Out with the Old, In with the New...

The new and constant major problems that is, so much for the new year being better than the old. At least Christmas is OVER! Yippee! Hubby and I need a new plan, there was WAY too much traveling and too many events this year, it's just too stressful. We had places to be from the 24th straight through until New Years and it started to suck. I had one day off in all that time and I spent it getting a breast ultrasound, not fun, not as bad as I thought either. On the bright side no cancer, recent boob issues seem to have been caused by stress.

When the doc asked me what was going on in my life so I told him, I got kinda a blank stare in return and "Yeah I'd say that's stressful". I felt like asking him ... What doesn't everyone have their mother-in-law, fall and break her arm, sewage backup in a blizzard, Christmas, and Nana in the hospital, brother-in-law's dad get an 80,000 lien on his house from unpaid property taxes, and Christmas all in a month??? I don't ask, because their next question is.. "Why do they all call you?!" I don't know, they just do. My mother claims it's because I'm the "Family Anchor", I say S*%T rolls downhill.

On the bright side I got a little knitting done last week, my cabled cardigan is almost done. Just needs seeming and buttons. I'm not sure what kind of buttons yet so it's been put aside for a while. I had enough yarn to add a hood rather than the collar from the pattern and make the length 30 inches, I like it a lot. I made it from Classic Elite Wings, my favorite yarn but it's discontinued. I got this charcoal color for 15$ a bag two years ago (yes a BAG of 10) when they had the huge 5th floor sale at the outlet in Lowell, MA. So I made a wool/silk/alpaca hoodie cardigan for 30 bucks ... beat that bargain hunters!

I also got a new sock book from winning a contest in my Knitter's Tea Swap. The post office did something too it, it was way late the the package looked like it took a brief tour through Iraq. It survived mostly in tact save a couple coffee stains but who cares I like the patterns it's a very cool sock book from Sirius Knitting. Thanks!

My next project is underway, I'll get photos up when I'm a bit further along. It's a bulky weight afghan for hubby who swears all the ones I make are "too short". Well I'm a foot shorter than he is so I think they're just fine but he wants one for just him. I took him to the store with me so he could pick the colors for his "Manghan" and we ended up with dark brown, tweeded hunter and tan. It's a striped pattern done in blocks so it looks like a Roman Steps quilt. He always picks something I'd really rather not do like sew a billion blocks together. It won't kill me and it's bulky so it'll go fast. One picky remark though and he's getting a wifey smackdown.

The End is Near

Just a couple more things to be knitted before Christmas. Mom decided that my niece and the puppy needed matching sweaters for Christmas. This is the final proof that she's finally become "that crazy old wop" she always poked fun at. It happens to all Italian-American women as they age. It starts with wearing increasing amounts of jewelery and ends with wanting to dress your grandkid and your dog in matching sweaters. Time to move to Arizona with the rest of them, Mom. They even have Dunkies out there just for the old New Englanders.

What actually making the sweaters says about me I'm not quite sure, but hubby is scared. I think it says I didn't want to argue with mom about how freaky it is to dress them both the same. My husband fears it means I've started down the path of "that crazy old wop" a little early in life. Mostly I had a lot of yarn left and why not make Mom happy on Christmas.

I'm also almost done the Christmas shopping. Just a couple more people and some gift cards to pick up. I try every year to be done by Thanksgiving, I can usually make it. I'm one of those people who starts Dec. 26th for the next year. Why? Because I'm damned cheap.. umm frugal, OK poor. Not like living under a bridge poor but like most everyone else lately every buck counts. Plus there's a certain satisfaction in finding a bargain and we have a pretty big Christmas list. Also, I make a LOT of gifts and i like to keep everyone kinda equal. I can't make something for just one person, it doesn't seem fair.

I never suffer the "oh s*%t I need to bring a gift" crisis. I have a whole closet full of goodies I can tap at a moments notice. I've bailed out a lot of family members with my "gift closet" over the years. There's always some last minute event or invitation and you really ought to be bringing a gift. I dislike regifting so I have my closet.

We don't really regift in my family, we kinda have a grab party. This is the result of having a lot of educators in the family. When you teach you get a LOT of little gifts at the holidays. We usually open them "shower style", one person opens while the others catalog for thank you notes. There's usually doubles or triples of a lot of things and the whole family enjoys them.

While I'm on the subject of teacher's gifts, and because it's my blog, I'm taking this opportunity to offend a lot of people by saying WHAT HE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU INGRATE CHEAPSKATES?! Seriously, I was reading Consumer Reports about average holiday gifting/tipping and the people you entrust with your kids rate lower dollar wise than your dog groomer and hairdresser? I was at a craft show once, in a very affluent area, and overheard someone say they didn't want to spend 25$ because it was only for a teacher. I about dope slapped the woman. Here's the thing, teachers make NOTHING compared with equally educated people in other fields. Out of that pittance a lot of them have to reach into their own pockets for class supplies or go without. Show some appreciation! If you have money to spend at the holidays try spending some of it on the people who deserve something nice for the holidays for sacrificing all year for the good of YOUR kids.

I'm not talking about people who don't have much money or are hardcore poor. Believe it or not they are the most generous with what little they have. They appreciate the teachers far more than the snotty folks with the bucks. I've seen both my mom and sister brought to tears over a small 3 dollar gift or a handmade card with some homemade cookies from a family with nothing simply because of the appreciation it shows when money comes so dear. I've also seen the same 3 dollar gift come from a VERY WEALTHY family and what does that say about how much they think of an educator. Priorities people! This is another example of why I didn't go the family route of education, if I want to be taken for granted I stay home with my family =)