Lark’s Christmas gift is finished; likewise Willow’s. Two small projects that made me smile, created from the remnants of their birthday gifts.
Today is payday. Checks are written, envelopes stamped. I’m driving in to work and will post the bills when I pick up the early mail this morning.
Although there is a dance tonight, I am opting for an evening of service in the temple. I’ve been thanking Heaven steadily, daily, for the past two weeks, for all that I have been able to accomplish. I want to thank my Father again, in the place where it is easiest to feel His love and direction.
Middlest has a job interview today, and we are getting together tomorrow for some knitting. I’m excited for her; it would be a great place for her to work! And I’m excited for us, since I missed out on Knit Night earlier this week.
I have completed the first heel gusset increases on the Wollmeise sock. Life is very sweet, very good, and I am officially out the door as soon as I hit “publish”.
Could use your prayers today. Nothing serious; I got about two and a half hours of sleep last night, so it will be a Cherry Coke day. There may be pictures of me on the blog tomorrow, with my nose pressed firmly into my keyboard at work...
About Me
- Lynn
- Eleven years into widowhood, after one year of incredible happiness and nearly 14 years of single blessedness. Retired, and mostly enjoying it. Still knitting. [Zen]tangling.again after a brief hiatus.
Friday, December 05, 2008
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Bright Threads and Comfort Food
My friend Alison posted recently about running into an old friend whom Heaven had put into her life during a difficult time when she was young. I commented,
My sister gave me a birthday card, years ago, about life being like a quilt, that there were bright patches and dark patches but when you stepped back and looked at it, it was a masterpiece.
True, though I think it is more like a tapestry, and that we weave bright threads into one another’s lives.
That card is one small casualty of numerous moves. [If I am not the Queen of New Beginnings, I am ~ at the very least ~ the Duchess of Do-Overs.] If I still had that card, I would frame it.
I tried the creamy corn crockpot risotto over the weekend. Thought I had found a work-around in a bottle of sparkling grape juice, only to find that I could not pry off the top when it came time to add it to the rice sautéing in the pan. So it will go to the kids for New Years. Their hands are younger and stronger than mine.
Would some clever inventor or importer please help me find a nice assortment of wine-quality juices that have not been fermented? I had a friend who served his mission in Germany, and he said there were many wonderful varieties available there. I like the complexity that wine brings to a dish; I also want to avoid the appearance of hypocrisy. [And I would prefer screw-top lids.]
I put in a sploosh of black truffle oil instead, and it was tasty, but of course much earthier than the recipe as written. I also substituted frozen corn for fresh. Call me a Philistine if you will, but the charms of corn cut off the cob are wasted on me; that, and it’s long past the season for fresh corn.
I nuked the corn, ever so slightly, when there were still ice crystals in the bag after it had been out of the freezer for an hour, and only used half as much as the recipe called for; this is risotto, after all, not cornsotto. Plus I was using the small crockpot, not my feed-the-tribe one.
I didn’t have fresh Parmesan, so I substituted Asiago. Again, smokier and richer than what was called for, and probably half again as much as the recipe required. I don’t keep cayenne around, so I substituted sweet Hungarian paprika, which has an actual flavor, unlike the stuff I grew up with, which is merely pretty on top of deviled eggs. I did think to take the cream out of the fridge twenty minutes before I was supposed to add it.
This is the original recipe. And here are my observations. I am not enthusiastic about rice made in the crockpot; it seems to lose integrity. I did not quite end up with rice mush. So nice try, but next time I will slave over the stove and end up with individual grains of rice and a silkier result. I do like the way these ingredients play together, and I think I will be more brave about tossing additions into my risottos from here on out. And I might actually use a bit less cheese. I know, I know; that is the blackest heresy in this family!
I have finally bitten the bullet and added The Panopticon to my Bloglines. He has won me over with Dolores, a sheeply version of Mae West, and her pet ball of sock yarn, Harry. Dolores recently campaigned as the Fibertarian Party’s candidate for President. Dolores occasionally needs to have her mouth rinsed out with sheepdip. Or Tabasco. [No, she’d probably like that.]
If you’re looking for budget-friendly Christmas ideas, here’s a link.
Yesterday was one of those days when I was ready to gnaw off a foot to make my escape. I kept running out of things to do, or the supplies to do the tasks at hand. I scanned all the fax confirmations while I was relieving switchboard at lunch. But another great ride home on the train.
I came home and made my version of a tuna melt, grating a nice bit of Asiago into the tuna jollop and toasting the sandwich in a dab of real butter in my cast-iron skillet. I have enough filling for lunch today, but I’ll have to toast the bread in the toaster at work and then make the sandwich and nuke it in the microwave. Won’t be quite as tasty as last night’s dinner but probably a good deal healthier.
Poinsettias by the elevators on my floor at work.
My sister gave me a birthday card, years ago, about life being like a quilt, that there were bright patches and dark patches but when you stepped back and looked at it, it was a masterpiece.
True, though I think it is more like a tapestry, and that we weave bright threads into one another’s lives.
That card is one small casualty of numerous moves. [If I am not the Queen of New Beginnings, I am ~ at the very least ~ the Duchess of Do-Overs.] If I still had that card, I would frame it.
I tried the creamy corn crockpot risotto over the weekend. Thought I had found a work-around in a bottle of sparkling grape juice, only to find that I could not pry off the top when it came time to add it to the rice sautéing in the pan. So it will go to the kids for New Years. Their hands are younger and stronger than mine.
Would some clever inventor or importer please help me find a nice assortment of wine-quality juices that have not been fermented? I had a friend who served his mission in Germany, and he said there were many wonderful varieties available there. I like the complexity that wine brings to a dish; I also want to avoid the appearance of hypocrisy. [And I would prefer screw-top lids.]
I put in a sploosh of black truffle oil instead, and it was tasty, but of course much earthier than the recipe as written. I also substituted frozen corn for fresh. Call me a Philistine if you will, but the charms of corn cut off the cob are wasted on me; that, and it’s long past the season for fresh corn.
I nuked the corn, ever so slightly, when there were still ice crystals in the bag after it had been out of the freezer for an hour, and only used half as much as the recipe called for; this is risotto, after all, not cornsotto. Plus I was using the small crockpot, not my feed-the-tribe one.
I didn’t have fresh Parmesan, so I substituted Asiago. Again, smokier and richer than what was called for, and probably half again as much as the recipe required. I don’t keep cayenne around, so I substituted sweet Hungarian paprika, which has an actual flavor, unlike the stuff I grew up with, which is merely pretty on top of deviled eggs. I did think to take the cream out of the fridge twenty minutes before I was supposed to add it.
This is the original recipe. And here are my observations. I am not enthusiastic about rice made in the crockpot; it seems to lose integrity. I did not quite end up with rice mush. So nice try, but next time I will slave over the stove and end up with individual grains of rice and a silkier result. I do like the way these ingredients play together, and I think I will be more brave about tossing additions into my risottos from here on out. And I might actually use a bit less cheese. I know, I know; that is the blackest heresy in this family!
I have finally bitten the bullet and added The Panopticon to my Bloglines. He has won me over with Dolores, a sheeply version of Mae West, and her pet ball of sock yarn, Harry. Dolores recently campaigned as the Fibertarian Party’s candidate for President. Dolores occasionally needs to have her mouth rinsed out with sheepdip. Or Tabasco. [No, she’d probably like that.]
If you’re looking for budget-friendly Christmas ideas, here’s a link.
Yesterday was one of those days when I was ready to gnaw off a foot to make my escape. I kept running out of things to do, or the supplies to do the tasks at hand. I scanned all the fax confirmations while I was relieving switchboard at lunch. But another great ride home on the train.
I came home and made my version of a tuna melt, grating a nice bit of Asiago into the tuna jollop and toasting the sandwich in a dab of real butter in my cast-iron skillet. I have enough filling for lunch today, but I’ll have to toast the bread in the toaster at work and then make the sandwich and nuke it in the microwave. Won’t be quite as tasty as last night’s dinner but probably a good deal healthier.
Poinsettias by the elevators on my floor at work.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
They were looking a little depressed...
My thanks to SuburbanCorrespondent for virtually reminding me to put them out on the curb [kerb, for you British types] on Tuesday. No, not all of them; we have extras because of the remodeling on the other half of the duplex, or maybe they are canoodling when I am asleep. Every time I turn around there seems to be another one. When I moved in, there were four: two for trash and two for recycling. Now there are six or seven. They probably sing doo-wop under the crepe myrtles while I am at work.
Three of them are/were lying on their sides because the old front doors, which you can just barely see if you look between the two leftmost ones, blew over in a gust of wind on Sunday afternoon. I just left them as is until it was time to roll mine out to the curb, figuring that they certainly couldn’t fall any farther.
Another good article on Meridian.
@Francis: If you mean the pictures I took of my neighborhood, no, not the Eastside, but the Cultural District, more specifically what Trainman familiarly calls “The Heights,” because he used to live a few blocks from here.
@Tan: Guinness makes stout, which is a dark, chewy sort of beer.
I popped a nail and [temporarily, at least] sent it into the umpteenth dimension. It happened while I was sitting at switchboard, because there was this jounce and then roughness where the acrylic was gone. I crawled under the desk and felt around for it, but there must have been a lurking alien who captured it and transported it to the mother ship for scientific research. If you suddenly see a whole bunch of feisty middle-aged women who look like me, you’ll know why.
Usually when this happens, I am able to find the missing nail and plausibly attach it to my finger with a clear band-aid until I can get to the Nail Dude’s. I was afraid that I would have to gimp along with one naked nail until Saturday, because I have no evening free until then. But a second search under the desk brought up two chunks of petrified chocolate muffin and the fugitive nail. So I was able to do my Redneck Manicure, and life goes on.
I took a good look at the red sock when I sat down on the train yesterday morning, and I realized that my gauge had gone all loosey-goosey. So I frogged it back to within a couple of rows of the end of the toe increases, and I started over, and I am much, much happier with it.
When I got home from Relief Society, some kind soul had put my empty bins back alongside the house. Bless your heart, whoever you are, and not in the Southern sense.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Happy Birthday, 2BDH!
And now it can be shown! The scarf in all its damp glory, before I left for work yesterday.
And a close-up.
I found a card on the way home last night, ran in the house long enough to grab a bag and some tissue paper and the scarf, and motored on down to the kids’ house. Got there just in time for the closing prayer for their Family Home Evening activity [putting up the Christmas tree], and BittyBit picked me to give it. Then I got real hugs and real kisses from my Bitties, and off to bed they went.
2BDH liked the scarf! I have enough yarn to make a smaller version for BittyBubba. And I will. But [yesterday and] today at least, I am working on my Wollmeise sock, which is also my Sock Knitters Anonymous sock for November and must be finished ~ with its mate ~ by the end of this month if I hope to qualify for any of the prizes. That’s how I got my skein of Smooshy last year.
