The Rain in Spain......

Lots of rain here. They should call it monsoon season. I actually heard thunder the other day and today I saw lightening AND heard thunder. I was beginning to wonder if they actually had thunderstorms. Most of the rain here comes sans thunder and lightning. The rain offers plenty of time to finish knitting projects and pick up new ones.
I finished my create-a-long. I took this picture with the camera that's on my computer so it's a little hard to make out detail, but you get the general idea. I'm proud of it. I also have enough Tahki cotton classic to try and make a cardigan for Lola. I'll soon find out if the five skeins I have left are enough or not. I really want to order some sport weight burgandy and gold yarn and knit up a Harry Potter scarf that I can wear to the veiwing of Order of the Pheonix and while reading book seven (Deathly Hallows). It would definitely keep me busy. I feel I have been very productive. I managed to knit four socks, a tank top, dress, silk sweater and a shrug (that I later frogged) all since I have been here. I don't think I have made anything for hubby or Charlie and have to rectify that by making Charlie something Harry Potterish, Spidermanish,or Piratey. Hubby's already slotted for a sweater (curse be darned) and I'll make both as soon as I find and order the perfect yarn. The perfect yarn can be hard to find. Firstly it needs to be machine washable. Then it also has to be tough and long lasting. I have a chenille blanket that I bought from Target that is already thread bare and falling apart. I woke up with string wrapped around my arm and my toes poking through one of the six holes that have appeared in the seven months that I have had the darn thing. Shoddy craftsmanship. I can do better......as soon as I find the perfect yarn (sigh!). It's difficult when you can't feel before you buy. I want something soft and washable. Double sigh. I need money first.
Our car is back in our possession although the front passenger side wheel feels like it's going to fall off everytime I go around a left hand curve and there is something rattling under my gas pedal that I'm guessing comes from something being put back in wrong or not tight enough when they were working on the clutch. It was making a noise like a bad muffler, but it's only audible inside the car and not outside which makes the exhaust seal is worn story not a good one. I'll be taking it back along with the repair manual and an offer of my help since I have worked on cars before. I think my decision to go back to school and become a mechanic is a good one even if other people seem to look down on it. There is a mechanic shortage, it's a good paying job AND it's a great skill to have since everyone has a car and need it repaired. In fact right now I know of three different families that are wishing they knew how to fix their own car right now (mine being one of them). I guess people look down because it's dirty manual labor. Which tells you how snobby our society has gotten. To me it's like working a puzzle and isn't really much different from my dream of being a doctor when I was younger. I'll be a car doctor.

Toothfairy

Well here it is. A picture of Lola missing her tooth and with short hair (which I think looks really cute). She lost her tooth on Mother's Day. And we also had a nice sized earthquake. I suppose it's the rainy season here because it has been raining like crazy. Everytime I get the kids dressed to go play and then the sky goes grey and it pours down t must have started the growing season for vegetation that we are all allergic to because we have been sneezing like crazy.
Come Monday we will have a new family member. We're taking my friend's dog because she can't take the time with her that she wishes she could. Seeing as she's eight months pregnant with her third child I can see why. Her dog, Lucy, reminds me of our golden retriever, Lilo, that was lost in transit to Guam. Lucy is a boonie dog and she's almost a year old. I'll have just enough time left to train her the rest of the way before I go back to work and the kids head of to school and the CDC. I'm looking at a part time job at a bookstore inside the airport. It's the graveyard shift and works great for me until the hubby goes out. Then I have to find someone to watch them in the middle of the night (pretty easy since they'll all be sleeping).
I'm now four skeins into my create-a-long project. It's looking pretty darn good and I'll take a pic of it after I do the decreases for the waist. I have to admit that it's pretty plain, but that's how I like my projects. The pieces in your wardrobe that last the longest are the ones that are classic and plainish in design. So hopefully after Lola has outgrown this dress it'll still get plenty of wear for generations to come.

Home

Finally inspiration hit and I was able to get further along on my create-a-long then I have to date. I think part of it was committing to a design and not changing my mind. I'm hoping it'll turn out like I want......if not it'll be frogged.......again. I am the queen of TINK. Instead of KNIT I spend most of my time doing the opposite. Well I can say that I have four good inches done which is good since I have 288 sts in the round that I'm laboring away on. I have been able to do these four inches (two of which are lace) in the past two days. I think that's pretty good and if I keep at this pace I should have the skirt done by tomorrow or Friday I think. I have nothing else to do with no car. If we happen to get a vehicle then progress may be slowed.....just a bit.
On my computer I have a scenic picture. It's not the most beautiful picture, but it's a picture of my Grandma's front yard. It's the view from her front porch. Last night I had a dream that I was driving the road to her house. The road after you get off of I-95 is a thirty minute jaunt, but I can remember every part of it in extreme detail. So much so that it felt real. I woke up just as I was driving down the hill of her driveway and I could see her house and my Grandpa working in the front yard. I cried upon waking because the dream ended there. I cried because it felt so real, and I cried because I miss them. It's only been six months that we've been here, but we have two and a half more years here and it's looking less and less like we'll be able to fly all the way home and see the one's that I love in that time. Last place that we were stationed we lived only two hours away and I feel like I didn't visit as often as I should have. Sometimes you try, but life, money, cars.......they get in the way. My Grandma's house is my zen oasis because whenever I was there I was surrounded by family and there was nothing for me to worry about. Someone is always there to help take care of whatever problem you may have. Biscuits and gravy are comfort food. And your best friend is your cousin that lives next door......the one you had your summer adventures with. I miss home.

