In the Nick of Time

Thank goodness now that June is almost upon us and the weather is beautiful and even hot, I just finished these:

They're out of Bearfoot Mountain Colors, and knit up really soft. I got the yarn cheap at a yarn shop that was going out of business, and even went back for another color. I was actually glad that was all they had left, or I would have ended up with much more. The colors they use are all so beautiful, and the yarn makes a lovely fabric.

I wonder if wool socks are being worn with bathing suits this year?

As Seen on TV

I've been in the closet about something for a long, long time, but I think I am finally ready to admit my deep, dark secret. I love infomercials. There, I said it. I really do. I am fascinated by many aspects about infomercials, mostly about how excruciating it must be to sit in the audience and applaud widely when the sandwich maker is opened up and reveals a family size breakfast prepared in 9 seconds with only canned apple pie filling and a piece of wonder bread. I also am continually amazed that the presenters of these infomercials can come up with so many ways to comment on how wonderful the rotisserie chicken is that they've just cooked from frozen to delicious in 4 1/2 minutes. (This is something that also amazes me about home shopping channels - how many ways can they say this ring is pretty? An awful lot, judging by these channels).

I love the eternal optimism of it all, and even though I am always skeptical of the claims made, somewhere in my heart I truly hope that they are true. I've been burned by this many times. I tried the steam vacuum which was going to pick up all the filth on my hardwood floors with just a gentle push of my hand and the power of steam (it didn't). I tried the apple pie filling thing in my sandwich maker (amazingly, it tasted like canned apple pie filling wrapped in wonder bread).


But now I have a new best friend. She's sleek, she's dark, she's reliable, and amazingly she tells the truth. I had seen this little vacuum on TV, and resisted the urge to buy one, as my other forays into such television promises had resulted in disappointment, recriminations, and a trip back to the store.

When we visited my sister-in-law (who keeps a really spiffy house) and saw this puppy in action (it picked up giant cupcake crumbs that her 1-year old had scattered everywhere after happily munching up his birthday cupcake) I picked one up at my local CVS. (I don't know about where you live, but for some reason by me you can't go 2 blocks without tripping over another CVS. Who's buying all these aspirin?) It works! Not only does it work, it works really well. I have a white kitchen. I have a black dog. My own hair seems to come out by the handful - why I'm not bald, I have no idea. I don't like to haul out my big vacuum. Sensing the problem here? My new little friend sucks up everything, fits in little spaces, and requires very little effort on my part (a prerequisite for any cleaning product in my house).

I now have a relatively clean floor, and a cute little vacuum to boot. Yay for optimism. Now I need to dig out my sandwich maker and that can of apple pie filling....

Wow!

We had a low-key Memorial Day weekend here at Chez Necessity. While all around us people seemed to be traveling to magical destinations, we stayed home. I had to work at the library (next week is my last week!!!) and amazingly it was actually busy on Friday and Saturday. Apparently other people were also staying home, and were in fear of running out of things to watch, so the amount of DVD's that passed through my hands was staggering. (People don't take books out of libraries anymore - they take out stacks of DVD's).

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and went to the Pepsi Gardens. It's housed on the (enormous) grounds of the Pepsi Corporate offices (when the kids asked us what Pepsi makes, we told them soda and diabetes), and is chock full of fabulous sculpture and beautiful gardens. We got some pictures before the camera died (amazingly, when it says low battery, it means it!)

We've been there a few times before, and usually we have the whole place to ourselves, but yesterday there were piles of people, including several tour buses. Who knew we would have picked the place to be?

We met up with some friends, picnicked, marveled at the sculpture and had a wonderful day. If you're ever in the area, look it up - it's worth the trip.

Perhaps an unusual way to commemorate Memorial Day, but definitely a lovely one. We did see a small Memorial Day tribute at the war memorial outside our window in the morning, and my thoughts are with all the families that have aching hearts for loved ones on this day.

Where Are My Sunglasses?

The Easter Egg Socks are done, and if possible became even brighter. The Bare from Knitpicks is really soft, and knit up beautifully. It has nylon in it, so I hope that they hold up. Happy Mother's Day Mom! Wear them in good health (and maybe in the dark.)

