The count down is on!
After almost 4 years, we are finally getting our piano shipped out! It should arrive in a few hours. The space for it is read, the space they need to maneuver is cleared, and we're all set.
I can hardly wait.
It should be interesting seeing how they get it in. When we made the arrangements, I did tell them it was an upright grand. I don't think they realized what that meant. Talking to them later (and finding out the piano was making a side trip to Toronto), the owner of the moving company said, "that's a really BIG piano!" Well, yes. I did tell them it was 1000 pounds, too. What did they expect?
They probably expected an upright piano. I don't know that anyone makes upright grands anymore, but they are a fair bit taller than the more common uprights.
Our entrance is on the second floor. They have to get it up the stairs, with most of the stairs running in between our townhouse and our neighbour. The hard part is going to be turning it at the top to get it through the door.
Well, that's what we're paying them $1500 or so to do! They added extra when they found out more about the stairs, which we had planned for. A few steps are no big deal, but a full flight is something else. They're even going to have the transfer the piano from the big moving truck to something smaller, because a full sized moving truck will get stuck on our street.
It'll be good to be reunited with the beasty.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Combined library list
Since we're actually going to make it to the library tomorrow (last week, we were able to just renew everything that was due, as we didn't have time to go to the library at all), I figure it'd be a good idea to actually write out what we have right now.
For myself, I went on another blitz of crochet books.
Blueprint Crochet; modern designs for the visual crocheter. Interesting book, but not a lot that I'd actually want to make.
Crochet Magazine; Nov. 2008 This one had sock patterns I wanted to get a closer look at. All cuff down designs. I prefer toe up.
The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys; 30 projects men will love. This was was really excellent. Lots of great designs.
101 Double-ended Hook Stitches. I just had to take this one out. Not as complicated as I thought it would be. Not that I've been able to find double ended hooks anywhere.
Afghans for All Seasons and Mosaic Magic; Afghans made easy. Eldest has asked me to make her a blanket for the winter, so I have been taking out a variety of books for her to look at patterns. She decided on one in Afghans for All Seasons. Unfortunately, Mosaic Magic had quite a few pages missing.
Embellished Crochet; 28 stunning designs to make using Caron International yarn. This is one I've taken out before and wanted to check out for ideas again.
Get Your Crochet On; Hip Hats & Cool Caps. Another repeat for me.
I've also taken out a bunch of books for a specific event. I am trying to get together a group of people interested in historical cookery, and for the first attempted gathering, I've decided to do a Brother Cadfael theme. As the character was a soldier and sailor in the crusades before becoming a monk, this would include not only food from England and Wales in the early 1100's, but also foods from the Holy Land.
Cadfael Country; Shropshire & The Welsh Border
Food and Feasts in the Middle Ages
A Taste of Thyme; Culinary Cultures of the Middle East
Feast from the Mideast; 250 Sun-Drenched Dishes from the Land of the Bible
A Biblical Feast; Foods from the Holy Land
Brother Cadfael Omnibus and The Second Cadfael Omnibus
Brother Cadfael's Book of Days
British Food; An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History
Taste; The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking
The next batch were taken out by my daughter's. I'm not quite sure who took out what with some of these! *L*
Nine Crazy Ideas in Science
Classical Kimono; Four Centuries of Fashion
Everyday Fashion of the Twenties; As pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs
Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from "La Mode Illustree"
Brides Sept/Oct 2005
Medieval Structure: The Gothic Vault
England's Thousand Best Churches
Folktales of Ireland
We didn't get a lot of music cd's this time around...
La Dolce Vita; Fellini/Rota (film music)
The Queen Collection played by they Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra presents Symphonic Rock
... but we did get a lot of dvd's. Unfortunately, even with renewals, we haven't had a chance to watch them all.
The Bible's Buries Secrets; Beyond Fact of Fiction. We only made it about half way through this fascinating dvd.
Solar Max; The hottest new film under the sun. Quite interesting!!
Two Fat Ladies Season 4.
Alice; A film by Jan Svankmayer. NOT the Disney version!
