The fact is, sometimes it's hard to walk in a single woman's shoes.

That's why we need really special ones now and then, to make the walk a little more fun.
(Jenny Bicks)

I hate to shop.

Actually, I like to shop. I'll spend the day in a yarn shop, happily selecting an abundance of future projects. And I'll spend hours at the bookstore, happily wandering from aisle to aisle. I love office supply stores, and the card shops. I will gladly go out and look for things for my house. So I guess that what I meant to say is that I hate to shop for clothes.

Although, I have no problem shopping for clothes for my girls. And I even enjoy picking out things for my son, as long as he isn't with me. So I guess what I really meant to say is that I hate to shop for clothes for myself.

About a month ago, I finally had to admit that my sneakers needed to be replaced. The soles are worn down so badly that I'm literally walking on the sides of my feet. The toes tend to leak in the rain. And they look horrible. I ignored it as long as I could, but it's time to take action when strangers on the street start to mention the need for new shoes.

So I went over to Walmart to pick up a pair of plain old-fashioned sneakers (aka tennis shoes). I didn't want any of the fancy cross-trainers, or walkers, or whatever. I just wanted a plain pair of ten dollar sneakers. Something I could grab in my size and go home with. To my dismay, Walmart didn't have plain sneakers. So I went over to Target. And then to KMart. Nobody had plain ordinary sneakers. So I gave up and went home, and continued to wear my worn out shoes.

About a week later, my kids talked me into trying again. This time they went with me. But to my surprise, Walmart, Target and Kmart still did not have the plain sneakers that I prefer. I did give in and try one of the fancier pairs, but by then my kids had figured out that I wasn't going to be any fun to shop with. (I wasn't buying them anything until I found something for me.) So we went home.

When my oldest came home, she agreed to go shoe shopping with me. (She took me clothes shopping first, and yet was still willing to look for shoes. It had been even longer than we thought since she had been home.) I have to say, shopping with her brought back a lot of memories. I heard the echo of trips to the store with her as a toddler:

"Stop fussing and try this on. You can't have those, they don't come in your size. I know you like them, but they won't fit you. No, put those down. We can't afford those, they cost too much. Just try these on. How do you know they won't fit if you haven't tried them on yet. Sigh. Can't you stop whining and try to cooperate, just for a little while? How about we go out for a treat if you behave and try these on nicely? Stop touching those; we're looking for sneakers. You don't need high heels. You don't even wear high heels. No, you can't have a new pocketbook. We're here to get sneakers. Please, just try this pair on now. I promise this is the last pair, and then we'll go out for ice cream, Mommy."

Needless to say, we didn't get sneakers that day. And I didn't get sneakers when my son went out with me the next week. Or when my youngest tried to get me out again last week.

I only bring all this up, so you can understand how utterly amazing it is when I say: I bought two pairs of sneakers today. Two! One plain white pair, and one pretty black pair (for dressing up in). The pride is probably a little over-the-top. But my family understands.

The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value. (Charles Dudley Warner)

Thursday Challenge
"Food"

I have cupcakes! Lots of cupcakes! There are 48, to be exact. And although they're all chocolate, the really cool thing is that each one is different. Best of all, they're all mine. I don't have to share. And I don't intend to. (Sorry, kids.)

My sister made them for me. It started out as a joke. She had asked what type of cake I wanted for my birthday, and I told her "a cupcake." So she offered to make me cupcakes for each year (plus one to grow on, of course -- as if eating all those cupcakes wouldn't already make me grow...fatter). A friend laughingly told her that each cupcake should be different, and that's what she did. Chocolate based, because that's my favorite, but amazingly each mini cupcake has a different flavoring. There's chocolate coconut, and chocolate lemon, and Andes Mint chocolate, and even Strawberry Peanut M&M. The box of cupcakes came with a cheat sheet, which shows the exact flavor of each one. I can't wait to get started on munching out!

(I would have started on them last night, but my sister brought along a container of "Extras" to our Knit One Brew Two meeting so that I wouldn't have to share my box with the others -- she really is the best!)

Unfortunately, it's dinner time and I still haven't had even one of my cupcakes today. I woke up with a horrible cold or flu or something that's made me miserable. I tried going to work, but they sent me home. I've been sleeping most of the day.

I blame it on yesterday's bus ride. I wanted to go to K1B2, but my son needed to take our car to get to and from work. So thinking I was clever, I hopped a ride on the bus for a little extra knitting time.

Only the bus was freezing cold (apparently the air conditioning can only be ON or OFF, and the driver chose ON), and today I'm feeling miserable.

But hey, the socks are almost finished. And I'll have lots of cupcakes to eat as soon as I feel better.

It is pleasant to have been to a place the way a river went. (Henry David Thoreau)

Our annual Staff Fun Day was held on October 24th this year at the Burt Reynolds Park in Jupiter. As usual, we had a really nice time socializing with everyone outside of work. I think I shocked a couple of my co-workers by actually having an alcoholic drink, but that's probably a story for another day.

