Seven Quick Takes (4)

1. This morning I wiped down the outsides of the cupboards in the kitchen. I had noticed they needed it a little while ago, but I admit I put it off deliberately, not because I didn't want to do it per se, but because I knew they'd get dirty again so quickly. I kept thinking about my mother-in-law coming to visit over Christmas, and how I'll be deep cleaning the apartment right before she arrives anyway, so why not just wait til then? (I've been putting off cleaning the spots on the carpet because of this. Knowing me, I will drip more coffee on the floor before then. But maybe I'll do that next week.)

2. Yesterday I babysat for a friend while she went to an appointment. Her 2 1/2 year old, Bobby, is my godson, and he loves Michael. It's very sweet. :) As I mashed up an avocado in the kitchen for Michael to eat, I heard Bobby call from the living room: "Hey! My hat fits his head!"

Well I guess it does, technically. 

Bobby also informed me that I was the babysitter, and I was supposed to "sit and watch," not tickle him. 

3. Is anyone else reading the Catechism for the Year of Faith? I usually fall behind and the daily readings pile up in my email for a few days, then I sit and read them all at once, but overall I've been keeping up. I've also been rereading certain sections for a reading group that Keith and I are a part of. I think this is the first time in my life that I've read the Catechism prayerfully, and it's awesome. Also very challenging, on a personal level, because if you read it prayerfully and reflectively then you realize it really needs to make a difference in your life.

4. For example. The section I just (re)read--185-231--ends with "The Implications of Faith in One God." Believing in and loving God "means coming to know God's greatness and majesty ... It means living in thanksgiving ... It means knowing the unity and true dignity of all men ... It means making good use of created things ... It means trusting God in every circumstance." (223-227) This really resonated with me, that growing in faith means growing in these things. I know that I need a stronger faith, but have been struggling with knowing how to grow there, how to measure it; and here is a concrete answer I can wrap my mind around.

5. Yesterday I finished my 52nd book of the year. (If you recall, my goal was to read 50.) It was not The Brothers Karamazov. That may end up being the 53rd. Or 54th, if I need (yet another) break. ;)

6. Last night Keith and I ate pumpkin curry for dinner, and I had the leftovers for lunch. It was amazing. Someday I'll have to try making it. I made a korma for dinner a few weeks ago and it was pretty good, if I say so myself. Curry is such a great cold weather food.

7. Well, I should probably fold the laundry before Michael wakes up ... and maybe watch another episode of Call the Midwife, which I am now addicted to and thoroughly love. I highly recommend it. Although the last episode involved someone stealing a mother's baby and let me tell you, I cannot deal with that sort of thing anymore. I couldn't put Michael down for an hour afterwards.


Linking up over at Conversion Diary!

What I wore to Thanksgiving dinner

I never do these kinds of posts. I don't take pictures, and I don't often wear makeup or coordinated outfits five days out of seven. But I decided to participate in Grace's "What I Wore to Thanksgiving Dinner" linkup. So, here goes. :)

At my father-in-law's place.

I am pretty excited to wear this dress. It's not exactly nursing friendly, hehe. But now that my little man is eating some solids, I can at least wear dresses for a couple of hours. ;) 

 

 And of course Michael is dressed up for his first Thanksgiving, also. He's almost too chubby for that shirt now.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

(Dress and purple tights were both hand-me-downs from friends. The boots are from DSW. All of Michael's clothes are from Carter's--with the exception of his mama-made vest.)

Karamazov and a (finally!) finished shawl!

I have been knitting some secret projects that I'm not going to show you, just yet. But I can show you the Fallberry mitts I've been making for myself. 

The yarn is Road to China Light, in Carnelian, and it is soooo soft. Yum. These knit up very quickly, and I think there's just enough yarn in the skein for the pair of them (and maybe a hexipuff or two). 

We just ordered a Catechism, and while I haven't really cracked it open, I have been reading a bit of it in my email inbox every day for the Year of Faith. And I have finally picked The Brothers Karamazov back up and am making progress once more. (I am sorry, Father Zossima, but your final words were a big roadblock to me.) Funny how Ginny just started reading this too--it seems that it's been popping up all over the places, quotes and references and so on, since I've started reading. Or maybe people are always referring to Dostoyevsky and I'm just now noticing it? 

I also finished a Tilden for Michael, which he doesn't like to wear. I guess it's a bit scratchy on his bald head. He tries to yank it off and pulls it over his eyes instead. And then his mother laughs at him. Poor kid. 

