I clung to bed far longer than I should have this morning. So much to do before our trip, and once I woke, I couldn't get back to sleep, between people talking outside and fretting over a few things at work (which I should only slightly be fretting about, if at all). I realized last night, I have responsibility burn-out again, and it's making it really rough to think about going in to work (which I'm doing for eight days straight before vacation), and get things done. Finally dragging myself up and away from the nice cozy little cove of the boy's arms, I stumbled into the bathroom and picked up Dorian Gray, to read another page or two to cling to for the day.

On a previous reading of the book, I'd marked a small heart next to a description of the breaking dawn. I read that portion slowly, thinking the beauty of the words might help me find some motivation for the day. But as I kept reading... I could scarcely believe how perfectly the words on the page pinned down the lurking gloom in my soul the last few mornings. (I could read this book forever.)


      There are few of us who have not sometimes wakened before dawn, either after one of those dreamless nights that make us almost enamoured of death, or one of those nights of horror and misshapen joy, when through the chambers of the brain sweep phantoms more terrible than reality itself, and instinct with that vivid life that lurks in all grotesques, and that lends to Gothic art its enduring vitality, this art being, one might fancy, especially the art of those whose minds have been troubled with the malady of reverie. Gradually white fingers creep through the curtains, and they appear to tremble. In black fantastic shapes, dumb shadows crawl into the corners of the room, and crouch there. Outside, there is the stirring of birds among the leaves, or the sound of men going forth to their work, or the sigh and sob of the wind coming down from the hills, and wandering round the silent house, as though it feared to wake the sleepers, and yet must needs call forth sleep from her purple cave. Veil after veil of thin dusky gauze is lifted, and by degrees the forms and colours of things are restored to them, and we watch the dawn remaking the world in its antique pattern. The wan mirrors get back their mimic life. The flameless tapers stand where we had left them, and beside them lies the half-cut book that we had been studying, or the wired flower that we had worn at the ball, or the letter that we had been afraid to read, or that we had read too often. Nothing seems to us changed. Out of the unreal shadows of the night comes back the real life that we had known. We have to resume it where we had left off, and there steals over us a terrible sense of the necessity for the continuance of energy in the same wearisome round of stereotyped habits, or a wild longing, it may be, that our eyelids might open some morning upon a world that had been refashioned anew in the darkness for our pleasure, a world in which things would have fresh shapes and colours, and be changed, or have other secrets, a world in which the past would have little or no place, or survive, at any rate, in no conscious form of obligation or regret, the remembrance even of joy having its bitterness, and the memories of pleasure their pain.

- from The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde. (text snagged from Project Gutenberg)

Labels: art, books, life in general, navelgaze

 
Also, before I forget again:

On the sidebar, you may have spotted an odd audiobook title. The Cheese Monkeys.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. It's about college art kids in the late '50s. Despite the lack of computers, I completely recognized the world of the book - I have used those same drawing studios and had the same bizarre professors and seen the same self-indulgent artwork (only I was oh-so-fortunate! to have been subjected to FISH instead of kittens. sigh.)...

Also, the main characters were snarky and skeptical of everything, just like Tom (and a little like me).

Toward the end, the humor gives way to somewhat weird drama, and the one sexual bit is written so waffle-y that I was unsure what had entirely even happened until later - and even then, what the main character thought about the whole thing was totally left unexplained. Authors need to learn to go all or nothin' with this stuff. You can't describe male bits and then decide to get squeamish about the content of a photo.

But apart from that single gripe, I enjoyed the hell out of this book. And the audio version added a LOT to the feel of the thing - I would never have given the female lead such a lofty high-class-snob tone in my head, but that's exactly what she ought to have. I was actually giggling aloud while listening, which is unusual for me.

Sadly, it was very short (only six hours). Happily, there is a follow-up book, which I'm a little skeptical of (because I don't think the female mc should even appear in the "grown-up" world), but I enjoyed this enough to give it a shot. :)

Labels: books, product whoring

 
Superbowl food menu:
- Pepperoni pizza from Blasdell, because Tom was starving.
- Chicken Wings by Tom - started out with a recipe, but he decided to wing the ingredient amounts. Largely bbq sauce and honey, everything in the slow cooker. meat LITERALLY fell off the bones. absolutely delicious.
- Chicken and Peach Wontons - because I'm a sucker for wontons, and wanted something a little different. These were pretty delicious, a little heavier filling than I'm used to, but very good. Tom wasn't keen on, but that was okay. Frying in a giant pot instead of a giant pan = win.
- Sausage Jalapeno Poppers - Halved this one, and glad I did, since it ended up being just Tom and I for Superbowl-watching. These would have been better if I'd broiled or something for a few minutes, and gotten more of the grease off the bacon. Filling wasn't quite as awesome as anticipated, but these were still good. Wearing plastic gloves while hacking up pappers = win.
- Smoky Cheese Ball - It was an *insanely* close call for Tom, which food was best, the cheese or the wings. The wings won only because it was football food. This silly thing is DELICIOUS. And huge. Made it with smoked gouda, coated with pecans, and it's all so sweet and creamy, and was ridiculously simple to make. I don't know why I thought it would be difficult, but, holy cow, it's awesome. And despite the fact that Tom keeps eating chunks of it at a time, totally bypassing crackers, we'll still be eating it for a week.
- Drinks were some Smirnoff ice and Coke + vanilla rum and Coke + lemon vodka.

