Knit, Read, Watch

I am home alone.

Yes, you read that right.  Alone.  It has such a beautiful ring to it, doesn't it? 

I love my family, I do.  But, 'alone time' has become so precious to me because it so rarely happens.

What to do?  What to do?  I could do just about anything I want to right now.  (Within reason, of course!  That trip to Ireland is just going to have to wait a bit longer.)  The problem with the time I get to myself is that I usually squander most of it away just trying to decide what to do with myself.  I guess I don't do well with more than a couple of options.

The girls spent last night with Grandma and Grandpa.  I spent a good hour or so alone in a store I don't usually go into with the kids unless I absolutely need something.  You would think that the kids getting older would make shopping trips easier.  (Yeah, you might think that!)  But the truth in the matter is that the infant carriers and fussy toddlers who get into everything (when they're not trying to make their escape!) get replaced by taller, more confident people who can find a reason to ask me to buy them just about anything.  When they're not doing that, they're annoying each other and making all of us miserable. 

Honestly, I do take all three of my girls a great many places.  But, they are usually the same sorts of places.  Target and Sam's Club are sort of neutral shopping places where we have pretty much had all the arguments we can have and we all sort of know our places in those stores.  When it comes to those stores, we have a system and it seems to work for us.  Most days.  But, embarking on a new journey in a store that's not on the usual agenda is just something I'm not usually up to if I can help it.

I wasted some time browsing in a store and bought a couple of practical little things.  I met David for a quick dinner on his last break (he had a late night) and ended up getting home pretty late myself.  Late and alone.  Just me and the dogs.  (And the cat...can't forget Snickers!)  I had thought about maybe going to Starbucks by myself and just grabbing a coffee and sitting in a comfy chair somewhere and knitting my sock.

Oh, yes...my feet are really that fugly!  I dropped something on my big toe and it is taking forever for the nasty purple spot to grow out.  This sock has a fraternal twin on another set of needles.  I actually knitted them toe-up at the same time on a magic loop.  This worked well when I was increasing for the gusset and turning the heels, but I decided it was time to separate them when it was time to just knit the legs.  And these were started a LONG time ago.  I just pulled them out of hibernation on Tuesday and had the presence of mind to turn the heels. 

So, knitting at Starbucks.  Alone.  David would probably say that sounds like something an old lady would do.  Well, I guess I'm too old to be an old lady because I started thinking about how tired I was and how coffee that late might keep me from getting a good night's sleep and...I just ended up going home to knit in front of the television!  (I'm thinking 'old lady status' would be a step-up for me at this point!)

On my way to bed, I started seeing spots.  (That's the first sign of a migraine coming on for those of you lucky ducks that don't know what I'm talking about!  Well, that and unexplained fatigue...which somehow explains last night a bit more, doesn't it?)  I just went to bed.  I didn't take anything or do anything else.  I was that tired.  I must have slept through all the miserable stuff.  I don't recall getting any of the sour, queasy feelings or any of the actual headache.  I do feel like I just had a migraine, so I'm just taking it easy today. 

 I was all set to watch 'Eat, Pray, Love' on Netflix.  My coffee was going and breakfast was almost ready.  I haven't seen this movie yet, nor have I read the book.  Just as I was about to hit 'Play,' I started overthinking it.  (Shocking, I know!)  I've never read the book.  Knowing me, watching the movie first is a surefire way to ruin my chances of ever reading the book.  I can't think of a single storyline that is the same in the movie as it is in the book.  Can you?  I can read the book and then watch the movie without any problems.  The movie starts to stray a bit from the book, I make mental notes of the differences, and I can still sit and enjoy it because I know how the real story goes.  The book also gives so many more details and insights that you could never really get from just watching the movie.  So, even if it's different I can still enjoy and appreciate the movie because I really feel like I know what's going through the characters' heads.  However, watching the movie first just makes the differences between that and the book even more noticable. I start to read the book and come across the first difference and this voice just starts streaming through my head, "This is not how it was in the movie.  This is not how it was in the movie."  It's crazy, because I can't seem to turn it off.  The longer I read. the more things I see that were changed in the movie.  The more changes I see, the more irritated I get.  Eventually, I usually just put the book back on the shelf to be read another time.  I can't tell you how many books are sitting on a shelf and may never be finished because of that voice in my head that won't let me enjoy it because I blew it and saw the movie first.  Maybe I can wait long enough to forget exactly how the movies went and I can allow myself to enjoy those books once again.

Maybe.  I have a mind like a steel trap.  I can remember the most insignificant details about all sorts of random things, yet I once spent almost 30 minutes looking for my car in a parking lot because I can never remember where I parked.

Yeah, I'm special like that!

I guess I've pretty much talked myself out of watching this movie for now.  I'll either end up buying the book or find someone to borrow it from so I can read it before I watch this movie.  I can't think of anyone else in my house that would be interested in this movie with me, so it will be saved in my 'alone time queue' for another day.  Sure, I have a ton of other things I could be/should be doing.  But how many of them can I do while sitting on my tookus?

What do you do with those precious moments where you could do almost anything?

Time Well Wasted and Embracing Technology

It's a beautiful spring afternoon here in Rural Suburbia and I find myself planted in front of the television.  Aside from the repeated questions from my 15YO, it's been a perfectly enjoyable day. 

"Who is that?  Is that her dad?"

"Is that her son?  The one she gave birth to?"

"Who is that?"

It wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't already answered those same questions just a few minutes before.

Do you have someone in your life that makes time in front of the television somewhat stressful?  David sort of does, too.  He can usually keep up with who-is-who in whatever we're watching, but he can't always keep track of what everyone is saying.  He's not yet 40, but his hearing has suffered some.  Therefore, I suffer some.  I have half a mind to just permanently use the Closed Captioning to avoid having to answer 'What did he just say?' one more time.  Then again, the more than occasional typos would probably drive me even more insane!  Either way, I can already see us as one of those elderly couples who are constantly yelling at one another even though we're not usually fighting.

So, we're watching 'The Love Saga' series on the Hallmark Channel.  Yeah, it's addicitve.  It takes place in the pioneering days when everyone headed West to homestead and worked like dogs to have a place to call their own.  Granted, no amount of hard work would afford them indoor plumbing or some decent hair care products, but it's a good storyline nonetheless.

It's so strange to think that people could lose a spouse due to a bump on the head or a pesky gunshot wound only to turn around and marry someone else before they have even had the chance to grieve.  No time to grieve when they are crops to harvest and children to rear.  Blended families were probably more common then than they are now with all the the flu epidemics and typical Wild West antics.  (Hint:  The dudes in the black cowboy hats are usually the bad guys.  Some of these folks don't seem to realize that!)  People married out of timing and convenience.   

There is something about seeing all these uber-domestic women churning their own butter and killing their own chicken dinners that makes me want to bake.  From a box.  In my oven, where I just turn a dial and push a few buttons.  You know, the way it should be.

8YO was watching the movies with me for awhile and she concluded, "It's so good to live in the future instead of the past.  The future is way better!"

Now, that's a girl after my own heart.

I'm going to sign off before this laptop battery dies so I can hug my refrigerator and embrace the techology that surrounds me.  OH...and put some Neosporin on this paper cut so it doesn't turn to gangrene and cause me to lose the whole hand!  (SO HAPPY to be kidding about that one!)