So how are things for you?

A joyous holiday season to you, whatever you may be celebrating! I am behind, as usual, on just about everything. At least I have good reason this go around!

Halloween arrived....

...then everything went wahooni shaped. Now I am trying to clear out four people's five years worth of accumulated stuff in about a month and a half. While all the insanity is for very good reasons, it's still a bit difficult to deal with as short notice makes everyone run around like a chicken with it's head cut off.

Finally getting things rearranged

Lately, I've been getting out more. While this is a good thing, it brought up an issue I have not had for quite some time, worrying about what to wear.
My typical attire is decidedly frump-tastic, old, and really downright boring. Fantastic for a day of dishes and futzing in the garden, not so great for when Darling Husband announces, "Oh, by the way we are going out." (It's festival season around here, frequently involving food and drink.)
The latest pronouncement of this statement sent me into a bit of a tizzy. I went digging through the back of my closet looking for something appropriate, as this was a more adult evening outing. I found things I could wear, just barely. I may have panicked just a touch. In my head, it doesn't matter if the item in question has not been worn in almost 17 years, it should fit. Right? (Yes, I have clothing that old in my closet. Yes, I probably need new clothes.)
Faced with what I deemed, "the attack of the squidgy", and a deadline eleven days hence, I set to work. I have not yet been brave enough to try some of the offending clothing back on, even though things have started to rearrange themselves more to my liking.
While what I look like in my clothes is decidedly a dip in the shallow end of the thought pool, it is at least a minor, temporary distraction from the current events that cause me, (and tons of other people), no end of worry.

The boots that ate September

Darling daughter turned sixteen last month. The festivities started three weeks before her actual birthday with the purchase of these boots. It became a blur after that. The rest of the month was devoted to finding the other things on her birthday list and the things she wanted to do.

The first week of October was eaten by a knit top I insisted on having done for a festival the second weekend of the month.

And now, now is time for damage control on the semi-neglected housework, putting up the Halloween decorations that usually go up the day after Daughter's birthday, and getting back to the gift knitting (there's still 6 items left on the short list, no they are not all small items). The goal is to have all the house related stuff fully accomplished in the next 3 days so I can devote more time to the gift knitting. I may be being overly optimistic.

What is that smell?

That is the question the poor little lizard would be asking if I had found him anywhere near my house this afternoon.
Unwilling to be daunted by the lack of a washing machine, this is week three without as we are waiting on a part, I decided to felt the hat I knit by hand. Can't be that difficult right?
It really is a simple procedure, the problem really is the smell. My whole house smells like wet wool. Decidedly unpleasant.
I decided to block a lace shawlette I finished ages ago since the worst it could do was smell exactly like the rest of the house.
I find myself inordinately pleased that the next quick projects I am working on are shopping bags, made out of cotton.
The lizard stopped to pose for me while we were in the mountains a couple of weeks ago, unable to go hiking as planned with the trails closed due to extreme fire hazard, so we had a picnic just outside the barriers instead. :-)

Not Exactly Better Homes and Gardens

So the work on the house continues. Things continue to fall to the purge of extra stuff. There is space to vacuum properly in both teenagers' rooms. The house is painted back to a totally neutral palette, eggshell and cream only.
Despite the more conventional look, it's still not quite Better Homes and Gardens around here. Various octopi, dragons and cartoon figurines are a bit too much of the decor for that. Maybe Better Hearths and Homes? At least something a bit more, eclectic?
I'm also still trying to work my way through my to do piles of knitting, embroidery and sewing. The going on them is a bit slow courtesy of everything else, which will hopefully improve now that some of the more pressing things are out of the way.

Still growing!

We've actually also had a few tomatoes and some fresh herbs from the garden too. It's difficult to not be unbelievably pleased. There should also be watermelons in the not too distant future.

Plant Happiness

When I woke up this morning and looked out my bedroom window, I couldn't help but smile at the pretty star shape the summer squash had grown to. Then there was the bright red against green of my first tomatoes of the season. There are also three types of cucumber, basil, strawberries, and watermelon in the backyard beds. Plus a handful of chile plants in pots that are just starting to produce.
I admit, the real reason I am pleased is that nothing has managed to kill off this set of plants before they started to produce. With this being the second go, now I just have to hope they will get through their growing season before the cold weather arrives again.

