more Books on CD

I'm listening to the unabridged Wuthering Heights now. I read it about 20 years ago and I remember thinking that Catherine-dear-sweet-Catherine was a wench and that Heathcliff was done wrong by her. Now, I'm on the 4th CD of 10 and, while I still have little sympathy for Catherine even though she correctly states that were she to marry Heathcliff they would both live in poverty and degradation, I don't see why I had any sympathy for Heathcliff. He is a bit of a jerkface, aiding Hindley in his downward spiral of excess and marrying Isabella to spite Catherine and Edgar Linton. I can't remember how or whether he redeems himself. Has this book changed for me completely in 20 years?

It's like The Cather in the Rye -- when I read it as a teen, I thought of Holden Caufield as a tragic hero, seeing through all the phonies and whatnot. Now, I think he a dope -- get over yourself, Holden. Get a job, pay some taxes and then tell me how terribly the world wronged you.

Boneheadedness

Why do I insist upon listening to books on CD in the car that cause me to yell at the CD? Ah, I remember. Because the CD selection at the library is far more limited than the tape collection and my car doesn't have a tape deck.

I stopped borrowing Patricia Cornwell books because her self-absorbed writing style bugs the crap out of me. (Kay Scarpetta doesn't just cook up steaks on the grill, she takes a slow draught from her glass of chianti, waiting for her stainless steel Weber Grill to reach broiling temperature. Then, she removes the butcher's paper from the filets she purchased from Luigi's Butcher Shop on Main Street, on the way home. While rubbing the meat hunks with Dead Sea Salt and elephant garlic, she realizes that the last time she drank chianti and waiting for the grill to heat up while preparing steaks she purchased from Luigi's, she was pining over Benton. But Benton is gone now. . .) By the middle of the last book, my kids were yelling at the CD.

Last week, I listened to John Grisham's The Brethren last week and it was reasonably entertaining, so I borrowed The Street Lawyer this week. I found myself rolling my eyes and yelling today. Until the arrest warrant showed up, it never even occurred to The Street Lawyer that stealing a file from his former firm might be illegal. And it certainly didn't occur to him that he might lose his law license over it. (Oh, but he went to Yale Law School. That probably explains everything. They're so busy contemplating the nature of laws at a metaphysical level, that the practical aspects of the law are lost.)

Little Girl Socks

Voila! I used the Yankee Knitter family-o-sock-patterns pamphlet and some sock yarn I had lying around since 2004(my last foray into sock knitting).


Thing 3's lovely little piggies!

Actual knitting content

It's been a while since I've posted FOs and there have been many. After spending late October to mid December knitting a Dale of Norway Christmas jumper (American jumper, not a sweater) for Thing 3 (384 stitches around the skirt on size 2 needles!), I decided to spend the early months of the new year swatching, socking and working through the stash. Here are some FOs, old and new, for your viewing pleasure.




Thing 3's Dale of Norway Christmas Jumper.







Thing 1's socks, made out of KnitPicks something-or-other sock yarn, in Grumperina's Jaywalker pattern.

A coupla Calorimetrae for the cold, cold winter that finally showed up. (The second one is under the Jaywalkin' piggy, above)



Malabrigo Yarn hand-dyed merino, which is toasty warm and soft and matches my berry-colored gloves.

Thing 2's Socks of Doom socks, knit in Blue Sky Alpaca. She totally coveted the socks I "won" in my dismal Sock Wars performance, so I knit her a pair. I'm not loving the Blue Sky Alpaca for socks, though, so I won't use it again. The foot of the socks felted just from the agitation associated with walking.
Finally, I knit socks for Thing 3, which I'll post once I dig them out of the laundry and I'm nearly done with my own socks.

The Storm Broke, The Stash Stays

At least most of it.

I finished my stash inventory and was all set to upload a few selections to ebay. (Un)fortunately, I couldn't find the digital camera, so I was forced to wait. During my wait, I had a glass of wine and calmed down -- Stress and dismay over stash washed away.

Happy, blissful stash. Oh how I adore thee. Notwithstanding, I am dropping off a huge box of yarn at the Senior Center today. But the Mission Falls mitten yarn stays. . .

How's the housecleaning coming, you ask? Well, about as well as it can with all three girls at home. What was I thinking, taking vacation when the kids are around? (Thing 1 is looking over my shoulder and just exclaimed, "I can read, ya know!")

The First Step is Admitting You Have a Problem

My Name is Fran and I have a problem. I own far more yarn than I can ever knit in my lifetime. I used to be proud of my STABLE status (STash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy), but now it causes me distress.

By Way of Background
I'm taking a week's vacation because, well, if I'm in a use-it-or-lose-it situation by month's end and it's not like it matters if I bill my goal this year. And my house is a stinking mess, with more crap stored in every corner. . .

