Fidget

…specifically, things from the 80’s. The buzz is that the 80’s are coming back in fashion, in a big way. I’m a little apprehensive about this, having been a pre-teen in the late 80’s, just starting to look around and notice styles and care a bit more about how I looked. I think some of these bleed over into the early 90’s when I was in junior high and I hope they don’t come back either:

Pegged pants. Also those ridiculous zipper-with-bow contraptions at the ankles…

“Paper-bag waist.” this only looks good on tiny children, like 3 or 4 years old. Proof of this is the model in the photo above - she’s obviously very tall and slender but those pants make her look, well, like she’s wearing a bag!

Shoulder pads!

Acid-wash denim: I think this looks very ugly, even in moderation. But especially on top as well as bottom - picture this: parachute-style jeans, with a jean jacket featuring shoulder pads. Both acidly loud. It’s like static you can wear.

Big hair - long, poofy perm with huge spiked-up bangs. Remember those girls who had like a peacock-fan thing on their head? What were they thinking?

Florescent colors

Puffy sleeves

I’m somewhat opposed to jumpers, jumpsuits, and overalls. I think overalls look kind of cool in some cases (not shortalls, though, see photo above), but they were not a good fashion choice for me, who looked childish enough in my teens without wearing OshKosh.

Here are some things I don’t mind:

Leg warmers… but not those puffy “slouch socks”

Colored tights… maybe even leggings, but NO stirrup pants and only under something that covers the derriere. I have to admit I loved that long-sweater-over-leggings look when I was 12. And now I love tights in colors and even patterns such as stripes - I wore my blue and white tie-dye tights just this past Sunday.

Scrunchies! But no side ponytails.

And I just have to say, I absolutely adored jelly shoes and jelly bracelets. I don’t think I would wear them much if they came back in style (and I have seen them around once in a while) but I’m so glad they were in while I was a little girly-girl.

Oh, and one thing that’s back and I’m happy about, but I haven’t gotten around to wearing, are long dangly earrings. I loved dangly earrings because I could make them myself so easily. I made them out of beads, “Friendly Plastic” - honk if you remember that! and even small toys like those thread-wrapped worry dolls. aw, yeah, ha-ha!

We painted them ourselves, at one of those paint-your-own pottery places. Very fun. It was time consuming because we first had to do tons of sketches and arrive at a theme. (We were intentionally echoing the motifs on our tile/wood coffee table, our family heirloom from BN’s grandparents…) Then we took awhile choosing colors. Then, we wanted our shapes to be crisp and opaque, so we did at least 3 coats of paint on each colored area, even the white. Yes, we both tend to be a bit perfectionistic. Can you tell which ones are mine and which are his?

I have a hard time saying no.

I have this tendency, if someone wants me, to feel that I do (or should) want them in return. This shows up in stark relief at several points in my history - once in an astonishingly brief semi-dating relationship, circa 1998. Then, last month I was approached by an IT hardware/software company who wanted me to contract for a short while and move into full time. What a great opportunity! I should snap it up, right?

I’m great at agonizing. Last night I agonized over whether to order a BLT with soup or a burger with mushrooms plus home fries. (Waiters must hate me.) Then I agonized over what coffee-shop treat to get. (My husband gets impatient with me.) When I’m facing a big decision, the ability to make small ones just flies out the window.

I’m choosing: project variety, consumer-oriented products, public exposure for my work, schedule flexibility, portfolio building, more free time, a less career-oriented future.

I’m passing up: responsibility for and ground-up redesign of an entire IT-oriented software UI, a gain in usability engineering/user-centered design experience, full-time schedule, security, and benefits.

This would probably have turned out very differently if I was a man, a breadwinner, a career goal-oriented type. As it is, perhaps my next full-time, long-term job will be as a mom (someday) …

I think my intelligence is being insulted here.

And yes, the crescent-shaped objects you can see through the clear-plastic jar are, indeed, cashews!

Oddly, the peanut oil doesn’t seem to count as an allergen. Seems like people with peanut allergies would be more concerned that it contains peanut oil than the remotely possible equipment contamination.

