Tonight, I pulled from the storage ottoman beside my bed some stuff I had stuffed in there. I had one mascara, one eyeliner, and nine (Yes, NINE, I counted them, and I also have pictorial proof!) brand new eye shadow palettes. Some of them were about six months old, and some of them, I confess, had been in that ottoman for over a year. I’d bought those new shadows because I was tired of my old colors, which are now several years old, and no longer even vaguely fashionable. But for some reason, I felt like I had to use up all the old stuff first. All the old stuff. Every bit of every color in every palette I already had. People, it’s all frosted. It’s that old and that unfashionable. And no, I am not mistaking the word “frosted” for the word “glittery”. Today, frosted is foolish, but glittery is glam. My current mascara starts the morning on my lashes, but finishes the evening on my cheeks. So attractive. The new is waterproof! It was a shake my head moment. Tomorrow, I am wearing new. I’m going to own that stuff I bought.

Just so you know, I also keep my slinky nighties in that ottoman, but I won’t be wearing those any time soon. I share my room with my two youngest girls, and I have three young sons. Besides, I sleep alone. Well, I start out alone, but I usually have a girl child or two in the bed by morning. Negligees are not quite what I need to be wearing to bed these days, but I keep them close by because it makes me feel good to have them there. Miracles might still happen, after all. The kids *might* be visiting their dad the night Prince Charming leaps out of the picture in the storybook.

Now, like most women, I also have clothes in my closet with the tags still on. Nice things. Things I bought because I loved them, and they looked fabulous on me and I had to have them. And I hung them up and I looked at them every day, but I never wore them. And shoes. Oh my goodness, the shoes. I love shoes. I have three pairs of flip-flops, five pairs of sneakers, four pairs of clogs, four pairs of flats, eleven pairs of medium heels, thirteen pairs of how-do-you-even-walks and two pairs of house shoes. Unless I miscounted, and this is a distinct possibility. That’s a lot of shoes! But every day, I dress for school in jeans and sensible shoes for walking across campus really fast. But I have those shoes and clothes! They are “for special”, you see. I can’t risk getting them messed up. So, I leave the good stuff, even if it came from Goodwill, in the closet as if I, alone by myself doing the normal things that I do, am not special. They are mine, even if I don’t really own them. Well, from now on, it’s all going to come from Goodwill unless I have to have something very specific right now, and I am going to wear whatever I want, whenever I want (except the nighties, right?). I’m going to own my shoes and my clothes, and if I do spill on it or rip it or whatever, so what? It only cost five bucks or less, and someone will donate another one soon. It will be there when I need it or want it, just like all these other great pieces were.

But I started with the freezer, so let’s get on back to that. In the bottom of the freezer were two bags of boiled peanuts, one of which my grandmother had “put up” for me in 1987. Boiled peanuts do not last for twenty-five years in the freezer, not even if your Grandmother put them up. I heated them the next day, and we tried to eat them, and ended up throwing them away. Oh, I cried. If I had just eaten them when she gave them to me, I could have enjoyed them. I love boiled peanuts, and Grandmother knew that. She gave me a gift of her time and labor and I saved it until it spoiled. What a waste!

In the top of that freezer was a double chocolate cake that I had been saving for “special”, too. The kids and I ate it up tonight. In fact, I took a break from this writing so we could. It was good. They were happy. So was I. We owned that cake. Yes, it’s gone now, but we owned it, because how do you own what you never touch or wear or eat? That’s possession, and there is a difference.

Oh, a freezer that’s too warm and a dryer that’s too cold……maybe I will just plug them in to each other somehow! Oh, I slay me!

Here I am getting ready to go out on Friday night with my mom. We went to Chadbourn to hear Tommy Simmons and Friends play. I’d link you if I could find them on the internet, but I can’t. They are an awesome little bluegrass band from right here in Bittyburg. After we closed that place down, we came back home, flew right past our exit and went to The Rusty Nail. We closed them down, too. It was a great night, and I’m thinking we’ll be doing that again.

Beats staying at home and googling a.o. smith motors or cleaning. Which is what I should be doing now instead of running my mouth. Er, fingers. Whatever.

So, you know the drill, folks, Snap it, post it, link it.

I am back in the thrall of school. That always means plenty of homework, but this semester has started a bit oddly. Classes started on Wednesday the 11th. The 16th was a holiday. This means that one of my classes meets for the first time tomorrow, even though we are technically 2 weeks into the semester. I wonder how that will play out as far as the workload? The class only meets once a week, but for three hours at a whack. Of course, it is a subject I am very interested in (Military Culture/ Combat Veterans), so I have done a bit of pre-reading.

Tomorrow is also the first meeting of my honor societies, so it will be a very long day. I should probably go to bed soon, but I am not tired. Now what?

