Knitting like a newbie

We decided to be low-key for Halloween this year. The kids are getting older and they participate in activities (like church harvest festivals) where they aren't allowed to dress up. However, we live in a great neighborhood where it is safe for them to trick-or-treat so I want them to take advantage of that until they are absolutely too old to do it. Since ABM knew he wouldn't be home, he bought 4 jack-o-lantern t-shirts so they could go through the neighborhood together as a pumpkin patch. I agreed to knit simple pumpkin hats to go with the shirts. Easy-peasy, right?

Well, for such a simple project, I am still making the same rookie mistakes. I didn't have the yarn on hand when I suggested knitting the hats, which is a no-no for me. By the time ABM bought me some yarn, I wasn't quite in the mood to knit so I kept telling myself I had plenty of time. I pushed myself to finish 2 hats but I still have 2 more that need to be finished. It is a simple pattern but I haven't given myself enough time so I am making errors in my haste to finish. I just knit 2 inches on a hat before I realized that I twisted it when I joined the circle! So now it is 6p and I've got to start hat #3 all over again.

Luckily ABM is not home to see this. I've done this before -- put off a knitting project until the last minute and then I have to ignore housework to get it done on time. When will I ever learn?

Attacking the monster

The last time I was in the mood to tackle a big project, the monster was the garage. This time around, it is my bedroom. The claustrophobic feeling in this room has been increasing by the week. It has gotten to the point where the basic pick-up-and-vacuum routine doesn't make the room look any cleaner. I've got to move something out of here.

So what do I move? The books were moved in here from the garage so I could have easy access to them, especially in the winter months which is when I do most of my knitting. ABM would have a fit if I moved his DVD collection, even though he rarely watches any of them. We both use the computer and TV at night before bed, so that's out. I guess I'm stuck just straightening up again until ABM and I can decide together on how to restructure this room. Darn!

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DVD: The Good Life (or, Good Neighbors)

I was reading the forums on Ravelry the other day, and someone started a thread about handknits on BBC shows. The first series that came to mind was The Good Life, which was called Good Neighbors here in the US. I have fond memories of watching that show on PBS when I was in high school. As soon as I posted about it on Ravelry, I had a craving to see it again. Luckily, the whole series is on DVD.

The Good Life originally aired on the BBC from 1975 to 1978. The plot revolves around Tom and Barbara Good, a couple that decides to live a self-sufficient lifestyle. Rather than packing up and moving out to the country, they carry out their plan in their home in the suburbs. This does not sit well with their neighbors and friends, Jerry and Margo Leadbetter. The bulk of the comedy is derived from the Goods' attempts to teach themselves various skills such as baking bread and raising pigs, as well as the Leadbetters' reaction to their activities.

There is a reason why The Good Life was voted #9 on a list of Britain's top 100 sitcoms. Unlike some sitcoms that I liked during the first run but can't bear to watch again, this show has held up pretty well even 30 years after its original airing. With all the renewed interest in green living, it almost seems relevant again. The writing is honest; the scripts don't shy away from the fact that there will be things you miss if you go off the grid. The show also features spouses that bicker a little but still have a genuine affection for one another.

For my part, I attribute my fascination with self-sufficiency to late-night viewings of this show. Living off the grid, feeding and clothing your family by the sweat of your brow -- the whole idea of it appeals to the hippie chick in me. I know myself well enough to realize that I would never be able to manage that kind of life. Thanks to Netflix, I can spend the whole weekend indulging in the fantasy of it.

Interview flu

I have two job interviews scheduled for this week. Most job seekers would be happy with this sudden flurry of activity. Not me. The longer I stay home, the more difficult it becomes for me to leave the house. It would be easier if ABM was here to drive me to the interview. I would be able to vent all my nervousness in the car en route. Riding with the MIL means I have to keep all that anxiety bottled up because she doesn't get it.

My first interview is tomorrow, and all I want to do today is stay in bed and pretend it isn't happening. My head aches, my stomach hurts, and I've lost my appetite. I've never done well in interviews, but I am at even more of a disadvantage this time. My skill set is out of date, and my last two jobs ended with a termination and a layoff. I'm not the bright young thing with the untarnished record that I once was. My quiet demeanor isn't enough to charm interviewers into overlooking my faults. How can I convince a potential employer that I have something to offer when my work history doesn't show it?

Welcome, new readers!