Unfortunately, I wound up with a migraine not far into the evening (I blame the bad light in the basement at work, where I'd spent six and a half hours that day), so I didn't get to enjoy everything a whole lot. It didn't get bad until a little ways into the game, so I still got to munch and things, and keeping a hot cornbag on my head and neck meant I got to stay around and enjoy somewhat at least.

~ ~

What else is new...

I made a giant batch of chili (based on the classic BHG cookbook's recipe, but with spices according to my own tastes - smoked paprika for the win!) a week or two ago, and Tom had to admit that good food CAN come out of a slow-cooker. (He was a little traumatized when his mom got obsessive with hers for awhile during his childhood.)

~ ~

We have been SUPER-cleaning. I had one of my totally arbitrary breakdowns a few weeks ago, and couldn't deal with the mess in the apartment. So Tom proposed the reasonable plan of tackling a different little section every day that we could. That worked wonders. We had a day off together, and went to freaking town around the couch. The result? I'll have a picture later because I'm obsessively happy - WE HAVE A BOOKSHELF!!!!! I had books sitting in crates and boxes alllll down the living room wall, and it was madness. WalMart is awesome for cheap furniture, so $45 got us a bookshelf that is taller than I am, *and* a littler one to hold movies. It's so exciting. Only trouble is...our books don't all fit lmao. Tom has ONE shelf. His mega-box of Star Wars books is a project for another time. There are like two shelves of all my antique books. One shelf has my giant U2 books and old textbooks and things. One has other random stuff. There's a smaller bookshelf (like three, four feet high.. the kind of thing that's all most people need) that holds a lot of my other random books, and a little freestanding thing that I discovered I can put things back-to-back, and hold both my manga and often-reread things like Madeline L'Engle, The Dark is Rising, etc. There is also a crate upstairs of Choose Your Own Adventure books and other things that I'm not sure count as real books.

We have a buttload of books. I cannot wait to own a house, so I can have a library. If we have this many when we're still semi-poor recently-college-kids...

Side note: Our movies didn't all fit either. One shelf for me, one shelf for Tom, one shelf for vhs. The vhs (almost all mine) are arranged two-deep. The other shelves have a bit of space, since I put the four seasons of Futurama and assorted amounts of seasons of Battlestar Galactica, Babylon 5, Monkees, Jem, etc., on top of the bookshelf. We actually physically own a lot more movies than I think either of us realized.. we honestly don't buy all that many right now. (And yet, we own Road Warrior on Bluray. sigh.)

On another media-note: Tom was unaware that my whole little rubbermaid cabinet is filled with cassette tapes. It's probably best that he's also unaware of just how many records I have stashed back home somewhere. The three-and-a-half towers of cds terrify him enough.

~ ~

Books! I finally got around to reading Mel's story, since she sent me a .txt which I could put on the Kindle. While that may have contributed to it feeling like a real book to me...it's also pretty amazing. You will say I am biased, and I might well be, but it honestly sucked me right in. Couldn't put the silly thing down whenever I picked it up. I'm going to help her super-edit and fix some random wording issues, but, I'm so freaking proud that my little sister wrote the thing. If I'd bought the thing at a bookstore (once an editor fixed the "its" issue!), and paid money for it, I would have been happy to have it on my bookshelf. :)

~ ~

Katie and Jane came down to visit.. a week ago? ish? It was really great to see them, it had been way longer than I'd realized. They both seem to be doing really well, which makes me happy. :)

In other social news, Tom and I went to a party at DJ's, and got to feel all special... because DJ wound up spending most of his time talking to the two of us. Like Tom's ego needs any more inflation lol. But it was interesting... since Tom only knew one or two other people, and I didn't know anyone, we people-watched, and it was amazing how well Tom could analyze peoples' relationships. For as much as he claims to dislike people in general, he's insanely good at understanding them. His and DJ's readings can be a liiiittle bit off when they're looking at the other gender, but, well, that's where I came in. It all reminded me so much of those days back in junior high, high school, where we'd sit around Elizabeth's basement and "psychoanalyze" every boy we even remotely had crushes on. <3

~ ~

Still crocheting. Made my first money from it!!! woo!!! My coworker Luke requested a giant rainbow scarf, which I was more than happy to make. :) Finally nearly done with the hat I'm making for Sue Mac - she saw mine and loved it, so we picked out some colors to match her coat, and it's looking awesome. I love having the knowledge to make things work for people - like, Luke just wanted bright colors. So I picked out some yarn that was cheap but also wool, and made sure he didn't mind not being able to throw it in the washing machine. Mac, meanwhile, knew she wanted machine-washable, and when I showed her some color swatches in my trusty Knit Picks catalog, she totally picked out the exact colors I'd been thinking for her. :)

