If You Fail There Will Be No Excuses; I Will Find Another Giant

Title courtesy of idea from Knitting Sister Taken from The Princess Bride.

What a weekend. Wow. Here's the recap:

Friday:
8:45am: I was at the WTCC setting up my company booth for at the Health and Sport Expo for the Blue Nose Marathon (the motto of which is, in true Canadian style, "Just Give 'er").

11:30am: Andrew and I were at home waiting for the construction crew to arrive.

1:00pm: The Extreme Garden Shed Construction Crew arrived and unloaded their gear and put the foundation blocks in place.

4:30pm: Andrew went back to work

4:45pm: The ladies and I hit the yarn sale at Tangled Skeins

9:00pm: Construction crew called it quits for the night. Shed has a floor and four walls.
Read that last sentence again: the shed has a floor and four walls!!!!!

1:30am: I went to bed after prepping tomorrow's breakfast and making birthday cake.



Saturday:
Weather - cold, cold, and more cold.
8:30am: Breakfast with the crew. The Birthday Boy slept in.

9:30am: Ran out to home building centres for supplies with my Dad and CH. To my utter horror, I realized, while standing in line at Kent and chatting with one of my "bosses" whom we ran into, that I had not washed my face or applied makeup before leaving the house. And my hair was definitely in a questionable state. Nice. Very nice.

10:30am: The Birthday Boy got up. The ladies left to go shopping with my step-mother's sister. The men went outside. I made lasagna and put the b-day cake together.

11:00am: Snack break for crew.

2:00pm: I made lunch for the crew, then I joined them outside.

4:00pm: I was using an air-nailer to nail boards to the walls of the shed. My dad is laughing at how excited I am about this toy. I was the Nailinator, people. That thing is deadly. In the meantime, Andrew and CH were ON THE ROOF PUTTING SHINGLES ON!!! (yes, you read that correctly, shingles).

8:00pm: Construction crew (including myself) start to tear down for the day. It was absolutely freezing outside. I could SEE MY BREATH. I am seriously worried about the onset of another ice age.

9:00pm: We sat down to eat lasagna and salad and finally birthday cake. Andrew's parents came by for cake. 36 years ago my hubby was born in Calgary. What a great way for him to spend his birthday: Building a shed with my father and his friend!!!


Sunday:
Weather: Rain, cold rain, moments of just cold and then more rain.
Ok, no more times, I can't do the times. Andrew, Dad, CH and I went to Cora's for breakfast. My Step-mom and EH went to church. We took the men to see the studio. I think they liked it.

We all prayed the rain would stop. It didn't. The men donned rain suits and worked for about 5 more hours on the shed. It rained off and on the entire time. I have no rain gear and my bad knee was acting up, so I stayed inside with the ladies and watched a movie. I did go out and help here and there once the ibuprofen kicked in (You know all those bicycle accidents you have when you're a kid? Yeah, they catch up to you eventually.).

They gang packed up all their gear and left around 6:30pm.

Here's what I was left with:

Say it with me: Holy crap. Can you believe they built this in 2 days? Mind you, all the lumber for the walls was pre-cut, and they built a play house for my nieces last summer, so they knew what they were doing. But really, 2 days. That's nuts. Ok, the window on the side looks crooked for some reason, but who cares? The windows in the shed are nicer than the ones in my house! And that is CONCRETE siding!!!!

My step-mom put it best when she said, "Stephanie, if you ever have any doubts that you are loved, all you'll have to do is look out the back door at that shed and you'll know."

When I looked out yesterday and saw my dad out there in the rain, all wet and cold, my heart broke a little bit. It made me wish he lived closer. I may have to put wheels on my shed and move home to NB.

My dad is the best!!! So is his amazing friend CH!!!!!!! Yay! Go team! They are Giants! Who needs another one when I have them???


Alright, I promised more photos. Here is the branch they had to cut off the little cherry tree (not edible cherries, don't get excited).

Yes, it's in my house. The tree hasn't bloomed outside, so I brought it inside and voila:

Pretty, n'est-ce pas?

Moving on. I brought a new "House" home for my yarn.

Isn't it cute? This desk sat in the upstairs hall of my parents house for many, many years. My mom did the "antique" paint job on it in the 70s. It needs a refresher, but right now it matches our house quite well.

Another day, I'll take photos of what is inside that little desk. If you look closely at the objects on the top of the stand, you'll see the black cannister that holds my mom's knitting needles. My dad found them and sent them home with me last weekend. Does anyone recognize the black cannister? Anyone? Alright, you in the back, waving your drink around, what's that? Yes, yes indeed, it the cannister that Black Velvet Canadian Whiskey came in. Now put your drink down, you're spilling on the others. My mom knew a good knitting needle case when she saw it. (I'll take a photo of the contents later. Norma will be interested in the number of Aero needles and trinkets inside.)

Here's what I bought over the course of last week at the yarn sale at Tangled Skeins (for those of you who missed it - nyah, nyah):

Starting from the left:
Rowan Kidsilk Haze, on the needles for the Airy Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I love the yarn, but I'm not happy with the needles I chose. 6mm wooden Clovers - they don't have enough of a point for the K2Tog. I've been considering using a pencil sharpener on them (not really, but kinda). Green is the new pink!!!

Here's a better shot of the scarf in progress:

On the top: Debbie Bliss Merino Aran in two different shades of blue to make the little Bolero jacket "Molly" from Junior Knits for my little nieces. My step-mom bought it and I'm knitting it. The sweaters will be from both of us. I think they will be adorable.

Lounging on the right: One skein Cascade 220 in a nice pinky colour for a Sophie bag for the slapstick hairstylist (Alright already, she fell flat on her face in the shop. It was like watching a an accident in slow motion. I couldn't believe it was really happening. She caught her foot on something by the sink and fell, almost slithered, really, right to the ground. When she looked up, I, her concerned friend, was laughing in horror. Of course I leapt from the chair and rushed to her side, but my initial reaction was to the laugh. I'm such a great friend. She was laughing too and proceeded to tell everyone who wandered into the shop about her fall and how I laughed, which only made it funnier.).

Supporting the entire cast: A poop-load of Briggs and Little - at $2.00/skein, this is $25.30 worth of yarn. Yes, it's enough to make a sweater for me and perhaps a sweater for a kid.

It deserves another looksee. Here you go.

Down in front? Oh that? er....

The Bamboo on the left was purchased by my step-mom. I'll be making her a shawl. The stuff on the right was purchased by me. For the same pattern. It's just something really simple, yet elegant, that Sheryl cooked up. I don't really know how it managed to get in my house. Bad Bamboo, bad. Heh Heh.

Oh, here's a photo of my tulips, in full bloom, fighting against the wind.

Yeah, yeah, that branch is another one from the cherry tree. I'm trying not to cry.

Ok, I've got a lot of yarn to knit, some movies to watch, piles of laundry to do and some serious quiet time to enjoy. Having 4 extra people in your house on the weekend really makes you a little nuts. Well, it makes me nuts. Maybe not you.

I can't believe I have a new shed. yay!