Is it a list if there are only two things on it? I think so.

Today's topic, films. And since I don't get much time to watch, there are only two on my radar at the moment.

1. Juliet of the Spirits had been sitting in its little red Netflix envelope for about a month. I finally broke into it last weekend. I loved it, as I knew I would. I don't love it as much as Fellini's earlier black and white, less surreal films but Giulietta Masina is a brilliant actress and anything she does...well, I'm there to love it. The over-the-top 60's Italian fashion vibe was great fun too.

2. Next up on my queue is Jules et Jim. Never seen a Truffaut film but I'm looking forward to it. I'm a little ahead on my schoolwork so I'm hoping to start it tonight, while I wind a couple skeins of yarn into balls.

Have a lovely weekend, all. Next week: green.

Today I'm Thinking About...

1. This photo from last year. I thought this image was appropriate for today, which is wonderfully warm. All we are missing are the blossoms.

2. Coming up with ideas for Emily's week o' green.

3. Dinner. Shrimp with soba, asparagus, broccoli and green onion with some sort of soy ginger sauce that I haven't figured out yet.

4. Vacation. Gotta finalize the plans.

5. Need to start my seeds and find my forcing vase for the bulb that Alicia sent with her photo swap package. Love it, Alicia! Thanks!

What I am Thinking About Today..Books

1. Heard about Roberto Bolano on the NY Times Book Review podcast. Hoping to find his books in our library.

2. Also thinking about the Mitford sisters. Would like to read this or this.

3. Hubby said I need to read Pale Fire. Which I think I will as soon as I finish rereading...

4. Breath Sweeps Mind

Sigh. I love books. I went through a brief phase a few years back where I just didn't read much at all. I can't tell you how happy I am to be totally back in it...reading, reading, reading.

3 Weeks Off...The Party List

1. Theme officially decided...garden party

2. Puffy ball tissue flowers to hang from the ceiling are in full production. Idea found kicking around on flickr sometime last year and it lead me to Martha Stewart's site but I can't find the instructions anymore, only kits that you can buy.

3. Ideas for the three goodie bags are set. Happily (actually it's a mixed blessing), Kidlet hasn't asked for any of her schoolmates to come to the party so I only need to make three goodie bags. I kind of wish she did want to invite some schoolmates so I could spend some time with them but it does make the party smaller. And that, my friends, is a good thing in our tiny home.

4. Food. This year, I decided to not cook through the entire party (I've done pancakes for the past two years) and I'm not sure what to do. Kidlet has requested fruit salad, but a bowl of fruit salad does not make a party. Of course, we will be having cupcakes. Any ideas for easy brunch finger foods?

5. Eeep! The invites! I've got to make the invites!

6. The presents are arriving in the mail. I went for this with a bunch of these little guys. I am having mixed feelings because it is a 'Made in China' product with plastic bits mixed in. However, they haven't had any recalls and they use their own factory. When I looked at more natural options, I wasn't overly enamored of the blocky, all-wood house-and-people sets I saw. To be honest, I don't even know if Kidlet will dig this stuff. She latches on to things for a week or two and then drops it. Except for her pinata. She'll play with her pinata anytime. Amazing that's it's been a year and it still is in one piece.

7. The weather. Must send a note to those in charge of the weather to make it blissfully warm so the plum blossoms on the tree will be in full bloom mode.

The Midweek-Weekend Wrap

Today is misty, with a chill in the air. Snow is dusting the hilltops. Am I sad that winter woke up again? Nope, it's refreshing. And there's still a touch of that fresh, green spring in that breeze.

I enjoyed a three day weekend that actually felt like three days. I managed to get a lot done, without hearing that little voice say "hurry, do more!" However, I did have a lot of anxiety/panic issues. I am going to start charting when they happen so I can start getting a handle on the problem. I know many of the root causes (having too many responsibilities, hormones, grief) but I want to see if there is a pattern and perhaps if I can recognize the pattern, I can figure out some tactics to fight it. It ain't fun. 'Nuff said.

I made some incredibly yummy pizzas this weekend (bbq shrimp, veggie and pesto, for those keeping score at home). I've been working on tweaking the recipe for some time and I think I finally have it just right. Yay!

In knittingland, I have officially reached the halfway point on my mom's birthday present (and it's awesome), did my first dropped stitches (that's a good thing, in this case) on the clapotis, and started the dresser scarf for Kidlet. We went to the yarn store to pick up the yarn for the dresser scarf and well, we had some trouble at the yarn store. No, it wasn't just the fact that I splurged (via a gift certificate) on one skein of this (color 158) but Kidlet picked up a huge glass vase that was on display and dropped it. Yeah. I turned my back for...yes, you guessed it...just a moment and then I heard Kidlet say "Look, Mama!" and crash. They were very nice about the whole thing but ugh. I still feel terrible.

