My Happy Things Friday

Hi, Elisabeth, you have inspired me again to look for happy things!

• My friend Mary Ellen gave me a lovely bar of soap as part of my Christmas gifts, and I liked it so much I ordered more from the same place, Center Street Soap. It's lovely! It feels smooth, smells nice (but without lingering so that I smell it actively all day long, I don't like that), and the bars are even aesthetically appealing. Pretty!

I bought a sampler pack, what they call travel size. Isn't it clever of them to use their ends this way? And I get to try lots of different ones. Win win.

Pretty bars.

And pretty packaging.

They also sent a few samples!

• Next thing making me happy: the right tools for the job. I've been happy with the shawl I'm knitting, but I got notably happier when I changed two things.
  I use interchangeable needles when I'm making a project like this that will grow. The only needles that I had in the size I needed were dark green, which is not ideal with a darker yarn, and the short cord I used was black, not ideal for counting stitches in that dark yarn, especially in low light.

So I ordered a set of light-colored needle tips, and switched to a longer orange cord.

So much easier to see! I was enjoying the project before, but it feels even better with the right tools.

• Stretching and movement: About 18 months ago, I joined the online stretch class that I learned about from NGS, which is a simple, 15-minute stretch class three days a week on Zoom; the healthcare system that runs it is in Wisconsin, but they let me in! I do think it helps me get a little more limber and flexible, but the other thing it does is make me think about other opportunities in my day for movement. I drink a lot of water, so I can move around while filling my water bottle: it's only a minute, but every little bit helps. Similarly, when I get in the shower it takes a minute or two for the water to warm up, might as well be fidgeting in that time! I've just started another video class, a chair yoga session, so we'll see if that sticks with me. But it makes me glad that I'm trying to do this, since I gave up on the water aerobics for now.
• Maybe I shouldn't be happy about this one, since it's not a great story, but the end of it does amuse me. This story was in the paper recently, about a lawmaker whose outfit was photoshopped by a news station:

They tried to claim that the changes were made by "automation by Photoshop" and Adobe was like, oh honey, no we did not. When Adobe is countering your argument? I have to laugh.

• Also liking: cardigans and zip-up sweatshirts... because they are easier to whip off* when I have a hot flash than over-the-head sweaters/sweatshirts...

*I am already so, so tired of taking layers off and putting them back on, again and again, words cannot express.

•  ...and wool clothing, because it doesn't get soggy and smelly when I sweat (sorry, that sounds gross, but you know, here I am, keeping it real in hot flash city). I have a couple of Woolx shirts already, and just got another one (thank you, eBay, where they aren't cheap but aren't list price either). It hangs better on me than on the hanger, I do think.

A friend has also recommended the Wool& brand, so I'm looking into those as well. They're the ones who do the 100 Day Dress Challenge, if you've heard about that. I haven't yet dug deeply into how well they do on plus sizes; I see they have some, but maybe not much? At least in stock right now?

If you're thinking of wool as stiff and itchy, you need to check out what they can do now. Soft, light, and breathable. You also don't have to wash it every time you wear it, either, since it doesn't get all rumpled and doesn't smell bad. Try that with a cotton shirt in Florida. What I have found is: it's not cheap, but it can be worth it. I want to get some leggings, too. And maybe a nightshirt, as I've been sleeping in one of the shirts I have.

In my experience, it's easier to shop by brand than to look just for wool, in part because that will bring up everything with 5% wool, or that is described as "wooly" but not actually wool. (Also, word of warning on eBay, I'm seeing a lot of listings that say shipping from China.) So if you have any brands to recommend, let me know!

• One last thing that's helping with menopause: I dug out a fan to use when, for example, I have a cat on a blanket on my lap and get a hot flash (which tests my love for Maggie on my lap, for sure). I bought this fan from a vendor at a market in Hawaii in 2006: she was sitting in the tent, weaving these and hats.

It has held up remarkably well. Very flexible, gives a good breeze.

What's making you happy today?

Updates on This and That

Just some random things!

• Now that gifts have been gifted (over a month ago, but whatever), I have a couple of things to share. A pair of mitts I knit for Mary Ellen, of which I apparently only took this one photo before they went in for a soak? How unlike me. Just because I wasn't putting up photos of them at the time didn't mean I couldn't take photos, but apparently?

