Shelter Me

Hop over to Knitty Reviews to read the review I'm posting about the book, Shelter Me by Juliette Fay, of which I received an advanced copy through Avon's First Look program.

I can't remember the last book that really made me reflect on my life as this one did. The Kite Runner made me bawl, but it was such a foreign (obviously) culture and story that it was sad in the way that epics are, but Shelter Me made me think about my life and I identified with the character in the way that she talked about her children and how she interacted with them.

Even us prickly, sarcastic people take in the small, private intimate details of our kids....

Bubble-Yum

I just bought my first official skein of 'nice' yarn. While I've purchased from KnitPicks and love their affordability, I wanted the project for Sherri's impending baby A to go one step further. I was contributing to the message board for the Lion KAL on Ravelry and one thing led to another...pretty soon, I was ogling this yarn on NoTwoSnowflakes' Esty shop, hand-dyed a luscious pink, described as being "reminiscent of tiny, soft baby lips or petals, this squooshy superwash is the best bootie yarn!" I was s.o.l.d.

I see a Superwash Merino Layette in your future, Baby Girl! (What can I say, I've been itching to knit for a little girl!)

Black Friday

I took H and C to Munchkinland today in order to burn off some energy and have a little (or a lot of) fun. I immediately noticed something was amiss; there was an abundance of dads present with their children. Yep, stuck doin' time at Munchkinland while their wives went shopping or did whatever else it is you do the day after Thanksgiving.

Last year, because I was buying gifts for everyone, I went out in the mad frenzy that is the mall, Wal-Mart and other retail outlets in order to get the good deals. I have to say, I was really disappointed with the 'deals' at the mall, but went to Wal-Mart because they always have several advertised specials and I had PS2 games to buy for my nieces and nephew. Yes, it was busy, but it wasn't out of control.

I was reading Milly V's blog today and read about this incident at a Long Island Wal-Mart in which an employee died as a crowd of customers trampled him during a stampede when the doors were opened. Are you kidding me?! What could possibly be worth ramming yourself into a store so hard and fast that people die?! In addition, a woman's miscarriage is attributed to this incident. This isn't the running of the bulls, folks. There's not a fire. Your life will not end if your child doesn't get the newest gadget at 50% off. But apparently somebody else's will.

"Roughly 2,000 people gathered outside the Wal-Mart's doors in the predawn darkness.
Chanting "push the doors in," the crowd pressed against the glass as the clock ticked down to the 5 a.m. opening.

Sensing catastrophe, nervous employees formed a human chain inside the entrance to slow down the mass of shoppers.

It didn't work.

The mob barreled in and overwhelmed workers.

"They were jumping over the barricades and breaking down the door," said Pat Alexander, 53, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. "Everyone was screaming. You just had to keep walking on your toes to keep from falling over."

After the throng toppled Damour, his fellow employees had to fight through the crowd to help him, police said.

Witness Kimberly Cribbs said shoppers acted like "savages."

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, 'I've been on line since Friday morning!'" Cribbs said. "They kept shopping.""


My thoughts are with the family and friends of that employee, and I hope that everyone takes this as a very hard-won lesson about what the holidays are supposed to be; a time to slow down and appreciate each other and what we already have.

Urine It To Win It

I awoke to C's cries at 3:30am to find H sprawled sideways in my bed. After feeding C and putting back in his own bed, I returned to place H in a normal sleeping position and did a cursory check of his diaper to ensure that it wasn't indicative of a pending accident.

With the all-clear granted, I drifted back to blissful sleep for what I hoped would be more than an hour...what felt like about five minutes later but was really 3 hours H exclaimed "Oh no! I peed!"

This didn't seem like a big deal as he had a diaper on, but it seems that you get what you pay for in the leak department and the generic diapers are not the Hoover Dam that is Huggies Overnights. My fingers crept over to find a lovely wetness and I hustled H out of bed to strip the sheets, dab dab dab, cover in baking soda and wait for it to dry.

Wait...a cursory glance at the clock informed me that J's 24-hour shift officially ended an hour ago, so with sign-out and travel time he'd be home in about 10 minutes. Awesome. Definitely not enough drying time. Luckily H's external alarm caught the flow fairly quickly and the mattress was not terribly wet.

About a week ago, I'd told J that since I was cloth diapering, I may as well give up diapers completely and just surrender to the piles of laundry that potty training would create. Turns out, the laundry isn't what will be the road block, it's the absolute tedium of trekking to the bathroom every 30 20 10 minutes, stripping down (because why would you leave your pants and underwear on to go to the bathroom?) and sitting on the toilet. And sitting on the toilet. Aaaaaaaaand sitting on the toilet.

Because I realized that I'm supremely unmotivated in this area, I talked with a friend whose son was potty trained (day and night) over the course of 3 days. And she's not kidding. If your child is indicating that they're ready, it's best to go whole hog and just get rid of the diapers altogether, I was told, as they are generally used as a crutch by the parents. Great. I'm not only unmotivated, I'm also a cripple.

So, since I didn't have any plans today anyway, I decided to be serious and H is in his Thomas the Train briefs as we speak. I've got hand lotion at the ready (because if I wash my hands one more time without applying moisture afterward, they're going to crack off) and I'm trying to prep my emotional reserves to be Zen mother.

I can't wait for the power struggle to ensue.

My Virtual Awning

Well, since I can't seem to stop putting yarn on my needles, and I'm making more than I know what to do with, I decided to set up an Etsy shop. I'd love to have you stop on in! I only have a few items listed so far, but if you see something you like, or want to place a custom order, you can leave a comment here, or contact me by the email on my profile.