Well, I wish I could say I was snuggled in front of a fire surrounded by my knitting projects and birding books, watching the birds come to the feeder but no. Today it's work and then it's studying for an exam tomorrow. Wish me luck and spontaneous deep knowledge of volcanoes, the rock cycle and plate tectonics.

A Dozen Bits of Randomness on a Friday

1. Books Kidlet has been reading nightly:

Barkley by Syd Hoff (I love the illustrations.)

Mr. Tall by Roger Hargreaves (I've purchased many of these books. I usually buy the ones I think pertain to Kidlet (ie. Little Miss Contrary, Little Miss Bossy).)

Thanks, Mom by Ed Emberley (Kidlet loves Ed Emberly)

2. I think I am getting sick before a gorgeous 60 degree-ish 3-day weekend. Uh huh.

3. I have to study for my midterm and finish my lab paperwork.

4. I sent off my taxes. Horray!

5. I am getting a cavity.

6. Buying yarn for a project for Kidlet this weekend. No, she does not want me to knit a sweater, socks or a toy. She wants a dresser scarf. I'm thinking of doing something like this.

7. Trying to decide what my next book to read should be. Almost done with Dharma Bums (loving it) and one of the books I'm most interested in right now isn't at the library. Any suggestions?

8. Feeling the desire for new shoes. Trying to shove the desire out of the room.

9. One of my favorite podcasts that I've just started listening to is Radiolab.

10. I'm obsessed with the color green right now. Mmmm, green-y goodness.

11. This weekend, I think I will make waffles.

12. How come I can't find a decent a-line skirt?

Hope you get a dose of spring this weekend. Enjoy!

Mud, Yarn, Mourning and a Sighting

The ground is coming out of its seized up state. The yard is still a safe harbor for a 10' x 20' island of snow, but the rest of it is mud or dirt hiding a mushy subsurface. Grape hyacinths are poking up as are the frighteningly large populations of irises and white onion-y things. Go to sleep, fellas. This is Nevada. This is the land of Memorial Day snows after February 'springs'.

Took advantage of the 60 degree temperature to trim the hedges so they no longer scratch at the windows like a gnarled fairtale monster. Made a lovely bowl of soup and some of the best bread I have ever baked. Also, baked some chocolate chip cookies for our Sunday morning guests.

And I spent a lot of time screwing up my knitting. I finished my Jaywalker sock. I wove in all the ends and then tried it on my right foot. Too long for my foot, strange bunching about the ankle and too tight around the calf. And my calves are not that big. I went to bed, woke up for a couple hours in the middle of the night and tried to assess the situation. What do I do? Start over? Make a second ill-fitting sock? I am honest with myself and decided that I'm so sick of this yarn and pattern, I will rip it out in the morning and make a scarf out of the yarn a few years in the future when I can stand to look at the yarn again. In the morning, I try the sock on my left foot. It fits better, but the calf is still stretched thin. I decide to not rip out the sock right away and I start working on my Mom's birthday present. I am groggy (note that I said I was awake for a couple hours during the night). A few wrongly placed yarn overs later and I'm cursing my knitting. Sigh. It took me about an hour to 'fix' it, but it's not the perfectly knit item that it once was. I work on Clapotis and as I am about to start the meat of the pattern, I realize I did some seriously funky yarn joining. At least that was easily remedied. Oh, Clapotis! Have I told you how much I adore you?

And mourning? Yes, but nothing too serious at the moment (although I did feel choked up when I was sweeping under the couch and found about a dozen of Nora's tennis balls). Kidlet has officially given up her nap. My two hours of peace in the middle of the weekend have been rudely and abruptly stripped away.

The sighting: spotted towhee. I love bird watching. It feels good to get back to it. I used to be obsessed with birds when I was very young. I would pour over the bird section in the encyclopedia, memorizing the birds and the motions required for flying. No, I didn't not stand on a chair in the spare room trying to move my arms in the same manner as the birds in the hopes I would fly. Nope, that wasn't me. Ok, it was.