Car and Creativity

Still no solution to the car thing. I had to take a few days and just step away from it and leave it in the hands of the hubby. Too bad hubby is working all day everyday. And before anyone fusses " Quit your whining" I mean he works all day. He leaves here at five in the morning and gets home around 8, 9, 10, even 11 at night. Last night he didn't get home until 11pm and it seems that everyday they are keeping him later and later.......probably because they are. I was really mad last night and put the kids in the bed with me to sort of ban hubby from the bed, but when he got home I realized it's not his fault and he's just as unhappy as we are. He misses his kids and he goes on deployment in another week or so. We're getting a rental car and I'm hoping I'll be able to get down to the mechanic and get a good look at this part that needs to be ordered. The mechanic seems to be incapable of talking with a woman.....or maybe he can sense that I'm becoming semi-hostile towards him. I can't imagine why. I mean when I called to have him come pick up the car when we got the part he was so helpful.........(not really that's extreme sarcasm there).
I haven't told this story on this blog so let me tell it to you. I called to have him come and pick up the car because he told my hubby that he knew the clutch was on backwards and flipped sideways and that he would tow it to the garage and fix it once the part came. So when the part arrived (the one we found out later was the wrong part) I was very excited and called him to have him come and tow the car. "You'll have to have your husband call me and make arrangements to ahve the car towed here," is what he told me. I explained that my hubby was working long hours, six days a week and that I was calling to make arrangements and that it had already been discussed between him and my hubby that he would come and tow the car from our garage to his. He said that he never made that arrangement. Okay, well I'm calling now to make that arrangement. He said that was fine and he would come and tow the car, but that he still needed my hubby to call him because he would need directions to our house. Excuse me? I really wasn't even sure if I had heard him right, but I replied that I could give him directions. He reluctantly agreed and then proceeded to make up directions as I was giving them to him ( "take the first right into the neighborhood BEFORE the school"......... "turn left after the school"..........." No, turn right before the school"........"right, left before the school"........." NO......." ). So needless to say I was a little peeved after that phone call, but he came and got the car the next day and then proceeded to call us to tell us we had ordered the wrong part (or more like he had us order the wrong part). I called trying to find out the name of the part that we needed so that I could order it and all he could tell me was that " It's a bushing for the shifter.........well I call it a bushing" and then started in with the whole have your hubby call me so we can get the right part. Well obviously you two had trouble the first time so why don't you let me help you out this time because hubby leaves in a week and you won't have him to talk to and I really want my car before then, but that's not going to happen. We really don't have the money to tool around in a rental car and all this is ticking me off again so that's all I'm going to say about that.
Needless to say all this has kept me from starting on my create-a-long project which should have been done by now. Trust me I ahve tried to start it, but to no avail. I have started, gotten halfway done, and frogged it all because of severe mistakes at least five times now. I have not started knitting anything else. I was determined to get the silk sweater done before I started on the create-a-long, but I finished that awhile ago and have had no luck on the create-a-long. It's like I can't count the right number of stitches all of a sudden and I keep making stupid mistakes and all of it is turning out to be more stressful then relaxing. I'm thinking of ordering some yarn and knitting a simple Harry Potter scarf that I can wear to the movie, but I really don't want to start another project without at least getting this one going, but maybe doing something simpler will help me get going with this dress for the create-a-long.

