Thursday, February 15, 2007

This is Why Winter is so Beautiful


When I took the dogs out this morning, the air was so crisp, the sky so blue, and icy white was all around me, reflecting the sun with a million sparkles. I took a deep breath in, and I felt so alive. The children begged to go out a little before school to sled down our driveway. How could I refuse, knowing that soon enough winter would be gone...

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

More Snow


I did tell you we enjoyed the snow, and I thought I'd share with you the happy faces of my little boys playing in the snow in our driveway. Meanwhile, I have been having fun shoveling the snow!

SNOW!!!

I must have become a true Californian during my 12 year stay there, because there is nothing like snow to make me jump out of bed, and, like a a 3 year old, jump up and down in front of the windows. Mind you, the big storm that was supposed to bring us feet of snow is only going to bring us a few inches, which is better that no snow at all. SO I AM HAPPY!






As a true Californian, I bundled up the children and off we went out in the cold and wind to see more snow. We took the T and decided to go to the Boston Commons.













When you go the Commons you are sure to see ducks ice-skating on the pond, policemen riding proud horses, people just standing there staring at the snow, and a caring person feeding the pigeons... and if I could only knit with my arctic gloves on, you'd find me there too, knitting my socks!

Monday, February 12, 2007

Of Knitting Socks, and Cleaning Bathrooms

Yesterday was Sunday, and Sunday is a big day for me. I clean bathrooms, of which we now have 3! As I woke up, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, it almost felt like spring, minus a few degrees. I thought, maybe I won't clean...Maybe I could just sit in my comfy lounge chair, and knit Rolfe's socks... No, no, no...I thought. Come on Caroline, there has to be something good about cleaning bathrooms! And then, I had a great new idea, what if I tried to see common points between cleaning bathrooms, and knitting socks. I proceeded to make a mental list of the resemblance.
Actually, it is really not that far fetched. You knit socks for yourself or for others. It is a gift of love. You clean bathrooms for yourself and for others, and it is very appreciated. You can knit socks in many ways. You can knit them with dpts, or circulars. You can clean a bathroom with a scrubby, or a sponge, you can use liquid cleaner, powdery cleaner, or foam. You can knit socks, from the top or from the toe, and there are many possibilitites for the heel. You can knit a short row heel, a flap heel, an after thought heel. It is the same with bathrooms. You can start with the bathtub, and finish with the toilet, or vice versa, etc... I was already feeling better about cleaning the bathrooms. It was not all that bad. So for safety, I decided to conjure up a few more positive associations. When you decide to knit a sock, you go to your stash, or go to the store and you pick the yarn. Well, when you need to clean the bathroom, you go to your cleaning product stash, or to the market, to get your materials. I thought, not bad! So I carefully got up, as if I was afraid a brusk movement would make me lose my good thoughts. I went to my cleaning product stash. I picked a light yellow bottle, deep yellow gloves, a teal blue scrubby, a green smooth sponge, and an oatmeal wiping cloth. The palette was fantastic! I entered the first bathroom, ready to make magic, I decided I would start with the tub, I sprinkled some yellow product, and as I started rubbing, like a souffle, my enthusiasm collapsed. No matter how much you work on a bathroom, no matter how much you scrub, the bathroom only goes from a filmy white to a white! Whereas a sock, is a colorful wonder... Reds, yellows, blues, greens, and every color in between... So I put the cleaning products back in the stash, and went to sit on my lounge chair, with Rolfe's socks, and I thought I'll never like cleaning bathrooms, at least not until they invent a cleaning product that changes the bathroom colors, or stripes!!!

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Sock Pixie is Born

I just moved to Boston from California, with my husband, and 4 children. Until a little more than a month ago, I used to own a yarn shop there called Philato. For a month, I thought maybe I was just on a short vacation. And then, reality sank in, I was a yarn lady no more. So I vengefully put my needles away, and stored my stash in the coldest corner of the basement! Slowly day by day, the yarn bug crept up... I started by having my children knit baby hats for donation, my poor little husband needed a new scarf, so of course I had to knit it, and then it was socks, and the smell of the yarn, the touch of the yarn, the colors of the yarn, and the magic of socks did their trick. This morning I woke up, I was the sock pixie!