Woolly Mutts

Levels of Misery

Yesterday, when I did my first morning log in to facebook, I learned that Forbes Magazine has declared Rockford, IL, (home of the sock monkey...I kid you not.) the town where I was born and still live today, to be #14 on the Most Miserable City to Live In list.  Technically, I live in Machesney Park, which is a northern suburb (village connected to the north end of Rockford...not sure it actually qualifies as a burb), which, to be honest, makes Rockford look damn good, so everything is relative in life and geography. At least we aren't #1.

The criteria Forbes used had to do with crime and unemployment, and there is no question that Rockford has more than its share of both.  The crime part isn't something that has ever been a big issue for me, and I work in an older, sadder part of town next door to the needle exchange program.  The crime is there, but I've managed to avoid it, though have witnessed the drug problem frequently.  The unemployment is horrible and has touched several people I know and love.  

For me, who has lived here for-ev-er, its problems are different than those Forbes touched on.  Rockford is stuck in a conservative box that I don't ever for-see it breaking out of.  I'm not sure it wants to.  Part of the problem is that we are located close enough to larger, or trendier cities that most of us make fine use of on a regular basis. I certainly do. Perhaps if better shopping/dining/museums/films/theater/education/art were not quite so close at hand Rockford would step up to the plate and provide for itself. Maybe not.  I've heard the powers-that-be talk about it since I was old enough to grasp the concept, and that's been several decades.

Now, I'm no authority to talk here, because my idea of a great evening involves my husband, a fireplace, knitting needles and Netflix, but I think most of us that have lived here a long time have stopped looking close to home for our entertainment/leisure time options.  It's the proverbial forest from the trees scenario.  Rockford does have some really great qualities, but my jaded eyes have lost the ability to see them. Perhaps it's time for me to become a tourist in my own town and rediscover the positives that Rockford has to offer.

Case in point: this photo is of Anderson Gardens.  It's located ten minutes from my house.  The only time I go there is if visitors come from out of state and we have to figure out how to entertain them.  

 

Jane resides at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford. Confession: I have never, ever, been inside this museum.  Ever.  What is up with that?

So, before I spend much time complaining about where I live, I guess I ought to take some time to really get to know her first.  The real her, and not just what I think I see.

Still, is a Trader Joe's too much to ask for?

Old and the restless

I was walking down the aisle of our local grocery store yesterday and took a minute to better observe the store remodel we have endured the last few months.  The walls and floors look quite nice , but now I have no idea where anything is....which ticks me off.  I'm getting there.  Each week we go I get a better lay of the land, but most shoppers still push their carts around like lost souls.  I got to wondering if I were a visitor to the area if I would find this a nice store to shop in?  Then I had a really profound and overwhelming thought; I want to move.

Now, if I were a normal person I would chock this craziness up to end of Winter restlessness, but I'm not even remotely normal and I think all seasons should last as long as they are intended to last (even Summer, which I dislike).  I love Winter, and yet, maybe I'd like to experience Winter somewhere else.  Midlife crisis, maybe?  I'd say I'm a little old for that.  Boredom?  I rarely get bored.  Maybe just good old wanderlust. Could I really belong somewhere other than Northern Illinois?

When I returned home I enlisted the aid of Find Your Spot.  Find Your Spot takes you through a lengthy, and free, questionnaire and then offers up a number of places they think would suit you well.  The majority of mine were in Vermont, Maine, and Oregon.  Progressive, four seasons, not too many people, a library, and a yarn store. Not more than an hours drive from theaters and museums, and a large body of water.

 

Not listed, was where I think I really need to be, Grand Marais, MN.  In fact, if I could wiggle my nose and work magic, I'd be there right now.  To be fair, I've never visited any of the places Find Your Spot selected just for me, and maybe there are a few I might love.  

Despite my itchy feet, I won't be going anywhere.  The ties that bind are strong here and, let's face it, unless we win the lottery, the cost of living here is what we can afford.  Still, it's fun to dream.

A person has to eat.

I am not what one, under any circumstances, would call a good cook.  I'm not completely without skills and did manage to keep my family fed, but it wasn't pretty.  For me, the major product of cooking is not food,but rather, a mess.  No dishwasher (never have had one) and a small kitchen make that mess hard to ignore, and believe me, I've tried.  Amazing Husband is a better cook, and an overall better (less picky) eater than I am and does more than his share of the cooking and dealing with the mess. Along with the cooking and the mess, we also have an issue of having too much left over and then a freezer full of stuff we never eat.  I never really transitioned from cooking for 4, plus whomever else showed up at the table (usually boys who eat mass quantities without much care for what it is) to cooking for just the 2 of us.