Sad, sadder, and saddest

The stress is getting to me. I don't think I can take it anymore and all I want to do is pack my bags and take my kids and myself back to the states. We still have no car and after recieving the part that we needed we had the mechanic come and pick up the car only to have him call us thirty minutes later to tell us it's the wrong part. Hubby goes on deployment in about a week and I can't take this anymore. Hubby printed out a pic of the part and took it to the mechanic to make sure it was the right part BEFORE we ordered the thing and the guy said that yes it was, but it gets here and it's the wrong part. I would take the car to someone else, but I doubt they would have better luck PLUS I would have to fork out $600 more dollars in labor.
To top it all off my hands are tied. I can't get a job because I need a car and child care, but I can't get a job or child care without a car AND unless I have a job I don't get priority for child care so I have to wait for a few months before they can even take my kids!!!! I was thinking with a job we would at least have a little more money so that we could get another car. I would be better off going back to the states because it's really hard to find a job here and all the used cars cost just as much as the new cars. At this point I want to buy new so that I know we won't have any major trouble with it for the duration of our stay here on island. And I want to get a Toyota because they have readily available Toyota parts because everyone here drives a freakin' Toyota! But I have no job and my hubby's credit is crap so neither of us can get a loan. I'm also weary about getting a loan. We probably could get one, but I still need a few more days of thinking about it before I can feel remotely okay with it. My hubby is not a financial wizard, but neither was I when we got married. I had to learn and while I'm still not able to make us millionares I have learned to keep us out of financial ruin. I would have liked to keep us out of debt, but have learned that I can't control my hubby's every move.......note the fact that his credit is once again mussed up.
Although I suppose things could be worse, but not really for someone raised with chronic stress. After so many years you just remain stressed......all the time. That's where I am at. I have come to realize that there is nothing really wrong with me physically......no diseases or anything......so it must be stress. I can believe that. It's not really surprising if you know my life. In fact if it was you, you would be stressed chronically too.....and probably insane at this point so I think I've done well for myself by keeping my sanity.......well, most of it at least. Now how do I relax and get rid of said stress so that it doesn't put me in an early grave?

Life on Island and Thoughts on Marriage

Still no car. We got our car back, but the clutch is missing two plastic pieces that hold the shifter in place and keep the clutch from spinning. I don't know how the hubby got it home, but we are now unable to move it from the garage because you can't shift into any gear except first. We already ordered the additional parts needed and hopefully everything will be fixed before next payday. This payday we were shorted again because the Navy says we owe them money. The reality is that they owe us money, but they never got the bill for the hotel (travel pay) that we sent them SEVEN TIMES. So we have to try again. I'm determined to get my money back. It's not the end of the world but I have a tendency of letting the little things get to me. If it were life or death I would probably be calm. Strange I know, but Im used to having to deal with the big things. That and it was just a bunch of things at once that seemed to be crashing down. One of those times when you think, " Good lord, what next?" It hit me all at once the other day and I had a panic attack. All the thoughts buzzing in my head made it hard to think or hear and it felt as if someone were suffocating me. I flipped out, I cried....I wanted to scream, hit and throw, but refrained from doing so....I guess that's a good thing. Like someone said, that's island life. It takes longer to get things done. We're so used to getting everything done right and right away that we freak when it doesn't happen, but real life is inconsistent and takes time. It builds character and patience.......at least that's what I keep telling myself. Adopt the island way of thinking and just relax.
I finished the silk sweater!!!! Yea!!!! My first sweater for myself. I like it, but I don't like it on me, but I'm still happy with it. It's a little thicker then I thought it would be which makes me look a little thicker (something I don't need help with at this moment in my life......all the ladies say amen). I might tighten the bind off a little more with some more decreases. It's an off the shoulder sweater, but with the weight of the sweater it feels like it's going to be an off the body sweater if I don't tighten up the yoke. Mom, you might be getting a sweater. It's not hot and it fits great and really is a great looking sweater. Downsides are I don't like the way it looks on me and I can't throw it in the wash because it's a hand wash only type of yarn. I need to knit me something with a DK or fingering weight yarn so that it's not so thick and would prefer something like a hoodie instead of over the head, but I feel a great sense of accomplishment of finishing the sweater and having it look the way it's supposed to. I even have some yarn left over. Enough for a matching hat for winter. Happy Mother's Day mom. You know what you're getting.
I'm thinking my next project will be a sweater for the hubby. Sweater curse be darned! His ship will be taking him to a few places where it might get cold and we've talked about going to Tokyo for a family trip (if we can afford it). Possibilities for cold there too. Speaking of the hubby, we're going to be celebrating our sixth anniversary in about a month. We've only been together for six years total since we only knew each other for a few weeks before getting married. Not a long time to really know someone in the great scheme of things, but I have learned a few things. One of them being that I love my hubby. You always think you're in love when you meet someone and everything is new and exciting, but that's not love. My grandma used to tell me that you learn what love is the longer that you're married (she has more then 50 years of experience with my grandpa so she should know). She's right. I also hit the lottery when I decided to marry him. We're both the kind to try to work things out (very important for a long marriage) and he's patient enough to put up with me. He's the angel of the marriage and has worked at bettering the things that he does (like leaving his socks on the floor and putting everything on top of the refrigerator where I can't find them). And the longer I'm with him the more I realize how good of a man he is. He does things subtley and it takes time to figure him out, but once you do you realize he's a great man who loves his family. I kind of knew it when I met his family and they were warm and inviting and you could tell that they all loved him very much. There are days when I realize what I have more then others and this is one of those days so I thought I would comment on it while he's still in good standing :-)
Can't wait to have a car and some money. There are some great movies coming out this month. All the threes. Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, and Pirates 3. Good things come in threes too I guess. They're having a midnight showing of Spiderman that we were thinking of going to (but we have no car now so can't). I think I'll get together with my neighbors and have a backyard barbeque. That's one thing that I can do and is more fun anyways. Living the island life.