Sweet, Sweet Saturday

I have the new shredder set up and thoroughly broken-in. It doesn’t hold as much as the old one, but it’s quieter, and it has cut the confidential portions of a three-inch stack of paperwork down to size.

I’ve spent the past couple of hours working on my budget. I had hoped to be further along in Project Debt-Free, but there have been a few hiccups in this last half of the year. Still, I have managed to pay off 30% of what I owed at the beginning of the year, and I guess I should take my own advice and remind myself gently that direction is more important than speed. I think I have 9 more semi-monthly car payments, so Lorelai should be free and clear by the Ides of March. And then there will just be the line of credit to contend with. I may still be able to meet my goal of being debt-free by the end of next year.

At which point I can focus on completing my year’s supply of food, as well as becoming perfectly obedient about Family Home Evening. And maybe even be a little less tightfisted about replenishing my wardrobe. Though I still don’t intend to go hog-wild. I have three tiny closets here, if you count the coat closet, and one of them is properly filled with items that belong in my studio.

Living the life of the carefree bachelorette this weekend. The last of the leek and potato soup for breakfast. (Possibly a bowl of cereal for lunch, for karmic balance.) I have stuff to lug out to the recycling bin. And another small bag to go into the trash. Have re-purposed the receptacle belonging to my defunct shredder as a sleek and trendy mesh wastebasket. I think it will eventually end up in my studio, as I mostly re-purpose grocery bags to hold my sewing scraps. Not elegant, perhaps, but at least mindful. I rather wish I had that old black leather wastebasket which we had in the house in Irving; it belonged to the grandmother for whom Secondborn is named, and we got it when she sold her house. I hope it is being cherished somewhere and is not at the bottom of some landfill.

Bought another circular needle last night after work. A stainless steel HiyaHiya [like the town in Washington State, they liked it so much they named it twice] US size 2 (2.75mm), because the only thing I had in that size was a set of DP’s for socks, and I am still swatching for the missionary hats. [And swatching. And swatching.] This yarn is lovely and soft, and my swatch was still too airy on a US size 2.5 (3.0mm). Addi needles are all metric, and they don’t always correspond exactly with standard US whole sizes. An Addi 1 is really a US 1.5.

Makes. Me. Twitch.

But thank goodness for Ravelry, where I can keep an inventory of what I have, so that I know if it’s in use somewhere, or if I really, truly do not have it in that size.

Not sure what I want to do next. On the one hand, the knitting is calling. On the other, the house is cold, and I am feeling distinctly chilly, whilst dithering on whether I am ready to fire up the gas fireplace and take the edge off, or just go to the gym and warm up that way and maybe poach myself gently in the hot tub. On the other, other hand, I want to sit down at the sewing machine and work on several projects that are calling my name.

I should maybe make a list.

Happy Saturday, everybody, whatever you decide to do.