Raining Squirrels and Bunnies (Ain't it cool?)

It rained pretty much all day on Saturday. I got up relatively early for a weekend and knitted for a bit while waiting for Matt to get up, and after about two hours, crept up the stairs and jumped on him and demanded breakfast. This has a happy ending: I had a great egg sammich on an English muffin AND I finished my first cable scarf!!

I also did a bit of minor tailoring: I sewed down flap pockets on two pairs of capris (Who needs big flaps on their butts?) and I removed some buttons that made some kind of crazy smiley pattern from a cloche hat and added them to my button collection for use later.

There are some red dots left on the hat from when it was made, indicating where the button should go. (See them in the upper right?) I think I need to bug Mom into crocheting a big fluffy grey flower to cover them up.

Seriously, it rained all day. I was hoping to get out of the house and do some walking but instead watched The Pursuit of Happyness and watched the kittens and watched the rain.

We also watched a squirrel (Matt is convinced it's the squirrel I rescued from the rain barrel about a year ago) sit on the railing of the back porch and shiver and wrap himself in his tail and cry. I didn't know squirrels could cry, and of course it broke my heart. When the rain paused, I had Matt leave some bread out for him, but he didn't come back.

Then, of course, it rained some more; which sucked because Carlos gave us four tickets to the Orioles game, and we planned to take Bob and Shannon but were hesitant to have them drive all the way up here if the game was going to be rained out.

But, I'm learning about silver linings. Like when I poured myself some cereal the other day and missed the cup and got Annie's Fruity Bunnies all over the counter, and instead of getting frustrated like I normally do, I said "Ain't it cool?" and admired the crazy colors and then cleaned it up and went about having a snack.

So the weather was too iffy to go to the baseball game. Instead, we met Bob and Shannon at Arundel Mills and had dinner and went to Dave & Buster's, and I played Skeeball once but for the rest of the evening, followed my little family around while they played NASCAR and football and shooting games.


Ain't it cool?

The Great Schlep

I don't have a Jewish Grandma in Florida. I only have one Grandma, she's of indeterminate heritage, and she lives in Maryland, so I don't have too far to schlep myself to convince her to vote. If you are lucky enough to have Jewish grandparents in Florida, you'd be crazy not to schlep yourself down there and tell them to vote. Or schlep yourself to the phone and call them. Grandparents love it when you call them. Even if it's to talk about politics.

Happy Feet

Yesterday, I signed up for the Get Fit Maryland challenge to walk 10,000 steps a day. It's a 12-week walking program where you pay $10-$12 to join, and are given pedometer, a log book to record your steps, and health information, tips, and offers. You also get a free 30-day membership to any Merritt Athletic Club. There are incentive prizes for completing your log book and prizes at the completion of the program. But I'm doing it less for the gym membership I'd never use or prizes, and more so for the pedometer and nudge to get walking. So far, I've been walking in place while washing my hands in the WC, walking to ask my coworkers questions rather than IMing them, marching around in the elevator... and generally looking like a crazy lady.

Today, Court told me about Socktoberfest. It's pretty loose: just a group of knitters who plan to work on socks and post pictures during October. I'm definitely going to join and will try to have my first pair of socks knitted by Halloween. It gives me an excuse to spend time on my beloved Ravelry page, and I have two more pairs I need to get started on, anyway!

Two weekends ago...

...when the remnant of Hurricane Henry (I think it was Henry) blew through the neighborhood,

I spent the day warm and cozy on my living room floor, on top of the big fluffy Ravens blanket Mom gave Matt for Christmas (all four of us--kittens included--love that thing), watching old movies and being unabashedly domestic. I pulled out my long-neglected jewelry making supplies and spent hours putting purple beads on pins with the idea that I would make a necklace. I made lots of dangling sets of beads, but lost interest before managing to string them together!

Then, I made my first homemade apple pie, which was insanely fun and easy and delicious.

Later, I also took some of the many many many tomatoes we've grown and I peeled them and chopped them and strained the seeds out and made homemade tomato sauce in my favorite pot, which was warm and wonderful in wheat penne that I baked with a bit of shredded cheese.

Another weekend is on its way, but I think I'll just spend it knitting!

What Yarn Problem?

I had to run some paper stock up to Kiddie Academy today, and stopped at Lovelyarns on the way back to the office. (Okay, it's not exactly on the way...)

I purchased Malabrigo kettle-dyed worsted wool in "Dusty" for a slouchy beret I plan to knit (Dusty is the same color as the cable/rib scarf I am knitting), two balls of super-thin Kid Marino Crystal Palace Yarns in a black/white/gray mix with which I hope to crochet a scarf, and some Storm Moon Knits sock yarn in Gaz (Ravens colors! it's dyed black, purple and gray and will magically stripe in those colors when I knit them).