In work news, the automation specialist was back in the office on yesterday, and we struggled mightily to reset the ID message for my extension. It was still asserting that I’m the person who used to sit at that desk, although my voicemail message per se said I was me.
Always comforting to get a bit of confirmation on those days when you meet yourself coming and going. I would love to be her age and have her figure, but I’m also quite content not to have a houseful of short people, charming though they might be. [I’m rather fond of mine, though none of them is all that short nowadays.]
The woman who used to sit at my new desk, is sitting where the new “me” used to sit; i.e., far away from the switchboard, and her phone claimed that she was our new receptionist. Who no longer has voicemail, just as I had no voicemail for 9.5 years.
Confused? Yeah, me too. But we got it all straightened out, and now if you were to call my extension [please don’t], my phone would tell you that I am indeed myself, and then you could leave a message. I also know how to forward my phone to voicemail when I leave my desk ~ woohoo! ~ and get it back again.
Old dog. 1970’s-era tricks. Making haste, slowly. My initials are not G.E.; progress is not my most important product. Chez Ravelled, it is more along the order of a reason to celebrate. Preferably with dark chocolate.
Good news on the yarn front. I found a source for the yarn for Brother Sushi’s Christmas present. And it’s on sale, close-out actually, so it’s probably a good thing I decided to make this for Christmas and not for oh, say, Valentine’s Day. Not that we do anything for each other at that time of year, other than to leave voicemails saying, “Happy Singles Awareness Day!”
Trying to figure out what to take to Relief Society tonight that does not involve an hour of baking [sugared pecans] or 15 minutes of standing over my cast-iron skillet [sugared almonds]. I don’t suppose any of the sisters at church are as enamored with tapioca from scratch, as I am. I could do that in the microwave in a really large bowl, in five or six two-minute increments.
I handed off most of the remaining Robert B. Parker paperbacks to Trainman last night and have already sold the few that I kept. He thought he might have hardcover copies of a couple of the ones he took, and if so will bring them back.
You might want to alert the Guinness people. The ones who keep the book of records, not the ones who make the beer, unless they are the selfsame people and decided to keep the records in order to aid those who are impaired by their beer(?) This is the first year in recent history that every one of the [handmade, if not all by me] birthday gifts have been completed on time. Yes there are still two more birthdays to take care of, plus a handful of Christmas gifts, and yes I am tempting fate by this declaration, but it’s been a wonderful year on that score, and I am thankful.
And a close-up.
I found a card on the way home last night, ran in the house long enough to grab a bag and some tissue paper and the scarf, and motored on down to the kids’ house. Got there just in time for the closing prayer for their Family Home Evening activity [putting up the Christmas tree], and BittyBit picked me to give it. Then I got real hugs and real kisses from my Bitties, and off to bed they went.
2BDH liked the scarf! I have enough yarn to make a smaller version for BittyBubba. And I will. But [yesterday and] today at least, I am working on my Wollmeise sock, which is also my Sock Knitters Anonymous sock for November and must be finished ~ with its mate ~ by the end of this month if I hope to qualify for any of the prizes. That’s how I got my skein of Smooshy last year.
In work news, the automation specialist was back in the office on yesterday, and we struggled mightily to reset the ID message for my extension. It was still asserting that I’m the person who used to sit at that desk, although my voicemail message per se said I was me.
Always comforting to get a bit of confirmation on those days when you meet yourself coming and going. I would love to be her age and have her figure, but I’m also quite content not to have a houseful of short people, charming though they might be. [I’m rather fond of mine, though none of them is all that short nowadays.]
The woman who used to sit at my new desk, is sitting where the new “me” used to sit; i.e., far away from the switchboard, and her phone claimed that she was our new receptionist. Who no longer has voicemail, just as I had no voicemail for 9.5 years.
Confused? Yeah, me too. But we got it all straightened out, and now if you were to call my extension [please don’t], my phone would tell you that I am indeed myself, and then you could leave a message. I also know how to forward my phone to voicemail when I leave my desk ~ woohoo! ~ and get it back again.
Old dog. 1970’s-era tricks. Making haste, slowly. My initials are not G.E.; progress is not my most important product. Chez Ravelled, it is more along the order of a reason to celebrate. Preferably with dark chocolate.
Good news on the yarn front. I found a source for the yarn for Brother Sushi’s Christmas present. And it’s on sale, close-out actually, so it’s probably a good thing I decided to make this for Christmas and not for oh, say, Valentine’s Day. Not that we do anything for each other at that time of year, other than to leave voicemails saying, “Happy Singles Awareness Day!”
Trying to figure out what to take to Relief Society tonight that does not involve an hour of baking [sugared pecans] or 15 minutes of standing over my cast-iron skillet [sugared almonds]. I don’t suppose any of the sisters at church are as enamored with tapioca from scratch, as I am. I could do that in the microwave in a really large bowl, in five or six two-minute increments.
I handed off most of the remaining Robert B. Parker paperbacks to Trainman last night and have already sold the few that I kept. He thought he might have hardcover copies of a couple of the ones he took, and if so will bring them back.
You might want to alert the Guinness people. The ones who keep the book of records, not the ones who make the beer, unless they are the selfsame people and decided to keep the records in order to aid those who are impaired by their beer(?) This is the first year in recent history that every one of the [handmade, if not all by me] birthday gifts have been completed on time. Yes there are still two more birthdays to take care of, plus a handful of Christmas gifts, and yes I am tempting fate by this declaration, but it’s been a wonderful year on that score, and I am thankful.
Monday, December 01, 2008
A Restful *and* Productive Holiday Weekend
1. Dinner with Brother Sushi? Check.
2. A good if brief visit with the kids and the kidlets? Check.
3. Two bags of books out of the house, and a trunkful of my beloved Robert B. Parker mysteries to give to Trainman, with any duplicates bound for Half Price Books? Check.
4. Clean laundry? Check.
5. Brother Sushi’s assent to the design I had in mind for his Christmas present? Check.
6. And his assent to the yarn I had in mind? Check.
7. A local source discovered for said yarn? No; I’ve sent an email on Ravelry to the designer of the project, asking if he can recommend an online source.
8. More audiobooks for the grand gallop to the finish on 2BDH’s scarf? Check; the Anne Perry which precedes the one that I owned [and sold on Friday], and a Terry Pratchett, just in case 12 hours of knitting/listening bliss was insufficient.
9. 2BDH’s birthday scarf done? Check. And the package wrapped? Almost. The knitting is done, and it is blocking as we speak. I knitted the last row in Relief Society yesterday and did the sewn cast-off after dinner and before leaving for choir practice.
2. A good if brief visit with the kids and the kidlets? Check.
3. Two bags of books out of the house, and a trunkful of my beloved Robert B. Parker mysteries to give to Trainman, with any duplicates bound for Half Price Books? Check.
4. Clean laundry? Check.
5. Brother Sushi’s assent to the design I had in mind for his Christmas present? Check.
6. And his assent to the yarn I had in mind? Check.
7. A local source discovered for said yarn? No; I’ve sent an email on Ravelry to the designer of the project, asking if he can recommend an online source.
8. More audiobooks for the grand gallop to the finish on 2BDH’s scarf? Check; the Anne Perry which precedes the one that I owned [and sold on Friday], and a Terry Pratchett, just in case 12 hours of knitting/listening bliss was insufficient.
9. 2BDH’s birthday scarf done? Check. And the package wrapped? Almost. The knitting is done, and it is blocking as we speak. I knitted the last row in Relief Society yesterday and did the sewn cast-off after dinner and before leaving for choir practice.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Views from the Porch
This is what prompted me to go grab the camera.
And then I noticed the birch (?) by the driveway.
And the view across the top of Lorelai.
Over the neighbor’s porch. I could hear children playing in their back yard.
Looking across the street and slightly to the right.
And a bit of yellow that reminds me of the aspens in the hills above Boise, in hue if not in shape.
Turning around, the view from the back of the couch.
If you squint, or click to embiggen, you can see the elastic on the zills. The silver ones are in the bag; I took them with me to Firstborn’s on Thanksgiving, and LittleBit tied the knots for me. Couldn’t have asked Trainman to help. I didn’t see him once last week.
If you are reasonably local, i.e., in the North Texas region, my old stake is presenting its fourteenth annual Nativity display at the stake center, beginning this coming Thursday night and continuing through Saturday night. There will be choirs and small groups singing in the chapel and probably in the cultural hall as well, and it will be lovely, and if you are feeling the slightest bit grinchy because of Black Friday madness or the state of the economy or the state of your checkbook, this is a Christ-centered activity that just might cure what ails you.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
3809 Curt Drive
Arlington, TX
Need I add that this is free, our Christmas gift to the community? If you go to the church’s homepage, click on “About the Church” and select “Find a Meetinghouse”, then type in that address, you’ll get a map, and you can also get driving directions. It’s definitely worth your time, and it’s an activity suitable for the entire family.
My new stake is having its Christmas music festival on the 14th. I’ll give you those details later. You ought to come to that, as well. [I’ll be the one with the zills and the slightly sheepish expression.]
When I went to bed last night, there were 40” on the birthday scarf! Whether I deliver it tonight, before choir practice, or tomorrow after work, depends on whether I have an appropriate birthday card already on hand.
And then I noticed the birch (?) by the driveway.
And the view across the top of Lorelai.
Over the neighbor’s porch. I could hear children playing in their back yard.
Looking across the street and slightly to the right.
And a bit of yellow that reminds me of the aspens in the hills above Boise, in hue if not in shape.
Turning around, the view from the back of the couch.
If you squint, or click to embiggen, you can see the elastic on the zills. The silver ones are in the bag; I took them with me to Firstborn’s on Thanksgiving, and LittleBit tied the knots for me. Couldn’t have asked Trainman to help. I didn’t see him once last week.
If you are reasonably local, i.e., in the North Texas region, my old stake is presenting its fourteenth annual Nativity display at the stake center, beginning this coming Thursday night and continuing through Saturday night. There will be choirs and small groups singing in the chapel and probably in the cultural hall as well, and it will be lovely, and if you are feeling the slightest bit grinchy because of Black Friday madness or the state of the economy or the state of your checkbook, this is a Christ-centered activity that just might cure what ails you.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
3809 Curt Drive
Arlington, TX
Need I add that this is free, our Christmas gift to the community? If you go to the church’s homepage, click on “About the Church” and select “Find a Meetinghouse”, then type in that address, you’ll get a map, and you can also get driving directions. It’s definitely worth your time, and it’s an activity suitable for the entire family.
My new stake is having its Christmas music festival on the 14th. I’ll give you those details later. You ought to come to that, as well. [I’ll be the one with the zills and the slightly sheepish expression.]
When I went to bed last night, there were 40” on the birthday scarf! Whether I deliver it tonight, before choir practice, or tomorrow after work, depends on whether I have an appropriate birthday card already on hand.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
ScarfWars2008 ... The Knitting Continues
I am amazed at how quickly a scarf knits up on 3.0mm needles if you have a good audiobook going. There’s no temptation to look up and watch the action for awhile, as there is when you’ve popped in a DVD.
