Weekly Teatime

I feel like these weekly check-ins are working well. The pressures off on trying to get blog content up as frequently as humanly possible (even if I haven't really got much to say) and it feels a bit as though we have a teatime scheduled in wherein I have a cup of tea and then proceed to have a very one sided conversation about the week gone by. Fun, no?

I've been writing a lot (actual, physical writing), which means I have a lovely case of "left-handers" on my knuckles on any given day. I'm juggling several projects at the moment and I (happily!) received lots of "go-aheads" from queries I sent out at the start of the month. Deadlines are coming fast and furious, one right after the other. I have to remind myself that nothing everything needs to happen all at once. It will all be okay if I just focus on what needs to get done today and let tomorrow take care of itself.

I made the worst cookies of my life on Saturday. At least I wasn't expecting them to be amazing (I was trying them out to see if they could accompany an article I'm working on), but I also wasn't expecting them to be so, so horrid. Let this be a lesson - a cookie recipe must white flour, white sugar, and butter. Any omissions from that list and it just tastes like sadness.
 
A good friend is getting married in June and this past week I ordered the bridesmaid dress, as well downloaded the pattern for the afghan I'll knit for her and ordered the afghan yarn. I feel so on top of things. Now I just have to hope the dress actually fits (although there's plenty of time to exchange it), find me some pretty silver shoes, oh and actually knit the afghan. But June is still a long ways off, right?

Speaking of marriage and babies and all the other major life milestones that I am failing at just 100%, has anyone else stumbled across this British ad campaign trying to get women to have babies when they're younger? Le sigh. So much could be said about this, but in general, let me just say "Aaaaaarrrrrgh."

I'm almost done with the current writing WIP. That's right: I put the first tentative words in a Word doc. on November 24 and now, a mere two months later, I'm almost done. Wait, what is that noise? Angels singing?

We just got out of Internet jail yesterday. Whenever we exceed a certain download cap, our internet service gets slowed down considerably until our internet usage falls within a certain percentage of allotted bandwidth. (The system makes about as much sense as that last sentence.) Our internet went out on January 3rd and just came back today. The really sad part? The last date that we were released from internet jail was December 22. I do not want to do the math on that one.

We set out the remains of the Christmas turkey once I'd boiled it down for stock the day after Christmas. I planned to throw it out after a couple days of letting the pine marten and birds pick at it, but here it is, nearly a month later and the birds are still finding eating off of it. It just struck me that I've been spending all this time watching birds peck at one of their own. Kind of pervy, really.

I have a big expense dentist appointment on Thursday to permanently fix my front teeth which have been giving me grief since 2011. Call it vanity if you must, but it's really only funny for so long to have "Ada the Brown Tooth" be your Game of Thrones bandit name.

Lake trout season outside of the Boundary Waters opened on Saturday and Andy says we're off to fish on Friday.

 

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The Best Baby Shower

A couple weekends back, I had the distinct honor of attending one of the best baby showers that ever was. The shower was really just a formal component of a regular old (and very, very informal) crafting weekend and had been in the works ever since we learned at the last crafting weekend that two of our "gang of eight" were expecting their first babies within ten days of each other.(Royal babies and crafting babies this summer, oh my!) To honor the two very special mamas-to-be, we wanted to hold a baby shower that showered them with handmade baby items.

It was truly a shower where every present was even more incredible than the last. The mamas received personalized picture books, binders of their baby's genealogy, beautiful quilts and burp clothes, and of course, lots of knit goods. As for really practical things like diapers and teething rings, they'll have to wait for a shower where people actually follow a registry. ;)

Remember those sheep cardigans? Dubbed "The Dirty Lionel Cardigan" after a sheep we named while we were all in Ireland together (five of us studied abroad in Ireland during Spring 2005), the cardigans finally made it to their owners.

Let's see if they fit!

