Sock Rules

I have a lot of rules. Ask my daughter - "No fun until your homework is finished" or "No dessert until you've eaten all of your dinner". Ask my husband - "NO, the towels get folded THIS way!" Ask my co-workers (no real good examples here because they'd all laugh when they read this). It's not as if people actually follow the rules for long though. In fact, I can hear the iPod playing upstairs right now and I know the homework isn't done. I've even given up on the rather Martha-esque way I had rigidly trained myself, and Jon, to fold the towels into thirds and then again into thirds and tuck them neatly away. They are just towels after all.

I do however have one pretty hard and fast rule which applies to me and just me. No socks after Sanibel. We have spent the past six spring breaks on Sanibel Island and it's heaven. Spending that much time in the sun, sea, and sand, its just so hard to come home to Minnesota. It's harder still to put socks of any kind on my feet. So I don't. Not until we get back from San Diego at Thanksgiving (but that's a whole other part of the "rule").

So the "no sock" thing presents a small conundrum for me. Does it mean I can't knit socks during this time? Surely it can't because that seems to be all I really want to do lately. Especially on vacation. Any kind of sock, any kind of yarn, any kind of technique, pattern, stitch - whatever. I have amassed a wealth of paper in support of this. Websites have been bookmarked or sent to my Palm. I have my 32" Addi Turbos in sizes 0 through 5 ready and waiting.

Oh. And I also have all of this.

I'll just knit the socks. I won't actually wear them or anything. Maybe just try them on and check the size but I definitely won't wear them. It's wearing them with shoes that's really the big no-no so just wearing them around the house would be no big deal right? I mean what rule would that be breaking?

SNOW DAY!!

Whooooooo hooooooooo! A huge winter storm! School's closed and everything. Here is the view from our front door as of 10:30 CST today:

And here is the view from the back door this morning:

If you grew up in Minnesota, especially the metro area, a day like this meant you woke up early, really early. You listened to WCCO radio to see if your school was closed. The process was painstakingly slow as the school closing announcements were read alphabetically. If you lived in Wayzata, this was sheer TORTURE!! Most kids learned what the word "parochial" meant through this process. You listened carefully for surrounding school districts. You cursed the current school superintendent for being an avid cross country skier. Back the there was no "2 hours late" deal. It was schools are open or schools are closed. So you sat and waited through the "L. M, N, O, P" schools. All the "Saint" and "St." schools. Waiting, waiting, ......

"Wayzata District 284, Public and Parochial, closed".........Whoooooooooo!!!! Snow Day!!!!!

There were 6 of us kids growing up. There was no cable or satellite TV, internet, video games, ipod, Game Boy, etc. By 9:00 we were dressed and out in the snow. By 10:00 we were back in the house and bored. Is it any wonder that I love snow days while my mom remembers not loving them so much!!

Kathryn and I think it's a good day to light a fire, make hot chocolate and tea, watch bad TV and knit. If you are in and around the Twin Cities metro area and you have a snow day, what are you going to do??

Words that Strike Fear

I'm a simple girl. I'm casual. I like my jeans and t-shirts. I prefer socks and boots to anything resembling "hosiery" and "heels". Getting "dressed up" for me is a long skirt (black), white blouse (not tucked in as that seems to be the current style) , some sort of sweater thing, boots - with a heel because I'm short. Done. Ready to go. Any occasion.

So...along comes Jon's company's 10 year anniversary. This weekend. Big shindig. He is the Master of Ceremonies. Care to guess what the dress is for the big soiree? Yea - you probably already figured it out. If you want to scare the crap out of me you can do it with two words:

BLACK TIE!

Worse: BLACK TIE OPTIONAL

I just hate it. Hate it! It's so far out of my comfort zone. Add to it that this is Minnesota and we don't do black tie well here. There will be khaki. There will be jeans. There will be open-toed shoes with beige colored, sandal-toed hose. There will be those who assume black tie means dress like a hooker and those who assume it means bring a hooker as your date.

