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.

Wondering

I have thought about limiting myself and just trying to use what I have for the create along that I have joined. I have three skeins of Tahki in pink so really it limits me to making something for G. Something about the size of a tank or short sleeve top. My original idea though was to make her a dress. She loves playing dress up and I thought that I could possibly use Tahki as the base and then combine Kidsilk Haze with the Tahki in the skirt. I have yet to decide whether or not I want to combine or use the Haze as a lacy overlay. I have a few ideas rolling aorund in my head and I think that I'll also make footie pyjamas using Rowan Calmer. G loves footie pyjamas and she's gotten to the age where we can no longer find them in her size. I know what you're thinking........ You live in Guam!!!! Why does she need footies?.......My house is an icebox and it's about comfort. I will probably make some for myself if this works out the way that I hope.......and if I can afford it.
Meanwhile I continue in my endeavor to unpack. I don't know why I bother since I never finished unpacking from the last time that we moved. I have thought about just throwing out all the boxes that I haven't opened because it seems obvious that I don't need anything in them. Then there's that fear that I might throw out something that I think is important and I might need forty years from now. I am happy that I have only kept about 30% of everything that I have unpacked so far. The rest went off to the local Goodwill. You never realize how much junk you own until you have to pack it and then unpack it again. I know that we'll be making another move in the future and so I'm hoping to pare down now. By the time that we move I will probably have accumulated just as much as I had before, but at least it won't be double.
When moving to Guam pack only one large bag and one carry-on. We had eight bags, two carseats and two toddlers when we arrived. It was CRAZY! Let the rest of your stuff go with the movers.
Thought I might throw in a few interesting tidbits about Guam, just for anyone who is wondering. When I first learned that we were moving here I thought " Oh that sounds great.......wait....where is Guam." I had listened to a Podcast that is a radio program in Guam and it played Latin music, so I automatically thought it was somewhere in Central or South America. And then my brain kicked back into gear and I knew it wasn't anywhere near there......but where is it?
It sits below Japan, above Australia, to the left of Hawaii and to the right of Indonesia and the Phillippines. It's a big tourist area for everyone from Japan, which can be a bit of a pain for a big girl. All the stores cater to the Japanese and they are tiny, tiny, tiny. The local Chamorran women are very robust, but I have yet to be able to find where they shop. Most of them wear tees and a sarong as a skirt or the ever popular Muu Muu. The water here is clear and blue and the island is surrounded by coral making it ideal for snokeling and scuba diving, but bad for surfing. The villages here are beautiful and colorful and when I get the pics I will post them. There are a lot of dogs called "Boonie Dogs". In fact you can't drive one mile without seeing a dog and going out on your own hiking without a big stick, pistol, or BB gun is really not a good idea. There are plenty of beaches and places to hike and it's always breezy enough for wind or kite surfing. We have earthquake tremors just about every week and at least one earthquake a month big enough to rattle the walls and wake you from a dead sleep. They both excite and scare me and as long as they stay little it'll be okay. They did have a eight pointer several years ago and there was no damage and no deaths. Every building is made of concrete because of the earthquakes and the occasional typhoon that hits. There are a few tin topped houses that still stand.....surprisingly by the coastline. Ants run rampant here. In fact they will take away anything that sits for more then one hour in the same spot and my poor cat is constantly having to share her food with them.

Other wildlife includes the pretty yellow geckos, green lizards and the toads that sit on my back porch like they're waiting for a cab. For a small island there are a lot of places to go and lots of things to do. Three malls, a HUGE duty free shopping mall in the Tumon tourist area and of course all the beautiful beaches that you could ever want to go to and all the days out of the year to do it (barring any typhoons).
That's all I can think of for now and I think that I've blogged enough for today.