Saturday, February 21, 2009
And now for a change of pace...I need to do some things to make life more interesting so I think I’ll try writing shorter posts here and maybe a bit more often; more like a ‘diary’ or a journal. I don’t mean that I’ll post anything too revealing or of an extremely private nature, but I find I need an outlet of sorts to get things off my chest and out of my mind. So to that end, it’s Saturday, I’m working on my second cup of coffee and watching ‘fix-it’ shows on PBS.
I’m ambitious enough to want to do some work on my home, but ignorant enough to know that if I try it without the right know-how, I’ll mess up way more than I can fix. I have a small house, a Cape Cod style, with a small (very small) kitchen that has no room for a table and chairs. It barely has enough room for us to cook in. Hardly any countertops and an old sink and faucet combo that just seems to collect crud. No matter how much I clean around it, it can look nasty pretty quick. I’d really like a countertop with an under-mount sink, but I’d have to talk Mike into that. For some strange reason, he just doesn’t think that works well. My sink sits on top of my counters, which are some kind of laminate. There is a glass cutting board set into the counter and I absolutely hate it! It is lousy for my knives - dulls them very quickly if I use it - and it has an edge that catches all kinds of stuff when you try to wipe it down. It’s a pain to clean and keep clean so I end up putting a large plastic cutting board over the top of it to keep it neater and keep stuff from going into the edge.
This little kitchen also doesn't have nearly enough cabinet space, either, so that’s an issue, too. I really need to reorganize what I do have to make the most use of it and I’m still not sure how to do that.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Had to leave the computer for a bit and never seemed to get back to it last night, so here it is, Sunday night, and I’ve just finished dinner while watching the Rangers/Leafs game. I shouldn’t eat while the Rangers are playing lately; they stink out loud and it’s horrible to watch them some nights. At the end of the 2nd period, there’s no score and it’s the freaking Leafs, for God’s sake! Don’t get me started on hockey. It is not my favorite thing right now and I’m usually all pumped up when a game is on, but not the way the Rangers are playing.
So, I’m working on my ‘wedding shawl’; I’m determined to finish the damn thing before my anniversary in July, but I’m not promising anything. I also completely ripped out a pair of socks I had started because I made them too long for my feet before starting the heel and I don’t know anyone with bigger feet than mine (at least, not that I’d like to give a pair of hand-knit socks to).
I found two skeins of cobweb weight yarn in my stash and decided to wind it into balls. While I was working on that, I wondered what on earth had possessed me to buy two skeins of cobweb yarn. It’s like sewing thread! I don’t know what on earth I’d ever make with it and I have two balls of it now and I’d bet that each is about 1,000 yards or more of yarn! Even if I doubled it, it wouldn’t be lace weight! It’s really really fine. I wonder; someone on the KnitList asked about a wedding shawl that needed to be so fine it would pass through a wedding ring when knit. This stuff would probably do that. I just had a thought; the dental floss I use to make ‘lifelines’ is heavier than this yarn! I must have had a very bad case of yarn lust to buy this…
Mike is still out of work, like far too many people in this country. He’s still getting his unemployment insurance checks, so the mortgage is still getting paid. Thank God for unemployment insurance. I’d just like to make it through until he gets a job with the bills not too far behind. I get everything paid, but some stuff is late. It’s the old ‘rob Peter to pay Paul’ syndrome; some months I can pay Peter, some months I can’t. I do the best I can and I don’t spend like I used to, that’s for sure; I just can’t. I hope no one is expecting me to spend to help the economy; someone with money will have to do my part. I’m doing ok with bills and groceries and that’s all I care about right now.
I did want to take that Aran cardigan class at my LYS, and I did hoard some money for it, but the day I went to sign up, it had been filled. I figure I was not destined to take that class. I do have the book they plan to make the sweater from, though, and enough gorgeous alpaca/wool blended hand-spun to make it. If I have the nerve, I’ll give it a shot. I suppose I could go there and eavesdrop on the class for tips and kind of knit along, but that would be cheating and really not fair to those who paid the whole shot to take the class.
I think I’ll stop here and post this. I’ll try to write more later in the week as I’m finding this more relaxing than I remember. I think the ability to tell your troubles to the world like this is a good thing most days. I don’t know who reads my blog, but whoever you are, thanks for listening.
Remember, until next time, wear natural fibers; hug your cats!
Ellen