I found out this evening that two of my neighbors checked out my blog this week. So if you guys are still checking in -- welcome! The welcome mat is also out for anyone who has come here via Ravelry or the couponing listserv that I joined recently. I'll do my best to keep it clean around here :-). If you haven't checked out my archives, here are a few of my favorite posts to give you an idea of what I write about:

Kid Nation premiere
Poetry Thursday: Food
Almost Knitting Content
Rah Rah Sis-Boom-Bah
Music to give out candy by

It is always a bit unnerving when I find out that someone I know in real life has been reading my blog. The needy part of me wants to start grilling them: "What did you think of this post? Did you like the poetry one? Huh? Huh?" Either that, or I start second-guessing myself even more when I write: "What will Mrs. Whoseewhats think of me if she happens to read this?" Then I remind myself that most people read my blog about once every six months. Even the ones who visit more frequently don't comment, so I can pretend that they aren't here :-). That usually frees me up to write again.

Mad Men season finale

Can I start the screaming right now? For the most part, I enjoyed the season finale of Mad Men but there were a few elements that made me want to shout at the TV. See my reflections on the episode and the season below.

WARNING: Possible spoilers ahead

--Did I miss something? Did Pete's wife say that she didn't want to start a family right away in another episode?

--How does Don Draper get away with not going with his wife and kids for Thanksgiving? If this part of the show is true to life, then I am amazed at how often businessmen got away with not going home at night and not spending time with their wives on the holidays.

--On other blogs it has been commented that Betty Draper has the mentality of a 12-year-old but I never saw it before this episode. The scene with her neighbor Francine was priceless. She truly didn't know that she was supposed to give Francine advice as one cuckolded wife to another. The scene with the neighbor boy Glenn illustrated this even more. She talked to him as if they were both kids on the playground together. I had to fight the temptation to fast-forward; that scene had a high "ick" factor for me.

--Peggy was ruthless in the recording booth scenes. I wonder if she picked the pretty girl for the session because she didn't want to pick the girl who looked more like herself. I'm still confused as to why she was so frustrated with the pretty girl's performance the next day. However, I'm sure the commenters on the other TV blogs will set me straight :-).

--Was Betty purposely telling her psychiatrist about Don being a cheater because she knows Don calls him, or was she just in denial and pouring her heart out to him? I'm not sure that she has it in her to be that calculating.

--The scene where Don made Peggy a copywriter just to spite Pete was great! My favorite part about this show is that even though the women don't exactly have equal rights (it is set in 1960, after all), they still acknowledge the fact that Peggy has skills. Of course it comes at a price. It seems they can't see her as talented and desirable at the same time.

Now we come to the screaming. Didn't I say they were going to make Peggy pregnant instead of just fat? I knew they were going to take the easy way out. They better have some really good scenes with Peggy next season to justify this. And that baby! Normally I suspend my disbelief when I watch TV and movies; I am not one to pick apart every detail looking for errors. However, Peggy was not big enough to have carried a baby to full term. I fully expected her to have a miscarriage when they showed her doubled over.

This series as a whole reminded me a bit of Heroes. Both shows started slowly in the beginning and then unveiled surprise after surprise toward the end, although Mad Men isn't as whiz-bang as Heroes. You have to be a patient person to appreciate it. In my case, the set design and costumes drew me in and kept me there long enough for the story to grab me. I'm not sure that someone without my addiction to vintage style would stick around that long.

So what do I want to see from Mad Men next season? Well, my list starts off with things I don't want to see.

--First off, I want that baby to be gone. When Peggy turned her head away from the baby, it gave me hope that she is going to give it up for adoption. I want to see about Peggy advancing her career, not her trying to be a single mother.

--I also want that creepy storyline with Betty and the little boy to disappear. Nothing good can come from that.

--More Joan, please! Christina Hendricks sparkles every time she is on the screen. She is one of the few celebrities who has tempted me to write a fan letter.

--More great set and costume design. I've heard a rumor that the next season will jump forward to 1962 and I can't wait to see what they do with that.

Well, that's it. I guess I've gained another hour on my weekly viewing schedule. Whatever will I watch?

Oh, my man I love him so!

Yes, I do love ABM, the big lug. However, I am happy to see him disappear for a couple weeks. He left for Nashville this morning to help his company train employees. Something about him being gone makes me feel a little freer to tackle some of the big projects around here. I think part of it is that I want to surprise him with what a good job I've done. Most of the projects I have in mind will take me more than one day because I usually run out of energy halfway through them. I don't want ABM to come home from work one day to see the contents of the closet spread out all over the bedroom and me passed out on the bed :-). With him gone, I can work at my own pace and he will just see the end result.

Farrey's -- The Place for your lighting needs

This ad is sponsored by the friendly folks at Farrey's Wholesale Hardware Co.

