Kiss My Knits!

There were terrible storms last night. The windows we got a few years ago cut down on the noise from the street as we wanted, but the driving rain pounding on the metal windowsills is brutal. It even woke me up, and I can sleep though anything non-Em-related.

We got off to school okay, but there was quite a jam in the parking lot. It would appear that there is no power in the building (or apparently much of the street) so all the kids are just piling into the cafeteria for the time being.

I had this conversation with one of the teachers helping out in the car line. She’s my daughter’s speech therapist at the school. As Em got out of the car and walked past her to the building, she let me know about the power and wanted to be sure I thought Em would be okay with it.

Me: “Ah, I see. She’ll be fine with it if someone tells her.”
Her: “Okay, I just wanted to let you know.” (Em is getting farther away)
Me: “Okay, she’ll be just fine if someone tells her.”
Her: “I just didn’t know how you wanted to handle it.” (I’m kind of gesturing with my eyes and head toward Em, who is still obliviously walking, too far away for me to catch from inside my car.)
Me: “Right, if someone tells her before she walks in the… “ at which point she walks into the dark building.
Her: “I’ll be sure someone tells her.”

Lady. She’s inside. She’s a smart kid, she’s going to figure out that the lights are off. Sigh.

I’m sticking close to home today, just in case. Too bad, as I do have errands to run. Guess what idiot forgot to remove the outer tamper-proof shell from the DVD she got at the library via the self-checkout terminal yesterday? Now that I can’t watch it, I find that I want to watch it more than anything. The human brain is a funny thing, eh?

Okay, I’m rambling, so it’s coffee time. D&D update later!

ETA: As of 8:23, the power’s back on at the school.

Been trying to eat healthier recently, and it’s paid off. I finally moved lower than my previous weight plateau. The weight isn’t really going to start moving again until the weather improves and I can get out and run more reliably, but it’s still encouraging.

Last night, curious and maybe fishing:
Me: Are socks that I make for you more special than ones you get from the store?
Em: Well… I like them both. Both socks you make me and socks from the store are nice.

She is nothing if not honest. Okay, then I know a little girl who’s getting a bunch of socks from the $1 bin at Target so that these last longer.

This morning I prepare more packing materials. I’ve got two more Jayne hats ready to go out (Austin and Australia) that need cool boxes. But first, a little wii running. It’s rainy and cold, but I feel like moving my feet.

Em is back in school today, and for all my grumbling about wanting time to myself, I find that I miss her. She is finally, however, excited about going back to school and got off to a good start this morning.

This was by no means a sure thing. She has been very upset about Christmas being over, and had a lot of trouble adjusting to the idea of a new year. There are some changes we can minimize in her life, but stopping the new year from coming is not within our power, so we just had to ride it out.

One of the things she was upset about was me telling her that she would need to stop wearing her Christmas socks. That’s not because I have a problem with having Christmas year round, but they were constantly being worn through and I had to darn or resole them daily. She decided however, that perhaps she could have Valentine’s socks. And Halloween socks. Also, Thanksgiving. You get the idea. So now apparently hand-knitted socks for every holiday are a new tradition in the house. I’m taking it as an opportunity to practice my Fair Isle colorwork. I don’t get enough of an opportunity to do this, so I could use the practice.

Em: I can wear them in April for Easter, too.

Well, that’s one holiday less I’ll have to knit for, but I’m going to have to be more vigilant about not letting her wear them out. The heels and toes on these will be reinforced, but there’s not a thread in the world that can stand up to my girl’s happy feet.

We rolled out of here in time to make it to the planetarium. In time, that is, if there hadn’t been construction work taking place right in front of our driveway. By the time we got on the road, I was skeptical that we’d make it, but we gave it a shot anyway. Because my parents read this journal, let me say that I drove in a cautious and sober manner, never speeding or otherwis7777777777777777777777777

Sorry about that, sometimes when I say these things my nose grows and starts hitting the keyboard. Anyway. We missed it by five minutes. Emily handled it like a champ, considering we’d had to drive 25 miles to get there. The December show runs for one more day, so we’re going to try again tomorrow.

We decided instead to go to Borders and get a calendar, which Emily was very anxious about having. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any of the ones she was hoping to get, so we left empty-handed. Right now she and my husband are looking online, and from what I’m hearing, there are no Strawberry Shortcake calendars that are modern. They’re all retro, looking like the Strawberry Shortcake of my youth, not the one she watches on Sunday morning. (Note: commercial TV is a new thing for her this winter, and it’s worthy of its very own post.)

Basically, this day has not been all that one might hope. Part of me is just shaking my head at the craptacularness of it. Fortunately, a larger part of me is saying that if this is the worst that life throws at us, then we’re still doing okay.

ETA: I hit the used video store, where the guy was feeling the Christmas spirit and gave me half off of a Collector’s Edition Dark Crystal, bringing it to $8. Then I hit the fabric store for the wooly nylon, which they didn’t have, but I did meet a nice Browncoat. Then I came home to find my husband had set up the telescope in the driveway and we could see the craters on the moon with remarkable clarity. Now he’s showing Venus to our daughter. See? Everything’s still okay with the world.

Nana and Grandpa’s Christmas present. If you know anything about Emily and her love of the stars, you know this is a good gift. This is a great time for it too, because Venus has been very high and bright in the sky early in the evening, when Em’s still awake. Em was able to see it, then got cold and came in, but afterward Steve and I were able to fiddle with the focus until we could observe that it was half full. Very cool.

