Ch-ch-changes
We’re rapidly approaching Baby Girl’s first birthday. I cannot believe that it’s been almost a year already. This time last year, we had my brother- and sister-in-law out to visit with Little Guy and were preparing to celebrate the holidays alone in our house, waiting for Baby Girl’s arrival. This year, we’re going to the farm for a week around Christmas, waiting for my husband’s job to start early next year, and Baby Girl and I are holding down the fort. It has been a year filled with changes, good and bad. I know that Newton’s Third Law states that for every reaction, there is an equal and opposite reaction… but I could do with just opposite reactions right now. I don’t need any more equal reactions.
Today, I have to go to my former workplace to pick up some papers and drop some papers off. I’m hoping – most likely in vain – that I don’t run into a few key people. I’ve basically avoided that place like the swine flu (and see how well avoiding the swine flu worked out?) all fall, but I have no choice but to go back today. The main issue that comes up is that I don’t want to face my former colleagues in Super-Intense Program and admit to them that, actually, my life has been noticeably better without SIP. Former colleagues fall into 2 vocal camps: those who empathize with the crappy and inescapable black hole of a job situation in which I was floundering, and those who feel that my leaving means that I just wasn’t up to snuff. (Only the former will get holiday cards, I think.) By going on what is effectively the last day of the work year of 2009 for most at Former Workplace, and doing so at lunchtime, when most of the employees will be hitting the hallways running to escape the end-of-year duties for a while, I hope that I won’t see too many of them. May this quick visit be filled with only those people whom I enjoy and the ability to ignore the jerks.
ETA: It was a much longer visit than I anticipated it being. I kept running into fabulous people – YOUPI! – including former students who were, by chance, there to visit with current SIP students. The only downside was that I had an anxiety attack as I pulled into Former Workplace’s driveway. Seriously. SIP, I love your philosophy, but I was not meant to work for you in that environment.
And lo, the holidays are upon us!
December 17, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: family, gifts, holidays, projects
Heh, the past week has been frantic. Frantic crafting and packing and cleaning and more cleaning and gating off parts of the house that Baby Girl can’t be in (or shouldn’t be in)…
My Project of the Moment is pairs of French Press Felted Slippers (Ravelry link – must be a Ravelry member to get in and see the page). I’m making three pairs for Christmas – one for my husband’s grandmother, one for my mother-in-law and one for my sister-in-law. Grandmother’s pair is done and felted – a little large, but otherwise okay. My mother-in-law’s pair is completely knitted; my sister-in-law’s pair is not yet on needles. Those last two pairs are going to be gifted as-is (not felted). As picky as my sister-in-law is, there’s no point in felting them “to her liking” when her liking changes on a daily basis – I’ll felt them on a day where she can be at the house and try them on and shape them as they dry. Since I’m going to that trouble for her pair, might as well give my mother-in-law the same opportunity, right?
Baking and cooking for the holidays has started up. I have from now until Sunday afternoon to finish anything that will get gifted before the actual date of Christmas. We’ll see how THAT goes.
It hits me this time every year just how awful I am at observing the winter holidays. Each year thus far it’s been because I was teaching and grading and giving finals until the last minute possible. This year, it’s because I’m taking care of a wee one, knitting quite a few projects, and traveling. I much prefer the latter way of things.
FREEZING COLD, YO
December 9, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: EXCITED!!!!!, gifts, holidays, projects
It is cold. I’m dressed for it – I’m ALWAYS dressed for it when the cold weather hits – but the drafty windows in our 90-year-old house make a mockery of central heating. If we were both still working, and if My Husband hadn’t had a nice 6-month work hiatus between “permanent” jobs, we might do something about that next year. Alas, I think we’re going to have to wait a while.
I’m irrationally excited about the swap in which I’m participating this year. My swap partner’s package should arrive at her house tomorrow, and whoever is my secret swap partner should have already sent my package – it should be arriving between now and Friday. I was surprised at how much fun I had shopping for my swappee – I’ll definitely be doing this again next year. Secret Santa swaps have always been kind of crappy when I’ve done them – Girl Scouts, Quiz Bowl, classroom swaps… yeah, they all failed. But knitters? No, we do it right. And I’m going to change the topic because I’m going to fixate on the swap if I don’t change the topic 
Christmas knitting is going really well. I’m loving the variety of projects that I’ve chosen but am secretly appalled that I started knitting on Christmas projects IN JULY and will still not finish everything on time. Oh well. It’s the thought that counts, right? The projects that I’m working on are really pushing me to try things that I’ve not tried before in terms of projects, techniques and yarn/needles. Toys? Check. Felting? Check. Lace? Check. GIANT needles and triple-held yarn? Check. Shaped and fitted knitting? Check. It’s a ton of fun. I’m trying to sneak in swatching for socks on the side but am not really having so much luck in doing so. That can wait, though. (Even though I really want to churn out my very own pair of socks before it warms up again.)
