Post Turkey Day Deconstruction

These are just a combination of partial realizations and happenings of the last 4.5 days...

• You know you have a problem when you are lying to your husband about leaving work early and buying your son an undeserved comic book to justify going to the yarnstore.
• Feel better about self, seeing friend from work sneaking out with her own bag of loot.
• Feel bad because even though LYS is having an excellent sale you are unable to find the yarn you want for your project and you buy extra recreational yarn that is not on sale.
• Avoid making eye contact with anyone at Safeway the night before Thanksgiving. Come out alive and sane and with Cranberry Jelly. Gross to some, beloved by all in my family, except for baby big head nephew.
• Convince yourself that you don't need to bake pies that evening because the day has you spent. Bake pies the next morning along with all other food prep with husband's help on schedule. Commence the happy.
• Day After Turkey: Decide children get ill to give me high blood pressure and there is not enough tissue in the world for my son's nose. But this is after a playdate with Mr. Sweetheart. The entire house exploded with toys, costumes and goldfish crumbs, later snot rags.
• Saturday: The Kid wakes me up to tell me he feels much better and he's sure he'll be fine to have his other Bud over to play. I say, let's watch you. Small cough, but nothing frightful, just working it out every now and again. I make him pick up his own snot rags and it is apparent if the child doesn't have some sort of energy outlet my world will explode. So I walk him in the rain to Walgreens (more tissue) and another playdate ensues. This time, it is a much controlled War arrangement with Hot Wheels and specifically built Lego Minifigures. Things go well until it's time to take The Bud home. I let them watch soul sucking t.v. and peeling them away brought out the wrath.
• At his friend's house we have a nice dinner party with parents of The Bud and another classmate's parents. We talk a bunch, I'm probably the least smart in the group, but they are all very kind and funny telling great stories. It really made you think, I love this non obligatory, easy breezy, social holiday gathering. This is what I think of as ideal when you say Holiday Season.
• Sunday: I knit for two blissful hours in the morning with cold cup of coffee and Star Wars on the t.v. with The Kid lounging, Man friend goes to farmer's market and returns with yay! not turkey tacos! We lose time and scramble to get out of the house to go to Oakland. Lovely neice birthday, she allows me to channel my inner puppeteer with her hamster puppet and shows off her room and favorite things to me. Boy children don't want to eat, just play video games. My boy child coughs and needs an attitude adjustment.
• Guess what, it's Monday and I still just want to knit!

The Cake Story: A Report

Monday morning, bright-eyed and bushy haired, I say good morning to some friends that work in a unit in it's own alley of low-walled cubicles. Everyone smiling and kind, a square heavily foil wrapped parcel on the edge of a file cabinet on a pink plastic plate. Ahh, someone made a cake. How nice.

9ish am. Only been in the office for a little over a half an hour and it is quite clear I'm going to require another cup of coffee. I return down the aisle and ask if anyone would like any. Everyone is good. Ahh, look the cake has come out of it's wrapper and is on display. An old school yellow cake with chocolate frosting 2-layer square cake. Aww. I can smell third grade slumber parties ... They say it is for Lindita's birthday. (Duh of course! I had been debating whether or not I'd bring in her gift on the Day or wait until Dinner Night. I opted for private festivites)

She wants to eat cake later. So we will eat cake after lunch when she returns from her Dr.'s appointment.

Hmm now it is somewhere between 9:30 and 10:15 and I get pinged online."I have to tell you something funny about the cake." My friend nervous about appearing gossipy, when really it's a "STORY" starts off says, "Did you see the cake."

I hustle over and cake is removed. Cake is on her desk, squirrelled away from ... the SAVAGES that cut into a corner of the cake without asking.

But wait it gets better. Apparently, known co-worker easy breazies himself over with ... a spoon and a bowl (seeing how there were no serving, eating utencils etc. around the cake.)

1:30sih Lo walks by my aisle of cubes, where Cake Cutter sits as well and playfully asks, "Hey is there anymore of that cake left? It was delicious."

Lo says, "What wait, did you cut into that cake? Was that you? That was Lindita's birthday cake!"

Oh so the shame and the horrors continue. The incredulous voices strain for hush. Lo' is a gracious person and tells him, "No, it's fine, no-one is angry. It's funny." (He was fearful that Shingly would hold a grudge. Silly man, doesn't he know I'm the one that holds grudges around here? ;)

Now the truth is, this Cake Cutter is known for not being my favorite person, for not necessary reasonable reasons. I try to remind myself of this lest I judge too hard. I try to remind myself how bad it is to be an "open-minded hypocrite" and so I reel myself in. I can see how misunderstandings happen.