I am also semi-working-on slippers for Tom, at long last. I have a much-worn copy of "The Happy Hooker", which was my very first crochet book, a gift from Shannon. In it, there is a pattern that she actually wrote, for adult-size fuzzy bunny slippers. They're adorable. More importantly, I actually totally understand their construction, and could figure out how to make them man-sized. I pestered Shannon about the yarn (the book calls for expensive yarn, which I was not going to waste on boy-feet; turns out, Shannon originally used cheap yarn, yay!). A trip to WalMart turned up Lion Brand's Hometown USA, which is actually a super-bulky yarn. It is HUGE. And very cushy. And acrylic, so I can wash them without having to handle things that have been on boy-feet. This yarn is SO much bigger than what the pattern uses, that I ended up not having to increase the size at all - I'm just working with a way bigger yarn, way bigger hook, and actually leaving off a row or two here and there, and voila! Big enough for Tom!

Also, super-bulky yarn? Works up SO. FREAKING. FAST. In like half an hour, an hour, I had the sole of a slipper done, and that's including time spent waiting for Tom to reach a stopping-point in his game so I could compare my giant oval of yarn to his foot.

~ ~

I need to shower. And probably do laundry. I'm so not motivated to go out into the cold. I got through most of my taxes today, and finished Mel's story, that's some accomplishment for the day... If I'm really ambitious, you may start seeing all the photos I have taken since I last plugged the camera into my computer. That appears to have been April or May.

Labels: apartment, being social, books, cooking, crochet, family, friends, life in general, movies, music, writing

 
HOLY SHIT I GOT TOM A 1ST EDITION STAR WARS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was on etsy a few nights ago, poking around for Christmas ideas. I found some interesting things, including a book. One of the pre-movie releases of the novelization.

Tom had seen one of these once in a bookstore upstate somewhere years ago, and realized only later how INSANELY rare a find it had been. I'm not sure if the one I have in my lap right now is the same one or not, but...

It is from December 1976. First edition. George Lucas' name is given as the author (though it was actually ghostwritten.) Same cover as on the Star Wars wiki's entry. It's Ballantine Books, instead of Del Ray, and it's fairly beat up around the edges, but... Okay some googling tells me that the Del Ray book was out in November, so this isn't THE first, but, holy shit is it close.

And dude, I only paid $25.

I'm kind of spazzing. HOW IN HELL CAN I WAIT UNTIL CHRISTMAS!?!?


Having discussed some shipping cost questions with the seller, this morning I snagged a set of FOUR of the original Star Wars Burger King glasses. (One is a duplicate to one I've already gotten him, but, three more? all in one go? awesome.) My other awesome find was this.


I was looking for some interesting art, something more than just random Jedi fanart... and this totally nails it. Tom loves abstract simple geometric lines. And I think the design on this is pretty damn brilliant - such a few simple shapes, but it captures that opening shot SO well.


p.s. I LOVE ETSY. I reallyreally do. Not only are there amazing amounts of original artwork, some of it incredibly well-made, but the site works beautifully, their organizational system makes it actually plausible to shop for things, and the people on there... they really bring up my level of faith in humanity. For the book? I missed seeing a notice from the seller that I should have waited to pay until she sorted out sales tax, since we were both in NY. I usually pop over to paypal to send payment as soon as I click "buy"... but the girl was SO nice about it, and said it was no problem, she just sent a little like $2 bill to my paypal, I clicked okay, and we were good to go. I bought: 11/27. Book in my mailbox: 11/30. Carefully packaged and wrapped, pretty tissue paper, and a hand-written note from the seller. <333

Labels: art, books, life in general, product whoring, spazz, star wars geeking

 
Halloween season is craziness, but it's fun anyway. Costume days are awesome. Today was supposed to be pirate day, so I walked in with a black'n'white striped tank top under my tattered-ruffled black jacket, dark chain necklace full of crosses and coins, and a pirate hat.

Behind the front registers were a whole swarm of Disney princesses.

...fortunately, one of my bosses was a pirate, and everybody else was whatever they felt like. I snagged one of the rental pirate costumes, and added some bits: a purple'n'black striped corset (striped the opposite direction that my tank top was, but it still worked somehow), purple'n'black striped head scarf, aaaand the most amazing skirt EVER, which I forgot we had. Long, black, with chunks of lace, mesh, and solid fabric all patchworked together, with a jagged-edged bottom. Awesome.

-

Since everyone else at the store has been bringing in cookies like every week, I figured I'd chip in. Last night, I spotted a recipe for Spooky Witches Fingers, and decided THAT WAS IT OMFG. So I made a whole stack of them, skipping the green food coloring (used a bit of whole wheat flour in with the generic stuff, which made it a bit more fleshy-looking), and used the raspberry jam route instead of the red icing (since that meant assembly happened all at once). They looked AMAZING - and tasted surprisingly delicious! (Probably helps that I always throw in more vanilla than is called for...the real stuff isn't usually in my budget, I figure the fake stuff is probably a bit less potent.) Everyone at work was spazzing over them, Ann especially, and Mac asked for the recipe. YAY I win.

