They Seem to Think

They're still claiming that the track of this week's storm(s) can't be predicted with certainty, but right now, they do seem to think we're getting more snow midweek.

After 17 inches last week. And I'm not sure how many inches the week before. And no snow but terrifying, howling wind the week before that. March can bite me.

I am somewhat bitterly amused at how many of my friends are now admitting that even they are tired of it. Yeah, welcome to this frame of mind. I've been here for a while.

Here's a look back at what I had to dig out from last week. I am hoping that this week will be less.

This is how it looked when I woke up last Wednesday.

And after I dug out the back of the car.

Up the driver's side.

And the rest of the driver's side.

The sun did a little work for me.

And finally I cleared off the top, then limped inside, clutching my back.

I am really hoping it won't be as many trips with this week's. It's kind of depressing me to look at these, so let's look at some color next.

Last weekend was the North Shore Yarn Crawl, and though I did not make a day trip of it, as I have so often before, I did stop in one store on Friday night. And I picked up this:

Isn't it lovely? It makes me think of stained glass. So many colors in there, so appealing to someone in a snowy March mood.

It's a brand I hadn't heard of before, Uneek.

And it is self-striping, but not at preset widths. It varies tremendously. (They had a knit sample in the shop, I should have taken a photo of it.) Anyway, I decided to wind it up, since I was getting ready to pack the swift away, and because the ball-winder is already packed, I wound it off the swift by hand.

This takes a surprisingly long time (I had a new appreciation for the ball-winder well before I was done), but was very illustrative about the long color sections in this yarn. Would you think that all of these were the same skein of yarn?

It's going to be interesting to knit with, and see how it plays out.

It was so pretty on the swift.

Hopefully, it will make pretty socks, too.

Another Sunday Night

How many times have I started a post on a Sunday night that essentially began, "It was a good weekend, but not long enough"? Well, here I am again.

I got my errands done as planned on Saturday morning, and yes, the guy at the UPS store did ask what the swift was, but not in a you-crazy-person way, and only after he had found me a tube for it. I did the banking, dropped things off at Savers, and found my favorite cold coffee at Target. It was a very satisfying morning.

I tried to take it easy in the afternoon, though lately I find that hard to do, as once I sit down on the couch, I keep thinking of things I could do, and keep popping up to look at this, move that, or write myself a note about the other. (My attention span has really decreased in the last few months. I hope it comes back.) I did get a few small things done, and eventually, it was time to go to my friend's birthday party. Which was great fun, though I did most of my catching up with the other people who sat down at least part of the time. Anyone who could stand up for a few hours? I mostly got to speak with only briefly. There were a few dozen people there, I was never going to have long conversations with everyone. It's okay. It was a good time.

While my attention was thus occupied, the Bruins took on one of the few teams in the league above them in the standings, and soundly beat them. Happily, NESN replayed the game this afternoon, so I could see it for myself. The only bad moment was David Backes getting cut in the leg by a skate; per updates, he had to have 18 stitches (ow), but it didn't cut anything like tendons, so that's good. I expect we'll hear more tomorrow about how long he might be out. And when Chara and DeBrusk might be back. And updates on Bergeron's and McAvoy's injuries...the team really has been slammed recently.

I went out today to get lunch, and picked up a few groceries, and though I didn't have a ton, carrying it in seems to have aggravated the same back muscle I strained shoveling last week. It was so sore Wednesday that I went to the chiropractor for him to work on it; it was considerably better the next day, and by this morning, I had almost forgotten about it, but now, ow.

The one other thing I did today was to go looking for a piece of wall art to put up in one spot that had a few too many nail holes for my preference. It occurred to me that a place like Home Goods would probably have something fairly neutral, and big enough to cover the holes.

Is this reminding anyone else of the bedspread story?

Because yes, I found something, but again, it isn't a "neutral, will do for now, and then I will get rid of it" piece; again, I found something that I like, and plan to keep. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence, or if it's easier to find something you really like when you aren't looking for it.

Meet Freddie.

Not that I was planning to name him, but ... looking at him, I think he just left the boy band to make his first solo album, and this is going to be the cover photo.

Accomplishing This and That

Last night after work, I ran out and did four quick local errands, then picked up pizza for dinner. I was gone barely over an hour, but it felt very good to get all those things done. Check, check, check! I have always liked crossing things off lists.

Unfortunately, the Bruins had an off night, but on the bright side, I had no qualms about turning the game off and going to bed early when I realized my eyes were closing on me. Or very few qualms, anyway; they did come back recently from being down 4-1 near the start of the third period to win a game 6-4, which was pretty dramatic. But it turned out that last night was not another one of those, so I didn't miss anything. (They're just slammed with injuries right now.) Or, rather, I missed them getting shut out, though for only the second time this season.

Daylight saving week in the spring generally kicks my butt, but this year it hasn't been as startling, perhaps because I'm just always tired lately, so who cares what the clock says, I go to bed anyway. There's been far less of the "but it's really only 7! I don't want to go to bed at 7!" this year. (Honestly, most days I feel like I could go to bed at 4.)