I also picked up an extra pattern and some scrap yarn so Mom and I can both try to knit a bear for the Mother Bear Project.

I can't wait to get home and fondle my yarn. Is that weird??

The Road

I read The Road in about two days. Okay, that's not necessarily surprising. But nonetheless, the book was gripping. It's one of those books where you drop into the characters' lives, then fall back out again. You don't really know what happened before or what will happen after, but you are a part of the right now.

The story is about a nameless man and his young son on a journey to reach the coast, trying to survive after an apocalypse. The world is dying, and so are they. All they have managed to scavange, they take with them in a shopping cart or in their backpacks. The other is all each has.

The writing was sparce, and the type large and set with wide line spacing, adding to the sense of flow and scarcity. It was disturbing but engaging read. Not to mention last year's Pulitzer Prize winner.

The Road will also have a movie version, coming out this November. (Cormac McCarthy also wrote No Country for Old Men.) The movies are never as good as the books, but I'm still looking forward to seeing it!

Watchmen

I finished reading this a while ago, but hadn't had the opportunity to blog about it. I wanted to be able to dedicate some time and thought to it. Now, I just want to get it out of the way!



Seriously, though: the book was pretty awesome.

The comic series was written (and set) in the mid 80s and was set a bit of an alternative universe, where Richard Nixon is still president, and The Doomsday Clock is ticking towards midnight. Superheros are a fact of life, but -- with one exection -- are everyday people, more adventurers in funny costumes than anything else.

Matt ended up reading the novel as well, and both of us thought Rorschach was the most interesting character. He reminded me of a member of the military, of great integrity, but blindingly absolutist, and seemingly driven by a singular idea that isn't necessarily his.

It was a timely read, considering the state of the world and our need for something -- SOMETHING! -- to pull things back together. If something as crazy as the events of 9/11 didn't unite us for very long, I fear how dramatic it would have to be in order to work.

I don't think this will transfer well to film. One of the points of The Watchmen was to show what the medium of a graphic novel could do that other media can't emulate. For example, sandwiched between chapters are other fictional elements, like excerpts of books and letters written by the characters and the comic book within the comic book. That, and the story itself, and the pretty incredible ending, may not be accepted by a wide audience.

Julie & Julia

I finished reading Julie & Julia over the weekend. What a fun read! It's a memoir about a neurotic, disgruntled twenty-nine-year-old New York secretary who decided to embark on the Julie/Julia Project -- a challenge to herself to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, and blog about her experience doing so. What followed was --obviously -- humor, broken eggs, an obscene amount of butter, and several nervous breakdowns.

I love Julie Powell’s writing style: witty, brutally honest, self-depreciating, sometimes whiny... yet always utterly relatable. (Especially the parts about her long-suffering husband.) Reading it, I was cheering her on and wondering whether she was completely nuts, often at the same time.

Julie's first post was Sunday, August 25, 2002 (that's right, I tracked it down), and it quickly gained an enthusiastic readership... among web surfers and eventually, the media. (Which is what eventually led her to her book deal, that lucky dog.)

I know there is a movie being made from the book, which will have a little bit more of Julia Child's life, based on her autobiography My Life in France. (I need to add that to my to-read list... or maybe my Christmas list.) And Meryl Streep is supposed to play Julia Child, so OBVIOUSLY that's going to be a fun performance.

That said, I don't think all of this is going to tear me away from my devotion to Alice Waters, but it gives me a new interest in and appreciation of Julia Child and schmancy French cooking. It also makes me yen for a project of my own, especially if it can eventually get me out of my sometimes-secretarial-like day job. Knitting? Baking? Jewelry-making? Any suggestion?

Wake Me Up (When September Ends)

I've had an interesting -- and largely unintentional -- barrage of September 11th references in the last few weeks of August. We received United 93 and World Trade Center from Netflix; they happened to be next on our queue. The author of Julie & Julia wrote about her experience at a temporary secretarial job... at a government firm fielding suggestions for a 9/11 memorial. The first essay in my latest Barbara Kingsolver book was a rumination on the events of September 11th... I didn't find out until later that Kingsolver began writing that book of essays on 9/12/01.

I felt United 93 was well-researched, and true-to-life. The film ran more or less in real time, and cuts from the plane to the military to air traffic controllers, building a mounting sense of confusion and fear. Each passenger was represented by a specific actor; I found later that many families met the actors portraying their loved ones. The film played like a good, unflinching, unbiased documentary. World Trade Center wasn't nearly as good. I respect that the artists involved were making their tribute, but as a movie it was neither engaging nor entertaining.