...though more of a win is the real food I made yesterday. This Apple-Sausage Rigatoni? Amaaaaaaazing. I'm on such a fall-food binge. I sifted through some soup recipes over on Better Homes & Gardens' site tonight, and I have a good dozen to try (with a few of Heidi's in there too). I should probably find out what kind of soups Tom likes... (Not that it will hinder my soup-making. Tom eats fast food half the time anyway, when left to his own devices. I will eat my soup.)

I also tried some wine biscuits, out of my King Arthur cookie bible, but I'm not entirely satisfied with the results. They'd be better more biscotti-like than mine turned out, and I think there may actually be too much wine(!?!) in them. May also be that the red wine I had was a smidge strong - drinkable for me, but not all that great, which is why I was willing to part with half a cup for cookies. Also...they are NOT pretty little cookies. They didn't puff up or round out aaaany in the baking, so they're the same ugly little scraggly lumps they began as. (One of these days, I will pay attention to how baking soda/baking powder/eggs make things puff up/not puff up, and to what degree.) Also they are a tanned purple in color, which is disconcerting.

In other cooking news: we had an AMAZING dinner...last Monday? Monday before? whenever I last worked 9-5, and Tom didn't work at all. We thought we'd take advantage of having a normal human being evening, and actually have a nice sit-down dinner. I'd been trying to think of a main course to suit the little red potatoes I'd picked up, and had been a bit stuck. Tom has been talking steak fairly often lately. He didn't see the sort of steak he'd had in mind when we went to Tops for supplies, but, we wound up with a pretty awesome menu:

- mixed baby greens salad (which Tom wrinkled his nose at, because the leaves still had stems! oh horror! ..it was insanely delicious)
- Garlic Red Potatoes
- steak, with blue cheese on top, wrapped in bacon (which I'm pretty sure has an actual name, but Tom forbids me to look into this, since he wants to be able to claim credit for inventing it)
- really, really delicious dry red wine (yay! we're grown up enough to like (the occasional) dry red wine!)

...the potatoes, despite cooking for absolutely ages, were a smidge under-done. The steak, despite Tom's constant poking, was a smidge over-done. Didn't really matter a bit. :)

-

What else is new... I went to the hospital, at the family planning clinic nurse's suggestion, and got a thyroid test taken. The day I was going to call the clinic to find out the results...I got my bill in the mail. x_x Which means I need to start figuring out how to get it paid for - the clinic said they'd be covering it, but I'm not sure how to make the paperwork know that. At which point I remembered that I canNOT, not, EVER, navigate the phone directory for the clinic. The options make no sense, I can't ever figure out which extension I'm supposed to be heading toward. Last time I wound up calling into what I think was child protective services...which is obviously not what I was looking for. (Note: this is NOT just me. A coworker assured me that she has the same problem every time she calls.) So, I'm thinking Monday morning, since I am not working, I'll gather up all my paperwork and troop down to the clinic, and ask them what I'm supposed to be doing - and ask them what the heck my thyroid is up to.

...as much as I enjoy being a generally healthy person, there's a bit of me that almost hopes there *is* something off with my thyroid. It would explain a lot of the random issues I have, including the fact that I'm always so damn tired. (Eight hours of sleep last night, probably more like nine. Alarm at 11:20 yanked me from a DEEP, deep sleep, smack in the middle of a dream, and I had to battle all morning to keep moving.) Plus the spotting (so far continuing, despite the new birth control), and the migraines (which may be linked to female cycles - I'm diligently plotting every weird thing that might possibly be related to hormones on my calender now, to see what correlations there might be). wheeee.

-

I'd forgotten how freaking fast I read. I've been doing audiobooks for ages, but going through L.M. Montgomery's Anne books...there are several Librivox hasn't done yet. So, thank you Project Gutenberg - both the general and Australian sites, I snagged .txt versions of the books I needed. Flung them onto Tom's Kindle, and discovered that the sucker really *is* great for reading on. The screen does not glow, so there's no eyeball issues. Battery life is insanity (I haven't plugged it back in for like two whole books, and it's still only half down). Text size is ADJUSTABLE - so it's tiny and there's lots to a page when I'm reading normally, and I can make it bigger when I'm reading while crocheting (yes this is possible - sick, but possible) or washing dishes (shhh don't tell Tom I had it near water!). The other plus? YOU DON'T HAVE TO HOLD THE BOOK OPEN!!! I'd never even thought of that, until I started flying through the Anne books. All my actual, physical L.M. Montgomery are those little travel-sized 5x7-ish paperbacks that are like two inches thick. And they are SUCH a pain to hold open, whether you're trying to pin it under something, or using your hand, it just *hurts*. Kindle? Flat. Tap the side to turn the page. (Can tap on EITHER side to turn the page forward, even.)

Anyway, commercial aside... I remember when I first read Anne of Green Gables. Pretty sure it was when I had chicken pox in third grade. I'd always put off reading it, because the print was the tiiiiniest I'd ever seen in my life, and it was a really thick book. Chicken pox gave me a lot of time on my hands. This time around? I think some of the later books are shorter, but, honestly, maybe two days, and that was with maybe half a day of solid reading, mainly just the four hours between me getting home and Tom coming home.

