Dreams

Sorry I'm so quiet. I've been caught up in my head again which seems to happen before a flurry of activity. Not sure what that activity will be but I hope it will be good.

Dreams I've had lately....

--Hubby got a tattoo of a big old oceanliner and it had 'Terran' written across it
--Nora visited but as she was 'on the other side' her eyes were sealed shut (horribly sad)
--Brioche stitch! Two nights ago, I kept waking up thinking about brioche stitch. I know it's because I covet this sweater but brioche stitch seems impossible to my wee skills.

I'm having daydreams of moving into an old house (impossible in this market).

I'm dreaming of new careers. Got any ideas that don't require me to finish school? Ha ha.

Spring. This spring will be a gorgeous riot of full blooms and bright, juicy green due to all the precipitation we've been receiving. Makes me wish I had done a lot more fall prep so I'd have bushes with a good head start. But I'm still dreaming of planting with Kidlet all the seeds I just ordered and watching their daily progress from the warmth of the kitchen.

Sleep well!

Reflective

Been quiet here in Pancakeland lately. I've been thinking (too much, probably). I have been in my semiannual 'I feel like I'm soaking up too much from flickr' mode. I'm taking photos and when I go to process them I say "Huh? This isn't me. This isn't mine." I need some space, but I'm not sure how I want to achieve it. I was thinking of forbidding myself to look at flickr for the month of February. Then I thought, 'Hmmm, maybe I glean too much from blogs'. Maybe I need to ban myself from the internet for the month of February (aieeee! the horror!). Maybe I need a project to work on? Still thinking...

School started this week and it looks like it may be less intrusive than I had anticipated. It starts an hour after I drop off Kidlet so I get a little bit of time to knit and sip a coffee before the class starts. It's a 'geology for dummies' class and I'm almost wishing it was a little more intensive so I could learn more, but I'm certainly not complaining. Easy is a good thing at this point in time. The hard stuff will come soon enough with the graduate level classes. Sigh.

Thinking about the weekend. What do you have going? Me...I'm hoping to knit on my CLAPOTIS (hearts and butterflies, smooch smooch). I started it and it's just a tiny little triangle of softy bliss. I am so very, very happy with the Malabrigo silk-wool blend. I can't wait to wrap myself in it (most likely in about a year, when I'm able to actually finish it!). Still working on the secret project and it's about 35% done and looking oh-so-nice. Jaywalker number 1 is about 2 inches away from the toe and I'm getting nervous about running out of yarn. Ahhh, the 'pleasures' of having size 11 feet. I'm already making some tentative plans to do the toe in a different color. Oh yeah. Gotta do schoolwork. And if I can find 'pretzel salt', I'd like to try my hand at pretzels. Maybe make some sort of stew or chile on Sunday night? Hope your weekend is full of softy bliss and yummy food too.

Little Mama Homemaker and Sparkling Snow

She helps with the baking. She washes the floor. She folds laundry. She scrubs the bathtub walls while she takes a bath. However, she resists straightening up all the toys that she drags out during the day.

Some days, she doesn't nap.

This makes big mama kookoo.

My weekend was full of emotional turbulance, baking (pie and failed bread), cooking (curried pumpkin soup, muffaletta mix, corn fritters, pancakes), errands, some sock knitting, and watching the Packers lose (poor Brett Favre).

I awoke this morning to a dusting of snow that sparkled brightly and covered the grey, dirty leftovers from two weeks ago. I need a little snow dusting in my head to cover my stress with something sparkly to distract me from my worries. Don't you worry...I'll snap out of it as soon as I can get my car into the shop to find out what is wrong with it and make it through my first week of class.

Thinking about some new projects, details to be worked out while I daydream during data entry.

Sweet dreams!

The Rambler

I've been wanting to post something, anything, to move on from my previous post. A huge thank you to all of you that commented, emailed about Miss Nora. She is definitely missed.

So in the interests of posting something, here's a long rambling account of some sock knitting. Feel free to skip it.

We are photoless but I've had intended to take a photo of the cute little heel portion of my Jaywalker sock, but the sock and I are rarely in natural light together. That sock and I are starting to have a bit of a tumultuous history. See, I'm such a slow knitter that I actually get to have a history with a sock. Since I've restarted them, I had a mistake here and there, but nothing worth fretting about ("nothing that you could see while riding by on a galloping horse" as my Mother-in-Law would say. Thank goodness for Mother-in-Laws.). Well, I've been working on some troublesome computers at work and while I wait during the endless rebooting, I thought it would be a keen idea to do a little knitting while I waited. Sounds good, right? I think I've made more mistakes on this tiny portion of sock than...well, I don't know what. I've had to unknit rows when I knit the wrong pattern on the wrong needle. I somehow forgot how to do the double decrease (hence, there are still a few wonky double decreases that I'm trying to ignore). I had to pick up a mysteriously dropped stitch from 8 rows back and do lots of snugging up of stitches. Yeah. These socks better fit like a dream and make me feel like I'm floating on little clouds. That being said, I'm still in love with the little heel.

