Lay-offs are coming people, layoffs are coming. Even if I survive this round, there will be another when even more of our state aid is cut off in July. The upside? I get to be home with the baby and collect a check and because we were preparing for a period of time when my maternity leave would be unpaid, we have enough money put away to account for two months worth of my regular pay. (Thank God.) There is also a great state health insurance plan that we’ll qualify for that will either be free or have such a low premium that we’ll be paying less than what we are now, but getting better insurance.
All that said, it’s still massively scary, and will require some definite adjustments in our lives. Things will work out, though. Why? Because things always work out, one way or another.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
I haven't forgotten
I haven’t forgotten you. I just haven’t wanted to bore you with the mundane details of my life recently. Basically, I have been knitting, reading, nesting, baking a baby, going to classes and working. I know it’s dull, but try to stay awake. I finished this:
and have been knitting up the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I’m going to say it, although you may not want to hear it, I don’t like it at all. It’s a tedious and boring pattern, the only thing that is keeping me from ripping the whole thing out and calling it a day is that at the end it folds up like origami and you sew two seams on either sleeve and you’re done. I do love me some paper foldin’, and that is what pushes me forward, the faux origami at the end. Other than that I’d have set fire to the pattern by now and donated the nearly finished blob of knitting that it currently is to good will. I feel guilty just saying it, just mentioning that I do not like the BSJ. I know that if anyone form the knitting world reads it, I’ll be black-listed, banned from Ravelry and avoided like a plague. Even with all of that looming, I could not keep it to myself any longer, never again will I knit this pattern. (Unless someone specifically asks for it, and I love them enough to acquiesce, but only then.) What’s currently calming me and keeping me knitting is the fact that, once I realized that I did not like the pattern, I prevented my self from working on anything else until it is done. It’s very difficult considering I have several more baby sweaters in the wings and a baby hat, as well as a shawl and some socks…you see? I am self motivating to finish it, so that I can do something better. It’s like eating all the brussel sprouts on your plate first so you can get to the good stuff. Yep, the BSJ is my equivalent of brussel sprouts, not deadly, not hated, just a bit yucky and something to get over with.
The only monkey wrench in the whole deal is that I got distracted by a book. So instead of knitting the darn thing for the past few nights, I've been hungrily reading The Commoner it's written by John Burnham Scwartz, the same gentleman who wrote Reservation Road, which is now a movie with Jennifer Connelly and Joaquin Phoenix. In any event it is a beautifully written story, set in Japan. The book is quietly complex, like the country and culture it depicts. It is simple and engaging yet full of depth in the way that he expresses the main characters voice. Thoroughly satisfying and well worth the read, even if I didn't finish the BSJ.
and have been knitting up the Baby Surprise Jacket by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I’m going to say it, although you may not want to hear it, I don’t like it at all. It’s a tedious and boring pattern, the only thing that is keeping me from ripping the whole thing out and calling it a day is that at the end it folds up like origami and you sew two seams on either sleeve and you’re done. I do love me some paper foldin’, and that is what pushes me forward, the faux origami at the end. Other than that I’d have set fire to the pattern by now and donated the nearly finished blob of knitting that it currently is to good will. I feel guilty just saying it, just mentioning that I do not like the BSJ. I know that if anyone form the knitting world reads it, I’ll be black-listed, banned from Ravelry and avoided like a plague. Even with all of that looming, I could not keep it to myself any longer, never again will I knit this pattern. (Unless someone specifically asks for it, and I love them enough to acquiesce, but only then.) What’s currently calming me and keeping me knitting is the fact that, once I realized that I did not like the pattern, I prevented my self from working on anything else until it is done. It’s very difficult considering I have several more baby sweaters in the wings and a baby hat, as well as a shawl and some socks…you see? I am self motivating to finish it, so that I can do something better. It’s like eating all the brussel sprouts on your plate first so you can get to the good stuff. Yep, the BSJ is my equivalent of brussel sprouts, not deadly, not hated, just a bit yucky and something to get over with.