And then I hear him say, "She shouldn't have left it out."

And then I remember why he puts the vinegar in my milk. I think to myself, "You should've asked O' Entitled One."

There was one slice of cake left at the end of the day, and I won't lie more than one of us was tempted to leave it on his desk. hahahaha. mwahahaaha.

But Momma said, "If you're petty and you know it ... don't show it." Ha! I wish my Momma said that!

Knitting on the Inside

I write this post to alleviate a VERY strong desire to knit.

I am trying to focus, write lists, be practical and somehow things get really jumbled. The inside of my head is kinda like this ...

"Okay yay, only 3 days of work this week, I'm sure to finish one Ad Hoc report and ...

Geez I wonder why my drop-stitch attempt w/that novelty yarn from France went so wrong? Why does it look like a clusterf*ck instead of a nice long drape that features the fluffs and puffs?

Hmm, I wonder if I should buy a back-up pumpkin pie for my "From the Freezer and the Can Pie"attempt this week.

Geez, maybe I should just make the knitting needles size 10 and Yarn Over twice to get the desired length in my drop? Or maybe I should just stick with my size 8s and Yarn Over thrice -- since the 10s might be too loosey goosey on the garter stitch with this yarn? Or maybe a combination the Yarn Over thrice and smaller needle size? Oh I don't know. Maybe I'll swatch one option tonight. Maybe I'll just ask the Sweater Guru DA tomorrow.

Sweaters oh that reminds me, I took The Kid to see HP7P1 (Harry Potter 7 Part I) and since the main characters spent a lot of time "camping", there was a lot of interesting knitwear in the costuming. Hermione sporting longish wrist warmers convinced me I need to try and make some with self-striping yarn.

I really should start on the Harry Potter Sweater for The Kid. But I would much rather work on this: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/moody-kerchief . Besides, I never said he was going to get it for Christmas. His birthday is 2 months later in February so I could put it off a little longer.

The boys are going to the basketball game. I could just swing by Imagiknit...

I really should spend an hour decluttering. Maybe half an hour.

If I try to bake pies, I'm not going to try to bake bread.

I really don't like that Taylor Swift girl for no good annoying reason. And geez did you see that Miley Cyrus dress from some awards show? It looked like swathed toilet paper. Kids these days.

I'm not baking bread.

Can I go to the yarn store now?"

Turkey Day is Fast Approaching

I have been thinking about Thanksgiving now for more than a few weeks, coordinating with the other heads of household to determine, who wanted to do what and where. Really trying to reduce the amount of obligation our family felt. My sister RSVP'd earlier to confirm they would be spending "Thanksforgiving me food and forgiving my annoying familial/familiar behavior" Day. Kind of obnoxious wordplay is a problem I have sorry.

Well, The Kid determined the traditional dinner and everyone got on board. Okay, I succumbed. But now I realize why I didn't want a traditional dinner, I have the nervous knees about trying to make one. Regardless I planned. I set out the menu with the boys, and gathered "easy" recipes from friends and consulted family members ...

The Man-friend has taken over the Turkey. He will brine with what he wants for how long he wants, and though I am relieved kind of, the control freak in me is more nervous. He's feeling a little mad scientist and crazy I can sense it ... and that's well, that's a nice organic turkey to dork around on. I also warned him ... not to make a sweet turkey by adding sugar to the brine, like he did with that batch of fried chicken. Years ago, cruel to recall, I know. I'm sorry. To add insult to injury, The Kid hears my comments and comes racing back up the hallway where he was prepping for school and says, "Oh please! No Sweet Turkey No Way!"

The Man-friend controlled his hurt.

Much better than I would (or do).

In the excitement I have not relinquished fretting. And this year I have not taken the day off before Thanksgiving or Christmas, and we are so busy between and before each, we'll be lucky, if we keep the floor picked up. So I have decided to play shortcut. I told him, pie filling from a can, crust from the freezer. Breadcrumbs pre-dried/bought and seasoned lightly. Add butter, stock and celery ... etc. Honestly I think this is the best route for me. I read all these blogs and have some amazingly efficient and talented friends (*cough HM) but I have to be realistic about my own comfort level. I am not up to par with everything for the holidays where I would like them to be, but I want to check myself so I at least enjoy them. This is my recipe for reduced fretting.

