Making room

I think I need to find a bigger place
Cause when you have
More than you think
You need more space

--lyrics from "Society" by Eddie Vedder (Into the Wild soundtrack)

Thankfully I don't subscribe to the lyrics above, always needing and wanting more, especially in the way of a house, or at least I check myself when what I have isn't enough. We don't live in a shoebox, nor do we live in a mansion (who would clean it?) but the space we have we fully utilize, so putting up the Christmas tree always involves some furniture rearranging.

Each year it's a little different and each year Kevin isn't keen on the idea and threatens to burn the piano if I make him move it one more time. Point taken. Somehow this year it was a quick and easy process and I need to take pictures so I remember how we did it for next year.

We know our jobs well by now. Kevin moves boxes in and furniture around and puts up the tree. (Yes, it's artificial due to his extreme allergies and my conscience when I realize I've killed a living thing.) I fluff the branches and put up the lights and the kids have a hay day with the ornaments. The bottom branches are dripping with them, hung 5 to a branch, backwards and nearly falling off, while the top remains bare. At some point I come along later and even things out, securing the heaviest and most breakable.

Every year I remember my favorite thing to do at Christmastime, which was to get all the way under the tree on my back and stare up the middle of it at all the ornaments and lights. I used to squint over and over to see how many different ways I could distort them, and every year I'm tempted to get back under the tree and do it again. Maybe this is the year it will actually happen.

How I almost ruined the turkey 3 days before Thanksgiving

Okay, well it wouldn't have really been my fault if the turkey was ruined, but Thanksgiving would have been seriously botched had I not checked in on the turkey yesterday. I bought it fresh last week from Trader Joe's (yes, I'm sick of hearing myself talk about that place too and I promise to stop), sealed in a bag in a brine, guaranteed to be good 'till early December as long as the bag was not opened. I just happened to want to check the weight of it yesterday to estimate cooking time when I realized it was sitting in a puddle of brine in the plastic bag it was in. It didn't smell bad yet, but definitely smelled like raw bird and a chill went up my spine. I quickly was on the phone to the store, told them there was a puncture in the bag and the man said, "Oh, you need to bring that in so we can give you another one." Hallelujah. I don't think Wal Mart would have told me the same thing, do you? So I'm on turkey #2 and keep checking it every few hours. Yes, I know that's obessive.

I've been working like crazy lately, hence the decrease in posting frequency and here's some of the latest:



they're done in O-wool again this time with a pumkin-y color that makes me think of Thanksgiving. I don't have much of it so I'm tempted to just see what the response is locally before I list it in my Etsy shop. What do you think, should I call it "pumpkin cream" or "pumpkin spice" or some other name more fun than orange and cream?

Knitting with tree trunks

I'm a mid-range knitting needle kind of girl. You can usually find me using anything from size 4's to 8's, but sometimes I branch out. That super chunky yarn I bought the other day requires huge needles which I didn't even have so I had to buy some 17's at the same time. Talk about a different knitting experience, they're almost too big to hold! Don't get me wrong, it was fun to make the scarf above and yes, fairly quick. I'm so fond of it and it's so cozy that I want to keep it for myself, or gift it so I can see it often and remember how good it feels.

In other news, I bought my turkey today for Thanksgiving. Thrilling, I know, but I'm beginning to be impressed with how I'm changing my often last-minute ways. It has been a nail-biter in past years as to whether or not I'd actually have the thing thawed in time for the big day. Best part is it isn't frozen and it's already brined so Kevin and I don't have to wrangle it into a sheet rock bucket full of salty water and then in the already packed fridge the night before. Trader Joe's, you're the best.

I've even been buying Christmas presents here and there which hasn't gone unnoticed by Kevin. I got an "I'm proud of you" the other night for it. He's just glad he won't have to deal with my last minute stress next month. At least let's hope it goes that well!