Do-Nothing Day

Don't begrudge me, people - I've earned this.  We ran 3 full dishwasher loads yesterday.  Oy.

If any of you have not yet discovered Songza, this is the perfect day for it.  It's like Pandora, only way more awesome.  It's chock full of curated playlists, designed for every mood and musical sensibility.  Currently, I'm listening to the "Walking on Sunshine" playlist, designed for an upbeat morning mood.  But don't worry, there are lists for those of you who are not so disgustingly cheerful in the morning, too.  And you don't have to keep refreshing the page to keep the music playing.

And?  It's free.  What more could you want?

Back to the Christmas knitting - it feels like a sweat shop around here...

Happy Thanks-a-Latke!

Enough of this Thanksgivukkah crap - it's Thanks-a-Latke we're celebrating today.  Just remember that the next time it rolls around.  In 70,000 years or so....

Take a moment and watch - it's worth it, even if you've seen it before.

Right Turn

I waited 24 hours, and then I looked.  3 lefts and one right.  I'm not thrilled, but I'll live.  I ripped one of the lefts all the way back to the ribbing and am now well on my way to MAYBE having 3 full pairs of fingerless mitts completed.

Minus the thumbs.  I'm telling myself I can maintain my momentum better if I save all the thumbs for last.  I have a feeling that the mid-December me is going to hate the pre-Thanksgiving me for making that decision.  Right now, however, it feels good.  Because I hate knitting thumbs.

Head In The Strand

This is precisely what I look like lately.

Okay, so a couple of weeks ago, I knitted two fingerless mitts.  Susie, of all people, pointed out to me that, instead of a pair, I had knitted 2 left hands.  Gah.  So I knitted up 2 more, irritated the entire time because I had planned to improve on the pattern for the second pair.  And tonight, as I was working on the right hand of a third pair (which is turning out just as I like it, thank you), I noticed that there were none of my marks on that particular pattern.  You know, no tally marks keeping track of the rows in the various repeats...

At which point the horrifying thought occurred to me that I may have blithely knitted 4 left-handed mitts.  Meaning, my Christmas gift-giving plans will have been shot to heck, because - while I may have time to knit 4 more pairs of handwarmers and 3 more scarves - an extra pair of handwarmers will push me right past any possibility of finishing in time.  And the stupidest part of this whole story is that I am scared to look.  Obviously, I need to get together the 4 fingerless mitts I have already completed and make sure that I have 2 rights and 2 lefts.  But I can't.  I don't want to know.

[Frustrated knitter image: luv in the mommyhood]

Gone Knittin'

It's that time of year, folks - the time when my fantasies of a hand-knitted Christmas run full tilt into the brick wall of reality.  I've been knitting and roaming the Internets buying yarn and generally ignoring my family and my blog and...well...everything.  I'm at the point where I am vaguely aware that, if I were to add up the time it actually takes me to knit a pair of hand warmers or a lovely waffleweave scarf, I would discover there are NOT ENOUGH HOURS left to complete my gift list.  So, naturally, I choose not to add it up.  Knitting with my eyes wide shut, as it were...

So much yarn, so little time, people - so little time.

Dancing Fools

I think I need this dress.

For the second time this year, Larry and I braved public humiliation to attend a local contra dancing session.  Surprisingly, it went okay.  I smiled manically, as previously directed, which helped to make up for the fact that Larry spent the greater part of the evening looking confused.  We're a good team like that.

Like last time, we made it to the halfway point of the evening without collapsing; and, as we were trying to sneak our exhausted selves out of the building, one gentleman asked if I wanted to waltz.  You see, these crazy people waltz around the room during their break instead of sprawling in chairs and trying to catch their breaths.

Fact: Dancers are in very good shape. 

Fact: We aren't dancers.  We just fake it.

[Dancers image: freeclipartstore]

All The Apple-Shaped Ladies

JAG jeans?  Yes.  Yes.  And again, yes.

