly wait for sweater weather...the air is cool at night and the leaves are already starting to turn...I'm so looking forward to the colours of fall this year...

~Have a lovely weekend...

...No Internet...and WIP Wednesday on Thursday...

...we've been without internet...and landline phone for a few days...ARGHH!...I'm quite frankly shocked at how often I walked over to the computer to look up something...only to realize that it wouldn't be able to help me...

...anywhooo...the internet is working chez Affectioknit again...still without phone service...but hoping that will be fixed by the weekend...so for family and friends...it just rings and rings and no one answers - not even a machine...

...and you know that I can't show you what I'm really working on...

...so I thought I'd show you the scant (and I do mean scant) progress on my Heliotropic...

...I do love this pattern though...it's easily memorized...but time consuming as it's just like making a cable every three or four stitches...

~Have a lovely day!

...secret project...

...I've started a new project...

...that's all I can say right now...

~Wishing you a lovely start to a lovely week!

...Internet Friends...

...I know I've mentioned before how nice everyone (all of my readers anyway) I've met on the internet is...

...I was so pleasantly surprised when this sweet housewarming present arrived in the mail...

...Thank you all so much for visiting with me here...I really love getting to know you all...

~Have a lovely weekend...

...a spiffier kitchen...one more thing...

...actually two more things I should have mentioned...

...the Man replaced both of the dated copper light fixtures...

...now once I pick out a little table (4-top my chef brother calls them)to go in this corner...

...and then we'll have to decide what to do about the floor...

~Have a lovely day!

...a spiffier kitchen...FO...

...and so there you have it...very spiffy...

...and a spiffy new range hood too...

~Have a lovely day!

...a spiffier range hood too...hopefully...

...remember the dated range hood from this picture...well there's really nothing wrong with it...except the 60s shaded brown colour...it's well made and works well...

...the Man even bought a new microwave range hood combo during the first couple of weeks he was here...before Scout and I came...but it didn't fit in the space...I'm sure that Big Box Hardware Store appreciates all of our buy and return tendencies...HA!...

...after reading several articles about painting appliances...I bought a TSP substitute (just to avoid putting any more phosphates into the waterways) to clean every speck of grease off of the range hood...and after the cabinets I was expecting it to be really really dirty...and it didn't disappoint at all...I probably spent well over an hour and a half cleaning a 3 foot square of metal...

...but when I was finally convinced that it was indeed clean enough for the paint to stick to it...I took all of the removable pieces off...and unscrewed the screws holding it up just enough to lower it enough to tape the cabinets around it...then I covered and taped everything up really really well...

...I wore a mask and opened all the windows...but kept the doors closed and again - like with the cabinets you want to minimize the dust as much as possible by dusting and vacuuming before you start painting...

...after all the prep work the painting just took a few minutes...but my index finger got surprisingly tired from holding that button down...HA!...

...spray paint may just be my new BFF...

~Have a lovely day!

...a hardware conundrum...not of the computer kind...

...but of the cabinet door and drawer kind...

...I went to the Big Box Hardware Store and bought all new hardware for the cabinets...in a nice brushed nickel...but do you think that I took any of the old hardware with me to check for fit...well...no...

...and it was really - and I do mean REALLY expensive...remember there are 35 doors and drawers here...

...so...when I got home...do you think that it actually fit...well...no...

...so...I got to thinking...there really wasn't anything wrong with the hinges and handles that we had...except that they were copper...and I wanted stainless or nickel...

...so again...I cleaned...and they were really dirty too...I was amazed at how shiny and coppery they were after they were clean...like a new penny...

...I took all of the hardware back to the store...and bought a can of Rustoleum Professional Spray Paint...in colour...Stainless Steel...perfect...and several hundred dollars cheaper...

...I poked all of the screws into a cardboard box...and arranged all of the hinges to be painted...

...then I just spray painted them...the finish seems to be very durable...the can says it's for industrial applications...

...I did the same for the handles...a funny note about these handles is they are exactly like dominoes...lined up in a row if one tips over the whole row falls down like dominoes...the first time that happened it was kinda funny...it was less so the third and fourth times...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week...

...First Days...

...Scout's first day of High School!...

...can you believe it?...no...me neither...

...a little time lapse of his last few minutes before becoming a high-schooler...







...and another time lapse of sorts...

Previous First Day posts:

2007 - apparently I didn't post him going out the door photo...I have one of course...

2008 5th Grade

2009 6th Grade

2010 7th Grade

2011 8th Grade - just last year in North Dakota...

...a couple of dears...

...just for fun...I hunted up a picture of Daddy with the little deer that we raised so many years ago...he still had his spots too...they usually lose them by their first winter...

...From my back deck...

...TRIPLETS...

...we had seen them in the neighborhood...sorry it's so fuzzy...it was early and still a little bit foggy...

...but this is the first time they've grazed in our yard...they still have their spots...

...that sweet little mama deer just looks so small to have triplets...

~Have a lovely weekend...

...Cabinet Progress...

...so the cabinets were really really dirty...I kept having to change the wash and rinse water as it was just so so dirty...I was amazed because the cabinets didn't really look that grimy...oh well...

...I set up my painting station...that's a paint can on top of my kitchen sink in front of the window...good lighting is essential...I used it sort of like the turntables you see people decorating cakes on - it makes it easier to do the sides...you can also see the linen cloth (no lint) and a straight pin for removing any little bits of fuzz...

...I should also mention that I dusted and vacuumed really well before I started painting and kept both the kitchen doors closed...you don't want any dust (or dog hairs as the case may be) settling on your shiny new finish...

...and then...it's just a matter of carefully painting the 35 drawers and doors...it took hours...

...but when it was done and they were all left to dry shut up in the kitchen for the required 24 hours...I was amazed at how nice they looked...really like new doors...I can't wait to get them all back in place...but of course there's another project before that can happen...

~Have a lovely day!

...a spiffier kitchen...hopefully...

...this was our kitchen the day we moved in...kinda still stuck in the 60s...but it's nice and big and bright...you can see the lovely insides of the cabinets here...

...it just needs a little TLC...

...so I removed all of the cabinet doors and drawers...

...not without labeling them first...

...and set about scrubbing everything really well...

...the plan is to just refinish them with a new coat of poly...the Man wants to keep the wood tone...I sort of voted for just painting them (how about a nice French Country Antique Blue)...but we'll see how this turns out...

...my arms are sore...

~Have a lovely day!

...WIP Wednesday...an FO...

...I forgot to tell you that my socks (started in April - I love that about Ravelry) are finished...and we're reading Defending Jacob for Book Club this month...of course I read the last chapter first so I knew some things going in...but decided that if I were on that jury I would probably have been unable to vote guilty...we meet next week and I'm looking forward to picking a new book...

~Have a lovely day!

...our little vacation...

...this vacation was more of a family visit...

...so grandmas were visited...

...old photos were perused...grandma used to get all the cousins matching pjs for Christmas...that's the same window behind us...I'm standing between my two cousins...looking down a bit...and apparently Mom curled my hair - as it is most decidedly not curly...

...birthdays were celebrated...

...Mom made my Depression Era Cake...it was really good...


...we spent some time outdoors...

...it was really beautiful...

...and a little...and I do mean...little knitting...

...I finally started Heliotropic...after saying I was going to for over a year...

~Have a lovely day!

...there and back...

...we've been there...

...and back...

I'll post some vacay pics soon...

~Have a lovely day!