Snow Day!

My alarm went off this morning at the usual time. I have it set to radio. The woman on the radio was reading the school closings and to my surprise, she listed our district and most of the surrounding ones! We have no snow. We are supposedly getting snow today. It's just icy and cold and windy like it was yesterday. Yesterday we had thundersleet. It was thundering and the sleet was coming down as tiny ice balls. And none of them melted, so there are still these tiny little balls of ice everywhere. On Monday, it was so nice out that my one-year-old nephew (who I watch during the day) and I went for a walk without jackets. Today, snow day.

Now I have to wait to find out if my girls still have choir practice and if my oldest's play is still going to go on this evening for opening night. Meanwhile, we will have hot cocoa and bake cookies.

Edited: It's snowing now! It started a few minutes ago as flurries and it's starting to get a little bigger. We have snow after all! We'll see how much. :)

In order to fool you . . .

Your Life is 78% Perfect

Your life is pretty darn perfect. You don't have much to complain about. Of course, your life is occasionally less than perfect. But you're usually too happy to notice.

How Perfect is Your Life?

Yes, that's me in that picture. ROFL. Because my life is so perfect. And I'm not a blog copout. ;)

Mmmm, smells like oranges.

I started with several packages of kool-aid-like drink mix (but cheaper), and a 100 gram hank of KnitPicks Bare sock yarn (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon).

I mixed up water and the mix in a glass bowl. In another bowl, I soaked the yarn.


After a quick squeeze, the yarn takes the plunge.


Into the microwave for a little heat set.

Is it a match?

Looks pretty good!


We have orange sock yarn! It's not perfectly even, but it is a close match, and it's pretty. And you can't get much cheaper dye! The drink mix was 8/$1, and I used 5 packets in the end (3 outrageous orange and 2 cherry charger.) And I didn't goof it up, so that means I have a spare hank to do whatever I please. I declare it a success!

When I was done dyeing, my kitchen had an interesting smell. Mostly fruity orange, but a little of the cherry, a tad of the sheepy wet wool scent, plus the fragrance of eucalyptus wool wash.

Middle, huh?

Spotted on Margaret's blog.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Well, they don't list Kansas there, but I don't think you can get more "middle" than that!

Death of a Sock

I was knitting a sock, as often happens.


I wasn't sure if I liked the way this sock was turning out. I gave it a chance, even turning the heel and trying it on before deciding it was not the sock for this yarn, or for me.


Now the yarn will be reborn as another sock.

The new sock is now about 4 inches long and looking very happy. (Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.)

From Michele, and Cherie, and Traci, and Sharon . . .

Explain what ended your last relationship?

Me. I gave him the heave-ho when he proved himself to be totally selfish and irresponsible. The tricky part was that we had a child together, but even in the 11 years since, he has not grown up. She only sees him through his parents, who see her as much as they like.

When was the last time you shaved?

Armpits, this morning. Legs, I really don’t know. I’m not wearing dresses or shorts in the winter.

What were you doing this morning at 8 a.m.?

Lying back down for a second after getting one kid off to school, and waiting for the other three to be ready.

What were you doing 15 minutes ago?

Driving home from picking up my oldest at play rehearsal.

Are you any good at math?

Yes, very good. I took Calc 2 in college for fun, but decided not to go any further. I don’t know that I can recall any of that now. But I am good at math.

Your prom night?

Which one? I went to a prom for each year of high school. Freshman and sophomore years I found a senior to take me, then junior and senior years I took my boyfriend at the time. Sophomore and Junior years were the most fun!

Do you have any famous ancestors?

Not really, that I know of. My mom’s Grandpa Gorges was the moonshine king of Sedgwick County during prohibition and went to prison for it.

Have you had to take a loan out for school?
Yes, I did. I had a full scholarship, but transferred schools and lost it. (Dumbo!)

Do you know the words to the song on your myspace profile?

Don’t do myspace.

Last thing received in the mail?

Cable bill, junk mail, Wolferman’s catalog.

How many different beverages have you had today?

Diet Coke. And water.

Do you ever leave messages on people’s answering machine?
Yes.

