Monday Musings

While I try not to dwell on how behind I am, and try to stay positive, a few things come to mind that help me keep my sense of humor and perspective (or so I would like to believe).

1) Years ago, when Boy-child was a baby, I was taking a Early Childhood Family Education class. I started taking the classes when I was on maternity leave, and continued even after I went back to work, because the conversation and connection with other moms helped me muddle through it all. The thing is, because I was working full time, but had funny days off, I was in a class with a bunch of stay at home moms. One morning we were going around the room taking turns sharing what non-kid related projects we were working on. I was amazed - they were working on everything from writing books to re-upholstering sofas. When I told them I was trying to clean my basement, they all laughed; they thought I was joking, but I was serious. (I still am).

2) I just heard from someone I went to library school with and then briefly worked with while I was on my internship. She was the envy of the neighborhood back in the day, as her internship turned into a full time job with a living wage and benefits. I heard from her recently because she is networking - trying to find a job. Not sure what the issue is, but it's a concrete reminder that nowhere is perfect. (Actually, I never did think that place was perfect, but nonetheless, her situation looked envious at the time).

3) This morning I am working from my living room. The sun is pouring in, making beautiful windowpanes of light on the hardwood floor. I can goof off a little updating my blog as I am not being interrupted by people asking for a stapler, whining about their finals or sharing too much information with me about their personal lives. It's not that I don't expect a certain amount of that at work, it's just that being able to avoid it part of the time is a really nice benefit. I like being around people, but maybe not all of the time.

4) The only Oscar-nominated movie I saw this year on the big screen was The Artist. Score. My favorite dresses were Penelope Cruz, Viola Davis and Natalie Portman.

Gnawing at the Straps

After that trip of mixed success last weekend, I promptly got sick. Now I find myself behind at work, recovering from a cold and worrying that I will never get the kitchen painted during the month of March, which is my (what I thought was a realistic) deadline.

Wish me luck.

The Long Way Home

Did I mention that Boy-child is in town? Yes, I believe I did.

We went to visit a couple of schools last weekend - one in Chicago and one in Santa Fe. The Chicago visit was part scholarship competition. Since we travel stand-by we took the MegaBus there (weren't going to take any chances - wouldn't want to miss out on a scholarship opportunity!).

The school in Chicago was great. He really liked it. We'll know about the scholarship in a couple of weeks.

Then we set out for Santa Fe via Atlanta (I know, the hub and spoke system does not always provide us with the most direct route). We kind of wondered if we should even go, given that the school in Chicago seemed like such a great fit, but Boy-child and I kind of like adventure. Plus I've always wanted to see Santa Fe.

We got as far as Atlanta and then we got bumped. We hung out a little trying to decide if we should go to Santa Fe, even though we would miss a big chunk of the planned activities, or go home.

It was decided we would go home.

All the flights to the Twin Cities were full.

So we went through Washington, D.C.



We had a long enough layover at DCA that I could have even gone to Alexandria to pop into my favorite yarn shop there, Fibre Space.

But I didn't. I was actually too tired by then to even care.

On a positive note, I got a lot of knitting done.

We're home now. Recovered. Rested.

Wondering where we should go next.

(Oh, and if he ends up going to the school in Chicago, it's a lot easier to travel standby, and there's always the MegaBus for backup).

I Did It Again...

I heard about the male model who's been used in an ad campaign for push-up bras, so I searched the Internet a bit and found an article in Slate about him.

Kind of cool and weird and fascinating....

...but when reading the article I noticed they referred to another lingerie ad campaign in Korea using a male rapper, "to hock its goods" (sic)

I actually set up an account so that I could leave a comment. Seriously, do they not have editors any more? Do they just use spell-check and leave it at that?

I know, no one cares, and no one has left a comment on it for a month, so they really don't care, but I just can't seem to help myself.

Rant over.

Just Goofy

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Thanks, Sarah, for the link.

Proof that there are always crazy people on lakes in Minnesota during the winter - not just the fishing variety.

On Customer Service and More

Tools for any craftsperson are very important; knitters are no exception. I will confess that I was impressed in a mildly horrified way when I found out what a fellow knitter and partner in crime had paid for a pair of fancy knitting needles.

That said, she recently posted about not only the exceptional customer service of the company that produced said needles, but also about how good products compare with mediocre ones at all levels - from the environment, to living wages and health care for the company's workers, to the quality of the product itself.

I guess I'll be paying more attention to my needle purchases in the future.

Before and After

Boy-child's room is being transformed from a teenage boy paradise to something stark and without character.

Behold before:

And after:

He doesn't like the color...disparagingly called it "seafoam"