Farrey's is an 83-year-old company that specializes in high-end items for your home, such as lamps. Personally, I don't know much about such things; I learned long ago that leaving the home dec choices to ABM cut down on a lot of arguments :-). However, from perusing Farrey's website I can see that they have a large selection of lighting options from several different lighting companies. They sell lamps in a range of sizes (table lamps, desk lamps, torchieres) and styles (contemporary, traditional, Tiffany-inspired). The site is fairly easy to navigate, so even if you aren't in the market for new lights you can do a bit of virtual window-shopping.

Relax and release

Today I heard an acquaintance make an inaccurate statement about me in a public forum. My first reaction was to confront the person and say, "Well, actually, that is not how it happened." Then I calmed down a bit and came to my senses.

Would anything be accomplished by explaining my side yet again to the person? No. I said everything I had to say the first time and explained my position as well as I could. I've learned from discussions with ABM that rehashing things does not increase the chances that a person will suddenly see things my way. There is a chance that the relationship with this acquaintance can still be salvaged, but only if I keep my mouth shut now. If I am honest with myself, I must admit that I am still too close to the situation to avoid being snarky about it. I don't think the statement casts me in an evil light in the eyes of our mutual friends; it is just my pride that is making me want to hop up and set the record straight. So I am taking a deep breath and letting it go.

Yarn or games?

I've done a few things online that have resulted in a bit of money being dumped into my Paypal account. The amount is small enough that it wouldn't make much of a difference in my bank account, so I asked ABM if he would mind me spending it on myself. He doesn't, so now I have a choice: yarn or games?

YARN: I want to make Wonderful Wallabies for the kids. It doesn't get super cold here so they can make it through most of the fall and winter with a hoodie over a long-sleeved shirt. Right now, C1 and C2 have worked out a time-share plan for an orange hoodie with a monkey face on the front :-p. I've never been one to build a big stash for someday knitting, which means I will have to buy yarn to make the WWs. I know that I can get a good price for some yarn on eBay. The downside is that I may have to spend a little more than I have in my Paypal account.

GAMES: My game collection is not that big and I am starting to get bored with the few that I have. If you read my game blog, you know that I have been researching free games to play with dominoes or decks of cards. However, ABM always wants to play Pounce or Poison when our friends come over. I've got to find some other games that will meet ABM's stringent requirements: quick to learn and plays in under 30 minutes. I've had great luck buying games on eBay so I know that I can get at least 2 games with the money I have.

Decisions, decisions! What do you think? Yarn or games?

Double-check your insurance coverage

It is time again to get M and C2's eyes examined. Their frames have really taken a beating, so even if their prescriptions don't change we still need to buy new glasses. The first time the girls got glasses, the expense was covered by their insurance at the time. Last year, we had to pay out of pocket because ABM said his insurance through work didn't come with a vision plan.

Since the girls are so hard on their glasses, I've been researching discount eyeglass chains to see where we can get a deal. Today, I thought I found the perfect place so I sent ABM an excited text message about it. He immediately calls me and the first words out of his mouth are, "You are going to be mad at me because I am mad at myself." It turns out that he does have a vision plan for the kids -- $15 for the eye exam and glasses free up to $130. We could have saved $100 on M and C2's eye exams last year! I kept my head and didn't chew him out. Instead, I directed my energy toward thanking God that we can get their glasses straightaway rather than trying to figure out how the expense can be worked into our budget.

Winter's coming -- what do we do about the garage?

This post is sponsored by CarGuyGarage.

Several months' ago, I posted about how ABM, his friend CJ, and I did a major decluttering and reorganization job in our garage. Since the weather was nice, we put one of the TVs and the game consoles out there. This solved the problem of having tons of kids tramping through our house, which drives ABM crazy. Now, however, the weather is getting cooler and my thoughts have turned to making sure this setup will still work in the winter months. Winter doesn't get as cold here as it does in other states, but I'm sure we will still need some sort of garage heater to keep the kids from playing Super Smash Brothers with mittens on :-). ABM has said for months that he wants to turn the garage into a game room, and it looks like we may slowly be getting there.

Blog Action Day: The Environment

About two years into my marriage, Earth Day started getting a lot of press. There has always been a bit of the hippie chick in me, so I went gung-ho with trying to limit my impact on the environment. I searched for unbleached paper products like toilet paper and coffee filters. I stopped using paper towels and paper plates. I bought borax for the first time to use in homemade natural cleaning products.

Unfortunately, I didn't stick to my environment-friendly ways. Why? Well, for one, it costs more to be good to Mother Earth (at least it did back then). Just as knitting and sewing your own clothes became more expensive once they became niche hobbies, companies know that they can get more money for organic products from the truly enthusiastic.

