A Curious Statistical Anomaly

We live in a fairly small house, officially it’s something like 1,000 square feet, unofficially it’s a bit bigger because the basement doesn’t seem to be counted as livable space. Throughout the years we’ve lived in apartments of many sizes and finally our small house. Since we love to read, we have lots and lots of books. (I should add that we also use the library a lot too, especially for those books we want to read but don’t intend to keep or those we want to read before deciding to buy as a reference — I do this a lot with craft, science, programming, and cookbooks.)

In one apartment we placed the bookcases back to back to make a wall between the living room and a small sitting area and again between dining room and the entryway. A pizza delivery guy while waiting for us to gather the money commented that he didn’t know the apartment complex had a library and it looked really interesting. So, yeah we’ve got lots of books. Each move seemed to reduce furniture and household items and increase the number of book boxes.

Now we also give them away and tend not to keep the ARC (advanced reader copies) but still the collection grows. So, I’m always on the look out for creative ways to store books so that you can find them when you want to check something out. Right now we’re still in the: science on that shelf, mystery on these other ones, science fiction is on that one, the one over there, and upstairs in the corner and in the bedroom, and so on.

But, I was intrigued with these stair bookcases in the article in Apartment Therapy New York. Books are shelved under the risers of the stairs and along the walls leading to the loft bedroom. There’s also a picture of a stairway that has pull out drawers so you don’t see what is stored there (this one is a keeper idea when we get around to a basement remodel to finish it off). Normally the space under the stairs is unused and this brings up lots of ideas for storage even if you don’t have a lot of books. Hmmm…lots to think about but I’ve got to get back to reading right now.

Besides really, really liking my coffee — I drink a lot of tea. A friend suggested an outing to Teavana at Tyson’s Corner, VA. So this evening we went. Since it’s slightly more than an hours drive to Tyson’s Corner from home, we met our friends for dinner, conversation, lots of catching up and then the trip just down the street to Teavana.

It’s in a mall and set up with sample teas near the door. Tonights samples were Maté Vana and Jasmine Dragon Pheonix Pearls. Both had been sweetened with a cane sugar but were very pleasant and spicy which was nice after the walk from the parking lot to the store (it’s mid-30’s out tonight).

The store has some lovely tea pots, tea cups, saucers, and of course lots and lots of wonderful teas. After spending a bit of time looking at lovely tea pots and cup sets (a bit out of my price range), I settled for a small pot (with a tea strainer insert) that looks like cracked celedon on the outside — a beautiful light green.

Then I bought tea. After lots of indecision and discussion with my husband, I got Azteca Fire (nice spicy strawberry and chocolate smell), Haute Chocolate (chicory, cinnamon, ginger, and cocoa) and Ginger Peach Apricot. I’m hoping to enjoy all of them and there are so many great sounding teas I will definitely have to go back for some of the others or order online. The staff was extremely helpful (but not intrusive) — even some of the customers piped up with suggestions and a list of their favorite teas and why. It was a very nice experience shopping there. A bit pricey but worth it for the quality of the tea and the knowledge shared.

I’ve got Aztec Fire steeping now and it should be ready to pour.

It snowed today. In fact it is still snowing. It’s supposed to snow until about 11pm and then taper off. It’s actually sticking to the ground so we might have some accumulation when we awake tomorrow. I’m sorry if this sounds whiny for those who’ve had feet of snow but I don’t think we’ve had snow on the ground in February since we moved here 10+ years ago — it may have snowed a time or two in February but not to stay on the ground.

The weather has been so unsettled lately. Just Sunday it was in the low 70’s and now it’s below freezing again. I’m sort of worried about the perennials — you see we started raking and clearing the garden area in preparation for spring planting late next month. Now they may freeze since we uncovered them. But it was so nice to see the bright green of the new growth pushing up when we got the leaves off. Prematurely, it seems now.

Haven’t been sleeping well with all the barometric changes — all those ups and downs trigger migraines. I don’t think I’ve been able to really sleep in a week now. The worst bit is when I go to say something to my husband and I just can’t think of the word I want. I can almost see it. I can give the whole definition (and usually have to) but I can’t remember the word itself. We watched a movie the other evening where the main character got hit with some sort of nerve gas and forgot her name but she could still remember English and lots of other things just not who she was.

I seem to spend a lot of time lately thinking about how people think — mostly how I think. Why can I describe something — say corduroy — but I can’t remember that word itself. The neural net is a wonderful things but I truly find it amazing how it connects one thought to another or a word to a concept.

Mostly hung around and caught up on some housework. Walked down to the mailbox to pick up the paper and mail — not much today, mostly ads. I can’t stand to read the paper most days because it really bothers me to see American disappear into the sunset … but that’s a rant for another day.

Raked the leaves and then used the leaf sucker thingy (I’m sure it has a name but it’s slipped out my ears just now) to compost them. Somehow we’ve got to get the entire yard/garden area cleaned up and ready for planting this spring. Paul’s working on cutting up most of the winter’s deadfall so we’ll have firewood this coming winter. I’m hoping to start seeds at the end of the month.

There’s just so much work to be done. I’d start a list but I think by the time I got to the third page I’d be so depressed I couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. So, my theory is to just live day by day doing what I can — stopping before I get too exhausted and seeing the smaller steps adding up to something that just might be called progress — or so I hope.

