Flowers for Joan, and other things.

ETA: I think Haloscan is down. (Either that, or they spontaneously decided to dump me.) That means no comments until ees feeksed. Ees feeksed! Ees no feekst again. It appears ees really feekst this time. YMMV.

Valentine's weekend we went to San Diego, and one day we hopped on the Coaster and went to Carlsbad to have lunch at our favorite restaurant. Bug was over. the. moon.



Cutest moment of the trip? When he said, "I am never ever ever getting off this train."

Squeak slept through the whole thing. SIL kept saying she was going to make a series of pictures of Squeak asleep in his carrier: Squeak on the train, Squeak on the beach, Squeak at Sea World, Squeak on the Midway...

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Look Joan, warm!


(Subtitled: "Sigh, fingerprints on THIS lens too.")

African daisies say warm to me, even before they're open for the day.

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I recently decided I need to eat better and cut out some of the sweets. I've spent the last couple of days eating every last cookie, candy, cake, ice cream and donut in the house so they won't be around when I start eating better. I think I'm ready now.

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My wool/dog hair blend handspun. First skein is about sport/DK weight, second skein is about aran. Apparently as time goes on, I tend to spin more bulky than when I started. o.0 (Click for embiggenation. The coin in those photos is an American quarter, btw.) The dog hair had a hidden issue, too - when I washed the yarn to set the twist, the kitchen stunk like wet dog for hours.



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I muscled in on some of Cookie's Joan-Along lace action. Joan sent me some lovely beads (I mentioned thinking about beads in passing to her, and they showed up on my doorstep. I think I'll tell her I've always been fond of Matt Damon and see what she can do.) I think I'll add them to the edging. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll replace every blinking nupp in the project with them. Or maybe not. It's hard for me to control my magpie tendencies when they get a-rollin'.

Lost. All lost.

My phone charger, the lid to my favorite pot, and several weeks. I got WAY more done around the house when I was working in the office than now.
But, in an effort to drag out my WIPs even longer than necessary, I started...
SPINNING!
Yes, Virginia, Elizabeth, there is a Santa Claus spinner here.

The fiber is something Big Alice sent me from Blue Moon, in (I believe) the Farmhouse colorway. I think it would be a lovely thing to spin, but mine is a little...used. (Rode hard and put away wet, actually.) It was the victim of a dog who didn't get to go on vacation and hence decided the rules were out the window, and the basket of fiber she'd ignored for years was now fair game. o.0 At the time, I didn't know which one it was, but now, given the color of the dog hairs happily entwined with the sheep hairs, I'm pretty sure I know the culprit.



She didn't actually ruin it - based on the condition of the fiber, the even distribution of the hairs, and what I saw her do with that one skein of acrylic, I think she spread it out and rolled around in it, so it's kinda matted.

It still spins pretty nicely, though. I imagine if Fluffy hadn't added her special touch, it would be fantastic.


Craptastic photo, bad background, pretty accurate color.

This is what I did much of yesterday:


Not shown: the beer on the table next to me, and the two-kiddie-crocs'-worth of sand that later ended up on the recliner. (Seriously, how can it not bother him to run around with a pound of sand in each shoe?)



Also possibly lost: my sanity. Yesterday whilst watching TV, a commercial for High School Musical 3 came on, and Bug instantly started dancing (which was strange because he was kinda reclining on a pillow on the couch). I am torn. If I buy HSM, 1, 2 or 3 (or otherwise own it or allow it in my house, thankyouverymuch peanut gallery) I will either kill myself, my family, or a group of random strangers on the street, just to make it stop. (Note to readers: No, I really won't.) If I don't, I won't get to see what might be the most hilarious toddler dance number ever, courtesy of my kid and his apparently uncontrollable twitching to that music. But seriously, I want to smack that Efron kid and that Tisdale girl (and kill myself that I even knew their names) whenever I see them. If I had to be in the house with a whole movie with them in it, it might be too hard to handle. The voices in my head might actually win...

Easily entertained

I set up for the sock club yesterday. Leaving aside the issue of how sad my memory is that by the time I finished wrapping these, I'd forgotten what was what (and in some cases, what I'd selected at all), how crazy is it that I'm so excited for it to be March 1 so I can give myself a surprise gift that I chose from items I already had? I mean really.