I think one of the first things I will do when the scarf is done, is one of these. I’ve brought out the folk-art tree from the closet in my studio and am trying to figure out where to set it up.
And I will probably decorate the smaller, variegated ficus tree as well. The tall tree, 7’ high and bought when I lived in an apartment with 9’ ceilings, is thus quite happy with the 8.5’ ones here in the duplex, though it’s presently hiding out in the hall. I haven’t found where it wants to be on a permanent basis, so I roll it from one spot to another when I need to get at things.
As I type, one of those shrink-wrapped microwave potatoes is yodeling in the microwave. Mostly, they just sit there in prim silence and get cooked. Every so often I get one that wants to warble as it expires, like Mimi in La Bohème. This one sounds more like a Valkyrie that has fallen off its horse. It is not going gentle into that good night.
[Postscript: Mimi the Potato had no comment about being smothered in wasabi ranch dressing. Thought you’d like to know.]
I got up on the couch and tightened three light bulbs in the ceiling fan. [Yes, daughters, I braced myself with one hand against the top of the Queen Chair, just in case I got woozy from altitude.] I replaced one burnt-out bulb, and let there be light! Makes sitting on the couch, knitting while listening to Sticks and String, a whole lot more pleasant. I listened to his three most recent podcasts and then went back into the archives for his interview with Franklin Habit [episode 66].
@Francis, if your beloved is looking for a clean podcast with interesting essays and enjoyable music and hasn’t already discovered David, tell her I said she should check him out.
@Middlest, this is the Aussie bloke I told you about before you became a knitter in your own right. I know you’re with Aussie voices like I am with cops [ducking].
As of bedtime, something like 11:40pm because I got a nice nap mid-afternoon, there were 26.5” on the scarf, and I still hadn’t come to the end of the first ball of yarn, although it was somewhere between a tennis ball and a clementine in size. I am aiming for 48” to 54” total length, as 2BDH is considerably taller than I.
I think it’s reasonable to expect that I will have enough left for a smaller scarf for BittyBubba for Christmas. And I have something in mind for BittyBit, possibly from the same yarn I used for Secondborn’s scarf.
I think one of the first things I will do when the scarf is done, is one of these. I’ve brought out the folk-art tree from the closet in my studio and am trying to figure out where to set it up.
And I will probably decorate the smaller, variegated ficus tree as well. The tall tree, 7’ high and bought when I lived in an apartment with 9’ ceilings, is thus quite happy with the 8.5’ ones here in the duplex, though it’s presently hiding out in the hall. I haven’t found where it wants to be on a permanent basis, so I roll it from one spot to another when I need to get at things.
As I type, one of those shrink-wrapped microwave potatoes is yodeling in the microwave. Mostly, they just sit there in prim silence and get cooked. Every so often I get one that wants to warble as it expires, like Mimi in La Bohème. This one sounds more like a Valkyrie that has fallen off its horse. It is not going gentle into that good night.
[Postscript: Mimi the Potato had no comment about being smothered in wasabi ranch dressing. Thought you’d like to know.]
I got up on the couch and tightened three light bulbs in the ceiling fan. [Yes, daughters, I braced myself with one hand against the top of the Queen Chair, just in case I got woozy from altitude.] I replaced one burnt-out bulb, and let there be light! Makes sitting on the couch, knitting while listening to Sticks and String, a whole lot more pleasant. I listened to his three most recent podcasts and then went back into the archives for his interview with Franklin Habit [episode 66].
@Francis, if your beloved is looking for a clean podcast with interesting essays and enjoyable music and hasn’t already discovered David, tell her I said she should check him out.
@Middlest, this is the Aussie bloke I told you about before you became a knitter in your own right. I know you’re with Aussie voices like I am with cops [ducking].
As of bedtime, something like 11:40pm because I got a nice nap mid-afternoon, there were 26.5” on the scarf, and I still hadn’t come to the end of the first ball of yarn, although it was somewhere between a tennis ball and a clementine in size. I am aiming for 48” to 54” total length, as 2BDH is considerably taller than I.
I think it’s reasonable to expect that I will have enough left for a smaller scarf for BittyBubba for Christmas. And I have something in mind for BittyBit, possibly from the same yarn I used for Secondborn’s scarf.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Giant Talking Lobsters?
My friend 4KidsLittleHouse [sadly, blogless] got me reading Non Sequitur about ten years ago. Wiley Miller is amazing! I didn’t much like Danae, until she found Lucy the miniature Clydesdale, who has somehow managed to humanize her. [Equify her?] And Kate, her sister, has Petey the dog, and their dad [unlike Calvin-of-Calvin-and-Hobbes’ parents] talks to the animals, and they talk back. Just not quite in the same sense as Danae.
☺
The current storyline is promising. Anytime a giant blue lobster walks into a diner and says, “Yo...” it’s safe to say you’ll have my attention.
Kind of like: Blonde walks into a bar. Says “Ouch.”
Dinner yesterday was wonderful, relaxing, filling. They seated us at what looked like a table halfway under an arch, with another couple to the right of us and two spaces in between. I thought, “OK, a little weird, but it’s pretty crowded. I’ll just pretend they’re not here.” It wasn’t until halfway or more through dinner that I snuck a look at the people to the right of us and realized that the woman was me.
The grandkids were on their way out the door by the time we got to Firstborn’s. BittyBubba was contemplating a pre-nap meltdown, and BittyBit was completing a power yoga session with Aunt Firstborn, the perfect warmup to a power struggle with her mother, which Secondborn politely but decisively won.
The remaining girls were musical: Firstborn and the three youngest all started singing the opening lines from “Beauty and the Beast”. Loudly, and impeccably on key. Brother Sushi and 1BDH were visiting and watching football in the living room. Fiancé was cringing, out in the dining room with us. I was laughing and wiping my eyes.
The knitting continues. I finished the first quarter or so of the scarf before bedtime. I hope to reach the halfway mark today, or the end of the first ball of yarn, whichever is longer.
I’ll leave you with something sublime, in contrast with all the ridiculousness that precedes it. My new friend Francis posted this yesterday.
☺
The current storyline is promising. Anytime a giant blue lobster walks into a diner and says, “Yo...” it’s safe to say you’ll have my attention.
Kind of like: Blonde walks into a bar. Says “Ouch.”
Dinner yesterday was wonderful, relaxing, filling. They seated us at what looked like a table halfway under an arch, with another couple to the right of us and two spaces in between. I thought, “OK, a little weird, but it’s pretty crowded. I’ll just pretend they’re not here.” It wasn’t until halfway or more through dinner that I snuck a look at the people to the right of us and realized that the woman was me.
The grandkids were on their way out the door by the time we got to Firstborn’s. BittyBubba was contemplating a pre-nap meltdown, and BittyBit was completing a power yoga session with Aunt Firstborn, the perfect warmup to a power struggle with her mother, which Secondborn politely but decisively won.
The remaining girls were musical: Firstborn and the three youngest all started singing the opening lines from “Beauty and the Beast”. Loudly, and impeccably on key. Brother Sushi and 1BDH were visiting and watching football in the living room. Fiancé was cringing, out in the dining room with us. I was laughing and wiping my eyes.
The knitting continues. I finished the first quarter or so of the scarf before bedtime. I hope to reach the halfway mark today, or the end of the first ball of yarn, whichever is longer.
I’ll leave you with something sublime, in contrast with all the ridiculousness that precedes it. My new friend Francis posted this yesterday.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
What I’m Not Fixing for Thanksgiving Dinner Today
Mason-Dixon Knitting had what sounded like a good recipe on Monday. It feels a little weird not to be making a pan of my sweet potatoes. I will have to remedy that sometime between now and Christmas.
The proportions I use are roughly: 1 large can of sweet potatoes or yams, 1 medium can of mandarin oranges, one handful of pecan halves. Season to taste with freshly-grated nutmeg [but not if you are pregnant, according to the nice folks at Whole Foods], maybe some cinnamon if you are so inclined, and either grade B maple syrup [cooking grade, not gourmet grade] or brown or turbinado or demerara sugar, but not a lot of whichever one you choose. Stir gently and bake about half an hour, until heated through. Generally around 350°F / 176°C, chez nous.
@Tan: I checked on Ravelry; the color for the Koigu is Jewel Tones, dye lot number P141 145. These socks will go with absolutely everything in my closet! [And on my chairs, and piled atop boxes, and in the wash. Just trying to keep it real.] I had 4.9 g left in one ball, 3.5 g left in the other. Probably not enough for Middlest to knit a doll sweater. Possibly enough for me to make a miniature sweater for my Christmas tree; definitely enough for a pair of tiny mittens or socks.
No, one sock is not significantly larger than the other; it’s a trick of perspective.
I put several rounds on my Mystery Sock November 2008 while coming home on the train yesterday afternoon. [We got to leave an hour early. I didn’t wait to be told twice.] I completed the first pattern repeat and am a little ways into the second.
And last night I cast on 45 stitches for 2BDH’s birthday scarf. I’m doing a simple knit-purl pattern with garter stitch borders so it will (a) be reversible and (b) not require blocking before I give it to him. Have I mentioned that his birthday is Tuesday?
I fell asleep sitting upright, while knitting on the scarf last night. So now I need to grab some leftover banana pecan muffins and a mug of milk and figure out where I was when I dozed off. I brought the leftover muffins home rather than let them mold in their bag on the counter at work over the weekend. The fridge there is still too full to fit them in.
And I need to document 2BDH’s scarf over on Ravelry. No pictures here on the blog until it’s done.
Have a blessed and safe and happy and grateful Thanksgiving, everybody! I will raise a forkful of medium-rare sirloin in your collective honor when I’m at Texas de Brazil this afternoon, listening to bossa nova [and Brother Sushi] instead of a bunch of overpaid athletes crashing into each another. And then I will head over to Firstborn’s and hug my girls and older granddaughters and kiss my grandbabies.
The proportions I use are roughly: 1 large can of sweet potatoes or yams, 1 medium can of mandarin oranges, one handful of pecan halves. Season to taste with freshly-grated nutmeg [but not if you are pregnant, according to the nice folks at Whole Foods], maybe some cinnamon if you are so inclined, and either grade B maple syrup [cooking grade, not gourmet grade] or brown or turbinado or demerara sugar, but not a lot of whichever one you choose. Stir gently and bake about half an hour, until heated through. Generally around 350°F / 176°C, chez nous.
@Tan: I checked on Ravelry; the color for the Koigu is Jewel Tones, dye lot number P141 145. These socks will go with absolutely everything in my closet! [And on my chairs, and piled atop boxes, and in the wash. Just trying to keep it real.] I had 4.9 g left in one ball, 3.5 g left in the other. Probably not enough for Middlest to knit a doll sweater. Possibly enough for me to make a miniature sweater for my Christmas tree; definitely enough for a pair of tiny mittens or socks.