So I'm audiobooking the last original Anne book (looks like there's a compilation that was published after her death, which doesn't seem to be public domain yet), but I wanted to get some more things to *read*. I had a few things sitting around on my computer, and I've a few more things in mind. I'm trying to ingest anything that might possibly inspire ideas for NaNoWriMo next month - so, ghost stories, maybe some religious things, anything set in gardens, Victorian-era things, and the cozy sort of girly classics that just make me happy. I just realized I have an audiobook of Louisa May Alcott's "Flower Fables", which I'm super-excited to dig in to. Probably going to re-read L.M. Montgomery's "Magic for Marigold", or maybe one of her others - I absolutely love her dreamy-eyed young girls, full of imagination and seeing beauty in every tiny thing around them. Trying to hash into consumable form "An Adventure", which is the book of "The Moberly-Jourdain incident" - these two scholarly women seeing ghosts around Versailles, of Marie Antoinette and others... it's such an incredibly detailed account, from these two insanely credible people, it's really grabbed my fancy. The full text is in pdf online, but... the pdf is embedded into a website in some totally absurd way, and all I could do was save it one page at a time. I just tried compiling them into a multi-page pdf...but I'm not even sure if the Kindle will take pdfs. I think it will? I don't even know. But, the book is ghosts and gardens and faded royalty and kindred spirit women at the turn of the century. Totally worth a bit of work.

Wikipedia, by the way, is so awesome for linking to the Project Gutenberg copies of books that turn up in articles. I always forget to check the Australian Project Gutenberg, and they have all sorts of things the main site doesn't, though in a less-searchable manner. Via that, I tracked down "The Well of Loneliness", which I'd been dying to read - generally considered the first lesbian novel in English, and caused all sorts of legal furor and was banned and everything else...even though there's no blatant sexual content or much of anything besides vague insinuation. But I like vague insinuation and subtle undertones and things. Just started in, and so far, I actually really like it - I've gotten as far as: a little girl is born when the parents expected a boy, so they name her Stephen, and she's developing rather male characteristics and personality quirks, hates dresses, has a crush on a serving maid... but it's all handled in such a way that... I'm not even sure how to describe it. It's handled in a very believable way, just day-to-day things, like she plays dress-up, but dresses up as a soldier... but the undertones are almost mystical, like there's a weird element of predestination, you have the sense that she's developing this way not so much due to a quirk in her genes, but because she was conceived and developed in the womb while being thought a boy. It's feeling very like the "Rose of Versaille" anime, which I adore, so it's all good.

-

One of our hamsters died. :\ We knew they were nearing the end of their typical lifespan, so Tom, darling that he is, has been sure he's the first to go poking into their cage lately when we go to clean it out. This time... he told me to stay outside the room awhile. I can't even say how grateful I was for this, I really don't think I could have handled it, Tom barely could. He said it looked like they'd been in a fight (they'd always fought a bit now and again)... and I'm sure it wasn't a pretty sight. I *am* a little sad, even though we've never been overly-attached to the critters - hamsters don't really have a whole lot of personality to get attached to. Still, it was sad.

-

Our ceiling in the kitchen, which has had cracked plaster for ages, finally started dripping about a week ago. Poking around in the bathroom, we discovered that the seal around the tub is totally shot. Soooo, as long as the shower curtain is plastered to the wall at that end, and we keep a towel on the floor for back-up, it doesn't leak, so that works.

We have been doing, in small doses, major house-cleaning. A few weeks ago I tackled the tub hardcore, and the leak issue motivated me to clean the scary corner between the shower and the radiator. The whole town has been invaded by something like fruit flies, and they are driving me COMPLETELY FREAKING INSANE, so that motivated a hardcore cleaning of the kitchen sink. (Note: didn't help. There do seem to be a few more of the damned things when I have cookie-batter bowls in the sink, but no matter how clean things are, the flies are still there. Tom can catch the pests in mid-air, so that helps, but I can't, and they make me insane, so boo.) I bought a mop! I'd been seeing ads for the Swiffer version of a mop, and that struck me as a perfect solution for the apartment. My kitchen floor? like 3x7'. My bathroom floor? probably like 3x3'. Tiiiiiny scraps of floor. I'd been tackling them the old-school way, on my knees with a sponge, there's really no room for a full-on mop situation. But WalMart had the Swiffer things - and, for a few bucks less, a Clorox version, which is what I got. It works AWESOME. I was a little skeptical, it's basically glorified paper towel, but... one towel thing got me through 90% of my kitchen, including the scary bits under the stove and fridge. Whatever liquid is in the little sprayer (I am probably saner not knowing) is pretty amazing stuff.

