Bird Master Eggplant Xylephone

After reading Monday’s post, I realized that I was crazed and scattered. I think that’s the state of my brain right now between nerves, finishing up with work, figuring out classes, and general craziness. I need to start making some lists to help sort everything in my head.

In knitting news, I’m just about done with the shall, Maluka. She’s off the needles and I just need to wind in ends. Next up hand warmers and socks for the Husband. Otherwise, knitting has been slow, but good. I have knitting this weekend so I really need to remember to print out the sock pattern and maybe finally figure out the pattern for my hand warmers. Some day I’ll even get my latest FO up. Someday.

I feel like I have a very deep and philosophical post percolating in my head, but I can’t remember it for the life of me. Of all the things to forget, that one’s fine. I’d hate to forget to finish a project for work or feeding the kid, who by the way is now potty trained! Mostly. 9 times out of 10 she successfully asks to use the potty. The other 1 out of 10…KABOOM! Pee or poop everywhere. She’s like a tiny bomb spraying pee over everything she walks on. Or sits on. The poop sort of stays contained until it isn’t and then ew. No, super ew. Fortunately, she is still willing to do pull ups for gymnastics or going out when we aren’t sure of a potty.

Aren’t you so happy you came to read today?

One more thing…

When 2013 started, I wrote that 2012 was not a good year. And it was, for reasons mostly unstated on this blog. Okay, fine. I was a secret agent and I lost my partner when we went after a laptop and there was a kill order on us both. Only, the government dropped bombs to eradicate us both.

Wait, no. “That’s Person of Interest”. Sorry

2013 did get off to a decent start and has overall been a much better year, but I kept getting sick—flu-like illness, bronchitis, cold, laryngitis, sinus infection, pink eye— OP had some health-related things, and a class that I didn’t take for a grade and only did homework in, but somehow was all-encompassing. I also decided not to take any vacation February through May, because I get two weeks of pay from HR and had just under two weeks left  and I feel guilty for going back to school and thus not taking in a salary which would just about get me a paycheck through the month of May.

Am I a whining enough yet? No? Don’t worry, I will be.

Thanks to all these things and a bit more, I have felt amazingly far behind on everything to do with my house. Outside is crazy wild and filled with weeds. Inside is disgusting. As soon as we start to get things taken care of, life interrupts. It was so exciting the weekend before last, because we actually got things done! I know! It was awesome. Then on Monday, through a confluence of events, it all went to pot. Darn confluence of events.

I’m hoping that the summer classes are light enough that I can get things done around the house. I’m not holding my breath, because then I’ll be annoyed when I don’t have time to eat bon-bons and knit. Or, um, clean, mow, weed, and get projects done around the house. I’ll be busy all the time cleaning and stuff. No bon-bons for me. Yup. Nothing relaxing. Anyone take classes over the summer? Are they a time suck? I suspect it depends on the class. Either way, I’m hoping removing the work element for the most part will give life a bit more breathing room. If not, I’ll just complain more often!

I won’t tell anyone anything. Unless they offer me Kielbasa. Then it’s all over.

Changing Seasons

Wasn’t there a Wilson Phillips song that went, “Seasons change. People change.” or something like that? Wait, I just admitted that I know a Wilson Phillips song. Um, I won’t admit that I may have a CD. Um, I actually can’t admit it because I can’t remember and I’m too lazy to get off the couch. So lets just say I don’t (but I probably do).

Or maybe it was Debbie Gibson?

Anyway, so seasons change, and it’s changing for me. I am officially leaving my job and going back to school. Yay! My last day is May 17 and I start school the week after. Crazy, right? I’m excited and scared and about 20 other feelings. I’m worried it’s a mistake, but worried if I don’t try I will regret it. What if I can’t find my classroom? What if I have to give a report and then realize I’m only in my underwear!?!

Did I mention what I’m going to school for? No, see I just got a C for a coherent post! I’m going back for nutrition with the intent to get my dietitian certification. That’s about 3 years of school. I hope anatomy class doesn’t make me faint. At least anatomy is this summer so I’ll get it out of the way.

It’s going to be tight financially around here for a while. I’m trying to figure out how to save and cut money corners. I know I should do coupons, but I dread that. Plus, do I get coupons in the mail? Do I have to find them online? How else can I save?

I’ve also started researching food options. I’m going to be out and about at classes most days and I won’t have access to refrigeration. I will have ice packs, but that’s it. When I was a kid I had PB&J every day because everything else would go bad, I think. At least that was what I was told, but maybe it was financial reasons. Anyway, can I pack more than PB&J? From what I’ve seen online, I can. People do meat, cheese, sushi, and more. So, will I die from food poisoning if I do as well?