Das Boot; The Director's Cut
Intolerance. This 1916 movie is not for the faint of heart.
The Man Who Wasn't There.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers; The original nightmare that threatened the world. This is the 1955 version.
The Edgar Allen Poe Collection: Annabel Lee & Others Tales of Mystery and Imagination. This includes Annabelle Lee, The Raven, and The Tell-Tale Heart
Hmmm... I should probably renew a bunch of these again. Especially the historical cooking/Cadfael ones.
For myself, I went on another blitz of crochet books.
Blueprint Crochet; modern designs for the visual crocheter. Interesting book, but not a lot that I'd actually want to make.
Crochet Magazine; Nov. 2008 This one had sock patterns I wanted to get a closer look at. All cuff down designs. I prefer toe up.
The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys; 30 projects men will love. This was was really excellent. Lots of great designs.
101 Double-ended Hook Stitches. I just had to take this one out. Not as complicated as I thought it would be. Not that I've been able to find double ended hooks anywhere.
Afghans for All Seasons and Mosaic Magic; Afghans made easy. Eldest has asked me to make her a blanket for the winter, so I have been taking out a variety of books for her to look at patterns. She decided on one in Afghans for All Seasons. Unfortunately, Mosaic Magic had quite a few pages missing.
Embellished Crochet; 28 stunning designs to make using Caron International yarn. This is one I've taken out before and wanted to check out for ideas again.
Get Your Crochet On; Hip Hats & Cool Caps. Another repeat for me.
I've also taken out a bunch of books for a specific event. I am trying to get together a group of people interested in historical cookery, and for the first attempted gathering, I've decided to do a Brother Cadfael theme. As the character was a soldier and sailor in the crusades before becoming a monk, this would include not only food from England and Wales in the early 1100's, but also foods from the Holy Land.
Cadfael Country; Shropshire & The Welsh Border
Food and Feasts in the Middle Ages
A Taste of Thyme; Culinary Cultures of the Middle East
Feast from the Mideast; 250 Sun-Drenched Dishes from the Land of the Bible
A Biblical Feast; Foods from the Holy Land
Brother Cadfael Omnibus and The Second Cadfael Omnibus
Brother Cadfael's Book of Days
British Food; An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History
Taste; The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking
The next batch were taken out by my daughter's. I'm not quite sure who took out what with some of these! *L*
Nine Crazy Ideas in Science
Classical Kimono; Four Centuries of Fashion
Everyday Fashion of the Twenties; As pictured in Sears and Other Catalogs
Victorian and Edwardian Fashions from "La Mode Illustree"
Brides Sept/Oct 2005
Medieval Structure: The Gothic Vault
England's Thousand Best Churches
Folktales of Ireland
We didn't get a lot of music cd's this time around...
La Dolce Vita; Fellini/Rota (film music)
The Queen Collection played by they Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra presents Symphonic Rock
... but we did get a lot of dvd's. Unfortunately, even with renewals, we haven't had a chance to watch them all.
The Bible's Buries Secrets; Beyond Fact of Fiction. We only made it about half way through this fascinating dvd.
Solar Max; The hottest new film under the sun. Quite interesting!!
Two Fat Ladies Season 4.
Alice; A film by Jan Svankmayer. NOT the Disney version!
Das Boot; The Director's Cut
Intolerance. This 1916 movie is not for the faint of heart.
The Man Who Wasn't There.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers; The original nightmare that threatened the world. This is the 1955 version.
The Edgar Allen Poe Collection: Annabel Lee & Others Tales of Mystery and Imagination. This includes Annabelle Lee, The Raven, and The Tell-Tale Heart
Hmmm... I should probably renew a bunch of these again. Especially the historical cooking/Cadfael ones.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
Fascinating
A couple of really interesting sites to share.
Zooborns Eldest found this site today, and I think we'll be visiting it regularly! Incredible photos with information on animals born at various zoos.
Ugly Overload We've been checking this site out for quite some time now, and it's always filled with the most incredible creaturs and interesting information. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I find many of these creatures incredibly gorgeous.
