playing nursemaid

This'll be a quickie, as I'm tired out and have my hands full at the
moment. Danny, who seemed to be recovering from the horrendous bout of
intestinal "flu" he developed last Sunday, has come down sick again.
Nausea, diarrhea, etc., coupled with just plain feeling miserable. I
was up all night with him, offering little more than cool cloths and
sips of water, and maternal comfort. Today, he's sipping a bottle of
Gatorade, some broth, and eating a few crackers, and although he's not
throwing up, he's still camped out in the bathroom most of the time. I
have no idea if this is just a continuation of the virus, or if he has
something else. If he shows no signs of improvement tomorrow, I'll be
making a doctor appt. for him.

 

 

o frabjous day!

I’ve been having trouble with my 12″ squares for the monthly square swap — when I make smaller squares, they usually turn out fine, but these larger ones have a tendency to curve in on the sides. A wasp waist might be a good look for a Victorian belle, but it isn’t the effect I’m going for in a square. Today, I simply gave up on the patterns I’ve been trying to use, and sat down to play with my yarn. This is what I ended up with, and I’m very pleased. It’s a simple pattern, no bells and whistles, but it stays square, and it worked up to 12″ without problems. Yay me! Glad I decided to just let my fingers do their own thing. (That sounds better than saying I pulled this out of my ass, don’t you think?) Guess I’ll call this square “Foolin’ Around.” I’m sure it will look even better after I block it, but the pic above will give you an idea of what desperation can lead to. The one thing that I wish showed up a bit better is the effect of working in back loops only on many of the rounds, which gives a nice ridged “framing” effect.
We had a quiet day at home, puttering. Jeff and I did dishes, and he did laundry, stripped bedding and remade the bed, etc.. Danny’s stomach is bothering him again, so he spent much of his time carrying a big plastic bowl everywhere he went. I guess he hasn’t fully recovered from the virus that knocked him for a loop all last week.

This evening, Danny and I curled up and watched an episode of “Firefly” on dvd. Love that show! I still find it incredible that Fox was so stupid as to undercut the show, and then to cancel it after only one season. Of course, this is the same network that didn’t recognize what a gem “Futurama” was, so…

BTW, if any of you enjoy cats, check out the following site — http://www.stuffonmycat.com/

I pop by there every day. And just for fun, here’s one of my own cats, looking remarkably unflustered in the presence of a menacing, miniature alien invasion.

off to a good start

I drove Jeff in to work at the hospital this morning, then went to the lab to get my blood poke. So that’s out of the way, at least for another week or so — hurrah!

I also stopped by the library to drop off books, and then made a quick run through the grocery store (Aldi) to pick up veggies and milk. But the highlight of my morning was the stop I made at Croissant du Jour, where I bought 3 of their sinfully delicious fruit tartlets. (My mouth is watering just at the thought of them.) We rarely get treats like this, since I like to do most of my own cooking and baking, but hey, I was driving *right by there* anyway… and since it’s Friday, tonight we’ll curl up together to watch SciFi on tv, so it just seemed like a good time to get something special. I’ll be making a big pot of minestrone for supper tonight, and we’ll all settle down with a mug of coffee and a fruit tartlet when “Doctor Who” comes on. Sounds like heaven!

I was thinking this morning as I walked through the store how fortunate we are to have an Aldi so near us. I’m spoiled by the prices there, can’t imagine paying “regular store” prices for things like milk and butter and bread and eggs. And it doesn’t bother me at all that the selection is limited; I prefer a small store with fewer choices to having to wander like a lost soul through one of the “super” stores. Sorry guys, but Walmart makes me shudder. There are a few things I simply can’t get at Aldi, but for those, I’ll pay a little more and shop at the local HyVee, which at least is based here in the Midwest, and is employee-owned. I do wish Trader Joe’s would consider opening a store ’round here, though. That looks like a great place.

I set aside my “tightwad” books last night, and picked up my Lois McMaster Bujold instead. I’m in the mood to re-read the Vorkosigan series again. Love my Miles! (And my Aral, and my Cordelia…) When in the hell am I going to see a new book in that series? My patience is wearing almighty thin. But I should have some new Christopher Moore to console me very soon, for which all praises be to the gods of publishing. Moore and Terry Pratchett are my two favorite writers, and I re-read their books at least once a year just for the sheer joy of it.

When I took my hook in hand last night while sitting down to watch “Pulp Fiction” with Jeff and Danny, I ended up starting a very simple cotton hotpad. I’m in a swap in which my partner is to receive either a dishcloth (oooh! love doing those!) or a hotpad, and she chose the latter. I looked at a few patterns but all of them, while pretty enough, seemed to be more than a little impractical for something that you use to grab hot casseroles from the oven. Too thin, or done in double crochet, with too “holey” a stitch pattern. Maybe I’m a wimp, I dunno, but if I’m holding a pan full of lasagne, I damn well want the pad I use to be both thick and densely stitched. So, I’m using a simple stitch pattern in which I alternate between sc and dc — not sure what that is called, but I like the way it turns out. I’m using two strands of Bernat Handicrafter cotton held together, and the hotpad is working up to be quite thick. Should be practical, even if it isn’t very decorative.