Today, I plan to work on homework and go to the optometrist. I am pretty sure I will end up with bifocals. He tried to get me in them 18 months ago, but I opted for 2 pair of glasses instead. It worked, since I see in the middle distance just fine, and my main problem is astigmatism, so I can read without my glasses, it’s just clearer with them. What I can’t do is read PowerPoints from the back of the classroom, which is where I am sitting for several classes this semester. But I can’t read up close with my distance lenses, and I am tired of trying to see over/under/around my glasses to take notes. Harumph! Extended wear contacts maybe?

In other news, which is really the same sort of news, I am excited about my classes. This semester I have Creative Non-Fiction, Intro to Sociology (hello, history meets psychology which is, for me, the mental equivalent of chocolate meeting peanut butter, leading to mental orgasm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10am), Social Welfare Policy, Intro to Social Work, and Culture of the Military: War and Its Consequences. I am starting my official BSW sequence in the fall, so this semester I am taking the pre-requisites and other requirements.

Alrighty then, that about wraps it up. I should be back tomorrow with a book review.

Are you guys tired of knitting books yet? I hope not, because we have 5 more to go. Not feeling it today? Ok, me either. What I am feeling today is an urge to scrap. Getting “paid” every 6 months also means new craft stuff every 6 months, and I spent money on scrapping supplies this time.

When I moved my desk to its new area, I was forced to confront 2 bins of photos. Plus the trunk in the living room that I use as a coffee table. Plus the one I use as an end table. Yeah, it’s time to get that dealt with. So far, I have purchased 4 scrapbooks (all at steals–A.C. Moore was having a 2 for $10 sale), and 380 sheets of 12×12 paper (for a grand total of $30). I am ready! I still have a lot of 8.5 x 11 paper, but I haven’t been able to find a scrapbook in that size for quite awhile. Of course, I haven’t really scrapped in 10 years, so…..yeah. The good news is that I made three pages the other day, and I fell in love with it all over again.

I’ve given myself permission to do things a bit differently this time. When I scrapped before, I had far fewer children. Those kids have very complete books up to the time I stopped scrapping, because every time I got prints made, I scrapped a set for each kid AND a set for myself. Holy crap, right? I’ve doubled my kid count, and that’s….the mind boggles: EIGHT sets of prints, plus papers and books and adhesives and cutouts, and NO.

From now on, with rare exceptions, I am doing one scrapbook. Ok, two. One family and one personal. (Yes, I have to do a personal one because I still can’t remember stuff. If I don’t record it, then it didn’t happen. Yes, that’s still very frustrating. Yes, I am learning to adapt.) When the kids get older, they can copy whatever pages they want. Otherwise, I am not going to scrap at all, and that means the stories I know die with me and that is not acceptable.

Don’t think I am morbid, I am just realistic. When Grandmother died, and we cleaned out her house, there were a lot of pictures. Mama knows who is in some of them, but not all of them. Grandmother kept them in boxes, and some have names written on the back, but not all of them. The ones that have names and/or people we recognize have no dates and no stories to go with the images. So that’s the motive behind my scrapbooks. They will tell my stories to my children when I am no longer able to do so. And not just the stories behind the pictures wedding photographers raleigh nc took. The everyday, nothing-special-is-happening pictures that I make myself, mostly because something DID just happen, so I took a picture to remind myself to write that story down for my kids.

So, to the books.

These two books together make an excellent sock knitting course. Clara Parkes goes in to all the things that make a great sock: the yarn (fiber, twist, plies, spins), the stitches, the fit. And she has some great patterns as well, by some very famous designers (Ann Budd, Cat Bordhi, and so on). I love the details on picking yarns, and what to look for in a blend. Of course, I pick yarn because I fall in love with the colorway, and that’s okay, because the information in this book also works in the other direction: you can figure out exactly what the yarn you have in your hand is capable of, even if it needs to be a shawl instead of socks.

The Workshop book is complementary to this. It goes into detail on the different parts of the sock: toes, heels, cuffs, gussets. It also has some neat patterns, but the beauty of it is that you can mix and match features to design your own socks.

Now, I mentioned I love socks. And after my rant the other day about FAT yarn, it should not come as any surprise that I have a substantial stash of sock yarn. Sub. Stan. Tial. But I absolutely refuse to let myself cast on another project at this point, because I am trying to force myself to finish Carrick. However, I am planning other projects, dreaming of other projects, and so forth. And when I start something new, it will most likely be socks. I have six or seven sock books now, and most of the patterns are untried. So here’s what I decided. Any two socks made of the same yarn will constitute a pair. This way, I get to try more patterns, I avoid “second sock syndrome”, and I get to use up complete balls of yarn, because making a third or fourth sock makes perfect sense. In fact, one of the reasons I like sock knitting so much is that I can do it without paying a great deal of attention. It’s pretty much a toe, a tube, a heel, and another tube. Unless I am doing fancy work. So my “pairs” of socks will most likely consist of one fancy sock and one one plain. I can work on both of them at the same time that way, depending on whether or not I am able to concentrate on a pattern. Perfect, right?