Who did you lose your CONCERT virginity to?

I think Kansas was my first concert. But Pink Floyd was the coolest. And no, I’m not that old. This was in the early to mid 90s.

Do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach?
No.

What was the most painful dental procedure you have had?
Nothing much. I had some teeth pulled as a kid.

What is out your back door?
The patio. :p With wood patio furniture.

Any plans for Friday night?
Kids don’t have school Friday, so we’re going to my parents’ house early to help mom with some stuff and goof around. Then Friday evening is our usual Friday dinner there.

Do you like what the ocean does to your hair?
I dunno. lol.

Have you ever received one of those big tins of 3 different popcorns?
Yes.

Have you ever been to a planetarium?
Yes.

Do you re-use towels after you shower?
Yes.

Some things you are excited about?
My knitting. lol. Trying not to be excited about the lady who keeps calling our realtor with questions.

What is your favorite flavor of JELLO?
I don’t really like Jell-O. Maybe cherry?

Describe your keychain(s)
A smooth, about 4” long carved piece of wood, with other woods inlaid.

Where do you keep your change?
In a change purse in my purse.

Do you sleep with the door to your room open or closed?
Closed. The cats bug me if they come in at night.

Did you read this far? Consider yourself tagged.
Tag! If you wanna . . .

Better pictures, better day.

I'm seriously not so whiney in real life. The typing just tends to invite a little more self-disclosure, for some reason. Thanks for all your good thoughts, everyone!

Here are some mildly better pictures. I think the first one actually managed to capture some of the depth of this yarn. It's Reynolds Odyssey, the same yarn I used for my fetching wristwarmers. It is so pretty in person! So many different colors that come together but are still understated. Lovely.


This is the cable bobble headband that is in the current (Winter 2006) Interweave Knits magazine. It was fun and fast to knit, and now I can keep my ears warm without completely messing up my hair. Speaking of my hair, I'm letting it go back to its natural color. I've done red for a long time, but it requires a lot of upkeep, and I'm tired of it. I'm making peace with the white hairs which have been multiplying steadily since the first one appeared when I was 20.


And here I am wearing my headband. Yes, I managed to cut off my chin. What do you expect when I'm taking my own picture with no timer? LOL.

I had a job interview this morning. I forgot how comfy my work pants are. They're not as stiff as my jeans. The interview went very well, I think. Now I wait to hear from HR. Part-time could be really fun. I like to stay busy, and I like to have fun money! This will accomplish that without making the rest of my life too insane (I hope.) Plus, I can get a slightly discounted zoo membership through work, and have more fun with the kids. And I can get discounted movie tickets to a certain theater and have fun with my husband. Or my friends. I rarely get to get out with friends, except for KIP.

They're showing our house this evening. :p They called yesterday and I figured it couldn't hurt, since we haven't taken it off the market yet. Wouldn't it be weird if these people wanted to buy it when we just signed the paperwork to let that other one go? HA!

Bad pictures!

My digital camera stinks. It's no good. It takes terrible pictures. I used to have a fairly good one, but my husband dropped it one too many times a year ago. Now we have this cruddy one which actually belongs to his mom, but she probably got it for free and we've been borrowing it indefinitely since she really doesn't know how to use it anyway.

It takes terrible pictures, see?






But, it was free, so we won't look a gift camera in the mouth. Or something like that. But, you'll just have to imagine how lovely and perfect my stitching is, because you can really only see the faintest impression of what it is. The first three are Twisted Threads monthly ginghams, again. The September one stayed up until the end of October. When I was sick on halloween, I finally stitched the October one and finished it that day. Hey, October wasn't over! I displayed it for one day while I stitched the November one. Now it's up, and I'm caught up until December. These really only take a couple hours to stitch, and they're so cute!

I took some pictures of myself wearing the knitted headband, and I looked terrible. I knew I didn't look super-great, being sick and all, but the camera made me look even more pasty and washed-out than I would have. So, you'll have to wait for new, prettier pictures of that.

