A Visit to the Decordova

If you live in this neck of the woods and want a nice place to walk around outdoors and see some sculptures, I recommend the Decordova Museum. However, when the heck did they start charging money? I was so irritated! Fortunately, it was a Sunday and they stop charging at 5PM, and we arrived at 4:45, so we went elsewhere for 15 minutes. All's well that ends well.

We used those 15 minutes to stop at the Lincoln Library:







Now, it is true that most of the pictures aren't even of the library, but whatever. That's how I roll.

Once we were at the Decordova, there were tons of sculptures to photograph. Here are a few of them, with a few nature shots mixed in, of course.











It was a beautiful afternoon, although a stiff breeze cooled things down a bit more than anticipated. The same cannot be said for this past weekend, which soared into the 80's! We'll evidently see 90 tomorrow, and it will then plummet back down into the 60's for the next week or so. Never a dull moment!

I'm in the Paper!

Click here to read the article!

So, there is not a photo online, but my smiling face made the actual article in the paper. It's an article about various girls' nights out, and the Lowell knitting gals made the cut!

There was one quote that I was afraid they were going to throw in there... at one point, I confessed that one year, I calculated that I had spent... um... $4000 on knitting stuff. (Yes, you may faint now) This was a long time ago, and I have no excuse for such lavishness. I'm willing to bet that all of that yarn has been knitted up by now, though, and as of this time for 2009, I have only spent $36 all year on yarn.

I got off lucky, though, and that ill-thought-out statement did not make the cut. However, one important quote got in there... "I think it's... really important to keep up female friendships." I stand behind that quote 100%. Over the course of my life, there have been periods of time where I did not have a lot of close female friendships, and I gotta tell ya... those times are not so great. Female friends provide a type of closeness, camaraderie, and support that a guy friend (or boyfriend/lover/what have you) just don't offer, and friendship is different from a romantic relationship. I think if I had to choose between being single but with a good group of girl friends, or being partnered but with no friends, I'd go with the former. Of course, I'm aiming to have both!

April vacation is coming up quickly. Today and tomorrow will probably go by pretty fast - our school has a Cambodian New Year show today. Students will be performing traditional dances and such - it's really cool. And tomorrow, I have an out-of-the-building meeting that lasts all morning, so tomorrow will go by quickly, as well. Then, a week of relaxing and perhaps even crossing a couple of things off the to-do list. I have populated the to-do list with a bunch of fun stuff... I want to try and make bagels, and an authentic mole' sauce, for instance. Unfortunately, I also have an appointment with a bank to review my mortgage (boring) and I think I'll get the garbage disposal replaced, too (money I wish I didn't have to spend).

Have a good one, everyone!

Jogging and Blisters and Allergies, Oh My!

So, I have been slowly and consistently increasing the amount of time/distance that I've been jogging, going out a couple of times a week, adding a minute or two to the total jog time each time I go out. It still feels like a struggle - I don't feel relaxed and comfortable yet, but I'm muscling my way through it. Muscles. Suuuuure, Amanda, lots and lots of muscles. *eyeroll*

At the same time, the weather has been getting warmer out, and if I go jogging in the afternoon after work, it has been shorts and t-shirt weather. Know what that means? I had forgotten all about it, actually... it means sweaty feet and BLISTERS. If you go all the way back to the beginning of this blog, you'll get a nice photo of one of the juicy blisters I tend to get when running. It's awful! Anyway, it seems that I do best running in 30-45 degree weather for this reason. Dagnabbit! And before you make a suggestion, I have tried various shoes, socks, no socks, powders, taping, lubing, etc. etc. etc. I have even toughened up that area of the foot... I blister UNDER the callus instead. It's ridiculous, really.

Additionally, a couple of years ago, I started suffering from springtime seasonal allergies. And of course, I have been telling myself that this was a fluke, and that I don't REALLY have allergies. However, when I came back in from my jog yesterday, I sneezed about 50 times until I rushed into the shower, ostensibly to rinse the pollen off of me. Time to get out that neti pot more than every few days, I suppose... Yeah, I guess I really do have allergies.

I am getting dangerously close to finishing my most recent knitting project, but have run into another error in the pattern. The other errors, of which there were several, were all easily sorted out without much head scratching, but this last one is a doozy. It may require some time consuming trial and error, but rest assured, there will be FO pics very soon!

The Surlies

Do you ever come down with a case of 'The Surlies', where you just feel surly for no good reason? I have been a bit crabby today, and also not very hungry at all, which is very odd indeed. I don't feel sick. I've been quite able to pull it together and be pleasant and polite and even cheerful toward other people as needed, but I really didn't FEEL like it.

In unsurly news, I have a couple of projects for myself that are quite close to completion. Here is a closeup of some knot stitches in the High Neck Lace Top (ravelry link) that I am about 75% finished with:




I was told that the knots looked like nipples by a non knitter... perhaps that is why I was drawn to the pattern!?!

A TERRIBLE Start to the Day!

My phone rang this morning before I had gotten out of bed. Fortunately, I decided to answer it, and it was my neighbor, telling me my car was getting towed! I threw on a pair of jeans under my wee nightie, and grabbed a jacket and my keys, and ran across the street in a most inappropriate state of semi-dress. I believe I was still wearing my night guard, but gracefully yanked it out before addressing the tow truck operator.

The upshot was that yes, he'd drop my car back down for a modest $75, in cash. The silly part of all of this is that I have NEVER, in all of the 4 1/2 years of living where I do, EVER, parked in that parking lot. I figured, hey, I'll be out of there by 7:30, who will care? Evidently, the owners of the parking lot care. Fortunately, so do my neighbors Brett and Suzz, and I am incredibly grateful that I had a car to drive to work in today!

On a more positive note, I had a nice evening last night after my bike ride. My friend came over and we wandered around downtown Lowell taking pictures. One of these days, I'd like to take a hobbyist photography course of some sort - I'd like to get even better shots than the ones that I do, as well as learn a few more tricks along the way.

