Conversation with my husband.

Matt came home early from work today because Charlotte is sick and an attention sponge. Of course, after he came home, she fell asleep on the couch. I was working and chatting with Matt.

Jenn:  Oh! They announced who the new pope is.

Matt:  Oh? Who is it?

Jenn:  Mario Bergoglio....from Argentina.*

Matt:  Oh, wow. They did get someone from South America. I was hoping so, but I didn't think they would.

Jenn:  He's going to be Francis 1. Good, Francis is my favorite saint. My favorite male saint.

Matt:  There's more than one Saint Francis.

Jenn:  Well, Francis of Assisi. The animal one. He's my favorite.

Matt:  Right.

Jenn:  But Sebastian has my favorite saint death.

Matt:  Oh, God.

Jenn:  My favorite *male* saint death.

Matt:  Jesus. Really?

Jenn:  Oh, wait. Now that you mention it....

Matt:  Yeah.

Jenn:  Jesus. Yeah, Jesus has my favorite male saint death. If he counts.

Matt:  I was gonna say.

Jenn:  I know.

The man knows me. What can I say?

* The email notification I got mysteriously left off the new Pope's first name, which is apparently Jorge.

always scheming. always making.

I have a lot on my mind. Almost too many things. I can't decide whether to blog them or journal them or just save them up and do nothing. It's almost easier to just do things in photos. So that's what it is to be today. Just to get something onto paper, so to speak.

Here's just a sampling of the things I've been doing since the calendar rolled over into 2013...

1. Unwound a sweater started, now too small into a center-pull ball.

2. Knit myself a hat.

3. Wrote down the names Charlotte called her Playmobil farm animals.

books.

I think this year, since the last one finally came out, I may go back and finish The Wheel of Time series. It's a problematic series from a feminist perspective, like so much high fantasy, but I love it just the same. "But only the women wield magic, isn't that feminist?" Yeah, not so much, thanks for trying.

Last year I did the Goodreads Challenge to set myself a goal number of books to read and track them. I set myself 52, one per week, and met that goal. I ended up with 53. A lot of them were short-ish, but some were longer, and I didn't count re-reads. I re-read a lot - and while I cut back to meet my reading goals, I just can't help myself. I also whipped through a ton of romance novellas that I read on the Kindle and forgot to log. I did listen to a ton of Sherlock Holmes stories, 10 hours or more, and I wasn't quite sure how to track those, either.

For 2013 I set myself up for reading 65 books. I think that's a do-able goal. My biggest enemy is ambition - I am interested in a wide variety of subjects, and while I do really like reading non-fiction books, I slow WAY down. I love YA and zip through them, and I have a ton of series in the dystopian/paranormal category in my queue. I would like to read more poetry - I did a pretty good job of adding poetry back into the rotation last year, and would like to add some classics in there too. Maybe finally finish Wuthering Heights? Actually get past the 2nd chapter of Moby Dick?

So, here's my reading goals for this year, 2013:

* Read 65 new books.
* Finish the Anne Lamott & Margaret Atwood books I started in 2012
* More sci-fi! Especially feminist sci-fi.
* More fantasy! Classics & old series that I started, as well as new stuff.
* Graphic novels & poetry
* Less ambitious non-fiction, more fun fiction. Who am I trying to impress, anyway?
* All the book club books, even if I can't make the meetings.
* Write reviews on Goodreads for at least 50% of the books.

Re-calibrating the Christmas Knitting

So, last week my list looked like this:

end of November - finish Gavin's blanket
Dec 1 - Dec 8 - knitted baby vest for Amelia
Dec 9 - Dec 15 - knitted baby vest Brynn
Dec 15 - Dec 23 - Annis lace shawl for MIL
Dec 23 - Dec 31 - ummm, two NOTHINGs.  NOTHING AT ALL.*

This week it looks like this:

end of November - finish Gavin's blanket
Dec 1 - Dec 8 - knitted baby vest for Amelia
Dec 9 - Dec 15 - knitted baby vest Brynn
Dec 15 - Dec 23 - Annis lace shawl for MIL 
Dec 23 - Dec 31 - ummm, two NOTHINGs.  NOTHING AT ALL.*

Yeah, that shawl is not getting done. NOPE.  It was sort of an add-on anyway, we got her a present, but my mother-in-law is a little hard to please, and I really wanted something special to guarantee that she'd be happy.  I guess I'll just bump it up the schedule to Mother's Day.  I have to fill in all that December knitting time with cooking/baking anyway.  But, because nature abhors a vacuum, the crafting schedule now looks like this:

Dec 17 - Dec 23 - unnamed food gifts
Dec 17 - Dec 27 - baby knitting project + baby embroidery project
Dec 17 - Dec 31 - two BFF Christmas gifts

On the plus side, the baby vests were finished in time, steam-blocked nicely, and my sister loved them.  My nephew liked his blanket (also steam-blocked) too.  I'm three for three thus far, and that's not a bad way to start the gift-giving season.