I am also entertained by the fact that it looks like I went crazy at the butcher shop.



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Check it out! Tucson got three feet of snow on Tuesday morning!



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When I was complaining about my bread fail, several of you suggested my yeast was old because it didn't rise. What I failed to explain (bread-fail-explanation fail!) was that it rose quite nicely when I first mixed the dough, and when I went to hack off a piece, it fell quite dramatically and never rose again. While that may also be a symptom of old yeast - domestic goddess I am not, so I dunno - it did at least rise SOME. I will be getting some fresh yeast anyway, just to make sure, but I think the fail was mine and not the yeast's.

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Look, knitting!



Charades, done toe-up, with Wendy's Slip Stitch Gusset heel (PDF).
Started mumblemumble, finished 2/10/09
Yarn was some prototype Dizzy Blonde in the prototype Jenla colorway. (I think the Dizzy Blonde told me the current Jenla colorway is lighter.)
Verdict: Love. I put them on to take the photo and didn't take them off. The Charade stitch pattern makes for less stretchiness than I'm used to, so keep that in mind if you're going to make these, but they're lovely, warm, snuggly, fit just right (despite the fact that they're two different sizes o.0) and I'm so thrilled to BE DONE WITH THEM.

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My kid thinks I'm weird. Amazing how astute the little buggers are, no?

Bread fail, stoned children, and an ode to the letter K

I think I am the only person in the world (seriously, it's even in Finland) who hosed my loaf of 5-minute artisan bread. (I think it was too hot in my kitchen, and I left it out too long.) My grapefruit sized loaf remained grapefruit sized even after baking, but I ate it anyway and it was DE. LISH. US. Seriously, must do it again. (And it was dense as all get out, and I think I gained four pounds from eating my one-pound loaf. And I don't care.)

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No, not my stoned children, and really, he was legally stoned by the oral surgeon. Remind me to bring a video camera to my kids' health appointments from now on.



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Cookie (do I really need to link to her anymore? you guys know Cookie.) gave me the letter K to list ten things I love.

1. Knitting
2. Knitting lace
3. Knitting socks
4. Knitting sweaters
5. Knitting hats
6. Knitting wool
7. Knitting silk
8. Knitting alpaca
9. Knitting cotton
10. Knitting buddies

What, too easy? (You would be saddened to know how long it took me to realize, hey, KNITTING starts with K...)

Okay, the real list.

1. Knitting (duh)
2. Key lime pie
3. Koalas
4. Kayaking (seriously, I need a lake)
5. That you can attend KNIT school
6. Kissing
7. Karma (only when the bad stuff isn't aimed at me!)
8. My kids (OMG that took an embarrasingly long time to come up with)
9. Kauai (must go back)
10. Knitting (cuz damn, I couldn't come up with anything else!)

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I'm playing the sock-club-from-stash game, starting on the first of March (hence, only doing ten). I have nine pattern/yarn combos picked out, and the tenth yarn. What pattern would you suggest for this?
ETA: nevermind!

A bit of crap, a little hate, and some Warm for Joan

First, the Warm.


(This was days ago - it's actually cool, gray and rainy today, which I love - will mean some fantastic allergies wildflowers for Joan.)

Second, the Hate.

I have discovered that I can EITHER have a life, or be caught up on the laundry, but not both.

(I said it was only a little bit.)

Third, the crap. (It's not really crap, most of it is awesome, but I'm tired of saying "Hey, I have some random stuff for you.")

Item 3.1 - Opal is way extra talented and I gots the goods, yo. (Ooh ooh, when I looked up her shop to link, I see she's having a sale!)


My photography does not do it justice. It's the perfect length, weight, sparkle, and it matches my earrings, though not the shirt I was wearing.

Item 3.2 - The other day, I went shopping at Ross, and when I stepped in the door, it was suddenly 1987. Sade was playing, and I was looking through such gems as these. Click for embiggenation, if you dare.


If you can't tell, the blue one has a tie painted on it, with a faux vest that says Rock and Roll. The white and black one is self ... (what did we call that, belted? tied?) with a plastic t-shirt ring off to one side.

Item 3.3 - Hey Cookie, I'm watching you.