The B.Reynolds Park is pretty nice. It's not real big, but then it really doesn't have to be. Besides the big party pavilion that we were at, there are several family pavilions scattered about for cooking out and picnicking. The children's playground was very popular with our group. But the real draw to this park is the pier. You can fish, or launch your boat, or even rent canoes and kayaks if you want a quiet day on the water.

I'm not sure that this will become one of my favorite places, but I'm definitely going back for a canoe trip.

I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read,

and all the friends I want to see. (John Burrough)

Not to mention all the things I queued to knit!

It's been a while since I updated you on my knitting projects, so bear with me. (Actually, for a while there the only time I posted was to talk about knitting. So I guess if you're still coming around, you must be okay with it.) I did finally finish the New York City shawl. Okay, I finished knitting it back in September. But I actually blocked it in October. It's the first time I blocked anything for real (because socks don't really count as blocking -- you just put them on your feet damp), and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. The stole did block out bigger; it's just slightly smaller than my linen shawl, which is only slightly smaller than I would like. So I'm happy with it.

It's wonderfully soft. And the lace edging, which shows off my handspun yarn, is beautiful.


The ribbed tunic I was working on is waiting to be frogged. I don't like the way the ribs merge at the neckline. I can't decide if it's the pattern or the way I followed the pattern, but I don't like it. I tried setting it aside to see if it would grow on me, but it didn't. And there is no sense in knitting something I don't like. So the frog pond it is. I still love the yarn, so I just have to figure out what pattern I can use to make myself a sweater that only takes only four balls of Caron Spa.

In the meantime, I worked on baby gifts. A former co-worker's wife is pregnant, and since I had also served on a committee with his mother-in-law, I decided to knit them something. My apartment manager's sister is also expecting. But because I don't know either one that well I didn't want to make any big, so a sweater or blanket was out. Hats and booties are cute, but these are Florida babies and wouldn't get a lot of use out of them. So I decided on the Bib O'Love pattern from Mason Dixon Knitters.


I think they turned out pretty darn cute. Just for the record, though, it took me almost as long to hand sew the patches on as it did to knit the bib. Next time, I might just overstitch a cute border. Then again, the patches look really good. We'll see.

My latest project is a pair of Monkeys, that ever-so-popular pattern from Cookie A, using Koigu yarn. I started these on October 20th, and I can see why so many people are making them. The lace pattern is easy to memorize, yet challenging enough to be interesting. I find myself sneaking them out of my purse to knit secretly under my desk because I just have to do one more row! I'm actually further along than this picture shows; tonight I turned the heels and have finished the first gusset. For non-sockknitters, this means that they actually look like socks now. I figure that I'll have these finished in the next couple of days.

Which means I'll have to force myself to go into my yarn closet to find the next sock project to work on...

Yes, I have a yarn closet now. You know I have to brag a bit about it. Because it is, after all, way cool to have a yarn closet. With all of my stash organized by color into ziplock bags and stored on shelves by type (worsted, fingering, baby, fiber, acrylic).


I also have a dresser with WIPs to finish or frog, but we won't talk about those today. In fact, I'm just going to sneak off and Monkey a-round again.

See you tomorrow for Day 5 of NaBloPoMo!

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I guess I should be happy that my staff remembered today. And it could have been worse; at least I had three people come up and tell me that I didn't look 50. (I'm not, by the way. Approaching it, but it's still a few years away.)

But can one still make resolutions when one is over forty? I live according to twenty-year-old habits. (Andre Gide)

November seems to be my month for resolutions. I always seem to go on a full-fledged, give-it-all-I-have diet in November. (Yep, just in time for the holidays.) I join NaBloPoMo (vowing to post every day not just for the month but for the rest of my life), as well as NaNoWriMo (with every intention of finally writing my novel). And I promise to exercise regularly, clean my house faithfully, and basically just live cheerfully ever after.

I think it has something to do with my birthday, which seems to me to be a much better benchmark for a life accounting than the first page of an annual calendar.

This year, I decided to convert to pesceterianism. Okay, I admit that just being able to say that phrase is a big part of the draw for me. (It's even better when I say that I'm an Episcopalian pesceterian. Don't you wish you could say the same?)

A pesceterian is a vegeterian that doesn't eat meat or flesh animals, but does eat fish. I don't have any great moral reason for making this decision. I'm not trying to save the world or even to protect animal rights. At the same time, I'm not doing it just because my daughter did it. (Although I don't think I would consider trying this change if she hadn't shown me that it could be done and how.)

I'm making this change purely for selfish reasons. For people with inflamatory diseases, such as arthritis and fibromyalgia, research shows that relief can be found by eliminating red meat and limiting poultry, while increasing antioxidants through fish, fruits, and vegetables. I figure that it's worth a month without hamburgers to see if it makes a difference.

Of course, today is just the second day and I'm already sitting here hungry and grumpy because I was too tired after work to make dinner. None of our local drive-thru's have vegeterian options. So the kids are munching on Angus bacon burgers while I'm eating a slice of cheese toast, trying to decide if the cherry-chocolate-chip ice cream left in my freezer could really be considered a fruit and dairy option.

