Update-y Type Things

It's been a bit since I've posted, so I thought I'd do a nice update catch-all post.

First off, the reason I've been sorta MIA is that we've had internetular issues lately. The provider replaced some equipment and it took them a while to get things straight but even now we have short outages and massive slowdowns. It's super annoying and, during the worst of it, I was avoiding my computer because of the frustration it would induce. For the most part we are okay-ish now, but there is still room for improvement.

In other news, ONK (outdoor neighbor kitty) is still outdoors and still belongs to our neighbors. She really wants to live with us, though, given by the number of times she tries to sneak in an open door.

After accidentally trapping her in our garage three times (she's a sneaky thing), we've taken to leaving our garage door cracked so she can come and go at will. I had an old cat bed out there while I tried to figure out the best way to wash it and ONK has claimed it as her own. A couple of weeks ago when it got so cold, we ended up putting her claimed bed in a box and putting a windbreak around it and, later, we ended up putting our old electric blanket in it. So yeah, she's got a sweet set up in our garage. Now that our other neighbors have moved (they also had a bed for her in their garage) ONK seems to spend every night with us. And most days she's camped out on our porch. She also typically follows me to the mailbox and back. So yeah, she wants to be ours. But we've been good and haven't stolen her. Yet.

Of course, with a kitty in the garage, you can bet my car looks stellar. She likes to walk on it and it rained a bit ago, so yeah, muddy paw prints all over. Fun, yes? No. Not at all.

But less fun is this:

That's my windshield. Or it used to be. I was on the way to the chiropractor when this ping-pong-sized rock flew across the road and smashed into the middle of my windshield. The divot it made was practically quarter-sized. So now I have a new windshield. Yay! (I still have muddy paw prints, though. I need to fix that.)

In hobby news, I've hit a bit of a delay (again) with my sweater. It seems that I cannot simultaneously knit and plan what I am going to do with it. The minute my mind begins questioning, "What's the best way to do this part of it?" I find myself incapable of actually knitting until I figure out an answer. My current question is "what's the best way to finish off the arms?" I've still got an inch or two to knit before I have to do whatever it is I'm going to do (I'm thinking a half inch of 1/1 ribbing with a tubular bind off, but I'm not sold on the idea yet), but still, I've stalled with the actual knitting because I don't have a definite answer. Though before my brain popped up with this question I did manage to get most of the sleeves knit, so that's good. Which means I just have to knit a couple of inches, finish off the sleeves (tubular bind-off, hem, rolled edge, seed stitch?), block and then sew up the bottom hem and fold over a bit for a hem on the collar band (to give a cleaner finish and stop any rolling). Which sounds like a lot, but honestly, I'm so close to a wearable sweater that I can taste it! If I could just get back to knitting it! (Any thoughts from anyone as to either a 1/1 ribbing or a folded hem (the two I seem to be debating) would be more than welcome to help me end my mental stalemate.)

Dan's hobby seems to be going better than mine right now. Not his beer, one, his sound-related one. He used to be big into speakers and sound system stuff when he was younger but has sort of migrated out of it (the speakers in his car are even stock!) but he still has a love of those expensive electronics. So when our receiver started going out, Dan got the chance to express that love by buying a new one.

It's kind of insane - not only does it have awesome sound but you can even control it through a computer or phone app. No joke, this is fancy. I don't even want to think about the cost, but he got a good deal on it and it has good sound, so if I start thinking, "OMG, how much did we just spend?", I can just turn up the music and let it drown out my thoughts.

In Gidget news, we had a dental check up for her and she was given a tentative all clear. She is doing great (no pawing or air chewing) but the tentative part comes in simply because of how fast her other teeth went bad, one after the other, and the dentist is concerned that her three remaining canines will be next. So she wants a recheck in six months and, if things are good still, Gidget will be given the full okay. My fingers are crossed that Gidget gets to keep her remaining teeth, if only because having to lose them would mean she went through more pain and that's not cool. Interestingly enough, Gidget's case was so special because of how fast her healthy teeth went bad that she's been presented to dental and veterinary panels. Such a special girl.

And I think that is about it! I'm sure there have been other little things, but nothing huge (or picture-worthy) so they can be skipped. Assuming our internet cooperates, I'll try to be better about posting. Hopefully I'll have a completed sweater post to share soon!