Knitless Catch Up

Long time, no post.  I don't have any pictures of knitting to show.  I did finally finish Heddy's little guy's gift, I guess now it can be a combination shower/birthday gift since he recently turned two.  I can't show it yet, he won't officially have it til next week.  Right now it's still blocking.  The only other thing I've been kind of working on are ankle socks.  This will be the last pair for my friend for a bit, at least until I build up the sock yarn leftover stash again.

So for Mother's Day I got a new hanging basket for the hook by the front door (hook courtesy of last year's MD).  I also got a nifty paper mache pink pig from the Littlest One (made it in school), and the Oldest One's class made tissue paper flowers.  I also finally got a rhododendron.  I wanted pink or purple, but they were much larger and cost a whole lot more, and I'm cheap, so I picked out a red one that was like $23 cheaper!

Other goings on include rec room renovations now that the water leaking every time it rains hard has stopped.  (Thanks to new gutters and a repaired weeping pipe!)  This is the before corner, this spot is directly under the bathroom.

And this is how it looks right now.  New half bath awaiting walls and a door, lol.  It's a little bit.... public.... right now.  We noticed today, however, that there is water around the base of the toilet and floor, so I have to call the plumber on Monday.  (It's a holiday here, but the guy said on Friday that they don't get it off as it isn't a statutory holiday.  I lucked out, I get the day off with pay, yay!)

And in other news, the Oldest One got his cast off yesterday.  Now he's got to go to physio and work with a stress ball to help get his arm and wrist back into shape.  He goes back in a month for a check up, and until then he still has to take it easy.  But he can go back to band now, the doctor thought that playing the trumpet would be good exercise for his wrist.

And a bit of a downer, a week ago Friday our next door neighbor passed away.  He was 85, he was in rough shape when we moved in almost 11 years ago, then he'd bounce back.  Then something else would happen, and he'd bounce back.  He fell a few years ago and broke his ankle, hit his head, they said he'd have to go to a home.  No sir, he wasn't going to any home but his own, back he came.  They set up a wheelchair ramp for him, but I don't think he was in the chair for long.  Last summer he had pneumonia.  When I came home from work on the 11th one of his daughters saw me and informed me that he had passed away.  He had pneumonia again, and this time he couldn't fight it.  They had taken him to the hospital the night before.  One of his other daughters told me that he had a heart attack and had internal bleeding they couldn't stop, all brought on my the pneumonia.  I'll miss seeing him sitting on his front deck this summer. 

Happy knitting!