A Look at Today

This morning, Maggie had herself a think on my lap. Is it time to get up? Maybe? And be fed again?

Also this morning, I took my car in to the place that will check your tire pressure, because my tires started to sound funny driving home from knitting last night, thwack-whack-whack, and I thought maybe the cooler weather had changed the pressure too much (it was probably 80 on Sunday, and about 55 this morning). It wasn't as loud this morning, but better check.

They did need air, but the man looked at one of them and said, "I know what you were hearing. You have a razor blade in your tire." A what? yes, really.

He said that if it had gone all the way in, I would likely have needed a whole new one, but apparently it only got stuck in the edge*. Whew! What a lucky person I am today.

*He sprayed the tire with liquid, before and after removing the razor blade, and saw no air bubbles. I will of course be watching closely, both the tire and the warning light.

In also-pleasant news, while it might not have been hot weather today, the sun was mostly out! Her highness greatly approves of sunshine on her box.

In other totally unrelated news, I recently took advantage of a small sale and picked up one of my favorite webcomics, Questionable Content, in book form. Fun to read, and look, a rainbow!

Not only do I enjoy reading it from the beginning, but at least in the first book, the artist put a little note on each page, which gives a fun glimpse into his mindset and what he remembers, or doesn't, about the early strips. And of course, Volume 1 is from the beginning, 2003, which is (checks calendar) a long time ago! His drawing style has changed a ton, but the characters are still themselves.

I'm going to have to make more room on my comics shelf. Between Girl Genius, Drive, Digger, Sheldon, and now QC, plus a few other much-loved odds and ends, it's close to a full shelf.

I also own the giant Doonesbury treasury, which is too big for this shelf, and then I have some smaller books of this and that, so I may well tweak some more. We'll see. It's a fun project to contemplate.

Wait, How Many Years?? And a Question. Well, Two Questions

(If you missed last night, the elevator is working again! Eight days and 55 flights of stairs later, but so far, it's working. I will admit to driving home last night [after Mom's PT, dinner, and a few groceries] and wondering if it would still work, but it did.)

The Yarn Harlot posted that it's 20 years since she started her blog, and it got me thinking. I started this blog in part from being inspired by reading hers, and a few others. That was in August 2006, which was ... (does math, checks it because that can't be right) ... 17 and a half years ago? How? 

Blogger helpfully tells me that when I publish this post, it will be number 4,159. So (opens calculator for this one), that would be an average of 237.66 posts per year, or roughly two-thirds of the year.

Well. It makes a person think.

So, first question: How long have you been reading here, do you remember? 

Second, completely unrelated question: Help me brainstorm an answer to this question on the Upward Feedback review of my boss: "What would you like your manager to do more of?"

I don't mind BSing it a bit, it doesn't have to be 100% sincere, but it needs to be convincing. I don't think HR would like a jokey answer (he should be sending me chocolate more often, for instance), and I don't want to get my boss in deep with anything. There's another question, "Does your manager have any areas of improvements that you feel they need support on?" but that one is yes/no, and I'm just going to say no. This one is less easy to opt out of.

We've worked together for nine years now, and I know he's not going to change in terms of things like being perfect at tracking what comes in, noticing emails when they arrive, etc. He is a good manager in some ways: he filters out the shit coming from above us, and embraces the flexibility that's possible with our jobs. He has flaws, but nothing I can think of to work into this answer. 

I hate review season. 

I also hate Summit Broadband. Midday today, the wifi went out, and it will come back if I unplug the router and plug it back in, but it goes down again 20 minutes later. We have a service call tomorrow, but tonight, watching the Bruins game is choppy. Always something, isn't it?

It’s Working!

The elevator! It works! Rejoice with me!

The Difference Between Liking Knitting and LOVING Knitting

When I wrote about the trip to the yarn store earlier this month, I did show the project I was working on, but I haven't written much, recently at least, about the project itself, and specifically, how much I loved working on it. That is, I did mention it back in mid-December, but who remembers that? (Not me, without searching for it.) Suffice it to say that I really loved working on it. Really-really.

One night at knitting group, I spread it out to see:

Another day, working on it through a meeting (that had nothing to do with my specific job, so I was listening but didn't need to pay heavy attention).

Just so pretty! I was weighing the yarn toward the end, to make sure I would have enough left for the second edging repeat and the bind-off, and the pinkish yarn you see there is where I put in a lifeline in case my calculations were wrong.

Happily, they were not, and I bound the shawl off and laid it out before blocking. Those matts are 2 feet wide, so it was maybe 3 feet wide as laid out here.

Then it went for a soak!

And got pinned out! Four-plus feet now.

And spread out off the matts.

It's so lovely, and I'm so happy with it. The one thing I would change is to have started with the blue end, instead of the red, because I had a small amount of blue yarn left and hate to not have used it. But that's okay. Live and learn. That's just one small piece of a project that I otherwise really loved--not just the end result, not just the yarn, not just that I was knitting, but specifically knitting exactly this pattern.

