Life-Changing Magic, and other things

You know the deal. Even when I can't keep up with anything else I can manage a yarn along post.** ;) I was a bit under the weather last week as I recovered from my first ever case of mastitis after almost 3.5 years of nursing. I have so much admiration for mothers who struggle with this on a regular basis early in their nursing relationship ... I think I may have given up if I hadn't so much experience behind me already.

Anyway.

Are you bored of leaves yet? ;) I pulled a skein of Tosh from my freezer , baked it in the oven, shook it vigorously to make sure no moth eggs came tumbling out, and ... it seems to be fine. No damage that I have noticed! Fingers crossed.

(I'm thinking of typing up a post--hopefully with pictures--about how to survive a moth infestation with your sanity intact ... helpful? Or have I talked about moths too much already?)

So many thoughts about this book. As I read it, I always picture a single person living on their own--or at least in a child-free household. I don't think her ideal really encompasses the necessary and healthy level of not being in control that comes from living with several little people who are figuring themselves and the world out. She writes of how tidiness can transform our lives by helping us make decisions about not just what we own, but who we are. I think this is great, but if you're living with people who are still figuring that out in the most basic of ways ... there's going to be some messiness. :) (Also, is it just me, or do her descriptions of herself as a cleanliness-obsessed child make anyone else a little sad??)

But I really love her philosophy about possessions. They are not bad. Your home is not a thing to be conquered, but love, and the things you own can and should bring you joy. But you shouldn't be so attached to things that you can't let them go. The material things around us are good and meant for our benefit and happiness. But they should not determine or own us. I love it.

Also I really need to try out her folding technique and see if it helps my husband's t-shirts fit in his dresser, because none of those are getting discarded anytime soon ... much to his wife's chagrin. (If there is one recurring disagreement in our marriage, it is about the number of t-shirts that's reasonable for one person to own. ;) )


I also just finished What Happened to Sophie Wilder. Oh my goodness. It took a bit of patience on my part because there was just a touch too much of the "jaded literary people living an immature lifestyle" stuff that can plague literary fiction. But I could tell it was going somewhere different. And it didn't disappoint. The ending of this book pulled the rug out from under my feet, in such a good and heart-aching way. I am still a little bit in shock. And still thinking about Sophie. As though she were a real person, who truly did wrestle with the truth as she knew it to be, versus the lived truth of suffering in mind and body. It is not a hard or a thick read, but it truly does seek truth, and it is excellent fiction, and so I recommend it highly.

Linking up with Ginny.


**Although I am loving Instagram lately. If you're on there, we should hook up! :)

Bairn

Yesterday my mom brought me to the yarn store and bought me this beautiful yarn for a baby sweater. I love it. The pattern is Bairn, which is a sort of companion sweater to Hatchling (same designer, similar construction), so that makes me happy. The twins will have sweaters that "go together" without being matchy-matchy. The yarn is (of course) Tosh and the color is Worn Denim. I had been eyeballing skeins of this stuff before we found out the genders and hoping that at least one of them was a boy so I could but it.

Keith got me A Handful of Dust last Christmas and I am enjoying it quite a bit. It's a quick read, very bright and British, although of course the characters are misbehaving and making themselves unhappy, as Waugh's characters tend to do. (I'm not really sure why there's a maid bringing in tea on the cover? I suppose because the characters are somewhat upper crust. It could be worse.)

I brought both book and knitting with me to get my glucose test this morning. I didn't read very much because the TV in the waiting room was blaring "The Price is Right," but as I knit I watched an elderly couple come in to get the man's blood drawn. Afterwards his wife helped him button up his sleeve, and held his cane while she helped him get his jacket back on. When she glanced at the TV she exclaimed, "Hey look! They're advertising Ensure! Look at that!" And he, patting down his pockets, said, "I can't look, I'm busy looking for my keys." They were making their way out the door when she realized she was still holding his cane, and turned with a laugh to give it to him, and he smiled. Their sense of humor and the fact they still enjoyed each other's company was so clear. It made me smile. I hope and pray that Keith and I are given the opportunity to grow old together, and that we do it as gracefully as that couple.

Linking up once more with Ginny.