No, one sock is not significantly larger than the other; it’s a trick of perspective.
I put several rounds on my Mystery Sock November 2008 while coming home on the train yesterday afternoon. [We got to leave an hour early. I didn’t wait to be told twice.] I completed the first pattern repeat and am a little ways into the second.
And last night I cast on 45 stitches for 2BDH’s birthday scarf. I’m doing a simple knit-purl pattern with garter stitch borders so it will (a) be reversible and (b) not require blocking before I give it to him. Have I mentioned that his birthday is Tuesday?
I fell asleep sitting upright, while knitting on the scarf last night. So now I need to grab some leftover banana pecan muffins and a mug of milk and figure out where I was when I dozed off. I brought the leftover muffins home rather than let them mold in their bag on the counter at work over the weekend. The fridge there is still too full to fit them in.
And I need to document 2BDH’s scarf over on Ravelry. No pictures here on the blog until it’s done.
Have a blessed and safe and happy and grateful Thanksgiving, everybody! I will raise a forkful of medium-rare sirloin in your collective honor when I’m at Texas de Brazil this afternoon, listening to bossa nova [and Brother Sushi] instead of a bunch of overpaid athletes crashing into each another. And then I will head over to Firstborn’s and hug my girls and older granddaughters and kiss my grandbabies.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Since We’re Being Grateful
Kristen has another excellent quote.
So does Charlotte Lyons.
My friend gwtreece commented that “the only to get warmth in a ward is by providing the spark to it.” So true. Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” We can win over the most intransigent human being by persistent and consistent kindness [well, assuming that said intransigent human being is not also psychotic; that takes a miracle on the order of the loaves and the fishes].
Yesterday was pretty much a laugh in terms of productivity. I entered two lawsuits to help out the data clerk. I relieved the switchboard operator for the mail run and her breaks. I paid a few bills for one of the legal secretaries. Mostly I noshed, and that was even before our catered lunch arrived.
The apple dumplings didn’t make it past 10:45 or so. About a fourth of my banana pecan muffins were MIA at that point. I managed to drop a sizable blob of the managing attorney’s artichoke dip on the front of my shirt. Still, a good day, one filled with the company of people I love, enjoy and respect.
This from Dr. Wally.
And the second Koigu sock this far from being finished.
I’ll do the sewn cast-off after I get to work today. The red Wollmeise is in my bag for the ride home tonight, and then I will wind up the first ball of the KnitPicks Gloss for 2BDH’s birthday scarf. Since I have no intention of leaving the house on Black Friday, I should [knock wood] be able to whip it out in time to deliver it Monday night. His birthday is Tuesday.
[This will be my theme song for the weekend.]
So does Charlotte Lyons.
My friend gwtreece commented that “the only to get warmth in a ward is by providing the spark to it.” So true. Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” We can win over the most intransigent human being by persistent and consistent kindness [well, assuming that said intransigent human being is not also psychotic; that takes a miracle on the order of the loaves and the fishes].
Yesterday was pretty much a laugh in terms of productivity. I entered two lawsuits to help out the data clerk. I relieved the switchboard operator for the mail run and her breaks. I paid a few bills for one of the legal secretaries. Mostly I noshed, and that was even before our catered lunch arrived.
The apple dumplings didn’t make it past 10:45 or so. About a fourth of my banana pecan muffins were MIA at that point. I managed to drop a sizable blob of the managing attorney’s artichoke dip on the front of my shirt. Still, a good day, one filled with the company of people I love, enjoy and respect.
This from Dr. Wally.
And the second Koigu sock this far from being finished.
I’ll do the sewn cast-off after I get to work today. The red Wollmeise is in my bag for the ride home tonight, and then I will wind up the first ball of the KnitPicks Gloss for 2BDH’s birthday scarf. Since I have no intention of leaving the house on Black Friday, I should [knock wood] be able to whip it out in time to deliver it Monday night. His birthday is Tuesday.
[This will be my theme song for the weekend.]
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
In the Zill of the Night
Family Home Evening Project
First I had to snip off the dead elastic and polish the silver zills. They were remarkably clean, even after ten years, because I had kept them in their bag.
It was easy to thread fresh elastic through these slots. Then I took a size 1 crochet hook and pulled elastic through the single holes in the brass zills.
The little silver semicircles are earrings that I made when we lived in the Hill Country. I took a silversmithing class and learned just enough to know that it was too hard on my hands, even in my early 40’s. I figured I might as well polish them while I had the silver paste out and the sponge damp. I tried to get a good close-up, but I don’t know enough about light and angles to get one without a lot of glare.
What I’m Reading, not-Reading, and/or Listening to These Days
I bought The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on Middlest’s birthday last year and set it aside until I’d finished Eat, Pray, Love. Started. Put it aside again. Tossed it into the tote weeks ago, in case I ran out of patience while swatching for Adamas. I got farther into it than the first time, but it’s back on the bookshelf for now.
Reading Lolita in Tehran is also stalled and lying on my bedside table.
I am listening to Anne Perry’s Shoulder the Sky. [In googling the link for it, I learned that it is the second book in a trilogy; figures: I started with the second book in C.S. Lewis’ Perelandra series, too, back when I was a kid.] The man who reads it has a lovely voice. She is probably my third-favorite living writer; Orson Scott Card is first, followed by Robert B. Parker and then Anne Perry.
I succumbed to [deliciously benign] temptation on Saturday and signed up for a library card. There is a Robert B. Parker book waiting on the floor behind the sofa table. It was on the chair which serves as a landing strip when I come home, but my bag was top-heavy and tumped over, taking everything else on the chair with it.
I figure it can’t fall any farther, right?
Waxing Rhapsodic, in Lieu of the Floors
I have bragged about how warm and loving my new ward is. Let me give you an example. Last week in Relief Society, the sister who was conducting asked that anyone who was going to be alone for Thanksgiving please get in touch with her after the meeting, likewise anybody who had room at the inn. At Relief Society this Sunday, it appeared that everybody had been matched up so that the only people in our ward who will be alone on Thanksgiving are those who want to be.
Wait: it gets better. As I was driving to choir practice, my cell phone rang. It was a friend who happens to be the High Priest Group Leader in our ward. He and his wife were heading over to a mutual friend’s house for a quiet game of Scrabble. Would I like to join them? I explained that I was nearly to the stake center, and that my Sundays are booked up until the performance on the 14th. And after I hung up, I spent a couple of verging-on-tears moments thanking Heaven for these good people who are now part of my life.
There may not be one specific brother to love me and watch over me, but I feel no lack of cherishing in my life. This, in good measure, is what Christianity is all about. I corralled my home teacher in the hall after church. He has a crazy work schedule and frequently has to work on Sundays, but he and his son will be coming to home teach me on Wednesday night, as the youth activities have been canceled because so many folks are leaving town for Thanksgiving.
Still [Messy] Life with Sock
I did tidy the table after I was done working on the zills. Promise!
When I snapped this picture, I had about 40 rounds left before the ribbing. Which means that I had better take the red sock with me and my bag of knitting tools, in case I finish this at lunch. It also means that I can use the long, lovely upcoming weekend to whip out 2BDH’s birthday scarf.
Let the Feasting Begin!
We are having our Thanksgiving lunch today, catered by the Black-Eyed Pea. And of course, everybody is bringing a side dish or dessert. What am I bringing? Banana pecan muffins from one of Diane Mott Davidson’s mysteries.
First I had to snip off the dead elastic and polish the silver zills. They were remarkably clean, even after ten years, because I had kept them in their bag.
It was easy to thread fresh elastic through these slots. Then I took a size 1 crochet hook and pulled elastic through the single holes in the brass zills.
The little silver semicircles are earrings that I made when we lived in the Hill Country. I took a silversmithing class and learned just enough to know that it was too hard on my hands, even in my early 40’s. I figured I might as well polish them while I had the silver paste out and the sponge damp. I tried to get a good close-up, but I don’t know enough about light and angles to get one without a lot of glare.
What I’m Reading, not-Reading, and/or Listening to These Days
I bought The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy on Middlest’s birthday last year and set it aside until I’d finished Eat, Pray, Love. Started. Put it aside again. Tossed it into the tote weeks ago, in case I ran out of patience while swatching for Adamas. I got farther into it than the first time, but it’s back on the bookshelf for now.
Reading Lolita in Tehran is also stalled and lying on my bedside table.
I am listening to Anne Perry’s Shoulder the Sky. [In googling the link for it, I learned that it is the second book in a trilogy; figures: I started with the second book in C.S. Lewis’ Perelandra series, too, back when I was a kid.] The man who reads it has a lovely voice. She is probably my third-favorite living writer; Orson Scott Card is first, followed by Robert B. Parker and then Anne Perry.
I succumbed to [deliciously benign] temptation on Saturday and signed up for a library card. There is a Robert B. Parker book waiting on the floor behind the sofa table. It was on the chair which serves as a landing strip when I come home, but my bag was top-heavy and tumped over, taking everything else on the chair with it.
I figure it can’t fall any farther, right?
Waxing Rhapsodic, in Lieu of the Floors
I have bragged about how warm and loving my new ward is. Let me give you an example. Last week in Relief Society, the sister who was conducting asked that anyone who was going to be alone for Thanksgiving please get in touch with her after the meeting, likewise anybody who had room at the inn. At Relief Society this Sunday, it appeared that everybody had been matched up so that the only people in our ward who will be alone on Thanksgiving are those who want to be.
Wait: it gets better. As I was driving to choir practice, my cell phone rang. It was a friend who happens to be the High Priest Group Leader in our ward. He and his wife were heading over to a mutual friend’s house for a quiet game of Scrabble. Would I like to join them? I explained that I was nearly to the stake center, and that my Sundays are booked up until the performance on the 14th. And after I hung up, I spent a couple of verging-on-tears moments thanking Heaven for these good people who are now part of my life.
There may not be one specific brother to love me and watch over me, but I feel no lack of cherishing in my life. This, in good measure, is what Christianity is all about. I corralled my home teacher in the hall after church. He has a crazy work schedule and frequently has to work on Sundays, but he and his son will be coming to home teach me on Wednesday night, as the youth activities have been canceled because so many folks are leaving town for Thanksgiving.
Still [Messy] Life with Sock
I did tidy the table after I was done working on the zills. Promise!
When I snapped this picture, I had about 40 rounds left before the ribbing. Which means that I had better take the red sock with me and my bag of knitting tools, in case I finish this at lunch. It also means that I can use the long, lovely upcoming weekend to whip out 2BDH’s birthday scarf.
Let the Feasting Begin!
We are having our Thanksgiving lunch today, catered by the Black-Eyed Pea. And of course, everybody is bringing a side dish or dessert. What am I bringing? Banana pecan muffins from one of Diane Mott Davidson’s mysteries.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Things found while cleaning off the coffee table
1. A book of clean jokes from a local church. Sure, why not?
Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love, and got married. The ceremony wasn’t much, but the reception was superb.
