Is It Wrong That I Want One?

I saw an article last week, saying that these hats were being worn by a lot of people in Greenland in advance of the visit from the Vice-President and the Second Lady. 

Is it wrong that I want one? I don't want America to go away, really. Just the current iteration of leadership, from the top right down to the local level. They really all need to just go away.

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Here we are, on the last day of March. I know that Kym's birthday is here, so best wishes! It's always nice to find another March birthday person. 

Of course that means that tomorrow is April 1, aka April Fool's Day. I have my volunteer gig tomorrow morning, so I hope the kitties are not planning a prank for me. 😊 (Though I should probably be more worried about my own kitties at home, to be honest ...)

Have a good rest of the day, and here's hoping that April has good things in store for all of us.

Happy March!

Happy first day of March! It is starting here with a sunny but cold day, which is more than fine with me. It means that when I go outside to take a walk, it will be especially pleasant. And I definitely want to get in a walk today, since tomorrow is supposed to be continual rain all day. 

Well, the guys came yesterday to do the final measurements for our new front door. And it was somewhat dismaying. When we had the initial measurements, our door was already smaller than usual, so we had very limited choices, and only one that included any glass. I'd been hoping to have one of those panels on the top with a little fan window. But we settled for two little panes at the top. Then yesterday when they did the final measurements, it turned out the door was even smaller than originally thought. Which led to a choice between a door with almost ALL glass, or a door with no glass. Since the door is right on the street, we didn't want a glass door, since it would be like being on display. So now we'll have a door with no glass at all, which is disappointing. It will still look nicer than what we have, but you know how it is. You get excited about one thing, and have to accept another.

Now this is likely to be the only way we get an outside opening on our door ...

Definitely a first world problem, though, so I'll just get over it and be happy we can have a new door at all.

Guess what I'm doing today, though? Laundry - both in the washer and also in the DRYER!!!!! The Tim was able to get the venting set up when he got home last night, and so we're finally good to go. I already put a small load in the dryer earlier, and it dried in so little time, I was really surprised. This may just mean that laundry day will not go overtime into laundry evening, which is a real game-changer. Hallelujah!

So in the world of Operation Home Improvements, we so far have:

New roof - check

New dryer - check

Electricity hook up for dryer - check

New door - ordered, and not quite what we were hoping, but almost a check

Zooming right along, spending money like we have it! 😜

(kidding, we have saved a lot for these projects)

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Speaking of spending, I'm pretty proud of myself, because I'm not currently spending. Well, what I mean is that I decided that for Lent, I was going to give up buying things for myself unless it was something I actually needed. I wanted to get out of the habit of seeing something and thinking "Oh I can afford that, I'll go ahead and get it." Now it's not like I was buying big-ticket things, but I'd see a pair of earrings, or a shirt, or maybe even a really nice project bag, and buy it. I would be happy I had it, and always enjoy/wear/use it, but it was never anything I really had to have. So when I realized that Lent was coming along, I thought I would try to get out of that habit. Not that it was in danger of sending us to the poorhouse, but I wanted to get back into my former habit of giving something real consideration before deciding if I wanted to purchase it. 

And you know what is funny about it? There have truly only been a couple of things that I have felt any amount of regret about not buying. And that was only because they were things that I don't see that often at a good price. But neither item was something that I am suffering from by not having in my life. I feel like I'm getting back to my more reasonable self. And I'm saving a certain amount of money each week that I decided was an average of what I would normally spend to donate at the end of the season. So yes, I'll still be "spending" the same amount, but it means that I'm giving up something for Lent in order to give *to* something else, which pleases me.

(Lent gives me a good reason to try and get myself back to some positive behavior each year, a nice re-set, if you will.)

As for this weekend, I have to work as usual on Sunday, but other than that we have no particular plans. I'll probably finish catching up on the laundry, and otherwise I am reading a good book and have my knitting projects waiting for some attention. Rainy days are especially good reasons to just stay put and have a quiet time of it.

I hope you can enjoy your weekend, and have a chance to spend some time doing your own thing. Take care.

Here We Are

I've been confused all week about what both the day and the date are.  I'm not sure why, but now I realize that it is Wednesday, March 30 so I'm at least straightened out for today.  

Today I'm joining Kat and the others for Unraveled Wednesday, to show you what I'm knitting and reading. I feel like it's been a while since I contributed, and the stars aligned for me, so here you go.

