What a Life!

My hair is fixed, my make-up is on…and I’m still in my pajamas. I’m trying to recover from the crazy week I’ve had. I need this. Okay?

Not much excitement on the knitting front. WEBS is having a sale on Cascade 220. I’m thinking of buying enough to knit Steve a boring sweater and then I can see if the yarn holds up better than I think it does. He’ll be happy with a plain sweater, I’ll have something to crank away on during times like these, and I can see how the yarn fairs. I know the Cascade Tweed pants I had for Ben when he was little felted horribly in the crotch where the seat belt came between his legs in his car seat. That, and my adventures in washing Cascade 220 and having it felt, is what scares me about that yarn. But it does look nice when knit up and at $4.89 per skein, I’m willing to experiment a little. I’m thinking Doeskin Heather or Charcoal Grey for colors. Boring. I need a boring project in my stash.

In other exciting news, I’m allowed to tell everyone now that I am going to be an aunt! Our kids are the only grandchildren on both sides – now they will have a cousin on my side of the family as my sister and her husband are expecting. Ironically, Traci has the same due date that I had with Joey – October 26th. I think she is going to have a girl, because there are so many more fun – not boring – things to knit for little girls, and be my luck, I’ll just have boys and she’ll have girls so the only way I’ll be able to knit cute girl stuff will be to do it and then send it to her. They are going to find out if it’s a boy or girl, so in a few more weeks, I can start planning projects.

Steve just came inside from lighting the [charcoal] grill and says that this is the coldest first week of April he remembers. He’s lived in Nebraska his whole entire life so he would know. The wind chill is 16 degrees. Low tonight – 14 degrees. Normal high for this time of year is 60 degrees; the normal low, 36. This is also the weekend that my parents decided to visit from Florida. My mother hates the cold. Last year they came to visit us at the end of March when we got that big snow. I don’t think my parents will move here when they retire – they think it’s too cold! If we want to live near them, we’ll have to move to where they decide to live. Such is life…

Joey’s fixin’ to sit up soon. He can sit all by himself on someone’s lap but isn’t quite ready to sit solo on the floor. He also rolls over whenever he wakes up (or when he’s supposed to be going to sleep). Now during the night instead of waking up to grunting, I wake up to him talking while he lies there (after rolling over) and waits for me. Silly boy! Soon he will no longer care to sit on my lap and look around – he’ll want to get down and go exploring instead. They grow so fast!

Finally, we may have a close relative coming to live with us at the end of this month. Said relative has been living on unemployment since her job was outsourced last fall. She has been living in a duplex. Her landlord, who lived in the other half, has terminal cancer and is selling the place to the son of one of her friends. The agreement is that the old owner can stay until she is no longer able to live on her own. The new owner wants the other half of the duplex for his 18-year-old daughter to live in. Thus he is kicking out a tenant who keeps the place impeccable and always pays rent on time. Hard to understand, but the way it is.

There are other close relatives living in the area who have a huge house where said unemployed relative could stay while looking for a job. The closet in their master bedroom is larger than any bedroom in our house. They have an empty spare room large enough for a bed, a recliner and a tv. They both work so they would only see this person for an hour or so every day. But they’re concerned that having someone else live with them temporarily would “interfere with their routine.”

Okay, our spare bedroom is big enough for a bed – there is no room for a recliner or a tv. I am home all day so this person will be in my space all the time. We even offered to open our home, however humble, to this person on the weekends if she could stay with the other relatives during the week [when both of them are at work anyway]. But no. They are not making any effort to make her feel welcome in their home. I do not have the heart to send someone up to live where they would not be treated with kindness. So she will probably be coming to live with us.

Do I think the other close relatives are selfish? Yes. Self-centered? Absolutely. Do I have any respect for them? Not at the moment. Do I have anything to say to them? Not any time soon. [I was raised that if you don’t have anything nice to say, you don’t say anything at all.] We are supposed to go to their house for a family gathering next weekend. I’m hoping that Steve will need to study and we will not be able to attend. Am I evil for feeling that way? Probably. Do I care? Not at the moment. Will I survive? I’m sure I will. Do I think there is a connection between self-centeredness and habitual lateness? Perhaps…