Finishing

I have been knitting like crazy lately. Wait! I always knit like crazy! Perhaps I have been finishing things up like crazy, which has me feeling like I am knitting more than usual.

Here is the round-up of things that I have finished in the past month or so:

1. 3 pairs of mittens for Afghans for Afghans. (Yes, I am aware that there are only two pairs shown here. The other pair is waiting to be felted in the washing machine, before it gets it's photo shoot.)

2. An Owl Sweater for my mom. This is the first attempt at getting the sweater to fit, since I am having to improvise without her being here to try it on. The first attempt met with some success. It fits in the chest, tummy and hips, but the sleeves are too tight, and the neckline is a little too wide for her preference. It is coming back in the mail for a do-over, and hopefully we will get some finished pictures of her wearing it after that. You'll have to deal with photos of it on the couch for right now. I'm a total nerd, but really how cool are those cables that look like owls.

3. I finished up a pair of French Press Slippers

for myself. Mine turned out beautifully, but too narrow for my wide feet. They may get another go in hot water and be given away as a gift to some lucky someone, while I tweek the pattern for my fat feet.

4. A lace scarf to match my bright green wool coat. This was the project that I started when FIL was here, and I made an escape to the yarn store. I am totally enchanted by the color changes in the yarn, and I am amazed that something this beautiful and relaxing cost me only $6.

On the needles now, I have a pair of Monkey Socks, and a Vernal Equinox Shawl, (this photo is not mine, as mine is still in progress, and really looks like a pile of crap, right now) which I hope to have done before the Ravolympics start on February 18th. More to follow about Ravolympics later.

A Few Things I Learned This Weekend

So, my father-in-law came into town from Florida this weekend. The circumstances surrounding his visit were weird, and I had 3 days notice that he was coming. I am not a housekeeper, though I try to keep things clean, they are very cluttered without a lot of effort on my part.

During the process of the visit, I learned a few things.

1. For some reason Ethan's grandpa could not resist making any animal noise that we were trying to get Ethan to say. This is one of our favorite distractions for Ethan when he gets bored in the car, but when we'd try it, there would be grandpa, barking like a dog, neighing like a horse, and bleating like a goat. I've learned that we must select animals that grandpa doesn't know the sound of, or choose those which will entertain us the most when grandpa says them.

2. In the event that I have to escape from the house, I can entertain myself for $12 or less, for a few hours. I left Sunday afternoon out of frustration, and found myself without any knitting, an extremely busy library, and $13 in my wallet. I wound up at The Studio, no knitting needles, no yarn, no pattern. I found some beautiful fingering weight yarn, some needles and worked out a little pattern in my head, and was taking the edge of my frustration in no time flat. Biggest lesson, I should always have at least $12 in my wallet when things are likely to be overwhelming.

3. My mother-in-law is much more like me than I'd previously thought. If you've known me for very long, you know that I can get away with pranks and such because people think I am quiet and innocent. My mother-in-law has this way of appearing very trustworthy by remaining quiet, drawing you into conversation by sharing her secrets and stories, just so that you'll share things with her. I've learned that you must beware. She will throw you under the bus.

4. No matter what I do, I will always have to wash every single bed linen in the guest room after the visit. I've hidden all decorative pillows, leaving only the comforter, the flat and fitted sheet and two pillows on the bed. I even turned down the sheets, and still, he slept between the flat sheet and the comforter. I just need to learn to deal with this.

5. There must be some advantage that I am unaware of to removing dirty dishes from the sink, and placing them on the counter, on top of the dishwasher. Not in the dishwasher, but on it. I see this as a waste of time, but clearly it does something, because the second I place a dirty dish in the sink, it is re-stacked on the counter. Another thing I can't understand, but should just learn to deal with.

I'm sure that I have learned more things I really didn't need to know, but these are the most obvious, and those that I can look at with some humor.

New Year's Resolutions

I'm happy that I didn't choose to include "Do not Procrastinate" as one of my resolutions for the year, since I have been procrastinating on putting the resolutions in print. Something about that makes it real, and almost as if I have to complete it, which, when you see the resolutions, you will understand, just may not be possible.

Here goes:

1. I am going to lose weight. Specifically, I'd like to lose 50-75 pounds over the course of the year. Since I don't have a scale, I am actually making my goal in terms of clothing sizes. My stretch goal is a size 8, but I'd be really happy to wear a 12 by the end of the year. I am doing this in small steps, starting one new habit per month. In January, I am going to be working on eating a portion controlled healthy breakfast and morning snack. In February, I will be starting to do cardio exercises for 90 minutes per week. In March, I am going to add lunch and an afternoon snack to my portion controlled meals. The other months are still to be determined, but I plan on controlling all meals, snacks, and working out 5 days per week. After those are accomplished, I will work on toning exercises for the remainder of the year.

2. Yarn diet. I have fairly substantial yarn stash, and I am going to knit with it, before buying new yarn. Once the stash is gone, all bets are off, and I can re-build again, if I so choose.

3. Get us out of credit card debt. We are currently carrying a balance of $13000. It may take more than a year, but we are going to work very hard at getting out of this in one year. That is a little over $800 dollars more per month that we have to find in our already tight budget, but after we are out of it, we should be in a much better position to go forward. We will be controlling spending in all categories, have refinanced the house to lower the payment, planning grocery bills and medical expenses, forgoing a new car, etc. I am not sure we will make it, but we have to try.

4. Figure out a way to not owe the IRS money at tax time ever again! Based on my Bible reading, I try not to complain about paying taxes, however, I do feel that taxes, at least in our current tax law, are a game, and those who figure it out get to keep more of their money, and those who don't get suckered. We will be honest about income and deductions, but I am absolutely going to find every deduction that we are entitled to. Part of the reason we are in credit card debt is paying income tax each year at tax time, in addition to what we have already paid in, and it can't continue, if we are going to meet our goals.

So, this is going to be a challenging year, but I am motivated to accomplish these resolutions. I keep imagining how it will feel when we turn the calendar to 2011, and we are in much better physical and financial shape because of our resolve.