Back to the gulag.  Maybe I can squeeze in a Flurries Cowl for myself?

It's 12/12/12 - Must be time for the crazy.

Holiday projects - I have a lot of baking to do....but I'm not going to elaborate because the people who read this blog (hi, guys!) are mostly going to be the recipients of various things. I should document it as I go, though, because they are cool things.

Other thing is the holiday knitting - I'm not quite as crazy or as organized as Steph (yes, I call her Steph, I've been reading her blog for a long time and I had a beer with her once) - I don't have a spreadsheet, but I sure do have a schedule, starting last week:

end of November - finish Gavin's blanket
Dec 1 - Dec 8 - knitted baby vest for Amelia
Dec 9 - Dec 15 - knitted baby vest Brynn
Dec 15 - Dec 23 - Annis lace shawl for MIL
Dec 23 - Dec 31 - ummm, two NOTHINGs.  NOTHING AT ALL.*

There are a couple flies in this ointment. Amelia's vest went over its scheduled time, so I am behind on Brynn's.  I also have to wash & block the two baby vests, one of which is only about 1/3 of the way done. And I have to block Gavin's blanket, which in all likelihood means "kill" it.  Because the blanket is acrylic and acrylic is not a natural fiber, it can't be shaped in the same way.  I am going to try washing at and pinning it (tomorrow?) but suspect I may have to lightly steam it to get it to lie flat.  And if I accidentally melt it, well, then goes 4 years of work and a broken promise to boot.  No pressure.  Not that he will care, but I WILL CARE.

And Christmas cards.
And maybe squeeze in an embroidery project for another baby I know.
And maybe squeeze in a cat gift.
And mailing Christmas gifts.
And something else, what was it?  Oh, right. WORK. And parenting a 5 year old.  5  year olds can take care of themselves, right?  Just give 'em some bus tokens and a watch.

NO PROBLEM IT IS ALL FINE.


* totally stuff for my best friend who reads this blog

Election Day Matters.

Here we go. I know a lot of you out there are really tired of the election talk. I know. I really do. But today is Election Day, and even if you are disgusted with the Presidential Race (and I wouldn't blame you if you are) please remember that there is a lot more riding on any given Election Day than just the "big races." There's ballot questions, senators, congress people, local initiati

ves and local races. If you want to write in "your MOM" on the presidential ballot, FINE! But please, please, please show up, read your ballot, and weigh in. Eat local, VOTE LOCAL. Change begins small - if you can't get a third party into the White House, start local. If you don't agree with the big two parties, write-in a third party candidate.

Here's something else to consider - one of the reasons this election cycle has been so long and so bitter is because of changes to campaign donation guidelines, super PACs, and money getting poured into campaigning. Use your vote to fight back; take an interest, elect people who are interested in their constituents, not their corporate backers. Get involved. Because sitting back and not voting isn't going to change a thing.

To recap:
* Go vote, if you haven't voted yet.
* Remember that it's not just about the Presidential Race.
* Vote your conscience - write it in if you have to.

(this is copied from my Facebook status.)

Accountability.

One of the things I wanted to do in 2012 was to submit my writing for publication.  My more ambitious hope was to submit writing three different times.  I am one down, two to go, so here I am posting a few more links to remind myself, and to remind anyone else who is interested:

Garbanzo, vol 2: due date for submission, 11/15/12
Meat for Tea, vol "Sweets": due date for submission, 11/15/12
Up The River Journal: Submissions dates, 11/1 - 1/31

So there ya go.  I realize that two of those dates are fast approaching, and I have a huge pile of first drafts to go through.  But I feel like I can at least submit some pieces, and work on my cover letters, and hopefully learn some things about submission and rejection.  (Whoa.  That veered into 50 Shades of Grey territory for a second.)  I'm not one for NaNoWriMo personally - I don't know that I have a novel in me.  I do have some other things.  And some of them are polished and pretty and ready to be seen, and some are dark and scary and maybe make me feel a little defensive.  It's time to let them out, and see what happens.