Where does this leave me - besides pissed that because he is the emcee I'll have to sit by myself for most of the evening? I went through my closet. I have nothing. NOTHING!!! Since I quit the corporate world more than 6 years ago my wardrobe has really taken a downward turn. The little black dress from 10 years ago (my then company's 10 year anniversary) seems a little dated and well, two sizes too big. I just can't see spending money on a new outfit that I'll wear once. This sucks. Can't I just stay home? Remember the last function and the Raspberry Martinis? Why do you have to be a big wig? God I hope Mary and Anne are there at least.

Which stage is acceptance? OK Deb, work the problem. A quick phone call to La Jolla where my "fancy" sister lives. I knew she could talk me down from the clock tower. She went through her closet, picked out several outfits, photographed them, e-mailed the photos, called me, we narrowed down the choices. The package arrived today. It came complete with purse and earrings appropriate for any of the choices. Would you like to see what I selected??

Looks kind of like the long black skirt and blouse thing doesn't it!! Trust me, the purse and earrings makes the outfit. If you look real close you can see her cute little toes in the picture of the blouse. I actually own a teal wrap that matches. Probably can get by without anything resembling hose because the skirt is long enough; already own some kind of black shoe that will work. Only cost me the cost of sending it all back!! Having a sister with really nice clothes: priceless!!

Fine. I'll go.

I am the Golden Retriever Of Knitting Groups

If you have a knitting group, I should be in it. I am the one that gets there first, re-arranges tables and chairs, makes sure everyone knows each other, carries the conversation if it gets dull. Blah, blah, blah. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a complaint. I'm good at the social niceties, I really don't get much recreational knitting time, I don't mind giving assistance to knitters in need. I think though, that there is a fine line between being a good group member and being just plain stupid.

Take this morning (sorry Amy!). A class of mine finished up last Thursday morning and several of the students and I planned to meet this morning to just knit. One of the women is going through a stressful home re-model and really looked forward to the class as a way to escape for two hours a week. So, say no more. You want stress relief, you got it! Let's meet at 9:30. OK? OK! Sounds good to me! Across the street work for every one? Yep. Sure.

9:15 this morning, yours truly has dutifully arranged the chairs (is it just me or are all the chairs at 318 Cafe starting to fall apart?). No need for name tags because we all knew each other. Pull out my knitting - great I can work on my own project because I'm no longer "the teacher". 9:30 - tea is still hot, knitting is going great (did I mention this - more on that later), 9:45 - still alone, 9:50 - alone. 10:00 - alone. Feeling stupid. At this point I'm thinking back to college rules. We wait 5 minutes for a TA, 10 minutes for an Associate professor, 15 minutes for a full professor. But I don't seem to fit in to any of those categories. Stupid, stupid....Why am I here, I could be home doing laundry, plotting my course for the car pool today because there are no buses and all of us "bus people" have to have special instructions for how to pick up our children. I wonder if Becky could cut my hair early today......

OK, well, I'm still knitting. I had this time scheduled (SCHEDULED - meaning I arranged my day around it!! Does that spell LOSER to anyone else but me??). The gimormous blueberry muffin was good. I could do without the Tracy Chapman "Your House is Better Than My House" CD but I didn't want to use my iPod and miss anyone coming in. Good local gossip going on at the table behind me. Oh well. C'mon Sunrise Circle Jacket, let's go.......Wait.......familiar voice.......familiar shape.......damn the back lighting......

YES!!!!! It's Lisa, it's Lisa! She's here, she's here! I thought you'd never get here! I'm so glad you're here! Can you stay? Are you going to stay? Are you going to knit? Let me see your scarf. Oh you're doing so well! Look how good it looks! Look you guys, look how...never mind.

I think I slobbered on her. She gave me my biscuit. I sat and knit for another hour. I forgot everything. I won't remember the next time.

I AM the Golden Retriever of Knitting Groups.