The only good thing about the snow storm is I had no plans to leave the house today. But with my luck, it won't be sufficiently melted by Monday morning and I'll slip and slide to work . . .
Tim Minchin's Christmas song, White Wine In The Sun, is now available for single purchase on iTunes!
Give this a watch/listen, and then go buy it! The iTunes version has some very beautiful string accompaniment too.
My husband will get all huffy and say "not until the 21st!" but to me, once the temp dips 35F and below and snow/sleet/ice start blowing around, it's winter. My least favorite season (I'm not alone there, I know) because driving is stressful and just getting anything done or going anywhere is a big hassle. Not to mention it's fucking cold, and as I get older, cold hurts more. Why can't I convince my husband to give up this farming gig so we can go move someplace warm? I don't care if we're poor, we'll be warm!
Right, now I've got that whining out of the way - who's ready for Christmas? Another thing I'm grateful for as I get older - Christmas/Holidays is FAR less of a big deal than it used to be. I do enjoy buying gifts for people, but no longer am I all excited/concerned about what I'll be getting back. Some might say the loss of that excitement is a bad thing - to me it just means I'm more self-sufficient, and that's a good thing! (If I really want/need something, I just go buy it now. Anything extra is nice but nothing to get all worked up over!)
I also gave up (pretty much before I ever started) the stress of holiday cards, decorating, and all that extra jazz. I send cards to the people closest to me (and the in-laws because they'll get huffy if I don't!) but we don't bother with decorations or parties or anything like that anymore. YAY. True, I'm still forced to do the holiday parties at work, but even those are low key and require very little from me. I show up with food, and all is well.
Speaking of food - damn I do hate this section of the year because no matter how hard I try to keep it from happening, the pounds pile on. That's what New Year's is for though of course, and like billions of people I'll be making that resolution to "get back to a healthy weight". If only just so my pants fit comfortably again. I'm annoyed that my favorite trousers are currently all too tight!
Sooooo. There we go, that's my boring update. Hope your lives are all well.
Not enough time for a long post, but SkyWalker had to talk at morning program this morning at school. The video for those of you logged in and in my neighborhood:
Chewie had her first spoonful of cereal at Thanksgiving dinner and followed it with the whole bowl. You know how they say start out with 1 tablespoon and go slow? No such thing with my girls. She did not gag once, she did not refuse once, she ate and ate and ate and finished a full serving. The next day she did refuse it at dinner because she was tired so it's not like she doesn't know how to say no. She's been doing good with it, except she started getting a little constipated and was up at night again (to put that in perspective, she was up at 10 and then again at 4/5. So really, who am I to complain?). I started oatmeal yesterday morning to try to help in that area. Last night was the worst in that she was crying quite a bit and then this morning during breakfast she was crying A LOT. She had poop when she woke up this morning and I don't think she's stopped since. I decided to skip the cereal this morning and give her a rest. I gave her oatmeal at lunch and might just stick with that today instead of doing the rice for dinner. She is at least smiling now and she was NOT doing that this morning. I think she really needed to get her poop out and now that's it coming all at once her little heiney is getting sore. And this sounds SO FAMILIAR does it not? I'm going to start fruits soon and hopefully she will balance out and get regular again.
More new hand spun yarns listed today in my etsy shop! A variety today - a single ply, an art yarn, and even a two-ply. Here is a mosaic of the new skeins -
Kitty Mixers - Barney's Midnight Blues - Hand Spun Two-Ply Yarn in merino wool 150 yards
Kitty Mixers - Barney's Midnight Blues - Hand Spun Two-Ply Yarn in merino wool 112 yards
FunctionArt - River Twilight - Hand Spun Art Yarn 64 yards
FunctionArt - River Twilight - Hand Spun Art Yarn 74 yards
Kitty Singles - Blackberry Sea - Hand Spun Single Ply Yarn in merino wool and bamboo blend 150 yards
Squish-tastic - Bronze Field - Hand Spun Bulky 2ply Yarn 96 yards
Today I'll probably be knitting for my show this Saturday, so most likely will have some new yarns again on Friday.
