Ghoulish

I will be the rag-tag pirate, Kidlet will be a flower fairy or Glenda of the Wizard of Oz (depending what day you ask...all the same costume, however), Hubby is abstaining. Hoping you receive more treats than tricks today...

***

After the crazy push through all the stress, I'm left wondering, 'what do I do now?' I have a bunch of school stuff coming up, but not much I can do at the moment. Holiday plans are starting to settle in my mind. Guess that means I have to...relax? No, no, no...must scrub the house from top to bottom and then bottom to top. Has anyone else read Little Miss Busy? This is my biography.

I really am going to relax this weekend! Hubby and I have a fancy date at which I will wear my finished Airy Scarf. I will cast on the February Lady again (for what? the third time? fourth?). I will continue work on the cowl I cast on yesterday (in super fancy yarn). I will bake bread. I will ignore the yard work. I will walk in the park and collect leaves. I can't wait. I hope you have a similarly happy time awaiting you.

Lost: Mind. If found, inquire within.

An old friend used to tell me that she wished she could pull her brain out of her head and gently rinse it in cool water when she felt overwhelmed. I can relate.

Scattered

Feeling scattered but I want to write something, so that's what I'm going to do.

The new tradition...
big Sunday night dinners. You know, the kind with mashed potatoes and gravy.

The old tradition...
Sunday morning pancakes, alternate weekends waffles. This tradition may need to be adjusted after 7 years. Time for a little change.

I'll be really glad when...
I can turn in the rough draft for this paper on Thursday.
I cast on for the ol' February Lady again.

Not liking...
this sore throat that just won't quit.
how red poor Kidlet's nose is.
how my laptop keeps freezing up right at a time when I am very dependent on my laptop.

Liking...
making holiday plans in my head (already).
Kidlet's interest in the election.
when the golden leaves float down from the trees like butterflies.

Howsabout you?

Contrast

Here's a nice photo to contrast the icky feelings that I'm having right now. I'm cranky with Kidlet since she's been playing her sniffle card a little hard. She told me this morning that she didn't feel good and when she looked up at me with the big watery brown eyes and the little red nose underneath those, I bit. I said she could stay home and she started to grin. She said she just didn't want to go to school because she hates it. I then muttered under my breath something like "you'd better get used to it, sister, you'll be going until you are 18."

Apparently the trouble stems from a sewing lesson. She can't remember how to do the knot or sew the button to the fabric so she is frustrated and therefore hates school. Why couldn't she have picked up some of my better traits? I have little patience myself. If I can't pick something up and do it properly the first time around, I become extremely frustrated. Case in point: February Lady Sweater (I'm doing a little side-blogging).

So here I am, at home for the morning, sick myself (it feels as though I have swallowed two spiked golf balls) doing a little essay avoidance. Better avoid the avoidance and get back to it...geology of the Steamboat Ditch! Here I come!

We'll be back to a more-or-less regularly scheduled not-so-grumpy post soon...

I'm taking my Kidlet with me to vote today and I'm proud.

We have early voting here. Vote early and vote often! Just joking...sorta.

Tossed and Turned

Whew. What a whirlwind.

Saturday, we rode bikes to the pumpkin patch. The ride was lovely: warm with a cool breeze, rain sprinkling on and off. We took the hayride this year. It was a great fun, riding through the trees and pumpkin fields (bump, bump). We had our pumpkin patch cohorts up for dinner which was chaotic but fun.

Saturday night was a nightmare (for one small person, it was just exhausting for the two big persons). All night long, Kidlet would sleep for a bit and then 'wake up' (I use the term very loosely here) and cry. We tried to snap her out of it, since it seemed like she was in some sort of nightmare-loop. We never could. We tried watching a DVD, reading books, all lights on...nothing. She was calm during those activities, but it was crying time again when the lights went out. I 'slept' (again, I use the term very loosely) with her for what was left of the night. I thought she may be getting sick and while she does have a doozy of a sniffle, I think Kidlet just needed a quiet day lumped in a big chair. And that's exactly what she did all day yesterday. Me, I was a maniac doing 5 loads of laundry, making a big Sunday dinner, and eeeking out what I could on the ol' Ditch essay.

I can't say with much conviction that I'm glad I'm going back to work today (especially since it's going to be a working night too), but there is a tiny bit of me that is glad for some bit of normalcy.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (I Hope)

Yesterday: 97% on my exam (beam, beam). Lots of knitting done in between duties (before class, waiting for laptops to boot at work, after school).

Today: The last CSA basket with dried beans, homemade bread, potatoes, squash, greens and indian corn. Drinking chai tea. Toast and Rock 'n Roll Friday.

Tomorrow (I hope): Pumpkin patch on bikes with bike trailers attached. One for small children, one for pumpkin bounty.

What have you been up to?

The Cut and the Crunch

This is a photo from Friday. Now everything looks wilted in the yard except for the brilliant scarlet sumac. It'll be back to its seasonably warm self again this week.

Feeling the school crunch. My not-so-rough draft for my paper is due in just two and a half weeks and I only have approximately two pages of ten written. I've got a fair amount of info but not the required geological data nor any sort of flora/fauna inventory. I don't know where my subject falls on the township grid map. Every night I tell myself I'll get some work done, but then I start nodding off while I put Kidlet to bed. Sleep wins. I've started putting out deadlines for myself but knowing how the next couple of weeks are stacking up between home and work obligations, it's feeling a little grim. How do people do it? Ummm, right. They don't do the 'run away to New Orleans for a rollicking seven years' followed by the 'I'll find a profession that doesn't need schooling', followed by a child and lastly the 'Hmmm, maybe I do need schooling' trick.

