gonzomama knits

I am having no luck knitting lately. boo hoo. I've been trying to knit Calorimetry, but cannot get this thing cast on. I have attempted about 5 times now. It is not necessarily the patterns fault. I originally cast on 120 stitches as the pattern says, but then decided against that seeing as how most people on Ravelry that have knit this cast on somewhere around 100. So, I frogged. Then I cast on 100 stitches. Then I messed up somewhere. Frogged again. And so it went. Ugh. On my last (failed) attempt, I cast on the 100 stitches and as I was finishing my first row I had either an extra stitch or had screwed up the rib pattern. I am putting this one aside for now. I think I will cast on some socks tonight. I have been wanting to knit socks for months now. I bought some awesome sock yarn back in October and still have not cast on. Also for Christmas, Matt gave me two skeins of gorgeous Koigu that I want to cast on. Decisions, decisions. I'll keep you posted (maybe even with some yarn photos). In the meantime, I have been wanting to share----

     This:

     Prompted this:

I really have a hard time just driving around here. It gives me a heavy heart. Who are these people that want to buy houses with no trees (or at least established ones or ones that don't reach above the first floor)? I have been actively working on Matt, trying to convince him it is time to move. We have our tiny plot of land (really it is tiny, but we like it), but when you turn from our street this is what we see. The area where we live was not this developed two years ago. Now every quarter to half mile or so looks just like those pictures. (okay, I may be exaggerating a little-but just a little).  What really saddens me about this is that I know this is happening all over the country. What the deuce, people?