I NEED at least two weeks to get the job done, so I'm taking a week now and I'll take a week before I start my next job. This week's agenda -- clean and organize basement, office, stash, kids rooms, closets. I probably won't get the basement done. Next week's agenda -- finish basement, finish the painting projects I started last January, and assorted small decorating projects.

The Stash that Ate My House
Today's plan is to catalogue and organize craft stash and notions. I'm about halfway through taking notes on my yarn stash and I am embarrassed. When the stash is tucked into different corners of the house, it doesn't look that big. But when you're finishing your third legal pad page of entries and you've still got the BIG STASH in the basement to go through, you realize that maybe you've got too much yarn.

I read Kate Antonova's lovely explanation of why stash is good and healthy and normal, but I am scared of what I got lying around my house. I look at all of the beautiful yarn that once brought me a warm and fuzzy feeling, and I feel empty. Like an alcoholic being forced to look at all of the empties she's hidden around the house. This is not good.

The Second Step is De-Stashing
I'm going to force myself to face this problem and complete my inventory. Then, I'm going to take a hard look at the stash and admit to myself that I don't need or want to have all of this clutter. I don't have a specific reduction in mind, but I will make a serious dent in the stash.

The Third Step is Making Amends
Or maybe just a little cash. I'm ebaying a lot of this stuff. I came across skeins of Mission Falls 1824 wool and a pattern book -- I'm never going to make those mittens, I don't care how cute they are. WTF. I'm selling them. $.20 on the dollar is still more than $taking-up-space-in-my-closet. And maybe I'll make a few bucks from my sales to buy some of that nice alpaca I had my eyes on . . .

Or maybe a nice tax deduction. I've had a garbage bag full of acrylics and other stuff sitting in my basement for YEARS now, just waiting for me to bring it down to the Senior Center. Well it's going. Friday is the day.

Or maybe some karma. Like last year, I am going to devote Lent to charity knitting this year. I can burn through excess stash, do good works, and win points with The Big Guy. Not too shabby.

The Fourth Step is Guilt-Free Knitting and a Cleaner House
Oh yeah! I'm liking that. Less complaining from The Hubbins too.

13 Things I Love About my (Nuclear) Family Members

Today is my 13th wedding anniversary and in honor of this occasion, I present 13 things I love about my Nuclear Family Members. Without being overly gushy, and in no particular order, here they are:

1. Despite what The Hubbins says, none of my siblings paid him anything to marry me and get me out of the house. I'm fairly certain about this because my sibs tend to be rational actors in the market and none of them lived at home when I got married. Why would they pay? That's probably all I'm going to write about The Hubbins because the rest is just TMI...

2. Thing 1 is 11 years old and likes being 11 years old and doesn't seem to have any interest in being anything other than 11 years old. By which I mean that she acts like an 11 year old girl in middle school. Not a high school student or (dear me) a girl gone wild in any setting. You may scoff, but I've seen how some of her classmates dress and act.

3. Thing 2 figured out for herself that if you dig a hole straight through the center of the earth from the United States, you don't end up in China. She figured that from Connecticut, you'd end up in Australia. She was awful darn close. . . about 1000 mi off the coast of Australia. (Don't believe me? Check this out.)

4. Thing 3 will be the jock of the family. And maybe a nuclear physicist. I'm cool with latter -- I accepted long ago that I'd be dwarfed intellectually by kids -- but I'm not so cool with the former. With the exception of the last few years of sitting on my ass, I'd always been physically coordinated and strong. But Thing 3's got me beat.

5. Thing 1 has really blossomed in her school work this year. Her report cards were never bad, actually quite good, but the brain thing has all come together this year. I'm pleased that our evil plan of not making our kids freak out about academics in elementary school has worked.

6. Thing 2 asked to play Jesus in the Living Stations of the Cross that the 4th grade religion class does each year. She felt that since the role had always gone to a boy, the time was ripe for a female Jesus. She also suspected that no other girl had asked to play Jesus. She got the part.

7. Thing 3 loves her sisters and she's just about big enough now to give as good as she gets. I frequently find her wrestling with "her" girls. She isn't at all shy about diving into the scrum.

8. Thing 1 will jump up and down all day in her Moon Boots if I let her.

9. When not jumping up and down in Moon Boots, Thing 1 is reading.

10. Thing 2 hassles her religion teachers with questions about how dinosaurs fit into the Book of Genesis and whether communion = cannibalism.

11. Thing 3 won't sit still for meals, or for anything really, and I just don't care. She's got a rhythm in her brain and she's dancing to it. Someday we will harness her power for good. And she uses the word "fricken", as in, "Mommy, open the fricken door." Okay, so the last part isn't charming and we need to get her to stop, but it is awfully funny.

12. Thing 3 loves -- LOVES -- superheroes. Especially Superman. I was watching a DVD the other day that was produced by the same company as Superman Returns. Thing 3 heard the opening flourish from upstairs and starting clamouring to get to the TV because "her" Superman was on.

13. When they don't know anyone is looking, my daughters are caring and very considerate of each other.