All you apple-shaped middle-aged women like myself, get thee to Zappo's.  If you are between sizes (again, like moi), size down.  You will note that these jeans are actually pull-ons - there is a soft band of (barely) stretchy fabric just above where the waistband should be.  It may look weird in the picture, but it is not at all noticeable - once you throw on a sweater or a blouse or even a T-shirt, the jeans look exactly like all the low-to-mid-rise styles that are popular with our daughters. And you won't have that darn metal snap or button digging into your menopausally endowed stomach, as it does with normal jeans. Or is that just me?

Now, I KNOW I am sounding shallow and self-centered lately, going on and on about my jeans and my waist size as I am wont to do; but people, ill-fitting jeans are as demoralizing as a bad hair day - if I don't have jeans that make me feel like a million bucks (or, at least, $54.99), my whole day feels lousy.  If that makes me shallow, so be it.

But I'm thinking it just makes me human.

The Latest From The Lollipop Guild

Feeling good about these

I've been to 3 yarn shops in the past 2 days.  Oh, and Michael's yesterday evening.  I guess maybe it's a good thing that Auntie Kate is leaving tomorrow morning - things have gotten a bit out of hand around here.

On the plus side, I've knit two sets of fingerless mitts for Christmas presents.  Of course, that accomplishment only makes me feel as though I've earned some more yarn.

I typed "yearn" up there at first.  I yearn for yarn.

I also spent time today shortening my jeans so that I don't lose the nice jean hem.  Can anyone explain to me why petite jeans come with 29-inch inseams?  I wear 2-inch-high clogs, and I still have to cuff up my pants.

I have high hopes for these, too.

Anywhoo, I saw this neat hemming method on Pinterest and decided to try it.  It works!  Sort of.  I mean , the idea works, but I had to fiddle with the details.  I tried it out on my old jeans with the holes in them, and really, it looks fantastic.  If you aren't short, you cannot appreciate the luxury of being able to dress in clothes that don't look like oversize hand-me-downs.  And now that Anna at An Inch of Gray has alerted me to the existence of jeans that might just fit, I might even be able to abandon my latest plan of buying some trendy maternity jeans at Target to accommodate my post-menopausal belly. 

I can't believe how desperate I am feeling about this wardrobe problem.  Really, I don't ask much, clothing-wise - just a pair of jeans that look stylish and that also button around my waist without gouging my stomach.  I'm not obese, people (although, if I keep eating this Halloween candy the way I have been the past few days, I will be); I'm just the wrong shape, apparently. 

A POX on clothing manufacturers, that's all I'm trying to say.

[Fingerless mitts image: Ravelry]
[Jag Jeans image: Zappos.com]

Halloween Something Something

Can't think of a good post title - can you tell?

A good Halloween was had by all, despite the intermittent (and UNPREDICTED) rain showers that occurred here. (As one local said, if only everyone had dressed as Mary Poppins, they all would have been prepared.)  This was the first year that Brian (costumed as a Lego piece, which he made all by himself, thank goodness, and the materials cost me only 10 bucks) was allowed to trick or treat without an adult - his 13-year-old self was thrilled to leave his younger sisters with his dad and go to as many houses as he liked with his 2 buddies (a ninja and a banana) instead.  That left Larry with only a bag of jelly beans and a princess to take around the townhouse developments, which felt a little strange, but he managed.

A popular item around here, apparently

The jelly bean costume came out great - many thanks to small town me, who suggested using water balloons (of which we had 2 or 3 bags in the house, I know not why).  They worked perfectly and everyone was happy.  It was rather weird having a Halloween with no costume crisis.  I guess I'm still sort of traumatized by the year that Brian wanted to be a tornado.  And of course there was the butterfly-wings crisis of 2001...

You know, going back and reading those 2 posts?  Makes me super glad I wrote all that stuff down.  Score one for blogging.

We had 33 trick-or-treaters, which is up some from previous years.  Of course, when we first moved here in the late 90's, we used to have 60 or 70 kids come by.  I blame all these stupid trunk-or-treats that adults insist on holding for their precious little darlings.  Oh, wait, I've already railed about that problem.  I'm getting a bit repetitive here with my tirades. 

I need more of these.  NEED.

Hardly anyone handed out Twix this year, though.  Can I complain about that instead?



[Water balloons image: Promo-Wholesale]
[Twix image: Hugs & Cookies]