Big Knitting Secret

The annual conference/seminars for work went well. I'm officially a C5P. Hmmmm time for a raise? This year was at the downtown Boston Park Plaza.

Beautiful room with 2 full baths… yep 2 FULL BATHS. That’s 1 more than one person needs, so of course I rotated use. LMAO.





I took the train in so I avoided driving and parking in the city. Best idea ever, even though I drove in downtown Boston daily and have documentation proving I can cut off a taxi driver AND I survived.

Any way the big secret is I haven't been knitting much!

Just a lil on the Lace Ribbon Scarf (J. Knits/Washington)

I finished up two pairs of socks - one, possibly both are gifts.

A third pair on the needles is definitely for me & a fourth is another gift. I need to clear the needles though for a Sock KAL I signed up for starting in June. I have 2 more skeins of J Knits slated for it and one skein Paigewood Farm. I need to shop for the rest since I plan on making at least a dozen pairs. YIKES!

But this is what I have spent my weekends & evenings doing........ trying to launch a boat! Well DH and I and we had some help from #1 son.










We purchased the 22 footer for a song last fall and it sat for the Winter. We pulled it out three weeks ago, stripped it down, replaced some things (the pretty blue carpeting and some of the seating), then put it back together, then added some more stuff.



Absolutely worth the time & effort!
We turned off the cell phones and towed it up to camp this weekend.I already picked a spot for my Summer knitting!

16 Hours of Knitting

I can’t wait; I just booked my annual seminar at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. Two days of LIHTC Compliance, Sec 42 of the tax code, fair housing & state monitoring rules & regulations. Sounds like HELL huh?


Oh no, no, no, no, no!



I look forward to this each year! This is my fifth year so I have tested out, like many of the attendees. All we need to do is sign in and be in the room and for me - knit. Its two days of knitting (interrupted every 45+/- mins for a coffee/stretch break or lunch). The breaks are routinely spent trying to convince the newbie’s they will recover from the overload. OMG I remember my first year. But for us veterans of the program, it’s two evenings at the bar networking and socializing - not preparing for the test. Another bonus is that’s this is all just a few blocks away from a couple of LYS I’ve never been too.

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/WickedPyssa/celtic-triskele-charts

Last year I made this project/sock bag.

I need to start hunting for a simple two color stranded pattern for socks or should I do another project bag?

949 Items - 21.7 Days

I love listening to podcasts while I knit, drive, or even while I’m at work. I’ve also found an inner child in me that enjoys being read to sleep. My favorites are PodCastle http://podcastle.org/ and EscapePod http://escapepod.org/ both short Sci-Fi stories written and narrated by various undiscovered authors. I usually fall asleep in the middle of the story but obsolutely HAVE to re listen to the podcast in the morning.

At work it’s usually a radio show out of NY in my ears. I get it on iTunes to avoid all the commercials http://drjoy.com/. Open minded relationship advice without judgment. Sometimes I find it hard not to judge when a caller wants to know if she should stay with her significant other between beatings because he loves her, or they have kids, or they have history or whatever together. If you know me at all, you know my immediate thought /answer is turn around and run not walk out that door NOW and don’t look back! She advises them how to leave safely, that’s why she has a radio show and I don’t.

Im on the road alot becasue of work so when driving around I listen to – which I found completely by accident - Stuff You Should Know http://www.howstuffworks.com/. This podcast is actually one of the top podcasts for 2008. Did you know that former president Bill Clinton published 26,000 pages of legislative acts in the “midnight” phase of his term? The Big W is doing the same to sabotage Obama. Another scary fact is that there are 90 handguns for every 100 people in the US. Yikes! Did you know that you can generate enough power from a dead body to produce enough energy to illuminate their headstone (or other odd things) for quite some time long after their buried? Ok so some facts are just plain useless and stupid, but I’m thrilled at how the podcast discusses factoids in plain English making it much more interesting. While on the road I also like listening to another newly found podcast recommended by a friend called The Moth http://www.themoth.org/ Short unedited true stories.

Because the first kind of podcast I found was about knitting I have quite a few on my iPod. I have probably heard at least one episode of each show and either kept updating it or deleted it depending on my level of interest. They were never exclusively saved for when I’m knitting so I’ve tried a lot of them out; my favorite podcast is Knitters Uncensored http://knittersuncensored.blogspot.com/search/label/MP3%20link. But they haven’t recorded a new show in months. Cast On is another one http://www.cast-on.com/ and Stash & Burn http://www.stashandburn.com/.

Any recommendations out there? Knitting or otherwise.

Feeling very lucky...

DH and I had planned on going north this weekend but with the ice storm and other events those plans were squashed. Most of my town has power restored and things are getting back to normal for us. Yesterday was filled with podcasts and knitting under the one lamp powered by a borrowed generator. Zachs xmas hat is done, toms socks and hat started all thanks to the bad weather and my fully charged iPod.

On the flip side life is not so good for more than ½ of the tenants at properties I manage. Last count was 53/34. Fifty three units without heat - 34 with. In addition to the no heat units, one downed tree at a two family (just on the porch, no personal damage or major roof collapse) and one building of 10 units has no hot water and another unit in a separate building has a faulty heater valve thingy making the furnace leak. He’s got a bucket collecting the water for now, but will need a sump pump soon. Most are in NH but they are in multiple buildings in two different counties. I’d hate to be a maintenance person this weekend!

Enforcer ~ or ~ Chicken Shit

Actually the better term is collector. Part of my job is to collect rent. People bring money to me and I take it - period. I don’t run around breaking arms and doing shake downs enforcing anything. Its legitimate money owed for housing that people bring to me ….usually.

This week I had two writs of possession executed. The sheriff came with the writs, maintenance changed the locks and we all walked away. This obviously takes time, papers are filed with the court, deadlines are given, court dates set, and tenants are given ample time and opportunity to work something out and/or pay before being locked out. But if you ignore the situation, it doesn’t simply just go away.

What usually happens after is the tenant gets home from work and is in shock. Their door is wallpapered with a huge brightly colored notice DO NOT ENTER per order of fill in a county Sheriff’s Department you will be Arrested for Trespassing and/or fined $1,000.00. OMG! It’s at that moment that they realize that they can actually be locked out of their own home!! It’s a horrible feeling and if I were you I would avoid it at all costs.

After the initial shock wears off, I get called, let me in, I need clothes, medications, diapers etc. I have opened many doors at odd hours for necessities and then again when they arrange a truck to get their furniture, but no one called in a panic this time. Both were locked out at 1:30 on a Friday afternoon so I assumed the calls would begin around 5:30. I last checked messages @10:45 pm. then again this morning @ 7:30 am still nothing.

Hmmmmmmmm very unusual, maybe they broke in, but both households? I’m obligated to check this out, so I make the 30 min trek to the buildings and do a ride by. The 1st unit still had clothes drying on the line on the front porch...…no movement, all looks good. The second unit had a window open. The “chicken shit” drove to the police station and had a real “enforcer” do what they do best.

Jesus Christ sent me a check today

OK not the real one, IF there is such a thing. I almost threw away the envelope thinking it was a "come pray with me" marketing ploy. Curiosity got the best of me - Hallelujah it was a check! If I start believing will god pay my rent/mortgage too?