Fantasy/Sci-Fi Freakout Moment

I was perusing the local SFGate. Because I like to know what's going on in the area -- crazy talk I know. I try really hard to stay away from the comment sections and some of the very badly written articles (where it's not written with a slant, but a veritcal grade). I usually try to avoid The Mommy Files, just because I feel like they represent such a homogenized group of parents and the comments section cannot be avoided as hard as I try. However I have my own hang-ups that I may be projecting as well.

However I was thankful to see her feature this today:

Thanks Mommy. Just the level of humor and fantasy/sci-fi allusion I needed this a.m.

Nope, I don't like mittens either ...

Okay add mittens to the list. I don't want to wear them. I don't want to make them. If I "had to" wear them, I would wear gloves.

HM says they are kinda fun to make for little kids. She's weird. She doesn't even like little kids. (On a slightly related note -- since HM is Martha Mese -- I remember being very surprised when I found out that Martha Stewart had daughters. Like whoa, what kind of bill was that therapy? Not that HM's kids would need more therapy than say, mine.)

Fun mitten knitting?I beg to differ, though without the experience I realize, of a mitten knitter.

I have decided that mittens are the socks of hands. (don't be so astonished by my brilliance! really!)

And at the end of the day, why not just make some handwarmers. Heck, we're in the Bay Area after all ;)

Followin' up

I found my glasses! They were in the pocket of my rain jacket. I was so excited to read the lunch menu on Sunday.

I ordered a new camera battery charger so I stop fretting about where the original one is. If I find it, it can't hurt me to have two the way I operate and organize. crap.

I made the man-friend visit bookshelves with me on Sunday while we went around doing some errands. I think we decided on one and he understands that not all furniture can be managed by shuttling a handcart to the backseat of a child-free car. He was not as impressed with the array bookshelf, but I told him it would be a space saver. I am getting one this week. I want to win back some space.

I finished the Nemesis stole this weekend! It's a little on the short side, but it is still cozy looking. I have no picture because my camera has no battery power! I also finished the golden shawl, which I managed to take a few snaps of, not very good. However I'm hoping I can get a picture of Crazy Soccer Mom wearing it later. The color and sparkle is just right for her. I'm pleased. Though the acrylic blocking thing didn't go as well as I'd like. And of course I was rushed, so I didn't have time to write up nice gift card for her with it. Drat.

I saw a scarf, and I decided that I could come up with my own inspired pattern. I tried to keep it simple and account for the stockinette curled edges (which actually is needed here).  However I think I need to frog it and make it even wider. It's funny, because it's sort of a step-child of Mlouis' "three legged scarf" with a twist. The yarn is a welcome change from what I've been working with so, I feel this desire to keep knitting. though I know it's going to curl too much. I'm wasting time. I need to chuck the prototype and start again. Let it go. I think I might try a 60 st. cast on this time, which makes it feel much more labor intensive than I'd like. However I dont have enough bulky yarn in my stash to mix it up just yet.

I started a the last skein in my stash for The Kid's gigantic camo tent blanket. I made an inch. So over that blanket. It's just hogging up my time with the endlessly wide stockinette. I could be knitting something else At least it keeps me toasty while I'm knitting it.


I can't wait to organize my yarn better ... again.

Rinse & Repeat

I am really amazing at making the same mistakes over and over again.

 

Things happen, I over analyze, or I analyze too late, whatever and I feel shame at not doing something better, and vow to correct these things in the future.

 

And then. I repeat.

• I know you are all crying for examples, and I'm here to provide:
• It seems I have misplaced my camera battery charger ... again.
• My glasses case is empty. I carry around the case in hopes the case and the glasses are soon reunited, again.
• It seems I went home to take care of a few items and totally got distracted and visited with my yarn. I love my yarn. But I don't want to be late back at work because of my yarn. Thankfully I wasn't, but it was VERY close. I was distracted, hmm surprised that happened?
• I couldn't remember which bag I left the car keys in, so I had to dig through all of them. I found it, but still, it's pathetic right? I reason it out, this happens because I only drive once a month, possibly.

These are all pretty mild compared to people mistakes. Because I can blame myself and I can logic for myself and I can get over myself. You can only ask that of other people of your mistakes. You can't expect. Sometimes I wonder if I psyche myself out -- that I am so worried about making mistakes, that in itself ... helps me create them, again. Man-friend calls it self-fulfilling prophesy. Greek, tragic, chockful of wailing togas and stoic choruses.

Self awareness, the ongoing DIY project.