Here are a couple of the photos I took:

Door on St. Ann's Church:


Canal next to Middlesex Community College:


Reflection in window at St. Ann's Church:


Lock doors behind Doubletree:


Desiccated, thorny plant with spider web:


I took a whole bunch of photos, but only edited/ cropped a few of them.

Ooh, today I am starting my tutoring job after work today! It is going to feel like a very long work day... I'm not used to working that many hours in a row! I will have to let you all know how it goes today...

Beautiful Day!

Wow, what a lovely day today turned out to be! The high winds cooled things off a bit, but it was sunny and warm for an early April day.

I managed to go for a bike ride outdoors, as well. I had a bit of a tough time getting started... I had decided to drive a few miles out of the city center so that the whole ride would be quiet and pleasant, and when I got to my destination (Gary's Ice Cream, yum), I realized I did not have my cycling shoes with me. Sooooo, back home to get the shoes. Try #2 was better, but I realized a few miles in that my water bottle was still in the car! I gazed adoringly at other cyclists' bottles, and even at a couple of brownish streams here and there... it made that lime rickey at Gary's that much more delicious once the ride was done!

I rode for about 1 1/4 hours; no clue how far I went. I kind of don't want to know, because I'm afraid it's like 12 miles or something embarrassing like that! Okay, it's probably longer than that, but still. I don't wanna know.

It was pretty windy, and my legs are a bit out of shape, but it was still beautiful out there. There was one point where I was riding past a place with a bunch of cows... the manure was making me feel a bit gaggy... but I survived!

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Can't Sleep.

I hate it when that happens! I even got into bed nice and early, like 10pm. 2 1/2 hours later, I have given up and am on the computer. I did find this, and would like to share it with you - you know on hand dryers they have the icons that show you what's going to happen? Well, here is another interpretation of the photos.



Oh, if only it were true.

All right, time to strive for sleep again...

Meet Max!

I know, two posts in one hour... but I had to give him his own post. I got the "okay" from his parents to post his picture online, so here goes!

My nephew was born this past Saturday! I have seen a few pictures, and even got to see him on video over Skype last night - he is all cute and great and I adore him already!

Here he is, modestly shielding his face from the paparazzi:


And here he is with Mom and Dad (my brother and his wife), looking all elf (or dwarf?) like for the trip home.


Now, August seems sooooo far away - that is when I booked a trip to go out for a visit. Max, I will totally bring presents, okay?

When it Rains, it Pours

While this IS a great post title for the nearing onset of April, it's not the reason I chose the title. There is a much better, much more long-winded reason for my title choice!

I have made many mentions of my plan to pay down certain amounts of debt over the next few years, and have also mentioned that I am still sticking to the plan. Actually, I just crunched the numbers for March, and not only did I meet my monthly paydown goal, I have a little over $100 surplus for the month. That might not seem like a lot, but trust me.... the paydown goal is really aggressive, and to have anything left over at the end of the month is quite an accomplishment!

Aaaaanyway, what is it raining in my world this year, ever since making this goal? It's raining part time jobs, believe it or not! Now, the jewelry 'business' has been slumping quite a bit, so I'm not really counting that, but I have that part time babysitting job and the knitting job already. And as of yesterday, I was offered another part time job out of the blue! I was running a little later than I would have liked to get to work (although still not technically late). I passed by a coworker from the downtown office, and she said, "I have your name on my desk." Hm, why might that be? Turns out, I had put in an application to tutor expelled students at the beginning of the year, but nothing had materialized from that. But now, there is a position available at a local homeless shelter for someone to help the kids who live there with their homework. I would get to use my social work skills, too, because the grant funding goals include family support, as well as generalized educational/social/academic support for the kids. I have an 'interview' on Wednesday, but was basicallly told by my pal from the downtown office, "let me know what hours you decide upon with the shelter manager". Wow. "Pardon me, ma'am, would you like a job that is just perfect for you?" "Why yes, yes I would." *insert several more wows here*

I think I have more jobs than I know what to do with at this point, but I am incredibly grateful to have this type of problem! There is also the possibility of part time work over the summer, which would be pretty cool. How did I get to be so lucky???

Almost April!

March is a very tedious month in the field of education, as I believe I have mentioned before. The thrill of snow and cold weather is definitely over, and kids and educators alike are suffering from cabin fever. There are no long weekends in March, and it's just one grindingly long day after another. The teachers are frazzled, and the kids pick up on that... and act like untrained monkeys (minus the poo flinging, in most instances). These untrained monkeys are sent to me in droves as teachers' abilities to wrangle them into their seats decreases - it's been interesting, to say the least.

At any rate, this dreadful month (referred to as the "longest three months of the school year" by a former coworker) will be over quite soon, and this is rather good news to me. Yes, April brings lots of sogginess and rain, but rain does not need to be shoveled or scraped off the car at the end of the day. April means that there will be days where a light jacket will do for warmth, rather than a scarf and heavy coat. April means a long weekend for Easter, and a week off for April vacation. April means spending time outside without preparing for frostbite prevention, it means green stuff will start to grow again outside, and it means longer amounts of daylight after work. The kids are able to get outside and run around and burn off that untrained monkey energy, and the school year is 3/4 over. All good things.

Speaking of good things, my nephew Max was born over the weekend! He considerately did most of the work of coming out during regular daytime hours, although I doubt that helped the new mom and dad get any sleep that night! I will post a picture once I get permission to do so from the parents... some people do not wish their kids' photos to be shared on the internet, and I'd like to respect those wishes! Of course, to me, he looks like MY side of the family, but I"m sure the other side of the family is thinking the same thing! In all reality, he just looks teeny and squished and raisiny, just like any baby, but he sure is cute to me.

Well, back to wild monkey wrangling... happy almost April, everyone!