I loved the pattern so much, in fact, that I got another by the designer, Nim Teasdale, this one called Illumine. I have another long-color-change yarn, from Wendy's Wonders, and I wound it up to use.

A different rainbow this time!

It's growing along and I am just as happy with it. 

So far, so purple.

I picked it up the other day and was amused to watch it twisting on the needle like this:

So, on it goes, happily. 

Bad Word, Bad Word

I mentioned in my menopause post being upset when the elevator went out of order: it wasn't working when we got home Monday, and after the company came Tuesday (Monday having been a holiday), they said it would be Wednesday or Thursday before it would be fixed. 

Then on Thursday, they said the part* would come in on Friday.
*Ominous foreshadowing: "the" part

This morning, word was that the part would be here later today, and they had authorized overtime so that the elevator could be fixed tonight or tomorrow.

Then, late afternoon today, aka Friday (it's still Friday):

"We have received one of two necessary parts for the elevator.  The other will not be in until Monday and installed on Tuesday."

The other part! When did that happen? Who is being incompetent here?

#$*!%&*! Fuck!

I went down yesterday, to take the trash down and bring the mail up, and I had to give myself a pep talk to walk back up the five flights. Listening to my knee grinding turns out to be even worse than just feeling it is.

Also, if they don't stop thanking me for my patience, my brain is going to explode. I was slightly patient on Monday, less so on Tuesday, and by now, I am fully 180 degrees away, at whatever the diametric opposite of patient is.

Meanwhile, Maggie

I appreciate the comments on my recent menopause post; it's good to feel the support of others who have been there or are there.

Meanwhile, is it time once more to appreciate Maggie? We can't do that too often!

Is It Hot In Here?

Sometime in maybe November, I started noticing that I would suddenly be hot for a few minutes, when I wasn't "doing" anything. Sitting on the couch reading, and suddenly sweaty? Was this the start of the mythical hot flashes?

As of mid-January, I am saying yes, yes it is. And while it does somewhat suck, also: I am 55 years old, it's about effing time to get into menopause. I mean, not that I WANT to be having hot flashes! But I have been ready to be done with periods for years now. Let's go, let's get this over with. (I know, I know, no guarantees...let me have the fantasy for now.)

I saw my gynecologist in December, just checking in on things, and she asked if I was having any symptoms yet. I told her that I wasn't sure, because everyone was saying, when you get hot flashes you will know, you will have no doubt! and I just wasn't sure*. She said that there's a range of symptoms and a scale of severity, and that it could be for me, this was what I would get. And I said, if that was all, hey, I'd be giving thanks for that!

*Or as I told her, "I have doubt."

A month later, I think it's safe to say I have no doubt. I'm having to wear layers so I can cool off quickly, and I am already so tired of taking things off and putting them back on (I often feel briefly chilled right before a flash, so I guess my system is really out of whack). I see her for my annual exam in April, so it will be interesting to see what else there is to talk about, what will happen before then.

What's frustrating to me, as a person who likes answers and rules and to understand what's happening and why, is that there are so many maybes to this stage of life. I was talking to friends last night about how I have to write down everything, and even then good luck remembering if I don't look at what I wrote, and I realized that brain fog could be part of menopause for me. 

And then, what about pointless rage? I remember that from the time when I was on steroids, and would suddenly be livid about something that, even then, I realized was nothing much. I do feel very short-tempered lately, and had been putting it down to, you know, the last six months of stress with Mom's health etc., but it could be the hormones are, if not causing, at least not helping the situation. Who knows?

More generally, I just feel like my emotions are closer to the surface than usual. We got home yesterday (Mom had a doctor's routine appointment, then we ran some errands) and found that the elevator was out of order. After all the work that's gone into it in the last few years! I was more mad and fed up than anything (well, and worried about Mom climbing the stairs, which was hard on her, but she managed). But today they let us know that the company has to order parts to fix it, so it will be a few days, and I teared up. And yes, it's upsetting, but not usually something that would make me cry...I don't know.

They really need a plug-in diagnostic for humans. You know how you take your car to the mechanic and they plug it in and can see what system is the problem? I want one like that. Here's what wrong, here's what you can do to help. Now there's a fantasy.

Hello

Movie, Book, Yarn

Movies: I've enjoyed the commentary on the latest movie ratings post. As I commented there, I so rarely go to the movies, but I love the ratings anyway. And hey, I am going to the movies this month: we're going to see The Wizard of Oz in the theater! Thank you, Fathom Events. 

When I was a kid, we would watch the movie when it was on TV once a year, and I remember bringing my pillow with me so I could hide my face when the witch was on, she scared me so. My mother says she isn't sure she's seen it all the way through--I suppose she was moving around doing things rather than actually sitting down and watching. It will be interesting to see what she remembers. I'm looking forward to seeing it go from Kansas to Oz in bright color on the big screen.