Is My Head Dented From Beating It Against This Wall?

We got our tax rebate last week. Although I am not in favor of the bizarre policy of our government to try to fix a sagging economy by sending everyone money they don't have, I'm unfortunately not principled enough that I would refuse said money. And, although the powers that be are trying to talk people into spending this money as soon as humanly possible, The Professor and I had just been discussing some options we would have for a good savings vehicle for some savings we had accumulated, our tax rebate, and tax refund. We try to live pretty cheap here at Chez Necessity, and by pinching pennies as tightly as possible, we were pleased to be able to even have such a discussion.

Thus, we come to today. I went to Trader Joe's, which is actually one of the more pleasant activities of my week. I love Trader Joe's. When I first moved here, I must admit I didn't get the whole Trader Joe's thing. I had heard good things about it, and went in thinking it would be a large specialty market like The Fairway in Manhattan. It's not. It's tiny. But the longer I've lived here, the more attached to it I've become. So much so that I think I would consider the proximity to a Trader Joe's before I would move (if that ever happens, which I'm starting to seriously doubt, but I digress). I purchased our groceries, filled my cloth bags, and left, still feeling the Trader Joe's love. All that quickly subsided when I got out to the parking lot and was met with this:


This is our poor car - not even a year old. We traded in our gas-guzzling mini-van last year for it, choosing it specifically because it gets great mileage and is listed as a SULEV (Super Low Emissions Vehicle). It is now a Super Scraped Up Vehicle, and of course there was no car in sight who had done the damage, no note, and not a single person in the parking lot who had seen the deed.

I guess I will be supporting the economy with my tax rebate check after all - I'm trying not to think about government conspiracy theories, but can you blame me?

Move Over Hummer!

As we live in the land of SUV's, I thought this video was too good to pass up.

Don't you wish you wish you could drive not only to the office, but in the office?

In the Still of the Night

I like to sleep. I sleep as often as I can (which is definitely a lot less now than it used to be). I am not, however, an efficient sleeper. It takes me a looooong time to fall asleep (The Professor refers to this time period as my pre-sleeping) and if something wakes me up in the night, it takes me even longer to drift back off. The Professor, on the other hand, is an extremely efficient sleeper. He lays down, closes his eyes, and within 5-10 minutes tops, he is sound asleep. I find this profoundly annoying, and often have to stop myself from trying to smother his happily sleeping self with the nearest pillow; so far I have resisted this urge. He then sleeps throughout the entire night and doesn't wake up until morning. When I found this out, I was astounded; I assumed that everyone wakes up several times during the night. Apparently, I was uninformed.

Thus, when I was awakened at around 2:30 am, I realized that it must have been extra-extra-noisy, because The Professor woke up as well. The sounds that woke us up were the unmistakable sounds of a girl-fight outside. We live on a relatively busy street, 4 stories up, and the sound carries really well up to our open windows. Not that it was necessary, because these ladies were screaming their fool heads off while standing in the middle of the street while traffic maneuvered around them. We peered out the windows, and as others had intervened and there didn't seem to be any physical altercations (and since I couldn't understand what they were actually saying - nosy gal that I am), we crawled back into bed. The Professor, as is his wont, fell immediately asleep; I lay awake for a while, climbed out of bed and read some Sherlock Holmes, and fell asleep around 4:00. Unfortunately, Miss Serious decided that her nose was running and she was having difficulty sleeping right around this time, and came into my room to inform me of the situation. (Lord knows I like to be informed). This is one of my favorite thing the kids do in the middle of the night (vomiting probably tops the list); not only do they come in to wake me up, but as The Professor sleeps closest to the door, they go all the way around the entire bed to wake me up specifically.

I suppose I should feel flattered, but at 4:00 am I am not even remotely grateful for this attention. Call it a character flaw if you will, but I would just as soon they spread a little of this The Professor's way. I guess I should be grateful for the fact that they look to me for comfort. I should probably be more objective about the whole thing, but for some reason, I'm awfully tired...