The Decision

So, I went ahead and decided to do the triathlon. It's a short one, 1/4 mile swim, 8 mile bike, 3.1 mile (5k) run. I have done a bunch of triathlons in the past, but we're really talking about the distant past at this point, particularly given my current physical conditioning levels! I am decidedly more husky than I was when I was doing triathlons regularly, and man... you can fool yourself about the significance of that extra weight during regular life, but NOT when you try to go out for a run or squeeze into your old cycling shorts. NOT. PRETTY. Cycling clothing can make certain people look like superheroes... I think my current look is much more akin to that of a sausage.

mmmmmm. sausage.

I shot off a quick email to the race organizers to inquire about the course conditions, notably, the average water temperature and the hilliness of the bike/run. I received a speedy response: the water temp is generally around 71-74, and the bike/run has "rolling hills". Sure, I would have liked to have received words that included "fast" and "flat", but... that is not the case. I suppose I will need to chart out some hillier bike and run courses, yes?

I sat on my bicycle for the first time in a while about a week ago and again last night. People, racing saddles are so very narrow. So very, very narrow. So narrow that I suspect the entire saddle is invisible to the observer, having hidden itself so far up my behind. (oh, my!) Will my posterior ever adjust? I do hope so. Hm, now that I think about it, it does not seem to hurt at this very moment, so maybe things are looking up. Otherwise, I might be tempted to purchase a new saddle, which might well push me over the precipice of the extremely slippery slope that is... PURCHASING TRI GEEK GEAR. Fortunately, I own an awful lot of tri-geek gear already... wetsuit, neoprene helmet for cold water swimming, aero bars, cycling shoes, various outfits, race belts, fuel belt, snazzy sunglasses, helmet, indoor trainer, etc. etc. etc... but I will most certainly need a new trisuit (see above 'sausage' reference) and possibly a new saddle, and maybe some Endurox R4, Hammer gel, bike gloves... you see where this could possibly lead!

I have also been thinking about the fact that we are entering the rainy season. I'm mentally preparing myself for some very damp runs and bike rides. Bleaugh!

Anyway, it's Friday, people! Even better, it's lunch time! This weekend promises to be a good one: weekly chores are already finished (except for vacuuming, so wear socks if you're coming over); the weather may be nice enough for an outdoor bike ride tomorrow, and tomorrow evening I'm going to a Horrorthon (10 hours of scary movies) at a friend's house. What fun!

Oh, Brother.

So, it is possible that my friend Katy may be talking me into doing a triathlon this summer. She has never done one, and it has been a few years since I have done one... it is very safe to say that both of us have a lot of work to do if this thing is actually going to happen.

More details later... I already have my jogging outfit laid out for after work today. Wish me luck!

Happy Spring!

So no, this picture is not from this year, but I am looking forward to spying arrival of the first flowers, to be sure!

How is it only Wednesday???

I guess some weeks tick by a bit slower than others. Not sure what it is about this particular week that makes it feel like the second hand got stuck and is plinking against some invisible barrier, working like heck to make the next second pass. By right, this week should be sailing delightfully by - spring has been flirting with us, with tweeting birds in the morning, warm springy air on our faces in the afternoon, sunlight still available for our enjoyment well past 6 PM.

But, nooooooo. For some reason, I am getting a "Groundhog Day" feeling about this week, like, "wasn't it just Wednesday YESTERDAY???" Evidently, it was not, much to my dismay.

ANYway... did everyone have a nice St. Patrick's Day? I did nothing St. Patricky other than wearing a greenish shirt to work, and going to an Irish pub the day before... things were pretty dead in there, actually. I met up with some Lowell area knitting friends, and we had a nice time, until a very slurringly drunk 'gentleman' decided it was high time to come on over and chat us up. Oh, it was a train wreck. His opening line was something to the effect that if he was sitting with us, he would see it as a very big insult that we were knitting... like we were ignoring our table mates. Yeah, way to go dude... alienate every single person at the table with your opening statement! I contradicted him, and he then guessed (sharp one, he was) that I was the one at the table who thought he was rude and obnoxious.

Things only went downhill from there, and he got angrier and angrier with each thing I said to him. I finally told him to leave us alone (much more politely than he deserved), but it took a few tries to get him to buzz off. Poor, poor drunk Patrick... he's probably home blogging about those arrogant b!tches at the bar who wouldn't give his wonderful self the time of day... wouldn't that be apt!

For those who are interested, I am continuing to do well with my new year's financial challenge to myself. Perhaps at the 6 month mark, I will make a more detailed report on that front.

Knitting: I continue to be knitting for other people, so have no new pictures, although I may have a new spinning picture for you within the next week - stay tuned!

Knitting Content!

Yes, yes, yes! I have knitting to share. Last weekend, I went to "SPA" weekend up in Freeport, Maine. There was yarn, fiber, and there were many, many knitters and spinners. It was very relaxing and I enjoyed myself. Also, I only spent $16 on yarn/fiber! We will not, however, discuss my meal budget, which was slightly higher. SLIGHTLY.

Here there be mittens!



The pattern is Bella's Mittens (Ravelry link) by Marielle Henault. The yarn is Classic Elite Tryst, which is 100% cashmere. These mittens are deliciously soft! I added two cable repeats to make them long enough... they were way too short for me otherwise. If you make these mittens, definitely try them on before decreasing for the fingertips... or else you risk having to back up and do some lengthening. My hands are not as long as you would think give my height, so I know of what I speak.

Next up, some handspun yarn! I got the fiber from Lynne/ Witchypoo, who dyed up this hot, hot, hot pink superwash merino just for me. I spun it up right away, since I couldn't wait to see how it would turn out!


It's pink, all right! I got about 425 yards of sock weight yarn... those are going to be some exciting socks!

And finally, some fiber that I got from Sereknity... we bartered - fiber for jewelry. Looky those colors!



Well, here ends the fibery update... hopefully, there will be more soonish!

For those of you who live in my general area of the world... how 'bout that weather today - it was gorgeous!!! I was out of the house all day, and left the windows open... my apartment smelled so fresh and airy when I got home. It was verrrrry nice.

Sick of Winter Yet?

Because I'm not... at least, not quite yet. True, we'be been pummeled by snow, ice storms, snow, sleet, rain, snow and snow, and because of those factors my summer will be shortened by over a week, but I am not quite sick of it yet.