-

And, still crocheting. One Christmas present: DONE!, once I fix the lazy way I tried blocking it. Another Christmas present: DONE!, once I block it. Another Christmas present: ohgodSOCLOSEtodone, but I need the attention span to go back and work on the edging. Another Christmas present: started and... well, let's just say a glove that doesn't fit my hand is not going to be very useful for anyone not a lot younger than me. Nearly everything is planned, I just have to scrounge up the money for yarn, and settle on a few patterns. The main trouble is, is that since these are gifts for people important to me, I want to do the best I can. Which means, in some cases, waaay more expensive yarn than I would use for myself. I have a little throw blanket in mind for one family member, and I found the *perfect* yarn, in just the colors and texture I want, and even in an alpaca blend, which I hadn't dared hope for but wanted desperately (since it's sooo lightweight for how crazy warm it is)... but it's like $8 a skein. So I'm trying to figure out how to get as much blanket out of as little yarn as I can, but I'm soooo bored with every freaking throw blanket pattern being either V-stitches or giant granny squares. I like both well enough, but, I've done those, I want something else!

I'm a little scared, given that there's a lot of crocheting that should be done in November, when I'm going to have a novel to crank out...

Labels: apartment, books, cooking, crochet, health, work

 
Mel told me to update:

I am piiiiissed as hell at dealing with high schooler co-workers who have NO work ethic, NO responsibility, and NO common sense.

I am also growing tired of freaking psychopath customers. PSYCHOPATHS. I am not even exaggerating. Poor Ann was actually flipping out to me about this one set of people.

On the other hand, last weekend I sketched out my first Paper Factory comic, and it is funny as hell. I've also been managing to stay on top of the banner thing, and pretty thoroughly rocked every assignment I've had this week. (Who can whip up some spiffy looking graduation invites in, oh, ten minutes? Oh me. Who can crank out a SEVENTEEN FOOT LONG sign, to replace the lighted sign a tractor trailer knocked off another Paper Factory's store, get it designed-printed-grommetted-gone, in like four, five hours? Oh me.)


I do not have to work tomorrow, and while I'm leaving my phone on in case of emergency, I am also playing on the Webkinz site, dealing only with non-thinking email, aaaand drinking a half-bottle of seriously froofy alcohol.

Alizé, Rose flavor. SO highly recommended. It is pink, and it is froofy, but absolutely delicious. Vodka base, with litchis, strawberries, and rose essence. I also have a little mini-bottle of vodka + herb flavors, which is also delicious.

Which reminds me. Mom and Grandma were down last weekend, we picked up...good god I can never remember how people are related to me. I think she's my great-aunt Marion? Anyway, the four of us had lunch at this tiny little local diner out in Brocton, where the food was quite good, and I got a vague tour of the town (which has exactly one stoplight). After that, I directed us to the Boardwalk down in Dunkirk, where last summer they opened up a little strip of a handful of local shops, down by the pier. It's such a nice little setup, I really love it, anytime someone visits me I try to drag them down there. There's a little shop that carries wine from ALLLLL the local wineries, and there are free samples, and a bit of everything which is wonderful. Mom bought me a bottle of wine, and it was *delicious*. A semi-sweet white that had a really great depth to it...and, as anticipated, Tom LOVED it. So much so that the bottle was *gone* before I'd had more than a glass. He has promised to buy me a replacement bottle. (But while I was quite sad it was gone, I was also quite happy I'd picked out such a good one. I usually do alright at picking out wines, though we're both still fairly noobs, while he's good with cheeses.) We nosed around some gift shops, I picked up a super-pretty multi-stranded necklace with scattered pearly stones, Mom got cornered by the rather sketchy owner of a rather sketchy half-open shop, and Mom and I both decided that I should start selling my crochet work, since someone was selling simple little knit towels for like $10. (And I knew at a glance that it was the cheap $1.50 cotton yarn they used...I've used it too. If I'm going to make something for someone else, I'm going to use nice special yarn, or at least put more effort into the colors and things!)

And, of course, we had to stop in at Yummy's and get ice cream. The owner still recognized me! I used to see him at the store every week, back when I worked day shifts and his shop was in town, but that was at least six months ago. But he remembered me! He's the friendliest guy ever, he's like on par with Ann and Bruce as a store owner, the kind of guy who knows allll of his customers by name, and makes conversation and is just so friendly and awesome.

Also, the ice cream is always AMAZING at Yummy's.


Other than that, I am on a crochet freaking BINGE. I need to post some pictures. I finished up Tom's glove and he is in SO much love. I whipped up a pair of gloves for me, because my hands freeze in air conditioning, and I had a ball of elasticy cotton yarn that I needed to test. Sushi is still not done, I get sooo booored of doing single crochet stitches in black in eeeendless rounds. But it's getting close. I poked around in my stash, and decided that I could make a nice simple little light scarf out of some yarn Mel bought me for Christmas and using part of a table runner pattern - that's nearly finished. I have the yarn picked out for my next two projects, but am not allowed to buy it until a) I finish the damn sushi, and b) next paycheck, which, OH LOOK, was today. First the skirt. Then a throw blanket in recycled cotton for Tom, to use on chilly days, and to use instead of a towel to prevent sticking to his plastic-leather computer chair on hot days, aaaand because making the blanket for Kate was so much fun and so relaxing. THEN, I'm scouting out yarns for two Christmas presents I have in mind, and since I'm binging anyway I figured I might as well actually get a head start for once in my life.

