Spring Blooming Bulbs Planted...Check

So the bulbs I ordered arrived on Friday and were put in the ground Saturday. So hopefully I'll have some lovely crocuses, tulips, daffodils and lilies blooming this spring. That is unless I planted them all upside down. Or the squirrels get them all. Crap...I'm starting to panic.

On other fronts, I made some progress on knitting my first sock yesterday. I worked on learning to turn the heal during the Seahawks game. And let me tell you I'm not sure what was more frustrating, the game we lost in OT 33 to 30 or the heel that I now realize I messed up at a key juncture and must redo. I really want to learn to knit socks because they seem like a fun, quick and portable project if I can just figure out how to do the first one! Jeramy of course thinks I'm crazy to spend all this time knitting something that I could buy at the store for $1. Whatever. I never claimed to be logical...just determined!

My last halloween post, I promise

Just a few Halloween pics...

First, Jeramy decorated the house. He put up danger tape, carved 2 pumpkins, and pumpkin lights. We got the pumpkins for free, because our neighbors plant them in their garden and the vines come through our fence. Whatever grows on our side we get to keep. Now that's how I really like to garden!
Then Jeramy's sister stopped by with Julia. It is her second Halloween, and she was dressed up as a duck:

Check out Julia's pig tails...seriously cute!
Finally it got dark enough for Trick-or-Treaters. We got about 10 this year, which is pretty typical for us. Our favorites, of course, were Krystel (Tigger) and Emma (the chicken) from next door.

The Irony of a Pumpkin

We had a pumpkin carving contest at work, and one entry was particularly witty. But first you have to know a little background...

A couple weeks ago there was a "big" windstorm in Seattle involving winds with gusts up to 40 or 50 mph. At my work, crews have been building a large sculpture with steel tubing and glass representing an artist's rendition of a double helix. They had finished it just days before the windstorm arrived. Well somehow the structure failed and this was the result:

This last week our department hosted a pumpkin carving contest. Well this was our facilities department's entry:
It got first place. The irony was just impossible to beat.

Ellie...half dog, half peacock

My sister just stopped by my office with her dog Ellie who was dressed up as a peacock for Halloween. I couldn't resist sharing the pictures:

Ovarian Cyst, Take 2

I may not be able to grow anything in my garden, but it seems I do have a penchant for growing ovarian cysts. For those of you who have fallen behing on the baby-making efforts in our household, I had a clomid cycle in August which resulted in a cyst that cleared up at the end of September. So October brought another clomid cycle with a little intrauterine insemination added in for good measure. Well it seems that the October cycle has ended in a 2 inch cyst on the left ovary. Well maybe "ended" isn't the right word because this cycle appears determined to last forever. But in any case the result will not be pregnancy, which is the goal after all.

They drew blood at the doctor's office and will call me tomorrow with a game plan. It will likely involve waiting and more ultrasounds to make sure the cyst shrinks. While I'm not thrilled with today's conclusion at least it is a conclusion. Otherwise the combination of no period, negative pregnancy tests and low basal temps would have driven me over the edge. And on the bright side I'm now free to enjoy a beer or glass of wine and all ultrasounds will be covered by insurance until that friendly growth in lefty is gone.

A Busy Weekend

Phew! Where did my weekend go??? Let's see...

I had drinks with a couple former co-workers on Friday night at Ivar's Salmon House (great happy hour!); Jeramy and I cleared out tons of blackberry bushes from our backyard, mowed the lawn and made a dump run Saturday morning; I ran a bunch of errands and had Direct TV installed Saturday afternoon; we went to a Halloween party Saturday night; I cleaned the house Sunday morning; and we went to my father-in-law's for dinner Sunday afternoon/evening.

Please wait just a second while I catch my breath...

I managed to squeeze out a little time to work on projects. I made a lot of progress on the scarf I've been knitting (check out the pic), and I worked on the Christmas stocking I'm cross-stitching for myself.

Oh and here is a picture from last week of how Jeramy helps with yard work. In this instance, he is pulling out an old rose bush that keeps growing back in mutated forms (because nothing is simple in gardening with me as we now all know). Also note the previously mentioned dead patch of grass from the infamous pot of boiling crabs incident in lower left quadrant of the picture near the camper. Oh and as an FYI, my wheelie sermons appear to be ineffective.

More on the gardening front...

I just caved and bought a bunch of bulbs. Perhaps I should just give up my dream of a beautiful garden, but I just can't resist those lovely tulips, daffodils, lilies and the like. I'm sure I'll screw something up...either I'll plant them at the wrong depth or crowd so many in that I can't squeeze some annuals to cover up their decay in the late spring. Or perhaps I have bought too many and then I'll have to create new gardening spaces when I can't keep up with the ones I already have.

Ugh. But I just couldn't resist.