Zooborns Eldest found this site today, and I think we'll be visiting it regularly! Incredible photos with information on animals born at various zoos.
Ugly Overload We've been checking this site out for quite some time now, and it's always filled with the most incredible creaturs and interesting information. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I find many of these creatures incredibly gorgeous.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
This is getting rediculous.
After we finally got to some seasonal temperatures, I thought my days ... er... nights of bringing my planters in for the night were over. Instead, I've had to start bringing them in again, and we've had to turn our furnace back on because the house was getting too friggin' cold. Mind you, it could be worse. We haven't actually dipped below freezing, though we've been close, nor have we had snow, like in other areas not too far from us. Talking to my sister in Manitoba, she was telling me she's never had such a late start on her garden, nor has she ever seen conditions so poor. She's been living and gardening where she is for 30 years. That's saying a lot, considering how bad the summer of 2005 was, with almost constant rain, cold and flooding all over the province.
On the plus side, I believe I now have the last of the containers and soil I need for this year's balcony garden. Along with the herbs I'd planted before, my salad greens are in a pair of shallow storage bins. I've picked up another large, deep container for my carrots, and another rail planter, which I think I will use partly for a few more herbs that still haven't been transplanted (I can't bring myself to toss the extras) and successive sowing for my salad greens.
At this point, I don't want to add any more. Our balcony is going to be renovated, but I have no idea when. They're going to have to do a lot of work, and everything on our balcony will have to be moved out completely. Even the rail planters. I look forward to figuring out how to use the vertical space on our side walls, once they've been fixed up. Peas, for sure. Maybe some wax beans. I'd love to find a way to do some fruits or berries, too. All that is for next year, though.
Beyond that, things have been going well. Eldest decided she needed a new shoulder bag to replace the purse I'd made for her a few years back. She wanted something to fit a specific size of drawing pad, as well as have lots of pockets inside and out. She worked out all the dimensions and figured out the design she wanted, working completely without an actual pattern.
This is the final product, though it's not quite finished. She wants to add embellishments to the edge of the front flap for weight, as well as adding a closure for her Blackberry pocket. Yes, my daughter now has her own Blackberry. She inherited my husband's old one, as he had to upgrade his. We've been wanting to get another cell phone for the girls so that we can give them a bit more Independence, but they had no interest in actually having one (at this point, there's no need for Youngest to have her own phone, too).
Anyhow... back to the bag. In making it, I demonstrated how to attach the side and bottom panels around a corner, discussed a few details, then hand stitched the opening left for turning after the lining was attached. Other than that, Eldest did everything on her own. She did a fantastic job.
I've been lax with our library lists again. I'll done one soon, but not until after we've picked up the stuff that's waiting on hold at the moment. It's always "fun" to come home from a library trip, only to find an email waiting, saying more holds were ready. Funny thing was, I'd checked the holds area, just in case, and found one of my holds in a cart at the end of the shelf, sorted and waiting to be moved. Oh, well.
In a very short time - possibly next week, but more likely the week after, we will be reunited with our piano. It's going to be good to have it back. It's going to take up a lot of space and is really heavy, but it's got a lot of family history - not to mention gorgeous sound. It's a 200 or so yr old upright grand. Open up the top and take off the front panel, and the sound is just amazing. I do hope the neighbours under us don't mind a few sour notes, though, as I get used to working a keyboard again. I learned to play organ, not piano, but notes are notes, and the keys are the same. One thing's for sure. Once we've got this in, we'd better not have to move again for a very long time!! It costs an awful lot to have a piano moved, and this is something there's NO WAY we'd do on our own.
On the plus side, I believe I now have the last of the containers and soil I need for this year's balcony garden. Along with the herbs I'd planted before, my salad greens are in a pair of shallow storage bins. I've picked up another large, deep container for my carrots, and another rail planter, which I think I will use partly for a few more herbs that still haven't been transplanted (I can't bring myself to toss the extras) and successive sowing for my salad greens.