Still working on a necklace/scarf for myself, I'm in absolute freaking love with the yarn, and the end result, but, the pattern consists of doing like five feet worth of little bitty one-inch circles. So it's my dinner-break project.


I'm on the last book of the Tamir Trilogy, and I still can't put it down. I *hugely* recommend, especially to Mel. (If you want it in audiobook, I can probably do some illegal file-converting, but only because you're my sister. ;)

I have a huge stack of dishes, and am running low on clean underwear, and Tom polished off his weekly casserole. Somuch to do...but TOMORROW. Tonight, there are froofy drinks and Webkinz and crochet and SLEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. <333

Labels: books, crochet, family, printshop, product whoring, work

 
*The military junta running Myanmar (despite a democratic party being elected, oh, a decade or two ago) is trying to put Aung San Suu Kyi into prison. Again. Send an email via Amnesty.


- In other news, Tom and I made a day-trip up to Buffalo, and saw the Star Trek movie. It is AWESOME. Whether you're a Star Trek person or no, it is quite enjoyable. The character continuity is phenomenal, the characters shown in the movie are so perfectly younger (and thus more volatile) versions of everybody. Tom wants to watch it again just so he can memorize more of the "Scotty-isms". It's a wonderfully fresh take on the whole Star Trek universe, and it's been a long time since we've seen that, and god is it great to see. At the same time though, there are still elements to tie it to the previous things - the style of the music, the way certain shots are set up, the vaguely-plausible science, the same cross-screen linear lens flares... Also, the whole intro-bit where Kirk is born, made me cry. Star Trek doesn't usually do that. It was pretty awesome.

- I was going to post a picture of the dress I bought, but I can't find one. Least-painful dress shopping I have ever managed - once I, uh, actually *found* the dress-section in Macy's, the first dress I spotted was the one I ended up with. It's really simple and un-fussy, but very cute and very me. Olive green with dark brown trim, and this intricate geometric pattern in dark brown on the green. And I found shoes to match nearly as quickly! This was all still too long a process for Tom ("Wait... you're not going to try that on, are you?"), but he is a boy and doesn't understand these things. (Though he did luck out, I only went into the dressing room once, since there was a freaking line. The one I tried on was just a *bit* too small, and I could tell going a size up would be perfect, so I just snagged and bought.)

- We also bought more tea! And it is DELICIOUS. Samurai Chai Maté - *awesome*. We love the Maté Vana they sell, and this is similar, but with a slight citrus twist, instead of the more chocolate-nut flavor of Vana. We're finding that herbal teas are too weak, we're tea-wimps and need something with some... depth? to it, something with the substance that coffee and hot chocolate and things have. The two maté teas we've had totally fit the bill. I also got a rooibos chai, which I think is delicious, though Tom's not so keen on. But the boy is freaking adorable - mostly, the tea is my thing, inasmuch as I'm the one who knows how to make it right, and am more interested in reading through all the descriptions and picking things out and whatnot. But Tom wanted to be in on it too, so he made me spreadsheets with allll the different teas they offer (with hyperlinks to the corresponding webpage), and columns for us to rate and put in comments. We are actually kind of considering their Tea of the Month thing - though it seems a little pricey, it actually averages out pretty nicely, given how expensive some of the teas are. Plus, it would be shipped to us. And a good way to sample different things. I'm also considering getting one of their travel tea mugs, so I can have tea at work on days when I'm feeling icky. (Heating a paper cup of water in the microwave and dropping a teabag in feels pretty sacrilegious even to me - and doesn't taste a tenth as nice.)

- It would appear - so far - to be a calmer week at work, which is good. I have a big pile of paperwork still, but I'm waiting for people to send photos on most, and none of them need done before June. (I have most of the layouts done already anyway.) The princess banner, I've been poking at on and off for like a week or two. I made a freaking awesome tiara, but, it doesn't fit into the space I need it to very well, so I'm kind of butchering it now. I may have gotten a layout that works today, but, we'll see what I think of it tomorrow. I am also feeling better after talking with the other girl who does banners the other day. Chad showed her how to use the giant laminator and the cutting machine, both of which I am not at ALL comfortable handling on my own. She, on the other hand, said she'd rather do that kind of thing than the designing. "YES! We are going to ROCK IT this summer!" I'm really enjoying the designing lately, I've got a good handle on our fonts, and every now and again I get a new and interesting idea about how to set things up. Plus I somehow manage to come up with decent graphics under the gun, which is a great feeling. :)

- I am, however, going to lose my temper with a couple of employees in the near future. I got pretty exasperated with one girl today (she was the THIRD interruption while I was on my dinner break - BREAK, people, that means I AM NOT WORKING), and while it's not entirely her fault she doesn't know how to use the fax machine...it still kind of *is* her fault, because the main reason she hasn't been shown is because everyone knows it's pointless because we'll have to show her AGAIN every freaking time she goes to do one. x_____X

- This Tamir Trilogy I'm listening to? Is freaking awesome. This is the kind of fantasy I like - there are no elves dwarves ditzy knights and corseted princesses with swords and really, REALLY cliché storylines. It's a fully-realized world, with believable magic, and believable people who get trapped by circumstances and political machinations and unsought destiny. In some ways, it's like the Earthsea stuff, only more accessible - the oooonly time I felt overwhelmed by weird names and references to things not explained was in the first ten minutes of the first book. That didn't last long. The characters are believable and people you care about. There are some seriously strong emotions all through it. Very vivid ghosts and spirits. And playing with gender roles! Fantastic stuff. I'm halfway through the second book, and it is damned hard to press pause. The writing style is seamless, I haven't even thought about it in awhile, which is a very good sign.

