Hey, have I mentioned my two extremely cute granddaughters? Olivia (2) and Sissy (almost 1!) are running around and playing with the few old toys I held on to from their parents and aunts and uncles, and I'll have you know that once the baby of the family, ALWAYS the baby of the family, because my Susie came home from college for Christmas break, saw Sissy holding the little pink bear we've had for ages, and immediately said, "Hey, that's MINE!"
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| Almost as cute as the grandbaby who was holding it |
Just FYI, it is way easier to read Goodnight, Moon 6 times in a row when you aren't chronically sleep deprived, who knew? Kudos to other grandparents who watch their grandchildren full time, though - I can make it about 2 hours and I'm dying, I seem to have lost my childrearing stamina.
Or maybe I just used it up? 6 kids will do that to you
I still enjoy working at Trader Joe's, even though it is killing me because it turns out I am old and not quite as fit as I thought I was. It's the local store, which means I see a lot of people that I haven't run into since the kids grew up, and it's always fun to say hi and catch up (or, in some cases, to scan frantically through my fading memory banks searching for someone's name). We change tasks in the store every hour, which keeps it all from becoming mind-numbingly boring, and we're encouraged to talk to people, which is interesting unless too many weirdos show up in a row, in which case I contemplate quitting, because OMG there are so many of them out there, WHY
Also, I can't quit, because the money lets me buy fun clogs, after all these years of being sensible:
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| I LOVE THEM |
See those flare jeans? I'd been wanting this style for a while, because all the cool kids at work had them, while I was still wearing my fussy early 2020s jeggings. Unfortunately, it's really hard to find this type of pant if you're short -- you can't cuff them, and if you hem them you lose the flare. So in June I steeled myself to stare straight at the prospect of going to 10 different stores and trying on all the jeans and maybe ordering more jeans online and having to return all of them - I looked that monster straight in the face and said YES, NOW IS THE TIME, LET'S GO SHOPPING
But then I had a brainstorm while perusing sale items online and spotting photos of - what's this? FLARE CAPRIS? You know, those pants that come down to the top of a normal person's calf? Hmmmm, why not try it?
Reader, I'm calling it the Miracle of the Flare Jeans, and I didn't even pray to any saints first. Those silly capris fit perfectly on my midget legs, and did I mention they were on sale?
I'm a fashion icon now, look at me - only don't, because Larry still doesn't allow personal photos here
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Anna (aka treasured eldest daughter) got married in November!
(Really, I should have led with this, but here we are)
Not only that, but her spouse happens to be a standup comic, which...I don't know...you know how the stereotype is that Jewish mothers are excited if their daughters marry doctors? That's how I feel about Anna's wife, it's just so cool.
Anna and her spouse (who needs a blog name, I dunno, um, Sally) learned that the fastest and cheapest way to get married in their city is to have a Quaker wedding, because no officiant is needed. Time was of the essence, you see, since Sally had a day job with actual health insurance and Anna's ACA premiums were about to go up dramatically, and I KNOW, IT'S SO ROMANTIC *swoon*
So all they had to do was pay $100 and the courthouse handed them the Quaker wedding document (which, unlike a Jewish ketubah, is NOT written in Hebrew, but I guess it still counts) and they just had to go have whatever sort of ceremony they wanted, with two witnesses to sign the not-ketubah, and ta-da, they'd be married.
I really have only the utmost respect for anyone who makes getting married NOT complicated and expensive, thank you, Quakers!
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| They refused to dress like this for the wedding, party poopers |
Anna and Sally invited us and the other parents and a sibling or two and some friends to witness their Jewish Catholic lesbian Quaker wedding at an Italian restaurant near them in Philly. I felt right at home with the in-laws, because they were Italian and I grew up Italian-adjacent in northern NJ, and OMG they just kept ordering more food and passing it around the table, and Sally's mom at one point was trying to find out if Susie would be interested in dating Sally's younger brother.
I was eating dinner with a bunch of people straight out of Central Casting, and I was thrilled.
Trying to make conversation, I said to her mother, "The girls pulled this off really fast!" and she said to me, "I know! When Sally called me about the date, I said, 'Honey, why the rush? Did you get her pregnant?!?"
In case anyone was wondering where Sally gets her sense of humor from...
Anyway, the day after Anna got on the health insurance, Sally got laid off, so they split up
KIDDING
No, so now they are both without insurance, because the ACA rates are simply insane and Anna's job doesn't offer it and we can't have universal health insurance like a normal civilized country, but I guess they can just live on love, that's fine, everything is fine.
We had everyone here (including 3 - count them, THREE - kids-in-law) for Thanksgiving, and it was lovely, thank you very much. Sally tried to get away with saying she was useless in the kitchen, but we made her rice 10 pounds of potatoes anyway, which was a fitting welcome to our family holidays, I'm thinking.
Christmas was a much smaller affair, just the three youngest grown kids and one kid-in-law and little Sissy, and I pretty much worked my butt off without Anna here (she was at her in-laws), but at least I didn't get deathly sick on Christmas Eve like last year, so I call that a win.
Brian gave me a jigsaw puzzle of a New Yorker cover for Christmas, even though I haven't done a puzzle in years, so I decided to get back into it and, people, now I know WHY I haven't done a puzzle in years, I get OBSESSED.
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| This was MADDENING |
I was late starting my January socks because I couldn't tear myself away from that stupid puzzle, but here they are, finally started (I know, you were worried):
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| Nice bright colors for winter, I need that |
We have snow coming and it will be utter chaos with everyone buying milk and eggs and bread, because that is how we celebrate our rare snowfalls in this neck of the woods. We will probably end up with maybe 6 inches of snow and be left staring at ridiculous amounts of leftover cinnamon roll and French toast ingredients in our kitchens, but we will not learn, we will simply do it all over again the next time. It's sort of an endearing habit, IMO, because people are silly and I love that about them.
I also love people who are brave and care about their neighbors and the rule of law, so kudos to Minneapolis, for showing the rest of us how it should be done! If anyone cares to help these people help their neighbors, this article has a list of mutual aid funds that you can contribute to. Do it! You'll sleep better.
Any knitters here? You can buy this pattern off Ravelry, the proceeds all go to mutual aid in the Twin Cities. You'll feel good about helping, AND you'll have a hat, can't beat that!
Until next time, stay safe, stay warm, and stay away from jigsaw puzzles, they'll throw off your knitting mojo like you wouldn't believe...
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