I have talked about this fact with a few different people and have come to a conclusion... it's the snow and the cold that get people down during the winter, and I have to deal with those two factors less than other people who live near me. First off, the snow: I live in a condo AND I park my car in a garage, so I am not responsible for any snow removal duties at all. Also, on especially bad days, I don't even have to drive to work, because it gets canceled. And, even if it is snowy and I have to go to work, it's only a couple of miles away - not exactly grueling. I remember last year when it took some coworkers 7 hours to drive home during a particularly ill-timed storm, it indeed took me 3 times longer than usual to get home... but... uh... it only took 30 minutes. Not exactly a hardship.

This brings me to the cold. My workplace is unpleasantly hot, so no shivering at work. Also, my home is all warm and cozy, so no shivering at home, either. I am sensible enough to put on long underwear when it is necessary for outdoor activities or what have you, so the cold isn't that terrible, either.

Now, don't get me wrong... this 'winter doesn't suck THAT bad' bravado usually lasts me until partway through March, and then I hit a wall. At that point in time, my feet start yearning for the spring's first pedicure and a pair of squishy flip flops, and I get super sick of putting on wool socks, sweater, hat, mittens, and scarf (under a warm coat, of course) every dang time I want to leave the house. I want to hear a damn bird tweeting, I want to enjoy an iced coffee, and awesomest of all, I want to know that I don't have to go to work for WEEKS! (that fact is why I don't feel all that bad about summer getting shortened - how in the world could I possibly whine about getting 7 weeks of vaca instead of 8? that would just be bitchy)

Speaking of summer vacation, I am starting to cook up some plans. I want to possibly go out to visit my brother and their new baby, who will be born some time in the next few weeks, and I am also thinking about whether or not I want to get some kind of part time job. The more I think about that one, though, the less possible I think it is... I work a week past when school ends, and have to go back a week before it starts... add in a week of traveling, and then I'm not that great of a summer hire, now am I? Good - scratch working off the list, haha!

In a few more hours, I'll be off to Maine for a nice, long weekend of relaxing and knitting. I do think I'm bringing my camera and laptop, so maybe I'll find the time to do some updates. I started my first knitting project last night, to get the ball rolling. New mittens by sunup? We'll see!

Coraline

I went and saw the movie Coraline last night with my friend Marianne. If you haven't heard about it, it is a stop-motion, 3-D film, and is visually glorious to watch! I really enjoyed it, and am so glad I made the time to go and see it.

After I got home, I wasn't feeling all that great, so I went to bed at 9. I never do that, but I tell you what - I was super happy about that decision once the alarm went off this morning. I wouldn't QUITE use the phrase, "fresh as a daisy", but I still felt a whole lot better than I had when I went to sleep.

I'm getting pretty excited for tomorrow. Right after work, I will be heading up to Maine with Marianne and Nancy to "SPA", which has been referred to as the "knitting jamboree" by a certain non-knitting friend of mine. It's an apt enough name, to be sure! For the first time in a while, I have knitting FOR MYSELF planned, so there will actually be pictures to share, once the weekend is over. SPA is a gathering of many knitters, with no real game plan other than to hang out and knit and buy yarn and ogle each other's projects and go out to eat and shop in Freeport and whatever else... I have picked out a few projects to work on, most of which are small and fairly simple and will be easy enough to work on while chatting with other people.

Speaking of knitting, it might seem like I haven't done much of it in 2009... but I have actually completed 7 2/3 projects since the new year, just all for pay! There has been a sweater dress, a ribbed vest, a lace cardigan, a pair of sleeves, a bamboo pullover, panels for a knitted bag, a pea coat, and a halfway finished hat. They have all been cool patterns to work on, and I keep looking forward to the next project. What will those designers come up with next! One of the odd things is that I am always knitting up a size "small", meaning I never get to really see what the items would look like on me (well maybe the hat), since I am certainly not a small individual. And, barring some sort of wasting disease, I will never be a size small in the future! It sure is nice to knit such small garments, though... it goes a bit faster!

Anyway... I am debating whether or not to take my laptop up to SPA so I can post pics as the weekend goes along. I will certainly bring the camera!

Faster than a Speeding Glacier!

I was feeling very antsy today, what with all of the knitting for moneys I've been doing lately - I have to get up off the sofa every so often so as to ensure that the fibers from the upholstery don't start to meld to my backside. So, I decided that I'd go out for a walk/jog/ shuffle type bout of exercise activity. I checked the temperature, 40 degrees. Not too bad at all! What I did not account for was the wind - dear lord, I was popsicle-ized by the time I got home!

However, I did survive, and the cold definitely caused an increase rate of hustle.

I have this entire next week off from work. I already took care of the 'clean my apartment' portion of the to-do list, and really, that was the only one that would have been nagging at me had I not taken care of it. Now, it's back to knitting and relaxing.

A Good Time was Had by All!

As most of you seemed to remember, my birthday was yesterday! Wednesday evening, I was bestowed some delicious cupcakes, some soffffft yarn, and a bottle of wine. Thursday, my coworker baked me a cake, and in the evening, I went out for tasty beverages with friends.



The drink above was called an 'island girl'. It was mostly just fruity, and was 100% delicious! I had a very nice time chatting and laughing with friends... I couldn't have asked for a nicer evening! After I went home, I had a cupcake. Delicious!

Only Wednesday?!?

How can that be? Stuff and nonsense! Someone has clearly made a clerical error.

I don't know why, but this week is CRAWLING by. Ugh!

We have been getting pummeled by snow this winter, and it has started to affect my commute. On the way to school, there are a couple of roads where oncoming traffic is unable to pass one another... you have to time it right so that one of you can swerve in behind a parked car, let the other person pass, and then you can swerve back out and continue on your way. This fact made me late today as a school bus and a garbage truck encountered one another along the way... it is very difficult for such large vehicles to 'swerve' anywhere, and we all sat around mulling over various options. Eventually, a move was made and we all went along our merry ways... but I was still late.

