Better Today

I got a fair bit done over the weekend, both regular cleaning and spring cleaning and a little day-to-day stuff, but by last night, I was tired and sore and grumpy about all the things that didn't get done. My hands hurt, and I was In A Mood, despite the nice weather that I had, truly, enjoyed on Sunday. The good news was that my hands were improved today, and the weather was open-window lovely, and I had a very well-timed slow work day, so I had time to do some more around the house (working from home perk #87).

Meanwhile, my mother arrives Thursday night, so my Monday morning look-at-the-week-ahead kind of goes through then, instead of Friday. Tonight, chiropractor and stitch and bitch; tomorrow, swimming; Wednesday was going to be the other knitting group, but since it's the first game of the playoffs, I believe I will stay home, watch that, and potter about doing last-minute tidying (which, as I've said many times, my mother couldn't care less about, but which I do for the sake of the 11 months of the year when I don't).

Speaking of that last parenthetical bit, actually, I'm starting to realize that, as I get older, and as my arthritis gets worse, I'm going to have to put more effort into planning ahead and spacing this sort of stuff out. I simply can't go-go-go all day and Finish All The Things, or even Most of The Things, and being upset about that isn't going to change it. I, and especially my hands, need a slower, more measured pace. Which, at age 48, is unsurprising, I guess, and anyway being in denial isn't going to change it. Just food for thought.

A Few Things

The Bruins played their last game of the regular season today, and while it wasn't as bad as the final games the last two years were, it was disturbing in another way: unless the Bruins beat Washington, they would face Washington in the first round. And if you can't beat them today, how is that first round going to go? One of the Bruins blogs put on Facebook, "If this is a preview of the playoffs we are screwed" and I can't argue. Oh, well, that's next week's problem.

~~~~~
Recently, someone local put on Facebook that they were ordering yard signs if anyone wanted one, and I did; it came today, and I put it in my window (not having a yard, per se).

There is a general Facebook page (and a whole lot of local ones), which points back to their website, and you can read the story and download the images if you want to use your own, or look for someone local to you to get one. I think it's pretty nice.

