Birthday!

Guess who's birthday is today. Yup, you would never guess, nor would I if I didn't get the email this morning. It's Malcolm's birthday. Who is Malcolm you may ask. Why, he's the fellow who owned my car before me. I brought my car into the dealer last month to get something fixed due to a recall and they updated the information on file. Although it looks like they only changed the email on file.

Thinking about it as I write this I think I realized why. Malcolm and I have the same last name. How strange is that? Granted my last name is pretty common but still fun that the car stayed in the "family". They probably thought he was still in the picture.

Note - I wrote this on November 16 and the couldn't get it to post. Just saw the draft now.

Mini Fridge

I'm trying to find a gag gift - a miniature mini fridge. Like a small 2" magnet or something. But do you know how hard it is to search for a mini mini fridge? Impossible! I just keep getting the actual mini fridge. Not a scaled down copy. I think I'm stumped. Looks like the joke was on me in the end!

Knitting Emergency

I have taken a little break from knitting this last year. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I have a basket overflowing with “finished” knitting projects that are not quite finished and I made a pact with myself to not start anything until they were finished. Basically the knitting is done just need to sew up the pieces. I think I have four sweaters.

I moved my yarn from a very prominent bookcase display in my living room up to my loft. I love it! My living room feels so much bigger and more open and I was pleasantly surprised to find the 4 by 4 cube IKEA bookcase, when taken apart can be turned into a linear bookcase one cube high that runs along the wall up in my loft. A few weeks ago I organized all my yarn into the new arrangement.

A few days ago I pulled some yarn out to make a last minute Christmas gift. I find that when I’m stumped on what to get someone - why not knit them something. I pulled out a few balls of my purple Debbie Bliss Soho yarn and was about to cast on when I found the ball in my lap had more than two ends. It was like a dozen plus. I was flummoxed at first and then it dawned on me and I jumped up. I looked at the ball closer and saw their were little worms! In my horror I put it into a ziplock bag and put it out on my porch to deal with later. And then I started going through the other balls of yarn. No eating of the yarn but I did find a few more worms that I smushed.

My question to my knitter friends - what do I do?! It looks like the worms (moth?) were just on a few balls of yarn. But I moved my yarn so don’t know what yarn was next to what yarn and if they were on other balls of yarn too. I did a visual and couldn’t find them on any other yarn. But most of my stash is 100% wool. And the worms move - when I picked up one ball, it did a quick dive into the dark regions and there was one worm I saw but couldn’t find again. I have a good deal of yarn so there’s no way I’m throwing it all out. Luckily the yarn is farther away from my clothes, so hopefully no cross-contamination. Any thoughts?

Don't you hate it/love it?!

My app for blogging on my ipad is broken and I haven't had time to fix it.  Which means less blogging (yea - that's why!)  The first two bullet points were from the quick post I was going to post but then realized I couldn't.  The rest are just add-ons that have accumulated since then:

• Why do people email/text asking you to give them a call?  If you want to talk, why don't you just call me in the first place.  Very annoying.
• On the flip side, I love it when being a broken record pays off.  For years I harp about double sided printing (or lack of it).  On one of my committees it's a running joke.  I just found out that the government official on my committee has finally made it official: no acceptance of proposals/reports unless they are double sided.  Not just for my committee but across the board.  Major win! 
• It's been a month of old and new friends.  Last weekend I checked out a performance of Handel's Messiah with a new/old friend - Theresa.  Her sister and I were good friends and went to college together.  So Theresa and I have known each other for a long time and now we are "neighbors".  It was her, me and her 6 month old son, D.  The first time I ever saw a performance with bells in person.  Amazing and I had a ton of fun entertaining D throughout - we spent a lot of time exploring the church.  It's hard to sit still for 2 hours when you're 6 months old and not napping - so much to check out.
• Last week, I popped out of work for a few hours and went over to the Children's Museum to celebrate my god son's birthday.  This picture is very misrepresentative.  He was moving a mile a minute bouncing from one thing to the next.  Apparently there's a big shift going from 3 to 4 and a influx of energy!  It was very strange going back to work afterwards.
• The weekend before last I spent the afternoon with a new friend, Sara.  We sat next to each other on a plane and realized we had a ton in common.  She was just relocating to Boston.  She's in residency so doesn't get to see the light of day much, let alone make it out to the burbs and enjoy the country.  It was great catching up and hunting down the perfect Christmas tree for me.  I ended up buying a pre-packaged tree after trying to find one to chop down but striking out.  It was easy to transport when they're all bundled up and was happy to see it was perfectly shaped when I "unwrapped" it.  On our way back we were driving by Walden Pond, a place I've driven by tons but never have had time to check out yet.  We walked around the pond and I have to say it had nothing to do with my brother having gone last time he was in town with a friend!
• I should mention that I'm finally getting free flights from the air milage I'm accruing from my work travel.  All short, eastern seaboard flights, usually a few each month.  Often I'm just spending a day popping down for a meeting in DC or NYC.  Last week I was heading down to NYC mid-morning on the train - such a civilized, old-school way to travel.  I was in an internal meeting at work (a few blocks from the train station) and saw the time and realized I was late.  I hustled down to the train station, only to be reminded that you can show up 5 minutes before scheduled departure and you're fine.  In other words, I was finally early!  I hate waiting at the airport if I don't have to so I have learned how to time it such that I get in my car at home, drive, park, go through security to my gate and walk straight onto the plane.  I've been meeting a ton of folks on my travels and even running into other people I know at the airport.  I never ran into people I know at the airport, but I guess, now I've increased my odds, traveling more and knowing more people.
• I'm so behind on gifts this year.  Aaack.