A Curious Statistical Anomaly

OK, so maybe for most people chaos does NOT breed contentment. Well, probably it doesn’t work for all people. I like a bit of chaos in my life. If everything runs too smoothly, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and badness to happen.

So, I guess I’d have to say that this weekend (so far) I must be really happy. On normal weekends we run errands, clean house, shop, and otherwise do all the stuff that doesn’t get done during the week. This weekend we hosted the e357 (SFRevu, Gumshoe Review, TechRevu) staff meeting at our house. Not a problem, except we still had our Christmas tree in the living room (as of Friday) and all the other Christmas decorations up. AND, we still hadn’t made the bed in the guest room (seen from the main room if anyone needed the bathroom). Not to mention that we’d moved all our files out of various places and bought a new file cabinet and…well…hadn’t actually gotten around to putting them all in the new cabinet and getting them out of the temporary boxes and bins and the old file cabinet. “Not so bad”, you say. Well it wouldn’t be except we bought the new file cabinet last summer. And did I mention that this is the time of year to plant spring bulbs and we’d stored those in the basement right near the door — our most used and convenient door.

So, a whirlwind cleaning event occurred. By 1AM last night (hence no blog post) we had the tree and all the Christmas decoration down, packed, and ready to go to storage. A bit of sleep and another marathon whirlwind of work found: cleared floor space, setting for eight people, all unsightly-ness hidden from public view, and snack tray set out and pizza in-process just as the guest arrived.

As a side benefit, I’ve got a clean house with clean floors and bathrooms, all the Christmas decorations packed and stored for next year, the guest room all set and ready to go for another guest, I found several WIPS (works in process), and my desk is cleaned. I could just sit here and revel in the joy of a clean house — aaaahhhh! Unfortunately, another side benefit was a new task list as well as the realization that the spring bulbs need to be planted (after all the moles, voles, and whatnot might be hungry). And I still need to clear up the file cabinet and now it’s all easily reached to do it.

The problem with holidays is that they end and then it’s back to the usual day by day stuff. The side effect when you work at home is that the detritus of the holidays is all around you — or not detritus per say but the tree is still up and the wreathes. We’ll be taking most of it down tomorrow or next weekend but it’s stuff I could be doing during my work day. But, yesterday I managed to get a lot done and can actually see most of the floor around my office space now. You see I’m on a mission to organize and straighten the controlled chaos I usually work in, while we try to decide about where to put my office space in the basement or how to finish it off down there.

Meanwhile, I decided to get into the new organizational spirit with a brand spanking new calendar — Mary Engelbreit’s “From the Bottom of My Heart 2008 Calendar. I love her artwork. It reminds me of simpler and more cozy times that never were but should have been. It’s a weekly calendar with room for deadlines and such and can fit (in a pinch) in my carry-all bag for outings.

I also got a new coffee cup. Its white with red lines. I’ve had it a while actually — got it off the super sale table at Starbucks in the fall. I liked the clean lines and the shape and the fact that it reminded me of the old diners in Maine that we used to stop at for coffee on long trips — though I’ll admit their cups were usually the all white clunky ones, but somehow this cup spoke to me of those trips and the clean lines match with my organizing mood.

So, now I’m set to embark on a major clean up of the house and my desk. Of course this may just be a way to avoid work but we’ll soon see.

It’s me again. A couple of days ago Gayle mentioned here that we were looking for a tree topper. There appears to be two types commonly available: The Angel, and the Star. So far, none of them of really appeal to us. For me, the angel is really a non-starter. I’ve just never like the looks of them, and my opinion of them was warped at a young age with the story of “Why does an Angel sit at the top of a tree?” If you do a search, I’m sure your search engine of choice will serve you up a dozen variations on the theme. But this is how I remember it:

Santa is running late on Christmas Eve. All kinds of last minute things have cropped up and the normally jolly old elf is getting a bit stressed. Half his elven workforce is down with the flu, and the rest are getting clumsy with fatigue. Quality control is really beginning to slip. And don’t get him started on the temp elves the agency sent over. All in all, it’s anybody’s guess whether or not they’ll get the toys done in time. Then when he goes to check out the sleigh, he finds that someone left a garage window cracked open last summer and the sleigh is covered in snow and ice. So bad is it that he now has a team of elven mechanics working on it, trying to get the rust off. It’s unknown if the primer is going to be dry in time. Next stop is the reindeer pens, where he finds three of his team have jumped the fence and are nowhere to be found. A team of security elves is dispatched to look for them. Finally, with the clock relentless counting down to launch time, the first bag of toys is hauled from the toy shop to be loaded on the sleigh. One of the elves slips on the ice, the bag is dropped, rips open, and toys are scattered across the ice. A clean-up team is called to get everything repacked. The security team reports that they’ve located the missing reindeer, but it’s going to take another half-hour to get them back and in the harnesses. And, there are whispers being passed around that two of the reindeer might be pregnant and will need to be replaced for this year’s run. A physician elf is called to check them over. With time to leave only minutes away, Santa stamps back into the house, the red in his cheeks no longer caused by the crisp clean air. No sooner has he closed the door when Mrs. Claus cheerfully informs him that her parents will be visiting for Christmas day (and the next two weeks.) While he’s still spluttering to this news, the doorbell rings. Nearly incoherent, Santa turns around and rips open the door. On the step is a little angel, sweet as can be and precious as the morning dew. Behind her is the new Christmas tree he had order two months previously. “Merry Christmas, Santa!” she says, with a twinkle in her eye. “I have your tree here, where would you like me to stick it?”