And, after letting it sit around in a crumpled heap for months, I finally blocked my friend's shawl. Yay!

And now, back to Christmas knitting! Go see what other people are making and reading at Ginny's yarn along.

Weekend

It's been 20 days since I last posted. Whoops. Things have been busy, but it's just the ordinary sort of busy that comes from having a baby and so forth. We are still working on Michael's naps (sigh), but overall, life has a rhythm and I am happy with it. I have been making dinner most weeknights, which makes me feel in control of things and accomplished.

Although Keith still does the cooking on weekends, and that's fine by me. ;)

This Saturday I went to an indie fiber event, and of course I couldn't leave empty handed. I bought some beautiful buttons, a collection of patterns for little boys for when Michael gets older, and a skein of yarn. (I admit that, while I really like the yarn, I mostly bought it out of awkwardness. It was a small event, and I felt weird not getting anything, because I couldn't just fade back from the tables and disappear. Does anyone else have this sort of problem, or am I just weird?)

Then I came home to my guys, and after Michael's second nap, we decided to go to the library and out to dinner for a nice treat. We took Michael into the children's section and picked out a few board books (which he is NOT allowed to nom). 

Ready to go to the library. He doesn't like his new hat.

Keith wandered through the new fiction section in search of something to read, while I headed to the back with a specific author in mind; then we parted ways a second time while he looked at movies (they didn't have Little Women, which I really wanted, but we got The Happening out--we'll see how that is) and I went to check out the knitting section. (The main Carnegie library has an awesome selection! I checked out this (for my new yarn) and this (because some friends and I are knitting mittens together after Christmas).) 

It was a great visit, because I had some things in mind I wanted to get, but I also walked out with some spontaneous selections. Keith likes to wander and get lost among the books, picking them up off the shelf and waiting for something to catch his eye. I like the idea of that sort of meandering, but the reality is that if I have no purpose to my search I often get frustrated and leave with nothing. But the Carnegie library is a great place to meander, with its glass floors and windows into the museum. I would love to make a family tradition of these visits, to leave every two weeks with a new armful of books. They also have special events for homeschoolers, which is neat. 

(Last year when my cousin was visiting, we came to this library to listen to a Klezmer band. It was great music, but what I remember most about it was a sweet old lady who sat on a stool next to me and kept falling asleep and, with her mouth hanging open, leaning so far backwards I was sure she was going to fall and I, the pregnant woman, would have to catch her. Thankfully she woke up in the nick of time!)

At the restaurant across the plaza, Michael sat in his highchair the whole time and let us eat with both hands free--a first for him, probably helped by the fact that his highchair had wheels. At first I thought it was rather silly, but by the end of the night I decided it was pure genius. When he started getting bored we could just turn him around so he could see the other people, and he was thrilled. 

taking refuge in the internet

I actually have "blogging" on my to-do list today, and I was going to write a post about my weekend and how wonderful it was. Because it was pretty great.

But then Michael didn't take his morning nap. He didn't take it at 10am, but he woke up late this morning, so I wasn't too worried. He didn't take it at 11am, either. Or noon. Which was when I knew today was officially going to be a mess. That morning nap only ever lasts half an hour, but it seems to be what the entire day is built upon.

And of course I finished my secret stash of chocolate off yesterday, so I had to resort to chips and salsa, which is yummy and crunchy and salty but not exactly consoling.

Sometime around 1pm he was wailing in his swing and I was curled up and wailing in bed with a pillow over my ears.

Sometime after that I managed to convince him I wasn't an awful person for putting him in his crib and he slept for twenty whole minutes.

There was a lot of desperate prayer going up during all that, but I can't say I was very open to grace, because my prayers in that sort of situation tend to follow this pattern:

"Lord, please help my baby sleep. Please give me patience and strength to deal with this situation." "Lord, this baby is still not asleep. Please, please, please, thanks ....? Please?"  "Lord, why aren't you giving me patience????? And why won't my baby sleep?!?!?! I know you can hear me. What the heck is taking so long?! Argh!"

I am laughing as I type this, but I'm afraid to say I am not exaggerating the ridiculousness of the situation.

Now he's sleeping again on my bed and I am not trying to move him to his crib or touching him in any way, not until he wakes up.

This is bad for my sanity, yes. But what really upsets me is his exhausted face.