I've gotten some things done today, too. I had a few small bags of books ready to go, and the woman who came when I was getting rid of all those books last month took them. Then, I have this thing that I've used as a kitchen island:

It's been a useful thing, but it's not in great shape, and it needed to go before show week. So today I emptied it out* (it held my plastic containers, and goodness, did I have a lot I wasn't using! a whole bag of them into the recycling, as well as some, sadly, in the trash [and yes, a few kept]), and since it's kind of heavy for me to move on my own, especially given how my back has been lately, I went onto the town Facebook community group and offered $10 for someone to move it out for me. A very nice woman and her teenage son came this afternoon and took care of it, boom! Ten bucks well spent. Now we'll see if the trash people will take it on Tuesday. Or possibly someone will pick it up before then? Time will tell.
*Yeah, slow work day, which is ideal, of course.

Meanwhile, I will miss its utility a little, but the kitchen feels surprisingly more open without it. And soon will feel yet more so, as I have finally found someone who wants the kitchen table. Have I mentioned that? I am too tired to search back, so let's say I haven't. My kitchen table is large; it seats six, though as it is stuffed into the bay window end of the kitchen, not all seats are accessible. Again, it has worked fine for me, but it doesn't show off the space to its full advantage.

I had already determined that it would not be moving with me, so when the realtor came, I asked her if she thought it would be a good idea to get rid of it before showing, and put a smaller table there instead. She agreed that it would be, and I have been trying ever since to find someone who wants the table--for free! I never thought that would be hard to find! But perhaps working against it is its very size, since it's no piece of cake to get out.

Anyway, I've found a woman who says she will be able to pick it up Sunday night, so let's all cross our fingers that it works out. Not that I think she doesn't want it, just that she's moving that day, and we all know how that can go, right? One of my neighbors has a small table that she can lend me, if I can just get rid of this one. (If this woman falls through, I may just take the legs off and haul it to Savers myself. I think I would be able to move it in pieces, and I am just over it by now.)

I've also made out a plan for a few things to get done tomorrow. Nothing thrilling, but satisfying to get done. Bank, Target, Savers, and the UPS store, which last I am visiting with my swift in hand, to see if they have a tube that it will fit in, to protect it during the move. I am already amused at the image of myself walking in with it. I wonder if anyone will ask me what it is? Possibly they have seen it all.

Then I'm going to a party tomorrow night, and by that time, I expect that I will want to park myself on a seat and talk to whoever will come to me. No standing around! If you come sit by me, I will try not to complain about how much my back hurts, and see if I can talk about anything but moving.

Though I can't promise. Let's see what I can give you, as a reward for getting through this?

How about tulips?

Stretch

Talking with my knitting friends Monday night about how overstretched I feel lately, we came up with a great knitting analogy for it.

When you've knit something and it doesn't come out exactly the way you want, you can sometimes, and to a certain extent, change it during blocking. You wash the item, and then reshape it the way you want it to be, stretching and pulling it (gently), sometimes using pins to keep it where you want until it dries that way. There are limits to how far you can go, though, leading to a knitting saying that is often brought up as a joke.

So if you want to make something wider, you usually can.

Longer? You can do that.

Both, though? Unlikely to work. The fabric has just so much "give" to it, and you can't have it go all ways.

So right now, the move and condo sale prep have me very stretched in one way, and that leaves me with next to no stretch for anything else. New work thing to handle, or the boss acting clueless? I can almost feel my fabric stretching to the breaking point. Computer acting up? Hulk smash. The usual annoyances of life (hunger, too hot/cold, tired)?

I don't bring this up because anything else has gone wrong. It's just a window into the scary place that my head can be, these days. I'm okay, mostly. And it will pass.

Existential Math; Living Room (Lots of Parentheticals)

Question: Assuming your car starts out like this:

(yes, there is a car under there)
(we got 17 inches of snow here, apparently)

If you shovel for about ten minutes at a time, every hour or two (depending on how your back, arms, and shoulders hold up), how many days will it be before you can get the car out?

This reminds me of a similarly deep philosophical question from my childhood.


(The fact that in my childhood I took things like this for granted explains a lot, don't you think? In hindsight, it's very weird.)

Anyway. I don't truly need to get out of the house before Saturday. Surely I will have made it by then. (I may subject you to in-process pictures tomorrow; we'll see.)

On to the living room!

After I wrote my dispirited little screed last night, I did a little poking around the living room, which was pretty close to being in showing shape, despite my pessimism, and I want to show it off.

This angle is obviously the least ready area, on the surface. I still live here! I use this stuff! And this stuff will get tucked away before the process starts.

This way, all clear.

This way, clear.

Those Rubbermaid totes to the right are ready to go down to the basement. Otherwise, clear, and looking good, if I do say so myself.

So how about that, eh?

Progress, and Nerves

A lot has been going on around here, and it's no wonder that I continue to be constantly tired. Physically, mentally, all that. It's overwhelming.