As is to be expected at an event where everyone has a bit of a flair for the creative and homemade, the food was delicious. I'm still dreaming about the lemon curd filled cupcakes, although let me tell you, the chocolate ones weren't half bad either. Even the party favors were homemade: jars of strawberry margarita jam. Oh nom nom nom.

Games and activities were kept low-key and we avoided poop themes (no baby food was wasted at this baby shower) and any "who knows the mom best" sort of games. One of the favorite activities was decorating onesies with puff paint. I'm not sure how many onesies a new mom needs, but you can rest assured that these two mamas-to-be now have onesies - mostly covered in movie quotes or inside jokes - coming out of their ears.

Of course, the baby shower, as wonderful as it was, was just one teeny bit of a four day (!!! hold the phones!) weekend that included a surprise birthday party with an Anchorman theme, s'mores, Skittles, Wimbledon (and Pimm's Cup and strawberries and cream -heaven!), playing on the playground just down the road, evening walks, Pitch Perfect, and so much noise and laughter. I'm so lucky to be part of this wonderful tribe of women!

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Knit Happens: Baby Stuff

After a wealth of wedding afghan projects in the last few years, I'm happy to announce that my friends are moving on to the next stage of adulthood: parenthood.  This is very exciting because baby items are much faster to knit than afghans. Also babies are pretty fun - especially once they're 6 mos +. (Sorry new moms, I still kind of give newborns the side eye, those infants just don't do a whole lot during those first few weeks of life, although newborns' fingers and eyelashes are undeniably adorable.) 

The sweater above is the first of two Sheep Yoke Baby Cardigans because not one, but two (two!) fellow crafters are expecting their first baby this summer. With two bundles of joy on their way, we knew the crafters had to unite for a Crafting Baby Shower in June, where all gifts are handmade. I opted for knitting two identical baby sweaters with a sheep theme since in addition to our shared "craftiness" all the crafters have spent extended periods of time in Ireland, the land of sheep. The sheep theme is also decidedly unisex which is helpful since one of the crafter is opting not to find out their baby's gender. (The other is having a baby girl - squeeeee! Since it's been baby boy after baby boy in my world lately, I'm slightly thrilled.)

The sweaters are knit in superwash 100% merino wool yarn so babies can be babies (aka: spit up) all over the sweater and frazzled, sleep deprived new parents can throw the sweaters in the wash and not worry about the sweater coming out the right size for a Barbie doll. The lack of buttons all the way down the front of the sweater also helps busy parents speed up dressing their babies without having to fuss with button after button. Besides, a floppy, open sweater gives babies a wider range of motion - perfect for letting them be their wiggly selves.

While I don't consider myself a baby person (although, I don't consider myself *not* a baby person either), it's hard not to be excited about these two little souls who will be joining the crafting circle this spring. Two pregnant crafters may have meant just a tad too much champagne was available to the remaining six crafters last New Year's Eve, but it also meant we had a designated driver on hand to drive us to Walmart when we ran out of toilet paper that same night. Class act all the way here - obviously we should totally all be in the process of becoming parents because we are super together and a awesome at "life."

 

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Spring Times Two: Babies and Wildflowers

The old adage in northern Minnesota when it comes to seasons is that we don’t really have seasons. Rather, we get “winter, mud season, and a week of summer.” But really, it seems we have two sorts of springs up here in the Northwoods. The first spring comes with a trickle of water, a nub of pussywillow, when the snow begins to recede. With a chilly promise of green and growth, the first spring ushers in the dreaded mud season when the outside world become a mess of muck and dead grass.

Then, a month or two later, the second spring materializes. When things are actually green. When wildflowers start to peep out from the forest’s floor.

Gradually, we’ve been entering into that lovely second spring when it starts to seem like summer might really be coming after all. The strawberry and blueberry plants have been flowering for a couple weeks. I know people have been seeing violets up here for a while now, but I didn’t stumble across my first one of the year until Andy and I were out punting about for morel mushrooms on Sunday.

