The virus got me. I am feeling a little better now. All my menfolks are driving up today to get #2 daughter at her college. They have maps, pizza, and my car. My husband is smoking in my car. I am trying to balance my gratitude to him for doing the driving against my disgust at his smoking in my car, with our kids in it.

I have been tagged. I am supposed to come up with five weird things that I do. Being entirely non-weird, I am finding this difficult.

1. I hold off on wearing a coat as late into the winter as possible, as though mere denial could keep winter from taking place.

2. I read a lot. If it is possible to read under some set of cirucumstances, I will.

3. I talk to my car sometimes, and also to my computer. I even sometimes talk to people in movies, giving them advice which for some reason they ignore.

4. I like quiet. Much as I love music, I almost never play “background music.”

5. I go in and look at my children when they are sleeping. Even now, when they are all bigger than me.

I went to work yesterday, and attempted to help people in spite of my zombie-like condition.

I came home early and finished up the latest bawk. Here it is.

Is your Thanksgiving turkey thawing?

Have you done your shopping? made your pie crusts? ironed your table linens? I have done almost nothing, since I have been laid low by a virus. fortunately, all my Thanksgiving guests are family. If they complain, I can hand them an implement and say, “Go to it!”

I think I was supposed to tag someone but it seems that everyone I know has already been tagged, and I am still not feeling well enough to think. If you have been wanting to do this meme and have not been tagged, please consider yourself tagged.

Erasmus said, “When I get a little money, I buy books; if any is left, I buy food and clothing.”

Erasmus was a man after my own heart. Still, buying food is one of my main jobs around the house, so I looked at the ideas on food shopping as I was checking out the frugality blogs. There are some surprises there — buy cookies that you don’t like very well, so they will last longer? Always use coupons when you buy name-brand salad dressing?

No, no. Buy basic ingredients and make your food yourself. Buy nutritious foods and don’t waste them. Plan ahead so that everything will be used. Become familiar with prices so that you know whether things are economically priced or not, and stock up on them when they are.

Well, that’s dull, though, isn’t it? You can’t keep a blog going with stuff like that, can you? It is more interesting to point out that pancakes can be made with leftover cake batter. This gives your readers the chance to speculate on the circumstances that could have given rise to the leftover cake batter in the first place (a sudden emercency that distracted the baker? an unaccountable shrinkage of the cake pan? I’m trying), and to imagine German chocolate pancakes.

There was in the 1970s or 1980s a book by someone called JoAnn Lord or something like that, with a title like I Feed my Family on $10 a Week. I can’t recall the details, but it was quite famous at the time. This woman fed her family peanut butter sandwiches on day-old white bread every day, with water. This, to me, was like the “Magic Loop technique” — trying to make something sound intentional. Of course, it is sad if you have only $10 a week for a food budget, and must live almost entirely on peanut butter, but it is hardly something to brag about.

Here is a sensible article on the subject. And this is a sensible source of specific information, if perhaps you are new to grocery shopping or something.

Other than grocery shopping (do not worry, Pokey, the Thanksgiving feast has not been replaced by peanut butter and water), cleaning the garage, and reading the frugality blogs, I have been mostly knitting this weekend.

For one thing, I am beginning to feel time’s winged chariot at my back, as they say, when it comes to Christmas gifts. For another, I feel as though I am coming down with a cold, and staving it off only with willpower.

So this is bawk #6, with a meandering cable pattern of my own devising. This luscious color is KnitPicks Wool of the Andes “Violet.”

I am debating whether or not to go to church. On the one hand, if I am indeed coming down with something, then I don’t need to go share it. This is the last day of rest I will have in some time, and I should move as little as possible and drink lots of tea in order to nip the illness in the bud.

On the other hand, we are singing Franck.

We are fortunate in that our college girl is good at finding jobs and earning scholarships and such. Still, we have a large family and a modest income, so there is always a certain amount of suspense about paying tuition.