I’ll close here for now, so I can bounce around the web for a while. May pop back in later to write a bit more, or may just be a lazy sod and spend the rest of the day playing. (Well, except for making the minestrone.) Eh, we’ll see…

Oh, the website for Croissant du Jour is http://www.croissantdujour.biz/

time to start

I’m all settled in at the computer with a mug of coffee, and since I just fed the cats and dog, I should have a few moments of peace in which to write. Praise Purina!

Danny is still asleep upstairs, and is still not quite up to snuff after his bout of stomach “flu.” I have oatmeal ready for him in the fridge, so when he comes down he can heat it up and have some brown sugar and milk on it. With luck, he’ll be able to stomach supper tonight, but if not, I’ll fix him some tea and toast.

I have a jump on supper, in fact. Just made a batch of polenta, and poured it into an oiled pie plate to cool. Later this afternoon I plan to cook up some chunky tomato sauce, using some canned tomatoes. (I got *such* a deal on them a while back, and have at least 30 cans sitting in there to use.) I have onions on hand, garlic, good olive oil, plenty of herbs and some peppers, and some red wine. Tonight, I’ll slice the cooled polenta, brush it with olive oil and grill it on both sides (dusted with either black pepper or cayenne) and then top it with the thick sauce and some grated cheese. I thought about adding some chicken andouille sausages, diced, to the sauce, but I’m really just in the mood for a meatless sauce tonight.

I’ve been re-reading all of my “frugal” books of late. The Tightwad Gazette books, Miserly Moms, etc.. Since I’ve opted to leave my job and we’re down to one income again, I want to enjoy returning to a more frugal mindset. And as odd as it may sound to a lot of folk, I really do enjoy this. I feel more grounded, somehow. Granted, the fact that my van finally gave up the ghost and that I decided not to replace it is *not* one of the more pleasant steps I’ll be taking to economize; tomorrow, for example, I’ll need to get up early and drive Jeff in to work in order to have the car so I can go get my bloodwork done. Then I’ll need to make a trip back into town to get him after work. I’m not wild about this. But, for the most part I don’t mind at all that I’m not as mobile as I was. I’m one of those odd ducks who can be very happy spending most of my time at home.

At the moment, I’m working on 12″ afghan squares for a swap I’m in over at Crochetville. I have one due to be mailed out *any time now* (damn thing just won’t turn out the way I want it to!) I may give up on it and do a different square right quick, then send out both of them and let the recipient decide if she likes either of them. I also have some stunning yarns that I received yesterday from a dear new friend in CA (hi Mare!) and I’m giving much thought to how I want to use those. They’re so lovely, I don’t want to waste them on some half-assed project, and I’m not sure my skills are quite good enough to justify these beautiful yarns. (I only picked up crochet last January, after having been taught the basics when I was a child by my grandma.) There’s a nubbly, cream-coloured yarn shot through with sparkling gold, and I’d love to make a shawl with that. And some jewel-toned recycled sari silk that begs to be made into a bag.

Hmmm. Maybe I need to bear my own advice in mind. Just today, I posted the following in response to one crocheter’s dismay over an unfinished afghan of her grandmother’s that this woman had inherited :

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One thing that may help is to remember that not all the squares have to be uniform. Some of the inherent charm of old quilts or other pieced work, including older crocheted work, is that things just aren’t perfect. The crafters back then were often working with whatever scraps of yarn or fabric they could lay their hands on, and often squares would end up in differing sizes, or in combinations of colours that we wouldn’t normally think “should” go together. But these wonderful pieces *work.* They’re delightful. And even if you can’t make your grandma’s afghan squares all uniform in size, or they have other quirks that a piece made nowadays might not have, the finished project will almost certainly be lovely in it’s own way nonetheless.

Have you ever heard of the Japanese concept of wabi sabi? I love this! I’ll quote from a website here — “Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is the beauty of things modest and humble. It is the beauty of things unconventional.” Wabi sabi is what makes those old quilts or afghan sing with beauty despite their flaws. It’s what makes a cracked pottery vase a poem. It’s what makes an overweight momma in her late 40’s look radiant to her husband and son. (thank heavens!)

I think it’s what your grandma’s afghan will have when you’ve completed it. It has it even now, in pieces in the bag. Even if you never finished it, you could find joy in holding a square of that afghan in your hand, thinking of your grandma and looking at the work of her hands.

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I have so much trouble allowing my own work the freedom to be “imperfect” and yet embrace the beauty of imperfection in other people’s work. What a ridiculous double standard — and to be honest, it smacks of conceit on my part! I need to cut this shit out, eh?

I’ll close for now. I want to get some dishes done, some laundry started, and settle in with some stitching. I’ll pop a Chris Isaak cd into the player, and I’m sure that I’ll end up with at least one cat curled up on my feet before I get the first round of crochet finished. If only I could train them to fix me a mug of tea and bring me a small plate of cookies along with it, they’d almost be worth their (considerable) weight around here. Warm feet and the relaxing sound of purring is all very well and good, but having little furry waiters would be even better.