The Christmas Song

Why Can't They Make Them Right?

Warning: I'm about to bitch and whine a lot.

It's my perennial complaint: Why can't anyone make house slippers right? We have a choice between slippers that completely cover the foot and have more insulation than most snow boots or little ballet slipper things and other styles that are the right weight and thickness of material but don't cover the entire foot.

In addition to this, sizing is a big problem. You rarely find slippers that come in all the sizes. I wear a size 8 not a size 8-9. There is no such size as 8-9. In order to fit both size 8 and 9 it has to be a size 9, which means it's too big for a size 8 foot. Which means, they don't make slippers in my size.

So what about slipper socks? This is what I would really like - barefoot feeling but warm and non-skid. But here we have similar problems. There are lots of slipper socks or "lounge socks," some that are just socks, some with anti-skid dots. Some of these fit well but many are loose and saggy. Most of them are not really warm enough for cold floors. And the ones that are aloe infused? These usually fit very well but they shed worse than a pair of Persian cats in the summertime until you have washed them half a dozen times.

On the other hand, you have the famed Acorn slipper socks - nice thick wool socks with a leather slipper sole with a thick layer of foam padding. They're nice and a lot of people love them but they don't really work for me. I did have a pair years ago. The thick, padded sole is more than I want. I want something more like the sole on kids' footie pajamas. There's also the same sizing problem mentioned above. They don't come in exact sizing and with the kind of sole they have they really need to. Not to mention that they are ridiculously expensive.

Finally, there are the "muk-luk" socks. I got a pair of these last year. They have exactly the right kind of sole and the sock is a nice thickness but way too loose. The sole on them is a little short for me but it's about a whole inch too wide.

The only solution is to make my own and I am working on it. Which, at this point, means mostly just thinking about it. The problem is finding the right material. I did find a couple of different non-skid sole materials; I'm talking about the tops. I made a polar fleece pair and that didn't work well. It's not stretchy enough. It also makes my feet sweat and then cold. I suppose I just need to learn to knit or crochet.

So... the quest continues.

Not the Usual Carol of the Bells

My philosophy regarding Christmas music is, for the most part, don't mess with it. Do it right. Unfortunately, my notion of "right" is based on an album by the Longines Symphonette that I grew up with that does not exist anymore.

But sometimes I surprise myself. I rather like this non-traditional arrangement, though, to be honest, it doesn't sound very Christmasy to me.

Here's another one. I don't like it as well as the Trans Siberian Orchestra version but it's interesting. In a good way, that is.

I have been pleasantly preoccupied lately so in case I don't get around to posting again in the next couple of weeks, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays to you all.

BTW, I have still been spending a lot of time on Twitter. I'm @uppityokie in case anyone wants to catch me there.

Jim Nabors

I almost hate to post this because I don't want this to become primarily a death blog and it seems I post so little else these days but...

I never liked Gomer Pyle. Even as a small child I had a severely low tolerance for... how shall I put this? Let's say, annoyingly unsophisticated characters. To be honest, I hated Gomer Pyle, the TV show and the character. I knew, of course, that Jim Nabors was just an actor playing a character but I didn't put any thought into what he might really be like.

At some point I discovered that he was an incredible singer. I was amazed and delighted. Now I think it's a fairly well known fact and I hope that he will be remembered for his singing at least as much as for that silly TV show.

Random Linkage

Library of Babel - Weird. I like the minimalist design of this website. If nothing else you could use it as a soothing escape from all flashy, noisy websites that are always trying to get our attention.

Stuff You Do While Sleeping - Nothing surprising; I already knew about all of these but there's a really cute kitten at the top of the page.

Top Films About Time Travel - I have seen several of these. I'm not really a fan of the concept of time travel but sometimes it makes a good story.

33+ Reasons You Should Be Following Nathan Fillion on Twitter and Instagram

Dr Alesha Sivartha’s Book of Life - Illustrations from the 1898 book The Book of Life: The Spiritual and Physical Constitution of Man

The Art and Science of Ernst Haeckel - WANT! But not at that price. (~sigh~ Sometimes being a cheapskate is hard.)

Miniatures - Everyone has been sharing this on Twitter and Facebook so you've probably seen it already but I just have to say, one more time, this is amazing!

Della Reese

A Little Something to Brighten Your Day

This 'n' That

I got a new Samsung tablet. So far all I've done on it is Twitter. I'm feeling a little guilty about having it. I'm feeling like, it's a very expensive toy and I should not waste that much money on a toy for myself. Here's how this happened. I mentioned last week that I thought I might like to have a tablet, thinking that someone might remember and get it for me for Christmas but my other half wanted to get it for me right away. He did ask yesterday if I wanted to go ahead and get or if I wanted it for Christmas. That's not how Christmas gifts are supposed to work! You're not supposed to know what you're getting for Christmas! So I said let's get it.

It's great for Twitter, except that typing on it actually seems slower than on my phone. I'm going to make an effort to do something with it besides just Twitter. I have to justify owning it. And I'll still do Twitter on my phone sometimes because my phone is always with me.

* * * * *

I finally started quilting on a quilt that I had intended to have finished by now. The actual hand quilting is the part I really enjoy but to get to that part I have to do a lot of other work that I find less fun. But anyway, it's started and having started it I'm suddenly excited again about other quilts that I want to make.

* * * * *

And a few quick links...

Recreating 17th century sailors' food

Lucas the adorable spider

Fulton Street subway tiles - tile murals

Weird things that washed up on the beach

Random Linkage

Bartending in Antarctica

Mian Situ - Wonderful, interesting art. (Warning: the "Other" section contains NSFW images.)

Information is Beautiful - Great website. Informative charts.

Excellent Idea - Would probably never fly in the U.S.

Playlist of the Lambs - I always knew Hollywood had that one wrong. (and yet, they will keep doing it)

Japanese Illustrated World Map, 1930's

Simona Ceci - Beautiful fantasy art. I absolutely love these.

The Rewards of Perseverance

I finished reading Bleak House this morning! I very rarely give up on reading a book once I've started and my experience with Bleak House confirms my feeling that it is not "a waste of time" to stubbornly finish a book "no matter what." I seriously started thinking about quitting when I was about a quarter to a third of the way into it but by the time I was halfway through it started to get interesting and I started to care about some of the characters. Others not so much.

I don't recall ever reading a novel with so many annoying characters, so many individuals to whom I wanted to give a severe tongue lashing. But the thing that made it hard to get into at first was that everyone used so many words to say the simplest little things. What you or I could say in one or two sentences took up one or two pages in this book. Everyone was so wordy. Generally, I like wordiness in novels; I like big books, I cannot lie (sorry, not sorry) but dialog is different. When someone has something to say I want them to just come out and say it plainly, without two or three pages of preamble.

I am glad I read it. Parts of it were sad and some of those parts made me feel like, "That's not fair! but that's like real life. A lot of it is not fair. And it wasn't all sad. For the most part it was a very good ending.