Return to Work

It is currently 4:47am and I am waiting for my Bialetti Moka Express to finish working its magic.  Today I return to work as my maternity leave ends... Don't get me started on my rant about the American concept of maternity leave.  It is hard to believe that Jelly Bean was born October 10th.  That seems so long ago.  Perhaps, I am thrown off because she chose to arrive six weeks early and a full four weeks of my maternity leave was spent driving back and forth to the hospital NICU.

I don't want to return to work.

I have found more and more that I am becoming one of those creepy alternative living folk.  I want to find a different, quirky method of making ends meet so I can be around to see things like Gummy Bear's response to bison at the zoo.  Damn and blast, since I have yet to invent an all-organic line of goat milk soaps, form a consortium of local weavers, or wear hemp pants, I am forced to remain on gracious terms with corporate America.

I will return to work.

I also need to return to work on my DLP's sweater.  I started knitting this sweater in (ah-hem) March.  It is a handsome sweater.  He, being who he is, chose the most time-consuming, slow-going, soul-crushing pattern imaginable. 

Newfangleddad is a skinny size medium.  This sweater requires that I knit my way through 24 balls of yarn.  I am a giant, amazon of a woman, sporting baby weight and even I don't require 24 balls of yarn for a sweater.  Yet, the pointed looks and melancholy sighs when he sees me knitting on everything but his sweater are starting to wear away at me.  This week I will also return to work on My DLP Is Awesome (this link is available to all Ravelry users) and keep my fingers crossed that I can make some progress.  I fear he may soon realize that I am only a third of the way through the body and he likely won't be wearing this sweater until next winter.

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving.  I am thankful.

I have a wonderful DLP (domestic life partner - cute right?), two healthy children including a preemie who refuses to be preemie-like, a place to live and food to eat.  Monday, when my maternity leave ends, I will return to a job which allows me to pay the bills and have my children raised by their father.  My greyhound is asleep across the room as usual and she will wake up only when offered food or a walk.  She is no longer hungry, she is no longer hurting, she no longer earns her survival through the power of her body.  I will likely find 15 minutes today to knit.  Tonight I will go to sleep in the same home as the people/creatures I love.

Today is Thanksgiving.  I am thankful.

That being said...  All these "Black Friday" businesses opening on Thanksgiving can KISS MY CREDIT CARD.
 
I will not be shopping today.  I will not be shopping tonight.  I will not be shopping tomorrow. 

It is a sad state of affairs that Black Friday has become a holiday unto itself.  I realize that retailers are attempting to save themselves in a suffering economy, however I will not sell my soul to help them.  I do not need a plasma television so badly that I will spend the Thanksgiving holiday standing in line outside Bud's Big Box Store.  I will support the local economy on Small Business Saturday.

Feel free to check my knitworthy progress on Ravelry (www.ravelry.com) where you can find me as Kieristhefastest.