Now, here’s the slow progress part. I have continued to work on my office area and organize my craft books and supplies. At this point, all my scrapping stuff is accessible. And I am sitting here looking at it, afraid to touch it. What the heck? It could be the fact that I haven’t scrapped a thing since Batman was a baby. He’s, ah….10. Regardless, I need to jump in. Which I will do right after I eliminate my 48 excuses!

Sometimes, that’s very frustrating. I’m a plate cleaner. I like to get a task done, and have it off my plate. Unfortunately, that’s not how real life works. Real life is repetitive. Think about it, everyday you have to get up, brush your teeth, brush your hair, get dressed, make coffee, etc, etc, etc. Coming to grips with the fact that my living room will never BE clean and so I will be cleaning it everyday is a real break through for me. I’m telling you all this so that I can tell you I spent 15 minutes this morning organizing the last of my knitting stuff and I feel pretty pleased with myself. Except that organizing my knitting stuff will never be truly finished because I always have at least one set of needles out of place, because I am using them to knit something. And that’s okay. Life is messy, and I am learning to get over it.

However that stack of stuff I took off the shelf that I put my knitting stuff on? It’s sitting in my rocking chair. It’s been there for an hour, and it’s already on my last nerve.

Speaking of reviews, I think I might have mentioned that I have a horrendously tall stack of TBRs. Actually, I now have 4 reasonably short (approximately 2 feet) stacks. That is a lot of books, right? One of my goals for this year is to eliminate that stack of books, either by reading them or deciding not to read them, and/or giving them away/selling them. But another of my goals for the year is to work on my crafty life, including getting my craft books organized and actually making stuff. Yesterday, I pulled all my knitting books together, except for the ones in those stacks, and this morning, I pulled those out. So, in order to accomplish three goals at once over the course of the month, you get some knitting book reviews. Yay!!!!!

Up first, we have Men’s Knits by Erika Knight. Apparently, I have had this book for about 3 years, since I have been SINGLE for almost that long. Yep, I’m a little behind. We’ll get over it. Of course, it helps that the boyfriend sweater is always in style, and this way I can have the sweater without the boyfriend, right? And also, except for the boobs, both men and women are fairly rectangular in the torso, and while women’s clothes are occasionally over-fussy, things for men tend to be functional. I like functional.

So which patterns do I like best? The “favorite sweatshirt” on page 68 looks fairly unisex. It’s reminiscent of the wonderful wallaby, but without a hood or pocket. I love the wallaby, along with most of America, so this may be a knittable option. I also really, really like the “collegiate cardigan” on page 80. It’s thick and lush and has some great textures. Unfortunately, it’s knit in bulky weight yarn, so I may or may not work it up for myself. I tend to think I am bulky enough with adding fat yarn to the mix. Same goes for the “funnel-neck sweater” on page 110. I like it, but not in fat yarn.

But here’s a little trick I know. It is totally possible, if you know your gauge in a preferred yarn, and a little basic math, to knit a pattern written for a different weight yarn without re-writing the pattern. Just figure out how many stitches it takes to go around the person you are knitting for in the yarn you want to use, and (provided you can find a close enough match), follow the pattern as written for that number of cast-on stitches. This is super simple to do when using a pattern written for men (for instance) in bulky weight yarn (for instance) and making something to fit a five foot nothing shrimp of a girl in a lighter weight yarn (for real). Most of the time, patterns don’t call for a given number of rows, but just “knit until the piece is x inches long.” Just keep knitting until you hit the desired dimension, which may be shorter than called for, so don’t forget to measure yourself!

Now, the pattern says to knit the two sleeves flat and then sew them up, then sew them into the sweater and then sew the sweater side seams. Un-uh. Way to tedious! I picked up stitches and am knitting these sleeves in the round. When I am done, I will only have to sew shoulder and side seams.

By the way, since this is a knitting post, I suppose I will share my knitting goals for 2012. I want to finish Carrick, I want to finish the Suzie Hoodie I started last year, and I want to finish Hocks which I started when Drama was 2-ish. And I think that’s actually all I have in progress right now, at least knitting wise. Which is not quite the same as saying I have nothing else on the fire, right? You know me better than that, I am sure. For those of you that don’t….about the only thing I don’t have in the fire right now is applications for Audiologist Jobs.