Thursday, September 22, 2011

On the road again...


We're off to Minnesota to visit Tilly and her parents and to celebrate her daddy's birthday. I'll try to blog from the road but you can follow our adventures on my Twitter feed. Don't miss exciting stuff, like us turning around after half an hour on the road, to get the camera I forgot at home; Ogallalalalala; and our 2nd Starbucks of the day. Did I mention the dog throwing up in the back seat? Awesome! Don't you just love car trips?

Monday, September 19, 2011

Meme Monday--Getting My Lemming On

I've never been much for memes. I'd rather read about other people than tell you stuff you can hold against me in the future. But I've been challenged by a certain other blogger, and I figure that gives me license to copy and paste her work. Also, we have a lot of things in common, which is even more of a reason. (I highlighted where we answered pretty close to the same.)  Here's the link to the person who started the meme.

Age:  Recently turned 55, and I act like a two year old at times, so if you take the average, I'm 28. 

Bed:  Queen sized, and barely big enough for two humans and one eleven pound dog. Guess which one takes up the most room?

Chore that you hate:  Don't really hate any of them, although dusting seems pretty pointless--it just keeps coming back from nowhere.

Dogs:  See "Bed." 

Essential to start my day:  Quiet time and coffee. Take either from me at your own risk. And I am not kidding in the slightest. 

Favorite color:  I really can't pick a favorite color. That's like picking your favorite child.

Gold or silver:  Gold!  White or yellow --- but, gold all the way.

Height:  5'4"

Instruments that you play:  Have tried piano, guitar, and violin.  Found I'm best at the MP3 player.

Job Title:  Assistant, but I really prefer Empress.

Kids:  Two really great ones!

Live:  I prefer Tape Delayed because you can cut out the parts where I look really bad and say things I regret.

Mom's name:  Rose, which I think is very pretty.

Nicknames:  I never had a nickname growing up. Now I have a husband who has about a hundred different ones for me, and no I won't tell you any of them because I will never be allowed to live them down. 

Overnight hospital stays:  Two, see "Kids." I should have left earlier from the first one--my roommate hadn't given birth yet and whined INCESSANTLY. The second one, I had a private room and I have fond memories of the adjustable bed and the half dozen pillows that surrounded me. I'd probably still be there if the coffee had been decent.

Pet Peeves:  Bad personal hygiene. We went out for lunch today and the hostess had a runny nose. She kept wiping it ON HER FINGERS then she would hand the waiters the menus and napkins as they seated people. We left. Gross! What are you, three years old? Blow your nose then wash your hands! Did I mention gross?

Quote from a movie:  "I'm not gonna play... by their rules... anymore." ~ Phil Connors (Bill Murray) Groundhog Day

Right or left:  Right. I can't even wave goodbye with my left hand.

Siblings:  Seven sisters. And no, I'm not making this up.

Take-Out-Food:  Chipotle, hands down the best fast food take out place EVER. And not just because I like their cheap margaritas. 

Underwear:  Clean is best. Words to live by.

Veggies:  Love most of them.  Even eggplant. 

What makes you run late:  Blogging and staying in the shower too long. Sue me. 

Xrays:  Yes --- regularly at the dentist and several other times throughout my life.  



Yummy food:  Pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks--non-fat, hold one pump of the sweetener, light whip, a slice of the gingerbread loaf on the side. NOW please. 


Zoo Animals:  Anything but snakes. ANYTHING.







Friday, September 16, 2011

Tell me about it...Winter


Do you love it? Have you gathered up all of your wool socks and sweaters, put 'em in a big pile and done a snow dance around it? Are you searching Ravelry for turtleneck patterns? Or do you hate Old Man Winter with a passion and can't stand the thought of summer EVER going away?

Tell me about it!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Here Kitty, Kitty!

*

I keep coming across cat stuff that just will not leave my brain alone. It's like an ear worm, but with felines. One cure for an ear worm is to sing the entire song. Here's my cat-on-the-brain solution: pass it on to you! Even if you don't like cats--and I'd keep that fact to myself--you should click on these links.

This cat moved from Colorado to Manhattan for five years--but didn't tell his family.

GirlAnachronismE sent me this link. I'm wondering how many lives that kitty used up.

Last, but not least--obey the kitty!

And because I occasionally like to toss in something about, oh I don't know, KNITTING, here's an extremely amazing tip for avoiding those holes that seem to appear at the top of your gusset out of nowhere. Sounds like a disease, doesn't it? Anyway, it's slap-your-forehead simple and makes me want to cast on a pair of socks right this minute just to try it out, because I have ten thousand other things nothing else to do today.

* Found this photo on Google Images. I think it's from funnyjunkz.com and I couldn't figure out if it's copyrighted or not. 

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

LOS●ER

LOSER
los●er [loo-zer]
noun
Slang
a. a misfit, especially someone who has never or seldom been successful at a job, personal relationship, etc.
b. a person who wakes up their neighbors at 3 a.m. with their loud, obnoxious, illegally mufflered piece of crap automobile
c. a twenty-something who moved back home with his momma because some woman probably got tired of living with a LOSER
d. a person stupid enough to deprive a knitter of her sleep, thereby rendering her cranky and dangerous; see CIRCULAR KNITTING NEEDLES

Monday, September 12, 2011

Now that I've depressed the crap out of myself...

How about something funny?


I found it here. Anybody else got any funny knitting links they'd like to share? If they're NSFW please indicate. It won't stop me from posting the link but it's good to know. We don't want anybody fired for links to knitted codpieces. Just sayin'...