An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.
2. Mailers from grocery stores, advertising specials on food that is now past its freshness date, and the usual assortment of expired coupons.
3. Catalogues for things I actually need, as well as for those I do not.
4. My marble rolling pin [now returned to the kitchen], from when I made that tart several weeks ago.
5. The letter with the temporary password that I needed to set up access to my revamped 401K management program.
6. A plea to make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association. I said, “forget about it.”
7. A 2008 Civil Liberties Survey from the ACLU. No idea when it was postmarked. I read their questionnaire. They *so* would not want to hear from me!
8. A magazine to which I did not subscribe.
9. Two boxes of facial tissue, from when I was sniffly last weekend. Both now stowed in the bathroom.
10. My roll of paper towels, brought out from the kitchen when I fed somebody or other and [now] returned.
11. Small empty boxes that I brought home from work, in order to mail out birthday gifts.
12. My book of remembrance, paperwork to submit my uncle’s temple work, my graduation certificate from the family history class, and my class notebook.
13. The fall issue of KnitSimple, with the two cropped cardigans that I like.
14. A dry-cleaning coupon from a non-chain shop, with no expiration date.
15. My package of red envelopes.
16. The goodie bag I brought home from the support staff retreat in September.
17. A book I was going to sell at Half Price Books but have decided to re-read, first.
18. An offer for $1,500 of free accidental death and dismemberment insurance which my credit union has paid for. Dropped it in the mail on my way home from choir practice, but no, I am not taking them up on their offer for up to $100,000 more on my own dime.
19. My lambswool duster, which traveled all over the living room on Saturday.
20. One copy of the paperwork for Middlest’s separation agreement.
21. A tithing envelope, just waiting for me to be obedient.
22. The recipe for creamy corn crockpot risotto, for which I thought I had all the ingredients.
23. Paperwork from my church calling.
24. Deposit slips for my credit union.
25. Unused napkins from the last time I had company over for dinner.
26. The proof of insurance forms that I thought were already in my glove compartment and planner. Oops! They are now.
Here is a beauty shot of the newly tidied coffee table. As you can see, I still have not taped and bedded the corners. But I pulled two small sheepskins out of a box and put them to use on my rocking chair. My sister needlepointed the frog pillow for me when we were both much, much younger. She also gave me the kit for the sampler you see perched atop my fireplace.
And the festive sofa table.
Next project? My computer desk!
One of many cool things about Ravelry is that it enables me to answer questions about a finished object. Middlest texted to ask if the socks I made for her were machine washable. I logged in, went to my Projects folder, and scrolled down until I recognized the socks. Then I clicked on the link to the yarn. 75% superwash wool. So yes, technically machine washable, but I have never actually machine-washed any of my superwash projects. She decided that she would feel better washing them by hand; it was cold enough yesterday that she wore them to church. Woohoo! Holy socks!
Choir practice went well last night. We did not use my zills, but I brought them. I will need to pick up fresh elastic after work tonight, as the elastic on the brass zills is stretched out, and the elastic thread on the silver ones [sadly in need of polishing] is rotted and broken. I brought home the sheet music so I can practice the timing, and next week I get to teach another sister in the choir how to play the second pair. I think there will be much communing with my Loreena McKennitt CD that has such lovely Middle Eastern overtones, so that I do not look like an utter fool when I demonstrate the technique next week.
I don’t mind being an utter fool [most often in the cause of love]; I just don’t want to look like one.
So BestFriend had time and space to post her own “8 Things” response, and she mentioned a new restaurant that has opened here in Fort Worth. Grace. I googled it and lucked into a blog by a local writer, Francis Shivone. I have added him to my Bloglines.
When I went to bed last night, I was about halfway through the gusset increases on the second Koigu sock. Such fun to pull the sock out of my bag while the menfolk were rehearsing their number and knit quietly and listen to those lovely, rumbly notes.
Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love, and got married. The ceremony wasn’t much, but the reception was superb.
An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.
2. Mailers from grocery stores, advertising specials on food that is now past its freshness date, and the usual assortment of expired coupons.
3. Catalogues for things I actually need, as well as for those I do not.
4. My marble rolling pin [now returned to the kitchen], from when I made that tart several weeks ago.
5. The letter with the temporary password that I needed to set up access to my revamped 401K management program.
6. A plea to make a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association. I said, “forget about it.”
7. A 2008 Civil Liberties Survey from the ACLU. No idea when it was postmarked. I read their questionnaire. They *so* would not want to hear from me!
8. A magazine to which I did not subscribe.
9. Two boxes of facial tissue, from when I was sniffly last weekend. Both now stowed in the bathroom.
10. My roll of paper towels, brought out from the kitchen when I fed somebody or other and [now] returned.
11. Small empty boxes that I brought home from work, in order to mail out birthday gifts.
12. My book of remembrance, paperwork to submit my uncle’s temple work, my graduation certificate from the family history class, and my class notebook.
13. The fall issue of KnitSimple, with the two cropped cardigans that I like.
14. A dry-cleaning coupon from a non-chain shop, with no expiration date.
15. My package of red envelopes.
16. The goodie bag I brought home from the support staff retreat in September.
17. A book I was going to sell at Half Price Books but have decided to re-read, first.
18. An offer for $1,500 of free accidental death and dismemberment insurance which my credit union has paid for. Dropped it in the mail on my way home from choir practice, but no, I am not taking them up on their offer for up to $100,000 more on my own dime.
19. My lambswool duster, which traveled all over the living room on Saturday.
20. One copy of the paperwork for Middlest’s separation agreement.
21. A tithing envelope, just waiting for me to be obedient.
22. The recipe for creamy corn crockpot risotto, for which I thought I had all the ingredients.
23. Paperwork from my church calling.
24. Deposit slips for my credit union.
25. Unused napkins from the last time I had company over for dinner.
26. The proof of insurance forms that I thought were already in my glove compartment and planner. Oops! They are now.
Here is a beauty shot of the newly tidied coffee table. As you can see, I still have not taped and bedded the corners. But I pulled two small sheepskins out of a box and put them to use on my rocking chair. My sister needlepointed the frog pillow for me when we were both much, much younger. She also gave me the kit for the sampler you see perched atop my fireplace.
And the festive sofa table.
Next project? My computer desk!
One of many cool things about Ravelry is that it enables me to answer questions about a finished object. Middlest texted to ask if the socks I made for her were machine washable. I logged in, went to my Projects folder, and scrolled down until I recognized the socks. Then I clicked on the link to the yarn. 75% superwash wool. So yes, technically machine washable, but I have never actually machine-washed any of my superwash projects. She decided that she would feel better washing them by hand; it was cold enough yesterday that she wore them to church. Woohoo! Holy socks!
Choir practice went well last night. We did not use my zills, but I brought them. I will need to pick up fresh elastic after work tonight, as the elastic on the brass zills is stretched out, and the elastic thread on the silver ones [sadly in need of polishing] is rotted and broken. I brought home the sheet music so I can practice the timing, and next week I get to teach another sister in the choir how to play the second pair. I think there will be much communing with my Loreena McKennitt CD that has such lovely Middle Eastern overtones, so that I do not look like an utter fool when I demonstrate the technique next week.
I don’t mind being an utter fool [most often in the cause of love]; I just don’t want to look like one.
So BestFriend had time and space to post her own “8 Things” response, and she mentioned a new restaurant that has opened here in Fort Worth. Grace. I googled it and lucked into a blog by a local writer, Francis Shivone. I have added him to my Bloglines.
When I went to bed last night, I was about halfway through the gusset increases on the second Koigu sock. Such fun to pull the sock out of my bag while the menfolk were rehearsing their number and knit quietly and listen to those lovely, rumbly notes.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Manna 6, Quail 0, and Dancing to the Point of Exhaustion for Dessert
Yesterday was one of those really great days, in spite of my waking up at 1:30, severely dehydrated, with itchy ankles. I solved part of that problem with a tall glass of milk and some sweet potato fries, and the rest of it by going back to bed at 2:30 and sleeping until 7:30.
I woke up warm and relaxed. “Relaxed”, chez Ravelled, is a thing of such novelty that it is most decidedly blog-worthy.
Work was good but *intense* last week. I worked through my lunch on Friday, feeling cranky-determined to get those @#$% vacation letters out. Just before my early departure, I got a call from a coworker who had already left; her daughter’s leftovers were on a table by the printer. If I wanted them, there were tortillas and a container of queso. I took them with me and dipped flour torties in cold queso at stoplights, all the way to the temple. Not the world’s most elegant lunch, but it kept me alive and reasonably alert while serving in the temple. It felt like a hug from Heaven.
And while I was sitting in the chapel, my friend J plunked herself down next to me and grinned. She whispered that she had had the thought while driving over, that she should have called me and asked me to meet her there. And there I was! Afterward, we ate dinner at La Madeleine and talked until both of us were yawning.
There have actually been almost enough hugs the last few days. I got to hold a friend who had had an awful day and pray with her while she cried. J and I hugged a lot. I hugged Brother Sushi at the dance, and several other friends.
In the last little while, I have had that sense of exceptional watch-care from Heaven, almost a spoken “I will take care of you; I am taking care of you; are you paying attention, daughter?” I was even brave enough to ask, while in the temple, about the status and whereabouts of Brother Right. [Where it seemed as if I was safe in asking for what I want, and had a decent chance of getting an answer I could comprehend.]
When I was at the temple, I spotted two other friends: one from my ward and one from the singles program. It was great to see a guy I like and respect in the temple; if he asked me out, I wouldn’t spit in his eye, but there’s no sense of “oh please oh please” like I sometimes feel around other men. Speaking of whom, I have been quietly missing Trainman, and I am hoping to see him on the ride home tomorrow night.
Looks like one of my friends in my ward is also a fan of Meridian Magazine. She sent me this link. Get your hankies [but in a good way]. If you want to love somebody, serve them. It’s why parents love their kids so much, and in families where the kids get along, mutual service is why.
I think that is why I had such a great, if grueling, week last week. Many opportunities for small, unobtrusive acts of service. Last night I drove to the dance. Two sisters in my ward went with me. It was great to visit with them and get to know them better. Do I love them more than I did at the beginning of the evening? How could I not love women who know the same songs I do, and sing along with the radio, on-key, and understand how life works. I’m dragging one of them to choir practice tonight with me tonight. With my zills.
The dance was more fun than I’ve had in a long, long time. I could barely walk when we left, and I was a little afraid that I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed this morning, but I’m OK. [I didn’t get to bed until 1:30, and I slept until almost 7:00.]
The music, of course, was stellar.
I’m off to rustle up some grub and listen to a few more tapes in my audiobook. [I might even finish sorting through the paper that has piled up on my coffee table.]