We say again and again that we need to become more organized with our meal planning, preparing, and storing.  Neither of us are big on the resolution, but this new year we've decided to take a slightly different direction.  In one of my moments of cookbook fascination I purchased the book "Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer". The idea here is that take a day, do a mass cooking of favorite dishes, and then freeze.  Dinner planning rolls around and all you need do is pull it out, defrost, and cook.  Viola! Dinner.  It has some great ideas for the freezing process along with some lovely recipes...which generally serve six with the calculations to increase that number.  You get the idea.  

I like the mass cooking idea, but for now we are taking whatever we are making for dinner, cook it for six, pop enough for the two of us in the oven and put the rest in a freezer bag.  Last night was our first go with beef stew.   There it is, in all it's gelatinous glory.  Next time stew comes up on the menu we are covered.   Should work equally well for lots of our favorite meals.  I think we may be on to something!  There is still the small matter of the mess, but every light bulb moment has a few dark areas. 

Heading out now to the doctor for the latest lung report.  I think progress is being made, though slowly.  I must work on patience. :-)

We've evicted the family that lives in the basement.

I have lived in this house for almost 30 years. Amazing Husband joined me here a little over 11 years ago.  In that wild and vast time frame kids have come and gone and come back and gone again and with each arrival and departure stuff was added to our basement.  My stuff, his stuff, their stuff.  Sounds like a George Carlin joke, doesn't it? :-)  There are prom dresses and weight benches and computer bit and pieces.  We frequently joke that an entire other family could be living down there and we wouldn't even know.

Last week AH decided it was past time to get a handle on the basement and has been working to sort and pitch.  I have conveniently decided to play host to this lung ailment so I am unable to assist.  This is probably not such a bad thing because I don't think there is enough Zanax on the planet to help me deal with the mess.  (I have junk/clutter issues.)  Last garbage pickup had something like 15 bags of garbage (oh great god of this green planet, forgive my landfill contribution.  I promise my carbon footprint is below average.) and today this rag tag group of suitcases have hit the curb.  Our garbage pick up guy must wonder what the heck is up. When we get around to the Goodwill/Salvation Army donation they might have to build an addition to house it. 

Ah, but when it is finished there will be blessed organization.  Amen to that.

What goes up..

Today has been annual purge-the-house-of-Christmas day.  I'm always of mixed feelings on this day.  I hate to see the lights and pretties go, but then again, ready to regroup and get on with a new year.  Amazing Husband and I are lucky enough to have the week between Christmas and the New Year off, so it is time to get out of vacation mode and back to real life. Along with holiday removal, AH has begun cleaning out the basement of years of stash instead of pitch.  Brave man, that one.

I've also cleaned out my email boxes; work and personal, and pared down my blog reader.  I must get more disciplined at dealing with email as it arrives and the getting rid of it.  I've decided that I spend way to much time on minutia and not enough on the things I really want to be doing. (Like knit or read.) So, she who does not generally resolve is taking a few steps in that direction.

The one thing I haven't done yet is venture into the room next door.  It's actually my favorite room of the house, but during all the holiday mania my room has become the place that everything gets thrown.  There is at least a week of non-essential mail, baby pack-n-play, baby bouncy chair, baby play gym, wrapping paper, boxes...every time I open that door I want to scream.  But, it has to be done, right? Right!

Speaking of baby....just in case there are a few of you who don't follow me on facebook, here is a picture of Baby CJ and her Mommy taken on Christmas:

Sweet, huh? :-)

Any Doctor Who fans out there?  If not, may I suggest you run to your Netflix Watch Instantly que and begin with season 1.  Good stuff, this.  Nobody does scifi like the Brits.  Anyway, tonight we bid farewell to the tenth Doctor and get our first look at Doctor eleven.  I have no idea what I did before we discovered BBC America!

An open letter to our neighborhood late night party people.