This is the cardigan I started at the beginning of the year.  It still has a long way to go, but I have reached the stockinette part of the pattern, with no increases or decreases, so that's progress, because the beginning felt interminable.  I'm hoping to get a lot more knit on this, though I'm not sure if I'll even come close to finishing it before warm/hot weather hits.  But if not, I'll just pick it up again next fall.  

The color is not really even close to how it looks in the photo - it's more of a deep teal, but when you take a photo inside on a cloudy day, you're lucky if anything even shows up, you know?

My other current project is the very beginning of a pair of socks in yarn with Easter-y colors:

So far, one cuff on one sock.  Hey, it's a start ...

I just started this book on Monday:

I'm not that far into it yet, but so far it's really really interesting, and I think I'm going to enjoy it.  Though I have to admit that every time I pick it up to start reading, I hear Bert Parks singing the Miss America song in my head. 😊

And that's it for today.  Have a good one, and go over and wish Kym a Happy Birthday today!

March? Yes, March!

This is ridiculous, but it still made me laugh out loud:

And then on Friday, we will be told to March Fo[u]rth! 😂

"Orders" aside, it is the first day of March, and therefore, the start of one of my most favorite months of the year.  Just off the top of my head, we have:

Milo the Koodle's birthday

My birthday

St. Patrick's Day

St. Joseph's Day (which  means - ZEPPOLES!)

First day of spring

Two other family birthdays

As well as the Ides of March, but I'm not really sure that's a celebratory day (unless maybe something would happen to a sworn enemy and it just so happened on that day, but really what are the chances??).

It would be nice if some other things I wish would happen would decide to show up in March, but at least I have enough already to keep me going.

It would also be nice if during this month (hopefully sooner rather than later), Ukraine would be left to be the independent nation it is and should be.

I hope all of you have a good month, whether or not anything extra is happening.

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kayT asked in the comments of my post about what I learned in February, what I thought the definition was of a "foundling."  I always thought a foundling was a child "found"  - on the doorstep of somewhere, like a house or an orphanage, and/or was either abandoned or an orphan in the first place.  In the book I recently read, the Foundling Hospital in London was for illegitimate children whose parents wanted to avoid the shame. There was even an application process to be accepted, and those who were not accepted ended up most of the time living on the streets, or dying when abandoned as babies.  If they were accepted, the parent(s) had an appointment for when to drop off the child, and they signed papers, and received a "receipt."  So although that may not have survived as the overall definition of the word, that was the original concept for the Foundling Hospital.

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So there you go.  Enjoy your day, and remember - March First! 😂😂

Hello March!

 

Hello March!  As always. I'm glad to see you, and look forward to seeing daffodils pop up and look happy, hopefully by the end of the month.

This past weekend - bringing an end to February - was actually a good one, especially yesterday.  That makes me happy because the month started out pretty shakily for me, and I kept wondering what was happening.  But the fog lifted and the rest of the month was just fine.  We had a rainy weekend here in Philadelphia, but it might be just what my psyche needed.  On Saturday, my big adventure was to head over to Loop, which is open, but with limited occupancy.  The only other time I ventured over there, there was already a long line to go in, and I figured I'd try again another time.  So a Saturday morning when it was raining seemed to work out well.  

Since they were having a sale, I didn't want to take a lot of time to look around, in case others wanted to come in, so I got the double pointed needles I wanted to get, as well as these two kits:

I have a friend who has made a few of these, and they are SO adorable!  I expect they will be fiddly, but I'm game to try.

Yesterday was an even rainier day, and frankly, it was wonderful.  Other than brief forays outside with Hamlet so he could attend to his business, I spent the bulk of the day stitching and knitting.  I worked a bit more of my counted cross-stitch project, and then in the afternoon sat down with my blanket o'squares to work on a few.  It felt good, since it's been a while since I spent much time on it.  But working on that and watching a few podcasts to keep me company along with a cup or two of tea, made it a cozy, happy day.

And now, March 1 has arrived.  The month of Milo the Koodle's birthday, my birthday, St. Patrick's Day, St. Joseph's Day (zeppoles!!), and the first day of Spring, just to name a few things.  I am hoping that the ick at the beginning of February will be it for a while, and that March can be better all the way around, because if your birthday month can't treat you well, what is the point, you know??

I hope that the first week of March will be kind to all of us, and that even if it's not your birthday month, it will be a good one for you.