…and because it wouldn’t be Friday without minor disasters…
I’ve come to regard Fridays with deep suspicion. My Husband got laid off on a Friday morning. My students used to choose Fridays as their days to act out and do petty crap that ruined the joy of the coming weekend. Today has proven to be no different.
Yesterday, My Husband, Baby Girl and I got an invitation to join MH’s coworkers for lunch today, on what will be his last day of contract work with Major Industry Player before starting work with Other Major Industry Player. He told me what the vague plan was, and that we’d be meeting for lunch at one of a small cluster of restaurants about twenty minutes from our house, but that he didn’t know what time yet. I agreed, as long as he called in advance to let me know what the definite plan was.
Today, I waited and waited and waited, and no phone call. I ended up going upstairs, changing Baby Girl, and hopping in the shower as lunchtime approached because I still hadn’t gotten a phone call. Lo and behold, in the seven minutes that it took me to get Baby Girl settled in her chair, hop in the shower, and get ready, MH called and said that everyone was meeting at the restaurant in about…. twenty minutes. Well, that’s great and all, but it takes me twenty minutes to GET to the restaurant once I start the car. No consideration for possibly needing to feed the baby, change her diaper, change her clothes, and get her bundled up for extremely cold weather and a chilly car ride. That’s about twenty minutes right there.
So, rather than hacking off nine people whom I’ve never met, I called MH and told him not to expect us. I think what disappoints me most is that I was counting on this lunch to meet a couple of other stay-at-home parents. As winter sets in, it’s getting too cold to go out on walks beyond our block, and I hate going places alone with Baby Girl. It’s such a pain, and I can laugh at any small disasters as long as I’m meeting someone with whom I can commiserate. I can’t handle it when everything goes wrong and I’m alone. I’ve tried La Leche League, and the group that meets closest to where we live is not exactly welcoming or warm. We can’t afford any Gymboree classes ($20 for 45 min. of music instruction that I can give Baby Girl by sitting on the floor with pots and pans and wooden spoons? Nope, sorry), and I haven’t signed us up for Water Babies classes yet because of interrupting events on the dates of scheduled classes.
I was going to write that, well, at least BG is sleeping. But she’s not. She crying and just woke up. I hate Fridays.
About why I’ll probably never watch “Glee”.
My former students rave about the TV show Glee. Many of my adult friends rave about Glee. And I just can’t get behind it. I usually end up being a party-pooper because we don’t have TV, and thus I don’t see that one commercial, or that LAST AT-THE-BUZZER FIELD GOAL, or I miss that bare-it-all interview.
This time, I’m going to be a party-pooper because I don’t think I can stand the concept or watching it be played out in front of me again.
High school was a pretty miserable time for me. I moved three times, requiring me to attend three high schools in three different states. Two of them were high-powered academic machines… and the last one wasn’t. The counselor at the last school laughed at me when I showed him my class plan for my junior and senior years, sprinkled with a total of six AP classes. “Oh, you’re going to have to revise that,” he said. “We only have one AP class here.” (I ended up forcing them to let me take my world language class as AP, which they then turned around and used in their district promotional materials in a very twisted way.) I was smart as hell, but paid dearly for letting my geeky side shine. By the time I got to my junior year, I gave up on the appearance of propriety and embraced my intelligence, outspokenness, and drive. I had no history, and it was far more entertaining to outshine and shock the bumpkins than it was to take the move with stoicism. I joined the academic team, becoming the only girl to play varsity squad during my two-year stint. I was on the drumline and became its section leader, getting the rest of the drumline chewed out in front of the band because I took initiative and tried out for district and regional bands, and because I stepped it up and they wouldn’t make the effort to match. I excelled in physics (though for the life of me, I don’t know how), world language, and English. And the student body just kind of watched in shock as I did all that, and then the shock turned to sour grapes because, really, who was that new girl who came in and took over, when THEY by rights should have had all those accolades? (Another girl in my class who also happened to be in drumline came in one day and said, “Hey, I didn’t know that your dad [worked in a certain capacity in a local health facility].” “Yeah.” “Why didn’t you say anything about it?” “It’s not relevant to anything that has ever come up in band or in conversation.” “Oh. Well, see, if you had mentioned it earlier, I would have been SO much nicer to you earlier!” Seriously. That was an amazing moment.)
