Thursday, March 29, 2007

Shhhh...

Things are quieting down here in Pancakeland, except for the earth-rattling cough that Kidlet has picked up. Work is finally starting to settle back to normal. Whew. This weekend will be spent working in the yard, knitting and doing schoolwork. Ahhh...the good times.

Not much to report except for the fact that I'm loving normalcy: the yogurt with granola/flax/raisins or fruit/honey accompanied by the snuggle with Kidlet at the breakfast table, coming home after work and having a glass of wine, a smile from hubby, falling asleep doing my schoolwork in Kidlet's room while I attempt to get her to sleep. It's always after I have a hectic time, when things slow down, that I am able to really see the value in the everyday.

Knitting plods along...no work on the lace Karis poncho (you have to have your wits about you for that), inching along to the 56" total for the daisy scarf (I think I'm about 18" in to it), and I'm ready to turn the heel on the sock.

I haven't been taking many photos lately, but I've been doing some hunting about on flickr for new faves...here are few of my most recent:

1. Turquesa5 from the super-talented sock knitter, Knitting Iris
2. forest at night Blanca is amazing. She is working on kid's books and short movies.
3. x and o
4. Alicia Bock I would love to make some TTV's that look this good.
5. Untitled

I'm finding it interesting that many of my faves are really not so much about photos themselves, but more about documenting color, artwork, or just showing a snippet of a larger entity.

And, yes, I did skatecake it during our upgrade as I flew from workstation to workstation. Getting a little more confidence. Still a whole bucket of fun.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

It's 11:15 pm

...and my sock is fixed! Yes, you wonderful knitty ladies, it was just loose stitches. But one hates to have holes in a sock before one wears it. Now we are lookin' good.

The Ties that Bind

"I would say that there exist a thousand unbreakable links between each of us and everything else, and that our dignity and our chances are one. The farthest star and the mud at our feet are a family; and there is no decency or sense of honoring one thing, or a few things, and then closing the list. The pine tree, the leopard, the Platte River, and ourselves--we are at risk together, or we are on our way to a sustainable world together. We are each other's destiny."

--Mary Oliver from "Winter Hours"

Stuck in Traffic

Friday, March 23, 2007

"Have you ever..." a meme

I was tagged by the lovely Madre Adoptiva. If you make it through reading this whole meme, you are a rock star! Really, you don't want to know this much about me. It makes me so less mysterious... ; ) The things I have done are bold. That statement makes me laugh, anyway, here goes...

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink (well, I can’t really remember…but probably)
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper (but Hubby changed ALL of them for the 1st two weeks of Kidlet’s life)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse (I won a trifecta, it was awesome. But I only bet 2 bux so I only got $75 out of the deal)
29. Asked out a stranger.
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer (I’ve got two computers on my desk at home, does that count?)
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them (do Basque restaurants count?)
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero (No, but I always wished that I could do that cartoon maneuver where if you smelled a yummy smell, you’d float along through the air, chasing the yummy smell)
58. Sang karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie (Oh, it's a brilliant one...Blind Fury. But mercifully, I ended up on the cutting room floor.)
74. Crashed a party (not that I remember, but I’ve had a party crashed)
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert” (If you call a "cooking assistant" an expert)
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark (and snake, and gator...)
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. “Buried” one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror (Well, I participated…throwing toast, TP, you know the drill)
96. Raised children/currently raising child
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Hmmm, 98 was missing on my list.
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over (New Orleans, baby)
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost 100 pounds (Collectively over the years.)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse (do pony rides as a kid count?)
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (and rafted the Colorado River, so awesome)
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi (as often as possible, which ends up being not often enough)
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school (Helloooooo...that's my nightlife. Am I not exciting?)
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts (Well, does putting together a PC from all the crappy dead PC's at work count?)
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair (A billion times. Black with blue was my fave...or maybe the white blonde with pink)
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head (Well, pretty damn close. She said she should have just used a #10 attachment instead of the scissors)
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life.

If you made it this far...consider yourself tagged! Muwah ha ha ha...!

The Weekend that won't be...

I'll be working all weekend. Yup. What a drag. Here's what I would have been doing:

--grocery shopping
--digging a hole for the (still) live Xmas tree to plant it
--digging a bed for Kidlet's veggie seeds with the tot
--baking bread
--schoolwork
--chatting with Hubby (how I miss this)
--pancaking
--photographing

Here's what I'll be doing:

--sitting at work, being the flunky during an upgrade
--While I'm waiting for everything to be made ready for my running about, maybe I can fix my sock knitting that went awry, right before I was going to turn the heel. What is my freakin' problem? It looks like I dropped a stitch on the end of one of the needles, yet all the stitches are there. I have an easier time with my lace knitting...but I digress.
--umm, maybe I can skateycake it around the building while I'm upgrading users.

I skateycaked through the parking lot this morning in my new skatey shoes. I wish I had a picture to show for it, but it will have to wait. Maybe I'll have some time this weekend to stare at my shoes and take artsy photos. Right.