At this point, I don't want to add any more. Our balcony is going to be renovated, but I have no idea when. They're going to have to do a lot of work, and everything on our balcony will have to be moved out completely. Even the rail planters. I look forward to figuring out how to use the vertical space on our side walls, once they've been fixed up. Peas, for sure. Maybe some wax beans. I'd love to find a way to do some fruits or berries, too. All that is for next year, though.
Beyond that, things have been going well. Eldest decided she needed a new shoulder bag to replace the purse I'd made for her a few years back. She wanted something to fit a specific size of drawing pad, as well as have lots of pockets inside and out. She worked out all the dimensions and figured out the design she wanted, working completely without an actual pattern.
This is the final product, though it's not quite finished. She wants to add embellishments to the edge of the front flap for weight, as well as adding a closure for her Blackberry pocket. Yes, my daughter now has her own Blackberry. She inherited my husband's old one, as he had to upgrade his. We've been wanting to get another cell phone for the girls so that we can give them a bit more Independence, but they had no interest in actually having one (at this point, there's no need for Youngest to have her own phone, too).
Anyhow... back to the bag. In making it, I demonstrated how to attach the side and bottom panels around a corner, discussed a few details, then hand stitched the opening left for turning after the lining was attached. Other than that, Eldest did everything on her own. She did a fantastic job.
I've been lax with our library lists again. I'll done one soon, but not until after we've picked up the stuff that's waiting on hold at the moment. It's always "fun" to come home from a library trip, only to find an email waiting, saying more holds were ready. Funny thing was, I'd checked the holds area, just in case, and found one of my holds in a cart at the end of the shelf, sorted and waiting to be moved. Oh, well.
In a very short time - possibly next week, but more likely the week after, we will be reunited with our piano. It's going to be good to have it back. It's going to take up a lot of space and is really heavy, but it's got a lot of family history - not to mention gorgeous sound. It's a 200 or so yr old upright grand. Open up the top and take off the front panel, and the sound is just amazing. I do hope the neighbours under us don't mind a few sour notes, though, as I get used to working a keyboard again. I learned to play organ, not piano, but notes are notes, and the keys are the same. One thing's for sure. Once we've got this in, we'd better not have to move again for a very long time!! It costs an awful lot to have a piano moved, and this is something there's NO WAY we'd do on our own.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Of lunch and bags and the joy of independant kids
I have a few moments to sit and write a post - will have photos to add later one.
Eldest has been wanting to replace her purse, which I made for her a couple of years back. She's never been happy with the types of bags available in stores, so she came up with a design for a bag that's large enough to fit one of her larger sized drawing pads, plus lots of pockets.
The pieces had been cut out a few days ago, and today they're being put together. I've demonstrated how to sew side panels to a body panel with turning a corner, which Eldest did an excellent job of doing herself on the other corner. As I write this, she is waiting for the iron to heat up so she can iron folds around the pocket edges. She's got pockets for both inside and out.
While she was doing that, I was going to make lunch. Youngest was disappointed when I asked her to shred some cheese for me. Why? Because SHE wanted to make lunch.
So I shredded some cheese for her, instead.
Oh, lunch is now ready. Time to enjoy the fruits of my daughter's labours. :-D
Eldest has been wanting to replace her purse, which I made for her a couple of years back. She's never been happy with the types of bags available in stores, so she came up with a design for a bag that's large enough to fit one of her larger sized drawing pads, plus lots of pockets.
The pieces had been cut out a few days ago, and today they're being put together. I've demonstrated how to sew side panels to a body panel with turning a corner, which Eldest did an excellent job of doing herself on the other corner. As I write this, she is waiting for the iron to heat up so she can iron folds around the pocket edges. She's got pockets for both inside and out.
While she was doing that, I was going to make lunch. Youngest was disappointed when I asked her to shred some cheese for me. Why? Because SHE wanted to make lunch.
So I shredded some cheese for her, instead.
Oh, lunch is now ready. Time to enjoy the fruits of my daughter's labours. :-D
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