Dearest Teenage Cool Crowd,

   Just a quick note to bring to your attention that our field is not a garbage dump.  I realize that in your illegal intoxication it may be somewhat difficult to distinguish between a trash can and whatever is outside your car window when you open it, but I just know if you tried a little harder, you could master this one.  The trash containers are generally located around fast food establishments or gas stations.  Our field is where we run and play and mow and I have to say that it gets on my last nerve to have to get off the mower and throw away your trash.  I have no interest in what you ordered at McDonalds (a perfect example of where a trash can could have been found) or how large the Slurpy was you almost finished.  I especially dislike the large glass bottle of booze that you jettisoned so no evidence would be left on your person.  Not cool, Dudes, not cool at all. So lets try and find some courtesy in that young, reckless soul of yours cause I gotta tell you, karma is real and what goes around comes around (even Justin Timberlake says so).  Start racking up those karma points now for a much happier future.

Peace, Love, and Happiness,

The crazy hippie chic who lives on the corner

And while I'm on the subject of pet peeves and trash,

Dearest Smokers,

     Perhaps it has not been explained clearly to you, but the world is not your ash tray.  I swear if I see one more person open his/her car window and throw out a cigarette butt I'm going to lose all good sense, ram their car and make them eat that disgusting thing. Same thing goes for those that drop it, step on it, and then walk away. I understand that it's a hard habit to kick, but not unlike the teenage party crowd, a little courtesy please.  I'm quite sure that ash trays have not been banned from the planet.  If you have to light up, keep your butts to yourself.

Not so much, peace, love, and happiness,

The asthmatic hippie chic who has no patience for rude behavior.

Have a nice day!

Brighter days ahead.

A few days have past, I've managed to get a grip, and life is beginning to look a little brighter.  Amazing Husband has gone on a four day business trip, which isn't a happy thing (this is the first time in 9 years we've spent the night apart :-( ), but I'll be fine and the dogs will protect me. :-)  Spent some time with mother this morning and learned that tomorrow she will be moved to her permanent, if all works out well, room at St. Anne.  It was a lesson in the need to trust the universe/God and have faith that things will work out as they should.  The room has a large window with a beautiful view of a small courtyard with trees and flowers and bird feeders.  Her roommate is a sweet little thing who I think mother will do well with.  We have not met one single staff person there that has been anything but kind and friendly.  The nurse that takes care of the wing mother will be inhabiting has been at St. Anne for 20 years.  That says something good!  In the patience of time all will be well.

Now that she is settled our thoughts and hands have turned to emptying her apartment so her dear landlord can provide someone else a good home.  The first few times I walked into the apartment without her I was overwhelmed with sadness, but I have learned that we are so much more than our "things".   It's hard to let things go, but mother will be happy that my son Karl and his girlfriend have taken her favorite sectional and Kysa and her family may take the bedroom set. It will be perfect for a little girl someday.  We know we are terribly lucky that there is only the apartment and not a house full of life memories to go through and get rid of.  And, sad as it is, when she passes there will be little left to deal with. 

And then there are you kind, loving, wonderful people.  I have received comments and emails filled with such love and support that the tears turned from sadness to joy.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate each one of you and the fact that you took a minute to say you care.  I love you all. 

So it is onward we go, navigating the bumps and bruises of life, but keeping out hearts and eyes open.  For every sadness there is a blessing and I am blessed aplenty.

*Amazing Husband, if you are reading this.  Come home safe to me. <3

Bunny ears are a sure sign of Spring.

You may recall back in the nineties yard geese were all the rage.  Perhaps it was a Midwestern phenomenon, but people put them on their front stoops and dressed them up for any occasion. (Rain, snow, cupid wings, top hat for St. Patty's Day, dresses, boots, Red Hat garb...honestly it was way crazy.) We never had a goose, but we do have a gargoyle.  Today we thought it might be amusing to trick him out with some bunny ears (we are easily entertained) and AH took a picture.  Of course he already has his own ears so the white fuzzy ones were a little superfluous, but cute none the less.  Unfortunately, Cooper disagreed and removed them when we weren't looking.  I guess Gunther the Gargoyle will have to continue through life looking adorable in his all-together. 

Hope these first glorious days of Spring have been treating you well!

A steady pace wins the race - or- we may be slow but we get it done.

I have frequently heard men talk about having a "man cave".  I guess this room, that we have been slaving over for 4 solid days, is my version.  My girl cave. AH works from home 3 days a week and it's nice to have my own little room with everything I need on a wintry day.  TV, yarn, books, laptop, yarn, comfy chair.  When we walked into Home Depot I really had no idea what color I wanted the walls to be.  I saw a picture of a room that had gray walls and thought that was nice, then I moved outside the gray box and came up with this sort of greenish gray color.  In all honesty, despite its somewhat fancypants name (Larrington) it's more like Army green, but in a good way.  No one can ever accuse me of being afraid of color. I'm happy and that was the goal.  So, before I unveil the fruits of our labors I dug through some old pics and came up with a little BEFORE action.  WARNING: it's pretty bad.