~~~~~
I thought the other day that Carlos seemed to be hesitating to make the jump up on the bed, and I'm aware that he might have trouble with that as he gets older, so today I moved something next to the bed that he can use as a step. He wasn't using it (and was able to get onto the bed, it isn't that he can't do it at all), so I picked him up and tried to place him on it, so he could see what it was for ... and you'd have thought I was trying to dunk him in a pot of water, as he frantically reached his paws toward the bed. Doofus.

~~~~~
It's supposed to be sunny tomorrow. Not here and there, not now and then, but just sunny. I really hope they're right. Sunny and 60 would be miles better than we've had this week, and I'm ready to do some spring basking.

Mostly Bruins, A Little Muppet

A little more about last night's Bruins achievement.

I've often said that the key to happiness is low expectations, and that it sounds pessimistic but it really isn't. If you aren't expecting too much, then you're pleased by everything positive that happens. (Note that I am not successful in applying this to some aspects of my life, but I do try.) While I stand by my previously expressed feeling that I don't want them to make the playoffs only to be routed in the first round, I will say that it is pleasing not to go down to the wire on clinching a spot this year. Both of the last two years, they went all the way to the last game only to not make it in, and if you think that didn't make the Shirts Off Their Backs event awkward, well.

On the minus side, Brad Marchand, who has been having his best year ever and seemed to be really on track to transition from pest to skill player, made a damned stupid move (spearing), got thrown out of the game (deservedly), and may get suspended*. The moron! The only funny part about it, and even that wouldn't have been funny if the Bruins had lost the game, was it being described variously as a hit to the midsection, to the privates, or my favorite, "He hit him ... well, you know where he hit him." (Or, per blog coverage today, "in an area where you do not want to get speared" and "the vicious cup-check".)
*He has a meeting with the Department of Player Safety tomorrow, so the real question is, how long?

On the plus side, though! Unless you are very new to this blog, you have probably caught on that I just love Patrice Bergeron, and have from the start of his career. (Also, I would like to point out that this is strictly admiration for him as a player, unlike Steve Kasper, who I loved as a teenager because he was just so cute.) The jokes about Patrice being practically perfect aren't really jokes, he's just so good at everything he does.

One of his skills is winning face-offs; as of this morning (looking at ESPN's stats), he has taken the highest number of face-offs in the NHL this season, 1785, and won the highest number, 1068, giving him a save percentage of 59.8. You have to go down to number 40 on the list of most face-offs taken to find anyone with a higher percentage; there are only two players who have taken more than 1000 draws this season and are higher than he is. The general wisdom is that winning more than half is pretty good.

And last night, Mr. Practically Perfect went 17 for 17. He won them all. This is practically a unicorn. Happy sigh...

Now, this is a very tenuous transition, but does anyone remember the Muppet Mahna Mahna version with Dion Phaneuf? I blogged it years ago; I still think of it whenever I hear his name. Well, that links hockey, which I was just talking about, with the Muppets, and I give you this Mahna Mahna version that I saw today, which brought tears of laughter to my eyes.

They're In!

The Bruins are in the playoffs! 

After two DNQ seasons, just getting in is nice (though I hope they acquit themselves well), and qualifying before the very last minute (which is Saturday) is good too. Chara is hugging every player as they go off the ice.

And now, bed!

Fixed, and Now Fixed

I mentioned recently that I cast on the Farfalla shawl, and last week at stitch and bitch, I learned that despite how simple this part is, for me it is not social knitting. To quote myself, this section "has to increase evenly on one side, and unevenly on the other," and look at this:

See that little hitch? That is Wrong. This is supposed to be the side that increases evenly. Whoops.

Not only that, but when I fixed it over the weekend, I found that I had messed up not once, but twice (here is where we bless patterns that give us stitch counts at regular intervals, so we can check if we have gone astray).

So even though this isn't difficult, it isn't going to stitch and bitch with me tonight. Apparently, it isn't social knitting. Which is kind of a bummer, but one of the basic rules* is, Knitter, Know Thyself.
*More like guidelines, really...

First Before and After

I can now show that I have made progress in one corner of my bedroom! Here are the "before" photos of that area.

Piles and stacks.

The laundry baskets really did just have dirty clothes in them, but there were plenty of holding piles all over.

Just, ugh.

I can say, in the spirit of full disclosure, that I have not yet taken care of everything seen here; I have a pile of clothing on the couch that I am sorting through, trying on, and have yet to decide on, as well as having removed some things that didn't belong there but have to be found places for. But no more chaos is going into this corner! And two more bags of clothing have been donated, too.

Now, after. Lots of clutter removed! The tiny drawer thing on top has stockings, clutch purses, slips. The cardboard box has shawls in it, a test of giving them a place of their own (they were previously here, there, and everywhere).

Don't miss the little guy to the right.

