Sunday, August 24, 2008

A Pox On Bamboo Needles...

Thoughts On Vacation

  1. When a friend local to the area you're visiting warns you about the traffic, you might want to consider that she just may know what she is talking about.
  2. My kids behave better when I pay attention to them before breakfast. In other words, my early-morning blogging habit has got to go.
  3. Novelty is indeed the spice of life. When we reached our vacation cottage, the kids were extremely excited to discover that there were bunkbeds! Even though we have bunkbeds at home! "Can we put the sheets on them?" they begged. What's up with that?
  4. One bathroom is not quite enough for seven people.
  5. Vacation has a strange effect on the space-time continuum, as evidenced by the fact that I had to do laundry less than 48 hours after we arrived at our destination, despite having packed 3 days worth of clothes for everyone.
  6. One can survive without the Internet, but it feels really weird.
  7. On a related note, world events can occur without my paying attention to them. Who knew?
  8. Any mother who insists on packing 4 bags of baby carrots for her family to snack on during vacation is tilting at windmills. In other words, we returned home after 7 days with 3 3/4 bags of baby carrots.
  9. Live bait is not an appetizing item to find in your refrigerator - especially when it is packaged in a container identical in size and shape to the hummus you were planning to pull out for a snack.
  10. It is not, I repeat not, possible to over pack for vacation when it comes to knitting projects. I realized this fact on the first day in the car, as I attempted to finish up a sock on size zero bamboo needles that insisted on splintering in my hands as I knitted. I managed, but it was ugly. And there I was, at a vacation cottage all week with time on my hands (read, no Internet access), 2 skeins of additional sock yarn, and no functional needles. I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't thought to pack a couple of skeins of Cascade Superwash and size 4 DPN's, along with Ann Budd's truly excellent book of patterns. As it was, my sock week turned into a mitten fest and all was well. But only because I over packed.

I'm off to order some nice metal DPN's from KnitPicks. I've missed you all; but considering that Susie just woke up from a 3-hour post-vacation nap (on the floor - that's how tired she was), I should have plenty of time this evening to catch up on everyone's blogs while I wait for her to get to bed.

27 comments:

  1. Are you getting the sock needle set, all the sizes from O to 3? I LOVE that set. I always have the right size needle. I can't knit socks on bamboos. I felt they would snap in my hands.

    And hey, welcome home!!

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  2. Sounds like a good time was had by all! Nice to see you back :)

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  3. Isn't that so funny about bunkbeds? I still remember that being the highlight of MY childhood vacations.

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  4. I liked your list. I can relate to #2 with my puppy. She drives me crazy if I don't play with her before I get on the computer. My kids are all grown and I just got a puppy so am reliving my motherhood thru her.

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  5. Nothing worse than a knitting mishap when you're on vacation with time on your hands. Good job on saving yourself with the overpacking. Tell us more about this so-called "surviving" without the Internet. I thought that was urban legend.

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  6. Welcome home. I have no explanation for the laundry other than that clothes appear to breed.

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  7. Welcome Back! Totally agree with 5, 6 and 7 : )

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  8. Welcome home! I overpack everything--it annoys my husband, but I never have to do without.

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  9. Sounds like you had a great vacation! LOL about the carrots--we brought a bunch for our vacation and came home with 3/4 of them, too!

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  10. Unfortunately, I relate to #2. Dang it all.

    I'm starting to think the only good time for me to blog is 3:00 AM. And that's not really good, if you know what I mean.

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  11. YAY! YOU'RE BACK!

    So, are you going to write two posts a day for the next week to make it up to us for the week you missed.

    Cause that would be nice of you.

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  12. Welcome back! I missed you! I'm so jealous about the knitting---I really want to get back into it.

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  13. I agree that one bathroom isn't quite enough for seven people - but is it enough for eight people?

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  14. Glad to hear that you weren't totally cut off from the world--you did have extra knitting packed, after all! The Yarn Harlot would be proud. ;)

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  15. I'm just really impressed you at that 1/4 bag of carrots, hahaha! Welcome home!

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  16. Welcome back! We missed you in the blogosphere!

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  17. You can survive without internet? Really? Because I had to unplug my computer last night for 5 hours and I found myself wandering aimlessly through the house muttering "what do i do? I need to check e-mail. I need to read blogs. I need to write a post!" :) I apparentyl can not survivie without it!

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  18. I learned the hard way that the only time to take bamboo is if you are traveling by plane. And you have aluminum in your checked baggage.

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  19. Welcome Back! Since you didn't say otherwise, it sounds as if everyone was healthy. Who ate the 1/4 bag of carrots?

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  20. great to hear you are back!

    franzi

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  21. We always need another vacation to recover from our vacation. We come back a day early, so we can have a day to catch up on laundry, etc before going back to work.

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  22. No internet? My kids would bave been mental by the first 24 hours. Our DSL modem died a few weeks ago. We got a new onw from the phone company within 2 days. You would have thought we gave them something really special once the internat was accessible again.

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  23. welcome back - you and those carrots. Did you have totally unhealthy ranch dressing to go with those carrots? It's the only way mine will eat them....and don't try to pass off "light" or "fat free" stuff on them either...

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  24. Glad it was a good vacation though. I hear you on the early morning attention--next week any internetting shall have to happen after lunch. So it goes;)

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  25. Camping with the kids is so fun! But being internetless for awhile is tough. My hubby works in computers and I connect to everyone through the internet {everyone moved away from my town!} so I feel out of touch with friends and family. :(

    As for the packing thing... Well, with the 7 kids, for a four day camping trip, I pack about 7 days worth. And at least three pairs of bathing suits. It still seems like they manage to dirty absolutely every little thing, though, doesn't it?

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