On Memories and Garbage...

Craftylilly posted a few days ago about some photos and junk she and her husband found in their house. Honestly, I have been known to squirrel away objects of little or no use for decades at a time. I attempted to find my own crazy late-1980's school photo (complete with "Don't Worry Be Happy" earrings, braces, and crimped hair). Unfortunately, I couldn't find it. Or fortunately!

This "junk" is on my mind a lot lately, as I am going to be moving across the country into a smaller place than I live in now. Here's some of the weird stuff I found (are these really good memories??):Love that one! This is a guy I "met" on the internet during college. That's the ONE letter he sent me (the CD is actually from years later - I was a sucker for musicians!). Notice the lovely stationary and how he specially *ripped* the loose-leaf out of a 3-ring binder. Isn't that great? Shows how much he cares, right? ;)

I'm not even sure what to say about this box o'stuff. McDonald's pins? Yes, I worked there. No, I didn't "earn" any of them. A key? Yeah, from a car I once had. Um, a water bottle top? No clue why I kept that!
And here we have some interesting faux art nouveau plastic frame-things. With pictures glued in them. I think they were my great-grandmother's, but honestly, I suspect they are garbage! My great grandmother died when my mother was a teen, so someone's been holding on to them since then. And moving across the country with them. Scary.

Also found: piles of old contact cases, cd's nobody has ever heard of (without the jewel cases - I already reused those), lots of terrible photos, and tons of articles from my grad school days. Oh, and many many lists of things to be done.

My Trip to Italy...

In random order...just a selection....(you don't want to see them all!).

In other news, I have been busy trying to figure out how we will be able to move halfway across the country soon after I have a baby! My husband was offered a position in Chicago. My life feels odd right now - I haven't made a big move like this since I was young. I've never been pregnant before. I'll have to quit the job that I've had for more than ten years - and who knows when I'll be able to go back to work.

My knitting has really been thrown out the window! I didn't even take any yarn to Italy with me, if you can believe it! I must say, I do enjoy being back and knowing where the bathrooms are. And how to use them. Hah.

It's a boy!

I'm still thinking this must be someone else's child. I hardly believed it months ago when I found out - oddly, right after my sister-in-law's baby shower. The first trimester was a struggle for me (note lack of posts and lack of knitting). The depression has passed, but there have been other things to think about besides knitting. Maternity leave, for one. Possible move around the time I'm due is another. And my trip to Italy, yet another! So, no, I haven't knit anything for the baby - but I'm not sure he'll need too many knits during an Arizona summer!

I hear my niece is doing well, and her parents are coping with lack of sleep nicely. Yikes. I like sleep. And being alone. Well, I hear there are great things about having kids, too.

Today's Photo

I'm not sure what I think of actually wearing them... but aren't they colorful? (Yes, dusty too - Arizona is a very dusty place.)

The One Where I Welcome...

Riley...my new niece!

I know it isn't a great photo - the lighting in my brother's house was not ideal in the late afternoon/evening and I didn't want to continually flash the little girl in the face. But here is Little R - born Friday, January 18, 2008. She was 7 lbs 4 oz, but at two days old she was down to 6 lbs 14 oz. They even got to go home after just two days - despite the c-section.

Newborns are so tiny! I haven't seen any in a couple years, so you know, I forgot just how tiny they are. And I'd forgotten how big my brother is (I still think of him as a little kid...obviously he's not anymore.. he's a dad!). Crazy.

I think my knitting malaise could be lifting soon.... According to my husband, who just discovered a huge portion of The Stash, I'd better get to work and knit something ASAP!

Bunny Thumper Challenge

Well, that was ridiculous! Tyger despises the touching of his back paws. I got the ruler in there for a split second before the loud *phwhomp* of his clawed front paw grabbing the ruler. Good thing he missed my very dry and cracked hands... So, no picture of that! But his bunny thumpers are a nice 5.5" in length.

Mr. Chester was measured in mid-air (I'd post that photo, but really, I don't think he'd appreciate people viewing him in such an immodest position). A wee bit smaller than Tyger at 5.25" in length. Here he is sans ruler:Anya briefly allowed me to touch her back foot - she's such a long, lanky creature - thin but tall! She's got 4.75" long bunny thumpers. Goodness! I really thought she'd be smaller.

Miss. Lotus has a dainty little 4.5" paw - she's our short one. Might be a bit shorter, but here's what happened every time I placed the ruler near her paw (she sleeps with them under her when it's cold, so no-go on the rest time measurements):Not quite a violent as Tyger - she at least is willing to only punish the ruler rather than the human measurer! Well, looking at KitKatKnit's challenge page, these kitties are all about average! Not that I expected any differently....no Maine Coons here! And I'm not measuring my parents' cat Silly. He's not silly at all - just evil. Or schizophrenic. scary.

New Year Thoughts

I must honestly say that I am not into much these days. Seriously. Have you ever had weeks (months) when you just don't want to do anything? The last time I picked up a knitting project was on Christmas Eve - a baby hat for my brother's (still unborn) daughter. I'm happy that my sister-in-law thought it was the cutest thing, though! I'm hoping to have a photo of it at some point...perhaps on a little baby head??? Honestly, though, the idea of knitting makes me a bit queasy - in fact, so does anything that involves purchasing non-essential items. Crazy, huh? Perhaps this oddness will be over soon... in the meantime, I've turned to reading more.

I just found my To Be Read list for 2007. I read one book from it! That's an amazingly bad job. I'm ashamed of myself! I used to be such a reader... *sigh* Well, I've just about knocked off a second book on that list already, and I think I'm up for more. What's a year anyway?

What do you all have planned for this year? I'm expecting my year (despite the sluggish beginning) to be an amazing one. Truly.