The only monkey wrench in the whole deal is that I got distracted by a book. So instead of knitting the darn thing for the past few nights, I've been hungrily reading The Commoner it's written by John Burnham Scwartz, the same gentleman who wrote Reservation Road, which is now a movie with Jennifer Connelly and Joaquin Phoenix. In any event it is a beautifully written story, set in Japan. The book is quietly complex, like the country and culture it depicts. It is simple and engaging yet full of depth in the way that he expresses the main characters voice. Thoroughly satisfying and well worth the read, even if I didn't finish the BSJ.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Real Life Begins Again
Well, the holidays are over, which means my vacation from the blog and real life is over. Not that I wanted to vacation away from the blog, but you know how it is during the holidays...you'd rather be with family and friends eating pie that sitting in front of a cold laptop, typing away...at least I would rather be doing that. In any event, much knitting has been done in my absence from you. I knitted Stevie a bulky hat of my own design (to be posted shortly),
a bulky cowl and matching hat for my mom (photo quality's awful, I was in a rush taking the photos literally as we were walking out the door to the airport),
a February Baby Sweater in a pretty, rustic green color and began a pair of socks for Stevie for his b-day. (He knows, so the only surprise will be the color.)
I also got to get a picture (finally) of the hat that I knit for Stevie last year, apparently its his favorite hat, knit with his favorite blues. I am so glad he likes it and wears it!
One last pic, here's the Selbu mittens I made for my swap partner this year.
So that's my knitting, except for the FBS which is blocking as we speak, and waiting for it's little toggle buttons to be sewn on. The Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) is fun knitting, but I like the FBS a lot better. Maybe I'll change my mind as I get closer to the end, we'll see.
In regular life news, I started my last semester of classes (FOREVER) this week. The classes are all pretty interesting and I'm looking forward to what this semester holds for me. Quite a few people think I'm a little crazy for not taking this semester off because of the impending bambino, but I figure since I'll be on maternity leave, it will actually be better to finish up than to take a semester off and have to work and care for a baby and go to classes in the fall. Just makes more sense to only deal with baby and class, and not have to worry about work too. Anyway, I talked to all of my professors and talked to some people about note taking for me in my absence and everybody’s been very happy and excited for me, my prof’s told me not to worry about missing classes, and I’ve found some willing note-takers for me, so I’m pretty much set for the semester!
In other news, did anyone watch the Globes on Sunday? We only watched a portion of it because my main interest is in what they wear. So I was perusing the best and worst dressed lists and found that these two were put on several worst dressed lists, even though they look gorgeous: (Drew was on them mostly for her hair and Banks was on them for the dress, which I think is elegant and quite lovely.)
And THIS one was put on ALL the best dressed lists!
Am I crazy? Or is that the most UNFLATTERING dress you've ever seen? It's like a sliver sack tied in the middle, it does nothing for her shape! And, I'm sorry, if you've nursed 3 babies, you need a bra. That's just all there is to it. Sigh. I saw those lists and fell like I was living an world where everyone was drinking the kool-aid except for me. I know why she was on it, it's because apparently Hollywood thinks she's some kind of saint, never mind the fact that she can't raise her kids without a nanny for each one of them, nor can she take a vacation short two nannies, oh no, they had to call in the other two, apparently a one-to-one ratio on those kids is just not enough. God forbid you parent them for five minutes. Ok, sorry, for the rant, I'm just so sick of them and the fact that each time they reproduce its like the second coming or something.
Moving on, Ry's Mom & sister volunteered to have a baby shower for me, which I thought was very sweet. We're still working out the scheduling, but I think it'll be the 2nd to last weekend in February, so that will give us about a month to see what we still need and assemble anything big we may receive. Although, i get these e-mails telling me what this week's activities should be, and this week (week 29) they say I should be assembling the baby furniture. What furniture? I gotta tell, ya, we haven't bought a darn thing yet except for a few onesies for the little guy, and a cute little pair of baby sneakers for $2.50 at TJ Maxx. We may get that room organized and painted this weekend though, considering it'll be so cold outside it just won't be worth going to any of the place we'd wanted to for the long weekend. I wonder how long it would take for us to get to 60 degree weather from here?? I guess I shouldn't complain though, I heard on NPR yesterday that in North Dakota with the windchill factor it was 70 below. It's so cold there that they can't do field sobriety tests outdoors. On the flip side, the crime rate goes down, apparently criminals hate being out stealing cars and wallets in that kind of weather. Either way, I am VERY grateful that I do NOT live there.