I can probably safely bet you will have a more scintillating weekend than I...enjoy!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Spring


"Spring: there rises up from the earth such a blazing sweetness
it fills you, thank God, with disorder.
--Mary Oliver from "Sand Dabs, Five" in Winter Hours

Digging...

this new blog

http://www.sewgreen.blogspot.com/

Sunday, March 18, 2007

3...is a magic number

"Yeah, c'mon over. We're having a party. It's gonna be great. Pinata and I made a bunch of cupcakes and there's going to be bacon, lots of it."

The table of curly horns, Play-doh and bubbles... minus a few curly horns as Kidlet was busy setting them aside, "This one is for Gram-ma, this one is for me, this one is for..."

"When do my people come?" Yes, she said "my people".

Strawberries...healthy. Chocolate and lollys...not so much. Chocolate and lollys...in focus. Strawberries...not so much.

Dueling curly horns. Man, these tots know how to party.

Many, many pancakes and 2.5 pounds of bacon were injested. I think the children ate a least 1.5 pounds of the bacon by themselves. The cupcakes were lit and ready to go and the Happy Birthday song is started and...Kidlet runs away. I find her in her room, giggling. I bring her out and she and her friend blow out the candles. "Light them again! Light them again!"

Swinging off that giga-breakfast. Every one is a little worn out by this point. At least I know I was. And a good time was had by all, I believe. I wish all of you in bloggyland could have made it. I definitely would have had enough pancakes, coffee, cupcakes and candy for all of you. But I think you would have had to bring your own bacon.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

The Inadvertent Break

This will be me for the next three days: running errands, getting the desperately needed haircut and hopefully getting at least five minutes with the Hubby to sit, look at each other and say "Wow. I haven't seen you in a while. Let's hang out".

I surely didn't mean to take a bloggy break but this week, work has been a hellride and now I'm about to embark on "Quick! Clean up the joint! A bunch of people are coming up for pancakes on Sunday!" The Kidlet will be turning three (officially on Monday, but for pancake's sake...Sunday). So I will catch up with you all next week, finally get to read your blogs and let you know how it feels to be three. Hugs to you all and if you're in the 'hood Sunday and you feel like a pancake and a cupcake to take home, come on by.

Heard...

Kidlet: Daddy? Do you like Jackson Pollock? He throws paint.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Daffy


A very fuzzy TTV taken this morning in my woozy, dehydrated state. I just had to show you that I haven't given up the ghost yet. I know the focus is totally wrong but the yellow is shouting "spring" to me so there you have it. I need to work on my 'contraption'. I've previously only used it inside the house where it is always really dark and focuses properly.

Man, I gotta tell you. This weekend was rough. We'd think Kidlet was on the mend then BAM, pukefest all over again. We took her to her as-of-now-former pediatrician and it was a not pretty. Let me say it ended up with me restraining my tot while she screamed and had the look of total fear in her eyes as they gave her a suppository. Yeah. Good times. At least I think she's finally on the mend, but still on the bland diet. I'm hoping that she's back to normal tomorrow.

You'd think with being sick, I wouldn't have been able to really do anything but knit. But alas, fighting the frightening laundry beast and laying down were about all I managed to do. The stack of chores certainly piled up during Sickfest 2007, but mercifully, I'm taking Thursday and Friday off to attack them. This weekend is Kidlet's bday and I'd like the house to be at least resembling 'clean' when the fam comes over for pancakes.

Here I am back at... cough cough (work) and I'm feeling quite spent. Dizzy, not quite all there (kinda like this post). So I'd better catch up on the tons and tons of work that I've fallen behind on since I've been out so much. But I had to catch up with y'all first ; )

Friday, March 09, 2007

Welcome to the House of Spew

Yes, it came back and in full force. The pukefest last night has now (hopefully) abated. Keep those fingers crossed.

But the weekend! It's almost here! And I finished (well, mostly finished) my schoolwork so tonight I'm hoping to watch Woyzeck! Yay! A movie! By Herzog even! Woot! Can I use more exclamation points? Yes, I can and will.

Can I tell you how excited I am about the weather forecast for the weekend: Saturday.. seventy, Sunday...seventy-freakin'-eight! I love unseasonable weather, especially when it's warm unseasonable weather. While Kidlet is napping Saturday, I will do a tiny bit of schoolwork and then...knit my Karis, outside with the birds chirping. I. Cannot. Wait. I have been wanting to knit on this thing but I have to have all my faculties about me when I do it because it requires concentration. And Sunday...I believe I will be taking a downtown ttv photo tour with the lovely Nessie. More woot!

Hope your weekend is full of woot and many other exclamations of joy.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Next to the Bed...

I'm getting quite the library next to the bed. I've been inching my way through The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram but there's a stack teetering on the bedside table that threatens to fall on me while I am sleeping. I am definitely under the spell of The Spell of... . This book has turned my mind inside out. Very basically, it is about how we have moved away from being a part of nature and Abrams theorizes that it is to do with our move away from being an oral culture to an alphabetic/literate one.

Awaiting my perusal...

A Modern Buddhist Bible: Essential Readings From East and West Ed. by Donald S. Lopez, Jr.
I've become very interested in Buddhism. The more I read, the more I want to know.