So, a new informal poll... if you were living with a haircut you absolutely can't stand, would you

A) Ignore it and "let it grow, let it grow, let it grow" (despite the fact your hair grows at a glacial pace). Wear scarves and lots of styling products in an attempt to get by until it is in a better place.

B) Try another stylist and see if they can 'fix' it (after you find a new stylist AGAIN)

C) Cut it off! You know you were oogling the uber short hair that you saw in the Paris issue of Gourmet magazine, on the Sartorialist, and perennial favorite Jean Seberg.

I'm hoping next time I write you A) my paper is at least 3/4 finished and B) my hair has grown two inches. But I know I'll write before either one happens.

Five Things Friday

Haven't done this one in a while...

1. IT'S SNOWING!!! I wanted to post photos but we didn't get out in it until right before we had to leave the house.
1a. Because it is snowing, this means I get to wear the Clapotis! I'm wrapped up in it right now and it's so cozy and soft. This is going to be a daily wear for me until I knit something I love more. That will be tough.

2. I cast on for my 'finish by February' Lady sweater last night. This morning when I looked for a cardigan to wear I remembered that I haven't bought any cardigans because I thought I would knit them all. Yeah. So that means I will be wearing one of two cardigans that I already own for the next several months or possibly until next fall.

3. Test is done! Test went ok!

4. My new coworker is a camera addict too and said that he knows a guy that might be able to get me a super cheap deal on a Holga. Woot!
4a. I took my first roll on the Lomo! Must drop off this weekend.

5. Kidlet is done being sick (I think)!
5a. Maybe we will go to the pumpkin patch?

That's it for me. This weekend, I'm hoping to get some schoolwork in amongst the knitting, knitting, knitting. And cooking. And eating. And laughter and fun. Hope you do the same (well, hopefully you won't have to do the schoolwork).

They call this studying?

Big exam tonight and I'm studying the patterns of light as they dance across my notebook. The actual page I'm looking at has writing but I'm not really seeing it anymore. I get to a point in my exam prep where I'm looking past the list of terms and essay notes. If I study much more, it will be like a a dam has been breached and all the info will tumble out of my mind, tossing Pinchot, Muir, Bartram and Cary together like debris from floodwaters.

Kidlet is sick (tummy blehs) so in between making toast for her and patting her head, I'm taking this time to tidy the house and glance at my exam notes. Wish I could stay the whole day with her but I have to go to work too.

It's a perfect fall day outside: wind blowing through the trees, cool air, and the promise of clouds tomorrow. Trees are finally making up their mind that it might be time to turn. Remember: native trees turn color, those imported from Europe don't. Back to studying.

Toiling!

It's like pulling teeth, this research project. While I was amassing more useless data for my paper, I found this juicy tidbit of information. Since I cannot share it in my paper, I thought I'd share it with you.

From the Reno Evening Journal, July 22nd, 1926...

"Zach's Whiskers Two Feet Longer Since Injury

Zach Wilcox, well known Carson pioneer, who took second prize at a '49 celebration in Sacramento two years ago for the longest and most luxuriant beard when his whiskers measured slightly over twelve feet in length, has arisen from a sick bed and upon measuring his hirsute adornment, found it to have grown nearly two feet during his period of confinement which was approximately a year. His whiskers now measure fourteen feet flat. Zach has for years been a familiar character around the streets of Carson, riding his bicycle with his pet parrot on the handle bars."

Now how the heck can I compete when there is news like this? My research has to do with water rights, drought and taxes. BORING.

The Warm Before the Storm

This morning a warm breeze was rushing through the leaves, making a wonderful swishy noise. Clouds are gathering. We are in for a cold front! I can't wait. I'll be breaking out the tights and scarves this weekend. Ok, maybe that's premature but I can dream, eh? In any case, bread and honey wheat pumpkin muffins will be in the oven. Walks in the park, taking photos of leaves and inhaling the cool, fresh air. Casting on for the sweater? Maybe. Oh, and don't forget...do a major reorganization of my term paper and study for a test. Right. I'm going to go back to my fall daydreams...

Love is in the Mail

Rebecca took pity on me and my lack of cool toy cameras and sent me a Lomo Supersampler to borrow. How awesome is that? Very. I put the film in today and will be playing (well, when I'm not working, that is). And along with the 'how to' book was a Lomo inspiration book and a little journal (perhaps it can be a Lomo album... :) ). She's a nice one, that Rebecca.

And also waiting for me in the mail was the long-awaited yarn for my February Lady. Not quite the perfect blue I was searching for but I think it will do quite nicely. Cascade 220 Heathers in 9452, summer sky heather.

Yesterday truly was a day where my mailbox spilleth over. I also received my latest installment of the Moomin comic strip series as well as a couple of Christmas presents for Kidlet. Yes, I like to try and get my ducks in a row early.

Time to get busy...I wish I could say it was "get busy taking interesting photos and knitting" but I'm actually at the library finishing up a little morning research before I go to work.