In the spring, it is not so bad, since we just send our tax return to the college. But in the fall, it requires scrimping and prayer. This is particularly true this year, since my husband’s company is having a month-long shut-down between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Why they do this at the most expensive time of year is unclear to me, but it is a pretty good economic indicator. If you have been watching for signs of how the economy is going, this is one not to ignore.

So I have been reading the frugality blogs in hope of finding encouragement, inspiration, and good suggestions. Did you know that frugality blogs existed? Frugal for Life is one that I like because it is about voluntary simplicity, not just miserliness. Some of them are about spending as little as possible, regardless of ethics or quality of life, an approach which does not appeal to me. But, just as with knitting blogs, once you go to one, you can click your way around to others. My Adventures in Simple Living may not be a frugality blog per se — I don’t know the genre well enough to be sure – but I find it interesting, and sweet, with updates about carrots and children and things like that, as well as points about environmental issues. I also like Wenchypoo for her abrasive, obnoxious style, though I have to admit that I sometimes don’t grasp her references and often disapprove of her philosophy. I am sure that she wouldn’t care, which is part of her charm.

None of these sites has much in the way of new information. As with knitting blogs, it is more a matter of philosophy and encouragement. After all, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” is about all you can say on the subject of frugality, so it is just a matter of saying it in interesting new ways.

But I have been surprised, as I have strolled around these blogs, to find so many of them cautioning against the buying of books and music. Wenchypoo assures us that we need no cookbooks — shove everything in the oven at 350. Several blogs repeat the advice never to buy new books or music, and many say not to buy books at all.

Now I am assuming that they are not speaking out against reading. After all, they do not caution us against buying original art, or scuba diving, or any other hobbies or amusements at all. So I assume that they are counseling us not to buy new books, but rather to find less expensive sources of reading matter.

Let’s say that I am a typical reader. Since I keep track of what I read here at this xanga, I know that I read a pretty consistent dozen books a month. I also buy books for gifts, books for my kids, and what I would think of as reference books — cookbooks, knitting books, that sort of thing.

This week, I bought the following books, for the following reasons:

* a new cookbook by a favorite cookbook author
* a Terry Pratchett hardcover for my mother’s birthday
* Eldest, requested by #2 son
* Beethoven’s Hair, for Book Club

These are all new books, and this is a pretty typical week. However, you may notice that there are not, on this list, any ordinary mass market paperbacks just to keep me in reading matter. This category of reading I have determined to fill by other means.

What other means are available?

First consider the free sources of reading matter.

You can read online for free. Here is a list of sites. In general, this will get you the classics. And that’s a good starting point. It will not get you books to read in bed or in the bathtub, on the porch, on the sofa, or out under your favorite tree.

You can also get free books at the library. My local library is small, and cannot be counted on to provide a steady stream of books for me, although it is a great place to spend a morning. You can trade with friends. I see people reading books for free in comfy chairs at big bookstore chains, too, but I think that is dishonest. A browse through a new knitting book, sure, but reading entire novels that way is over the top. You can also reread books, as I do. I think this is a good option for those of us who already have large home libraries; if you only own ten books to begin with, rereading is not going to supply you with much satisfaction.

There are used books. We have several used book stores in town, and many people have books at their yard sales. You will pay between 1/4 and 1/2 of the price of the book this way — the lower price being either at yard sales or at stores which give you credit for trading in your own used books.  I think that a romance novel reader could use this method successfully. #2 daughter and I invested $34 this summer at one of those places, and I still have not read all the chick lit we garnered. We got a grocery sack full of hot pink and teal-covered books with line drawings of perky girls in heels. Those of us who want to read something else will find that we have far fewer choices.

You can also find used books online. For example, at Bibliofind, you can find this bargain: a $39 book for $120. This happens to be the only online example I have found of a used copy of a rather expensive book I want to buy. It is not typical. Most of the used books I found were priced at less than the retail price, but shipping makes this less of a deal. You are going to pay $3 to $4 for the shipping, before you even count the price of the book. For paperbacks for daily reading, this option is not very good — especially for me, since I have an employee discount. As a means of finding out of print books, this is good, but for everyday reading, it is a washout.