Another factor that broke down my resolve was lack of convenience. It takes a lot of elbow grease to clean your tub with just borax and water! I know it sounds bad that I am putting myself ahead of the environment, but there it is. I finally had to be honest with myself. I was putting off chores because I knew they would take so long. My inner 50s housewife won out over my inner hippie chick, and I went with the clean bathroom :-).

I'm still interested in minimizing my impact. We use compact flourescent light bulbs and I still don't buy paper towels that often, but that's about it. Other suggestions I've read, like walking or biking to work, aren't really practical for me. The biggest contribution I can make is not to buy anything we don't need. The issue isn't dead, though. I'm still going to research ways that I can help the environment without annoying my family.

Caught up on Mad Men

I finally watched the two episodes of "Mad Men" that I missed while on holiday. The season finale is two episodes' away and I still haven't decided how I feel about this show. I love the set design and art direction, but there is very little story. This show is more like a character study than a series with a compelling plot. However, there is one mystery that I want to have answered before the season is over.



You can't see it from this photo, but the character Peggy (who reminds me of my friend Kara for some reason) has been gaining weight over the past few episodes. Speculation on the TV blogs is that she is pregnant. I really hope that isn't the case. She started out as the show's good girl, and I was a bit disappointed when they had her sleep with a married man. Having her get pregnant would be so predictable. It would be more creative if she was getting fat because she was eating to drown her sorrows over being in love with a married jerk. Of course, the writers didn't ask me for my opinion :-). They'll probably go with the pregnancy.

Won't you let me take you on a sea cruise?

I'm back from my cruise to Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, Jamaica and it was great. Once I let myself relax and forget about all our problems at home, I had a blast. It was actually easier to let go than I thought. I was surprised at how quickly I put all my worries behind me and shifted my focus to just what we were doing each day.

I was taken aback by how much I missed the kids. Those of you who have been reading my blog for a long time know that I don't have much of a maternal instinct. I love my kids but I don't miss them a lot when we are separated. In the past when I have taken trips, I was simply happy to be free of my parental responsibilities for a few days. This time, the minute I stepped on the ship I started thinking about how the kids would get a kick out of everything that we saw. Perhaps the kids were on my mind so much because they have finally reached the age where I think of them as people instead of high-maintenance little rugrats :-).

My view of cruises has changed since the first one we took 15 years' ago. To me, a cruise was the kind of vacation that the average person took only once in her lifetime, like going to Paris. Now I realize that the cruise ship is the transportation and the accommodations combined, like a floating hotel. With lines like Carnival bringing prices down within the reach of your average Joe and Jane, it makes sense to cruise more than once.

The woman who organized our cruise had taken the same trip on the same ship 5 years' ago, yet she said this trip was completely different. We were more adventurous than her previous traveling companions and didn't let her sit on the sidelines. Not that we were wild and crazy, but we didn't go to Jamaica looking forward to buying cheap jewelry. In Grand Cayman, we saw the stingrays



and in Ocho Rios we visited Dunn's River Falls.



We stayed up late every night to see the shows on board.



This was more than we did on our first cruise. So cruising doesn't have to be the same experience every time.

Later I'll be doing a more detailed post of what is involved in taking a cruise, including unexpected costs.

Register to win a free Raleigh, NC getaway

Although North Carolina has been my home state for the past 30 years, I have never been to Raleigh. It is the capital city and known in my part of the state as a great place for weekend excursions. The Raleigh Visitors Bureau has set up a website to highlight all the things you can do in the area. There are all sorts of concerts, theatrical performances, museum exhibits, and special shopping events taking place in the Raleigh area over the next few months. One of the highlights is a Celtic Halloween celebration taking place on 27 Oct. After poking around on the site for a few minutes, I'm already psyched about planning a family weekend or maybe a road trip with my gal pals.

The pages for the individual events have a great layout. For instance, if you go to the page for the NC Theatre's production of "Man of La Mancha", you will find more than just dates and times. There is also a list of nearby hotels, restaurants, and other attractions so that you can plan your weekend around the show without running all over town. This is very helpful when you are unfamiliar with a city.

If you go to the site right now, you can register to win a FREE Raleigh getaway. The prize package includes tickets to hotel accommodations, a restaurant gift certificate, and tickets to several attractions including the theater. There is also a Fall Weekends in Raleigh page that will list the upcoming events to help you plan your own Fall Getaway if you don't win one. Good luck!

I'm back!

The world traveler has returned from her tropical adventure! I know you missed me :-). There will be plenty of posts as soon as I decompress.