When I taught, I had plenty of the “in crowd” in my classes. They sneered at other students when we shared a joke about a sci-fi movie or TV series that we both happened to enjoy. I didn’t teach traditionally, so my assignments were “stupid and useless.” They lorded their special status over other students and teachers, as did some of their parents. When I challenged them, they walked off and laughed… or they went to administration and told them I was not being fair.
So watching a TV show about the geeks who get smacked down and teased by the popular “in” crowd for their passion and outsider status? Not something I care to relive, even if they do have catchy music.
A touch of tradition for the holidays
December 3, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: family, gifts, holidays, homebody, mistakes, organization, projects
In honor of the winter snap that has descended upon the Midwest, I’ve changed things up a bit. I’ll change it back to the usual greenery once we ring in 2010. Also, you’re not seeing things. There’s some snow falling on the page.
As I finish watching the last DVD in this season of Homicide: Life on the Street, I’m knitting on some Christmas hats for my brother-in-law and father-in-law. Blaze-ish orange fold-up brims, camo-ish green hat bodies. I’ve finished one toy project, one accessory project, and am panicking on how to finish the rest on time. I had to frog my sister’s lace shawl all the way back to nothing five times, finally electing to say “screw YOU” to the pattern and purchasing a new one. I’m excited about the new slipper pattern that I bought – I’ll be making 3 pairs for relatives-in-law, and then a very cool pair for myself that will go with my hand-knit socks.
But what has really brought me a measure of odd calm, a measure of connectedness and tradition, has been a gift that my mom brought me from my grandmother’s house on her last trip out there. For the past forty years or so, in the back of my mom’s childhood room’s closet, has been sitting a wooden sugar bucket. Not just any old bucket that someone bought at an antique store, not something that someone bought at a garage sale, but a wooden sugar bucket with a history. It was my great-grandmother’s, brought back from the room that served as a sort of predecessor to assisted living in the 1960s; she took a room in the nurses’ wing of the teaching hospital where she had taught and worked for many years. When she passed away during my mom’s seventh-grade year, a moving van arrived with the contents of the room. My mom got the furniture for her room: a very old-fashioned bed that needs ropes strung up around pegs to serve as a foundation for the mattress instead of box springs, an old dresser, a jewelry box, and some sundries. Among those sundries was a sugar bucket.
The sugar bucket was my great-grandmother’s knitting basket. There are lots of things that Great-Grandmother RW put dates on, but there’s nothing written on this one; when she got it is anyone’s guess. My mom remembers that Great-Grandmother RW kept her yarn and knitting needles in there, always at her side. And on this frigid, clear December night, my yarn and needles are in there, preparing gifts for my family for this holiday season. I never met Great-Grandmother RW, but I’ve never felt more connected to her than I do tonight.
Hold on…. just a sec…. I don’t need the answer yet…
December 1, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: anecdotes, EXCITED!!!!!, family, homebody, NPR
So when we got home from Thanksgiving break, I briefly saw that there were messages flashing on the answering machine. Yesterday was kind of crazy, so I just got around to listening to the messages today. I remember distinctly thinking yesterday, “Yeah, what if THIS is the time that ‘Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!’ chooses to call and I’m not home?” I wrote to them a few weeks ago and said that this will be the chance for me to avenge my high school Quiz Bowl wrongs (LONG story, but My Husband and I were on varsity Quiz Bowl together, and he robbed me of quite a few All-Tournament medals). Sure, My Husband may have All-Tournament medals, but I’m hoping that my brief time on WWDTM will score me an answering machine message from Carl Casell. FTW.
Well, as it turns out, that actually happened. I called the wonderfully peppy and friendly and funny Emily back today, and I will be on the show sometime before the end of the year. (If you know me, get in touch with me and I’ll tell you when exactly.) I’m totally geeking out over this.
Oh, and My Husband got one official job offer and one suggestion to send in a resumé for immediate consideration. So that was kind of eventful, too 
Let the games begin
November 30, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: bloggerhood, family, gifts, holidays, homebody, NaBloPoMo, projects
NaBloPoMo, I wanted to make you work. I really wanted to participate. But I failed, mainly because you fall during Thanksgiving, which means a week-long trek with either dial-up Internet or a massively shared computer that does not lend itself to blogging.