The weekend is rapidly approaching and I look forward to it with a bit of dread. Next week, I start school. I did not do even a quarter of all the things I wanted to do on my break. Once school is in session, even though it's only one class piled atop my other responsibilities, I can pretty much say goodbye to most of my knitting and movie watching opportunities. Sigh. And the caucus? I still don't know who to pick! Aieee!

Ok, enough rambling. Maybe I'll be a little less prickly and a little more cheerful tomorrow. And I'll think about pie. Yes, I will make pie this weekend and that will make everything better. Right? Right? I thought so.

It was almost 6 years to the day from when this skinny little dog put her head in my coat when I bent down to greet her at the SPCA to when she left us. Excuse me for a few moments while I babble on about my Squizzy-Roo...

We brought her home and in the first week, she managed to find a trove of mini airplane-flight-sized booze bottles (some glass, some not) that we had received as a gag gift for our housewarming. We came home to the reek of booze, the detritus of broken glass and chewed up plastic and a wiggly pointer dog. I still don't know how she didn't cut herself with the glass bottles.

We gave her the back story of a washed up movie actress from the 20's and 30's who made some appearances on the Love Boat in the 70's.

She'd only come when you called her in a high-pitched sing-song manner.

She loved to daintily eat tomatoes off the vine and roll in the catmint.

She was a champion snuggler.

She was always cheerful, a comedienne, and quite the dancer.

I'm glad that we were able to make her acquaintance and give her a good life until the end. And mercifully, the end was brief.

An ear skritch, tennis balls, filets and martinis to Nora...cheers!

The Thaw

The weekend has arrived along with sunny skies. This means last weekend's pure snow has now melted into a sludge-y, muddy mess and the streets are covered in gravel and dust. It also means that I won't be confined to the house. Already I've made a list of imaginary errands that really don't need running. We'll see if I can keep the spirit of hibernation going and make some more progress on my knitting and bake something with the giant can of pumpkin that is taking valuable shelf space in my cupboard. I also need to settle on a recipe (or two?) for Vanessa's cookbook project. So many possibilities!

I'm feeling the need to get as much 'pleasure time' in as possible since next weekend is the caucus (I just gave away where I live, eh?) and then it's back to school...not online but in the REAL WORLD. I have to go to a giant classroom with people half my age. Not looking forward to this but if I want to continue my scholastic career, I have to finish up these basic requirements that I've put off for close to 20 years. And I'm not exaggerating on the 20 years part either.

Fit in as much 'pleasure time' as you can this weekend too, k? And if you have a yummy recipe utilizing much pumpkin puree, let me know.

Hibernation

This weekend was wonderful. While I did not hibernate in the 'go to sleep for a long time' sense, I was snuggled down in the house, knitting and baking, broken up by walks out in the snow and games with Kidlet. There was no rushing about here and there, running errands of dubious importance. It was all about the small things. The shadows of the drifting snow. Figuring out the best way to shore up the snowman so he wouldn't fall over. The scent of yeasty bread and chili. Meanwhile, the snow piled up outside and I was happy in the hopes that our usual drought conditions might not be quite as desperate this summer.

There are a couple more days of snow in our future, according to the forecast, but then it is back to our typically mild winter conditions. And back to our usually scheduled program of running around. I'm hoping that the lure of my latest knitting project (yet another secret project) will keep me home, hibernating.

Fresh

I love the feeling a new year brings. It comes to me in colors: cold, clear sky blue, seafoam green, lemon pie yellow. Being a list maker and organizer by nature, I revel in brushing off the darkness of the longest night of the year and the clutter that the holidays seem to drag along with them and putting everything in its place.

The resolution? Same as last year. Simplify and sit/stand up straight. I failed miserably at the latter but did pretty well with the first through about July.

The new tradition? I'm going to make pie on New Year's Day from here on out. This year's edition was lemon meringue. I think it went pretty well, particularly since I've never made it before and only half followed a recipe.

We are swimming in meyer lemons over here, fresh from California trees that belong to the family of one of my mom-in-laws. Love! Lemon Cranberry scones. The pie. Soon, pudding cake. And crepes with blueberries and lemon sauce. Sigh. Suits my mood perfectly after all the ubersweet chocolates and candies of the holidays.

Ready to brush myself off and start all over again. How about you?