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Eating Le Big Mac on My Soapbox

Today is the 10th anniversary of 9-11 and I’ve been debating all day long whether or not to post something about it. While I do have giveaways on my blog partly for the purpose of upping my readership, I don’t like pimping, even if you think it’s for a good cause. A couple of days ago I passed by a church in my neighborhood and the marquee out front was inviting people to their 9-11 picnic. What the hell do you do at a 9-11 picnic? Play pin the bomb on the mosque? Picnic and 9-11 on the same sign doesn't seem right.

Maybe that church just wanted people to remember those who died and the families they left behind. Maybe that was the goal of the 9-11 television specials that were on all week, or the 9-11 anniversary pins, key chains, and coffee mugs you can buy online. But commemorating such a horrendous episode in our country’s history without talking about how to keep it from happening again anywhere isn’t enough of a remembrance. If we’re going to print In God We Trust on our money we should still be concerned about the lives of people all over the world without thinking we’re going to look like commie-pinko-hippie pushovers. Patriotism isn’t being blind, deaf, and dumb to what's happening on the rest of the planet.

Real patriotism asks the hard questions and brings up stuff we’re not always honest about, just like those forms at your doctor’s office that ask you how many drinks you have in a week and if you use recreational drugs. Let’s at least be honest about the fact that our nationalistic intuition tells us anybody who looks Arabic is born wanting to blow up sky scrapers, and the metric system is downright un-American. These beliefs are wrong and we all know it, but we’re not the only ones guilty of confusing patriotism with nationalism. A few years ago the city of Paris supposedly raised over $40 million dollars to keep out corporations like McDonalds. But this wasn't really about corporations, it was about defending what it means to be French. Le Big Mac isn’t going to destroy French culture, but this guy? If I were French I would be le worried, but I wouldn’t blame Americans.

I hope 9-11’s legacy will be more than just airport body scanners and pat downs. I imagine those who died that day would be sad at the idea of their surviving families still living in fear. Maybe before another ten years pass, we can figure out how to coexist while ridding the world of the bad guys who think that destroying one way of life will save another. I have my doubts, since we can’t even agree on who the bad guys are, but I haven’t given up on the idea. In the meantime, I go about my daily life and try to be the kind of person other people don’t want to blow up. It’s not much, and it won’t keep me safe from life’s random acts of cowardice. But it does keep me from being that paranoid neighbor who has a year’s worth of dried food in the basement and thinks the government implanted a homing device in her head when she had her tonsil taken out. That’s good enough for now.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Tell Me About It

Congratulations to Helen, Rebecca, and Natalie, the winners of my latest giveaway! I'll let you know which prize is yours and get them on their way soon. Thanks everybody for all your great comments. And don't fret if you didn't win. There will be more giveaways in the future because I LOVE doing them!



I know lots of knitting bloggers have FO Fridays but since I don't seem to be finishing anything I can blog about, instead I'll do Tell Me Friday.

Yesterday I got my brand new (hopefully) permanent crown put on. My dentist is a really nice guy--DH once yanked him off the golf course because I had a tooth ache the day before I was supposed to fly out to Someplace I Can't Remember. (His diagnosis was that I clench my teeth in my sleep and he had a night guard made for me. I seriously love wearing this thing, which probably says something about oral fixations and such but we won't go there today.)

Anyway, while he's gluing in the new crown yesterday, he asked me why I thought people didn't go to their high school reunions, especially if they still live in the same town as their high school. I wasn't sure how to respond since it seemed to me he'd answered his own question. He thought maybe it had to do with cliques and maybe people didn't want to socialize with the people who reminded them of what a tough time high school was. When he took his hands out of my mouth I said something about not really remembering my high school as being particularly "clique-y." It was more like a been-there-done-that-bought-the-tee-shirt kind of experience for me, so I didn't see the need to get on an airplane and revisit the whole thing. No, I've never been to a high school reunion.

Have I missed out on one of life's greatest experiences? Is my perception that hanging with a bunch of people who are way older and dumpier than we ever dreamed we'd be a much more fun night than I give it credit for? If I went to one of my high school reunions, would the guy from my geometry class who used to ask me to study with him admit he had a crush on me, since I barely passed geometry and he was a mathematical genius?

Tell me if you've ever been to your high school reunion. If so, did you like it? If not, why not. Were the hotties still hot? Did the geeks end up inventing Post It Notes? And if you're like me and have never gone, why have you skipped it? Tell me, I'd love to know!


Thursday, September 8, 2011

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

The random number generator did its thing and I've notified the winners. They have 48 hours to email me back. Congratulations to everybody!

I'm going to compile the great organizational tips from the comments and post them in the near future, now that I'm organized. Ahem.

DD's doing well in school, the book process is moving along, and the weather has finally cooled off here. Life is good. What's up with you?

Monday, September 5, 2011

Inspiration

Who or what inspires you? Last week Donna Druchunas gifted me with, among other things, this bounty from her garden:

Most of these lovely veggies ended up in a delicious pasta sauce I created--inspiration never tasted so good!

When I created my new studio, I was inspired to tackle some projects that have been hanging over my head for a while now. Somehow in my newly organized space, it was easier to sit down and get the work done.

Every time I read through the blogs I follow I'm inspired by you, my fellow bloggers. There's so much creativity out there, I'll never be able to create all the projects on my wish list, but that's O.K. The desire to try is what inspires me.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway. As a special Thank You to those who follow my blog, if you leave a comment on this blog post about what inspires YOU you'll get an extra chance to win. It doesn't have to be knitting or cooking inspiration either. Tell me about anything that lights your creative fuse.

Happy Labor Day!