No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life Thich Nhat Hanh
I'm still having trouble coming to terms with my Dad's death (almost) two years ago. I read The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching last year and it really started to open my mind to being mindful of the cycle of life; my Dad can be found in me, he is in my daughter. I'm really looking forward to reading this one.

For the Sake of Elena Elizabeth George
I picked this one up because I heard Knitting Momma talk about her months ago and that piqued my interest.

A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson
Hubs picked this one up for me for my bday. I love travelogues.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change Elizabeth Kolbert
They passed this out to us at work, trying to indoctrinate us (wink, wink). I'm can't wait to check it out.


These two aren't next to my bed, but Kidlet's bed. When I can't stand to read my textbooks for school as she's trying to go to sleep, I dive into these...

Winter Hours Mary Oliver
I read the poem "Walking Home from Oak-head" in an old Utne Reader and I was sold. Love, love, love her.

Strong Is Your Hold Galway Kinnell
Another one from the Hubby for the bday. He shared the poem (that I have linked) "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps" and it haunted me. Lovely.

So, what are you reading?

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Randomness, anyone?

Can I say that I've gone back to the previous post, more than once, just to look at the knitty goodness? Oh yes. It's making me crazy that by the time I put the Kidlet to bed, I'm usually so damn tired that I can't do any knitting. Tried it the other night and I had to unknit two rows. Not good. And then there's the question, 'when am I going to get my schoolwork done?' I guess I'll have to bargain with myself, 'finish lesson 5 and if you aren't too tired, you can knit'. Ugh.

I was Skateycakes for about 2 minutes today. I rode skatey from the car to (near) the front door at work. I carried it in to the office and I got the round of "Be careful, Ani!" and "Ahhh...going for a ride, eh?" and "Is that board yours?" Ummm, I think I'll be a little too shy to be riding around the warehouse for a while. Maybe I can sneak it out and take a little glide down the bike path.

The weather is beautiful and that means the torrent of yardwork is about to commence. Prune 24 rosebushes? Anyone? Really, you can connect with nature in the most visceral way! Get stabbed by thorns, bleed...it's great! Maybe I'll "forget" where the pruning shears are and pull out the needles, and knit in the sunshine. This weekend, that is. So. Far. Away.

Sunday, March 04, 2007

What I'm up to in the Knitting World


Here we have the oh-so-thrilling sock, about 4" in to it. This is only the first sock and I have had to reknit it about 40 times. But finally, we are on track. Yarn: Rocky Mountain Dusk, Knit Picks Memories. Pattern: Basic sock from Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. I think I may feel a little goofy wearing these, perhaps a little Donny Osmond-ish, (who was reknowned for his purple sock fetish way back in the day). I'm always seduced by the deep, bright, jewel colors and then when it comes to wearing...mmm, maybe not so much. But I bet I'll wear them a lot, dorkiness be damned. I like to wear finished projects.

Next, we have the Daisy Scarf from Rowan 38. I still don't think it looks 100% percent like the pattern, but it's still pretty cool. I've made a million mistakes but since my yarn is so fuzzy, it's been pretty easy to disguise. It's stash Rowan Kid Classic from a couple years ago and it seems far fuzzier than the new Kid Classic I used to make my Eowyn gloves. Makes the pattern hard to see, but I think that's a plus in my case due to my weak skillz.


And lastly, the new baby. Bye bye, River shawl! Say hello to Karis! I am so digging this and it's been pretty fun so far. 3 repeats done on the collar, 15 to go (and then a billion rows and stitches for the body and hem). I've only had to undo it once (yay!) and I've been able to catch the mistakes that I've made and fix them right away. I was happy to in this photo that there's an actual pattern in there. Couldn't see it at all while I was knitting it. I was following the alphabet soup known as the pattern (k2, yo, k2 tbl, yo) and just hoping I put the right thing in the right spot. Woot! This is Rowan Kid Silk Haze in hurricane and pattern is from Rowan 36. The Rowan 36 was little gift to myself yesterday to cure my grumpiness. This is thanks to a gift certificate my Mom-in-Law gave me and a few extra bucks courtesy of my Mom. Now that I've had my afternoon knitting fun, the Kidlet will be up soon and then it's time to start wiping that snotty nose again. Poor kid.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Love is...

Do you remember those uber-cheesy "Love is..." comics in the newspaper back in the '70s? Ok, I figured you didn't, but I do. But this post is just really about stuff I'm loving right now because I'm feeling grumpy and I need to clear the mean reds out of my head.

Love is...

a little kid who no longer has a fever

a daddy who stays home to cuddle a little kid while she's sick

scheming and planning out the weekend

wearing a new springtime Supermaggie t-shirt even though it's not springtime enough to do so

crepes and wine for dinner (and dessert)...Saturday night

Americano (coffee, that is)--edit. I think this one is coming off my list for today. I've got a raging headache. No thanks to you, Americano!

Bloggy folks...even though I go through a bi-weekly 'why do I do this?', it becomes worthwhile because of the folks I've met

baking raisin bread (tonight maybe?)

Sunday pancakes

Friday!

Happy weekend, all.