Knittng, Construction and Baking

Wow, over a week and not a peep out of me.

Well, it's been busy as all heck here. The furnace is not-quite-dead but on it's last legs. It is over 40 years old so time for a new one. The gas company couldn't find time to come out with an estimate for a new one but Home Depot did soooooooooo, we're getting a Trane. Thing should just about pay for itself in not too many years. It seems our old furnace was about 65% efficient and the new one is going to be 92%. We'll see that next winter for sure. Mom and dad still technically own the house so they have to foot the bill on this one. Maybe it died right on time.

Grandma came through with the CD she gave us on our wedding day. We're going to redo both bathrooms. They need it BAD. There's a leak upstairs and the downstairs one is so far gone it needs to be ripped back to the studs. They're both small so I may be able to keep within the budget. Just in case, if you want something from Amazon click through a link on here, yeah I'm begging. Plus hubby and I can do the finishing and detail stuff ourselves. Have you priced toilets lately?? What the heck are they made out of?? They cost almost as much as a new tub, that just seems wrong.

I made my first ever Hot Cross Buns this weekend. Nana's not up to making them herself this year but she wanted them so the request came to me. They came out pretty good. Mom, Nana and Papa all loved them. The only thing is, everyone else hates hot cross buns, including me. So we have a lot left over that went to work with Mom this morning.

Nana gave me one of her cookbooks this weekend and a chafing dish. I'm grateful for both, the cookbook had Nana's notes in it, I love that. I think this is the quickening of a trend at Nana's though. The past few years she's been giving away a lot of the stuff she doesn't use anymore. Now that she's doing hospice and letting the cancer run it's course I think she's trying to empty the house so it's not a task left to Papa when she's gone. I can't decide if it's practical or morbid. There's only one thing I'm super concerned about and I told mom to hint at it. Nana's sewing machine from the basement. I learned to sew on that Singer and when I got married Nana and I made my wedding dress on it. I want it and I'll scratch the eyes out of any cousin who even looks at it. Selfish maybe, but that old machine has a lot of my best memories for me of Nana and I want it.

I've been knitting away on some smaller projects lately. I just finished a couple shawls, I'm doing the lace thing. Now that hubby and I are going to have the house solo money's going to be tight so no buying yarn until we adapt to the new budget. I have lots of yarn in my stash so I'm starting with the lace weight and I'll move on from there. Of course people are grabbing things as they are finished, eventually there's going to be a spat so I'll just keep going until everyone has something they like.

Birthday's are Bad Luck

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me...

Every year on my birthday some major catastrophe happens almost without fail.

This year I figured the fates would give me a break. I mean it's been a tough year, a real doosie. Guess what I got for a birthday surprise?

Are you ready?

Can you hear the drum roll?

The furnace croaked.

Death, Dying and Nana's Bad Jokes

Well there's not too much going on around here lately. I've been knitting away and putting up stuff for my mother to take to Nana's. She's been in good spirits but I can already tell it's not going to be a long time before she goes. There's a odd sort of look to her lately, a weakness in her movements and her color has changed a lot. She's comfy though, no pain and that's what worried us most.

One thing I find odd about this process is the humor. Nana has always had a sort of "off" sense of humor for someone in her generation. Now that she's looking at the end of her life she's pulled all the stops as far as self editing goes.

Now, I find Nana's death jokes honestly funny. They are direct, observational, somewhat inappropriate, and flat out hilarious. My mother on the other hand finds them upsetting and morbid. She'll laugh at Nana's but then come home and cry.

I'm left to wonder if it's because I'm a generation removed or if it's because my sense of humor has always been very close to Nana's. My mom's always been a weeper and I'm more of a stewer. Is it possible the jokes aren't actually funny? I guess it doesn't matter as long as Nana thinks they are.

Oh yeah knitting. Have you noticed my current obsession with knitting hats? I think it's self-therapy. They're easy, quick, and they clear out the odd single balls of yarn from my stash. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with them all but they keep me busy when I get stressed out.