Pictures to come.

I need to take some photos when I get home:

- A better one of the cat I made for my niece (and one saved "for posterity," FSVO "posterity" on Flickr, since I AM paying for Pro now)

- The Not Okay Bot, which I finished the other night and modified a bit by digging in my vintage-buttons box and making him a "control panel" of some mismatched buttons I liked and wanted to show off. (One has like the manufacturer's monogram on it, and a quick online search didn't turn up who it was, but I'm still intrigued. It looks like either E. S. and Co. or S. E. and Co.)

- If the sun comes back out (or if I find a good spot in my house), the newest quilt (It's very dark out right now, and probably gonna rain, and it's sort of cold, so not-ideal for outdoor photographs)

***

I also started the "Soccer Mitts" out of a String Theory yarn - colorway called Epiphyte, which is mostly bright stripes (turquoise, yellow, hot pink) separated by narrower bands of grey.

I have decided to take tonight off cleaning - I overstressed one wrist yesterday with all the lifting and especially all the mop-wringing and I want to let it recover. And I just need a little relaxation time.

Tomorrow afternoon/evening will be baking the cake (just a plain hot milk sponge cake, and I will make the cooked "chocolate satin frosting" which is easy and is pretty good on it) for the funeral. And maybe assemble my Christmas tree - part of the push to clean the "public rooms" was to make it ready for the tree to go up. I could put up the tree and the lights tomorrow night, and them maybe hang ornaments Saturday or Sunday - or clean my bedroom inbetween needing to work at the funeral lunch.

I've pretty much adapted to my mom's surprise "I'm getting my cataract out while you're here at Thanksgiving." Yes, the doctor wants someone present at the office for the full surgery, but I can bring knitting with me. (And it turns out she has to have the other one done within two weeks, what the heck? But one of their neighbors is going to take her for that). The worst that might happen is a lifting restriction and either my brother or I can get the turkey in and out of the oven. And probably Wednesday can be used to make things ahead (like the cranberries); usually my brother and his family go to HER relatives for that day, which means the house is a little less hectic.

I just....I don't like having stuff changed up on me all of a sudden.

I will have to pick a good project for the two hours or so I have to sit and knit. I was thinking of taking a v. simple scarf to work on during time around family - nothing that requires too many bits or bobs (like a row counter that could get lost or turn into a dog toy), but maybe I do a slightly-more-complex pair of socks? Or maybe I just take all the mitts and do them then, if I haven't finished them already?

No sweaters: I won't have room for a big project along with hauling all the Christmas presents with me. And I am absolutely not going to count on having time to run to the Michael's for supplies first.

(I found my short #4 circular but I suspect the Helmholtz cowl is a bit more attention-requiring than what I might be ready for)

Maybe if I can find an easily-enough memorized pattern - or, OH, I take that long pink bulky scarf I am doing in moss stitch. Does not require a row counter because I can see where I am in the pattern and it's just "work until it's long enough or you run out of yarn" and it also has the virtue of being something I want to get out of the "stalled" pile. That would be a good "knit while hanging out talking to family" project, with something a bit more involved while I wait on my mom - so I don't get bored and so I have a distraction so I'm less-prone to worry.

***

Day two in a row of no mouse evidence: none caught in the traps, no poop under the sink, no new gnawing on the soap that's under there, so I'm hoping I may  have caught the ones that took up residence and drove away any others with the ultrasonic thing and the strong-smelling cleaners I've used.

Also my house just looks better now that I've cleaned it. I get twitchy and sad when my house is too much of a mess; I think it's partly discomfort with the sheer disorder (Clutter I can do. As I said the "clutterb*tch aesthetic" is me. But disorder and dirt and things that feel unhygienic, no) and also worry about "how many bad bacteria got tracked around when that mouse ran around, peeing all the while it ran*?"

(*rodents are notoriously incontinent)

I also worry that I'll get sick/break an ankle/something else will happen and people will have to come over and they'll see the mess and be repulsed and (yes, this is not very charitable of me) whisper to other people at get-togethers where there's food, "you don't want to eat what she brought; I've seen her kitchen..."

And yes, it's probably not ever actually that bad and it's probably really my perfectionism speaking but there is somewhere deep in my soul that feels like "if you're not pulling everything out of the cupboards and wiping the insides down with bleach water once every couple weeks you're probably doing it wrong" though then again, I don't ever remember my mom doing that except maybe ONE time when some potatoes went off in a cupboard, and that was more to eliminate the stain and the smell than anything...

But yes, I feel like my house is never quite as clean as it could or should be, but then again....I work full time. (And I wonder: in retirement, do I just set a rota and clean one room each day of the week, maybe combining the hall and the bathroom (both are small) so I can have the Sabbath off? I have no idea how extensively normal people clean....