(No morel luck: not even false ones. Despite getting a bit of moisture last week, things remain pretty crispy out in the woods and on Sunday, I crunched my way through what was last year a very fruitful field of blueberries.)

If you spy a blooming violet, chances are your gaze will fall on a clump of wood anemones. These equally miniature spring wildflowers (violets and anemones are probably only about 4 inches above the ground) are out in full force. I love finding wildflowers and pointing them out to others, but goodness “anemone” is a hard word to say. I always feel like I’m trapped in Finding Nemo when I yell out to Andy that I found “an anemonemone. Amnemonemomne.”

As we drove home from the ill-fated morel hunt, we spotted a yearling moose beside the road. That must mean that Mama Moose has had this spring’s baby (or babies – they seem prone to twins.) When the new babies arrive, the yearling moose who have been hanging out with Mom all winter get the boot so Mom can devote her time to her infant(s). Oh, the joys of being an older sibling.

With this second spring promising summer, Andy’s been busy getting the gardens all set for the summer planting.

It’s looking really good.

Meanwhile, I’ve done a second seed planting inside to hopefully make up for all the seeds that didn’t sprout the first go-around. I’ve always had a soft spot for Four O’Clock flowers, so of course everything else I planted sprouted while the peat pots with the Four O’Clock seeds have just sat there and rudely sprouted a couple strands of grass and nothing else. We’ll just give that a second try, shall we.

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Three Shifts to the Wind

Despite having had a lovely weekend in Duluth, the title to the blog is not a typo. I was never “three sheets to the wind” this weekend, but today I find myself “three shifts to the wind.” Only three more shifts of work as a waitress before the restaurant closes for its seasonal hiatus and I am on to the next chapter of life. I’m looking forward to the new challenges ahead of me that better match general career ideas I had in mind when I got my degree. That’s not to say I think being a waitress was a wash. It sure taught me a lot about human nature and made me a better tipper. And now, whenever times get tough, I’ve got some waitressing and bartending skills under my belt and that’s really nothing to be sniffed at.

I should be working to think of something beyond the cliché, but I just have to say this next thing: doesn’t it seem like things have been moving awfully quickly as of late? Half the time these days, I find myself thinking it’s still February. I can not believe quickly things change. In the past month the winter has made a dramatic flip into spring; I have gone from a waitress to a manager; and I have gotten a refund check from my insurance company for growing older. In less than two weeks we head off to the Pacific Northwest. Can you believe it? I bet you thought it would never get here. Especially after I’ve been talking about the April travels for what borders right on forever.

With only a few hours of work left, I’ve been given a bit of extra time to cobble some stuff together for another large freelance project that threatens to consume every moment of free time I have this summer. I’m extremely grateful for the extra time to get some pre-work done before the big push during the first part of May.

I have one chapter left to revise on the novel before the revision process is done! That should get finished up before the day’s done tomorrow. Another day you thought would never come!

The ice in the bay outside the Shack is rotting. So Andy suggested an ice fishing expedition for tomorrow. Hmmm. . . .

Had book group this morning. We really talk very little about books. When there are itty bitty babies to be “oohhed” and “ahhed” over, I guess that’s to be expected. Seeing that new little guy today (one month old, but actually still a couple days shy of his due date) sure reminded me that motherhood is not something pulling at my instincts or heartstrings just yet. I’m not even ready for the cat Andy keeps pulling for.

I spent the weekend in Duluth catching up with a lot of friends. We had a slumber party on Saturday night at a friends’ house. They’ve recently finished some remodeling and watching their two-year-old lab puppy prance around the coffee table on which the friend’s massive wedding planner sat, reminded me just how far we are from that lifestyle in the Shack. I’m still on my “let’s move every six months!” lifestyle. That’s not to say there aren’t lovely things about the lifestyle we’ve chosen in the woods, but there are just so many ways to live a life, aren’t there?

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