Reader Poll

So, I have a question.  If you could have one thing from Harry Potter, what would it be?

Personally, I think I would like a house elf.  Someone to do the dishes and laundry and general household chores that I very much dislike.  And since it would be my house elf, it would put things away where I want them to go, instead of in the wrong place. 

Although, the ability to do Mrs. Weasley's spells that cause the dishes to wash themselves, food to cook itself, the knitting to knit itself, et cetera would also be pretty awesome. 

Hmm...difficult choice.

What would you choose?

I Might Be Turning Into a Vampire...

But not a sparkly one.  Because vampires don't sparkle.  Or glitter, or whatever.

Okay, so maybe that's not true.  The part about me turning into a vampire.  The other part is definitely true.  Vampires don't sparkle.  But, I don't seem to be able to sleep at night anymore.  I sleep mostly from sometime early in the morning, until as late as I can manage.  On the weekend that seems to be between 10:00 and 10:30.  On the days when Michael works, I have to be up by 9:00 because I have to give my goats hay and unfrozen water.  While 9:00 or 10:00 might sound luxuriously late to you, please bear in mind that I often don't go to sleep until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, and then I tend to wake up between 6:00 and 7:00 for a while, just for fun.  Whether I nap during the day or not makes no difference.  Yesterday I took a mid-afternoon nap, and I had a really hard time going to sleep.  Today I did not take a nap at all, and I still am having a hard time going to sleep.  Normally I'd have taken something by now (lying awake in bed for four hours isn't my idea of a fun time), but since I'm pregnant, I can't.  Well, I suppose I technically could, but I shouldn't.  Either way, the result is the same.  Me awake at 1:30 in the morning.

Also, my baby apparently likes midnight snacks.  Maybe that's why I can't go to sleep any earlier than I do.  I have to awake for snack time.  Tonight I decided I would try warm milk.  Except I don't really like plain warm milk, so I made hot cocoa instead.  Yes, I use milk to make hot cocoa, because it's delicious.  I also use a Starbucks cocoa mix that my mom got me that only has cocoa, sugar, and vanilla and if you try to use water it doesn't taste good (or so I'm told).  Before I got that, I would just use my own cocoa, sugar, and vanilla, but the premixed kind is nice, because I only have to measure one thing instead of three. 

So, I think I'm getting tired enough to go back to bed now. 

Thoughts on Pregnancy

So, I'm still in the tired phase of being pregnant.  I've had my first prenatal appointment with my midwife last week.  I really like her.  Michael came with me and we got to hear the baby's heartbeat via doppler.  That made it feel much more real.  Prior to that it seemed really surreal.  It still does to a certain extent, but not quite as much.

Mostly it's just weird to me to think that this time next year I'll have a baby.  Since I've never had one before, I have difficulty imagining what life will be like.  I mean, I read things, and have friends with kids, but still...it's hard to imagine.  I suppose that's totally normal.

Today I was thinking about the fact that I'll be able to twist their sense of humor to match my own.  I know it's a while down the road, but it'll be fun to have someone laugh at the same crazy stuff I find funny.  Michael finds some of the same stuff funny as I do, but he doesn't have the dark twist to his humor that I have.  Sometimes I miss having someone with my penchant for dark humor around.

Anyway, so that's what I'm thinking so far.

Why I Like Baths

So, I really like taking baths.  Especially when I'm tired or don't feel great, which, lately, seems to be all the time.  Part of it's that whole first trimester of pregnancy thing and part of it's that I'm sick.  So, I seem to be taking a lot more baths than showers, especially this week.  I know some people think that baths are for children or that you can't get as clean in a bath as in a shower.  Both of these thoughts are completely untrue.  First, I have a very large bathtub.  Way too big for a small child when filled up completely.  This bath is obviously intended for adults.  Second, if the nasty, filthy, smelly raw wool can get clean from being soaked in hot soapy water, I see no reason why I can't.  I'm much less dirty and smelly than raw wool.  So, here is a list of the reasons I like to take a bath:

1. You can lie down in the bath.  I suppose you could lie down in the shower, but then you'd have water hitting you in the face, which is not very nice.
2. You're completely surrounded by warm water.
3. It's relaxing.
4. You can watch a movie, read a book, or play games on your iPhone (as long as you keep your hands out of the water) while in the bath.  I wouldn't try any of those things in the shower.  
5. If someone calls while you're in the bath that you want or need to talk to, it's much less awkward to answer the phone than if you were in the shower. 
6. You don't have to stand up.

When showering seems like a monumental amount of effort, a bath is a nice alternative.

Let Me 'Splain...

No, there is too much.  Let me sum up.

It's been quite a while since I posted here.  Lots of things have happened in the meantime.  We visited my brother and his family in Colorado, I started a new job, we bought a house, and now I'm pregnant.

Yes, that's right.  I'm pregnant.