I put up a Christmas decoration or two, yesterday. Not so much as you’d notice...
I woke up warm and relaxed. “Relaxed”, chez Ravelled, is a thing of such novelty that it is most decidedly blog-worthy.
Work was good but *intense* last week. I worked through my lunch on Friday, feeling cranky-determined to get those @#$% vacation letters out. Just before my early departure, I got a call from a coworker who had already left; her daughter’s leftovers were on a table by the printer. If I wanted them, there were tortillas and a container of queso. I took them with me and dipped flour torties in cold queso at stoplights, all the way to the temple. Not the world’s most elegant lunch, but it kept me alive and reasonably alert while serving in the temple. It felt like a hug from Heaven.
And while I was sitting in the chapel, my friend J plunked herself down next to me and grinned. She whispered that she had had the thought while driving over, that she should have called me and asked me to meet her there. And there I was! Afterward, we ate dinner at La Madeleine and talked until both of us were yawning.
There have actually been almost enough hugs the last few days. I got to hold a friend who had had an awful day and pray with her while she cried. J and I hugged a lot. I hugged Brother Sushi at the dance, and several other friends.
In the last little while, I have had that sense of exceptional watch-care from Heaven, almost a spoken “I will take care of you; I am taking care of you; are you paying attention, daughter?” I was even brave enough to ask, while in the temple, about the status and whereabouts of Brother Right. [Where it seemed as if I was safe in asking for what I want, and had a decent chance of getting an answer I could comprehend.]
When I was at the temple, I spotted two other friends: one from my ward and one from the singles program. It was great to see a guy I like and respect in the temple; if he asked me out, I wouldn’t spit in his eye, but there’s no sense of “oh please oh please” like I sometimes feel around other men. Speaking of whom, I have been quietly missing Trainman, and I am hoping to see him on the ride home tomorrow night.
Looks like one of my friends in my ward is also a fan of Meridian Magazine. She sent me this link. Get your hankies [but in a good way]. If you want to love somebody, serve them. It’s why parents love their kids so much, and in families where the kids get along, mutual service is why.
I think that is why I had such a great, if grueling, week last week. Many opportunities for small, unobtrusive acts of service. Last night I drove to the dance. Two sisters in my ward went with me. It was great to visit with them and get to know them better. Do I love them more than I did at the beginning of the evening? How could I not love women who know the same songs I do, and sing along with the radio, on-key, and understand how life works. I’m dragging one of them to choir practice tonight with me tonight. With my zills.
The dance was more fun than I’ve had in a long, long time. I could barely walk when we left, and I was a little afraid that I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed this morning, but I’m OK. [I didn’t get to bed until 1:30, and I slept until almost 7:00.]
The music, of course, was stellar.
I’m off to rustle up some grub and listen to a few more tapes in my audiobook. [I might even finish sorting through the paper that has piled up on my coffee table.]
I put up a Christmas decoration or two, yesterday. Not so much as you’d notice...
Saturday, November 22, 2008
A Series of Pivotal Moments
Sometime last spring I read an article or blog post which suggested examining one’s life and looking for pivotal or defining moments. If I had to pick only one, it would be the night that I said Yes to God and invited Him into my life.
But that life has not been linear; I think there have been many choices which have nudged me along my path [or back onto the path]. Here are a few of them.
1. Divorcing First Hubby. Which set in motion a number of consequences, culminating three weeks later in:
2. My baptism. Which led to:
3. My patriarchal blessing. And two years later:
4. Marrying the children’s father in the Salt Lake temple.
5. Holding that first precious child in my arms, while sitting on the edge of my bed the day we came home from the hospital, and realizing that I had Not Clue One and that her life depended upon me.
6. The addition of four more innocent lives to our family.
7. Eight years of cycling in and out of depression. [More like a defining era.] There was a lot that went on inside that was not evident on the outside, and Heaven was very much with me, every step of the way.
8. The death of my father. This is when I first began to say “enough”.
9. The death of my mother. This is when I began to put “enough” into action.
10. Divorcing the children’s father. One of the hardest decisions I have ever made, with fallout greater than I could have imagined.
11. Secondborn’s wedding. I watched 2BDH’s mother deal graciously with a former spouse.
12. Firstborn’s wedding and instant grandmotherhood for me.
13. Middlest’s elopement.
14. The sealing of my two oldest daughters to their husbands. I was present for one and not for the other.
15. The births of the Bitties. Ditto.
16. Standing up to Brother Abacus. [And I would not have done that had I not been in counseling for something else, and my counselor gently insisted that somebody needed to inform him that his choices were hurtful. He is not an evil man; he is just not done grieving his late wife, and it would be better for “the sistren” if he would learn to be content in his singleness before shopping for another wife.]
17. My friendships with Brother Stilts, Brother Karitas, and Brother Sushi. What a blessing and a comfort each of them is to me. Time will reveal if this new friendship with Trainman has that sort of staying power.
Not much knitting yesterday, but some marvelous experiences which deserve a post of their own.
But that life has not been linear; I think there have been many choices which have nudged me along my path [or back onto the path]. Here are a few of them.
1. Divorcing First Hubby. Which set in motion a number of consequences, culminating three weeks later in:
2. My baptism. Which led to:
3. My patriarchal blessing. And two years later:
4. Marrying the children’s father in the Salt Lake temple.
5. Holding that first precious child in my arms, while sitting on the edge of my bed the day we came home from the hospital, and realizing that I had Not Clue One and that her life depended upon me.
6. The addition of four more innocent lives to our family.
7. Eight years of cycling in and out of depression. [More like a defining era.] There was a lot that went on inside that was not evident on the outside, and Heaven was very much with me, every step of the way.
8. The death of my father. This is when I first began to say “enough”.
9. The death of my mother. This is when I began to put “enough” into action.
10. Divorcing the children’s father. One of the hardest decisions I have ever made, with fallout greater than I could have imagined.
11. Secondborn’s wedding. I watched 2BDH’s mother deal graciously with a former spouse.
12. Firstborn’s wedding and instant grandmotherhood for me.
13. Middlest’s elopement.
14. The sealing of my two oldest daughters to their husbands. I was present for one and not for the other.
15. The births of the Bitties. Ditto.
16. Standing up to Brother Abacus. [And I would not have done that had I not been in counseling for something else, and my counselor gently insisted that somebody needed to inform him that his choices were hurtful. He is not an evil man; he is just not done grieving his late wife, and it would be better for “the sistren” if he would learn to be content in his singleness before shopping for another wife.]
17. My friendships with Brother Stilts, Brother Karitas, and Brother Sushi. What a blessing and a comfort each of them is to me. Time will reveal if this new friendship with Trainman has that sort of staying power.
Not much knitting yesterday, but some marvelous experiences which deserve a post of their own.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Friday Already?
Another quick post. I went to a friend’s house last night for dinner. To my mind, good simple food in the company of friends is the perfect recipe for happiness. [And my black leather jacket came home with me, like a good girl.]
In the process of trying to turn up the flame in the fireplace, I managed to turn it off. I was so tired that I could not figure out how to get it back on again, or how to manage the butane lighter. [Which it turns out I didn’t need.] So I called Secondborn’s house at 9:30, and 2BDH came over, bringing a freshly-baked cookie and a hug for his weary, slightly addled mother-in-law.
I finished the first Koigu sock yesterday and have the second one on the needles.
This is Wendy’s toe-up, fingering-weight gusset heel sock, and I am very pleased with it, as always.
So, the house is toasty this morning. And I am well-rested, because I forgot to set the alarm last night and slept an additional 45 minutes.
Tonight is our ward’s temple night, and I have my bag packed with skirt and stockings to change into when I leave the office. I’m taking the rest of my personal time this afternoon and leaving at 3:15, heading straight for the temple. I will probably be done and home before the rest of my ward gets there, unless I choose to stay for another session.
I foresee a lot of knitting this weekend, and there is the dance tomorrow night. But first, there is breakfast. Happy Friday, everybody!
In the process of trying to turn up the flame in the fireplace, I managed to turn it off. I was so tired that I could not figure out how to get it back on again, or how to manage the butane lighter. [Which it turns out I didn’t need.] So I called Secondborn’s house at 9:30, and 2BDH came over, bringing a freshly-baked cookie and a hug for his weary, slightly addled mother-in-law.
I finished the first Koigu sock yesterday and have the second one on the needles.
This is Wendy’s toe-up, fingering-weight gusset heel sock, and I am very pleased with it, as always.
So, the house is toasty this morning. And I am well-rested, because I forgot to set the alarm last night and slept an additional 45 minutes.
Tonight is our ward’s temple night, and I have my bag packed with skirt and stockings to change into when I leave the office. I’m taking the rest of my personal time this afternoon and leaving at 3:15, heading straight for the temple. I will probably be done and home before the rest of my ward gets there, unless I choose to stay for another session.
I foresee a lot of knitting this weekend, and there is the dance tomorrow night. But first, there is breakfast. Happy Friday, everybody!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Another Quick Post
In between bites of breakfast. Yesterday did not seem particularly productive until I examined the Koigu sock this morning. I am working the ribbing at the cuff and have grabbed the second ball of yarn [and need to run back in my room for a moment to grab my knitting tool bag so I can do a sewn bind-off in a few more rows]. I should have made a less-pointy toe, or knitted a few less rounds on the foot before increasing for the gusset. It will probably adjust nicely in the wash.
I spent altogether too much time at the front desk yesterday and did not get my morning or afternoon breaks, because of the monthly support staff meeting [when I manned the switchboard] and a meeting of the admin team right after lunch. I had four minor settlements to enter and got three of them put in, had to hand back one tape for transcription because of the afternoon meeting, and was given another 20 minutes before closing, for which I pulled the document template and cleared the hidden text so I can hit the floor running when I walk in the door today.
I was so frustrated at not having much knitting time at work, that I knit like the wind on the train ride home, while Trainman read. And then I popped in an Anne Perry audiobook and listened to three sides while barreling up the ankle. I stayed up longer than was sensible, but I finally felt as if I had had some control over my day.
Before crashing for the night, I put multi-grain cereal, some dried fruit that was either large raisins or small cherries, freshly grated nutmeg and a cinnamon stick into my mini-crockpot. This morning I took out three servings of breakfast, two of which are waiting in the fridge. I am nearly done with my bowl of cereal, my lunch is packed, and I think it is going to be a terrific day!
Pictures of the completed sock, probably tomorrow. As the sergeant on “Hill Street Blues” used to say, “[Y’all] be careful out there.”
I spent altogether too much time at the front desk yesterday and did not get my morning or afternoon breaks, because of the monthly support staff meeting [when I manned the switchboard] and a meeting of the admin team right after lunch. I had four minor settlements to enter and got three of them put in, had to hand back one tape for transcription because of the afternoon meeting, and was given another 20 minutes before closing, for which I pulled the document template and cleared the hidden text so I can hit the floor running when I walk in the door today.