Today is the first day following Thanksgiving, and I have approximately 3 weeks to finish my holiday gifts. I’m a little worried about this. I have two completed and a list of approximately 15 to finish. My favorite thus far is the pig toy, though. No doubt about it, it’s cute, easy, and best of all, a one-skeiner using size 5 needles and Berroco Comfort (at least the way I knit). We should really take our Christmas photo and get cards ordered. We do have gift ideas either bought or in process for what we’ve decided to buy in stores. For my parents, we’re getting a Toshiba media frame so that they don’t have to mess with going to Flickr at random intervals to get our newest photos of Baby Girl. We Sisters are pitching in to get my dad a recliner and my mom a triple picture frame for all of our wedding portraits. For My Husband’s parents, we’re getting them a digital photo frame as well.
Thanksgiving break itself was largely boring and somewhat frustrating. I’m several years older than my sisters, and we have vastly different viewpoints on life and how things should be done. Since Baby Girl is refusing to sleep right now, and because I don’t feel like rehashing all of the crap, I won’t enter into details of this year’s clashes. Suffice it to say that I do not suffer fools gladly, nor those who believe in keeping up appearances despite what reason, logic, and common sense dictate.
And finally, don’t take this personally, but those who have holiday decorations up, AND cards printed/written/addressed/sent, AND all presents bought and wrapped? I’m not talking to you.
Various musings
November 20, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: anecdotes, family, gifts, kid-things, NaBloPoMo, travel
I am SO glad that our life this year permits us to take an ENTIRE WEEK off and travel to see family. I haven’t done that since my first senior year in college, seven years ago. (My undergrad university inexplicably – and wonderfully – gave everyone the week off.) We’re headed to the North Central Great Plains for Thanksgiving this year, as are my siblings and their husbands/significant others. We’re going to be packed in the house pretty tightly. Joining us this year will be my maternal grandmother, who has been living with my folks since February, as well as my late great-aunt’s teacup poodle. Baby Girl vs. Teacup Poodle grudge matches will abound if we’re not paying close enough attention. (The poodle is elderly, so it will not fight quite as hard as the cat.)
Baby Girl is doing some serious exploring and mimicking. I am convinced that the cat has taught her to lower her head and cock it at a fetching angle while looking for things. She is no longer content to crawl around her lounge chair, preferring instead to crawl through the small tunnel created by the angle of the lounge chair butting up against the wall. If you catch her at the right time of day, and in the right environment, she will start waving upon being prompted with a “goodbye” of some sort. And this morning, as I was getting ready, it hit me that she is almost exactly half as tall as I am. Our little girl is growing up so quickly…
And finally, I’m kicking some serious knitting butt getting ready for the holidays. Our nephew and his parents live across the highway from my in-laws’ hog farm, so of course, he’s developed an affection for most things porcine. The stuffed pig toy of which I spoke a few posts ago? Half done. And I started it on Monday. This is incredible progress for me. I’ll have to put a couple of pictures up here when I get everything uploaded.
On poetry
November 19, 2009
Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: family, homebody, kid-things, NaBloPoMo, reading
I realized today that I have made a huge shift in my reading habits over the past few months. It’s mostly because of Baby Girl, and it has opened up a new reading life for me. I dreaded poetry in my pre-child life. It seemed so unattainable, so hoity-toity, so pretentious. The closest I got to poetry growing up was memorizing “Paul Revere’s Ride” – badly – for extra credit in fifth grade. I preferred lighter fare – Gone With the Wind, Dickens, Victor Hugo. (Okay, yes, I read Victor Hugo as a sophomore in high school. This apparently made quite an impression on teachers, to the point where, when I accidentally left my copy of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in my French classroom, I went back to get it and my teacher said, “I thought that might be yours.”)
And now, I find that I avoid pat the bunny, the Blue’s Clues books, picture books… and I pick up a book of poetry instead when I want to read to Baby Girl. We’ve started perusing Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs and Lullabies; The Llama Who Had No Pajama; and Where the Sidewalk Ends. Partially, it’s because these are bite-sized, baby-attention-span-sized bits of literature; partially, it’s because she responds to the rhythm of the words. And, for my end of things, it’s helped me rediscover my love of language and wordplay. I pun unapologetically and mercilessly, but being bilingual, I feel like I’ve lost some English vocabulary. It has been so lovely for me to read through poems with Baby Girl and then rush to the dictionary to look up yet another word that I can’t recall. I hope that love of language and words will rub off on Baby Girl and any subsequent kids, both in French and in English.