Stuff

Too many things have accumulated in my house over the last four years or so. Yesterday, lists were made. Instead of delaying, I started clearing out my extraneous kitchen items immediately. I really do not need dishes for sixteen(partially un-matched) with only four people in the house. It just ends up meaning more dishes to wash.
One friend volunteered to take any yarn I might be willing to part with, mentioning that you could probably cram quite a bit of yarn into a flat rate postal box. After this morning, two decent sized boxes full and not being done yet, I'm thinking it might end up cheaper to ship it in bulk.
There's the sewing machine I replaced over a year ago, that never recovered from whatever my children had managed to do to it many years before.
Clothes that haven't seen the light of day in years.
Boxes that got re-packed and thrown in a truck before I had a chance to go through them during the last move, currently taking up space in my horribly disorganized garage.
Frequently used, but now disintegrating bedding and towels taking up space in my linen closet.
Time for it all to go.
While not the first household purge I've done, it is the first time Husband has been fully with me on it instead of asking " Umm, why?" It's also the first time it has not felt like a chore, which is quite novel and rather enjoyable. I am loving the idea of just making space. Not making space for anything in particular, just space for it's own sake. I might just bliss out on breathing room.

Pondering a different approach

After spending the shortest night with a bottle of wine and a book, ( good wine , good book and everyone else was sick or occupied), I started thinking that maybe I should start taking a bit better care of myself after looking at myself in the mirror this morning.
I do wish this meant a trip to the store to rummage through the beauty section and purchase anything and everything with "age defying" and " radiance" on the label, that I might coat myself from head to toe. That would be too simple. Spending money on products that just make my skin cranky, no matter what the labels say and with no regard to the fantastic packaging, would be at best disappointing. A different course of action must be contemplated.
Words like "exercise routine", "fruits and vegetables", and "made using stuff in the kitchen" have been bouncing around in my brain. I have had these minor epiphanies before, with obvious inconsistent dedication. I need to figure out how to lend some self-discipline from other parts of my life to the taking care of myself part.
Maybe I should just add it to my daily housework list?

Getting ready to sew!

These are at the top of my "To Make" list. There are two others that I plan on making as well, but I intend on making multiples of those particular patterns. I splurged a bit on the fabrics. I decided to go with stuff I really love like linen, silk and high grade cotton in lovely jewel tones. Now I just need to actually start working through my list!

There was cake...

Mint chocolate chip ice cream with whipped cream frosting, picnic style, because it was decided ice cream cake tastes better flopped on the floor. There were giant water guns, squawkings over new video games and a new soccer ball, as well as a couple of science experiment books and 3,4, and 5 of the Fablehaven novels.
There has been a handful of blackberries harvested and we are waiting for tomatoes to finish ripening.
Mostly we look at the horizon, look at the gray brown that blankets much of the sky and wonder if the fire is out yet.

There were eggs

We even had an Easter egg hunt. Everyone took turns hiding eggs, everyone took turns finding eggs. It was the first time in many, many years I had had to actually go looking for them. Still fun! There were also bacon cinnamon rolls and strawberry banana orange juice. And truffles!

Now we are 35

Officially, but I would like a re-do for the week. Both my kids came down with a cold the day before my birthday. Husband was already sick, turns out to be bronchitis. The high point of my actual birthday were these Brown Sugar Cookies made up with dark brown sugar, were a chewy delectable happiness even without frosting.
A box from Mara-Darling arrived later in the week filled with things that kept me from hiding myself away in the back of a closet with my knitting stash till May. Delicious chocolates from Snake & Butterfly , smoked cocoa nibs, gorgeous yarn, and a delightful book of Victorian needlework.
I also managed to finally find the cable to my camera, I suppose I should take some pictures.
I had finished a top this week, my "birthday present" to myself. Only to try it on and realize it's a style I should avoid at all costs as it was less than flattering with my broad shoulders. It will be frogged this weekend and the yarn re-purposed.
The fast approaching government shut down is also a point of stress.
Wahoo. Maybe we can just skip to next year?