Not to mention we've had about a foot of snow today, and it's still falling. I want to be in Florida yesterday.

But, hey, the only way to be done with all this is to do it. I can't move to Florida without selling the condo, so curling up on my bed and wishing for Carlos isn't going to get it done.

Now, what is done? Well, the contractor came yesterday and finished the bathroom wall patches and the window sash/cord/rope/thing replacement, so that is all done, hooray. He was wonderful, but I'll also be glad not to need him to keep coming; he was here at least a half-dozen times in the last fortnight, and I don't know how I would have done it without working from home.

I dropped off another carload of donations last weekend, and already have some more sorted out (for which I'm hoping to have my car dug out of the snow by this weekend...). I'm trying to keep my focus on clean-up-to-sell, which is not a 100% overlap with getting-ready-to-move. Obviously, a lot of what I do for the former will help with the latter, but not everything I will need to do for the latter has to be done in time for the former.

Get it?

As I told myself, after I sent the email to the realtor telling her I was ready to get ready to list, I have to let go of the idea that I will ever feel perfectly prepared to do this. I just have to do my best. I know it will be good enough. Even though it doesn't feel like it right now.

What Nature Does Not Provide

I look forward to a time when I can look back at this time and be amazed at how much things have calmed down. I know it will happen, but it feels far away.

And the weather doesn't help my mood, as we're watching the track of a storm coming in early next week, which may dump another foot of snow on us.

And I'm supposed to go into the city on Wednesday.

But! In this life, there are still flowers. Specifically, a hyacinth, which I bought last week. And it bloomed, and grew, and smelled marvelous for days.

And the flower even wrapped around its support chopstick, which for some reason I found adorable.

The way this winter is going, I will be buying more bulbs, and more, and more. Color! Life!

How Am I?

Picture, thousand words, etc.

But as I keep trying to remember:

My Back Hurts

But:

More to get donated.

And:

So. One step. Then another step.

A Few Points of Random

• I am very tired. Physically, mentally.
• Still, progress is being made.
• A friend came over today and helped me carry things down to the basement. Isn't that an awesome thing to do? She offered! She doesn't even live that close!
• I "only" had 11 boxes/bins packed up, but that's half-a-dozen trips down that she saved me from.
• Which, given how my right knee started complaining on my last trip down, is a very good thing.
• Yes, my ankle isn't thrilled with me now either.
• And yes, I'm taking it easy tonight. New book, and a Bruins game: it's the couch for me.

• Progress has been made with the contractor as well; we now have paint that as-near-as-never-mind matches the bathroom walls, so he can do his patch thing and then will be able to paint over it. This is a multi-day process, but we're hoping that he can start Thursday afternoon.
• Only "hoping" because the storm that's starting tomorrow might bring me three inches of snow, or it might be a foot. No one seems too sure right now where the line will fall.
• Yes, I hate the thought of snow more than I can bear to think about. But I got a few groceries last night, so I don't need to leave the house for a few days. It will pass, it will pass.
• I keep telling myself.

The Three-Sock "Pair"

More knitting: I finished the three-sock set! I had updated back in January on my decision to go ahead with the third sock, and I finished it about a month later.

Three socks all in a row.

The yarn again darkened perceptibly halfway through the third sock.

Similar to what it had done on the foot of the second sock.

So now there are three kind-of-weird, mismatched socks. The yarn does feel lovely.

I am resisting the urge to create a plan for wearing them so that they are all worn equally. I think that's just my current feelings of not controlling the whole sell-move process coming out. The socks will be fine.

And I am on to the next pair, in the Queensland yarn I bought at Webs last month.

The color is shifting gradually: you can see what's coming next.

The yarn is a little splitty, but otherwise nice to work with, and I love the colors. Mermaid-y.

Final View, Blanket (and hats)

Did I mention that I finished knitting the baby blanket?

This is before it was washed. Just laid out, with the first hat I made and the second one in progress.

Turned out kind of nice, eh?

This is it after washing:

I know, not much change; just for the record.

And here is hat number one.

Which, I know, looks weirdly narrow, but it's very stretchy.

And this is the second hat, which I made slightly larger.

I gave them to the grandmother in question last week, and she was delighted with them all. I call it a success!

Little Things Done

I went out after work and ran a couple of errands, with a high success rate that was very pleasing. I do love crossing things off the list. Lists.

One of the things I wanted to get was a new, well, not exactly a welcome mat, but a little rug to replace one that I have just inside my door, to catch wet or messy footwear before it gets all over the floor.

For some reason, I felt like it was time to replace the old one.

Can't imagine why. Sometimes I get ideas in my head.

I still wanted fairly neutral colors, and a pattern, and happily, I found both.

It's the little things.

Speaking of little things, I also got a new bath mat, and when I was unrolling it, this fell out.

That is a lot to say about a bath mat. Though it is in three languages. And now I know to put it suction-cup side down. Good thing, that.