A Doorknob!!!

I have a doorknob! There was much rejoicing. Now the project is entirely complete, except for painting the door frame and the door to match the exterior, but that's being done separately as part of an overall painting project in the whole complex. I was starting to worry when I hadn't heard anything after around 7:30, but then he called to ask if it was too late to come out. He was out of here by around 9. He put in the doorknob and strike plate, caulked the door frame, replaced the intake/output pipes on the water heater and re-did the electrical connection to make sure it was good and sealed. It felt so good this morning to sleep in and then eat breakfast in my pajamas without worrying about being ready in case workers might come by at any moment. Although I've been at home alone all this time, I finally really feel like I'm home alone.

It's even raining now, so this may turn into a good writing day. I've done nothing all week. I got other stuff done, but I need to get back to the book in a serious way.

In other news, I found a book on Victorian lace knitting (Victorian Lace Today) at the library, and I'm giving one of the patterns a shot. So far, I've had to transcribe the lace chart because the charts in the book are microscopic, and I find them problematic if there are more than about 7 stitches in a row that are the same because then I have to stop to count. I also sometimes get confused with the fact that the same symbol means different things, depending on which side you're on. The author had suggested using non-slippery needles for lace, so since I needed a new size of needle, I got bamboo. And I hate it because each stitch is a struggle. I guess I'd hate it as much if the stitches were sliding off the needles, so maybe I just need to get used to it. But it is a challenge and I will not back down! I like the outcome of the patterns (well, the pictures of them. I don't know about my efforts yet) enough that I may want to get a keeper copy of the book. Then I could mark my notes in it. I could try scanning and enlarging the charts, but they're placed in a way that it would be very difficult to get a good scan without taking the book apart. While the book is obviously written by a knitter, I suspect the designer who did the page layout is not a knitter.

All the news for the fall TV season is trickling out after ComicCon, which means it's time for the annual round of "Oh no, this season is going to suck, I hate what they're doing to my show and I'm not going to watch this season (but I'll stay here to bitch about it)" on all the message boards, based on the spoiler hints from panels or the trailers shown at the convention. Which means I go into "someone is wrong on the Internet!" mode and point out that this happens every year, and the ComicCon trailers are specifically designed to create those moments that will make everyone in the hall gasp audibly and to generate news and buzz. Announcing that the same characters you love will be going about business as usual doesn't spark any news. Announcing shocking new developments does, and those shocking new developments tend to be over by the end of the season premiere. Sometimes it seems like most of these people have never watched TV before. I'd love to find a good place to discuss TV with other people who remember that they've watched TV before and who can discuss things other than squealing or groaning about romantic relationships. It's a bonus if they aren't so enamored with bad boys that they get excused and get a pass on everything while the good boys can't win because they're either boring or dared do one thing wrong, which makes them terrible people who are hypocrites. ARRGGGHH. Maybe someone should start a discussion board that requires an essay test to join. If the essay sounds like something a teenage girl would have written (regardless of whether or not you are one), then you don't get in.

I'm barely hanging on with Under the Dome, mostly hate watching at this point. You'd think that a show about people trapped under a giant dome would have a lot of potential, but for the most part, they keep forgetting about the dome. It's just a small-town soap opera. Nobody in the dome is acting like someone trapped in a giant dome. They don't seem to be making any preparations, conserving resources, developing a communication system (phones and Internet aren't working), doing any kind of census to find out who's in the dome, etc. When the military tried to blow up the dome last week, in spite of the fact that it could kill everyone inside, I was cheering for the bomb.

I tried to watch Breaking Pointe, a reality show about a ballet company, because, silly me, I thought there would be dancing in it. One of the characters in the current book is a dancer, so I wanted to watch what a professional company's daily class looks like. Unfortunately, there was maybe about five minutes of dance and the rest of the show was about their relationships, the company having a party, the various hook-ups and break-ups at the party, and so forth. Maybe I'll record it to fast-forward to the actual dance parts.