Design Element

You probably can't see it, but there is a mistake. A few rows away from finishing sock 1 and of course, we have a misaligned pattern. Now the question comes, do I drop 6 stitches down to the offending row and attempt to knit back up, even with all the decreasing that needs to go on or do I just soldier on and hope no one (including myself) ever notices it? I am tempted to fix it, but my dropping/fixing skills are...well...null. What if I completely mess it up? I usually 'unknit' all rows back to the problem and fix it that way (or just rip the whole thing apart). The problem is so far back that unknitting isn't an option this time. Shall we just call the offending pair of stitches a 'design element'?

Everything has been pretty mundane. I've only taken about 1/2 dozen photos in the past week. I've been reading my school assignments and knitting Clapotis. Planning Kidlet's birthday (still over a month off). Finally watched the Herzog documentary that has been lounging about the house for over a month. Started reading The Dharma Bums. Trying to decide if I want to make the (longish) trek to Stitches West. Did the taxes. Paid the bills. Planning the summer Disneyland vacation with the tax refund. Made a veggie pie. Curry tonight.

Is it just me or is February made for slogging through as quickly and painlessly as possible? They even made the month shorter because it feels like it's a million years long. Ok, that's not true but I just feel so uninspired by February. I was going to try and come up with a February project but...well, it's the 6th of February and still nothing. I guess I've got a million years left to go.

A Baker's Dozen plus 5 more

I've been tagged by Ms. Cathy for "6 things you may not know about me". You all probably know a whole lot about me since I've been spewing a lot about myself for almost two years in this virtual journal and from a couple of other tags. But as I've been a weak bloggger as of late, a framework assists me in the writing department. So, 6 more things about yours truly...

1. If I wake up for even a moment during the hour of 2 a.m., I'll be up for at least the next two hours. I (inadvertently) tested this last night when Kidlet cried out for me to be her potty escort.

2. A perfect day starts with one of the following combinations: coffee and a bearclaw, coffee and a maple bar, or coffee and yogurt with granola and honey. Of course, pancakes are in the mix too (but not made from a mix. The horror!).

3. I like to pick towns and 'shop' for early 20th century/late 19th century houses. A few towns I have recently 'researched': Portland, ME, Sacramento, CA, New Orleans, LA and Albuquerque, NM.

4. I am painfully shy. I'm getting better at hiding it.

5. I wish I needed glasses for reading because I think I look cute in glasses.

6. If I knew how to sew, I'd make myself 'uniforms' that were kind of like apron dresses or smocks. They'd be kind of like these or the beloved smocket. And yes, these are for todders but really, I think I could pull it off. Really! Now to find a pattern for someone my size...now that's another story.

Your mission should you choose to accept it: continue the meme. Or just have a nice weekend, k?

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?

See You Next Year, M'dears...

Going to take a little bloggy vacation, even if I'm not taking a 'real life' vacation.

I'll be thinking about new books, new knitting projects, the start of my seasonal 'I gotta organize this house' busy bodyness, watching documentaries and films, and starting a new New Year's Day tradition (baking pie).

And a belated thank you for all the birthday wishes and for sharing your thoughts with me over the past week. Sending you hugs across the miles (or just across town!).

Stay warm next to the fire and have some tea, cocoa or hot toddies.

Three Little Birds

Woke up this morning
Did not smile at the rising sun

I was feeling most melancholy about my Dad not being here to enjoy Kidlet and Christmas. When opening presents, he was always the one who would say or do some silly thing that had you laughing until your belly hurt. Luckily, he was here for Kidlet's first Christmas so at least I have the memory, even if she doesn't.

I poked my head outside, as I do every morning to take a few deep breaths of the cool morning air. This morning, there was a lovely breeze that made my Dad's wind chimes sing gently. A few raindrops fell and the yard started to turn rosy. I looked up. The sky was a brilliant pink and powdery blue. I looked to my right. I saw three little birds on the power line. Behind them, a rainbow. The rainbow got brighter and bigger, reaching all the way across my yard. It was almost ridiculous how perfect the display was; it felt as though it all for me.

So in short, every little thing is going to be all right.

38...and 39. The Birthday.

I was going to try a Hula-esque list of "39 things to do before I'm 40" but I topped out around number 17. And then I also realized it conflicted with my New Year's resolution to 'Simplify'. And so...this year I will eat more pie, go camping, grow more plants from seed and read more poetry. There. I think that just about covers it.

My sweet hubby threw a birthday party for me today (my first!) and it was nice to catch up with folks I haven't seen in a while. Another old friend will be stopping by tonight with a bottle of wine and after I put Kidlet to bed...if I can manage to keep my eyes open, I will do my annual watching of my favorite movie, The Thin Man.

I'm sure this will be my last post before the holiday so Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night.