Last Friday night BN took me to the theater for my birthday outing. We went to the Very Little Theater, which is a small (duh) community theater very near to our home. We’d both been there before, to see December Bee, a play that was very similar in some ways to the one we saw this time, Enchanted April. Both are about women having somewhat of a mid-life crisis. December Bee had surreal, tragic ending, but Enchanted April ended very happily. But it was not at all sappy or sentimental - it was quite clever, funny, and all the characters were very interesting. The four women who take a vacation together to Italy are 4 very different personalities, and then adding 3 men - two of the women’s husbands, and the host/landlord; plus the housekeeper who speaks only Italian - makes for all kinds of entertaining interpersonal scenes. It’s set in the mid 1920’s, and this production managed to gather lovely period “frocks” for all the women. I love the look of the 20’s. It seems there’s a movie version, and it’s based on a novel - I’m going to have to check those out.

Hey, today’s my birthday!

I’m 29. It’s my last year in the twenties. Looking back, for the first time, on a decade of adulthood. (When I turned 19, I was looking back at my childhood…) Ten years ago I had just gotten home from a summer of working at Mount Hermon. I was still recovering from my summer crush, a nice boy who played guitar and liked vegetables, and appreciated my sense of humor. (Now I’m married to a great guy with those same qualities, and many more.) I was in my second semester of community college, but not yet in my first “real” job. I got my driver’s license when I was 19, better late than never! On my recent visit home to SJ I drove, for the first time in 5 years, the 1970 VW Bug that I started driving when I was finally licensed. Vroom, vroom!

Nowadays I’m fine with looking much younger than my real age. It was the bane of my existence growing up. Kids on the playground would call me a liar, but it wasn’t my fault that I looked about 7 when I was really 10. Worse when I was 16 but looked twelve, and had to dress like it too, because stores such as Limited Too hadn’t been invented yet. (Not that I approve of 12-year-olds dressing like they are high school seniors…) Nowadays, I just get carded, and that’s no problem!

On my Bay Area visit, at BN’s mom’s wedding, I met a little girl who was 3 but turning 4 soon: when’s your birthday, sweetie? October 18th, she lisped proudly. I was thrilled, and excitedly explained that’s my birthday, too. She gave me a confused and displeased look - Young children don’t like to share, remember?

My birthday gift from BN is a high-performance but cute-cuddly blue fleece jacket - hooded, full-zip. With sort of a shearling aesthetic. I love having a husband with such good taste. It’s a perfect and timely replacement for my slouchy cotton sweatshirt. Cotton is not my friend during winter. I’m gradually building up my non-cotton winter wardrobe, now that I live where fall temps are firmly in the 60’s and below…

My beautiful and talented little sisters performed in HMS Pinafore this weekend, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to see them on opening night. I flew into town on Wednesday, and have been having a lovely time here with my family. I do miss my BN, and I’m sorry that he missed the show - it was quite a show!

14-year-old GC has been taking voice lessons with our sister-in-law, SW, who was the musical director of the production. GC absolutely blew us away with her confident, flawless and spirited performance. She sang 4 or 5 solos, technically challenging music, in such a professional and beautiful voice that I could hardly believe it was my little sister up there with her flowing gown and operatic technique. I am so impressed with GC’s progress in vocal skill and how much SW has taught her. Bravo, encore!

I am also extremely proud of my littlest, HN, for throwing her enthusiasm and effort whole-heartedly into the play. She played a prominent member of the “sisters, cousins and aunts” of the Admiral Sir Joseph. She performed her moves, choreography, and singing with focused precision. She sacrificed her comfort for days leading up to the performance, spending the night in curlers.

I was so impressed with this talented group of kids and thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

Knitting socks seems so magical and mysterious - even people who can knit fairly well think, oh, I couldn’t knit socks. They’re too complicated, and I’d have to use those scary-looking double-pointed needles. The funny thing is, the oldest knitted artifacts existant are socks - cotton, from Egypt, 1200 - 1500 AD. Think about it: All socks used to be hand-knitted.