a bulky cowl and matching hat for my mom (photo quality's awful, I was in a rush taking the photos literally as we were walking out the door to the airport),
a February Baby Sweater in a pretty, rustic green color and began a pair of socks for Stevie for his b-day. (He knows, so the only surprise will be the color.)
I also got to get a picture (finally) of the hat that I knit for Stevie last year, apparently its his favorite hat, knit with his favorite blues. I am so glad he likes it and wears it!
One last pic, here's the Selbu mittens I made for my swap partner this year.
So that's my knitting, except for the FBS which is blocking as we speak, and waiting for it's little toggle buttons to be sewn on. The Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) is fun knitting, but I like the FBS a lot better. Maybe I'll change my mind as I get closer to the end, we'll see.
In regular life news, I started my last semester of classes (FOREVER) this week. The classes are all pretty interesting and I'm looking forward to what this semester holds for me. Quite a few people think I'm a little crazy for not taking this semester off because of the impending bambino, but I figure since I'll be on maternity leave, it will actually be better to finish up than to take a semester off and have to work and care for a baby and go to classes in the fall. Just makes more sense to only deal with baby and class, and not have to worry about work too. Anyway, I talked to all of my professors and talked to some people about note taking for me in my absence and everybody’s been very happy and excited for me, my prof’s told me not to worry about missing classes, and I’ve found some willing note-takers for me, so I’m pretty much set for the semester!
In other news, did anyone watch the Globes on Sunday? We only watched a portion of it because my main interest is in what they wear. So I was perusing the best and worst dressed lists and found that these two were put on several worst dressed lists, even though they look gorgeous: (Drew was on them mostly for her hair and Banks was on them for the dress, which I think is elegant and quite lovely.)
And THIS one was put on ALL the best dressed lists!
Am I crazy? Or is that the most UNFLATTERING dress you've ever seen? It's like a sliver sack tied in the middle, it does nothing for her shape! And, I'm sorry, if you've nursed 3 babies, you need a bra. That's just all there is to it. Sigh. I saw those lists and fell like I was living an world where everyone was drinking the kool-aid except for me. I know why she was on it, it's because apparently Hollywood thinks she's some kind of saint, never mind the fact that she can't raise her kids without a nanny for each one of them, nor can she take a vacation short two nannies, oh no, they had to call in the other two, apparently a one-to-one ratio on those kids is just not enough. God forbid you parent them for five minutes. Ok, sorry, for the rant, I'm just so sick of them and the fact that each time they reproduce its like the second coming or something.
Moving on, Ry's Mom & sister volunteered to have a baby shower for me, which I thought was very sweet. We're still working out the scheduling, but I think it'll be the 2nd to last weekend in February, so that will give us about a month to see what we still need and assemble anything big we may receive. Although, i get these e-mails telling me what this week's activities should be, and this week (week 29) they say I should be assembling the baby furniture. What furniture? I gotta tell, ya, we haven't bought a darn thing yet except for a few onesies for the little guy, and a cute little pair of baby sneakers for $2.50 at TJ Maxx. We may get that room organized and painted this weekend though, considering it'll be so cold outside it just won't be worth going to any of the place we'd wanted to for the long weekend. I wonder how long it would take for us to get to 60 degree weather from here?? I guess I shouldn't complain though, I heard on NPR yesterday that in North Dakota with the windchill factor it was 70 below. It's so cold there that they can't do field sobriety tests outdoors. On the flip side, the crime rate goes down, apparently criminals hate being out stealing cars and wallets in that kind of weather. Either way, I am VERY grateful that I do NOT live there.
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