Happy Distractions

This year continues to be more wonky and distressing than idyllic. As it becomes more and more evident that it isn't just us, I figured I would share a few idle and entertaining distractions that I have found to help.
Web comics abound, but Girl Genius is a fantastic story, lovely art and very popular with everyone in our house as is Finders Keepers.
I love embroidery, almost as much as I love knitting. It adds color and personality to rather dull but practical items. Urban Threads and Sublime Stitching have lots of less conventional embroidery designs, making them more entertaining to stitch up than standard fruit and flowers type designs.
Food is another creative outlet that the whole household can get involved in and appreciate. Cheeky Kitchen is lots of fun with good recipes. 101 Cookbooks has pictures that make you want to lick the screen, but that could be just me and how I feel about the chocolate cake.
Finally, my favorite thing (still), is to play dress up. I regularly peruse standard pattern sites that I may add to my already not insubstantial collection, with the majority of them being from the late '40's to mid '50's. Which is why I really covet so many of the things from Pinup Girl
and Stop Staring . Though steampunk also brings great joy, so Clockwork Couture has many adored items as well. I also love being able to close the window if the temptation becomes too much, or being able to go back and visit a favored piece whenever I like.
Those are just a few of my favored diversions, please note the lack of mention of yarn, I really do think about lots of other things, sometimes all at once. ;-)

There will be pictures...

...as soon as I find the cable to my camera. Though there isn't a whole lot to photograph quite yet. The plants are really trying, but aren't very impressive this early on. Knitting has been slow and not overly productive. I did make deodorant in a lovely amber scent. It's been working quite well, even during heavy yard work. Made some baked doughnuts with great success, the maple glaze I topped them with probably didn't hurt. Also started making my own laundry soap which has been working quite well in my front loader with cold water. I do thin it out with a bit more white vinegar than the original recipe calls for. It certainly smells better than standard laundry soap since I use peppermint castille soap.
The free weights have been thrust back into service courtesy of the combined panicked realization that the warm weather i.e. sleeveless shirt weather was going to coincide with my 35th birthday and it will not do to look flabby and pasty white, even at the start of the season. ;-)

Half- way through March? Really?

When did that happen? The last few weeks have been, not so much busy as full. Spring has finally hit, mostly, so the backyard has been weeded, prepped and partially planted. The seedlings of lettuce, kale, beets, black radishes, and melons just recently started making an appearance. The front yard is to be tackled and forced into shape this weekend
Darling Husband has been recovering well from shoulder surgery.
I found these lovely ladies. Even if you aren't big into perfumes, the descriptions are quite an entertaining read!
I would be remiss if I did not pipe up and mention the disaster(s) in Japan and encourage you to help in some way. Light a candle, say a prayer, donate a couple dollars, or even just send along a happy thought, right now, I'm pretty sure any of those things would be more than welcome.

The year thus far

We are not even through February and the words "wonky" and "emotional tumultuous" are already good summations. Silliness, mundane housekeeping and quite possibly, a few too many goodies have been helping to keep an even keel.
Plants have been ordered to actually landscape the front and back yards. Bright red, purple, gold and green for the front and a kitchen garden type theme for the back. I am really looking forward to being able to work in my yards again. Like so many others, by mid-February I am quite done with Winter, impatiently waiting for when I can play in the dirt again and make green things grow.

Time to Decompress

The last few months of 2010 were a little more overwhelming than normally anticipated, so I've spent the last few weeks focused on yarn and my standard routine.
I'm on my third sweater of the year (to the armholes already). The picture is of a shawlette also finished in January, really it was an excuse to try out a new yarn in a lovely bright colorway.
There will be more knitting. Most will be of the overly intricate lace variety as I have at least two shawls I have every intent to finish before the year is out. Along with seven more shirts, all of the short or no sleeve variety as well as embroidery, cross stitch and some minimal artsy type painting (as well as attempting to learn to spin properly in any left over spare moments) I figure I am pretty well set for things to do between loads of laundry and correcting papers.
While this is not everything I plan on doing during 2011, it certainly seems like some of the most fun thus far!

This about sums it up

The holidays were filled with all sorts of randomness for us. Cartoon hats, fluffy animal slippers(white tigers and sea turtles) , lots of yummy things to eat and one set of bunny salt and pepper shakers in an indelicate pose.