And that’s why there’s an angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Now I can’t see an angel tree topper without laughing. It’s not considered conducive to the Christmas spirit, so I try to keep it to myself, but for my own personal (well, shared with Gayle) tree, I’d like something more heart-warming then side splitting. What can I say? I’m easily amused. Anyway, the search goes on.

So, what do you do when faced with writer’s block. Well, I don’t know about you but I clean or attempt to clean the house. It seems that if you can’t do what you should do, you ought to at least try to do something positive. Cleaning is not only a positive activity, it leaves your mind free to think of other things. So, while mulling over plot and characters and essay topics — I decided to clear up my stash.

My stash includes fiber ready for spinning, as well as yarn for various projects. Earlier in the week I avoided writing for a while, listening to a podcast of Stephanie Pearl McPhee (Yarn Harlot) from a link on her blog. I then thought, what the hey, I’ve never heard her speak so a youtube search and several talks later, my day was going on with a happier underlying note. But I remembered that in one of the talks she mentioned the beauty of Ziploc bags for yarn and fiber storage.

Since I’ve quite a bit of fiber and yarn (not a lot for a yarn store but a bit more than one person probably needs for a couple of months of knitting…okay for a year of knitting) and I’ve noticed some suspiciously moth-y type things. And while they all bit the dust fairly quickly, I’ve been meaning to go through and check everything out. So, today with Ziploc bags in hand, I started the fiber/yarn organization and checking.

Most of the fiber and yarn is in plastic bags with one of the following: cedar blocks, cedar circles, cedar sachets, or cedar balls. So, far I’ve got the yarn for two sweaters now sealed in bags by projects. I found most of the fiber was wrapped well enough so that it seemed fine but I repackaged in ziplocs with cedar whatevers and squeezed out the air. I’ve moved the fiber into boxes by type: wool in one box, bamboo fiber in another along with ingeo (corn-based fiber). The yarn is being organized so that all of the same yarn type/color is in a baggie. If there are yarns for projects, I’m labeling the bag as to what the yarn was bought for — usually socks or shawls.

The side effect of all this cleaning is that now there’s room in the living room for the tree. I found two containers of angora that had to be tossed. I guess angora is the favorite of moths and that seems to be all they ate so far and now that’s gone out of the house. I also think I might have figured out how my protagonist is supposed to get involved in the plot so, I guess tomorrow it’s back to the goal of 1,000 words a day.

Well, today we had a batch of errands to run. We needed to mail out the books we sold on Amazon, the payments for the bills, and the two boxes to our mothers (1 box each — parity in gift giving reigns in our house). We did the food shopping. Stopped to check out books in Borders and buy coffee (as an aside why do they even have a Maple White Mocha listed when they never have the ingredients to make it…so far I’m 0 for 5). I got a Peppermint Mocha Trio — hubby got the hot chocolate. (Hard to believe I married a guy who can’t stand the taste of coffee…still shaking my head over that one).

I still love book stores. The problem with reviewing is that you often don’t see the book covers until the books come out. So, it’s sort of fun to look at the new releases to see the covers for books you’ve been processing and either reviewing yourself or sending out to the reviewers. Lots of times the advanced reader’s copies do have covers but sometimes it’s not the final cover and most are plain. I love it when the cover comes as a postcard. I pin the artwork that I like up on my bulletin board.

Anyway, after the bookish interlude it was on to find a tree topper. We don’t have one. For the last few years (10), we’ve used an open sort of ornament on the top that then has a spray of stars spilling off it. Each year, we make a search of the stores for a tree topper. This year it was Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowes, Home Goods, A.C. Moore, Pier 1, Linen & Things (you never know), Bed, Bath and Beyond (same wishful thinking), and Michaels. Once again — no tree topper. I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for so that’s probably why I can’t find it. I know I don’t want an angel or one of those big stars with all the lights. There’s nothing really wrong with them but I just don’t get that joyous feeling when I contemplate it (them) on the top of our tree. I think there may be a star thing out there that I do want but I just haven’t found it. I did see a lot of ball-towers this year for tree toppers (I don’t know what else to call them a tower of gradually decreasing in size ball — some all one color and others multicolored.) So, we go with our stop-gap tree topper for another year.