And also, yes, I'm wearing neon orange eye shadow. And I'm rocking it.

Item 3.4 - I spend way too much time on YouTube these days. At least I haven't resorted to MAKING gems like these. Forget it. I can't even inflict this damage on you as a joke. Know that there are people out there with more free time, more access to bad music and lolcats, and less care for the rest of humanity than I have.

Item 3.5 - But I could watch this every freaking day and still laugh.



Item 3.6 - I will probably continue to embed videos in my posts until I get to the end of YouTube. And Vimeo.

Item 3.7 - Squishy sent me this (to show me the bridesmaid dress I will be wearing to her Texas Cheerleader Wedding) and it's too horrid not to share, point, and laugh. (As far as I can tell from various urban dictionaries, the use of which forever dooms me to geekdom, a chav is a white trash, gang banger wannabe, particularly one who leaves the education system and enters the welfare system at a young age. And a caravan is an RV.) I kinda wonder how the bride felt being interviewed for the "Outer Limits Tacky" article - if she took the "they're just jealous, cuz it was awesome" attitude, I might love her just a little.

Item 3.8 - I have actually been knitting a bit, and might soon have a looooong overdue FO.

love and hate.

Things I love:

• That my kid saw the ice cream truck at the park the other day and shouted, "Look Mama! The Song Truck!" and continued to call it that even after Daddy bought him ice cream from the window.


• That the little battery-powered train ride that goes around the pond at the park is Bug's idea of high-living.


• The way Squeak pops off after he's finished nursing, all milk-drunk, eyes rolling back in his head, milk dribbling from the corner of his mouth.


• Taking advantage of the weather and the lack of responsibility to enjoy myself.
  
  
  
  
• That when he's offered a gum ball from the box, Bug spends a good several minutes selecting the right color, going so far as to almost bite into one before he changes his mind and grabs a different one.


• Velvety purple petunias.
  


• Jackie Chan movies.


• February in Tucson.


• That people have no compunction about making fun of people who behave badly. (Warning, video NSFW, though the article is) I kinda want that on my iPod.


• That after six tries, I believe the heel on my second La Charade is done properly and at least resembles what I did on the first one. (Notes would have been handy.)


• That Squeak is finally starting to gurgle and coo like a happy baby, instead of alternating between "I'm having a giant poop" grunting, crying, and utter silence.


• As much as I love Bug and Squeak, the DH had his nethers snipped yesterday and I will be pregnant no more.


• The ribbon thing. Anyone know where I can learn this? (Note to Squishy: I'm wearing those teal/black hot pant things to your wedding.) (Prolly NSFW, but what do I care about that?)
  
  


• That when that song started playing, Squeak grinned and cooed.


• Somewhere a fun office environment exists (even if it's not *quite* this fun) and there are people who like their jobs. And I want to meet the SILF guy. And maybe steal his t-shirt.
  
  
  Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.(I know this is old, but it gives me hope.)


• This idea. I am too late for January, and I will use February to finish up some SIPs (that's socks-in-progress, y'all) and take my time to arrange for ten packages for the rest of the year.

Things I hate:

Um, I can't think of anything right now.

It's February!

Which means I should have started with the Joan-warming pictures YESTERDAY! I have an excuse, though. My punk-ass brother got married on Saturday, and there were more family things on Sunday, and then I napped. (Sorry, Joan.)



My dad was the best man. (Joan, please note these photos were outside. And I was wishing for a fan.) My little man was the ring bearer, or would have been if a) they had remembered to buy a pillow and fake rings, and b) he had consented to walk down the aisle to Grampa instead of burying his face in my shoulder. (Note the green grass behind him.)



The Bug took over the camera then. It was for the best - he fell asleep on the 10 minute drive to the venue and had to be woken up. He was NOT happy. I sat him in Squeak's stroller and he snapped away most of the night. He would have gotten some good photos later in the evening, if he hadn't managed to smear pizza grease (from the kiddie meal) on the lens of my camera. Sigh. He didn't do too bad, given that he aims the camera by holding the digital screen, instead of the little viewfinder lens, up to his eye.)



My new SIL is fantastic, but I just gotta ask - who told my punk-ass brother he could grow up into such a cool guy? Damn.