- I just realized what the little silver round thing on the floor is. It's my computer's power button. I have no idea how that fell off, and if I try to put it back on I'm going to turn my computer off. damnit.

- Food! I have made some awesome food again. I fiiiinally made it to the organic food store in town. Dad came down to visit...a week ago? and we actually made a fantastic afternoon of it, going to the organic store, and down by the pier in Dunkirk, checked out the gift shop on the Boardwalk strip that went in last year (allll locally produced goodies! yay!), and had a really nice time. It made me happy. :) Anyway, I FOUND AMARANTH FLOUR!!! So I finally got to make the ginger-amaranth shortbread I've had on my list since Christmas, and it is delicious. (WAY ginger-intensive, which's fine by me.) The flour has a really rich nutty flavor, I'm looking forward to making more with it. I also found several types of seaweed and other odd goodies, and! Tom and I made a trip back a few days later to pick up REAL WASABI. (Well, 45% real wasabi anyway. Which's a vast improvement on the 0% real wasabi in eeeevery other jar of wasabi we've ever found.)

- So, yesterday, I made up a big delicious casserole for the week (Ground Turkey Noodle Bake, which is far more like lasagna than it looks - just throw in more spices and more mozzarella than called for), and then I made us a dinner. I don't usually do more than one dish, since there's just the two of us, but this time I had a gut instinct that a few things on my list would go nicely together.
- Middle Eastern Turkey Dogs: These required me handling raw meat again, but I managed 3/4 of the mixing with a fork, so that helped. These were freaking *delicious*. I popped them onto bamboo skewers, and we didn't actually need any condiments, though I suspect flavored mustards would be good with them.
- Satsumaimo Amani: I spotted "Japanese Sweet Potato" at the organic store, and snagged one on a whim. I got home, and Google gave me its actual name of satsumaimo. From there, I found recipes, and this one looked both simple and *awesome*. Which it was. I did finally make my own dashi, though I kept it simple (i.e., cheap) by just making it with some kombu (seaweed). I have yet to tackle the giant mound of scalded sugar I accidentally ended up with in my littlest saucepan, but oh it was so worth it. Quite like the candied sweet potatoes with marshmellows, only a little less intensely sweet. I nibbled at a bit of the satsumaimo before I cooked it, and it has a *really* great flavor, it has a bit of a sweet spiciness to it.
- And to round things out, I whipped up a batch of rice (holy cow has a rice cooker been an awesome investment for us), throwing in some leftover coconut milk and just a touch of garam masala. It came out a little less flavored than I'd wanted, so I drizzled it with some of the Samurai Chai Maté tea I'd just made, and *oh* was it perfect.
- And it all tasted so good together! I was bouncing off the walls, I was so excited at how well everything complimented each other. I so rarely make full meals, and that one worked out so, so well. YAY.

- Quinoa! That was one of my other new foods. Heidi always uses all sorts of grains and things that I've never tried, so I snagged one to give a shot. I kept it simple for my first try of the stuff, to see how it tastes on its own, so I went with her Delicious Big Bowl of Quinoa recipe. Veggies and olive oil and quinoa. It *is* delicious - the quinoa has a great nutty flavor to it, about the same consistency as rice and couscous, but a little more stable, a little more solid flavor. (Plus, it is super-fun to cook: You start out with these perfect little spheres, which you need to rinse, and it is super-addicting to run your fingers through the stuff under running water. Then, as the perfect little beads cook, they uncurl! And there are little spiral-y bits that show up as they expand! ...I was seriously entertained by all this.) Tom is not a big fan, but I'm pretty sure if I flavored it up like I do with rice, he'd eat it. Put a sauce over pretty much anything and he'll eat it.

- Picked up the latest R.E.M. album, Accelerate, which came out not too long ago. It is GREAT. All of their albums for the past decade or so have been pretty wimpy, each has had like two really great songs, and then the rest very dreary and thin-sounding. This album really does sound more like their older stuff (offhand, I'd say a halfway between Monster and Automatic for the People), it's nice and dense and has their trademark harmonies and there is guitar and volume and it is GOOD. I'm so glad to hear them back again. I've only listened through to it once (and that via my craptastic laptop speakers), so I haven't analyzed anything in depth, but I've heard enough to be happy about it. :)


- And it is time for me to stop putting off washing dishes. booooo.

Labels: activism, books, cooking, life in general, movies, music, printshop, product whoring, silliness, spazz, storytime, work