Pecky, from my childhood trip to Sea World. He was buried up there, along with childhood's Winnie the Pooh, and Clive the purple dinosaur (from college, actually). I'm ready to let those two go, but not this guy.

There is one shoe atop that shoe-holder stack because it was in one of the boxes on its own. I have yet to do the search for its mate. The blue Rubbermaid tote holds sweaters that I'm not sure about; they may go, but today was not their day. Again, actual laundry in the baskets.

The tote bag in the foreground to the right holds clothing that really does belong in that area. I have another small set of drawers that will be cleaned out and go into that area, I think.

Look, floor!

And the lower drawers, which were stuffed with sweaters, now have room for more tops. Just because I work from home now doesn't mean I'm getting rid of all my dressier clothing. Some of the hanging clothes in the closet will be moved here, too.

Finally, I didn't really get a good "before" picture that showed the rocking chair, but believe me, it was stacked with Stuff. So much better now!

I'll say it again: baby steps get you there eventually.

I'm okay if I don't look out the window

Yeah, it is snowing.

It's one of those storms where the final amount will depend greatly on the temperature, so it's hard to say now what I'll end up with. But honestly, one flake is too much for me. I'm channeling Marvin from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy whenever I look out the window.

So let's avoid that window; instead, have an oldie to rock out to.



My swim teacher has this on one of her playlists, and I finally got the name of it from her so I could check it out. Don't know why I like it so much, but I do!

Please Be a Joke

Because I'm not sure I can stand it if we actually do get four to eight inches of snow tomorrow and Saturday.

Two Kinds of Progress

While I'm nowhere near "there" yet, for now the idea of tying the spring cleaning/clutter-clearing project to the move to Florida is working, even with the date of the move so very unset (as in, what year will it happen, who knows). I usually need a deadline for these things, like with regular cleaning tasks; I'm currently cleaning because my mother will be here in a few weeks, even though she doesn't care how clean it is (spoiler alert: she loves me anyway). But I have, as I always do, put things off for too long and now I care. The same way, instead of looking around in resigned despair at the clutter of ten-plus years, sighing, and going back to my book, I am able to frame it as, "This will help with the move! The sooner you can get this done, the more likely the move becomes, and you want to move, right? So get to work."

I was thinking about it this morning, and I've lived here about three times longer than I've lived anywhere since my parents sold the house where I grew up. I wasn't a total rolling stone, but it's been two years in this apartment and three years in that one, until I bought this condo. I was used to having to face moving every few years, and while I hated the moving process, it forced at least some de-cluttering to happen on a semi-regular basis. No wonder things have piled up in the corners here.

What this means right now is that I will shortly have before-and-after photos of one corner of the bedroom, which is almost sorted out. Much progress has been made, and I am pleased by it.

Meanwhile, here is another kind of progress. I bought a hyacinth last Wednesday, and have watched it grow since.

Here it is, peeking up on Thursday morning.

And from above, just for the fun of the angle:

See how fast it grew: by Friday, almost as tall as the leaves (is that the right word?):

And Saturday, taller:

And the purple, sorry, blue is just starting to show.

On Sunday, really blooming.

And Monday it was just about all out.

No more white in the overhead view.

Tuesday, yesterday, is when I declared it fully bloomed.

It looks the same today, and will until it starts dying. Which is the sad part, but watching it grow has been very cheering this week. Considering the possible snowstorm on Saturday, I may need to buy another one fast.

Yarn From the Crawl

I got around to photographing the yarn I got at the recent Yarn Crawl, and I know you've been dying to see how that one skein photographed in daylight, so I'll start there. I took a bunch of photos, to capture all the colors.

 Much more true to life! This is Paca-Peds, from The Alpaca Yarn Company, and it is (surprise) 100% alpaca, in fingering weight.

Next up is my purchase at Coveted, which is Pacu Pura, from Mirasol Yarn, and is also 100% alpaca, this time in sport weight.

Quieter colors, just as soft. And on sale!

Finally, at Another Yarn, I got this Berroco Folio:

It's "only" 65% alpaca, and 35% rayon, at DK weight.

Other than a row counter and some stitch markers, that's it, but I'm very happy with the day's haul!

Do What, Now?

I took this picture while I was stopped at a red light, where I was waiting to turn left. Legally. So I did not follow the GPS' suggestion to turn right, go down to the next light, and make a u-turn.

Seriously? What in the world?

I was leaving Best Buy, having dropped off a few things for their recycling program (which I love), and my best guess is that it thought I was in the parking lot, not on the street (although from the map, it sure looks like it has me in the right place, and as far as I know, you've always been able to turn left there). But still.

I also brought two bags of clothes and two lamps to Savers, and five small bags of books to the bookstore. Yay for operation reduce the stuff successes!

Greenhouse

It's been a good weekend, got a lot done, including a quick trip to the greenhouse, as I like to do at least once every winter. And since my hands hurt, and I'm heading out to have coffee and knit with Mary Ellen, I'm going to throw the photos up by themselves. and you can soak in the flowers in lieu of other weekend details, for now.