I babysat again the other day. I created a new favorite game called 'monster'. It requires no fancy equipment, no skill... you place the child underneath the kitchen table, and then you pretend to be a monster, trying to catch the child and eat him. Fortunately, one need not be fast in order for this to be fun, because the game lasts longer if you never catch him/ her. I peppered in a few 'you look delicious' and 'I think I will add ketchup' phrases, and we had good fun for almost 45 minutes. 45 MINUTES! I then was getting understandably bored, so I said, "let's go do something else." He replied, "Okay, let's go play 'monster' in the other room!" Uhhhh.. not different enough! I guess I came up with a winner. I'll bet he was nice and tired that night, too!

I am still doing loads of secret 'not for me' knitting. In between, I am making slow progress on the B-Side Cardigan - slow because it's DK weight yarn on small needles, and it's knit in one piece up to the armpits... I think I have a few more inches to go until I get up to the pits, though. I'm excited to get to wear it someday; something tells me it is going to be a great go-to sweater.

Ooh, I have the January review for you, regarding my New Year's resolution to save money and pay off debt. If it hadn't been for my car repair bill, I would have had a stellar month! I wrote down every penny I spent and earned, and definitely noticed the difference when it came time to pay bills - not only did I shave off money owed by cutting bills (as previously discusses), but that bit of knitting and babysitting I did definitely added up to a noticeable amount of money. Unfortunately, the car repair means that my tax return will go *poof* as soon as I get it...

Beef Induced Bliss

So, I don't eat meat that often these days, but I find myself cooking it now and again. Recently, I decided I'd cook beef stew for my knitting friends. However, the entire process takes a long time, so I decided to cook it the night before they usually come. That night was tonight.

I have never made beef stew before, but I cruised the internet and found a recipe I thought sounded good. Anything called 'ultimate beef stew recipe' ought to be good, right? Indeed, it was fantastic! Someone had mentioned to me recently that they had beef stew with mushrooms in it, and they really are good - they turn sort of silky smooth and wonderful in the stew. The recipe also called for a horseradish sour cream sauce, which was okay, but not necessary. I did add some corn starch to thicken things up a bit, and used less red wine and more beef broth to balance it out, but all of the other flavors were perfect as is. Some unusual ingredients included large strips of orange zest and ground cloves... I really do think the orange zest added something special.

My tummy is happy and warm. Yumbo!

I hear we are getting another large pile of snow tomorrow. That might mean no knit night... I guess that might also mean more stew for me! Don't worry, ladies, this recipe will DEFINITELY make it back into the rotation in the future!

Sniffles, Speed Knitting

I have had the sniffles this week. Not a super stuffed nose, just really runny and ouchy. I do hope it stops soon - it is so runny, it woke me up at night, running right out of my nose! (ewwww)

I have been doing a fair bit of knitting, but as I have already noted, it is not sharable at the moment. When it IS sharable, I shall simply point you in the direction of pictures from the pattern book! Too cool - it occurred to me that indeed, the items that I'm knitting will be the ones modeled for the pattern books... neato! I handed in the first project, and now have a cardigan and a cabled vest to churn out.

Sorry for the pathetically short post - it is bed time and I totally have to sneeze. Again.

Vehicular Update

So, a couple of people pointed out to me that I had not blogged about what finally ended up happening with my car. What happened was painful. Ouchy. Worse than stubbing a toe, then dropping an anvil on it. The upshot is, they couldn't replicate the scrapy noise, but the exhaust issue they said was coming down the pike finally came to fruition, along with word of a catalytic converter that needed replacing. Oh, and I was also due for the 'do these things every 30,000 miles or your car will die' maintenance... of course, that list is an expensive one. The good news, if you can call it that, is that the car will hopefully be retired before it needs another one of those maintenance visits.

The whole shebang was rather expensive. Like, several weeks' net salary expensive. However, the car is still running, has been starting up without complaint even in this ridiculously cold weather, and the shop says the Skittle will hopefully be in action for another 20-30,000 miles. That is good news, particularly because I only drive about 7,500 miles a year these days.

So, needless to say, the whole 'spend no unnecessary money and sell a kidney on the black market' plan is in full effect. I actually babysat today for a few hours today. It was the first time in YEARS that I have babysat, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and let's face it - I have over 20 years' experience working with kids - I am a ridiculously overqualified babysitting machine. It was like riding a bicycle - we were playing games, building stuff, and I was calmly suggesting that he not throw ALL 52 cards up in the air all at the same time. Conveniently, he totally bought the act (you know, the act that I tooootally knew what I was doing). He even fell for the old 'cleanup as competition' trick that my mother taught me - at one point, I needed to use the bathroom, but was not sure what trouble he'd get into while I was out of the room, so I challenged him to a race: he needed to clean up the puzzle before I returned, and yes, it worked like it always does. Huzzah! What's even better? I evidently tired him out so much that he took a 3 hour nap after I left and went to bed on time tonight. Naturally, I won both him and his parents over with that.

Even better than that is that I will be paying for my groceries in cash for the next two weeks. Yesssssss.

Brr, and no knitting pics!

We are having record cold weather - it hasn't been this cold in five years, as a matter of fact! When the temperature dips below a certain temperature, I can feel the cold radiating in from the windows... and it wakes me up at night. Last night, I rolled over to face the window, and the cold woke me up. Fortunately, I had the wherewithal to roll over and face the other direction!

Now, I am not complaining about the cold - I have a warm place to live, loads of cozy sweaters, and don't work outside. It's definitely freezly out there, but I'll survive.

So, yeah, no knitting pics now, or possibly for a little while... I have found another source of a little extra income, doing some test knitting for pattern writers. I am rather sure that I am not allowed to photograph and show off the patterns prior to publishing, so no pictures - sorry people! I'll just have to come up with other things to photograph.

