Fascinating Friday

This week was fun.

I voted

It was the first time I'd ever voted in a Primary.

Sarah voted!

And Sarah's first time voting at all.  One of her teachers was giving extra credit for (a) having a voter's registration card, (b) bringing an "I Voted Today" sticker to class & (c) sharing a photo of the student at the polls.  This was all the excuse I need to embarrass Sarah half to death taking her picture.

hand gestures

And that's how she felt about the situation.  Good thing Momma has a sense of humor.

Fascinating Friday

What's so fascinating today?

Falling For You

Falling For You from fellow Etsian, Knit Knot Studios.

I am LOVING this yarn!  It's a 2ply, fingering weight Superwash Merino/Nylon blend and it's an absolute joy to knit with.  I knit very loosely, so loosely that I always have to go down two or three needle sizes. The recommended needle for this yarn is a US 2 or 3 and the yarn looks a little stringy (not fuzzy) and I tend to knit even looser when using 'stringy' yarns.  I was a little worried.  I also lost my sock knitting mojo several years ago.  I just burned out on sock knitting.  Total, absolute burnout.  But, my sock drawer was starting to show signs of not being added to.  Plus, have you seen this colorway?

Falling For You, Knit Knot Studios

Forget my slowly emptying sock drawer.  Look at that colorway!  How could I not get my sock knitting mojo back with a skein of that in my hands?

I told that little niggling voice in my head to hush, broke out the US1 needles and cast on.  It would be fine.  I wouldn't end up wasting my time and the beautiful yarn knitting a big, fish net looking mess.

Falling For You socks

Fifteen minutes later I was on my way to having a sock.  A real sock!  Not some hot mess that is knit so loosely it could be used as a fishing net.

I absolutely LOVE this yarn!  The color, oh my gosh, the color!  The colors are brilliant jewel tones, except they look slightly faded or worn, like my favorite pair of jeans.  And what could be better than worn blue jeans?  'Stringy' looking, fingering weight sock yarn that knits up quickly on US1 needles, that's what!  Oh, my gosh, I love this yarn!  And by the way, it does not feel like I'm knitting with string.  It feels like pure joy.

And have you seen the candy corn colorway Knit Knot Studios is currently offering?  You know how I feel about candy corn.  My bank account may be in trouble.

Fascinating Friday

Today marks the beginning of a whole new adventure.  My baby boy turns 21 today.  As an over protective, helicopter parent, I'm not sure how I feel about this.  I suddenly feel older than dirt.  Knowing how I spent my own 21st birthday and knowing the stupid things a 21 year old boy can do, I'm slightly terrified.  On the other hand, we've raised Zack well and are extremely proud of the man he's become.

Zack, 3 months

Zack wears the right colors.

Zack, 1 year old

He's laid back, enjoys life and doesn't stress.

Zack driving the dump truck

He learned to drive and is responsible behind the wheel.

Canoeing in Gaston flood waters

Zack captains of his own ship and doesn't crumble under the weight of peer pressure.

A perfect score

He taught himself how to bowl.

Tournament Winner

He's learned to win graciously,

Heartbreak 

and how to handle disappointment just as well.

A boy and his dog

He knows how to love.

Manning up at tax time

And Zack even does his own taxes.

We've raised a fairly responsible adult and I shouldn't worry.  I should celebrate the day.

Happy 21st birthday, Zack.  May you live long, prosper early, laugh heartily and love deeply.

Fascinating Friday - Chocolate Socks

Thankfully I have something a little bit more exciting to share with you in this week's Fascinating Friday post than just cold coffee.  Not exactly "I climbed Everest" exciting, but exciting for me.

Belgian Chocolate Shavings

I have new yarn from Expression Fiber Arts.  I've been following this shop on Facebook for over a year but had never bought any of their yarns.  I have no idea why because EFA's color ways are to die for.  Anyway, I bought some new, never used by me yarn from a new, never ordered from before shop.  Isn't it gorgeous?  It's called Belgian Chocolate Shavings.  I can almost taste chocolate every time I look at it.

Chocolate Socks

And just to be extra fascinating this week, I'm knitting socks in a pattern I've never knit before.  The pattern itself is a slightly modified version of the Diagonal Lace Socks in Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson.  Obviously, I'm not knitting mine toe up, plus my stitch count is a little different, but the basic lace pattern is the same.  It's also a super easy to remember lace pattern so, yay!

And one more surprise fascinating thing.  Look how different the yarn's color looks in the two photos.  It's magic yarn!  When you set the yarn on a wooden desk or hold it in your hand, it just looks brown.  But when you put it on something red, it turns a rusty shade.  When viewed with a blue background, it turns almost gray and it turns pink against a pink background.  How cool is that?

Fascinating Friday

Fascinating Friday is not all that fascinating this week.  I knew I was in a rut, but good grief!  My big, exciting thing this week was cold brewed coffee.

Cold brewed coffee and Buffy

Coffee at Barnes & Noble was the best I could do.  I literally did nothing else exciting or new this past week.  The cold brewed coffee was a new experience for me though and it's an experience I'm likely to repeat.  It's delicious!