(Yes, yes, it is possible that one is slightly longer than the other. I'm sure it was just the angle. Or that they needed to be blocked. Pretend you don't see anything, please.)

Oh, wait, I took another picture earlier when I was trying one on.

Anyway, done and received so now can be revealed. The pattern is Ribbed Mitts by Adrienne Ku (Ravelry), and the yarn is Merino/nylon Sock from Out of Step Dyeworks, colorway Black Rose, held doubled. They feel nice and cozy, I think.

• I gave a few Javasoks to friends, and got a few for myself, and wanted to share about those. I love the Bruins ColdCupSok I got for myself; I carry it with me to use in restaurants (I wouldn't pull it out in a really nice restaurant, but I don't go to those often). I got the small size, since not all glasses are tall enough to need the larger sizes, and it works like a charm at keeping my drink, a) cold enough not to melt the ice right away, and b) not dripping on me, which is a thing I hate. (Don't get me started on how Outback has switched to these big, heavy mugs for soda, which have handles so I can't use the cover, and which weigh a freaking ton, thanks a lot, Outback, not everyone who wants a Coke is asking for a workout to go with it.)
• I also got a Bruins CanSok for home use, but with my bad hands I find that a little harder to get on the can than other similar items I have, so I'm not using it frequently. Would doubtless be better for those without arthritis, as I'm sure it does a great job at keeping the can cool. I'll be more likely to use it if I'm bringing a can with me and going out, or traveling.
• Finally, if you too will sometimes eat ice cream straight out of the pint, may I introduce you to the IceCreamSok? Keeps your hands from freezing, keeps the ice cream colder longer...it's a win!
• If you do decide to get some, watch for sales. I got a pre-Black-Friday deal in November, but just about the next six weeks were deals like buy 5, get 5 free, and then in January it was all 30% off. Don't pay full price if you can wait, is my advice. Or if you're in a rush, check out their sale section; they change designs a lot, so out with the old.
• I still love my new purse! So far, I have been pretty good at not filling it to capacity, which is preferable because it is on the larger side, and gosh it weighs enough when it isn't crammed full. One change I made, which I don't think I wrote about, was to get a new strap. Not only was the original one crossbody, which I don't want to use that way and would always get tangled in, but the material was actually quite slippery--as if I don't already have trouble keeping the strap on my shoulder! It was crazy. So I found a leather worker on etsy, Feature Leather Goods, and ordered an over-the-shoulder-length strap (measuring another bag I have that I like the length of, to know which size to get). It works so well! It's really well made, feels solid but not stiff, and just suits my needs so much better that I barely feel a pang for the pretty hardware on the other one--no good if it won't stay on my shoulder, no matter how pretty. 

• Seeing The Wizard of Oz on the big screen was indeed something I enjoyed! Mom stood firm that she had not seen it before, and she also admitted she didn't particularly like it, but she often says she would rather go to things she might not like than not go, so it wasn't at all a slam against me for wanting to go.

Going to the movies has changed since I was younger, though. I just got popcorn.

• I have been able to make the switch to not getting my hair wet when I first get in the shower, so I am dealing with much less water-dripping-into-my-eyes now, which I love! It doesn't exactly feel natural, I still have to think about it, but hey, changing conditioned reflexes is hard.
• Last summer, just before Mom fell and sent us spinning down the path we are still on (path isn't quite right; wild river currents leading to a giant waterfall, maybe?), I wrote about going to call AAA about my flat tire and the card said my membership had expired. I had a vague idea I would call them to re-up, but that has not happened. This week, though, two things happened. 
• First was the whole razor-in-the-tire thing, which made me wonder just how much of a PITA it would be if I needed to be towed.
• Second, I got mail two days in a row offering me special deals on insurance as a AAA member. Which, am I, though?
• So I finally called, and the very nice woman said that yes, my membership is still in good standing (which I do not understand how, but oh good), and even offered to add my mother as a free member on my account, which gives us more service calls in a year than I get alone. I hope I/we won't need them, but for free, sure. She's sending new cards, and that's all set. Yay, I made a phone call, it wasn't awful, and the situation is resolved! How rare is that.
• Finally, there is no update to the elevator because it continues to work, yay and also phew. But there is an update in that Maggie has taken advantage of the new place to nap: I was using this backpack for carrying things up the stairs, and before I got around to putting it away again, it was taken. 

Hey, if it makes her happy, why not?

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.