I have an interview tomorrow morning with a manager at a branch of the bank I worked for. (I worked in one of the main offices before.) It's for a part-time mornings position. Fun money, here I come! (Hopefully.) I quit working there in May, so it would behoove them to re-hire me. They already have all my information. They would basically just have to re-activate me in the new position, and give me the position-specific training. I've already been indoctrinated. LOL. It's a good company. I just couldn't swing full-time. Childcare costs over the summer would have eaten up more than my income, and I would have gone over the edge. But with a part-time morning position, I can work while the kids are in school and still have time to get house stuff done and workout in the afternoon. Days that the kids aren't in school, my husband can work after I'm home and work late. That includes the summer.

The house we had a contingency offer on just got another offer they're willing to take. So, we're letting it go. If we wanted to keep it, we'd have to round up additional loans to cover the gap between buying that and selling this, and we're just not willing to go into extra debt. We're taking our house off the market until spring and I feel remarkably good about it. We'll reassess in February.

Yesterday, my mom and I went to my grandma's house and did some work. Grandma had a stroke in August, and she went from the hospital to the rehab hospital, and from there to assisted living. She has her own little apartment, and social opportunities. She's much less alone than she was in her big old victorian house. But her memory is very bad and she can't really speak. Speech therapy is helping, but it's slow. She likes her seasonal decorations, so mom and I went to the old house and pulled out about 10 boxes of halloween and thanksgiving to go through. Mom's taking the stuff grandma might want to her apartment and going through it with her. We got a lot done! Grandma is going to have to be ruthless in deciding what to keep. Her old house was about 3000+ square feet, I would guess and her apartment is about 750 (again, I would guess.) I expect this to be ongoing work, but I'm so glad to be able to help. The hardest part is that grandma doesn't necessarily remember that she doesn't get to move back to her old house, so she gets upset when she sees us moving her stuff into her apartment like she's staying there for good. But she's good about making decisions on what stays and what goes. And when we mention the old house, she is vehement that she doesn't want to go there. It's hard.

Oh, and on a happier note, I ordered some of the KnitPicks bare sockyarn. I guess I'm going to try dyeing it, although I've never had any interest. LOL. I ordered extra in case I goof it up. Maybe I could ask my SIL for tips. She's a professional dyer.

Orange sock yarn?

As feared, my husband has requested a second pair of handknit socks. He sheepishly asked the other night if it would be difficult to knit a plain orange pair of socks and then put an "01" on the ankle somehow. I told him the hardest part would be finding solid orange sock yarn. Any suggestions? The yarn shop here is pitiful. It needs to be General Lee orange. Yes, my husband wants Dukes of Hazzard socks. (Hee hee heeeeee. Yeeeeee-haw!)

I have finished some cross-stitch things, which I took pictures of, but have not moved from the camera to the computer. I have finished a couple of knit things, but haven't taken pictures. That's in addition to the stuff I never even told you I finished and didn't take pictures. :p I have three sweaters (mine) to show you and a headband thingy. (It keeps your ears warm. The pattern is from the Winter Interweave Knits which arrived this week.) I may inundate you with pictures if we ever really get healthy around here.

I ordered frames for two cross-stitch pieces, and they should be here Tuesday, according to the UPS tracking thing. I'll frame those and forget to show you those, too. ;)

So, orange sock yarn, preferably 75% superwash wool, 25% nylon. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

10 random things

I picked up Karen's random things generic tag. So sad. lol.

1. We're feeling better today. A has still been napping, but the other two kids who are home are much better.

2. I want my shoes! I packed up my winter shoes and I only found one of the two boxes. My favorite pair are in the other box.

3. I like to bake.

4. I don't like to cook.

5. I may be getting a part-time job. My full-time job made me crazy, but I really miss my paycheck.

6. I applied for three jobs the other day. One was with my former employer. They called this morning to check availability.

7. There are two main reasons I want my paycheck back: yarn money and takeout food money, guilt-free.

8. I love being a SAHM and wouldn't even think about getting a part-time job if my husband made more money.

9. I've been married 10 years and I sometimes wonder how that happened.

10. I love my husband, even when I feel like our life isn't what I expected. That must be how.