It may turn out to be a really long month.

* * *

By the way, while I did join NaBloPoMo, I have steadily avoided the NaNoWriMo site this year. Which means that my novel will remain unwritten for now, but hopefully my blog will offer an acceptable daily substitute for anyone looking for something amusing to read.

Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air... (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I went out to the pool again this evening. I have to admit, there is something really nice about living in Florida where you can still swim comfortably in the fall. And I'm proud of myself for taking advantage of this fact.

Once upon a time, I would not have dared to go down to the pool by myself. I wouldn't have felt comfortable being there by myself. Plus there's the danger of swimming alone. But lately, I've become a bit more confident. If I want to do something, I go ahead and do it - even if there isn't anyone else around to do it with. If the kids don't want to go swimming with me, I'll go alone. And I have a great time. I float around in the pool for a while. Then I treat myself to a session in the hot tub (which is a great place to read!), then it's back to the pool to cool off. It helps that the pool in my apartment complex is really wonderful; it's like being at an expensive resort. I've been going down for an evening swim most evenings lately.

I'm getting better at going ahead and doing other things, too, even when I can't get someone else to come along. I've been to the beach by myself, and I went out to dinner alone (I even left my book in the car!), and I managed to go shopping for shoes alone. (That was a really big one, as my girls are well aware. I didn't buy anything, but I did try several pairs on.)

Funny thing, though. Now that I'm getting out more by myself, I'm beginning to think that it might be nice to have someone special along. Huh. Who would have thought that?

Happy Halloween!

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At this point, I am so totally over the whole 'getting along without a computer' thing. I am a techno-dependent nerd, and I freely admit it. Writing out reports in long hand and relying on the fax instead of email is a total waste if time and effort. Thank goodness I have web access through my cell phone, however limited it may be!

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We're not ready for the Olympics. But at least I didn't embarrass myself with the group tonight.

Well, not much anyway.

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My son made it home. :)

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It's Wednesday night, which means I'm off to enjoy a little time with the knitting group. My NYC shawl is finished (I just need to block it) so I've moved on to the Fitted Rib Top. With everything on my calendar right now, I really wanted the easiest project to work on.

Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it. Plan more than you can do, then do it. (Anonymous)

I have 18 days to finish packing up my house in order to move October 1st. So far I've sorted through the garage and most of the den. I still have my bedroom, the attic closet, the living room, kitchen, pantry, and porch storage. The kids are old enough to do their own rooms. At least, I hope so.

I'm planning a huge yard sale, since I won't have room in the new apartment for my house-worth of stuff. My sister has offered to hold the sale at her house, which is gratefully appreciated since I won't have a yard anymore. I just have to get everything down to her before then.

I have to help find a group home for my client to move into after his mother's funeral on Saturday.

I'm supposed to be helping my sister plan her wedding renewal to celebrate her 25th anniversary in October. I offered to help her find or make a gown, but that was obviously before I realized that there aren't a dozen weekends in September.

We're also planning a special get-together for my aunt's 70th birthday in October. And my daughter is coming down as well. So I have to have everything unpacked and organized by October 8th.

And I won't even go into the ridiculously long list of reports and goals that I have due at work.

So with all of these stress-inducing deadlines looming above me, naturally I decided to start plans for a Gathering in North Carolina.

Seriously. I had such a great time on vacation this past weekend. But mom and I kept talking about how much we enjoyed the Family Gathering in 2006, and how we really should get together with everyone again. We've all been saying that for four years now. And there's been one reason after another why we haven't done it. (This is a bad year for this person, next year would be better. But that's a bad year for that person, so maybe another year...)

Well, enough is enough. I'm tired of just saying that we should do it but we never actually get to go. I am taking mom and the kids camping in Cherokee again next summer. It won't be until July 2010, so there's plenty of time to make our plans. Hopefully we can get most of the Neuhaus/Williams family there, along with friends and relatives -- Y'all are invited! There's a group on Facebook, or just leave me a comment here if you're interested.

The only reason we ask other people how their weekend was is so that we can tell them about our own weekend. (Chuck Palahniuk)

I had a wonderful weekend. Mom and I took my daughter and her friend Mia to Orlando, and we just hung around the resort the entire time. There were eight hot tubs, four pools, two lazy rivers, and a poolside bar that made wonderful margaritas. When we weren't in the water, we had miniature golf and karaoke to amuse us. (I was the champion of both!)

Even though I brought Daisy (my laptop) with me with the full intention of writing up a couple of reports for work, I managed to resist the temptation to work. Instead I finished my shawl and read a smutty romance book. (I'm not sure how well that will go over in Tuesday's meeting, but que sera sera.)

Now that we're back home, I figure I have probably about half an hour before I start to unpack and begin to panic over all the stuff I didn't do because I was away enjoying myself. But for now, it was a wonderful weekend!