I was so frustrated at not having much knitting time at work, that I knit like the wind on the train ride home, while Trainman read. And then I popped in an Anne Perry audiobook and listened to three sides while barreling up the ankle. I stayed up longer than was sensible, but I finally felt as if I had had some control over my day.
Before crashing for the night, I put multi-grain cereal, some dried fruit that was either large raisins or small cherries, freshly grated nutmeg and a cinnamon stick into my mini-crockpot. This morning I took out three servings of breakfast, two of which are waiting in the fridge. I am nearly done with my bowl of cereal, my lunch is packed, and I think it is going to be a terrific day!
Pictures of the completed sock, probably tomorrow. As the sergeant on “Hill Street Blues” used to say, “[Y’all] be careful out there.”
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Refrigerator Tetris
A new phrase for my vocabulary, and some good counsel here. And as for cooking creatively? It happens all the time, chez Ravelled. I am [in]famous in the family ~ and at work ~ for putting weird food combinations together and calling it a meal. The girls are so surprised that I have morphed into a good cook. As am I.
Maybe I was just loopy from typing dictation and trying to set up my voicemail [woot!] but I thought this was hilarious!
Short post today. I spent my early morning typing time turning the heel on the Koigu sock. I winged the gusset increases and the heel decreases, and now I have 30 stitches on the instep and 34 in the back. I think I will knit a few inches and see if that creates any pooling or funky striping. I may work a centered double-decrease on each side of the back to bring it down to 30. If there’s one on each side, that makes it a design feature and not an oops, right?
Work went very well yesterday. The attorney for whom I transcribed the pleading on Monday came by my desk and said how pleased he was. I transcribed a deposition report for him yesterday. Oh how I love the freedom to get up from my desk whenever I need to, for whatever reason!
I have eight minutes to figure out lunch and sluice off and head out the door. I suspect my bathwater is cold. But dash it all, turning a heel is important!
Maybe I was just loopy from typing dictation and trying to set up my voicemail [woot!] but I thought this was hilarious!
Short post today. I spent my early morning typing time turning the heel on the Koigu sock. I winged the gusset increases and the heel decreases, and now I have 30 stitches on the instep and 34 in the back. I think I will knit a few inches and see if that creates any pooling or funky striping. I may work a centered double-decrease on each side of the back to bring it down to 30. If there’s one on each side, that makes it a design feature and not an oops, right?
Work went very well yesterday. The attorney for whom I transcribed the pleading on Monday came by my desk and said how pleased he was. I transcribed a deposition report for him yesterday. Oh how I love the freedom to get up from my desk whenever I need to, for whatever reason!
I have eight minutes to figure out lunch and sluice off and head out the door. I suspect my bathwater is cold. But dash it all, turning a heel is important!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Crazy Day
I am settling in at my new desk. The computer is hooked up, and I now have two additional printers I may use. I am far, far away [but not on Judea’s plains] from the fax machine, the scanner, my old printer, and the hustle and bustle of the front desk. I can park a pistachio shell in my cheek like the squirreliest of squirrels and not have to worry about looking presentable if somebody walks up to my desk.
When I started this draft, there were no tapes to transcribe, no minor settlements to enter, and I couldn’t get into Audix to set up my voicemail. By the time I went home, I had transcribed one short tape, assembled three or four vacation letters for one of the attorneys, helped scan the daily mail and the fax confirmations, and spent rather more time than I would have liked, sitting and twitching and trying to figure out what to do next.
I took another batch of books to Half Price Books last night and put the green chairs in the back of the car to give to Fourthborn and set the trash can and the recycling bin out by the curb.
I know where my black leather jacket is, and my brown suede one too.
I blocked Adamas before leaving for work and have it in my bag to take for show and tell at Knit Night. Here is a closeup.
Now I can officially mark it as a FO on Ravelry!
Chatted briefly with 2BDH and asked if he would rather have a scarf [albeit a manly one, not lacy like Secondborn’s] or a pair of boot socks for when he takes the Scouts camping next time. He loves scarves. So I will take the Gloss fingering weight which is just a bit darker than Adamas and knit him a manly scarf. If I manage well, there might be just enough left for a hat or a wee scarf for BittyBubba.
When I started this draft, there were no tapes to transcribe, no minor settlements to enter, and I couldn’t get into Audix to set up my voicemail. By the time I went home, I had transcribed one short tape, assembled three or four vacation letters for one of the attorneys, helped scan the daily mail and the fax confirmations, and spent rather more time than I would have liked, sitting and twitching and trying to figure out what to do next.
I took another batch of books to Half Price Books last night and put the green chairs in the back of the car to give to Fourthborn and set the trash can and the recycling bin out by the curb.
I know where my black leather jacket is, and my brown suede one too.
I blocked Adamas before leaving for work and have it in my bag to take for show and tell at Knit Night. Here is a closeup.
Now I can officially mark it as a FO on Ravelry!
Chatted briefly with 2BDH and asked if he would rather have a scarf [albeit a manly one, not lacy like Secondborn’s] or a pair of boot socks for when he takes the Scouts camping next time. He loves scarves. So I will take the Gloss fingering weight which is just a bit darker than Adamas and knit him a manly scarf. If I manage well, there might be just enough left for a hat or a wee scarf for BittyBubba.
Monday, November 17, 2008
“8 Things” + A Few More
8 Things (tagged by Firstborn)
8 FavoriteTV Shows (What TV?) Movies
1. A Midsummer Night’s Eve
2. Shall We Dance (Japanese Version)
3. Dirty Dancing
4. Starman (Fourthborn is now officially blushing)
5. Take the Lead
6. Dave
7. Sabrina (with Bogart, Holden, and Hepburn)
8. Singing in the Rain
8 Things I DidYesterday This Weekend
1. Dinner with Brother Sushi on Friday night
2. Rearranged the living room furniture
3. Visited with Best Friend on Saturday morning
4. Fed the compost pile
5. Took a nap on Saturday afternoon
6. Laughed at this on Tan’s blog
7. Knitted
8. Found my black leather jacket at church on Sunday afternoon
8 Things to Look Forward to
1. Thanksgiving dinner with Brother Sushi at the Brazilian restaurant
2. Thanksgiving visiting at Firstborn’s before or after dinner with Brother Sushi, depending upon our reservation time
3. Visiting with Trainman (every chance I get)
4. Finding an age-appropriate churchboy whom I like and trust as well as I do my acquired brothers, marrying him, and staying married to him; is that three things, or one?
5. More grandchildren (no pressure)
6. Great-grandchildren (oh please, oh please, not anytime soon)
7. My resurrected body
8. The Second Coming
8 Favorite Restaurants
1. El Chico’s [tortilla soup and family memories]
2. Massey’s [chicken fried steak]
3. Lucile’s [American continental/bistro cuisine]
4. Nelda’s [amazing Tex-Mex; the best I’ve eaten]
5. Ol’ South Pancake House [German pancakes]
6. Marsala [steak Diane and cherries jubilee]
7. Black-Eyed Pea [grilled salmon, red beans & rice, glazed carrots]
8. Texas de Brazil [Brazilian-style barbecue; serious carnivores only need apply]
8 Things on My Wish List (in no particular order)
1. Make some sort of sweater that fits from the turquoise tweed yarn, or find more yarn in a plausible dye lot
2. Three-day Walk for the Cure
3. Leisurely vacation in France
4. Bachelor’s degree in textiles
5. Own a cottage (and have the money to maintain it)
6. Learn Italian
7. Serve a mission
8. Learn to tango
8 People I Tag
1. Best Friend
2. Tan
3. Tola
4. Leslye
5. Wanda
6. Brother Sushi (sadly, blogless; this can be via email, or he can just tell me over dinner)
7. Ruth
8. Alison (and anyone else who wants to)
On to other stuff. My gas fireplace is very smart; periodically I hear that whoosh as it kicks on, but mostly it simmers along on low. I have the sofa set up so that I can sit and watch the fire, and also so that I can sit with my back up against the wall and my feet stretched out and watch a movie over my toes, once LittleBit comes over and tweaks the connection for the DVD player.
I have heard back from the Raveler about her yarn stash; it looks like we have reached an agreement, which means that I will knit socks for awhile, and then I will get back to work on the Sunrise Circle Jacket. I may need to frog it back to the hem on the back, if the dye lots are too dissimilar, but that would be a small price to pay in order to have the jacket I want in the size that I want and the yarn and color that I want.
Here is where I was on the Koigu socks before leaving for church yesterday morning. I really like the base yarn she uses, and of course the colorplay is wonderful. The sock is several inches longer now, and I am nearly ready to think about heel flaps and gussets. I got some great comments before choir practice last night.
The perfect Sunday morning at-home breakfast, played out over two and a half hours: the last of the first container of chêvre on pumpernickel party squares, washed down with an orange juice blend. Followed by a Pink Lady apple dredged in Nutella. And later a small bowl of granola. Interspersed with a round of knitting here and there. And for lunch the rest of that potato with chili and Asiago, and just before church a small [by our family’s standards] serving of lasagna. Dinner was tuna mashed up with the last of the lemon-dill sauce on some of that good French bread, a handful of baby carrots, and a few pistachios in the shell for a late snack after choir practice. There might have also been a few sweet potato oven fries tossed in for good measure, as well as a sandwich made up for today’s lunch.
I started my November Sockdown socks, Swan Song by WendyKnits. I got all the increases done during sacrament meeting and then switched over to the Koigu sock, as I wasn’t sure if the large size might be too large, and I certainly didn’t want to take off my shoe in church to try the sock on.
I learned the name of Brother SilverFox when the teacher called on him during Sunday School. Woohoo!
The music we are learning for our stake’s Christmas choir concert is lovely and demanding. The director asked if anybody had any finger cymbals, and I raised my hand and asked, “You mean zills, like for belly dancing?”
Pandemonium!
We need them for one of our songs, and I came straight home and found both pairs right where I hoped to find them, just as I had prayed. I need to thread new elastic in both pairs. I wonder if Trainman knows how to tie square knots and would be willing to tie eight of them for me? [Yes, I could ask one of the girls to help, but I think it would be way more interesting to ask Trainman, LOL.]
8 Favorite
1. A Midsummer Night’s Eve
2. Shall We Dance (Japanese Version)
3. Dirty Dancing
4. Starman (Fourthborn is now officially blushing)
5. Take the Lead
6. Dave
7. Sabrina (with Bogart, Holden, and Hepburn)
8. Singing in the Rain
8 Things I Did
1. Dinner with Brother Sushi on Friday night
2. Rearranged the living room furniture
3. Visited with Best Friend on Saturday morning
4. Fed the compost pile
5. Took a nap on Saturday afternoon
6. Laughed at this on Tan’s blog
7. Knitted
8. Found my black leather jacket at church on Sunday afternoon
8 Things to Look Forward to
1. Thanksgiving dinner with Brother Sushi at the Brazilian restaurant
2. Thanksgiving visiting at Firstborn’s before or after dinner with Brother Sushi, depending upon our reservation time
3. Visiting with Trainman (every chance I get)
4. Finding an age-appropriate churchboy whom I like and trust as well as I do my acquired brothers, marrying him, and staying married to him; is that three things, or one?
