On the eleventh day before Christmas,

I took my kitchen cupboards down. On the tenth day before Christmas, I stripped the wallpaper (repeat ad infinitum, installing gas cookers, electricity, emulsion paint, doors, toilets and all else. Keep the element of panic strong, and ad lib as necessary.)

Life is obsessed by building work. I am sitting on the floor propped against the piano, because we recycled the sofa to give us more room to decorate in early. That should tell you everything that you could possibly need to know.
The good news, if you can call it that, is that I am finally out of my knitting slump and knitting again. Yes, I have my needles in my hand and half a cardigan on them and maybe, just maybe, life is going to be OK. Cross fingers?

Five more builder days till Xmas. We can do this.

Forgiveness stinks sometimes

To the total and utter bastard who keeps on puncturing our family car's tyres because they think it's fun:
We are a family of 5.8, who live with and care for my ailing father-in-law, who is currently pretty poorly and might need a hospital visit sometime soon. You know that fraction? Yeah. I'm pregnant. Pretty heavily pregnant, I haven't just been eating too much chocolate. My hip joints are in three counties and walking hurts (a lot), my 7yo still has asthma and could need an occasional trip to hospital to sort him out, and having a car makes our life a heck of a lot easier. Oh, and the seven seats ain't just vanity either, we aren't just trying to trash the environment. We work pretty hard on living as green as we can and I wouldn't drive a big gas-guzzling MPV if I didn't need an extra seat to put the baby in once he's earthside.
That tyre you punctured last night? Well, the money that my husband is spending RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE fixing the damage that you have done could have bought our daughter this . And instead, thanks to you, we're going to have to buy the blooming Dora one. So you know what?
Karma is real. At some point when you least expect it, you're getting your comeuppance. But right now, waiting for karma to kick in and sort your horrid ass out, patience is the hardest thing I've ever done.
On the bright side, yesterday the kids and I started the Xmas crafting, and pictures will be following shortly.

Work in progress

I don't know if I mentioned this, but we have a government grant to help provide my FIL with a downstairs bedroom and bathroom, and the builders are working on it at the moment. The whole back of the house is moving back by 4 metres, and our kitchen and bedroom will be out the back, then the current kitchen will be turned into a wetroom. And hopefully, touch wood, all of the work will be finished before our new baby arrives. We're hoping that the kitchen will be done before Xmas.

I'm 31 weeks pregnant now, and enjoying getting big and huge and fat, despite the SPD. Because I'm actually hoping to go post-dates this time (bwahahaha) I'm planning the full-term sweater- I will be casting on on the 9th January, the day that I hit 37 weeks (or possibly on the 1st of January, considering how slowly I'm knitting at the moment.) and the goal is to get a nice snuggly warm jumper out of it before the baby gets here. Like NaNoSweMo, but with more pressure :) I haven't decided on a pattern yet, but I'm considering the Refined Raglan from IWK, because I think the shoulder detail will look pretty good with babywearing devices.

And for those new to the story, Alex was born at 43.5 weeks, Isaac at 37.5 and Skye at 42 weeks, so I think the odds of me pulling this off and getting both kitchen and jumper done in time are good.

Toddler cloche and scarf.

I made these for Skye's 2nd birthday last weekend, and frankly, I love them. On the other hand, she is really not too impressed at all, and refuses to wear them.

But look, ma, I crocheted! With only one needle and all! Wa-HOO!!!!!!!!!!

Both kids had good birthdays - we took them up to Cadburyworld with a friend of Alex's, and it was fun. Hot, cramped, crowded, but Skye was in heaven because people kept putting chocolate in her hands. Bless.