I’m hopeful that at some point we’ll be able to take it somewhere dark and she can see the Orion Nebula and various other nifty phenomena. In a couple of weeks, the moon’s going to be very well situated for viewing, so we’re hoping she’ll be able to spy some nice craters.

If you’re looking for astronomical software for your desktop, permit me (and Mr. Tvini, who discovered it) to recommend Stellarium. We’re really enjoying this software.

When my mother and I last went to Pennsylvania, we drove up the back roads, well away from the lights of town. She pointed out Cassiopeia as the constellation she could most easily recognize. Because of that, I’ve made sure to teach that one to Emily. I didn’t know if she’d recognize it in the actual night sky, since we live in the midst of the city lights and it’s tough to see the stars in detail.

Last weekend when we were heading home from my in-laws, it was night. I pointed out that we could see a lot of stars if we looked up through the windows.

“Look, there’s Cassiopeia!” she said. And she was right.

I’m so glad that her love of the stars is being fostered by so many people in her life.

Ballantyne Village Theater here in Charlotte is playing Wizard of Oz this week as part of their ongoing retro series. Obviously, we had to go see it.

The down sides:
The print is old and scratched.
The focus faded in and out, not because of the projectionist, but because of a lackluster transfer.
The print is cropped at the sides, revealing the whole picture only through pan and scan.
It looks a lot like the trailer embedded below in terms of quality.

The up sides:
It’s only $5 a ticket if you go to the 5:20 show.
It’s the freakin’ WIZARD OF OZ on the BIG SCREEN.
I’m going with a nine-year-old, not a film appreciation class, so there’s a limit to how much I should really complain.

We talked about our favorite characters in the car on the way home. Mr. Tvini likes the Cowardly Lion because he likes Bert Lahr. I like the Scarecrow because I like the way he moves and dances (Ray Bolger is awesome). Em likes Dorothy “because she’s a really good singer.” My kid’s got good taste.

Em had a blast and wants to go again. And so we will. And we will share popcorn and bottled water and lo, it will be good.

Development: Christmas socks live most of their life as yarn. When ready to mature, they leap onto the needles. The needles knit the fibers together, producing the adult sock. The size of the sock is determined by environmental factors, such as the quantity of the yarn and size and patience of the child receiving the socks.

Adult Life: The newly matured sock quickly adapts to its new home on the foot, often spending 5 days out of the week there. It must occasionally return to the water to clean itself. If it does not, its lifespan is greatly shortened. The sock has a symbiotic relationship with its host, providing it with warmth and Christmas cheer, while the host provides shape and (usually) basic care.

Returning to Yarn: The Christmas sock will generally live through the holiday season, approximately 30 days. The sock develops bare patches as the season wears on. Its host may provide basic health care in the form of darning, but eventually nature must take its course. The sock will unravel and return to the yarn from whence it came.

Reproduction: The cycle continues the following year, when the host begs for a new pair of socks.

Source: The National Christmas Sock Advisory Council.

D’oh!

This is what happens when you wear the socks every single day and night. I get them off of her every couple of days for washing, but they weren’t meant to stand up to this kind of wear. I darned each heel this morning, but this will pose a new challenge – I’m out of red yarn!

Guess I’ll just have to dye some more. Yay!

ETA: Now there are holes in the toes, too. It looks like these socks are just out of warranty, so now they can fall apart. Em still wants to keep them on.

Also under the tree yesterday:

Left: Inara’s Shuttle Ornament

Right: Knitter’s Rubber Stamp

As predicted, today all is well. Em spent most of yesterday playing with her toys, especially her “upside down doll” which is a traditional topsy turvy doll from my dad. This is something she’s been interested in for a while. It’s got Red Riding Hood on one side and when you flip her upside down, on the bottom side of the skirt where you’d expect to see her legs is Grandma. On the reverse side of Grandma is the wolf. Great fun. Emily, who loves outrageous things, tells us that Little Black Riding Hood was taking her basket of bananas through the ocean to Aunt Mary’s house when she met a horse. This cracks her up every time. It sounds a lot like Gianni Rodari so I might have to try to find some of his stuff. Once again, my egghead years working at the library in high school pay off.

Today is a little more low key. She’s spent a lot of time playing a wii game she got, My Sims Kingdom. It’s fun, but she needs a little help manipulating the remote and finding things sometimes. I’ve cut her off for now. We’ll pick back up again in a few hours briefly, but she can’t spend all day playing video games. I’ll thank you all not to tell her what a “pot calling the kettle black” statement that is coming from me. I haven’t had time to spend hours and hours playing games in quite some time, but back in the day… woof. It was something.

Yesterday’s mammoth load of ravioli generated a mammoth load of dishes, so I’m going to tackle another sink, hopefully before my husband gets home. He did most of the cooking, it seems only fair for me to do most of the cleaning.

The traditional Christmas ravioli. My husband makes the pasta dough, ricotta cheese, and sauce from scratch. This year the tomatoes were from our garden, and we had a side of spicy sausage from an Italian butcher about 20 miles up the road.

In theory we all help assemble it, but really it’s mainly my husband who is the maestro here. It’s so good. So good.

Christmas went well. Em got overtired just before bedtime and started quietly crying because “I haven’t done karaoke all year.” Really it was because she had been up since 6am, going full tilt. I should have put her to bed early.

Even with the rough finish, she still said, “I think this was my favorite Christmas ever.” Mission accomplished.

And so, exhausted, I’m also off to bed. I hope your Christmas was merry and bright.