The remaindered or “bargain” racks in bookstores can be a good source of some books, including seasonal books and imports. I like them for reference-type books, but they are not useful for recreational reading. You will not find a good selection of paperback novels there, and the hardcovers will cost more than alternate sources of paperbacks.

Then there are book clubs — not Book Club like my monthly reading group, but the kind that offer you books at a discount in return for a membership. This site claims that you save money that way, but does not offer evidence, and looks rather as though they may being paid to say that.

However, I do belong to a book club of that type. A rough calculation suggests to me that I pay an average of $15 per book by this means. Since most of the books I have gotten from them are craft books with cover prices in the $25 range, this is not bad. However, I think I can also say that I have bought more books of this type than I would have without the club membership. Organized people who do not forget to opt out of the automatic deliveries will find these more economical than people like me. True Scrooges will get the introductory offer, buy the two required books or whatever, and drop the club, then move on to another introductory offer. This can get you lots of cheap books, but it is Wrong.

I also belong to two online sources of books, and they are at present my main source of everyday reading matter. Booksfree is a service like Netflix, but for books. Frugalreader is a book-exchange system. I have used both for months, with complete satisfaction. In both cases, I can get books I want to read for less than $2 a pop. Both are fairly random, but both are also pretty regular. I can expect 4-6 books per month from each of these sources. And while this is not a method for getting to read some particular book as soon as you want it, both offer much more selection and control than used books or clearance racks — at least where I live. Both also have environmental advantages, in that they get books read a lot of times before they hit a landfill. Frugalreader is allowing me to swap my chick lit (see above) for books I actually want. And it is a direct exchange — one book for one book — whereas a used bookstore that gives credit for turned-in books generally nets you one book of theirs for three or more of yours. Booksfree has a subscription fee (it has worked out to about $1.85 per book for me) and Frugalreader costs nothing but the shipping charge (usually $1.42) for the books you send out. You can keep the books you get through Frugalreader.

Others of this type include The Book Cart, Bookcrossing, and Paperback Swap. I haven’t tried any of them, so I can’t speak knowledgeably about them, but I don’t want you to think I have stock in Booksfree and Frugalreader.

My recreational reading costs, when I use these services, are down to less than $20 per month, as opposed to my previous $75 or so. $20 is still more than nothing, but it is still a significant savings, with no loss of civilization.

None of these alternate methods would have gotten me any of the books I bought new this week. If you want a particular book, and especially if you want something at all obscure, you will just have to buy it new. What’s more, somebody has to buy these books new, or the publishers will not continue to publish them. But if you have flexibility and are doing your part to keep the publishing industry afloat, these alternatives might help you cut your book budget without actually having to read less.

This movie contains, as one of the other knitting bloggers said, one of the all-time best movie knitting scenes. That scene is followed directly by a great example of how the well-bred person should behave upon being shot on a social occasion. I have memorized it, just in case.

I finished the second pair of Fuzzy Feet slippers last night while watching this movie.

It is time for a slipper pattern comparison.

First, the stats. I used the knitty.com Fuzzy Feet pattern, 10.5 needles, and KnitPicks Wool of the Andes. I felted them in the washing machine in a short hot water cycle with a small amount of pure liquid soap from Brambleberry.

Here is a Fuzzy Foot prior to felting, and on the right you will find the post-felting results.

Below is the first pair of fuzzy feet I made. The yarn, needles and pattern are the same. Different color, and I made the cuff a couple of rows longer on the second pair.

This entry tells the details of the Ballerina Slipper from Galeskas’s Felted Knits. Here is its unfelted portrait, and below that is its felted self.

This pattern was definitely more complex than the Fuzzy Feet. It has a separate, double-weight sole, and the uppers are done with short rows from the toe back. There is a lot of counting and measuring. Is it worth the extra trouble? Perhaps not. I think it has a more feminine appearance but it may not be as warm and cozy.