Please take note of the green jungle ceiling and cheetah window frame.  Are you ready?  Sitting down, maybe?

TADA! 

Prepare for the tour.  First up, large desk space for drawing, knitting from a chart or gazing out the window.  Complete with Ott Light and Miss Maddie.  IKEA came through with this reasonably priced gem of a work space. 

Directly behind the desk is the bookcase filled with knitting books.  If you look close you can see the needle storage on top.  We found a cool coat rack at IKEA and it is now serving as a bag holder (cause a knitter can never have too many bags).

On the west wall we have bulletin board (I am a big fan of the bulletin board), TV and closet covered by a curtain (Target).  Behind the curtain is: (Not the great and powerful OZ)

YARN!  All organized to my satisfaction.  On the top shelf are bags with yarn designated for a specific projects along with pattern.  Reorganizing all this yarn was a real wake up call.  KNIT FROM STASH...woo boy.

Under the TV we have magazine storage and on the other side of the desk the matching cabinet (Target) houses art supplies.  There is basket on top of that cabinet with my ballwinder and skein holder at the ready.

The original handles were ugly silver plastic so we changed them up with these pretty iron handles. (Menards)

Finally, in the northeast corner is my favorite purple chair (also a fav of our feline population) with good light and handy baskets for knitting or magazines. 

Overall we are very pleased with the results.  I think the trim is maybe a little bit too light, but not enough to change.  I could use a piece of art over the chair in the corner...looks a little bare.  Little things that will come in time.  When we get around to changing the flooring in the rest of the house we will do so in this room also, but for now I really like the black floor.  All in all a good 4 days work. 

The word of the day is: condense.

*According to Dictionary.com the definition of condense is : to make more dense or compact; reduce the volume or extent of. 

Much has happened since we last spoke/blogged/connected on a cyber level.  I celebrated my 51st birthday, AH and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary, and we have begun a couple of projects that have taught me that I have WAY too much stuff.

First of all we went to Home Depot, bought a couple of closet organizer kits and went to town on our closet.  This, my friends was no small feat.  It was a journey to the dark side in there and I am in no way kidding.  I would have taken a picture of the before, but it would have been too frightening for our more sensitive readers.  Seriously.  I tried to get an after pic, but the mirror on the wall at the end of the closet made it impossible.  Let's just say that we now have a nice, clean, normal looking closet.  Four bags of clothes are ready and waiting to find a new home at the Goodwill, cause let's just call it what it was, RIDICULOUS.  I had stuff in there from 1975.  I feel so much better.  Condensing is a good thing.

Next up, the yarn room, which used to be my daughter's bedroom.  Back when her father left us to pursue his happiness (which is really ok and all turned out beautifully, but at the time was a tad bit traumatic) I let Kysa decorate her room in any way she wanted.  I thought it might help her take her mind off it things.  She went for a jungle theme.  There was cheetah print on the window frame, zebra around the door, tiger on the closet.  It was awesome in it's time, but it was past time to bring the room back to the world of adult living.  So we picked a paint color, did some damage at IKEA (Oh, feel the love IKEA) and began emptying the room.....I did mention that it was the yarn room, right? 

All that stuff came out of the yarn room.  That faint light behind the bookcase is the Christmas tree which is hidden behind stuff.  (Note: that drapey thing on the wall is a vintage sari and really looks pretty cool when not obscured by stuff.) Even Frank disapproves.

Oh yeah, and all that stuff, too.  Well, except for the dresser that used to be in the closet and now is on the way to the basement.  Uh.....yep, there will be some purging done here, too.  I am totally going on a yarn diet.  No more yarn until I use up most of what I have.  Good, god, I could knit for 5 years and not use it all up. 

As I type this AH is filling in nail holes and preparing to paint the ceiling, which previously had an entire solar system of glow-in-the-dark stars that I scraped off though I am sure there are still a few lurking in my hair. Despite the work involved, this really is sort of fun for us and I am so excited about the end result of which there will be copious pictures, I promise. 

Condense, simplify, get a grip on the stuff.  Not a bad way to start a new year.