In the meantime, stay warm, people... it is currently 8 F here... and will be -1 F when I have to WALK to a meeting tomorrow morning, 45 minutes after sunrise. triple brr! I will be wearing long underwear, to be sure. And warm jeans. And wool socks, mittens, sweater, scarf, hat, multiple shirts, down parka, and possibly a kooky giant shawl over the whole ensemble. If so, there will also be large sunglasses to hide my face, so as to hide my identity. Crazy wool lady, that is me. Yeehaw!

New Socks

A few years ago, I made a concerted effort not to buy any new yarn and knit only from my stash, and the plan worked quite well. Now, it is time to do that again, and wow... I have a lot of really pretty yarn! I joined a 'stash knit down' group on Ravelry, and one of the groups-within-a-group is a 'personal sock club'. The idea is that you pick out several sock yarns, and pair them with patterns. Each month, you pull out a new yarn/pattern combo, and away you go. The first one for 2009 is Mad Color Weave using Shibuiknits Sock yarn.


Ain't it grand? The slipped stitches break up the minor pooling, and I love how the elements on the side split off down the foot and heel.

I took a one-evening intermission from knitting these socks, because I was struck by the desire to knit a reusable Swiffer dry mop cover. I cruised Ravelry, found a crocheted loopy cover, and decided to make a knitted version of my own:



It is not exactly a thing of beauty, but it is rather functional, picking up surprisingly large amounts of dust bunnies and lint and such from the floor. I would call it a success! It took about 1.4 ounces of that cotton Sugar and Cream yarn. It probably should/could take a bit less, as the 'sleeve' part really should be a bit shorter. I may tweak the pattern and then write it up in case anyone is interested.

Now, I have started up on the B-Side Cardigan by Cosmicplutoknits. It is a fabulous cardigan that I will knit up in black, and will hopefully serve well as a go-to piece to throw on over anything and everything. Here's hoping!

A Bad Noise

Well, just in time for me to try minimizing expenses, my car started making A BAD NOISE. Sort of a scraping, flapping situation. A brief, uneducated under-car inspection (by me) resulted in no visual conclusion, other than the conclusion that my jeans had gotten salt stains on the knees.

This happened last night, which was rather ill-timed, as I had an important appointment to get to today, not to mention getting to and from work and whatnot. So, here is the part of the story where I explain that, even when things aren't working out, they somehow work out. Last night, I determined that Enterprise (car rental place) is less than two miles away from my mechanic. So, I reserved a car online, and made sure to get to the mechanic right when they opened this morning. I had planned to walk to Enterprise, as usually the mechanic does not have a shuttle running on Saturdays. This would have been a bit unpleasant, as the temperature was in the teens this morning, and it was a bit breezy. Also, the sidewalks (where there are sidewalks) are all lumpy and freezy and definitely difficult to navigate while remaining vertical.

But for some reason, they had a shuttle running today, so instead of hoofing it 2 miles in the freezing cold, I had a nice, warm ride. And, there was no line at the car place, so I was in and out in plenty of time to get to my appointment.

What is this important appointment? Well, I know I said I was not going to get a job, but... I decided that babysitting 1-2 times a month isn't quite as terrible as flipping burgers or selling stuff. So, today I met with a family who has a young son who needs looking after now and again, and yay! they liked me. A few more bucks flowing in the correct direction. Huzzah! Now, I just hope that the noise that my car was making was not an EXPENSIVE NOISE. I hate expensive noises.

Excellent tip, readers!

Several of you contacted me, either through comments or backchannel email, suggesting that I save money by doing meal planning. I could not agree more - I have been on the meal planning bandwagon for some time now, and it saves a ton of money, not to mention preventing food waste!

It has become a regular routine for me to sit down with a cookbook every week or so, and pick out a couple of recipes to buy ingredients for. I have even been known to look through my cabinets to see what various canned foodstuffs might already be at hand, to make the recipe even cheaper.

In addition to buying ingredients for a couple of recipes, I always get milk, eggs, cheese, bread, cottage cheese, fruit, peanut butter and jelly, cereal... you know, the stuff that you can cobble together a quick meal with once you have eaten the recipes, and before you feel like going to to the grocery store again!

I estimate that I spend as little as $30 and as much as $60 on groceries in any given week. Usually in the $40-$50 range... I have no idea if that is normal for one person, but that is what it costs for me. Another grocery related saving tip is to avoid buying prepackaged snacks... they are empty calories, and it is easy to inhale 20 bucks' worth in just a few days - especially if you are pro-snack, like I tend to be, if my true snacking urges are left unchecked! Also, you can try to center your recipes around ingredients that are on sale that week.

This week, my snazzy recipe was pork chops cooked with red cabbage and apples, alongside some herbed cooked carrots... 'twas rather tasty!

Finally, a gigantic knitting update
And we're talking gigantic!

I'm just going to blast you with images and very brief details... these days, all of the specs like pattern, needle size, yarn used are well taken care of on Ravelry. My knitting friends can view them there, and my non knitting friends don't need to be bored by having to look at the details here.

First up, a zig zaggy scarf with a pattern name of Isobel:


Next up, a couple of pairs of felted clogs - the nicer looking pair went to my sister for Christmas, and the lamer pair was made of leftovers from various Christmas knitting projects. They look a bit weird, but they are warm and cozy and remind me of the other projects I made with the yarn:





Next is actually a crochet pattern; it is a baby blanket for my future nephew. My grandmother supplied the yarn, and I supplied the obsessively fast crocheting. My grandma was the one who taught me how to crochet when I was young, so this was an appropriate gift from the both of us:


Next, Christmas stockings for my brother, his wife, and the new baby. After all, it would seem weird for them to have stockings with their names on them, they HAVE to say "mom" and "dad", right?