Books: I just read a book that I had heard about via more than one blog, In Love by Amy Bloom, so if you've written about it recently, take credit. 

Warning, this book is very sad. You only have to read the description to know it will be. But it's moving and heartwarming and just so beautifully written. If you can read the precis and not recoil, then try it.

Mind you, I am returning it to my library with a note:

Why is this categorized under her husband's last name instead of hers?

I can't imagine how they came up with that. Her name is on the cover, and I checked, the book is also copyrighted under her name ... so who decided to change that? I'm giving some serious stink-eye to my otherwise beloved library here.

Yarn: In addition to the vast haul I got at the yarn store, I recently got some yarn that I ordered all the way from Australia! Yeah, just around 9,000 miles away, no biggie, right?

I hadn't heard of Birdhouse Fibres before, but I follow some yarn-related hashtags on Instagram and saw a photo from them there, so I clicked on through. 

Mind you, I am very cautious about ordering yarn online that I haven't encountered in person before. In addition to the question of how colors show up in photos, I have been to enough festivals and yarn stores where I have touched something beautiful and found it to be too firm/harsh for me. So the first thing I looked at wasn't the yarn per se, but the info about their yarn bases.

The didn't have a separate page for that (some do, some don't), but I found that, while there was nothing with cashmere in it*, they listed both Ultra Sock and Squish Sock, both of which are 85/15 Merino/nylon. Ultra is described as "bouncy and durable" while Squish is "soft and luxurious"--ding, ding, we have a winner! I'm willing to take a chance on that.

*Always what I look for first; I've never touched yarn containing cashmere, even just 10%, that didn't meet my so-soft standards.

I looked through the available colors, considering this combo and that, before deciding on a set where I felt good about how well they would go together (sometimes I manage that on my own, but sometimes they don't go together as well as I thought they would). For the distance it traveled, it really didn't take that long to arrive, and it is SO soft!

And beautiful.

Time for More Movie Ratings! November, December, Start of January

It's been a while since I did these! If you're new, though I live in Florida now, I still read the Boston Globe, and I discovered at some point that their movie reviews add often hilarious notes to the ratings of new movies, so I started sharing them here.

Onward!

1.

Okay, okay...what?

2.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.

3.

My goodness, PDA in a Trolls movie?

4.

In this one, the notes aren't really funny, but my eye fell on this sentence in the review itself:

Oof!

5.

This one isn't funny either, but they could just have written "No, this is not the movie for you, ccr" and stopped there.

6.

Another one that isn't really funny, but the review, whoa:

I don't usually read the reviews themselves, but that's some kind of scathing.

7. This one isn't from the Globe, but the headline in my local paper caught my eye.

Another oof!

8.

I understand why they want to specify which version they reviewed, but I don't think that should be part of the rating--I assume that the subtitled and dubbed versions would get rated the same. Wouldn't they? Thoughts on that?

9.

Vocabulary word! And what a word it is. Ahem.

10.

Around the world?

11.

That's one where the rating is good but the headline might be better.

12.

Watch out, there's language!

13.

Unless that's a typo, wow, half a star! Not even one star, but half!

So...have you seen any good movies lately?

Road Trip! Yarn Store!

I'm getting used to living in a seasonal destination, and that a lot of my friends who are snowbirds are only here for "season." My group of knitting friends is about 80% not here in the summer, but while they are here, we have weekly meetups, a monthly lunch, and once a season, we travel to another city to visit a yarn store. Yesterday was this season's trip, and we went over to the east coast to visit the wonderful Sheep Thrills. Details:

To start, it tells you how much I wanted to do this that I was willing to set my alarm on a weekend, particularly after last week being full of rude awakenings. To be up and out of the house by 8, well, you see.

There were nine of us traveling, so we went in two cars, meeting up by geographical grouping. I was delighted for some sitting and knitting and chatting time--next time it has to be my turn to drive, but oh, I appreciated not driving this time. We met the others, and one more friend who was on the east coast already, for brunch at First Watch (yum), and then headed to the store.

I had such fun shopping! Most of the group is much more disciplined than I am about buying with a purpose--for this pattern or that, they look for the yarn they need--whereas my purchase "plan" is pretty much, look how pretty! Feel how soft! And since I was fresh off Christmas and Mom's go-have-fun-money gift, I went wild. As you can see.

I made my own rainbow!

(They gave us a discount, too, which was super nice of them. And in case you're wondering, of the group, I bought the most--I win!)

Funnily enough, the only photos I took at the store were in the bathroom. How you know you're in a yarn store's bathroom:

We stopped at a Dunkin Donuts before heading west again, and were tickled that they have a conference room for rent. How funny to have meetings there!

The drive home featured some weather, yuck.

But we got through it and home safely. And I made a lot of progress on my shawl, which I think is beautiful even from the wrong side and crumpled into the knitting bag.

Someone was unimpressed by my being out all day.

But she came around.