5. More grandchildren (no pressure)
6. Great-grandchildren (oh please, oh please, not anytime soon)
7. My resurrected body
8. The Second Coming
8 Favorite Restaurants
1. El Chico’s [tortilla soup and family memories]
2. Massey’s [chicken fried steak]
3. Lucile’s [American continental/bistro cuisine]
4. Nelda’s [amazing Tex-Mex; the best I’ve eaten]
5. Ol’ South Pancake House [German pancakes]
6. Marsala [steak Diane and cherries jubilee]
7. Black-Eyed Pea [grilled salmon, red beans & rice, glazed carrots]
8. Texas de Brazil [Brazilian-style barbecue; serious carnivores only need apply]
8 Things on My Wish List (in no particular order)
1. Make some sort of sweater that fits from the turquoise tweed yarn, or find more yarn in a plausible dye lot
2. Three-day Walk for the Cure
3. Leisurely vacation in France
4. Bachelor’s degree in textiles
5. Own a cottage (and have the money to maintain it)
6. Learn Italian
7. Serve a mission
8. Learn to tango
8 People I Tag
1. Best Friend
2. Tan
3. Tola
4. Leslye
5. Wanda
6. Brother Sushi (sadly, blogless; this can be via email, or he can just tell me over dinner)
7. Ruth
8. Alison (and anyone else who wants to)
On to other stuff. My gas fireplace is very smart; periodically I hear that whoosh as it kicks on, but mostly it simmers along on low. I have the sofa set up so that I can sit and watch the fire, and also so that I can sit with my back up against the wall and my feet stretched out and watch a movie over my toes, once LittleBit comes over and tweaks the connection for the DVD player.
I have heard back from the Raveler about her yarn stash; it looks like we have reached an agreement, which means that I will knit socks for awhile, and then I will get back to work on the Sunrise Circle Jacket. I may need to frog it back to the hem on the back, if the dye lots are too dissimilar, but that would be a small price to pay in order to have the jacket I want in the size that I want and the yarn and color that I want.
Here is where I was on the Koigu socks before leaving for church yesterday morning. I really like the base yarn she uses, and of course the colorplay is wonderful. The sock is several inches longer now, and I am nearly ready to think about heel flaps and gussets. I got some great comments before choir practice last night.
The perfect Sunday morning at-home breakfast, played out over two and a half hours: the last of the first container of chêvre on pumpernickel party squares, washed down with an orange juice blend. Followed by a Pink Lady apple dredged in Nutella. And later a small bowl of granola. Interspersed with a round of knitting here and there. And for lunch the rest of that potato with chili and Asiago, and just before church a small [by our family’s standards] serving of lasagna. Dinner was tuna mashed up with the last of the lemon-dill sauce on some of that good French bread, a handful of baby carrots, and a few pistachios in the shell for a late snack after choir practice. There might have also been a few sweet potato oven fries tossed in for good measure, as well as a sandwich made up for today’s lunch.
I started my November Sockdown socks, Swan Song by WendyKnits. I got all the increases done during sacrament meeting and then switched over to the Koigu sock, as I wasn’t sure if the large size might be too large, and I certainly didn’t want to take off my shoe in church to try the sock on.
I learned the name of Brother SilverFox when the teacher called on him during Sunday School. Woohoo!
The music we are learning for our stake’s Christmas choir concert is lovely and demanding. The director asked if anybody had any finger cymbals, and I raised my hand and asked, “You mean zills, like for belly dancing?”
Pandemonium!
We need them for one of our songs, and I came straight home and found both pairs right where I hoped to find them, just as I had prayed. I need to thread new elastic in both pairs. I wonder if Trainman knows how to tie square knots and would be willing to tie eight of them for me? [Yes, I could ask one of the girls to help, but I think it would be way more interesting to ask Trainman, LOL.]
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Puttering About
I rearranged the living room yesterday. The couch and coffee table now face the fireplace. I have moved the end table which I occasionally use as a light table, over by the window, as well as one of the cheapie bookcases, which I nearly tore up while skooching it.
Fourthborn, would you like the two green ladderback chairs? Not the one I call the Queen Chair [I want to keep that for myself and will probably repaint it some shade of red] or the one I never got around to repainting. I think one of them needs re-gluing, but I suspect that’s something Fiancé knows how to fix. I will put them in the back of my car and could get them to you on Knit Night. Let me know. Otherwise I think I will just drop them off at the thrift store, unless somebody else wants them.
I have the rocker that Dad made, which is broken, and which I cannot bear to trash. Once I find the missing piece, which I know I saw in the course of the move, I will get that to Brother Sushi for some day when he is absolutely bored and wants something to do. Occasionally he likes to put things together, as opposed to using his multiple-black-belt skills to take them irrevocably apart.
*Ducking*
I am still not sure where the two rattan chairs are supposed to go. I think one of them will end up in my room, and maybe I will put the other one out in the eating area of my kitchen, or find a spot for it in my studio. It would be nice for Brother Sushi, or any other dinner guest, to be able to sit and visit in comfort while I put the last touches on dinner.
Maybe if I move the small folding bookcase, which holds many of my favorite bits of crockery, to the other side of its wall by the front door?
Then I could put the drop-leaf table along the back of the couch [shown here with the Queen Chair on its right, and the rocker Dad made on its left]
and have room for both rattan chairs by the kitchen window.
Yeah, that works. I wish I had taken a picture of Best Friend sitting in the right-hand chair, chatting with me as I finished up the dishes. And maybe I will ask 2BDH to hang the cabinet I bought from Brother Stilts on one wall or another, out of the way.
I know that most of you who read my blog are deeply committed to your own faith, your own church, and that what you have, works for you. I respect that; God blesses all who honor true principles in their lives, wherever those principles are found. And He accomplishes His work through people of all faiths [and honorable people without a formal faith or belief]. I found this YouTube on Meridian; perhaps you will enjoy it as much as I did, and perhaps it may answer questions you didn’t know you had.
I was a good girl at Central Market; came home with a couple of blood oranges and two apples, some bananas, a quart of chicken stock, another ginormous potato, a round loaf of French bread, a week’s worth of granola and more of that gingerbread candy corn.
I loved tasting all the samples they had at the store. It was like grazing through Sam’s, only gourmet.
Best Friend confirmed that yes, the milk was going sour, so I poured it out on the compost pile where it can still work some magic.
What did I end up cooking? I baked up the last of the lasagna and drained the pasta water into a smaller pot, in which I boiled some fettucine for my lunch. I love my pasta portion measuring tool; now I never make too much or too little. I put the potato in the oven before leaving to get a fresh gallon of milk and ate half the potato for dinner, topped with chili and freshly-grated Asiago cheese.
Just before dinner, my nose started running. I don’t know if it’s because of how cold it is outside and the fact that I’ve been in and out all day [way more than I had planned], or getting used to the gas fireplace ~ which is simmering nicely behind me, and my living room is both warm enough and cool enough for my comfort ~ or if it’s a reaction to Wednesday’s flu shot. I don’t generally react to them, but last week was quite a week in some aspects.
I sent a query to a fellow Raveler about her stash of the turquoise Chelsea Silk. It would be lovely if we could come to an agreement on price and timing. I can’t do anything next Friday; that paycheck is already allocated elsewhere, but I should have a soupçon of wiggle room the following paycheck. We shall see.
Fourthborn, would you like the two green ladderback chairs? Not the one I call the Queen Chair [I want to keep that for myself and will probably repaint it some shade of red] or the one I never got around to repainting. I think one of them needs re-gluing, but I suspect that’s something Fiancé knows how to fix. I will put them in the back of my car and could get them to you on Knit Night. Let me know. Otherwise I think I will just drop them off at the thrift store, unless somebody else wants them.
I have the rocker that Dad made, which is broken, and which I cannot bear to trash. Once I find the missing piece, which I know I saw in the course of the move, I will get that to Brother Sushi for some day when he is absolutely bored and wants something to do. Occasionally he likes to put things together, as opposed to using his multiple-black-belt skills to take them irrevocably apart.
*Ducking*
I am still not sure where the two rattan chairs are supposed to go. I think one of them will end up in my room, and maybe I will put the other one out in the eating area of my kitchen, or find a spot for it in my studio. It would be nice for Brother Sushi, or any other dinner guest, to be able to sit and visit in comfort while I put the last touches on dinner.
Maybe if I move the small folding bookcase, which holds many of my favorite bits of crockery, to the other side of its wall by the front door?
Then I could put the drop-leaf table along the back of the couch [shown here with the Queen Chair on its right, and the rocker Dad made on its left]
and have room for both rattan chairs by the kitchen window.
Yeah, that works. I wish I had taken a picture of Best Friend sitting in the right-hand chair, chatting with me as I finished up the dishes. And maybe I will ask 2BDH to hang the cabinet I bought from Brother Stilts on one wall or another, out of the way.
I know that most of you who read my blog are deeply committed to your own faith, your own church, and that what you have, works for you. I respect that; God blesses all who honor true principles in their lives, wherever those principles are found. And He accomplishes His work through people of all faiths [and honorable people without a formal faith or belief]. I found this YouTube on Meridian; perhaps you will enjoy it as much as I did, and perhaps it may answer questions you didn’t know you had.
I was a good girl at Central Market; came home with a couple of blood oranges and two apples, some bananas, a quart of chicken stock, another ginormous potato, a round loaf of French bread, a week’s worth of granola and more of that gingerbread candy corn.
I loved tasting all the samples they had at the store. It was like grazing through Sam’s, only gourmet.
Best Friend confirmed that yes, the milk was going sour, so I poured it out on the compost pile where it can still work some magic.
What did I end up cooking? I baked up the last of the lasagna and drained the pasta water into a smaller pot, in which I boiled some fettucine for my lunch. I love my pasta portion measuring tool; now I never make too much or too little. I put the potato in the oven before leaving to get a fresh gallon of milk and ate half the potato for dinner, topped with chili and freshly-grated Asiago cheese.
Just before dinner, my nose started running. I don’t know if it’s because of how cold it is outside and the fact that I’ve been in and out all day [way more than I had planned], or getting used to the gas fireplace ~ which is simmering nicely behind me, and my living room is both warm enough and cool enough for my comfort ~ or if it’s a reaction to Wednesday’s flu shot. I don’t generally react to them, but last week was quite a week in some aspects.
I sent a query to a fellow Raveler about her stash of the turquoise Chelsea Silk. It would be lovely if we could come to an agreement on price and timing. I can’t do anything next Friday; that paycheck is already allocated elsewhere, but I should have a soupçon of wiggle room the following paycheck. We shall see.
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