I love these socks a ton and will definitely be keeping them after The Great Sock Experiment of 2018 comes to it’s natural end. If you can’t quite read them — and I apologize for the strangeness of the angle, but when socks only have something of interest on the outer part of the leg, it’s a challenge to get a picture — that circle reads “Deus Ex Machina”. It’s a well-known latin phrase translated as “a god from the machine”, which references the occasional use of an artificial or improbable device to resolve a plot complication. Yanno, like, when an army of formerly unmentioned ghosts suddenly appear to vanquish The Dark Lord.

With that in mind, these are the perfect socks for the 1st of December, what with NaNoWriMo ending yesterday and everything. Because not only did the end of November appear to resolve the conflictS many writers were feeling during NaNo, but since, well, it’s a fun literary reference, obviously.

Here’s hoping you’re having a great weekend, and if maybe it didn’t kick off quite as awesome as you’d hoped, that there’s a god in the machine to save you before works starts again on Monday!

Today is the last “last day of the month” this year that isn’t also the “last day of ridiculous sock challenge, 2018”, so I decided this morning that a slight celebration was in order. And, obviously, nothing says celebration when it comes to socks quite like toasting beer mugs. Hence, today’s sock selection.

Of course, there’s almost no way I would have chosen these if “last day of the month” hadn’t also coincided with Friday. It did, though, which, honestly, now that I think about it, seems like the whole thing was fated to happen this way. Yanno, like sock prophecy or something.

That’s right, I said “sock prophecy”, which not only seems at this moment very much like a thing I should allow to inform and direct the rest of my days here on terra firma, but also could probably be a really sweet band name.

At any rate, now that I’m letting the socks take the wheel, I can’t wait to see what happens this weekend. I’m thinking odds are good that I end up in a full-sized washing machine, but whatever, I’m ready to let the chips fall wherever they may.

Here’s hoping you get out there and have a chance to rock the washing machine of your destiny this weekend, too. Just, whatever happen, have a great time, but, uh, try not to set the place on fire.

Pud’n

I was this close to rocking something really bright and not so stunning today, but at the last minute, these caught my eye. They aren’t the most striking pair of socks I’ve worn this year, but I thought they had something of a subtle charm.

Admittedly, Thursday wouldn’t usually be the day of the week I’d most likely associate with “subtle charm”. That seems a lot more like maybe Tuesday. Thursday is all about barely contained anticipation. But the thing is, yesterday felt like Thursday to me all day, which left me totally not sure what to think this morning.

Rather, I was actually super disappointed to realize it was Friday, but equal parts sad and rage-y is no way to go through a poor, innocent Thursday. Hence, subtle charm. It works when you have no other idea what to do with yourself.

And that kids, is how you get Tuesday socks on a Thursday morning.

Oh, and while I’m at it, does anyone know what this pattern is called? Surely it’s got to have a name, right? I mean, they all have names, even if they’re ridiculous. But I’ll be damned if I have any clues what this one is called. Hook me up if you have any inkling.

Welp, here we are. The end of 2018 is nearly a month away and there are still many more pair of socks in the drawer of holding here on November 27th than I ever would have dreamed possible in early January. Back then I figured that if we — and I’m very much including the Puddinette here, because this little sock endeavor would have lasted about 10 days if she hasn’t gotten onboard — made it to my birthday without running out of unique pairs, that would be pretty impressive.

We’re obviously not done yet, of course. There’s still, what, 35 or 34 days off 2018 left? But I chose this pair of grey socks with pink, blue, and black stripes this morning because it pretty closely matched my shirt. Which, quite frankly, boggles my mind. By now I should be pulling out whatever remains in there, the bummers and dregs, the ugliest things I’d been shoving to back of the drawer for six months or so.

And I have some of those. I do. Not every pair we’ve brought home this year has been the Robert Redford of footwear. I mean, when you buy in large packs and you need 365 pairs, sometimes you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.

But with a mere 34 days left and the holidays about to start in earnest, the fact that I can still find socks that I want to wear — and that I’m still managing to write posts that say anything more than, “Day 311. I wore socks again, if you can believe it. They looked like… socks.” is nothing short of miraculous.

These are my Black Friday socks. Admittedly, they don’t really speak so much about the unbridled avarice of the American shopping culture as much as they’re black and have circles that look very much like Christmas tree ornaments to me.

See, the Puddinette has worked diligently to train me in the idea that the weekend after Thanksgiving is all about putting up holiday decorations. Truth be told, I’m a slow study, but finally, after a decade or so, I caught the gist. Which is to say, the family room is already now lined up in red and green, and there are lights and decorative items everywhere. The tree will likely go up tomorrow, and if not, then absolutely on Sunday.

The thing is, I couldn’t be happier about any of it. Holiday decorations used to not be a big thing for me. I think there was a year once back in my twenties wheny brother and I (we shared an apartment) didn’t put up any decorations at all! These days, though, with time sprinting by — which I’m seeing is common amongst parents of multiple teens — if we can make just one month take its precious time, if only by putting up decorations to remind us of the special season were in, well, I’m all for it.

Honestly, it also makes Black Friday a whole lot less dark.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving, or at least an awesome Thursday, and that your Friday was every bit as amazing (whether it meant diving into retail crowds at 5 AM, or hiding in your robe until 5 PM). Let’s all try to have a weekend that’s just as outstanding, but, uh, try not to set the place on fire.