One of Those Friday Random Things Posts

Indulge me in a bit of Canadianism, for a moment, as I talk about the weather. See, in the same way that most of North America has been in a deep freeze for the last couple of weeks, so have we in TO. Not surprising really. I mean, we live in Canada - even if it is the wussy-weather part of Canada. But it's really brought to light some things I know, but that I'm not often given the opportunity to experience...

For starters, make no mistake, people acclimate to cold very quickly. On the first day of -35C with the windchill, I was freezing. I took the bus to work. I wore 3 layers and a fur. By the time the mercury rose to -10, yesterday, I was so freakin' overheated in one layer, that I had my coat open, my scarf gloves and hat removed and I could still barely stand it. (Sure, I'm willing to admit that perimenopause has something to do with this.) Today, at 0C, I wore a fall jacket.

Moreover, people acclimate to ice very quickly. At first I was taking the bus, as much to avoid killing myself on patches of black ice, as to avoid the cold. Now I have my ice-legs and I routinely cruise across blocks of the stuff (in reasonable footwear, natch) with little concern. It's really good exercise too, peeps. Note: As of this aft, I'm back to getting my slush legs, which are unpleasant under any circumstances. There's nothing redeeming there.

Finally, and I'm sorry to harp about this, but I'm living with this weather and it's omnipresent: The entire deep-freeze bought beautiful, bright, cloudless skies. The air was dry. It was SO cheerful. Now, with rising temps, we're back to the socked-in, damp and dullness that sucks the life out of one. No joke: I prefer freezing and sun, any day, to the drab and zero we're probably in for for the next few weeks. This does make me an optimal candidate for life in Montreal, for what it's worth.

But on to other randomness:

• My goal for the weekend is to chill the fuck out. More to the point, I hope to drink some wine, eat some yummies, knit the rest of the sweater body for the Blanche Too, and revisit the pieces of the Janet Jacket (that's been in brief stasis). I won't sew this weekend. I'll retrace and reconsider fit, in light of stretch fabric lining, and maybe cut the pieces if I get to that step. You know, there's no prize for finishing the thing in 10 minutes.

• I have alluded, in Twitter, to having acquired a FitBit Flex. It's a boring story, frankly, but the gist is that I've been wearing it since Monday and, while at first I hated it, now I'm intrigued. Brief description: It's a gizmo you wear on your wrist that tells you how much energy your body burns both at rest and during activity and your sleep patterns. Since I do keep a food log (longstanding thing), I'm impressed to see that my FitBit is compatible with my food diary. It's apparently about 93% accurate (more than accurate enough for my needs) and, if nothing else, it's assisting me to refine my understanding of my body's current metabolic rate. (You know, if one eats a mere 100 calories a day more than one needs (depending on a variety of factors, of course), it makes the difference of @ a pound a month. I'm in a phase where I need to pay attention to that sort of stupidity.) Please do not misunderstand - I do not enjoy feeling like a robot and I'm not becoming some sort of Nike-style fitness nut. I'm just using it as I do everything else - as a tool for calibration. Fun info: I have to remove it when I knit because it sees that movement as steps and it's been giving me lots credit for excess activity while I knit for an hour or two per night :-) Mind you, it gives me NOTHING for my yoga, a practice where I hold "static" poses for minutes at a time, so I do take some of the knitting creditin lieu!

• Have you joined the Swap Flickr group for Andrea and Gail's Stash Diet? Look, I'm not in a stash diet mood, as evidenced by the 10 yards of fabric and 4 skeins of yarn I've bought in the last week. And that's cool. But I do love the idea that peeps who LOVE accumulating the building blocks of their crafts are able to give and get while avoiding any net accumulation of stuff. In fact, this fills me with such a warm, fuzzy feeling that I'm going to have to catalog my stash and give some of it away! Maybe I'll do that this weekend if there's time. How is there so much to do???

I'm not overly concerned about accumulation of things because I have a built in halt-mechanism. It's called compulsiveness. I cannot allow myself to overgrow my allotted space (a fabric banker's box for yarn stash and a cupboard of fabric - effectively 4 small shelves, one of which is occupied by interfacing and lingerie stuff). I'm hardwired to stop. But, in the same way that I am hardwired to limit myself (in this fashion, not in numerous other ways!), I am twistedly thrilled to see the overgrown stashes of others. I LOVE the excess of a beautiful, robust, overflowing stash of tactile treats. I am hanging out in that Flickr group just to see the gorgeous indulgences that reside within. And, of course, I love the idea that peeps will be making use of what they have, if only to allow themselves to buy some more :-)

At any rate, that's me for the day. Thoughts about any of this? Are you up to excitement this weekend, the first of the excitement-free mid-winter? Let's talk!