Apparently most people decided that I wasn't ever having kids.  I never said that, so I'm not sure why that was decided, but they were wrong. 

Anyway.  We bought a house on 5 acres in July and have three Lamancha goats now.  The whole house buying/moving in process was very time consuming and more than a little exhausting.  We've finally finished painting the house (except our bedroom, which isn't a priority), and are starting to feel more settled.  Since it's the weekend after Thanksgiving, we started decorating for Christmas.  I've been pretty tired and unmotivated to do very much recently.  I'm looking forward to getting my energy back, which everyone assures me will actually happen.  It's getting better, but I'm still very tired most of the time.  But, the tree is up and we have lights on the outside of the house.  We didn't quite get enough, so we'll be going back to the store tomorrow for a couple more strands to finish the front of the house.  There are no ornaments on the tree yet, only the lights.  But, I like a lit up Christmas tree.  The house is definitely starting to look and feel more like our home, rather than just some place we live.  We have a couple of pictures hung, but need to do more.  We'll get there. 

Anyway, more updates to come about the pregnancy. 

Review of The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson

I finished The Lost Continent the other day.  It is an enjoyable, though not an intensely compelling read.  It is an interesting look at America through the eyes of a citizen who has been living abroad in England for quite a while.  It begins as the search for an idyllic place that Bryson later decides is an amalgam of different places.  As he visits different cities, he adds parts of them to his vision of Amalgam.  But, as the trip progresses, it becomes less of a search for something specific, and more of an exploration of the continental United States. 

Bryson's commentary is often scathing, particularly when dealing with the ubiquitous fast food joints, run down gas stations, and places that cater solely to tourists and thus lack character or soul.  I do think he must be a fan of Catch-22 though.  He comes up with some interesting (fictitious) names - there's the Battle of Lickspittle Ridge, which featured General Goober (who shot himself in the armpit) and Lieutenant-Colonel Bowlingalley, who fought against opposing forces led by Pillock.  Some other place names include Dry Gulch, Cactus City, Coma, Doldrum, Dry Well, and Sunstroke.  There are many more sprinkled throughout the book.  Sometimes it's hard to tell if he's being sarcastic or referring to an actual place.  Though, with actual cities named things like Toad Suck, that's not too surprising.  But the naming conventions are what makes me think he must be a fan of Catch-22, which has characters named Lieutenant Scheisskopf and Major Major Major Major.  (If you don't know what Scheisskopf means, you should type it into this German-English translator.)

Anyway, Bryson's ramblings regarding travel, tourists, and American towns inspire me to preserve some of my own experiences.  For your reading pleasure, I present the following:

In the spring of 2006 Michael and I moved to Boston.  We didn't last very long there; we moved there in late May/early June and left mid-December.  I generally tell people we were there for eight months, but it really wasn't even that long.

While we were there my in-laws came to visit in October.  We had a lovely visit and they took us to Camden, Maine for a weekend.  It was the last weekend before everything closed for the season, so we got discounted things from the shops and got to stay in little cabins overlooking the ocean.  We got up early one of the mornings to watch the sunrise.  This was my first experience of an Atlantic beach.  It was rocky and there were little tide pools all over.  It was late October and it was cold.  At the height of the season I'm sure Camden is overrun by tourists, but so close to the end of the season it was lovely.  The people there were all residents (we were the only guests at the resort where we stayed) and were very friendly as they were looking forward to several months off.  It was a wonderful time.

On the way back I convinced everyone that we should stop in Salem, Massachusetts.  You know, the famous one.  Home to the notorious Salem Witchcraft Trials.  In late October.  October is peak season for Salem.  It's a cute town and I would've liked to have spent more time there.  As it was, Michael had to be at work that day at 4:00 pm and we were still a couple hours outside of Boston.  There was a museum about the Salem Witchcraft Trials that looked like it would've been interesting, but you could only go as part of a guided tour and they were all full.  So we poked around the burial ground then made our way to Nathaniel Hawthorne's house, which is said to have been the inspiration for The House of the Seven Gables.  Now, I've only read (and I use the term loosely) The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and I didn't enjoy it.  I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a Hawthorne fan.  But it was a cool old house and sounded interesting.  It, also, was only available by guided tour, and the ones available all took place after we needed to be back in Boston.

The thing that struck me as the most ironic was all of the people dressed as witches and the witch-related shops and the similarly themed convention going on at the time.  The Salem Witchcraft Trials were to stamp out witchcraft and it is now a place where it is celebrated and cashed in on.  I'm not sure, but I think the ground was moving a little while we were in the burial ground.  Perhaps a few of those people were rolling in their graves.