Here is another crocheted project, the One Skein Scarf, made from leftovers:

And here is a lovely scarf knitted from Malabrigo Lace yarn, the pattern is the Plum Lotus Scarf pattern:


Next up, is the Arbor Sweater, which I knit over the Christmas vacation. It has an I-cord bindoff at the neck, which makes the neckline very stable, rather than stretchy or droopy... a lot of scoop necks tend to sag all over the place, but not this one:


I don't know why I'm burying them way down here in the post, because I'm quite proud of these socks - I knit them with yarn I spun myself:


These next three sweaters were finished a little while ago, but I got my sister to take pictures of me wearing them, rather than me taking a picture of the sweater lying on the floor, as is my custom:




And finally, a groovy pair of socks that I initially wanted to knit for my sister for her birthday, but that never quite worked out... so I gave them to her as a 'just because' over Christmas.



Whew. I hope you enjoyed the parade of knitting pictures. I already have another project to photograph and yet another that I'm currently working on... we'll see how I do about getting them up here on the ol' blog!

Resolutions, past and present

In 2008, I was able to make my first resolution that I've ever kept throughout a whole year: to reduce my plastic bag usage. I would rate my efforts as quite successful, actually! I made the following changes:

1. Got and used reusable shopping bags, for groceries, the mall, whatever... at first, I would sometimes forget the bags, but now, it is totally an ingrained habit, and I pretty much always grab a shopping bag before leaving the house.

2. Made reusable produce bags for fruits/ vegetables - I made the bags out of nylon mesh, with drawstrings, and have been using them all year quite successfully. They have weathered the washing machine quite nicely, as well.

3. Carried a giant purse/bag/satchel thingy - for when I forget the shopping bags.

4. Separated wet garbage from dry garbage - dry garbage can be collected in a separate container and emptied into the dumpster; the container can be reused. Wet garbage still needs a plastic bag, though.

So, a simple success that I will certainly continue over the coming years. I even gave reusable produce bags to a couple of people for Christmas - spread the reusable joy!


So. What about this year? This year, I don't have any original ideas... so I am defaulting to an old tried and true resolution: to spend less money and reduce my debts. The problem? The monthly bill total is painfully close to my monthly income... a typical problem, I'm sure! So, how to pay off more debt (mortgage and student loan being the chief offenders) without getting... *shudder* a second job!!!! (retch, moan, blarf)

Here is what I have already done:
1. Quit the gym. I got funny looks going in 2 days after New Years asking to QUIT the gym - it was hilarious!
2. Decrease my cable package. This one is going to be painful. No more DVR, no more fancy channels. Basic network channels ONLY now. *sob*
3. Decrease Netflix package.
4. Fortunately, my monthly escrow payment for my real estate tax actually went down this year. Whew.
5. Decrease my cell phone package.

Here is what I plan to do:
1. Write down everything I spend.
2. Review my automobile and homeowner's insurance packages - perhaps a bit of fat can be trimmed there?
3. Brainstorm other non-spending ideas... beg blog readers for help? (ideas that do not include stealing ketchup packets from restaurants, if you please)

I thought about adding in money making schemes, like increasing jewelry sales, or selling more doll clothes (sewn and knitted), but if the past few years have taught me anything, it is that I love making stuff, but really HATE the marketing and selling aspects, so I wanted to shy away from that as much as possible.

Check this out - with the changes listed above, I have already shaved about $260 off my monthly bills, which will add up to $3120 by the end of the year. Amazing! I could use it to pay off more debt, or could put some away for a new water heater... a new mattress... a new CAR! :)

And, with just those changes, I will have paid $12,480 LESS in monthly bills by my 40th birthday - which is the date by which I hope to buy said new car. MMMMm.... new carrrrrr...

One reason to dislike the snow

In general, I like snow. It is pretty, and the whole 'winter wonderland' thing is pretty appealing to me. The main issue I have with it is its ability to bring modern transportation to its knees. It is not quite so bad now that I work somewhere that frequently is closed when the snow is really bad... but the worst part is this: people who are unable to get to their families for special occasions, like, say, Christmas.

For instance, my brother and his wife are going to miss Christmas with us this year. They are snowed in and there is no chance that they will make it here. I am going to guess that it would have been the last Christmas for a while that we'd see them - once their baby is born, I would assume that they would want to stay closer to home and celebrate as a family, much as we did when I was a kid. I'm at least glad that they have each other to be with... and with modern technology, we can take lots of pictures, and maybe even chat by webcam and such.... but still.

I don't always like the snow.

We made it to the 21st!

Yep, the days are going to start getting longer now. Most excellent!

So, this past Friday, they called off school in anticipation of a big old grody snowstorm. Right on cue, it started snowing within 20 minutes of when it was predicted by forecasters... next time, try to be more accurate, willya? Sheesh.

Anyway, it snowed Friday. It snowed lightly all day Saturday. And, it snowed all day today - the weather just reported that we got 13 inches here! Dude! I did bundle up and wander outside this afternoon, and snapped a couple of pictures. By the way, one of the most useful Christmas gifts I ever got was a pair of gaiters - my shoes and lower pants region remain nice and dry and snow free - and I can happily hop into (and through) snowdrifts without worrying about frosty ankles. They are the best; observe:


Looky those gaiters - I highly recommend gettin' some for general snow-traipsing purposes, not to mention snowshoeing or cross country skiing. Or looking totally awesome. As an aside, I was sorta falling over while taking that picture - I lifted my leg up in the air to get a good angle, and was sorta teeeeetering over while the camera snapped. What I won't do for a good shot!

Here are a few more pictures I took, starting with a street shot. I imagine that this is about what it would look like 100 years ago - not a car in sight, and the reproduction gas lamps give it an old timey flair... whaddya think? I mean, you have to ignore the parking meters, but...


Here's another festive street shot:



Some pointy snow:



No, thanks, I think I'll stand:



Toot, toot!



Can you see me?



How about now?



You can't tell in the picture, except maybe on my chin, that my face is all wet with melty snow. Also, I took my hood down for the pic, which is why my head is not all snowy. Observe the scarf... that is how snowy I'm sure my head would have been otherwise. :) It's not the most glamorous shot, but it's hard to be glamorous in a driving snowstorm! Under the circumstances, I think I look damn good. (Like that snowflake in front of my eye? That was a lucky shot!)

