Cold Shoulder

Fall has definitely given way to winter, as we haven't seen temperatures much higher than 40 degrees over the last few days. Along with winter comes the leaky windows in our slapped-together apartment that cause astronomical heating bills. But, despite feeling a little blah when it's dark out so soon, last night the lightbulb clicked, and I remember why I LOVE winter. Snow? Toasty Fires? Sledding? Skiing? Steaming Hot Cocoa? Nope. None of the above.

Winter means that it's dark at about 4pm, so the kids are deceived into bed by 6, leaving me with a few hours of free time and it's till only 9 o'clock! No wonder I've been exhausted (besides that whole newborn and sleep-interrupted toddler thing), I've been getting less than 5 hours of sleep (cumulative, not consecutive) every night.

I'm starting to see the downside of having a husband who works in hospitals. H and I have been blessed with yet another lovely cold of the congestion variety. Seriously, I used to work with kids every day and I got sick less times than I do now that I'm at home with my own. I was disappointed mostly because I was supposed to drive with the kids to Delaware to see a friend who lives in Alaska that I haven't seen in over two years. Well, it was just one more reason to cry like the big bawl bag I am.

On a brighter note, last night I sat down and completed one (and a half) of the hats that I'm making for Warm Up! America and they were so simple! If you are a knitter that can cast on, knit and purl, and have an extra two hours, you should most definitely make at least one of these little hats. So simple, and so gratifying to be completely done with a project in under two hours from the time of cast-on. I would probably be faster, but the first row always takes awhile because I cast-on kind of wonky.

I finished Case Histories, and the replacement hardback version came in the mail. Luckily, it's a really nice copy with the exact cover art, so i won't get any guff from the snarky librarians. I'll be posting a review of it on Knitty Reviews, along with reviews for the other five that I'm reading for the New Classics Challenge. I also received in the mail advanced copies of two books, one of which I'm really excited to read, as it's the follow-up to Friday Night Knitting Club. I also just finished The Abstinence Teacher which is the new novel by Tom Perotta (author of Little Children), and my pick for the next book club I host.

It's been a busy week, and I've had a lot of ideas to post about, but none of them have materialized. Tonight I'll be dedicating some time to posting since J has a 24-hour shift.

This week, I had the parental heart attack that was bound to happen with the amount of sleep I get, and the adjustment to having two kids to load and unload each time a car is required. I was driving the looooong way home after leaving McDonald's PlaySpace where we'd met some friends, and H was driving me crazy with his new Happy Meal Toy; Madagascar 2 animals that 'talk when you move'. I'm pretty sure they're intended to just talk as you are going with the flow of life, but H was shaking and banging the thing against his carseat so that there was not a single break in the string of "I'm Alex. The Alex." "Let's go wild!"

At a stoplight, I politely and gently requested that he hand me the toy, lest he want it disposed of when we got home. To my surprised, he was able to hand me the toy with ease because I FORGOT TO BUCKLE HIS CARSEAT! I felt like vomitting as the littany of possible crash scenarios ran through my head. I told H that he had to sit very still, and I pulled straight into a parking lot, apologizing profusely for forgetting, while the realization that I am a shitty, shitty parent kept running through my head. Seriously, who forgets to buckle their kid's carseat?! I called two of my friends for reassurance that I was not the only one to have this happen. Crisis averted, on to the next part of the day.

Oh, and aparrently this Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout will take the garbage out. That's okay. Quite frankly my hands feel virtually empty when I'm leaving the house. I can certainly add three very full garbage bags because without them I only have to carry an infant seat, a diaper bag, whatever lunch or snack we pack that usually doesn't fit into said bag, and the hand of a squirming toddler who can now successfully repeat "Because they'll squish me like a bug" when I ask him why he has to be careful of cars. No. Really. Let me get that for you.

Gosh, I make being married to me sound like such a glamorous and rewarding proposition.