Simple Pleasures

I went for a walk this morning. The sun was shining through the clouds at the beginning, but was soon covered over. It was fairly chilly, and there's still snow on the ground. It's old snow, crusty and frozen. There was a light skiff of graupel on the ground. I also noticed some new green grass pushing its way through the leftovers from the fall in the swales. And the birds are out and singing. Two signs that spring is on its way.

The Bed Story

So, after Michael and I got married we purchased a bed frame for ourselves with money from our wedding. A couple years later, we sold all our furniture before moving to Boston.

In Boston we slept on an air mattress for a few months. This was because we were subletting a studio apartment and knew we weren't going to be there for very long. After we moved into our other apartment, we bought a mattress from a liquidation warehouse. It's a California king, with regular king size box springs and a metal frame. This is what we've had ever since.

For quite a while Michael has been wanting a real bed frame ever since. A few weeks ago he started looking online to see how much it would cost to buy a bed frame. Since we have a California king, it's quite expensive. Way out of our price range. So, we decided to build one. Michael looked around online and found a picture of one someone else built to get an idea and figured out a schematic for our own bed frame. We bought the lumber and hardware Presidents' Day weekend, and sanded and stained it over the next couple of days. We assembled it on Wednesday that week, and here are the results:

Book Review: Dracula

***Spoiler Alert*** I reveal the ending of the story, so if you don't know it and don't want to, don't read this post.

So, I've been a slacker again with the blogging. I have some things I'd like to record for prosperity, but just haven't gotten around to it. So, for now, we'll talk about Dracula by Bram Stoker.

As I've said before, I was pleasantly surprised by Dracula. It's written in epistolary form, which means the story is told via letters and journal entries. This device gives Stoker the ability to write the story from multiple points of view without undue confusion. I think it could be annoying if every book were written that way, but Stoker does such a good job with it that I didn't find it distracting at all.

The story begins with Jonathan Harker traveling to visit Count Dracula in his castle in Transylvania. On his way there many people warn him that he shouldn't go, give him things to ward off evil (a crucifix), and feed him garlicky food. He's travelling on business, though, and insists that he must go. At first Dracula is very cordial, but as time passes Jonathan realizes that Dracula has no intention of letting him ever leave. He does, however, make his escape and return to England, but not before Dracula has had himself shipped there. Dracula gets to England and begins to wreak havoc in the lives of Jonathan's friends.

Anyway, the opening chapters are very suspenseful, but the pace slows a bit in the middle. It's still interesting, but not quite as compelling as it was in the beginning. Nearer to the end of the book, when the main characters are hunting Dracula, things get moving again. Dracula visits Mina Harker, Jonathan's wife, and so the vampire hunters are extra motivated to kill Dracula so that Mina doesn't turn into a vampire. In the end, they catch and kill him just before sunset as Dracula has almost been returned to his castle.

I found the ending to be a bit anticlimactic. They kill Dracula, and then it's pretty much over. It's not a great battle, as Dracula is still in his coffin (or, box of earth), and so cannot fight back. Which is good for the people trying to kill him, but somewhat less exciting than a modern reader is used to. Mina is free from the influence of Dracula and she says enough to fill up a couple more pages after the account of Dracula's death and then it's over.

The other thing that struck me as dumb on the part of the male characters is their exclusion of Mina from the hunting of Dracula. She has helped them get together everyone's story of their various experiences with Dracula directly or their experience with those affected by him. At that point they leave her out of the hunt and don't tell her anything. But they leave her with no safeguards. They don't make sure she has a crucifix, or a communion wafer, or garlic flowers at her door and windowsill...none of the provisions that had been made to protect others previously. So, obviously, Dracula goes for her. I can kind of understand them wanting to leave her out of the hunting, as it was dangerous and they wanted to protect her. But, if you want to protect her, why not leave her with protections as well? Silly men.

I also thought it interesting that the stake driven through the vampire's heart doesn't have to be wooden. A metal stake or a blade works just as well. Also, the vampire's head must be cut off and the mouth filled with garlic if it is a newly made vampire (if it's an old one, it's body will turn to dust). I also thought it interesting that vampires only go for members of the opposite sex. Dracula (a man) only goes after women. The female vampires that he's made only go after men. That trend doesn't necessarily hold true through the rest of the vampire genre that I've experienced.

Books on Wednesdays

So, I missed Monday and Tuesday, but I'm here now, and it's Wednesday, so that means I'll talk about books. And type in run-on sentences, apparently. And fragments. It makes up for the run-on sentences.

Anyway. Books. I'm still reading Dracula. And The Lost Continent. I've made progress, but haven't finished. We'll talk more about those when I'm done with them.

So, I'm going to talk about what I want to read next. I'd thought about going with Frankenstein next, but it's written in epistolary form (the story is told via letters), and I'm not sure I want to read two books in a row in that style. So, maybe I'll go with one of the Bronte books. Or Stevenson. Treasure Island sounds like fun. Any suggestions? Any books I should read that aren't on my list of Victorian Literature (they don't have to be Victorian)? What about you guys - reading any good books?