As for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday madness - right now, since I have my show on Saturday, my plan is to not have any specials on Friday, BUT, I will be having a Cyber Monday sale that will most likely start on Sunday. This sale will *definitely* be for my newsletter subscribers, but I also *might* have some specials for everyone. It's all going to depend on what I have left after my show. Also, Newsletter subscribers ALWAYS get better specials. You can sign up on the side of this blog or at the bottom of this page. I'm not sure what the discounts or specials will be yet, though.
Now, it's off to get some knitting done for ART VS CRAFT this weekend!
It takes me for-freakin-ever to read nonfiction. Not sure why I can fly through fiction but nonfiction takes me at least three times as long to read. Am I paying more attention or something?
Anyway, right now I'm making my way through Moab Is My Washpot, which is Stephen Fry's autobiography. The
wonderful thing is that he did write it himself and it's completely in his "voice" so it's rather like sitting across from him as he tells you the silly tales of his childhood and school years. I always wonder how people can remember their earlier years with such detail. I certainly remember "scenes" but if pressed I doubt I could put them into an actual factual timeline. It's just as well since I doubt anyone would want to read my life story anyway. Although I did have a damn fun childhood.
I'm also plowing (slowly, slowly) my way through Bad Science by Ben Goldacre. I say "plowing" only because I read so dreadfully slow, not because the content is laborious. If anything, Goldacre makes what might be snore-worthy and makes it fun and interesting.
This is a book that has been known in the Skeptical community as a must-read... along with Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy, and Simon Singh's Trick Or Treatment. It reveals what commonly-held beliefs are misplaced and generally teaches you to question what often sounds too good to be true.
What makes reading both of these books even more fun is both of the authors are also on Twitter so I'm "getting to know" them both through their writing and through their day-to-day twitterings as well.
I'm still in a bit of a shock that's it's already Thanksgiving. When did that happen? Wasn't my birthday a couple weeks ago??? I plan to spend a couple days with my family and then a couple days at home. The perfect Thanksgiving in my mind.
Work: No change from September. Which means it's still chaotic and unorganized and no one knows what the hell going on. Add in the fact that there has been discussions of those of us at the capital to the other building (which is a good 30 mins away from the capital) and I'm frustrated and incredibly disappointed with certain people.
Home: No progress at all beyond cleaning out the craft room closet. And all of that stuff is still sitting in my hallway *eyeroll*
Crafts: I finished the holiday gifts last month. So I made this cute scarf for myself. I just need to finish up the green socks I started a while ago so I can start on some newer larger projects.
Flute!: I finally got around to contacting a flute instructor and had my first lesson last week. I've decided one hour biweekly lessons is the way to go. And it's coming back to me despite it being 2 years since my last lesson.
And Car: And I will keep it clean. Some idiot (who lives several doors down from me) decided he could not wait for me to turn left into my driveway and decided to go around me. On the left. Which means my car is now sporting a large dent above the driver's back wheel. Needless to say I was beyond pissed. That he got charged for following too closely is the only bright spot. I'm waiting to hear from the insurance to get the fixing details worked out.
I hope everyone has a marvelous Thanksgiving!
I did not get up this morning.
I've got lots of new yarns listed in my etsy shop, and am continuing to try and list new ones daily. Here are some of the latest ones -
Bronze Field - Squish-tastic! Bulky 2ply
Some new bamboo - one is a lighter shade of "Plum Paradise" - this is Plum Paradise Light -
And, some more of the Taos Sunset Art Yarn colorway, and also another NEW art yarn color, Holiday Whispers -
And, finally, some new single ply yarns -
Top
Blackberry Sea Hand Spun Single Ply Falkland Wool Yarn 200 yards
Christmas Wrapping Hand Spun Single Ply BFL Wool Yarn 130 yards
Bottom
Cinnamon Clay Hand Spun Single Ply Falkland Wool Yarn 140 yards
SerpentSong Hand Spun Single Ply Falkland Wool Yarn 140 yards
This week I hope to spin some merino wool two-plys and I'll also be knitting lots of scarves for my show this weekend - ART VS CRAFT in Milwaukee, Wisconsin! I'll also have a couple more art yarns before the week is done.
Now, it's off to get some of this work DONE!