But speaking of looks, check it out... my age is starting to show... I spy a frowny wrinkle between my eyebrows! I will wear it with pride... my face wrinkles are going to all be related to smiling or making funny faces, which I consider to be a reflection of my personality. I'm sure there are some excellent eyebrow raising related wrinkles beginning to form under the brim of that hat, too! And I'm not ashamed to admit that the ones between my eyebrows are quite pronounced when i wake up in the morning, from my face being all relaxed all night or something. I assume that happens to other people, too, but I don't generally see people immediately after they get up in the morning, so have no frame of reference. Or, is it just a phenomenon that happens to stomach sleepers and side sleepers? Maybe it doesn't happen to people sleeping on their backs! Something to think about... maybe they get mega wrinkles on the backs of their heads instead! hahaha!

A Wintry Update

So, I have been quite lax in bloggifying, haven't I? Part of it is because much of my knitting has been sooper sekrit lately, and part of it is because we are now down to 9 hours of daylight per day, which means very little photography time every day. I'm hoping I'll be able to get some good pictures of the secret knitting next week, once the cat's out of the bag.

So yes, we are now at the time of year when the days are their shortest. Every fall/ winter, I look forward to December 21, the day when the days finally start getting longer, slowly but surely. It is fairly depressing to only be able to enjoy 45 minutes of daylight every day! It's not quite so horrible this year, since my office has a window that looks into the hallway, and there is a skylight in the hallway. I can't see outside, but I can see evidence of daylight. Someday, I will either live or work SOMEWHERE I can see the ground or the sky or something!

This part of the world has been experiencing some terribly icy weather. Tens of thousands of people are still without power since last Thursday, and we had more windy, icy weather today. It took me 30 minutes to chip the ice off of my windows after work today - my entire car was encased in almost 1/4 inch of ice! If it weren't so annoying, it would have been pretty amazing. I don't know if I've ever had THAT much ice on my car!

To make matters worse, we are expecting more snow on Friday, possibly 6+ inches. That is not such terrible news for me personally, but for people who still don't have power, the inclement weather just slows down the progress of the power line workers.

Anyway, I have been knitting and crocheting like a crazy woman - I have completed 7-8 projects (or so) since Thanksgiving, only one of which was a one-night type of project. I will share pictures when I can!

Black Friday

Have any of you ever gotten up EARLY on the Friday after Thanksgiving to take advantage of the Black Friday sales? I never had, until this year. There were a few items I found in the sales circulars that were such good deals, it made me believe that perhaps 4 AM was a perfectly reasonable time to go to the mall!

I accidentally woke up at 3 AM and couldn't fall back asleep, partly because I had to take a visit to the lavatory, and partly because I am very, very sensitive and my body was all out of whack - my home is very warm, and I'm used to sleeping in a pretty warm environment. My parents' house is much cooler, and all day Thursday and Friday, I was hotcoldhotcoldhotcold.

I tossed and turned until about 4:30, when I decided to get up and go to Bon Ton, which is similar to Macy's, I suppose. They had this great Pyrex set for 75% off the regular price. I arrived at quarter to 5, which was 45 minutes after they opened, which was evidently too late to get the set - all sold out! Jeesh! It was just as well, because there were lines 50 people deep ALL OVER the store. It was amazing.

So, I drove around to the other side of the mall to Sears, and waited outside in line for 15 minutes, until they opened at 5 AM. When the doors opened, I walked in, grabbed the microwave I wanted (60% off regular price with sale + rebate), paid right away, and walked right out. Easy peasy.

Then, off to Target across the street. They didn't open until 6, so I waited in line outside for 45 minutes. I was definitely starting to get cold by the end of that time. It was amazing how long the line was behind me! Again, I walked in, grabbed the item I wanted (GPS $100 off regular price), paid, and walked right out, as people were still in line pouring into the store. I was the first person to leave, and they hadn't even unlocked the exit doors yet!

THEN, (whew, getting tired) I went to the Verizon store - sale on phones. New phone, free after rebate. Cheaper plan than before. Score!

Finally, Joann Fabrics for some cheap flannel.

I got home around 8 AM, I think. I was very tired. I took a nap, during which I got really cold, and I yelled out, "MOOOOOMMMMMMMM!" She came to the rescue with a heated up rice bag and a blankie... I live by myself, so it is definitely nice to have someone to take care of me when I am cold and sad. Thanks, Mom!

The only downside to the day is that when I went to go fill out the rebate papers, I realized that the doofus at Sears had printed out my receipt and about 14,000 coupon offers, but not the rebate slip! Dagnabbit! I will definitely have to call and see what can be done about that. I want my rebate!

Would I do it again? Well, considering I got $400 worth of stuff for $167 (not including the savings of a cheaper phone contract), yes. I would. Lessons learned: wear long underwear, get to the store before it opens and stand in line, and have only one or two items in mind per store for easy in, easy out access. Between now and Christmas, I hope to not have to enter any stores, and to be able to do my shopping online. Wish me luck, and happy shopping and happy holidays to all of you, too!

A Tiny Bit of Knitting

I can't really post a lot of my recent knitting, as it will be gifted to some very lucky recipients for Christmas. However, I did some miniature knitting for a Secret Santa dolly swap, and since the gift has already arrived to its destination, I can share a picture. The hats, sweater, and scarf were made by me:


Cute, right? I am the most proud of the hat on the right... I came up with the knitting pattern on my own, and made up the crocheted flower without a pattern, and I am NOT the best of crocheters out there! Despite my relative lack of crocheting prowess, I also crocheted a brimmed beanie from a pattern by Amanda of CreativeBlythe.


It would probably look cute with a little crocheted flower, or a button or something... I used some leftover yarn from a super-secret Christmas project. These quickie projects are perfect ways to use up leftover yarn, and they are also very satisfying to make after finishing a long project.

ANYway... that's all I can share right now yarn-wise. I do have a little recap of my shopping experiences from Black Friday, but perhaps I'll share that in a day or two - I need to spread out my blogging a little, since I have been so lax in writing recently!