thankful

a lot of my facebook friends are collectively participating in an idea- an idea that you post something that you are thankful for once a day from the beginning of november until thanksgiving day.  i think that's a great idea, but i have never been able to stick with something like that without it seeming like a chore- which then negates the whole "thankful" thing.  plus, it's a really trendy facebook game, and that makes me balk at the idea no matter how cool it is.  that is not to say that i don't have 24 things for which to be thankful.  i do- i have way more than that.  and as thanksgiving is coming, and also as i want to let the world know how grateful i am for life, my life, my family, and my friends, i will lump a bunch of things together here in a public declaration of my awe and gratitude. 

firstly, i am thankful every single day for a choice a lady made 29 years ago.  to my birthmother- thank you for choosing to give me life.  thank you as well for choosing to give me to a family that would help me grow into the adult i am today.  thank you- because through your choice i have not just loving parents, but twelve brothers and sisters to challenge me, worry me, and love me unconditionally.  i've had opportunities that i would have never had.  thank you from the very bottom of my heart.

secondly, thanks mom and dad.  thank you for loving me even though i am a child that people might call "challenging".  thank you for showing me the proper way to love your spouse.  thank you for leading me by example throughout my childhood.  thank you for never letting me know that we were poor.  thank you for encouraging all my hobbies, ideas, and interests.  thank you for letting me see that there is a huge world out there- and that i can impact that world. 

to my husband- thank you for being my husband.  i know it can't be easy.  i'm glad that the last few years have had you in them.  i can't imagine loving anybody else- even if i'm yelling at you to put the dang toilet seat down.  you bring out the best in me-after all, the living room is still clean and we have money in the bank.  that's better than without you.  i love you. 

to my siblings- thanks for being my babies.  i love all of you, even though i smack you around, tease you, and call you all idiots.  you are.  but you'll grow out of it eventually.  i'm so very excited to see what all of you will become- the adults you'll be.  thanks for giving me that opportunity.

there's so much more i could say- so much more to be thankful for. i can't even begin to touch the surface. THANK YOU to everybody who makes my life so rich. i love all of you.

things i would rather be doing

today is just one of those days...

i would rather be sitting at home, watching british mysteries.  instead, i'm working.  i would rather be snuggled up on the couch with my afgans and my kitty.  instead, i'm working.  i would rather be making potato cheese soup.  instead, i'm working.  i would rather be playing video games, or knitting all those christmas presents, or spending time with my friends, but no..... instead, i'm working.  stupid adult responsibility!  i hates it.  (i think that it bears noting that i have over two weeks of personal time and one week of sick time that i could have taken, but i was the bigger person and didn't call in today.  just saying.)

also, they cleaned the library carpets, and now the break room smells both like pee and like something died back there.  just to add the icing to the "i don't want to be here today" cake.  and how do "clean" carpets smell like that anyway?  i never smelled them at all when they were dirty.  why, god?  and to add insult to injury, the school districts have all decided that the kiddos deserve a one-week thanksgiving break so i have random children from ages 5 to 19 running about the library generally causing trouble and being no good.  

an addendum: i just helped a patron with glaucoma fill out a money order for ten dollars- to send to "feed the hungry".  he was the nicest man, and just wanted to help people overseas.  he couldn't buy the two guinea pigs or anything, but he wanted to make sure somebody had a nice christmas.  (his words.)  that just made my day worth it.  see?  i shouldn't speak so quickly.  there's always a reason you are somewhere.  (even if you don't really want to be there- which i still don't.)

addendum #2:  i have finished two pairs of socks and one cowl in the christmas knitting marathon.  i don't want to jinx myself, but i think i'm doing pretty well. 

biting off too much

i knit.  i have been knitting so long that it's moved past the "hobby" stage and into "lifestyle choice".  i think it changed right after college, when i started my first little job at the library.  one of the other library ladies was taking a knitting class from the yarn store across the street- for $60 a class, which didn't include materials. i found that to be utterly ridiculous (and still do. that much for a "learn to knit" class?  highway robbery, i tells ya.) and offered to teach her to knit for $50.  (undercutting the competition, you see.)  at that point, i had known how to knit for seventeen years.  my grandmother taught me when i was six- mostly because i was bugging her and she wanted me to keep my ADD ass still for ten minutes.  so i knew the basics- had knit scarves and hats, but it wasn't something i did every day.  it was funny though.  even though my co-worker didn't take me up on my generous offer, i did get the itch to knit something.  so i bought yarn (good yarn.  i knew that much even then) and needles, checked out "Stitch and Bitch" from the library, and proceeded to start my first project in years.  it was love/obsession at first touch. 

that was five years ago. i'm still obsessed.  i knit every day now- in fact, it feels weird to not be knitting whenever i have downtime.  my hands miss my needles.  i even have a very large knitting tattoo that i'm inordinately proud of.  my spare cash goes to stash improvement, and yarn is slowly taking over my house.  slowly.  i'm broke, and my husband frowns on not paying the utility bill.  however, i seem to have staved off the worst part of the mania- at least until this year.  this year, i'm trying to knit christmas.  lord help us all.

so far, it's only five pairs of socks, two chunky cowls, and something for the two people who's names i will randomly draw at thanksgiving, more or less.  (sometimes, people are adverse to knitted gifts.  i still have no idea why.  those people get giftcards or soap.  that's just how it is.)  i've even already started.  i have all the yarn, the right needles, and, currently at least, quite a lot of motivation.  i just have this feeling that this idea is gonna derail and turn into me frantically knitting until three in the morning every day of the last week before christmas.  we'll see.  i'll keep everybody posted, but if those who know me see me with a twitch over my eye and yarn burns on my fingers starting in about a month, you'll know that i've bitten off more than i can chew.  normally, i don't question the need to knit- but this time?  i'm scared. 

woot! i have a blog!

wow... i have been toying with the idea of making a blog for a while now.  i'm always thinking of amusing and bizarre things that happen to me in my various walks of life, but have never gotten around to writing them down.  i'll try now.  we'll see how it goes- hopefully i'm more faithful to this than i was to that diary i had in fifth grade. 

so then, a bit about me (to give my nonsense perspective): i'm the oldest child in an adoptive family of thirteen children.  that was not a typo.  thirteen.  i have nine younger brothers and three younger sisters, and we have all been homeschooled for most of our childhoods.  as you might have guessed, my parents are nuts.  i'm married to a lovely fellow who's family is also nuts, but in a more normal way.   i am both a librarian and a barista.  i barista at the local university, which basically involves providing students with their addictions (at least a couple of them) and realizing that the world is going to go all to hell if these dang kids actually get their intended jobs when they graduate.  (example: a nursing student asked me the other day what the difference was between a muffin and a bagel.  my response: "well, one's a muffin and one's a bagel."   she replied, "well you don't have to be all smart about it!"  i responded with: "Well apparently, neither do you.")  being a librarian pretty much involves the same thing, except for i deal with the general populace.   man, how the human race has survived this long is a mystery to me.

i also knit avidly, play online games occasionally, tabletop games even more, read as much as possible, and love to cook.  hopefully, i'm also slightly amusing.  i'll have life pictures whenever i can get my cat to stop eating the camera cord.