Wow, times certainly does fly when you’re under a deadline. Towards the end of any month, I get a bit frazzled and let things go, like my blog posts, in order to get the zines up and live on time. SFRevu and GumshoeReview both go live on the first of the month. SFRevu focuses on science fiction, fantasy, horror, nonfiction, and related genre areas — so each month has lots of reviews of books, author interviews, media reviews, and more. GumshoeReview is the same but with a focus on mysteries and thrillers. We made it and they’re both on line — so take a look.

It’s February now — and that means a new coffee cup. The picture is of my new cup — roses, pink, words of amore — very Valentine’s Day-ish. I saw it on the shelf and it was like at first sight. There’s only one problem and I’m fairly sure hardly anyone other than another lefty, such as myself, will notice. The flower inside the cup is only visible as you sip IF you are right handed. There is no mirror image on the other side of the cup for left handed coffee/tea drinkers. What’s up with that? Would it be that difficult to put the artwork on both sides of the inside so everyone can “have a nice day”. Oh, well. As a lefty in a right-handed world I’m sort of used to it by now but every now and then it makes me feel left out.

Next up — remember I’ve missed posting for a few days — I finished my first sock making a normal heel but on a toe-up sock so the heel is essentially backward. What that means is that the thicker part of the normal sock heel which usually goes along the back of the heel from bottom of foot up the back of leg is now under the heel against the floor. Here’s a close up (sorry, it’s a bit fuzzy).

It fits well and feels okay. I’m now nearly done with the other sock of the pair. I’m up on the cuff and have about another 2 1/2 inches to do.

In case you’re wondering — I knit like any other knitter — right-handed. Knitting is actually a two-handed activity so left and right, at least to me, doesn’t matter when knitting. Since all patterns are written for right-handed knitting it makes sense to learn to knit that way. I recently managed to learn to knit backwards for a projects that hopefully will be my next UFO to finish (so more on that later).

It snowed today. The picture is from our deck looking out towards the road that leads down to the paved road. I know it’s only about a 1/2 inch at its deepest and nothing compared to New England. My mother, who lives in Maine, says the snow is almost up to the porch rails and is banking the house on all sides. But it snowed here in Southern Maryland in January and we got half an inch.

Earlier in the winter we got about a quarter inch that didn’t last long enough to take pictures, so I had to go out and take these. It’s now rained and almost all the snow is gone — of course it’s darn cold out and the rain was more sleety, but even that’s stopped now too.

I’m not sure if I should be happy or sad that it snowed. Being originally from Maine, this is snow that wouldn’t even be noticed as an inconvenience — down here it’s a big deal. That is, it’s a big deal unless you live in Northwestern Maryland where they actually have snow storms. But here in Southern Maryland a half inch is a big deal and this is the most we’ve had all year and probably the last. What makes it so weird is just last week we had two days in the high 60’s to low 70’s for temperature — now it snowed.

Doesn’t take much to make me happy or intrigued and today it was snow.

On one of the lists I read the talk has been about how to read while knitting. The topic is important for me because I read a lot of books because I review them. Reading sort of means that I can’t really do anything else but if I could figure out how to hold the pages open and get them turned when needed, well I could do some mindless stocking knit stitches which is a big part of socks and sweaters and other projects. So far I have a weighted holder and one of those fold-up book holders. The weighted one works best with all types of books. The folding holder only works with hardcovers or trade paperbacks (paperbacks cause it to fold up and fall over).

The other problem is finding good seating. I’ve got a great chair, it’s a chair and a half really, but I feel like a kid cozying up for a good time of reading when I sit there with a cup of tea or coffee and a book. It’s my nest really, with books, knitting, side table, and really good lighting. But I got to wondering today what kind of options there were to reading chairs and found the photos you see with this post.

It seems that there are as many places to sit and read books as there are people to read them. I have fond memories of reading under the covers with a flashlight when I was young. Yes, I know that’s sort of a cliché but then there is a reason some things become clichés. I was read to as a child, so I read to my son. I have many memories of us snuggled up on the couch with a warm blanket, and a wonderful book. He also turned out to be a reader with his own collection of books and reading memories. Guess I wonder if there are better ways to enjoy reading — ways to make it more pleasurable but the more I think about it the more I think that as long as you’re comfortable and the journey in your mind is exciting, then reading itself is a pleasure because you almost don’t notice the surroundings because you’re in that other world — the one within the covers of the book.

I doubt there is anything worse for a knitter than finding a moth in the house. Well, finding a moth has eaten a hole in a beloved project or two or three. It’s been on my TO DO list for a while to go through all my stash and get it organized and figure out what I have and where it is. If you remember one of my New Year’s resolutions was to finish some of my WIPS (works in progress) and UFOs (Unfinished Objects). So, finally this past weekend I started. Imagine my delight when I found this sock — I still like the yarn. I started to wonder why I never finished it and remembered it was my first ever toe up sock and I didn’t have a pattern for doing that and was winging it and having some problems with the heel… turned it over and started looking at what I’d done…. Horror struck — it had been eaten by something.

Now, a while back I’d heard that Zip-Lock bags were a gift to crafts people protecting fiber from moths, dust, dirt, and other damaging whatevers that could cause fiber disasters. So, I’d bought boxes of various size bags and had been putting yarn into bags by project as it arrived at the house. However, I hadn’t yet started on the stash. So, tonight I started going through my living room stash: checking for damage, sorting by yarn and color. Now I feel better since I, so far, haven’t found any other evidence of moth damage or any other damage — so my delusion is that only this one sock/yarn/project has a problem. I’ll live with this delusion as I move on to my next stash area and more organization.