The author of Julie & Julia was surprisingly -- and dare I say refreshingly -- frank regarding her frustrations dealing with outrageous suggestions for a 9/11 memorial. She also writes rather bluntly about her loathing of Republicans. I was pretty amused by her rants. From reviews I've read, some readers have (of course) been offended and feel she is cold and dispassionate. I found her open and funny... someone with whom I wouldn't mind hanging out, and with whom I'd feel comfortable saying all those things I wouldn't say in polite company.

Small Wonder's title essay is sure to be controversial (Kingsolver did make the list of the 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America, along with any other prominent Democrat or Liberal you can think of). She describes the enemy as fear rather than a person, and writes "it would require the deepest possible shift of our hearts to live in this world of fundamental animosity and devote ourselves not the the escalating exertion to kill, but rather, to lulling animosity to sleep." And this, to me, is what I take away from the events of 9/11.

Even on that day, driving to my grandmother's funeral with my fiancee and Marine brother, I was angry but felt no hate. I didn't want revenge. I wanted to grieve, to heal, and to rise up. And then I wanted to understand why there is such hate out there, and how to heal it. I had not considered -- and wanted no part of -- an unending, escalating back-and-forth of misconception and conflict.

Years later, I have some understanding about the hate out there, and about how we may be perceived in countries unlike ours, as well as some that are not so unlike ours. And how little of what we are doing is working to change the perceptions, hate, violence.

I worry a lot about this world gone mad, about wars and foreign relations and the numerous divisions in our own country: by race, economics, religion, sexuality, party lines. I worry about intolerance and injustice, what I can do to combat it, whether I can make an impact. When I think of what a troubled time this is, I try to remind myself that nearly every generation has had its own terrors to overcome. But it's hard to think of them when this is what I'm experiencing. I just wish I knew how to do it, how to lull some of the world's animosity to sleep.

A friend of mine recently said he dislikes liberals, partially because he feels they are spoiled idealists, ashamed of our country. It was a constructive discussion (such a great start!); an opportunity to debate and come to terms. Because dear reader, I am quite the bleeding-heart liberal, and I'll admit to some discountenance. I find myself disagreeing with a lot of things that go on and hoping for change. But while I feel this young nation may be wayward in its teenage years, I believe in its greatness. I love it as it fumbles and finds its way, am exaspirated by its angry outburts and inspired by its compassionate outpourings. I love it with a fierce protectiveness, and I want to see it at its best.

I am, indeed, a liberal. But to me, that has less to do with my political beliefs about civil liberties and social progress. (I roll my eyes at the ACLU as much as my Republican friends.) What it has to do with is my idealistic child-like faith that we can work to make things better, that, even though this world may never achieve perfect harmony, we can accept and maybe even help one another. That perhaps we can lull at least some animosity to sleep.

2008 Republican National Convention

In an odd wrinkle in reality, Matt and I didn't watch the Democratic National Convention, but did watch both Sarah Palin and John McCain's speeches during the Republican National Convention during the past two days.

I expected Palin to do well with her acceptance speech, but not as well as she did. She was poised, engaging and well-paced. I wish I would have watched Obama's and Biden's speeches so I have some comparison, but I would have liked to have heard more of her views and less Obama bashing. I also think her remarks to families of special needs children about having "a friend and advocate in the White House" is more about strategy than sincerity, especially considering that she hid her pregnancy -- and then her son's disability -- from everyone, including her children, until her son was born. Special needs children in something that wouldn’t have mattered much to her before she had a baby with Down’s Syndrome.

I thought McCain's was a good speech in that it aspired to be inspirational and somewhat bi-partisan. In my usual reluctant optimist way, I choose to believe he is sincere in his love for his country, his desire to make it better, and – even if he can’t bring it to fruition – his goal to work across party lines. I agree with his more of viewpoints than of any other Republicans in recent memory. That said, I didn’t learn anything about his policy plans -- "lower taxes," "reform the education system" and "reduce independence on foreign oil" are not plans until you tell me how you would achieve those things -- and he had some contradictions in his speech (war is terrible and I am against it … we’re there to win this war!; we can't do anything without oil ... Americans can do anything we put our minds to!), and though I felt bad for him that he was getting heckled so badly, his speech was way too long.

Knowing that choosing a running mate is an art and a science, it will be interesting to see whether McCain's choice of a running mate will prove to be a ruinous miscalculation or a stroke of tactical genious. It seems Palen pushes the Republican ticket further to the right, so it may lose those who are uncommitted or in the center who may have voted for McCain because he is a "milder" Republican, or it may gain him the vote of Conservatives who think he is too liberal. Most likely, it will do both.