On the good new side, I’ve got my son’s Christmas sweater mostly done. Got a few more rows to finish off the top and then I need to sew up the underarms. The directions call for the Kitchener stitch to join the underarm together. But I’m starting to wonder if that will make a strong enough seam for what is surely to be a heavily used men’s sweater. I’m thinking 3-needle bind off — any advice on this? The sweater pattern is the Cobblestone Pullover designed by Jared Flood (Interweave Knits, Fall 2007). It’s been a delight to knit. There’s just enough texture to keep it interesting during the waist to underarm section. The short rows for shaping of the yoke and the hidden decreases in the garter stitches is simply elegant design. I hope to finish it sometime this week as soon as I make up my mind about the underarm seam.

Well, we were hoping to get some more leaves raked up before the snow came down but the snow beat us to it. At least we got most of the driveway cleared but the garden and orchard is now a lightly snow-covered carpet of leaves. I’m now telling myself that leaves make great mulch and by spring it will all be a moot point — except that was my mantra last winter and in the spring, when things dried out, we had to clear up the leaves before planting and doing all the yard work. You’d think I’d learn but somehow, there never does seem to be enough hours in the day or days in the week. We have weekends to do all the errands that couldn’t be done during the week and while I work at home that usually means I get the wash, dishes, and some house chores done while waiting on connections or downloads, but I don’t get out in the yard much — not even when it wasn’t too hot or too cold.

All that aside, when the snow started I took a cup of coffee and stood just inside the sliding glass doors to the deck and watched the flakes slowly drift down through the trees. Since what leaves are still on the trees are yellow, faded green, and a bit of a burnished orange, it was very beautiful to watch. At first every flake landed and melted, but after a few minutes it started to accumulate. Then it stopped and melted again. The second bit of snowing, I noted but didn’t take the time to watch, left about a quarter inch of snow over everything. Unless it snows more tonight it will probably all be gone by morning.

Still there’s a certain magic in seasons. The progression from spring, summer, fall, winter and back to spring. The passage of time marked by the changing weather and colors of the environment. Sometimes it just makes me feel so alive to be part of it all. That is, it does, unless I have to shovel — today there was no shoveling needed so I can wax poetic about snow (otherwise it’s a four letter word).

[Image from Snowflakes and Snow Crystals at http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/ ]

Today we went out and did our usual weekend shopping. You know running all the errands that you can’t or didn’t get to during the week. Yesterday, we spent some time getting housework done and since the air pressure is changing I was pretty migraine-y so we stayed close to home. Since the weekend only has two days it was shop today or else try to squeeze it into all the weekday to-do lists and that just wasn’t happening.

So, off we went hoping to get the to-do list whittled down before pain levels got too high. But, it turned out to be a beautifully clear coldly crisp day. The stores weren’t even that crowded (Hurrah!!!). Item after item got checked off our list — including the few things we needed to pick up to finish off the packages we need to mail to our mothers for the Holidays. Once home we put everything away and started working on clearing out the living room so we could move in the tree — this is where we might have a problem. You see in the past, I didn’t realize that I was supposed to or could bring the scented geraniums and the lemon grass into the house to winter over. The problem is the only sunny spot for the plants is the rug in front of the sliding doors on the deck — you know it’s coming, right?. The spot where we put the tree. Therefore we’re clearing up space in the corner, the corner where a big chunk of my fiber/yarn stash was hidden in nice baskets and boxes. Now, my to-do list has grown with the need to re-arrange the living room to make space for the tree by the end of the week — along with all the other tasks — including finishing a Christmas sweater for my son.

Even so, with the colder air, the shopping for gifts done — don’t feel bad we only buy for 3 people: my mother, my husband’s mother, and my son. I’m actually looking forward to the Christmas tall tale letter (otherwise known as the yearly Christmas letter — but then that’s another challenge and a story for another post.

NOTE: The photo of the wreath is from http://www.wreath.com — I just love their photos of their products. You can almost smell the balsam from the screen. I really miss the scent of pine trees and balsam firs.

I have to confess that Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love the smell of pine and balsam. I’m originally from Maine so maybe that’s why those smells cause me to think of winter holidays.

I love the way everyone gets so excited and friendly — all those “happy holiday” greetings from everyone you meet. Right now it’s just a few but once we reach December 1st, those greetings will start to proliferate and spread. But, that’s beside the point, what I wanted to talk about was how I like to keep and maintain my holiday mood.

Coffee cups. I get silly, or pretty, or funky, or whatever coffee cups. I work at home so I don’t get the office party or the chance to chat in someone else’s cubicle, so I help create a holiday mood in my office space with a coffee cup. This year I found my cup in Home Goods. I saw it and thought it looked like it would belong to a Who from Whoville. It’s got packages and bright ribbons and colorful dots and a pedestal. It’s great for coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and, in a pinch, water. But, greatest of all, it makes me smile whenever I use it — so it keeps me in the holiday mood and brightens my day. That’s probably more psychic weight than a coffee cup should have to bear but since I’m also a klutz — this is a coffee cup on the edge.