It is also harder to get the two halves of the pair identical. At least, that is so for me, but we know that I am a shamefully inaccurate knitter.

They do seem to me to have a more substantial, less sock-like sole. I intend to do something to the solos of the Fuzzy Feet. I may sew on leather soles, or Jiffy Grip, or use fabric paint. I am checking out my fellow KAL-ers solutions before choosing.

Here are the first felted slippers I tried: the Fiber Trends clog. This is their pre-felting picture.

And here, post-felting. As you can see, the two slippers absolutely did not match. That is my fault, but it suggests to me that this pattern is more difficult than the others. I have not tried to make it again, so I cannot say for sure.

This was certainly the most expensive of the patterns, since it is a single pattern for several dollars. The ballerina slippers were in a book, which is less costly if you make several of the patterns in it. The Fuzzy Feet are the cheapest pattern, since they are free online.

I think all of these are nice patterns. They took similar quantities of yarn and similar amounts of time to make. Felted slippers are certainly better than slipper-sock or dorm-boot types.

The Thursday Next books have caused quite a stir among readers. They did not have them at Booksfree (although they do now) nor at Frugal Reader, so I actually ordered them. I started reading this one a month or so ago, and then a couple of new Terry Pratchetts came in and I dropped this. I picked it back up a few days ago, but I may drop it again. I am not impressed. I think this is the second int he series, and it may be the kind of series that needs to be read in order to make sense.

Just reading this one, I have an impression of excessive whimsicality — like, if I have enough cute gimmicks, I don’t need much of a plot.

So far, the coincidence of this book’s being centered around the notion of coincidence, and having a bit to say about evolution as well, has kept me reading it, but that is probably not enough.

The second Tychus hat is complete. It looks a whole lot like the first one, so it doesn’t get a portrait here. Sometime when I have less to do, I will make another one with a solid color cuff, and a solid color one, and one with each wedge in a different combination of colors, and one in the original gauge. But not right now.

Right now I am going to give you a recipe for hot rolls for your Thanksgiving dinner.

Frankly, I often use the hot roll mix from War Eagle Mill, which can be mixed in a bread machine on that busy day. I was going to send some to #1 daughter, too. However, the sad truth is that when I went to buy some, there was none in the store.

Fortunately, you can easily make them from scratch.

Dinner Rolls

2-2.5 cups flour (I use whole wheat; if you do this, you might add a tablespoon of gluten for lightness)
2 T sugar
1/2 t salt
1 packet Quick-Rise yeast
1/2 c milk
1/4 c water
2 T butter

Heat milk, water, and butter to 120 degrees. Mix 3/4 c flour, sugar, salt, and yeast together. Gradually add milk to flour mixture and beat for 2 minutes. Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 2-3 minutes. Form into rolls and place in a greased cake pan.
Pour 1″ boiling water into a large pan and place on lowest rack of cold oven. Set rolls on rack above water, cover with a towel, and close the oven door. Let rise 30 minutes. Uncover rolls, remove water, turn oven to 375 degrees, and bake 20-25 minutes.

Don’t skip the part with the water. You will love the texture of these rolls. You can make the dough on Wednesday and keep them in the refrigerator overnight if you want. You can even make them ahead.

Have you written all the dishes on slips of paper and put them into their respective serving dishes? Doing this prevents your discovering that you have nowhere to put the crandberry sauce, come Thanksgiving morning. Doing it now gives you time to polish things, borrow things, or otherwise deal with any serving dish issues before it becomes a crisis.

It was a good concert.

I always think that an orchestra, with or without choir, would make a good quilt. You have all that black, and then the various tones of wood, skin, and hair. The blocky parallelograms of the music folders and stands, and the curves of the instruments. The swirl that is the placement of the musicians, and the lines of faces.

Someday I’ll make one.

We had rehearsal in the concert hall with the orchestra last night. Mmmm.

You know how good music caresses your eardrums? Well, when you get in the middle of a big orchestra with choir, you get all that music on the ears, plus vibrations throughout your body as well. I hope this doesn’t sound salacious or anything, but it really is a marvelous sensation.