Palin was a brave choice either way. I think she's a tough cookie and would love it if she and I shared ideology, but she's too fundamental for me: anti-abortion, creationist-Christian, supportive of abstinence-only approaches to sex-ed (oh, the irony!)... not exactly someone I expect to fight for female rights. She also doesn't think that humans contribute to global warming, which is a big concern to me. I'm hoping the story about her trying to ban books in the library when she was mayor aren't true... Really, the more I learn about her views, the more concerned I become.

Now that we got the Americana backdrops and patriotic balloons out of the way, I’m looking forward to the debates. Stay tuned... and no matter what your views are, I hope you go out there and vote!!!

Job Post

Work has been somewhat slow lately, believe it or not. I've been lobbying for a new client, though thus far, it hasn't gotten me anywhere. I get to do new business research when it's needed, but not often enough and frankly, I'm not a fan of doing a lot of secondary research. I miss doing primary research but wanted to stick out this job for at least a year. (One month to go...)

In the meantime, I meant to share this a while ago ... one of my old co-workers suggested my old employer post the following job, in hopes of replacing what I can REALLY do around an office:



MARKETING
** NEW ** 'New Jen' - Resident creative genius seeks short, cat loving, vegetarian with superior pointing skills. The ability to produce high quality evil scowls a huge plus. Duties include tea preparation, bi-weekly purchasing of Whole Food coffee, and making references to evil monkeys on a regular basis. Other duties include thwarting the creative department's quest for world domination and apparently some sort of 'market research' whatever the hell that is. Competitive Salary + Benefits!


It sounds just about right.

Labor Day

A rather lovely treat after my exciting weekend with my mommy was that Monday was Labor Day, and we had the day off. (Mom took Tuesday off, too, but I'm not going to dwell on my jealousy regarding her four-day weekend.) Matt and I had a quiet breakfast together Monday morning: the usual eggs and toast and tea on the back porch. Matt was supposed to practice flipping eggs in the pan (over easy) but cheated and flipped them with not one but TWO spatulas. Cheater! Although, it's pretty ironic that I am the one with culinary interests and Matt will be the one able to wear the chef's toque blanche.

Shortly after we ate and cleaned up, Matt made the executive decision that we would go to the nearest Crate & Barrel that sold furniture and purchase the daybed I've been coveting for several months now, so we can finally redo the guest room. So it was off to Tyson's Corner, VA for the day, after I did the requisite packing of Matt's car with a snack and drink and book and magazine and knitting. (I don't claim to be sane, people.)

I had a great time at the Crate & Barrel, though I will say that perusing furniture typically makes me want to move into a new house and decorate all over again. I've always been the sort that buys pieces rather than sets of furniture, and I think it is beginning to show. Although I will say that my house is starting to look lived in, in that cozy grab-a-magazine-from-the-stack-and-put-your-feet-up kind of way. I'm almost looking forward to crisp fall weather, when I can add a light blanket to the mix.

After Crate & Barrel, we went to the Tyson's Corner Mall, where I would've been happy to update my wardrobe had I not been a little freaked out by the amount of the daybed, trundle, and trundle mattress for which we had just sprung. But I did get a purple cardigan from H&M and a small Circa notebook from Levenger. On clearance!

For dinner, we went to The Cheesecake Factory at Tyson's II and (finally!) used the gift certificates Mom gave us for our birthday. It worked out nearly perfectly: the certificates covered all but sixty-one cents of dinners, drinks, and desserts. I was, of course, stuffed and exhausted by the time we got home. Matt drove the long way around the beltway so I could see Washington National Harbor (since Mom announced that we could take her there next, the saucy little minx). That place is frighteningly large, but I'm sure we'll take her when some more stores open.

Anyway, my long-winded point is that the daybed will be delivered in two weeks and I'm finally going to get to redo the guest room, so no more Mommy sleeping on an Aerobed on the floor, and I can finally invite Stine and Marc (MISTER and MISTRESS!) to visit. It's so funny to think how you get to a point where you have your own home, and can do what you please within your own four walls. I have a pretty terrible memory, but I do recall moving into my first apartment with my college roommate, thinking it would be a miracle if I managed to pay my portion of the rent every month, and being surprised every month when I did. (It wasn't much later that Matt moved in as well; shockingly enough, ten years ago!) I suppose it sneaks up on everyone that way: you aren't sure you can handle it, but do the best you can, and gradually take on more responsibilities, and move along largely unconscious of your own progress, and eventually are startled by the realization that you are grown, with your own things and your own life. And, if you are lucky, your own guest room.