And yes, I'm watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer reruns.  Again.  I started watching the show for the 1,003rd time back during the big snow storm and once I made it to Season 2 and Spike's appearance, well, I'll be watching through the grand finale at the end of Season 7.

And, while we were at Barnes & Noble, Sarah found a copy of The Physics of The Buffyverse.

www.jenniferouellette-writes.com

So of course, I bought it.  So really, that's two new things this week.  I am smoking this Fascinating Friday thing!

Fascinating Friday

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Fascinating Friday

My first Fascinating Friday post... and I have to admit, the week sort of got away from me.  I'm cutting myself a little slack this week since I only made the decision to do this on Tuesday.  I've only had four days to experience something new and fascinating.  Not to mention it's been in the teens every day which means it's just been too cold to be fascinating.

But, I did discover and begin something new and seriously fascinating.  Have you heard of Airtable?  It's Air plus Table because it's a spreadsheet/database in the cloud.  And it's free and it's the most awesome thing I've seen in years.  I might even be more excited about Airtable than I am about my yarn stash!  It's that cool.

@Airtable

It's a spreadsheet and a database and so much more.  And even better, it's incredibly easy to use.  We all know how computer challenged I am but within minutes of logging in, I already had six different databases set up & functioning.  It's that easy!

You should really go check it out.  Go Google it and/or watch a YouTube video about it.  Even if you think you don't have reasons to use a spreadsheet or database, go check it out.  Besides businessy things, you can keep track of meal plans, restaurants to try, hiking trails to explore, your reading list, or simply your Roladex.

Well, that's my 'new thing' for the week.  And now, I'm off to play with it some more before the power goes out.

Have I mentioned we are having a blizzard?  Depending on whether it changes over to ice (Oh joy!  Ice!) or stays snow, we are supposed to get somewhere between six and 24 inches of snow.  I think we are ready.  We have a freezer full of meat we can cook on the grill (& keep frozen in the snow if necessary,) I have a well stocked yarn stash pile, the wine rack is full & there's two unopened bottles of bourbon in the bar, I have an economy sized bag of Peppermint Patties stashed away and I've got several books on the Kindle waiting to be read.  I think I'm ready.

On being boring

You never realize how boring your life is until you start a blog and open a Twitter account.  Suddenly, the realization that your life revolves around doing laundry, cooking the same four meals over and over and over again, and sitting on the couch watching Netflix while knitting.  

I have a “real job” but it is a ‘summers only’ job.  Mind you, I work the same number of hours that a normal, full time employed person works, I just work them all in the summer.  And since I’ve signed confidentiality agreements for work, I can’t tell you much about it.  Well, that and the fact that when you work twelve months’ worth of hours in seven months, there’s not a lot of time for non-work exciting things to happen.

It doesn’t help that I’m a creature of habit.  I tend to read the same genres of books over & over again.  I knit the same style things over and over again.  I have a small group of favorite, affordable yarns that I knit with over and over again.  I shop in the same four stores over and over again.  Actually, I don’t even like shopping, except of course for yarn and books.  I don’t shoe or purse shop like most girls.  I find an item I like and I wear/use it until it disintegrates. I’ve been wearing the same pair of shoes for four years.  I did recently have to buy a new purse, but the old one was three years old and in pretty bad shape. My car has over 200,000 miles on it and the car before that had 380,000 miles on it.  I find something I like and I stick with it, which can be pretty boring. While friends are “finishing” Google, I’m over hear obsessively checking the six bloggers that I stalk follow to see if they’ve published an update.  Hell, even my clothes are boring and habitual.  My idea of risky dressing is wearing the purple sweatshirt instead of the gray.

Part of me likes the rut I’ve dug for myself.  It’s comfortable down in here.  It’s safe and warm & cuddly.  Well, maybe not cuddly.  I’m not sure a rut can cuddle, but it’s definitely safe and warm and fairly drama free.  But it’s awfully boring.  And I’m sick of being boring.  I want to be fascinating.

So what am I going to do about it?  How am I going to become fascinating?

My first thought was to challenge myself to doing or using something or going some place different each day.  Every single day, do something different. Something new and different that I’ve never done before.  

But something new and different that I’ve never done before could get expensive and I am on a pretty tight budget.  Bankruptcy does not need to be one of the new things I try. Plus, I want to challenge myself to stick with the plan for an entire year.  During the summer, when I’m working 90 hours a day (or at least that what it feels like some days) I won’t have time for something new in my life every day.  Plus, the idea of something new every day terrifies me.  Absolutely terrifies me!  I know, I know.  Climbing out of the rut will be scary, but the idea of scaring myself on a daily basis is just too scary.  Both mentally & financially.  

So, I hereby challenge myself to do something different once a week.  It doesn’t have to be a big, giant different thing, but for the remainder of 2016, I will do something different at least once a week.  And to keep myself accountable, I’ll tell you about it on, let’s say.... Fridays.  And we’ll call the project Fascinating Friday.

Minnie

Minnie says, "I'm bored."  Got any suggestions for new, fun, fascinating things for us to try?