KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

I have seen this on several blogs now and I was wondering what my name would mean.

What Claudia Means

You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way. And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life. You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it. You are balanced, orderly, and organized. You like your ducks in a row. You are powerful and competent, especially in the workplace. People can see you as stubborn and headstrong. You definitely have a dominant personality. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

It is really interesting how a lot of this is true. Even the part with "a very lucky person". After Irwin passed away, I was immediately surrounded by so many wonderful helpful people. I still can't believe that he is gone. Yesterday, while out shopping, I say a guy who looked just like him from behind. Red curly long hair in a pony-tail and grey polo shirt. And when the guy turned around, he even had wire-rimmed glasses. My heart just stopped beating for a moment.

I have these moments when I think that he’ll come back and all this is just a freaky nightmare and eventually I’ll wake up and life is back to normal. But that “normal” will never come back, I know.

Jen and Melissa took me to IKEA yesterday. It was so nice to get out and go shopping. I need a new sofa and a new bed. There is no hurry for that but I wanted to look and get ideas. And I bought a bunch of stuff that’ll make the house look and feel a little different. Since I only brought 8 moving boxes and 5 suitcases to the US in 2000, not a lot of things in the house say “Claudia”. Irwin had a complete household with (for a guy) very nice china and glasses, great furniture and electronics etc. And his standards were always very high, so he didn’t buy just some cheap crap. Which also means, that I have a bed that is over 20 years old and a TV that old. So, I am surrounded mostly by his things which is nice because they remind me of him and at the same time so sad because they remind me that he is gone forever.

So, when we were at IKEA, I found a section sofa that I really liked. It had a chaise and a two-seater sofa attached to it. The chaise would be perfect for knitting, we all thought. But of course, you know how it is – what I wanted was nowhere to be found at the store. And so I went home without any new furniture but two blue IKEA bags full of new linens, towels, rugs and little things like napkins etc.

After IKEA I was actually feeling hungry and we went to dinner at Copeland Cheesecake Bistro at Atlantic Station. Here is a picture of the girls which I snapped on the way to the restaurant.

The food was yummy. I took half of my salad home and ordered garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli with parmesan cheese to go. So, I was a good girl and thinking about food for home. I know you all have been worried about me not eating, but most of the time I just can’t. Somehow the body fuels itself somehow. And it’s not that I don’t have a few pounds to spare.

And I had dessert – here is proof:

I love key lime pie – the girls had cheesecake, of course. ;-)

AAAAAAAAANNNNNDDDDDDDDDD… I got beautiful handspun from Melissa and a cow that moos. :-)

Isn’t it wonderful? And it is Navajo plied. One could just hate her for being such a talented spinner… I am kidding, of course!!!

I was pretty exhausted when I finally got home and I the only thing I could manage was to unpack the IKEA bags, feed the pooches and talk to my SIL who is this weekend in Michigan with her dad. I am glad that she is there because she and my father-in-law have to sign some stupid legal document that states that I am going to be Irwin’s estate executor and that they are OK with it. It’s like there is not already enough heartache over this…

The doggies didn’t get a walk last night and I am feeling guilty about it but all I could do was crash on the sofa with “Six Feet Under” and I must have fallen asleep instantly. But I woke up really early this morning and I was thinking about the sofa and the bed I saw yesterday at IKEA. And I thought, let’s go online and see what they have on their webpage. And bingo – they were willing to sell me what I wanted online. And I don’t have to schlep it home – it’s being delivered and the shipping charges were OK, too.

Meet the Karlstads – the chaise (for knitting) and the love seat. If I can’t connect them (the webpage wasn’t 100% clear about that), I am also happy to set them up separately. That way I will probably have more room to maneuver.

And I ordered Lillesand.

Delivery should be sometime within the next couple of weeks. YAY!

It’s getting light out and I think I am going to walk my furry rugs now.