How Harry Potter Almost Ruined My Marriage

Praise Dumbledore! The Cap'n is finally finished with Book 5.

The Cap'n and I have been late arrivals to the Harry Potter phenomenon. We only started reading Book 1 to each other in the car on the way to NYC in June. We finished it just before he left for Iraq.

I read Book 2 and Book 3 in a day each before he left, so he took those with him to Iraq.

I was no better than him...when the boys and I traveled to Indiana to visit my family, I took full advantage of the free babysitting and devoured Book 4. Before I even finished, I sent my stepdad out on a mad hunt for Books 5 and 6. I ended up finishing Book 7 in a night (9:00pm to 4:30am).

I still miss reading the books. I am glad that I was able to read the series in one go and not have to wait in between installments. I really thought they were marvelous, a tad overwritten, but a wonderful story with great characters. I wish they had been around when I was going through my teenage angst. I thought she did a great job of capturing what it means to grow into oneself.

The Cap'n remained a skeptic through Book 3. "They're okay," I believe I heard. When we got back from Ocracoke, he started on Book 4.

And that's when Harry Potter almost ruined my marriage.

For the last three weeks, the Cap'n's preferred bedtime companions have been those not-so-little volumes of Books 4 and 5. He finished Book 4 sometime after midnight one night and immediately cracked Book 5.

His schedule has been staying up to 2 or 3 in the morning to read, and sleeping in late. We do recall, do we not, when the children wake up? Let's just average it out to 6 a.m., to take into account those 5:30 mornings and those 7:00 mornings.

Some of those mornings, the Cap'n was very lucky that I couldn't make the Avada Kedavra work.

So back on the Grand Tour of 2007, I left Books 6 and 7 in NC so my dad could read them. They are still there, and are going to stay for a while. Maybe the Cap'n can have them around Thanksgiving and Christmas, so he has a few days to dedicate to them.

We're going to have to parcel out the remaining Potter.

Warsh the Slate Clean

Tap, tap.

This thing on?

Hello again.

What do you say we just warsh the slate clean? Start afresh. Forget the last three and a half months and call it a new day, a new blog, a new muthaknitter.

Hmm?

Here...




A humble warshcloth. The Mason-Dixon ballband warshcloth, to be exact.

It's one of a matched pair, out of the incomparable Sugar 'n' Cream cotton in red and Christmas colors (red, green and white). Two balls, two warshclothes. Both gifted in thanks for a wonderful vacation on Ocracoke Island after three very stressful months.

And, yes. Those are the only two knitted objects I have managed to complete in months. Thanks for asking.

Let's see. When last we left the Muthaknitter, much excitement was brewing re: a new house, a new baby and a move.

"Let me 'splain. No. There is too much. Let me sum up." -- Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

Bullet points for brevity:

• We moved.
• The floors weren't quite done.
• They fixed them.
• Then we unpacked.
• My sister visited, and she helped us unpack some more.
• The Cap'n packed for Iraq.
• I tried to find a renter for the new house so I could travel.
• The two renters I found fell through.
• I packed the boys and I for a long trip.
• The Cap'n left for Iraq.
• The boys and I drove 3200 miles to Indiana, NC and Brooklyn.
• I read all 7 Harry Potter books in 3 weeks.
• The Cap'n came back from Iraq.
• We left for Ocracoke for vacation.
• We came back from Ocracoke.
• We unpacked again.
• The Little Lion turned 6 months.
• My sister came to visit. (We didn't make her unpack this time.)
• I celebrated my 31st birthday.
• I MET HER! I HELD THE SOCK!! REALLY!!! SQUEE!!!!
• The Cap'n's dad is visiting.

I know I'm forgetting some things, but you get the idea. It's been busy. I am tired. Really, bone-numbingly exhausted. Not "gee, I sure would like a nap," but more like pin-a-note-on-my-shirt "You must remember not to shake the children" tired.

No one told me how things change when the kids outnumber you. They are on tag-team nap schedules, and one likes to get up early and the other stay up late. It's a good damn thing they're cute, or they would have been on the evening news by now.

I am going to try to blog a little each week to dip my toes back in the bloggy water. I've been inspired by the new Vogue Knitting, and really want to start some new things. But I'm also anxious to put a few FOs behind me, and with some fringe here, a sleeve there, I should be able to make progress on them.

Anywho, a jolly hello out there to any readers I have left. I've missed the blog, and I promise to keep you all up to date on the new and improved Chez Muthaknitter, blogging from the block, NOFla-style. (That's north of Florida, for you DCizens.)

I leave you with the clan on the Hatteras to Ocracoke ferry, safe and sound and happy after a summer of moving and traveling. (Shiny, happy people alert!)