Our mild-mannered conductor (truly; he is Canadian) was directing the music as though he was at the helm of a great ship. A small man controlling an enormous force (there’s a lot of fortissimo in this piece). What a marvelous sensation it must have been for him, too.

The Poster Queen told me at work yesterday that the conference she just attended was buzzing about the Intelligent Design question, too, and it was on the radio again yesterday. Surrounded as I am by it, it is no wonder that it came to my mind at one point last night.

Now, I have no trouble with eyes as adaptations, but what could be the point of big music, from a biological point of view? I have finished Dawkins’s Unweaving the Rainbow and sent it on to #1 daughter, so I cannot go back and reread his comments on music. I remember them well enough to know that Dawkins would claim that big music and little music, too, were just by-products of biological processes. Vibrations, like colors in the rainbow. Barcodes. Unimportant, except insofar as they encourage reproductive success (and I am not at all persuaded that they do). Or they could count as memes, I suppose.

But the central idea is that Dona Nobis Pacem is like the scent of the rose, a rather cool by-product of the genetic code. Dawkins, if asked, might respond with the story of some mollusk that does amazing things with no greater impetus than reproductive success. Think, he might say, of the arachnids who spend 40 years in suspended animation, waiting for one day when it is suitable for them to emerge, mate, and die.

I have to admit that, last night in rehearsal, I suffered from the mind-bogglement I have spoken of before. The music just seemed more important than that, somehow. Which proves that I, rational though I am, am susceptible to that sense of wonder.

So the concert is tonight. Here is the sad thing: no one is coming to my concert. Well, there will be hundreds of people there, of course, but my family will be staying home and watching football. Sigh.

At one point last night, the soprano soloist, whom we had not heard before, sang so beautifully that the rest of us just sort of petered out and listened to her. “Note to self:” said the conductor, “Remember to conduct.” This is the kind of moment that you get in rehearsals but miss in concerts.

Good thing, too.

********

I just moseyed over to She Just Walks Around With It, where she has posted that she can’t believe in a Creator because of Trading Spouses. Of course, I see her point. I am not dazzled by the coincidence of her having posted what is in essence a response to my post, before I even posted mine, because I have just recently read Dawkins on coincidences.

However, I can tell you which of us made better use of her time last night

Scriveling had this quiz on her site. The quiz folks tell me that I have an unusually high score. This combines with my admissions in recent posts — my belief that I am very lucky, my insensitivity, my tendency to choose comfort — to show that I am just insufferably smug. After all, this is not some outside observer coming and checking my life, but my own opinion as revealed by my answers..

So, should I try to overcome this unreasonable smugness and excessive happiness, or should I just go with it?

I have been tagged. I am supposed to come up with 10 things you don’t know about me. 10 things that I am willing to tell you that you don’t already know. Hmm.

1. My degrees are in linguistics. That right there makes me very rare and peculiar, since most people do not even know what linguistics is. Some of you already know this, though.

2. I was a really pretty girl in my youth. Boys flocked around me to a very irritating degree. Most guys do not realize that pretty girls have way more attention from way more guys than they actually want. There is a point at which you want to swat them with a flyswatter.

3. I started college at 14 and lied about my age, telling people that I was 18. As I recall, this was what my parents told me to do. They must have been out of their minds.

4. Some of the odd jobs I held in my youth included artist’s model, computer-part assembler, and childcare worker.

5. Once, while I was on a cross-country road trip with my family, a Norwegian tourist stole my diary.

6. Many of my close friends, whom I have known for years, have never met my husband.

7. I had a relatively high-powered career before I had children. I hated it. I hated most of the people I worked with. Not all, of course.

8. I am prejudiced against people who aren’t very bright.

9. I really dislike small dogs.

10. I am tactless. This is because I am also insensitive. I try not to be either of those things, but there it is. I doubt I will improve, at my age.

I tag Ruby Plaid, Kali Mama, Dweezy, Spinnermom, and Blisskitty.