I didn’t think about socks much when I first learned to knit. I guess I figured why knit socks when they are so inexpensive to buy. And, they were mysterious. I’d run across patterns for them, and they would have a decent photograph of the finished sock, but no diagrams or photos-in-progress or any explanation of the Anatomy of a Sock.

I wanted to knit for my husband. I made him a hat last year - it came out great, he likes it, and wears it a lot. But he doesn’t need many hats - he’s perfectly content with two (the other one he made himself, back in his crocheting days.) He’s not the type to wear scarves, and a sweater would be such a major undertaking. So sock knitting started to be a lot more attractive to me - I could knit socks for BN. He’s actually quite the sock connoisseur, and often wears striped or colorful socks.

Meanwhile, I found a great sock-knitting book: Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. The way this book is put together is perfect for me - It shows diagram-style photos of the Anatomy of a Sock, with each section knitted in a different color. It has a separate explanaton of each of 3 main styles of sock construction. All the size, gauge, and stitch pattern numbers are arranged in charts, so it’s easy to put together a customized design for your desired size, style, and yarn. Modularity rocks!

As if this weren’t wonderful enough, the instructions are arranged in an efficient 3-column layout, allowing you to use your knitting method of choice - 4 double-pointed needles, or 5, or my preference - 2 circular needles.

This book enabled me to truly learn about and understand socks, not just slavishly follow a certain pattern. I learned that socks are maybe a little complicated, but they break down into such manageable phases. They are seamless, meaning you don’t have to sew any pieces together, and you can knit an entire sock out of a single piece of yarn. (That’s only 2 ends to weave in at the end!) By measuring the recipient’s foot, you can get a perfectly customized fit.

I showed BN the book and asked him which socks he wanted. He picked the last pair in the book - the most complicated, with 2-color stranded knitting and a charted design covering the upper portion of the sock. I decided I didn’t want to do that one as my first sock project, so then BN said he wanted horizontal cables. Well, cables are sort of vertical by nature but I found this chain-like design in another book and did a swatch. He liked it, so that’s what I went with.

Hand-knit socks are not a money-saving item, but you do get what you pay for - in quality, customized fit, and knitterly satisfaction, they can’t be beat!

OK, not shaping up to be such a great day. It’s that happy monthly ritual of writing checks to pay off all the people who let us live in our apartment, use electricity, make phone calls, and buy things with plastic.

After I’d balanced my checkbook against the online transaction list, written checks, tried one more time to find the credit card statement I’d misplaced, called to check my balance, noticed it was twice as high as usual, wracked my brain to remember what I’d bought that was so expensive, called the cc company back to verify my recent expenditures, and assured myself there wasn’t anything fishy there… I realized they hadn’t received my payment last month. So another round of calls, voided and re-wrote the payment check, ran it to the mailbox. I managed to get the late fee removed, but I had to pay a fee to stop payment on the check that had gotten lost in the mail.

All this took a lot more of my morning than I’d planned. You know what though? Praise the Lord, we are doing just fine. We have the huge blessing of zero debt. I know that is so rare for couples our age.

So now I’m really hungry. Munched some nuts, planning to make a smoothie after my shower. Smoothies are such a great breakfast - I make mine with frozen strawberries and bananas, orange juice concentrate, yogurt, and soymilk. The blender is usually so full that I fill up two cups - my nifty plastic-with-straw-valve-lid cups from Tupperware!

Everything was going great. Then I slipped putting the top on one of my cups and HALF of the smoothie landed on the FLOOR!!! Dinglebuckles!!! I hate cleaning and I hate wasting food. The waste couldn’t be helped, and guess what - the kitchen floor was way, way overdue for a mopping. So I did.

The scary thing is, this is not the first time this has occurred. Last time was worse, though - I was living in my tiny studio, and my friend PL was picking me up for a field trip to the city. She arrived just as I was putting the lid on my smoothie, and it exploded, shot across the room, and plastered PL with sticky pink goo. I was unscathed, but not my cupboard doors, floor, or carpet. Or, the fashionably dressed PL. She already knew I was a spazz but this was at the top of the list of dumb things I’d done in front of her. Sigh.