I will blog about the weekend later.

And now I am going to drink tea.

Thank you.

Seven Quick Takes (3?)

1. I really need to fix the way this blog looks. The background, the layout, the links in the sidebar ... pretty much everything. Not sure when I'll have time to do it, but I'm hoping at some point to make my own header, as well. (Or maybe have Keith make it. :-P ) Perhaps I can get it done sometime before the year is out?

2. A friend is having her baby shower in a few weeks, so I knit a Milo for her little man in utero. It was a quickie--less than 24 hours, I think, and that while taking care of a baby. I've just cast on a pair of booties, and I'm thinking there will be enough yarn left to make a matching hat.

3. Michael seemed to enjoy his bananas today, which makes me happy! Homemade baby food has been hit and miss so far--he likes the applesauce, but he HATES the peas I made him, despite liking the ones in a jar. When he sees them he purses his lips shut. (They are a very bright green, much brighter than the jarred peas.) Right now I have a sweet potato in the oven that I will puree and freeze. Making a batch of baby food makes me feel quite the accomplished and thrifty mother. ^_^

4. Yesterday I took Michael to CMU to take part in a study about infant language learning. It consisted of him sitting in my lap and watching a video, while his reactions were recorded. Afterwards he got a free book. Clearly he is already following in his father's footsteps on the path to scientific greatness. ;)

5. Today I am going to block my cardigan. I'm hoping I can wear it on Sunday. Say a prayer that it works out and doesn't somehow morph into a huge shapeless mess. ;) Either way, I will post pictures.

6. Oh man, Halloween is almost here, and I don't have a costume for Michael. Maybe Keith and I can get out and find one tomorrow ...

7. I don't like to post about politics, not because I don't have opinions, but because I am generally too lazy to write about those opinions in a clear way, and because I don't really like conflict. But I'm going to go ahead and risk getting political in a general sense and say it drives me crazy when people brag about their political apathy. I don't enjoy politics by a long shot. I admit I didn't really pay attention to the last debate (I was knitting something complicated :-P ), and if you didn't watch it I won't judge you. (That much. ;-P ) But to brag about not watching it on Facebook, about not caring because both candidates are the same (they're not, but that's another issue)? Like it or not, you were born in a country where you have a say and therefore a responsibility in the government. You may say that whatever you do makes no difference--your vote is a drop in the ocean--and maybe you're right.

I can totally understand not liking either candidate, but if you're not voting, and ALSO not doing anything else like writing letters to your representatives, getting involved on the local level, whatever ... then you don't really have a right to complain about the situation. Saying that both candidates are losers doesn't abnegate your responsibility ... because seriously, who's to blame that only losers seem to run for president in our country? Who ELECTS them? Us. And if you're going to do nothing at all about it ... it empties your complaint of any weight.

In the end, responsibility isn't just about how our actions affect others (the "drop in the ocean"), but also how they shape ourselves. And apathy about big issues is never a positive character trait! I say this as someone who does little except vote, which is not very admirable. And if I've probably offended someone, so just know that I include myself in the category of people whose complaints are sorely disproportionate to the actions I take.

(Another reason I never post about politics--after spending a ton of time and words on that point I am still not satisfied how I've said things. Oh well.)



Babies, politics and knitting ... yep, you've come to the right place!

Joining up with Jen over at Conversion Diary.

Isadora Cardigan

Guess what?

I am knitting myself a sweater! Yay! (You will remember that this was one of my goals for this year. It shall be accomplished!)

The pattern is Featherweight, and the yarn is Tosh Merino Light in the Isadora colorway, which I got on sale from one of my favorite yarn stores before their annual inventory.

I had to go down two needle sizes to get gauge, which means I am using my painfully short size 4 circs (because I am too cheap/lazy to go get a longer pair). Also, last night I sliced a chunk of my left index finger off while chopping veggies, which makes the going a lot slower. (I'm a contintental knitter and hold the yarn in my left hand.) But I'm knitting the edging, and injuries aside, I'm hoping to be finished by the end of the week.


I reached a point last week when I had a dearth of reading material, but then all on the same day I received the newest issue of Dappled Things, a package with a poetry collection on loan from a friend, and a Humble Bundle of six edgy scifi novels courtesy of my husband. So I think I'm good for at least a month. ;) (One of the books was Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi, who is a recent favorite of mine. Yay! I finished that one in three or four days.)

Joining up with Ginny's yarn along.