Also, I need breakfasts on the go. Smoothies? Muffins? IVs? Augh!

Yeah, this post is a little chaotic, but that’s where my brain is right now. So, if you have answers, I’d love to hear them. At least I have time to figure it all out. I hope. Maybe. It’s really only about 4 weeks. I definitely need to go to sleep. *sigh*

Deal with the Devil

We loathe cutting our daughter’s toenails. Although, maybe loathe doesn’t quite cut it (ha!). Hate? Dread? Would rather pull our eyeballs out with tweezers? When OP knows that it’s time to trim those talons she tries to pass as toenails, she turns into a crazed banshee soccer player. One of us needs to hold her down while the other grasps her foot in a vice and tries desperately to trim her nails without cutting off a toe.

I’m surprised the neighbors haven’t called social services yet.

Anyway, it is such an awful experience that we put it off as much as we can, leading to sharp, nasty nails that look like she’s been on a deserted island for years. With all things we need to do that OP objects to (baths, diaper, medicine, etc), once we find a distraction or way around the issue, we’re good to go. We just haven’t found the way around this one, yet. Or have we.

Who knew these cute little toes would cause so much drama!

Let me back up. I was what you might consider a tomboy from about 7th grade until well into college. I never wore dresses, heels, make-up, etc. I still don’t do the make-up, really. Okay, sometimes I do and only look like a clown half the time. The other half, I pay someone to do it for me. However, to this day, I will not, nor do I ever plan to, wear nail polish. I think it’s disgusting and just looks wrong. Except on you, it looks lovely on you. Okay, no. No it doesn’t. I just don’t like the stuff. At. All.

The other night, at gymnastics, my daughter pointed out another girl’s blue toenails and it made me start thinking. Ever since they did the letter N at school, OP has begun to mention nail polish. Not often, but enough to make me think it could be our way around the utter gall we have for cutting off her nails. So, we told her that if she is very brave and lets us cut her nails without all the hoopla, we would put on nail polish that she picks out.  (I’ve included her fingernails because while she let’s me do it with the TV on, I figured including it could help her get the idea with her toes.) She is utterly excited, and we’re going to look for a non-toxic, kid-friendly (Piggy Paint or something similar) this weekend with her help. She wants pink, blue, and green if you are curious.

I’m dying inside because I HATE nail polish, and I suspect it will get all over everything. But if that’s the deal I must make with the devil to get this to work, it’s one I’m willing to make. It could be worse. I could cut off her feet.

Wait until I ask you to get my legs waxed!

FO: Doctor Who Bag

Pattern: The Little Coco Bag by Kate Atherley
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport
Needles: US 7 (maybe? I didn’t write it down)

Welcome to another installment of FO Friday!!! Yeah, it’s been a while.

The finished product!

I finally finished and photographed the Doctor Who bag! It’s not that it was a complex or difficult pattern, but I kept putting it aside between steps. Knit the bag and stash it away a couple months before felting. Now that it is felted, stick it in a corner for a long time until you get to sewing the lining. Now that the lining is done, do something else for another month before you stitch it in. If I had actually stopped my dithering, it would have been done much sooner. But dither I did.

My phone holder inside the bag.

I used The Little Coco Bag which I found on Ravelry. It is simple, easy to understand, and really creates a beautiful bag, but in hindsight, I would have done a different pattern. Having the loops go through the fabric of the bag rather than be part of the top made  the lining appear a bit odd to me, because it’s not closer to the edge. It’s not bad, just odd. And to be fair, it is growing on me (which means I’m totally wishy washy).

So pretty.

For anyone who is not cool enough to have watched the Tom Baker episodes of Doctor Who, the pattern is same as his famous scarf. Well, the original, anyway. I used the leftover yarn from the Doctor Who scarf from several years ago and followed the scarf color pattern. I did halve the number of rows for each color because I was doing stockinette rather than garter and I was also worried about not having enough yarn. I had plenty.

What it will look like when I wear it. Do you not see the cool spewing from this bag?

I bought fabric called Timey Wimey from Spoonflower to continue the Doctor Who theme. I of course couldn’t just do a simple lining. Why would I do that. Instead I created my first ever pocket and added a slot for my phone.

Pocket!

I still want to add a clasp to close the bag and need to add Velcro to the fabric that goes over the phone, but it’s done enough to use. I’m super happy with how it turned out. I haven’t used it yet, but plan to soon. The best part? I only lost about a gallon of blood sewing it together!

Someone helped model the pre-felted bag

More photos can be found on flicker.