Late Again

So, I'm late in my self-imposed Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule once again. Not a great track record given that it's only the first week of this. Ah, well...things happen. It's still three times this week. But, yesterday was fairly busy. It included practicing, cooking, teaching, driving, knitting, and hanging out with some friends. We went to their house last night and played games and generally had a good time.

I also finished one of the sweaters that has been languishing for a while. I need to wash/block it before I get proper photos taken of it. I took a few pictures of myself with it on, but that is not the easiest thing to do. Here are a couple of the better ones. I have couple ends that need to be woven in, but otherwise it's finished.



The pattern is Sophia from French Girl Knits and was knit in Knit Picks Swish DK in white. I started this little sweater a few months ago, and got pretty much done with it before I stalled out. It's been a fairly frustrating sweater from the beginning. It starts with the sleeves, and I decided that I would just go ahead and start it with the recommended needle size, and if I didn't get the gauge called for it wouldn't be that big of a deal to rip it out and start over. Now, it's common for me to have to go up a needle size from that recommended in a pattern, but I had to go up three sizes for this one. That means I knit one of the sleeves four times before it finally worked. There are only so many times a person can knit the same sleeve before beginning to lose a grip on her sanity. Anyway, from there it wasn't too bad. I knit the two halves, grafted them together, and realized that I didn't have another size 8 circular needle long enough to knit the collar. The collar had to be knit separately and then attached to the rest of the sweater. It was at that point that it got put down and didn't get picked up again until this week. I borrowed the necessary needle from my mom and finally got back to it. Knitting the collar was fine. No problems there. Attaching it was an exercise in frustration. I didn't read all of the directions and things weren't matching up, so I had to undo a lot of what I'd done. Then I read all the directions, but misunderstood a crucial part, and so had to undo a bunch of it again. Then, it was still all screwed up, so I completely detached the collar, counted all the stitches, and realized my stitch count was a little bit off on the body. Not enough to make a difference in fit, but enough to make attaching the collar not work out quite right, combined with my inability to follow the instructions. Anyway, I finally got it all put together, and now it's done. I gave my mom her needles back today.

Books, Take 2

Here we are for another installment of Books on Wednesdays. Last week I discussed Dracula and my feelings about the vampire genre and over hyped novels. I'm still reading Dracula and enjoying it. The story is told entirely through letters and journal entries. For me, it's an interesting device that allows the story to be told from multiple points of view without being confusing.

I'm also reading The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson. I haven't picked it up in a few days, but that's largely due to the fact that I was out of town over the weekend and have been fairly busy since I've been back. I haven't been reading much of either of my books. Anyway, The Lost Continent is the story of Bill Bryson's quest for the perfect American small town. You know, the kind of town you see in movies and TV shows from the 50s. He's snarky and somewhat caustic, but of you've ever spent time in small towns (or in the specific regions he visits) you know how true some of his observations are. He's making the trip as an adult, but comparing his current trip with his memories of family road trip vacations as a child. It's a funny and entertaining read. If you're looking for something light that will make you laugh, this book will fit the bill.

What about you? Any good book recommendations?

Happy New Year

Okay, so I'm a bit late with my Happy New Year post, but, better late than never, right?

So, here it is. I've decided to make New Year's goals this year. They're just like resolutions, but they're called something different, and it makes me feel like if I don't do them perfectly it's okay. The point of setting a goal is to get closer to an ideal, not to achieve perfection. Resolutions feel like enforced perfectionism. So, there's my rationalization. Take it for what it's worth.

Here are my goals for this year:

1. Blog more often. I've been pretty good about it lately, what with NaBloPoMo in November and all, but I'd like to keep it more regular. It's fun for me to look back at old posts and remember what life was like at that time. I'm planning on at least three times a week, with a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. As you can see, it's Tuesday and I'm just now doing this, but like I said, it's a goal. I'm moving toward and ideal. Pretend this is Monday for the purposes of this post if it makes you feel better.
2. Get back into a good practicing schedule. I've been a terrible slacker about this for the past several months. Since October, really. I need to get back on track.
3. Stop eating out so much. This means cooking more at home. This will help on two fronts: budgetary and health. I feel better when I eat home cooked food rather than fast food (shocking, I know), so it makes sense to do that more. This also means I need to do better about grocery shopping. Lately I haven't been doing very well with that. So, that will have to change.
4. Finish my current knitting works in progress. I'm planning on not casting on another item for myself until all the current ones are finished. We'll see how long that lasts. Currently the count sits at five: three sweaters, a pair of slippers, and a pair of socks. I will be knitting things for others that are not included in this.
   

So, that's what I have so far. I'll probably come up with more as the year progresses, but for now I think this is good. I hope your new year is starting off well, and that you achieve all your goals for yourself.